IN FACT, THE WHOLE SOLAR SYSTEM seems to have injected itself into Corporate America today. One could say that the end-users of the product, system, or service developed by the project manager and team are from Mercury. End-users being represented by Mercury is quite logical since end-users seem to get “heated” when they don't receive what they want or don't get it in a timely fashion. The marketing and sales department must be from Saturn. This department has a beautiful ring around it, protecting it from the reality offered by all other “planets.” Let's say our subcontractors are from Jupiter, other project managers (peers) are from Neptune, and the project team is from Uranus. Finally, our clients are from Pluto. Isn't it interesting and yet alarming that the end-users of the deliverables and the client of the project seem to be so far apart? Even under the most optimistic alignment of the planets, Mercury and Pluto are separated by a vast distance. And I wonder if we should be concerned that our clients seem to be the furthest away from the Sun (the project deliverables)?
If you look a little more closely, you will also recognize that there are additional planets, moons, comets, meteors, and cosmic debris within the parameters of the project, including our legal department, vendors and suppliers. One thing is for sure: If you have ever been a project manager before, you have certainly noticed that no one on the project ever seems to be from Earth!
Involving All the Planets. As a project manager, you must be aware of all of the “planets” represented on your project. They each have a voice, and the time frame during which you involve them on a project will often determine their receptiveness to your project's success. If you ignore any one of these planets, they will interrupt your orbit when least expected. We then call these planets “phantoms.” They appear out of nowhere, usually toward the end of the project, with comments like, “If you would have asked me, I would have told you …”
Just recently, I observed 12 project team members being handed a project management software package by their project manager to use on a project that had just begun. Just the week before, I had overheard most of them during lunch telling each other which product they were hoping their project manager would select. They seemed to all be in agreement with each other, but none of them were consulted by their project manager as to what product they wanted. As luck would have it, the project manager selected the product they were all hoping for. So, tell me: why did they all complain to the project manager that he had made a terrible choice?
I have always wondered if these “phantoms” would have come up with their great ideas had they been included earlier on the project, or were they just looking for something they didn't like because they were not asked for their input right up front? Either way, they disrupt the project and knock it off course.
The Need to Communicate. What are the roles and responsibilities of the project manager? Seventy to 90 percent of the project manager's time is spent communicating. Thus, the project manager needs a very sophisticated satellite system designed to communicate throughout the entire solar system. The project manager needs to be able to communicate with all of the stakeholders on the project, and yes, they all really do speak “their own language.” Miscommunication with any of these stakeholders can be detrimental to the success of the project. Have you ever been in a foreign land, using your handy pocket translator, and misspoke because of language nuances? This is very similar to a project manager trying to deal with each of the stakeholders. Avoid “red flag” words at all costs. If you are dealing with a government agency, you ought not to say, “Well, that is good enough for government work!” Likewise, if you are dealing with Kodak, you do not ask, “Where's your Xerox machine?”
Communication is crucial in keeping our “solar system” balanced, and in achieving success. Dealing with Saturn (marketing and sales) may, on occasion, require “kid gloves,” while dealing with Jupiter (subcontractors) in a similar situation may require a “stern hand.” Dealing with Neptune (peers) may require a little more diplomacy while dealing with Uranus (project team) may require a little more coddling. As John Gray says in his book Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus (1997, HarperCollins), each participant in a relationship must be aware of the other person in the relationship and how they may respond to certain situations.
Earlier this decade, I heard about a communications company executive who mentioned to a project manager of the new product development department a new service she was considering offering to the company's customers. Immediately, the project manager dove into the project, and began design and development of this new service. The executive was seldom in the office, so there was no communication between the two until the next quarterly meeting. With the service nearing completion, the project manager proudly shared what had been done so far on the project, and the executive nearly hit the roof. Unbeknownst to the project manager, she had purchased that service (off the shelf) two weeks prior.
A lack of, or breakdown in, communication can waste valuable time and resources and seriously affect the morale of those involved in the project.
Communicating Below the Surface. Saturn has a tendency to believe that it rules the universe, as it is often true that marketing and sales “rules” project end-dates and requirements. For, without a successful marketing and sales team, project managers would have virtually no projects to manage. Furthermore, Saturn has a tendency to keep things to itself, even when communicating with Mars and the other planets. Project managers must recognize that there may be very good reasons for this behavior. In many environments, marketing and sales is compensated based on selling and closing business. Though this is an “above the surface” fact to marketing and sales, many project managers, unaware of this compensation structure, may consider it “below the surface”—a hidden or unknown detail. Once business is closed, and handed off to the project manager, marketing and sales shifts focus solely to new business opportunities. In the past few years I have seen several companies begin to compensate marketing and sales not only by commission on what they sell, but also by how successful the project is upon completion; but this shift in philosophy will not happen overnight.
If Mars is ever to find out what Saturn's real needs are, it must instigate the communication. If necessary, with the assistance of a “high-powered satellite system.” This high-powered satellite system should be able to go beneath the surface and identify what is really lurking there. Project managers must not wait for information to be offered, but must always seek out information for itself, not only from marketing but also from all the “planets.”
In fact, to be successful, project managers need partnership and constant communication with all the other planets in the solar system. Perhaps Mars could broadcast from that famous radio station, WIIFM (What's In It For Me), emphasizing how each planet might benefit from open communication. This broadcast needs to be in a language that all the planets can understand, be interactive (two-way communication), and to communicate not only to the side of the planet that faces the Sun, but to the dark side as well.
Alignment and Realignment. Mars needs to realize that during the life cycle of a project, the “solar system” will align and realign itself, each time differently. For instance, early in the life of a project Pluto (the client) may be aligned most closely with Venus (management), and not at all with Mercury (end-users). As the project progresses, Pluto may be further from Venus, yet become very close with Mercury. Project managers must recognize this changing alignment when communicating with the various stakeholders. Hearing “I want it quickly” from Venus may mean one thing when Pluto is aligned with Mercury and something entirely different when Pluto is not.
Each planet emits various degrees of heat as it closes in on or moves away from the Sun. Simply put, during various phases of the project, certain stakeholders are more outspoken than are others. At the beginning it is marketing, and toward the end it is the end-users. Mars cannot eclipse itself from any of the planets. Nor can project managers afford to build singularly strong alignment with any of the other “planets” individually. Creating team alignment is essential. Project managers must recognize, understand and evaluate all the other existing alignments. For instance, if subcontractors contracted by top management were asked to take direction from the project manager, it might prove difficult. However, if they were contracted directly by (and thus aligned with) the project manager, this might not be a problem at all.
If we examine the solar system (or project, as the case may be) on different days of the year, we would see that on any given day certain planets are much further away from Mars than on other days. In the beginning of a project, the project manager needs to align closely with marketing and sales in order to achieve a successful hand-off. Throughout the development effort of the project, however, the project manager must align closely with the client(s), the end-users, and the team members. Testing and documentation occurs toward the end of the project, and communication with them must be close at this point, but should be open throughout, including the beginning of the project. The project manager should always assure close alignment with senior management, or at least be cognizant of senior management's changing needs and interests throughout the project.
Interestingly, the project manager (Mars) is not the closest to the deliverables (the Sun), but keeps his or her distance in order to focus on the roles and responsibilities of managing the project. If the project manager gets too close to the Sun, he or she may not stay focused on the role of project manager, and get too involved with the technical tasks of the project. If the project manager gets too far away from the Sun, losing touch with the project's objectives and deliverables is a danger. For years, project managers have frequently been hired because of their technical competence. More recently, we are seeing project managers hired because of their project management expertise, though having technical competence is still a plus.
Maintaining Close Alignment. No matter what the alignment of the planets, Mars and Venus must never stray too far apart from one another. This should be true on any project. Project managers must establish an effective communications channel with a direct feed to management. Sure, one may say that it is the responsibility of senior management to establish communication with the project manager. However, an effective project manager will always realize that if this is not already established it should be his or her responsibility to do so.
It is equally true that project managers must not only establish close alignment with all of the planets but also maintain it. This is crucial to project success. An error in judgment or recognition of a problem with another planet or group of planets can be costly.
A few years back, I heard of a project where Uranus was most definitely not aligned with Mars . The project team was to grammatically correct a brochure for publication advertising a new service. The team completed the “minimum requirement” of this job, but neglected to test the 800 phone number on the publication. Technically, this was not part of the task description, but it is customary to check such details in the interest of thoroughness. The project manager, unaware of the misalignment, signed-off on the publication, and off it went to print and into the hands of hundreds of thousands of potential customers. Guess what? The 800 number was incorrect; in fact, it was the number for one of those “phone sex” lines!
Projectized vs. Functional Structured Alignment. Now, if Mars (the project manager) was planning out a project with Uranus (the project team), would he or she have to manage the effort differently in a projectized rather than functional structure? In a projectized structure the project manager has a great deal of authority over the project, whereas in a functional structure the team member has one clear superior, and it is most often not the project manager. It seems to be most often true that whoever is “paying your bill” seems to get most of your attention. The alignment of the planets varies in each of these structures; therefore, the project manager needs to be aware of the structure and react accordingly.
Alignment of Pluto and Mercury. As the project manager, we must never lose sight of our environment. Sometimes the galaxy may seem hazy and obstructed, while at other times clear. As we know, sometimes the planets may be aligned, at other times they are very disjointed. We may need to react differently to similar situations at different times. If the skies are calm and tranquil, we may be able to handle Pluto (the client) a certain way. However, given the same situation in the midst of a meteor shower, our reactions might differ greatly. Clients have a tendency to “change” the scope of the project from time to time. Some call this “scope creep” while others call it “creeping elegance.” No matter what we call it, it always seems to disrupt the project. Adjustments need to be made to satisfy clients. The project manager must consider whether a request came from a legal requirement, the impact if it is not done, what other projects may be impacted if it is done, whether the team is already “short staffed” for the current workload, and whether the change impacts any of the end-users adversely.
The project manager would also need to know if Pluto (client) and Mercury (end-user) were aligned at that time. If so, the handling of the situation may be much easier than if they were not. We should note that seldom are these two planets in alignment. We should also recognize the importance of Mars in aligning them. A “hazy and obstructed” sky can become a meteor shower if we fail to do so.
Quite some time ago, when color printers first became popular, I was involved with a software development effort to colorize some output slides used by several thousand end-users. Our client set aside a lot of money for this project. The client was very excited about the possibilities of this project, and the project manager of this effort took direction from the client. Upon completion of the project, the new output slides were presented to the end-users, including a few very high-level executives of the company. You could hear a pin drop after one of the executives stood up and explained that he could not understand the output slides. You see, this executive was colorblind.
Additional Projects and Nonproject Distractions. Each planet also has moons orbiting it, distracting it from its purpose from time to time. In most business environments, stakeholders on one project are also involved with many other projects simultaneously. Some moons may indeed be other projects, others may represent nonproject activities such as maintenance, support, or daily activities. Still other moons may represent projects that have not yet been identified. Without recognizing the importance of these moons, we may fool ourselves into believing that our schedule is realistic and our project will be a success. Most organizations have limited resources available to accomplish all of these efforts. Therefore, it is necessary to identify all moons, including the ones way off in the distance that we cannot yet see.
IT MAY NOT BE EVIDENT to the naked eye, but a project manager's job is not quite what it seems. There are many planets, moons, comets, meteors, and cosmic debris factors that have to figure into the equation, and the project manager must be aware of them all. Like the solar system, with new planets continually being discovered, throwing past beliefs about our universe to the winds, project managers constantly discover new relationships that, if not cultivated properly, may disprove their beliefs about the particulars of the project. If we don't communicate, or at least attempt to communicate, with all the “planets” in our project environment, unpleasant surprises may appear when we least expect them. It is up to us, the project managers, to keep peace and harmony among all the planets in our vast solar system.
A safe and successful interplanetary voyage to you all. And don't forget your telescope! ■
Lary A. Mars, PMP, is president of Koala-T Management Consulting Inc., a Colorado-based project management training and consulting firm. He is the author of Koala T, an internationally recognized quality-based project management process. He can be reached at 303/6906360 or [email protected].