February 5, 2010 - PM Value Brain Dump

I am sitting here writing down all the words and phrases that come to my mind in relationship to real Project Management. Here is what I have so far.

Communicating what Matters
Informed Decisions
Change with Purpose
Monitoring Direction
Leading, not just Reporting
Analysis of Activity
Controlling the Outcome
Removing Random Factors
Risk Management
Involved Stakeholders
Enabling Management
Planning Success
Integrity in Action
Confronting Conflict
Lessons Learned
Tension Breaking
Instilling Confidence
Team Defender
Resource Motivator
Promoting Purpose
Follow Through
Critical Thinking
Ownership
Improving... Self, Situation, Team, Understanding...
Challenging... Self, Situation, Team, Understanding...
Results Driven
Business Focused
Influential
Self Controlled

Pieces of this brain dump will be examined more in the next several blogs. We'll ask "What is the result of a project manager being ____?" We will also touch on ways to instill more of these in your thoughts, actions and reactions.

Until then, if you have additional ideas, pitch in by leaving a comment.

October 22, 2007 – Relationship vs. Task Oriented Management

Within project management there are two main types of personalities: Relationship oriented and Task oriented. It is fairly easy to tell the two apart. Aside from having a detailed project schedule, the Task oriented manager has a separate list of things they need to accomplish today and they feel great when all of them are checked off. The Relationship oriented manager’s schedule is really a guideline and they are more likely to have a list of people to call today.

Relationship Oriented managers are great at building a cohesive team. When planning out projects they take in the big picture and appoint people or groups to handle the details. Consensus is a major tool in their arsenal. One of the first artifacts they put together is an org chart and inevitably there is a spreadsheet with contact information posted close at hand. It probably even has birth dates written in. They make their teams feel comfortable. Deadlines are important but don’t seem to get in the way of progress. A good day for a Relationship oriented manager includes resolving conflict and holding productive meetings.

Task Oriented managers are good at directing people and moving the project forward step by step. On any give day they can tell you the status of each subproject, confirm if the project is on schedule, brief you on the budget and give you a graph of the progress. They know their team’s strengths and weaknesses but might not be able to remember last names. A productive day for a Task oriented manager probably doesn’t include too many meetings but does involve completing multiple things.

If you find yourself on either extreme you aren’t alone. Frankly, both types of project managers can be quite effective. Rather than telling you to be more like your opposite, I would like to encourage you to play to your strengths. You aren’t going to be able to change your stripes, so don’t kill yourself trying. Instead, invest in Personality Offsets.

Much talk has been made about using "carbon offsets" to pay for your global warming sins. Faulty as that logic may be, you can use "personality offsets" to keep the project warming to a minimal. Find someone on your team that can balance your weak areas. If tracking the project is not your thing, get a coordinator to handle the schedule. If your focus is "getting-to-done," put someone in charge of handling the touchy/feely aspects of the team.

This is not a free license to ignore your counter character traits. Give your "offset" the responsibility to tell you when to switch gears and take the appropriate actions. For the Relationship oriented this includes focusing on budget and schedule issues; discussing certain topics in meetings; and making decisive decisions when necessary. Task oriented managers need to be reminded to "socialize" certain ideas instead of dictating them; to recognize the efforts of team members; and to spend more time interacting with the team.

Your personality has successfully gotten you to where you are. Don’t abandon it, balance it.

February 15, 2007 – Traits to Manage by

Project managers might stink at politics, ignore tracking tools, flunk PowerPoint and hate spreadsheets but there are three major character traits that they can’t manage without.

Good Communicator. Nearly every aspect of project management involves communication: Risks, Issues, Status, Budget, everything. If you are a poor communicator you will struggle with project management. Some of it is natural ability but, thankfully, there are some steps you can take to become a better communicator.

• Understand that people, especially management, want information. Knowing that may help you overcome some of the anxiety involved. If your upper management is partially sane they will even want to hear bad news, what you intend to do about it and how they can help.
• Reread. If your email is sloppy the audience may completely miss your point. Take time to reread it before you hit send. I often catch things that I write are senseless. I have even left out important words like “not,” changing the whole meaning of the email.
• Plan out your conversations. Think through your meeting agenda and consider how you are going to present it. Jot down key words or phrases that help make the points you wish to say. Anticipate the questions that will be asked.
• Join a group that promotes public speaking. There is an international group called the Toast Masters (www.toastmasters.org) that helps people become better speakers.
• Do more of it. With practice comes ability and confidence.

Integrity. This trait includes honesty in reporting, fair dealings with team members and respect for individuals. Most companies and even professional organizations like PMI have a code of professional ethics or professional conduct guidelines. Read through a couple of them. If you have to hedge or explain away any of the topics perhaps you need to strengthen your integrity.

Thick skin. The role of a project manager is much like that of a lightning rod. You take the heat from management to protect your team, allowing them to do their jobs. Then you get a jolt from your project team pushing back against time lines and direction. Don’t take these things personally. I find it helpful to remind myself that people are upset at the situation people, not me. For example, if the server is down and upper management is yelling at you because of it, they are really upset about the problems it is causing. Unfortunately they can’t yell at the server so you are the substitute.