Sam's journey continued to the next mountain. There the great guru of project managers provided some insights that made Sam confident that the raft was indeed a “possible dream.”
Sam recalled that an earlier encounter had revealed the theory that, “You become a project manager one zero at a time.” If that is true, then there must be certain things that need to be learned first. What could these be? One guru provided a “Skill Inventory” that, in addition to including leadership, identified administrative skills and technical skills. They sorted out something like this.
COMMUNICATING EFFECTIVELY
One of the critical skills that typically differentiates a project manager from a technologist is the ability to communicate, both orally and in writing. Many people abhor expressing themselves orally in other than one-on-one. If this is you, forget about becoming a project manager. On the other hand, if you avoid communicating to a group because of a feeling of inadequacy, there are some simple remedies. The first is simply taking advantage of opportunities to speak in low-risk environments. If you want to be more aggressive, you might take one or more courses at a community college. If you really want to be aggressive in developing your speaking capabilities and need a supportive environment, seek out a local chapter of “Toastmasters, International.”
If writing is difficult, there are some other approaches. Your local community college probably offers a variety of courses in writing. Be careful, though. Unless your objective is to create fiction, you really need a course in business writing. There is a difference!
Another aid in writing is the personal computer. For one thing, it is easier to edit and rewrite. The spell checker can be helpful but it does not check for meaning, only that the word exists as spelled. For example, both functional and dysfunctional are legitimate words but their meaning is quite different. Furthermore, the dictionary contains perfectly legitimate words that could be very embarrassing in public discourse.
The PC is also very helpful in improving your grammar. The grammar-checking capability can not only improve the grammar on a given document, but can improve your knowledge of grammar at the same time. To achieve the latter you must take the time to use it carefully. Turn on the explanations and read them. If you do not understand them, invest in a reference such as the Chicago Manual of Style. It provides a well-indexed guide to the details of grammar.
Another advantage of using a grammar checker is that it will analyze your writing for ease of reading. The Gunning's Fog Index and the Flesch-Kincaid Score are measures of reading difficulty presented as a number that represents the grade level of your writing. For example, 12 implies the reading level of a person who has successfully completed high school. Two factors contribute to a high reading level. They are the number of words in a sentence and number of words with more than three syllables.
With all of these nice tools, though, you have the ultimate responsibility for what a document says. You must learn the skills of proofreading to be sure your document says what you intend and that ambiguity is reduced to a minimum.
The above refers to reading ease. If you are making an oral presentation, these concepts become even more critical. A long, complex, convoluted sentence is even more likely to be misunderstood when heard than when read. Write your presentation exactly as you plan to give it. Use the grammar checker to aid in revising and simplifying.
Present it by reading your script if you wish but your delivery may seem dry and stilted. A better method is to convert your script into notes and presentation aids. Then you will be able to speak to the group as if you are talking to only one individual. Just be sure to slow down and speak with increased volume.
There is much more to communicating effectively than can be discussed here. Just remember, in general, you are communicating in everything you do … how you dress, how you behave, how you look at people, the tone of your voice, and how you listen. Pay at least as much attention to these means of communicating as you do to your written and spoken words.
Finally, some of the best communications are done with only two words: Thank you … Good Job … Keep going … Good thinking.
UNDERSTAND POLICIES AND PROCEDURES
Every organization has policies and procedures to ensure consistency in behavior of all elements of the organization. Most of the time most of these procedures are designed to aid you in knowing what to do in most circumstances. Sometimes they get out of date or become conflicting with others that have been changed. Some just should not apply in certain new situations. Nevertheless, intimate knowledge of these documents will reduce the chances of you doing something stupid. It is essential that you read all relevant policies and procedure, a chore that will challenge your senses. With a few exceptions, humorous they are not.
Perhaps the most important parts of these documents are the sections that discuss potential deviations from approved policies and procedures. The most important person to know, in this case, is the person who represents your area on committees that deal with important procedures. Knowing the policies and procedures will aid you in doing things right the first time. Knowing the record of deviations and plans for revisions will often enable you to accomplish things that others cannot.
ATTRACTING AND HOLDING CAPABLE PEOPLE
Projects are performed by people. Projects (except for your first one) are never done by “I.” Never forget that.
People will gladly help you if you can be just a little humble and if you are willing to share the credit. If you are unable to do these two things, you may notice one of three things happen. People may start avoiding you and your projects. If they cannot accomplish that, they may just stand back and let you do it by yourself. If you are really “bad” you may get sandbagged. In case that phrase is not familiar to you, maybe you recall a couple of your “friends” doing that to you. Ever have someone approach you from the front and all of a sudden give you a shove backward? Only then did you realize that someone else had snuck up and was on hands and knees right behind you. Boom! On a project, it may be done with more finesse, but it will be just as big a shock and maybe far more damaging.
Some old-timers have expressed their management philosophy very succinctly. They feel that the only motivation people working with them need is the opportunity for continued employment. Years ago, that may have worked most of the time, and it may work some of the time today. If that is your approach today, you may have trouble recruiting the really good people.
Learn what the people who work with you really want from their investment in your project. Maybe it's the opportunity to prove their potential in a specific area. You can help them achieve that and you can be sure their success is recognized by key people who will make a difference. Maybe they simply want some flex time to permit them to be a little league baseball coach.
This sort of consideration will not only elicit the cooperation of those on your team but the word will get around that you believe in meeting the needs of your people. Soon you will find the best people want to work on your project.
But being considerate by itself will not earn you this respect. People want to work on successful projects. You must ensure that you also develop a reputation for running successful projects. Successful projects lead to good entries on a person's resumé. Good re-sumés lead to greater opportunities. Helping people write good lines on their resumés will gain you all the good help you will need.
DELEGATING EFFECTIVELY
A good entry on a resumé is a responsibility earned out successfully. If you can break your projects down into assignments that can be delegated effectively you will have minimized your own problems and created opportunities for your project team members. The key to this is the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). This will be presented in a subsequent article in this series.
In the early stages of development, a project manager generally also has responsibility for the technical aspects of assigned projects. An aid in understanding the WBS is a Product Breakdown Structure (PBS). It focuses on the product of the project, breaking it into smaller and smaller components. It could be considered an Engineering Bill of Materials. Consider an automobile. It might be described as consisting of a chassis and power train. The power train can be broken down into engine, transmission, and wheels. The wheels can be broken down into brakes, axle, bearings, rims and tires, and so forth. Some of the components identified may be carried over from a previous model. Thus, the work content of such components is nominal. On the other hand, designing a new engine requires considerable time and work content.
For a manufacturing plant, one of the outputs of process engineering is a manufacturing bill of materials, which is comparable to a PBS. In an information systems project the PBS consists of the Structured Programming diagram and, if it includes hardware procurement or different use of hardware, may include those components of the system. In both of these examples, use of existing components reduces the work content of the project, leading to less resources required and earlier project completion.
Having a well-defined PBS leads to a well-developed WBS and provides the basis for effective delegation.
MINIMIZING CHANGES
Early preplanning as described in the previous section will aid in minimizing changes during the execution phase of the project.
It is the basic irony of projects that, while a project is the means for creating change, change in the project is one of the most prevalent sources of problems in executing the project. This is the justification of the maxim on bidding projects, bid low and make it up on changes.
As tempting as that may be, changes often lead to errors, rework, further changes, delay and reduced productivity. The first four of these should be obvious. Reduced productivity may need some clarification.
Perhaps you have had the experience of painting a room in your house … while your spouse was away for a day or two. Your spouse returns and shares a few negative comments about the color you chose and insists that you do it over again. Would you be as enthusiastic, and productive, in redoing this project? Not likely. A request for a third redo would probably lead to harsh words and a sloppy job at best.
Is it possible that your project team might feel the same way? Some project managers may conclude that it shouldn't matter to the project team members as long as they get paid for all the work may be true in the mechanical view of people but it will destroy their sense of ownership and pride in the project and you may well get a “sloppy job.”
Changes are expensive. On one project it was judged that a delay of one month in the issuing of the bid package would lead to another $5,000,000 of work being defined. It was estimated that work not included in the bid package would have to be incorporated in the project by change orders at a 20 percent increase in costs. The delay was authorized and $1,000,000 saved.
ESTIMATING AND NEGOTIATING RESOURCES
Estimating is much more than throwing darts or gazing into a glass sphere. It requires knowing the nature of the organization; the project team members; the ambient weather, labor, and other conditions; and a host of other variables. It also requires an honest evaluation of your leadership capabilities.
In a soon-to-appear book, the concept of “discretionary effort” is discussed [2]. If you as project manager are effective in all the skill areas described in these discussions, you may be able to create the high-energy team that leads to setting records in performance. Failure to plan effectively, to anticipate problems, to get ahead of the wave so that your team is always waiting on you can lead to excessive time being required to perform those same tasks.
Furthermore, you must realize that your project is only one of many in process in your organization or your community. The resources you need most may be needed on one or more of these other projects. Your success in getting the best resources will depend on your ability to negotiate. Sometimes you will have to negotiate with higher management to gain their recognition and commitment to your project. Sometimes you will have to negotiate with the resource directly. Price is not necessarily the primary variable. Often your ability to schedule effectively and perform to that schedule will be critical in these negotiations. Consider the point of view of the dry wall contractor who arrives at the job site to find that the job has not progressed as scheduled. If they move on to the next job, it may be weeks before you are put back on their schedule.
SCHEDULING MULTIDISCIPLINARY ACTIVITIES
The first project you manage will likely be monodisciplinary. You will do the whole thing. If you prove that you can manage the single-resource project—that is, yourself—the next one may involve two resources, and then three, and so on. Start from the beginning using accepted practices [see aside]. Become skilled in each aspect of project management as you go, as these skills will be far more valuable as the number of zeros in your project budget grows.
PLANNING AND ORGANIZING MULTIFUNCTIONAL PROGRAMS
As you progress in managing larger and larger projects, there will be a discontinuity as you become responsible for multiple projects, i.e., a program. A program may be simply a set of projects aimed at achieving a single objective such as creating all the facilities necessary to produce a new product. If you are in an element of the U.S. Department of Defense, you will likely be responsible for the development, production, deployment, logistical support and de-commissioning of a new weapons system. Probably the most significant change in your life will be the degree to which you will be involved in the politics of projects, both internally and externally. Of course, if you were lucky on the way to this “opportunity,” you will have been involved in projects having a political facet.
MEASURING
If you can't measure it, you can't control it. How often have you heard that maxim? Conversely, if you measure it, you may not have to control it. The fact that you are measuring it will make those responsible more conscious of what is really happening and what should be happening.
The Type 1 error is to measure too many things. This is the most likely behavior of the beginning project manager. If in doubt, measure it. However, there is a cost of measuring. Measuring too many things results in a reduction of productivity.
The Type 2 error is failing to measure a critical variable. As a result you are unaware of a pending problem until it is already nipping at you.
Probably the best advice to the project manager is to “manage by walking around.” The best project scheduling and control system measures only some of what is really happening on the project, and that information will probably be late in becoming visible. The effective project manager has antennae deployed in many directions. To be an effective PM, you must take advantage of both the formal and informal information systems.
This OC's early experience led to anxiety that something would go wrong on the project. It did, but it wasn't a catastrophe. Soon my attitude changed to “Something is going to go wrong. I wonder if I can discover it, and fix it, before anybody else becomes aware of it.” To a large extent this was achieved by “managing by walking around.”
Get out of your office and onto your feet. You will be surprised at what you learn. Listen to what people tell you, but test it before you act.
WORK STATUS, PROGRESS AND PERFORMANCE
This may truly be the most difficult part of managing a project. In your early stages of development as a project manager, you will be inclined to spend too much time managing the technology. You must allocate time to analyze the reports you receive and talk with members of your project team. It is the dynamics of this process that really lead you to understand what is happening on your project. Failure to do this will convey the message that reports and progress are not really important.
Similarly, failure to keep Your boss and the client informed will inevitably lead to surprises. Do you like surprises?
Surprises are great for birthdays and April Fools' Day. Surprises in business can be disastrous to your project, your boss, your client, and to yourself It is tempting to fudge reports to show the project is on time and on budget. This is one way to avoid the extra “help” that often comes when the project gets off track.
On the other hand, honest, forthright reporting of progress will instill confidence that you know what is going on and will keep others properly informed. Better yet, if there is a decision called for, provide alternatives with well-done staff work to facilitate the decision making.
SUMMARY
In the last three articles, we have discussed the three primary skill areas of the project manager … leadership, technology, and administrative. It is quite a challenge to develop all of these. The good news is that these skills do not have to be developed all at once. The bad news is that these last three articles have simply introduced you to the subjects you need to know. It is anticipated that a future series will provide an expanded discussion of each subject.
In this article we have discussed some key administrative skills. The last seven of these require knowledge of basic project planning, scheduling and control. These last seven subjects will be the main thrust of PM 101 articles that follow.
Just as in sports, an excellent performer must have the basics down pat. It is not enough to learn the basics, never to return to them again. Constant drill and practice is required. Just as in sports, failures can, more often than not, be traced back to failure on the fundamentals.
Sam was looking a bit overwhelmed by this time. After all, these three gurus had prescribed a great deal of learning. Sam had doubts about this challenge.
Returning home, passing the mountain of the leadership guru, Sam heard a voice from atop the peak.
“There are technological, administrative and leadership skills and the greatest of these is leadership! Find yourself a mentor who is a leader. Find a project manager who has been up and down the trail many times and heed that PM's advice.”
Sam was determined to follow these last instructions.