Is the Project Manager an Overseer?

(Image by dunechaser on flickr)

Intro

Which of the following vignettes are closest to your model of a good project manager?

James

James sees himself as the boss.  His Microsoft Project
schedule is taken down to the 4 hour level.  All assigned resources
are expected to provide detailed status reports by Friday 4pm.  All
task assignments are reviewed in his Monday morning project status
meeting.  James reviews every task for quality, and sends most back for
rework.  He often makes final changes to team member deliverables
himself to ensure that they are up to his personal standards.

Kathy

Kathy also keeps detailed Microsoft Project schedules.  She sends email updates with links to these plans to all stakeholders every week.  As part of her status report to customers and management, she reports task assignment names and percentages complete.  Working team members are expected to keep her informed of their progress, delays and risks.  Kathy assumes that they are professionals and will do what they are assigned, and so performs minimal follow up.

Meg

Meg was promoted to Project Manager as a result of her excellent work in content development.  She is a subject matter expert in web design, though her assigned role is full time PM.  Because her team members are less experienced than she, Meg finds herself spending most of her day doing the actual project tasks.  While she does have project plans, they are usually 4 to 5 weeks out of date.

Matrix Management

Most IT project managers work in matrixed environments.  This means that they are not direct supervisors.  Instead, team members report to a different functional manager who approves time sheets and performs administrative duties.   Even in organizations where PMs directly manage team members, there is much variation in how the PM performs her primary role of leading the project.

Frustrations of Project Managers With Previous Supervisory Experience

Many PMs who have had direct reports adopt well to a matrixed
environment.  This is especially true if they’ve developed a
collaborative, team oriented style.  Others can sometimes be frustrated.  PMs who attempt to “boss” or use heavy-handed techniques will find themselves sandbagged by team members and functional managers, resulting in gradual ineffectiveness and project failure.

Task Coordination

One of the most important roles of the project manager is overall task coordination.  For this to happen, the PM must be familiar with the scope and requirements of the project.  All requirements must be broken down into appropriately sized tasks with time estimates and start and end dates.  On the best managed projects this chunking is done in conjunction with the people doing the work.  Once the tasks are assigned, project managers work with their teams to keep track of these tasks.  While requiring status reports is good, establishing open two-way communication is even better.

Accountability

Without accountability for tasks, the chances of any project being successful (i.e. meeting scope, time and budget) are slim.  As a project manager in a matrixed environment, you must find a respectful way to ensure that team members are accountable for all work assigned to them.  This means that:

• They agree to the start and end dates for tasks.
• They inform you if they will not be able to start a task on time.
• They inform you in advance if a task will finish late.
• They meet the minimum level of acceptable quality in your organization.
• There are consequences if they fail to follow through on any of these points.

It is easier to manage projects with experienced (e.g. know how to do the work) and professional (e.g. take pride in their work) team members, as they tend to have self-directed accountability.

Team members do not have to be accountable to you for the completion of their work.  It’s often better if they are not.  However, they must be accountable to someone (usually their functional manager) for their performance on your project tasks.

If formal accountability is not a reality in your organization, it will be up to you to develop your personal influence and informal authority if you want your projects to be a source of pride rather than pain.

Balance

Is the project manager an overseer?  Only in the sense that she holds the vision of the project and guides everyone gently towards its conclusion within time, budget, scope and quality.

Tagged as: Communication, Email, Endings, goodness, Management, Manager, Meetings, Microsoft, People, Respect, Success, Team, Teams, web design

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