Tag Archives: PM excellence

Many projects are sick before they even begin. The cause often is an improper, indistinct clarification of what has to be done. Particularly in many cases the Scope translation from business requirements into technical specifications is a weak point.

To understand the scope right you need to be clear about all stakeholders involved. Conduct thorough stakeholder analysis to assess interests, influences and requirements. Sometimes the scope needs to be developed iteratively from project definition/charter, e.g. by an agile approach or in design workshops.

Describe scope and requirements result-/deliverable-oriented and unmistakably, not descriptive. Define and agree to measurable success criteria. Generally you should ensure requirements’ sign-off before starting development to avoid later discussions on scope.

Only when your scope is “properly” clarified you can plan the execution “properly” and realistically!

Subdivide/show progress by multiple delivery sub-units fit to formal approval underway.

Always assess what you do, what you think you should do, and what your stakeholders think you should do!

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Project managers’ communication shouldn’t be honest only, but also clear and unmistakably.

How often did I experience uncomfortable messages or tasks brought to colleagues or superiors ponderously and with nice, ornate words. In the end everybody had understood something different, later discussions ended up in finger pointing but not in solutions.

Bad news are best communicated as they are, good ones by the way as well. At clear talks it is important that it is not offending but stays objective. To show a solution or forecast after the facts makes even a Hiob message more bearable, and the consequences get clearer.

An example: Sales had promised the blue out of the sky, not feasible by the project team. I did the maths with the Key Account and suggested to him to choose whether going back to the customer now with good arguments to re-negotiate, or later when the customer’s lever gets increasingly longer. And see, the customer was open to good arguments and preferred a successful project over an unrealistic price…

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Going by the book each project should have one project lead superior to all other project functions. But I have seen many projects, especially in the technical area, where the project lead was mainly competently leading in professional matters but wasn’t sufficiently qualified as a project manager. Usually the consequence is delivering a good quality but missing the schedule and cost targets.

In complex projects however even a good and experienced project manager can focus his attention either on his job or obtain the technical leadership, otherwise he always is in a role and time conflict. Dependent on where he has his core competence the other area will suffer, especially in case of distress, where he – quite human – will concentrate on what he knows best.

In such projects I have good experience with distributing responsibilities on multiple shoulders. It is important for both “heads” to have an affinity and understanding for the respective other function, but not to have sound expertise in it. Each one provides his core competences to the joint endeavor, ideally on eye level, and the decisions are made dependent on the kind of question (professional or management) in bilateral coordination at the respective lead.

Similar to executing development, construction, assembly etc. of multiple projects often with the same teams in parallel, a Project Management Office can collectively execute repetitive tasks in multiple projects on the project management side as a shared service to support the double head. Or it can even have responsibility for management tasks, e.g. risk and document management, or the commercial part. That frees up space for the Double Head taking care intensively and generates synergies from learning and cost effects.

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There are most probably lots of situations where you as a Project Manager would like to make the progress or status or forecast look a little nicer, especially if you’re an employee and with regard to your boss and your career. This is how I sometimes feel, too, but I meanwhile prefer to take the liberty to keep to the truth, even if it is cruel.

Whitewashing or making figures seem better than they are namely only adjourns the issues, but a resolution doesn’t get easier that way. Rather the opposite applies, because if there is no problem you probably will not receive any support hence. Yes, right: You are indeed allowed to ask questions or for help. And the earlier you start tackling an issue the more and mostly as well the faster and cheaper options you have – that’s by the way also the case with distressed projects and their recovery!

And at last: If you pin point bad performance, a delayed status, increasing cost or risk you always will look better by your pro-active approach and maybe by your roping in the situation, as if you need to admit faults and omissions later!

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I often see a project manager in conflict in their job with the given frame conditions or expectations. For example that they are expected or even requested to achieve results or do things that in their opinion are not compatible with their convictions, judgements or sometimes just with good sanity and reason. Common examples are unrealistic targets, missing resources, challenge requests to “make a real effort now” in project situations which are not to overcome with available means, or simply too many and concurrent tasks at one time.

In the many years of my Project Management practice I have gone through a maybe helpful learning process in which my self-appeal as a project manager and the function deriving from that have changed significantly. Not at least my sound methodologic education during my certifications and the self-reflection going along with this influenced and helped me in that process very much.

At the beginning of my “Project Management career” I was, like many other colleagues, a deliverer of results and milestones “driven” by the stakeholders, working myself into the ground between targets, dates, various obstacles and sometimes volatile changes in requirements and environment. The learned or recognized but actually comprehended methodology helped me to get structure into the appearing of such “challenges”, to rather be able to “manage” them (e.g. key word Stakeholder Management).

This way my self-appeal of my job profile has changed along with my seniority successively from a hunter-gatherer to a consultant and coach of my project colleagues, principals and bosses. My main task is no longer to deliver at any price but to facilitate and motivate my team to do their jobs as effective and efficient as possible, and to provide my superiors for their decisions (to be claimed by me!) the best possible decision support.

Together everything works better, vertically in the hierarchy as well as horizontally with the team, and each of us is to come naught without the others! This is my conviction, and maybe a good advice to my (younger and less experienced) colleagues.

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Just recently I experienced how things show their human side in a project: We were doing well, actually better than the plan and under budget, not at least because we strictly kept with discipline to the rule “no change without approved Change Request”.

What should I tell you? All of a sudden, right before the finish of works, some desires for improvements that presumably could be done “just as a sideline” slipped in. Needless to say in passing and bypassing the Project Manager. But this guy got it: by the supplier’s change request flying on his desk. And see, by a more close and detailed assessment some collateral at some dependent tasks became visible that had not been recognized on the radar in the “back room”…

What do we learn from this? You can’t be everywhere as a Project Manager, ok. And relaxation is likely to lead, same as in real life, to a “let-yourself-go”, that seems human. That’s why it is even more important (as it is in sports) to keep up discipline and motivation, even and especially in times when all signs seem to be pointing towards easing of tension.

And of course the Project Manager must always go ahead with unquestionable authenticity as a good example, because if he gets sloppy this will not only rub off but will make himself insensitive for the weaknesses in his team!

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We have learned it in our PM education: 80% of a project manager’s work is necessary communication. Unfortunately I find structures in many companies that are not supportive at all for this purpose: Silo thinking, hierarchy level autism, but also overwhelming correspondence, reporting and meetings. Especially in troubled projects (but as well in those which are going to become alike) this phenomenon is widely spread.

Set Communication Rules

In time-critical projects – and actually when recovering a distressed project you almost have everything but much time – I made a good experience with provoking communication, even forcing it to happen. For this purpose I first need to state some rules for communication, such as “as direct and personal as possible first, only second via phone, and at last via email“. Many things simply are clarified much faster and without misunderstandings if you stand up, go over to your colleague, and jointly look at / talk through the issue with him. This is how you can overcome department borders without difficulty as well. And where geographical distance is prohibiting this a direct phone call, eventually supported by a screen sharing, is an effective and efficient medium. We all know endless email loops instead…

“Daylies for the Team Communication

Another effective means, especially at teams which are not used to close, interdisciplinary collaboration, I have adopted from the agile world: the brief daily Stand-up meeting, at best right in the morning. It forces all involved to exchange information concentrated at least once a day. It is important that it is conducted very disciplined, moderated by the Project Manager, and that it starts and ends punctually. A pin board or whiteboard is an effective tool to visualize and talk through the actual status of the “Sprint Backlog” in the meeting. This may be coming out a little bumpy at the beginning, but I soon received very positive feedback and results in all of my projects.

As a side effect this mostly has a good influence on the meeting culture in the project: they become less and shorter, because much has been already talked about in the “Dailies” or directly. The imperative of good preparation, discipline and punctuality often replicates here and gives security to the participants for their day planning.

Jour Fixes for Reporting

The project responsibles at the executive levels should also be tightly involved by the Project Manager with a regular meeting (Jour Fixe). And it also has proven successful to provide regular access to the “Project Plan” (mainly the schedule) to all involved to have them understand the interdependencies and maybe collaborate better.

However even with all “lean” communication we always need to follow the rule: Decisions have to be documented! No matter whether with (countersigned) meeting minutes or with a simple email “I have understood our conversation as follows…”

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