ProjectConnections Newsletter

No one would ever mistake a project manager's job as nothing but sunshine and lollipops, but nothing about our work demands a constant sour outlook. As Cinda Voegtli writes this week, "We ask people to do hard things -- work hard, meet tough deadlines, operate in the midst of uncertainty and pressure. It is certainly helpful if the way we lead makes it easier for them to follow and contribute and get it all done with a positive attitude!" That's more than Pollyanna optimism. It's the acknowledgement that our teams notice how we carry ourselves, and follow our example. It's the understanding that being a PM is more than whip cracking and paper pushing. It's about knowing when to say no, when it's worth saying yes, and how to be the kind of leader people will trust either way.

I've talked in previous articles about aspects of being a great project manager, including what I view as business-oriented leadership: driving forward and leading the team to ensure that a project is launched, planned, and executed with alignment to business goals and customer needs.

I haven't yet touched much on a different aspect of leadership, which I refer to the "leadership persona"—not just what you do as a leader, but also how you come across to others as you lead the team. Along the line I have heard particular managers labeled as strong leaders based (apparently) on their extroverted motivational styles. "He's really good at keeping the team charged up." "She's excellent at inspiring everyone even when the project is difficult." Did this mean that "rah rah motivational leadership," being good at making speeches to keep the team jazzed, was a must? That's how it came across to me at the time.

Over time I have concluded personally that successful team leadership does not depend on the "rah rah" version of extroverted leadership as a foundational requirement. But I do believe that how you come across to people as you fulfill the project manager role can significantly add to or subtract from your effectiveness and the team's energy, morale, and success. Read more »

Related Resources
Leadership and the Project Lifecycle – PREMIUM
This guideline illustrates the evolution of leadership responsibilities throughout those phases. Use it to plan staffing, understand needed skills, and direct the evolution of your own leadership understanding and capabilities.

For project managers, "no" is often the toughest word in the English language to deploy. We often prefer the classic PM strategy of "Yes, but…" as the softer, kinder, gentler alternative. "No" sounds harsh. Uncooperative. It sounds reticent and recalcitrant. It sounds negative. And yet, for many of us, the time has come as professionals to set "yes, but…" aside and venture into the world of "no."

I say this because I note that with increasing frequency, clients are not taking "yes, but..." as an answer. No sooner do we offer a "yes-we-can-do-that, but-it-costs-you-another-million" response that the customer hears only the first half of the equation. They often seem far more interested in capability than cost. As a result, when we come to the table with the costs for their ventures, they balk. Read more »

Related Resources
Consulting Contract Guidelines – PREMIUM
These contract guidelines and examples can help you set expectations that make sense for your organization, from either end of the consulting relationship. Document your understanding about important subjects like intellectual property, payment terms, and termination agreements before you get started.

Q: I am currently looking into some common key performance indicators or metrics which I can use to measure the following: success of the project deployed, effectiveness of the project team leader, effectiveness of the project team members.

A: This is a great question and one that's a little tricky to answer in a universal way, because the suitability of any given metrics will depend on the environment of the project. In some companies on-time delivery is key; in others a flawless product/service launch may be more important, even if it isn't on the original project schedule.

There are some commonalities we can point to, of course. The so-called Iron Triangle of scope, cost, and schedule comes to mind. (Were the planned features included? Did the project meet budget? Was it delivered on time?) But that naturally assumes that the project objectives were feasible to begin with (not always the case) and that the project environment, resources, and so on consistently supported continued feasibility throughout the project (even less frequently true). So metrics and effectiveness need to take that into account as well.

So in order to answer your question, I'll start by providing a few quick KPIs you may want to consider. Following this list you'll find further musings on identifying the indicators that may be most important—or most influential—in your organization. Read more »

Related Resources
Status Reports – PREMIUM
Current status reports are good indicator of what matters to your team members, executive and functional. That's not to say it should be the only or primary metrics for project success, but it's very likely to be important in any successfully received measurement effort. See some example formats from other organizations.

Performance Appraisals – MEMBER
Measurement of effectiveness on a project is a good motivator only if people are actually getting credit for doing well! One way to build this into your appraisal process (and potentially also get some metrics for project effectiveness in other venues) is described in these guidelines.

Requirements and Change Management – PREMIUM
How will the organization measure and account for change requests, quality, etc? If you choose to measure based on the traditional Scope/Cost/Schedule metrics, some allowance should also be made for these things. Accepting all project change requests willy-nilly will inevitably cause problems, but so will refusing everything out of hand. Cultivating a rational process helps to strike a rational balance.

Randy Englund will be participating in a PMO Panel with other thought leaders at the Center for Business Practices "Strategy & Projects Summit" in Scottsdale, AZ, June 24-26, 2008 (www.cbponline.com). Plus, start planning now to attend SeminarsWorld in conjunction with the PMI Global Congress in Denver, CO, October 22-23, 2008 (www.congresses.pmi.org). Randy and his co-author, Alfonso Bucero, will present their seminar on "Creating Excellence in Project Management."

After a hectic March and April, Carl Pritchard wisely scheduled his "How to Be a Great Consultant" seminar next week (May 17-22) for the PMI New Jersey Seminars at Sea. Destination: Bermuda (http://www.pminj.org/08-sea/085smp.htm). In June, you can find him (undoubtedly a bit tanned) explaining "Project Presentation Success" at PMI Austin, TX (June 12, University of Texas JJ Pickle Center, http://www.austinpmi.org/events.php?id=80), and "Risk Management" at PMI SeminarsWorld in Orlando (June 25-26, www.pmi.org). He'll also be supplying a Breakfast Keynote Address for PMI MegaSeminarsWorld that week.

Kent McDonald is headed to Las Vegas June 9-12 for the Better Software Conference, for lengthy sessions on Effective Portfolio Management and how to Help Product Owners Define and Prioritize Requirements. Later this summer, August 4-8, you'll find him at Agile 2008 in Toronto, where he will also be serving as Stage Producer for the Customer and Business Value Stage—right by, ironically enough, a big waterfall in the hotel. (You just can't buy that kind of symmetry.)