Aspects of Project Management

Anyone on this site The first 4 chapters consistently reinforce ideas that I'm sure many of us in the program have seen or experienced. There is little to disagree with in these chapters. In my experience, the most important ideas, however, are found on pages 29-30, Surviving your Org Culture. These 5 issues, Authority; communication; priority; focus; chain of command, describe for me the critical elements of a successful project. Certainly, on technical projects where the PM is also a technical participant, tech skills are necessary. Once the PM steps up to manage the project, the 5 aforementioned attributes become the overriding factors in success or failure. Absent the expressed authority to run the project and a clear chain of command, political interests and petty personal dissatisfactions will arise. The art of the PM is to craft his/her message concerning the authority and chain in such a way as to demonstrate that the project outcomes are the central focus of the project. This message can/must be done with tact and grace if s/he expects folks to get on board with his leadership. Communication is tied with authority and COC for its ability to bring success (or failure if absent). It is critical to establish a solid communication plan and protocols (including change management process) early in the planning process. As one is establishing the stakeholders, one can also begin to determine communication tools, protocols, levels of "need to know", etc. In my experience, projects more often fail for lack of communication than for mistakes in technical skills. Priority and focus are certainly crucial. Both will/should develop out of the initial discussions that generate the charter and statement of work. Clear, measurable outcomes are very important since, as they say, "If you don't know where you're going, any road is o.k." In this connection, it may be useful to follow the edict, "Start with the end in mind". To be a successful PM, one must develop a keen sense of people issues, while at the same time clarifying the who, what, where, when, why, and how of the charter. dh