ProjectConnections Newsletter

Office politics is a phrase that summons profound distaste in most of us. Our newest columnist doesn't see it that way at all. "When we refer to politics," he writes, "it always seems to be in a negative vein. This is quite common. Remember, there's a positive side to politics; however, it's usually not referred to as politics. Usually, the positive is referred to with different terms. For example, we usually refer to relationship building, influencing, and gaining consensus. These are all political and very positive for our careers and our projects." And so Brian Irwin, author of Managing Politics and Conflict in Projects, joins the ProjectConnections team to contribute his insights into the constructive aspects of office politics. His debut column addresses the vagaries of handling engineers run amok and distant project sponsors, yet another in the stable of skills that it takes to be a truly great project manager.

Once you know what it takes to be a great project manager, how do you find the best setting to show off those skills? This week, ProjectConnections founder Cinda Voegtli addresses some of the surprising, quirky career paths she's seen over the years, and discusses what those careers teach us about not how, but where to show your chops as a great PM. Plus, Kent McDonald explains why it's not enough for agile teams to demand a single wringable neck from the customer. In short, there are lots of practical insights here for you this week, so we'll leave you to it now. Read on...

Why do we refer to "project politics" with distaste, while the positive aspects get punchy names like relationship building, influencing, and gaining consensus? Brian Irwin, author of Managing Politics and Conflict in Projects, isn't buying; his articles encourage readers to master the art of constructive project politics. In his first column for ProjectConnections Brian suggests strategies for proactive management of engineers run amok and inattentive project sponsors.

"I am the project manager for a construction equipment manufacturer. I lead engineering development projects for the creation of new equipment. Recently, I traveled to a customer site with two of our engineers. One, whom I'll refer to as Dan, has several years experience in engineering but only about one year with our company. Dan also has a Ph.D. and holds several patents.

"During a meeting with the customer, which was to be a requirements-gathering and feedback solicitation on our products, Dan began to present detailed information (including drawings) of equipment modifications and improvements he devised in our current product line. The problem is that these were known to nobody but Dan and had not been shown to our management. Further, the designs presented would be cost-prohibitive for us to manufacture and produce. A few days after our visit, the client called to inform us they were planning to set aside some of that year's capital funding to purchase some of the new equipment. The sales manager was caught off guard and there is now enormous pressure to produce the design as the client is one of our largest. How should I now handle the situation?"

Related Resources
Project Sponsor Roles and Responsibilities – PREMIUM
A discussion of the characteristics and responsibilities of the Project Sponsor.

Software Requirements Capture Guideline – PREMIUM
Be sure you're actually building the right thing -- and be sure everyone else is sure, too.

Putting the Cart before the Horse
How to keep your requirements session on track.

In my previous posts, I've provided my ideas about what constitutes a great PM. This time, I would like to bridge to what these ideas can mean for someone's overall career. Of course, it seems obvious that if you're a great PM, you'll get more opportunities. Certainly you'd seem like the person to call for bigger and hairier and more complex projects. But I bring this up because of the unexpected career paths I've seen people take based on a foundation of PM ability. [Each of these people] had a really interesting mix of career experience—a series of positions that was not planned out for any of them, but evolved based on their performance, abilities, etc. From what I know of each of them, their opportunities came about because of their PM Greatness in particular areas that fit their environments and led to excellent performance of the job at hand, and the opportunity for the next great challenge.

Cinda summarizes some of the quirky career paths she's seen and the great PM opportunities she has distilled from them.

Want to hear from Cinda in person? She's leading two half-day workshops at IEEE ProCon in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on April 29: "Becoming Great Project Managers" and "The Business-Savvy Project Manager." Read more »

Related Resources
Ways to Gain Career-Enhancing PM Skills and Experience – PREMIUM
Boosting your skill set without waiting for decades of experience.

Project Manager/Team Leader Roles & Responsibilities – PREMIUM
A discussion of the responsibilities of a project manager or team leader.

How Do I Develop Myself as a Leader? – MEMBER
Are leaders born, or are they made? How is leadership taught? How is it learned?

Selling Executives, Planning, and Post-Mortems – MEMBER
A Senior Software Development Manager's insights into getting started in PM and her first project, the importance of selling project concepts to executives, her most important advice to new PMs, and more.

Improving Project Management & Increasing Its Perceived Value – MEMBER
Read about Neil's eclectic career path through project management, his opinions on dealing with the cross-functional challenges projects face, interesting executive coaching and PM improvement roles, and his opinions on why project management is not always valued at the top and what to do about it.

The daily standup was progressing as usual, until Vince's turn. "Well, yesterday I worked on the address screen for a while, and then I moved to the credit card entry screen, and then I messed around a little with the report request screen. Today I plan on working with the address screen, the credit card screen, and the report screens a little more. I don't have any obstacles."

Gina, looked at him quizzically and asked, "Why aren't you working on one thing at a time instead of jumping from one thing to another?"

"Oh," replied Vince a little irritated, "because I get so far on one thing, then I need to ask Todd a question about how the users want it, and he says he has an idea, but he wants to clear it by Mary, Joe, and Polly first. It seems like they always get back to him right away, but they always have different viewpoints and they can't come to a clear decision."

"Humph," chimed in Kim, "I wish Todd would just make a decision. It seemed so much easier when we just did what we knew was right. The customers never seem to know what they want anyway, or at least be able to agree."

"Yeah, no kidding," said Gina. "But when we started doing this, we insisted on having one customer to talk to and to have them with us all the time, and Todd is who they gave us. He's a good guy, but he has only been with that department for a couple of months. Where is Todd anyway?"

"He went home with a migraine," said Vince, looking at the Task Board wondering what other task he could get started on that wouldn't be a big deal if he didn't finish right away. Read more »

Just one customer representative to talk to, seated with the development team all the time … sounds like a great idea, doesn't it? Be careful what you ask for.

Kent McDonald will be at the Better Software Conference in Las Vegas in June. His presentations there will address effective portfolio management and how to "Help Product Owners Define and Prioritize Requirements." More information and registration information is available on the conference website.

Related Resources
Project Escalation Guidelines – MEMBER
Escalating issues without escalating the situation.

Agile Technique Guideline: Stand-up Meetings – PREMIUM
What happens when you hide the chairs.

Agile: Overview and Core Methods – MEMBER
The statements that are the core of agile, and what they really mean.

Tired of trying to coax your team out of hiding to get some necessary meeting work done? There are dozens of things you can do to improve the meetings you run so people will want to be a part of them. This bundle of 15 templates and guidelines helps you tackle some of the most valuable meeting management strategies you can try. Simple guidelines and checklists walk you through the evaluation process so you'll know what to focus on first. Formatting examples speed up your meeting planning and make it less painful. Special guidelines address unique meeting types, and a veritable plethora of agenda examples provide a starting point for one of your most important meeting habits. 15 valuable templates, one simple purchase. Learn more »

Randy Englund presents "Managing Project Sponsorship" next week (Thursday, April 24th) in Dublin, California for the East Bay IT Group Project Management SIG. If you're trying to figure out how to make this whole sponsorship thing work, club your sponsor over the head and drag them here. If you're the sponsor, club yourself over the head and drag your project manager here. (Metaphorically speaking of course. We don't actually recommend hitting your sponsor over the head with anything—it tends to cut into your budget.) Randy will also be in Houston at the end of the month, presenting "Improving Your Project Management Skills: The Basics for Success" for the American Management Association from April 30-May 2.

Kimberly Wiefling still has spots available for her Creating a Vision for Your Future workshop on April 19 in Redwood City, California. With taxes done, this is a good time to use the right side of your brain for a while; Kimberly challenges her workshop attendees to "Explore what's possible for your life beyond more of the same."

Risk guru Carl Pritchard is living up to his billing with Risk Management courses at PMI SeminarsWorld April 24-25 (Scottsdale Hilton Resort) and PMI MegaSeminarsWorld in Orlando on June 25-26. He'll provide a Breakfast Keynote Address in Orlando as well. Information and registration for both events can be found on the PMI website. For a slightly more exotic setting, consider the PMI New Jersey Seminars At Sea, May 17-22. Carl will be conducting an 8 PDU seminar on "How to Be a Great Consultant" when he's not lounging on deck. (Hey, we would be!)