In This Issue:
From the Editor
Career Corner
Geof Lory on Get Comfortable with Uncertainty
Site Highlights
Round and Round the Conference Table She Goes…
And Once Again, You Have Confused Me with the Maid
You Finished the Requirements, We'll Take It From Here
Hide, Here Comes the PM Again!
So You Want to Be a Project Manager
We've Got the Signature, What More Is There?
Where's ProjectConnections?
This month: Washington D.C., Chicago, Houston
Next month: Pittsburgh
Corporate Subscriptions
From the Editor
There are so many moving parts and pieces in a project, it's easy for things to get overlooked. Sometimes it's a dependency no one recognized until progress ground to a halt. Sometimes, it's an entire functional role that leaves a glaring hole in the project and kills efficiency. This week we decided to point out some guidelines and tools you can use to avoid these oversights. Make sure everyone knows what's involved in a role, a task, a relationship, and where the lines (of dependency or responsibility) should be drawn. Plus, columnist Geof Lory discusses the dangers of motivating with fear, and his preferred alternatives.
Career Corner
But It's Just a Little Coding – Why shouldn't I contribute as part of the development team in addition to managing the project? – PREMIUMQ: I thought doing some of the work myself would help the project, but why do the managers give me strange looks?
A: Where is the true value in your effort: contributing to creation of the deliverables, or guiding the team and helping to resolve roadblocks? We've all been there, as the vast majority of project managers used to be contributors on project teams until someone saw their value in organization, coordination, and leadership. In all but the simplest projects, you will not have time yourself to do direct work. One of the biggest time robbers for a project manager rising out of the ranks is "doing it myself to be sure it gets done right" or taking on direct work to ease a schedule crunch. If delegation were easy, there wouldn't be so many books on how to do it. Read the rest of the answer »
We've all been tempted or caught by the trap that says it's easier just to do things than to try to explain it or hunt up extra resources. But as is so often the case, shortcuts make for long delays. Eventually, we pay the price for that kind of pitching in. Team members are unwilling or unable to put in their best effort because the project manager is just going to do it over anyway. Work backs up and dates are missed because, instead of a facilitator, the project lead becomes a bottleneck.
In some environments, on some projects, it may be appropriate for the manager to put their own shoulder to the wheel. Generally, these will be very small projects and/or teams, with a short horizon and fairly limited scope. Most of the time, a project manager is better off "moving boulders and carrying water" to help the team get things done.
If you're trying to climb out of the "just a little code work" hole, consider setting up a coaching arrangement with a senior PM you respect to help you re-establish boundaries around your project role. Our PM Coaching Guidelines can help you set up something that will be helpful without being disruptive to your mentor. Remember also to set up and stick to the roles and responsibilities outlined with your team members in documents like the Responsibility Allocation Matrix mentioned in our site highlights this week. And make sure you know what role your project sponsor expects you to play.
Featured Article
Get Comfortable with Uncertainty by Geof Lory
When a team is storming, FUD is rampant. The symptoms can be observed in chaotic conversations, dysfunctional interactions, or excessive self-protective behavior. The fear stems from the foggy view of the uncertain future. That is why many standard project management practices and processes are aimed at clarifying the future to reduce the uncertainty. Documenting requirements and work in a Statement of Work and associated Work Breakdown Structure; establishing roles and responsibilities in a RAM/RACI chart; documenting procedures and plans for risk, resourcing, and communication—all attempt to make the future more certain and, in doing so, reduce the fear.
But the future, by definition, will always include some element of uncertainty, and therefore some associated fear. Rather than spending excessive energy attempting to predict the future, I suggest we work with the energy of FUD effectively and constructively to transform and motivate the team.
At a base level, fear creates a fight/flight response. Both behaviors are symptomatic of the team struggling with uncertainty. The fight is usually seen through resistance and negativity on the team. You can overcome some of this resistance by driving the clarity that reduces uncertainty. However, managers are not always patient enough to apply this approach and instead find it easier to up the ante with fear. Their feeling is that what is needed is urgency to mobilize the team, and they believe instilling fear will do just that. Read more »
Site Highlights
Round and Round the Conference Table She Goes… Responsibility Allocation Matrix – PREMIUMIt's one thing to know that Steve is responsible for Quality Systems on Project X. It's another to know exactly what Steve, or anyone else, thinks that means, or what he'll need from others to get it done. Without some common understanding, you'll spend hours on the conference table merry-go-round trying to figure out whether anyone even knew they had the ball, let alone who might have dropped it. This template includes both the blank matrix and an example several pages long, to give you a good idea what it looks like in actual use. Get everyone on the team to contribute to their own row(s) in the table, and you'll encourage team-wide understanding of how their tasks intersect with others. You'll also stand a better chance of covering all the bases in your cross-functional project schedule.
Task Responsibility Matrix Formats – PREMIUM
Looking for some alternate table formats? Teams running simpler or smaller projects may prefer one of these formats. They're a bit more condensed, but they still provide a good view of cross-functional responsibilities and overlooked dependencies.
A high-level contracted advisor is suddenly stuck fiddling with the scheduling software. A project manager discovers their valued consultant has been shifting contracted work to overloaded engineers. Even when all parties truly have the best of intentions, there are a myriad of ways for a contracted relationship to create confusion or friction. It pays to spell things out ahead of time. It's not about hiding behind the contract language, but about setting proper expectations for everyone involved, to avoid later frustrations and resentment. These guidelines discuss typical elements of these contracts—payment terms, termination agreements, intellectual property ownership, scope of work, and other sticky situations—as well as due diligence you should pursue before signing, and two sample contracts.
You Finished the Requirements, We'll Take It From Here – Product Manager Roles and Responsibilities in the Development Life Cycle – SPECIAL
This Premium resource is free to registered Members until August 19, 2009
Not so fast! Product managers aren't just valuable on the front end of the project. They should be involved throughout the entire development process, monitoring progress, assisting with issues that come up, and evaluating deliverables against the customer need. This one-page table (granted, it's a big page) shows how one company outlined product manager involvement from project conception clear through delivery and close-out, with specific references to deliverables and lifecycle phases and their expected level of contribution. This is a great orientation tool for a new product manager, or one working on a different/larger project for the first time. After customizing this to your organization's lifecycles, consider creating similar tables for other critical project roles as well.
Hide, Here Comes the PM Again! – Getting Relevant to Get Results – MEMBER
Do your team members see you as a paper-pushing bureaucrat? You're not alone. But you can bridge this common divide by bringing functional concerns to the forefront of the project work, using low-overhead management that solves their problems, and generally making them partners in the management effort. This paper uses examples from actual projects to show how to make project management relevant to your technical teams. It covers typical issues, describes how a well integrated team looks and performs, and covers the concrete steps you may have to take to change attitudes and habits and make it happen.
So You Want to Be a Project Manager – Project Manager/Team Leader Roles & Responsibilities – SPECIAL
This Premium resource is free to registered Members until August 19, 2009
Whether you've fought for the position, been drafted into it, or suddenly realize it's what they meant when they asked if you could "take this on," you find yourself heading up a project. What's next? The answer depends on the project and the organization of course, but this guideline outlines some typical expectations. Several pages of real world examples and language from executives illustrate the typical responsibilities, career-enhancing skills, and general advice for success in this role—whether it's your first, fifth, or fiftieth project.
We've Got the Signature, What More Is There? – Project Sponsor Role & Responsibilities – PREMIUM
Plenty! An executive sponsor really wants the project to succeed, if only because their name is associated with it. They've got the business understanding and clout to help with difficult tradeoffs and resource challenges. On the other hand, busy executive schedules mean they don't have time to be down in the trenches on every decision and minor issue. This guideline outlines the characteristics and responsibilities of a good project sponsor. If you're already assigning project sponsors, these guidelines can help both sponsors and project managers set expectations with each other. If you aren't yet assigning formal project sponsors, use these guidelines to establish that role, get everyone oriented, and start reaping the benefits of executive-level project support.
Where's ProjectConnections?
Carl Pritchard will be at PMI Seminars World in Washington D.C. August 10-11, with a seminar on Risk Management. September 16-17 he'll be teaching Project Management Essentials in Pittsburgh, PA. More details and registration information are available on Carl's website.
Kent McDonald will be at Agile 2009 in Chicago August 24-28. He has a session on "Barely Sufficient Portfolio Management" with Todd Little (one of the co-authors of Stand Back and Deliver) and one on "Feature Injection" with Chris Matts.
Niel Nickolaisen, another Stand Back and Deliver co-author and a ProjectConnections blogger, also has a session at Agile 2009 with Chris Matts, charmingly titled "First, Kill All the Metrics." In October he'll be in Athens, Greece, to address Pragmatic IT and Alignment. (Details forthcoming.)
Kimberly Wiefling returns to the states this week for a workshop in Houston, followed by the Case University STEP program the week of August 17.
Corporate Subscriptions and Licensing
Want your team members to have their own access to templates and how-to resources for their project work? Need to share documents and deliverables beyond your project team? We make it easier with affordable corporate subscriptions and licensing. Detailed information regarding corporate options is available online. Give your whole team, or even the entire organization, cost-effective access to our comprehensive online library of resources. You already know how helpful it's been for you. Now it's time to share with everyone else. Find out more »Not sure if corporate terms apply to you? Check out our licensing terms at the top of our Terms of Service page, in refreshingly ordinary, everyday English.