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The ‘Right’ Way vs. The Proper Way
I know a project manager who operates in a very difficult environment. She is extremely capable at her job, has a lot of respect from her teams and can always be relied upon to deliver a successful outcome. However, the individual she reports to—and who is a key stakeholder or sponsor for virtually every project—is not very capable, struggles to understand the work being performed, micromanages to try and compensate for his lack of comprehension, and introduces frequent, inappropriate change in response to his own boss (who shows many of the same traits).

As you might imagine, this creates a number of challenges for the PM. She finds herself acting as a “shock absorber,” protecting the team from as much of the uncertainty, irrelevance and error happening at higher organizational levels, while needing to aggressively manage the information reaching management levels on the progress of each project.

That is not only a highly stressful environment, it is potentially at odds with the way the organization expects her to operate. So is this okay? Can rules be bent in an attempt to get to the right outcome, or is this project manager behaving inappropriately? That’s what I want to consider in this article…

Role expectations—and reality

Let’s start with something simple: the expectations of the role of project manager. Certainly one of the most important elements of the job is the successful delivery of projects, and that requires the leadership and support of an empowered and engaged project team. Without a doubt, the PM in this case is doing that—her teams thoroughly enjoy working on her projects, and she has a track record of delivering success.

However, there is also the expectation that a PM will deliver projects in accordance with the organization’s approved approach, and here things may be less clear. The PM complies with all of the methodology and process requirements, and completes status reports on time; so in that regard, there are no issues.

But there are aspects that are more questionable. For example, this PM deals with a lot of change requests that come from her manager, and frequently she chooses to ignore them. In some cases, the requests are from the manager himself; sometimes they are simply being passed along from the manager’s manager (there is never any pushback between those two management levels).

The PM will always review the requests, but if she feels they aren’t appropriate, she will effectively filter them out. Because the organization doesn’t enforce formal change control, this is something she can do without questioning. She will always explain to her manager (or her manager’s manager) why she isn’t incorporating the change; because they trust her ability (and have some awareness of their own shortcomings), they accept it—but still the behavior is something many organizations would question. (It is also something PMI would suggest is at odds with the code of ethics.)

The project manager takes this approach because she believes she has a better understanding of what the project needs than either her manager, or her manager’s boss. If we are being honest, she does have a better understanding in the vast majority of cases, but does that excuse her decision to ignore clear direction?

Given that the outcome of the requested changes is usually that the requests are rescinded after the PM has explained to her leadership why they aren’t a good idea, you could argue she is actually improving the chances of project success. By not only avoiding a disruptive and unnecessary change—but also the unwinding of that change after the fact—the project remains focused on what is ultimately needed. In addition, the team isn’t left with the sense that leadership keeps changing their mind about what they want, and are therefore more likely to stay engaged and motivated.

At the same time, she is ignoring requests from not only her manager but a senior project stakeholder. Regardless of the reason for doing so, can we really condone that behavior? In this situation, it works because both the manager and the manager’s boss have a huge amount of respect for the PM—her skills, experience and judgment. But in most cases, the outcome of the PM’s actions would be (at best) career limiting. So how should these situations be handled?

Walking the tightrope

I could turn the rest of this article into an analysis of how to educate the managers, but I’m not sure that would be particularly insightful—we all know we need to try and help them understand why their actions are disruptive, guide them toward a change management process that encourages analysis and provide them with information in a way (and at a level) that satisfies their natural inclination to try and micromanage. The PM has done all that and more; and trust me—in this situation, the individuals concerned represent a real challenge.

So instead I want to look at how a PM can walk this tightrope of doing what is necessary to deliver successful projects while trying to respect the correct way of delivering those initiatives. I hope you won’t find yourselves in too many situations as bad as this, but we all know that sometimes the world simply isn’t as straightforward as we would like it to be.

In this particular situation, the projects are conducted with relative autonomy. There isn’t a PMO overseeing the work on a weekly basis, and reports don’t have to be submitted beyond the department—so the PM doesn’t have an external governance function to satisfy. That’s becoming more unusual, and my first piece of advice is to ensure that if you do have to “bend the rules” in a particular scenario, you should always try and communicate that to a PMO or governance function first.

I’m not suggesting you ask for permission; the risk there is that they will say no. Instead, you advise there will be some elements of the project where you have to take a non-standard approach because of the stakeholders you are dealing with. In many cases, there will be an awareness of the challenge presented by one or two individuals or groups, and there won’t be a need for any further explanation.

If that isn’t the case, you provide details of how you are going to manage those exceptions—and that’s what I’m going to address next. Whenever there is any situation where the approach the PM feels is necessary is misaligned with the “right” way of delivering the project, the PM must document their actions. This must include:

● What they are doing and which elements of the overall project approach are not being followed.

● Why those actions are being taken—with complete clarity, this is not a time for political correctness or diplomacy. This should include all of the reasons. In my example, the PM explains the need to protect the team from changes that are likely to be reversed, to avoid frustration in the team from a perception that stakeholders don’t know what they are doing and are indecisive, etc.

● What they are doing to monitor their actions. This should be much closer management than when processes are being followed as the risks are far greater.

● What they are doing to restore alignment with the approved approach as quickly as possible.

Even with this level of documentation and the implied management that is occurring, this should be seen as an approach of last resort. Organizational processes exist for a reason, and if too many PMs are bypassing them too often, it is more likely to be a problem with the approach than with one or two people (or groups).

This approach is extremely stressful for project managers, so while I haven’t focused on it here, they must attempt to solve the underlying problem by educating and managing the stakeholders rather than compromising the integrity of the process. That may require support from other areas of the organization—the PMO, training and development, etc. Those groups should be included wherever possible.

Beyond that, however, the PM also needs to find a colleague who can support them while they are “walking the tightrope” of this situation. That colleague should be experienced enough to be able to provide practical advice, helping the PM to manage through the situation—but also someone trusted enough to be able to confide in, and help to relieve the stress created by potentially being at odds with both stakeholders and the organization’s defined project approach.

Conclusions

There’s a degree of risk in writing an article like this. It’s not a best practices piece that tries to improve the quality of project ex*****on for all readers; and with a harsh interpretation, it could be perceived as advocating behavior that is unethical and in breach of your employer’s policies.

I’ll accept that interpretation if that’s what comes out in the comments, but this month’s theme is around HR in project management—and this is a real people-related issue that a PM I know deals with every day. I have also had many conversations over the years on similarly themed issues of having to do things slightly differently than instructed because of the reality of the situation.

Processes and methodologies are designed to deal with 99% of situations, and they generally do so very well. However, there will always be that 1% that can’t be effectively managed with standard approaches—and those are the situations where effective management is likely to be even more critical for project succes

May 2018 Project Management Workshop

What is Project Management?



More specifically, what is a project? It's a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service or result.

A project is temporary in that it has a defined beginning and end in time, and therefore defined scope and resources.

And a project is unique in that it is not a routine operation, but a specific set of operations designed to accomplish a singular goal. So a project team often includes people who don’t usually work together – sometimes from different organizations and across multiple geographies.

The development of software for an improved business process, the construction of a building or bridge, the relief effort after a natural disaster, the expansion of sales into a new geographic market — all are projects.

And all must be expertly managed to deliver the on-time, on-budget results, learning and integration that organizations need.

Project management, then, is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet the project requirements.

It has always been practiced informally, but began to emerge as a distinct profession in the mid-20th century. PMI’s A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) identifies its recurring elements:

Project management processes fall into five groups:

Initiating

Planning

Executing

Monitoring and Controlling

Closing

Project management knowledge draws on ten areas:

Integration

Scope

Time

Cost

Quality

Procurement

Human resources

Communications

Risk management

Stakeholder management

All management is concerned with these, of course. But project management brings a unique focus shaped by the goals, resources and schedule of each project. The value of that focus is proved by the rapid, worldwide growth of project management:

The Virtual Team

Introduction


A virtual team is a team where the primary method of interaction is done through electronic mediums. When it comes to the medium, it could range from e-mail communications to video conferencing.

Some virtual teams do not interact face-to-face (when team members reside in different demographics) and some virtual teams physically meet up occasionally.

Think of an online business for web development. Someone can start such a business and hire developers, QA engineers, UI engineers and project managers from different parts of the globe.

Since web development does not involve in physical delivery of goods and all the deliveries are done electronically, such a company can exist on the Internet.

Team meetings can be held through conference voice calls or video calls. This virtual team can work towards their company goals and act as a single entity just by telecommuting.

Why Virtual Teams?

There are many reasons for having a virtual team. First of all, it is the technology.

The Internet and related technologies helped enhancing the communication across the globe, where certain industries that do not require the person to be present in physical sense could make much use of it. A good example is a web development team.

Following are some of the top reasons for having virtual teams:

· Team members are not located in the same demography.

· The transportation cost and time is quite an overhead.

· Team members may work in different times.

· The company does not require a physical office, so the logistics and related costs are minimum.

· The type of work done may require high level of creativity, so the employees will have better creativity when they work from a place they are comfortable with (home).

Types of Virtual Teams

There are many types of virtual teams operating at present. Following are a few of those teams:

· Entire companies that operate virtually

· Tasks teams, responsible of carrying out a specific task

· Friendship teams such as groups in Facebook or any other social network

· Command teams, such as a sales team of a company distributed throughout the US

· Interest teams where the members share a common interest

The Technology

The technology plays a vital role for virtual teams. Without the use of advanced technology, virtual teams cannot be effective.

The Internet is the primary technology used by the virtual teams. The Internet offers many facilities for the virtual teams. Some of them are:

· E-mail

· VoIP (Voice Over IP) - voice conferencing

· Video conferencing

· Groupware software programs such as Google Docs where teams can work collaboratively.

· Software for conducting demonstrations and trainings such as Microsoft Live Meeting and WebEx.

When it comes to the technology, not only the software matters, the virtual teams should be equipped with necessary hardware as well.

As an example, for a video conference, the team members should be equipped with a web camera and a microphone.

Advantages and Disadvantages

First of all, let's look at the advantages of operating as a virtual team.

· Team members can work from anywhere and any time of the day. They can choose the place they work based on the mood and the comfort.

· You can recruit people for their skills and suitability to the job. The location does not matter.

· There is no time and money wasted for commuting and clothing.

· Physical handicaps are not an issue.

· The company does not have to have a physical office maintained. This reduces a lot of costs to the company. By saving this money, the company can better compensate the employees.

Along with the above-mentioned advantages, following are few disadvantages of using virtual team:

· Since team members do not frequently meet or do not meet at all, the teamwork spirit may not be present.

· Some people prefer to be in a physical office when working. These people will be less productive in virtual environments.

· To work for virtual teams, individuals need to have a lot of self-discipline. If the individual is not disciplined, he or she may be less productive.

Conclusion

Virtual teams are rising in numbers nowadays. Small technology companies are now adapting virtual team practice for recruiting the best people from all over the globe.

In addition, these companies minimize their operating costs and maximize the profit margins. Additionally, the employees working in virtual teams are at advantages when it comes to working in their own home, own time, and reduction of commuting costs.

Therefore, organizations should look into setting up virtual teams for different tasks whenever possible.


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5 Basic Phases of Project Management

Project Management Institute, Inc. (PMI) defines project management as "the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to a broad range of activities in order to meet the requirements of a particular project." The process of directing and controlling a project from start to finish may be further divided into 5 basic phases:
1. Project conception and initiation

An idea for a project will be carefully examined to determine whether or not it benefits the organization. During this phase, a decision making team will identify if the project can realistically be completed.
2. Project definition and planning

A project plan, project charter and/or project scope may be put in writing, outlining the work to be performed. During this phase, a team should prioritize the project, calculate a budget and schedule, and determine what resources are needed.
3. Project launch or ex*****on

Resources' tasks are distributed and teams are informed of responsibilities. This is a good time to bring up important project related information.
4. Project performance and control

Project managers will compare project status and progress to the actual plan, as resources perform the scheduled work. During this phase, project managers may need to adjust schedules or do what is necessary to keep the project on track.
5. Project close

After project tasks are completed and the client has approved the outcome, an evaluation is necessary to highlight project success and/or learn from project history.

Projects and project management processes vary from industry to industry; however, these are more traditional elements of a project. The overarching goal is typically to offer a product, change a process or to solve a problem in order to benefit the organization.

5 Basic Phases of Project Management

Project Management defines as "the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to a broad range of activities in order to meet the requirements of a particular project." The process of directing and controlling a project from start to finish may be further divided into 5 basic phases:

1. Project conception and initiation

An idea for a project will be carefully examined to determine whether or not it benefits the organization. During this phase, a decision making team will identify if the project can realistically be completed.

2. Project definition and planning

A project plan, project charter and/or project scope may be put in writing, outlining the work to be performed. During this phase, a team should prioritize the project, calculate a budget and schedule, and determine what resources are needed.

3. Project launch or ex*****on

Resources' tasks are distributed and teams are informed of responsibilities. This is a good time to bring up important project related information.

4. Project performance and control

Project managers will compare project status and progress to the actual plan, as resources perform the scheduled work. During this phase, project managers may need to adjust schedules or do what is necessary to keep the project on track.

5. Project close

After project tasks are completed and the client has approved the outcome, an evaluation is necessary to highlight project success and/or learn from project history.

Projects and project management processes vary from industry to industry; however, these are more traditional elements of a project. The overarching goal is typically to offer a product, change a process or to solve a problem in order to benefit the organization.

3. Think—and talk—with your partners about priorities beyond what’s in the contract. A contract may make you partners in theory, but how you work together determines if it can be a true partnership in practice, capable of delivering the best performance possible.