Stanley E. Portny - Project Management For Dummies

Handling a project any other way simply doesn’t make sense. The project manager must be involved in developing the plans because they need the opportunity to clarify expectations and proposed approaches and then to raise any questions they may have before the project work begins.

The key to project success is being proactive, so rather than waiting for others to tell you what to do:

Seek out information because you know you need it

Follow the plan because you believe it’s the best way

Involve people whom you know are important for the project

Identify issues and risks, analyze them, and elicit support to address them

Share information with the people you know need to have it

Put all important information in writing

Ask questions and encourage other people to do the same

Commit to your project’s success

Be prepared for other people to fight your attempts to use proven project management approaches. Take it from me: You need to be prepared for everything! The following list provides a few examples of excuses you may encounter as a project manager and appropriate responses you can give:

Excuse: Our projects are all crises; we have no time to plan.Response: Unfortunately for the excuse giver, this logic is illogical! In a crisis, you have limited time and resources to address the critical issues, and you definitely can’t afford to make mistakes. Because acting under pressure and emotion (two key characteristics of crises) practically guarantees that mistakes will occur, you can’t afford not to plan.

Excuse: Structured project management is only for large projects.Response: No matter what size the project is, the information you need to perform it is the same. What are the end goals? What do you need to produce? What work has to be done? Who’s going to do that work? When will the work end? Have you met expectations?Large projects may require many weeks or months to develop satisfactory answers to these questions. Small projects that last a few days or less may take only 15 minutes, but either way, you still have to answer the questions.

Excuse: These projects require creativity and new development. They can’t be predicted with any certainty.Response: It’s true that some projects are more predictable than others; however, people awaiting the outcomes of any project still have expectations for what they’ll get and when. Therefore, a project with many uncertainties needs a manager to develop and share initial plans and then to assess and communicate the effects of unexpected occurrences.

Excuse: As long as everyone does their job, we don’t need any formal planning.Response: Everyone involved in any project needs to understand their goals, their deliverables, on whom they must depend, and any potential conflicts that could block a successful outcome. Formally and holistically planning the project up front will help to ensure project goals, deliverables, and expectations are consistent and understood by all.

Even if you don’t encounter these specific excuses, you can adapt the response examples we provide here to address your own situations.

The short-term pressures of your job as a project manager may tempt you to act today in ways that cause you, your team, or your organization to pay a price tomorrow. Especially with smaller, less formal projects, you may feel no need for organized planning and control.

Don’t be seduced into the following, seemingly easier shortcuts:

Jumping directly from starting the project to carrying out the work: You have an idea and your project is on a short schedule. Why not just start doing the work? Sounds good, but you haven’t defined the work to be done!Other variations on this shortcut include the following:“This project’s been done many times before, so why do I have to plan it out again?” Even though projects can be similar to past ones, some elements are always different. Perhaps you’re working with some new people, using a new piece of equipment, and so on. Take a moment now to be sure your plan addresses the current situation.“Our project’s different than it was before, so what good is trying to plan?” Taking this attitude is like saying you’re traveling in an unknown area, so why try to lay out your route on a roadmap? Planning for a new project is important because no one’s taken this particular path before. Although your initial plan may have to be revised during the project, you and your team need to have a clear statement of your intended plan from the outset.

Failing to prepare in the carrying-out-the-work phase: Time pressure is often the apparent justification for this shortcut. However, the real reason is that people don’t appreciate the need to define procedures and relationships before jumping into the actual project work. See Chapter 13for a discussion of why this preparation step is so important — and get tips on how to complete it.

Jumping right into the work when you join the project in the carrying-out-the-work phase: The plan has already been developed, so why go back and revisit the starting-the-project and the organizing-and-preparing phases? You need to do so for two reasons:To identify any issues that may have overlooked by those who developed it.To understand the reasoning behind the plan and decide whether you feel the plan is achievable.

Only partially completing the closing phase: At the end of one project, you often move right on to the next. Scarce resources and short deadlines encourage this rapid movement, and starting a new project is always more challenging than wrapping up an old one.However, you never really know how successful your project is if you don’t take the time to ensure that all tasks are complete and that you’ve satisfied your clients. If you don’t take positive steps to apply the lessons this project has taught you, you’re likely to make the same mistakes you made in this project again or fail to repeat this project’s successful approaches.

Projects are temporary; they’re created to achieve particular results. Ideally, when the results are achieved, the project ends. Unfortunately, the transitory nature of projects may create some project management challenges, including the following:

Additional assignments: People may be asked to accept an assignment to a new project in addition to — not in lieu of — existing assignments. They may not be asked how the new work might affect their existing projects (your organization’s leadership may just assume the project manager can handle everything). When conflicts arise over a person’s time, the organization may not have adequate guidelines or procedures to resolve those conflicts (or they may not have any guidelines at all).

New people on new teams: People who haven’t worked together before and who may not even know each other may be assigned to the same project team. This lack of familiarity with each other may slow the project down because team members may:Have different operating and communicating stylesUse different procedures for performing the same type of activityNot have time to develop mutual respect and trustFlip ahead to Part 3for guidance on how to put together a successful team and get off on the right foot.