I guess that there is no need to convince the readers of “Strefa PMI” about the role and value of project managers. The ability to plan, lead, control and draw conclusions is currently perceived as part of a project manager’s body of knowledge. Unfortunately, very often the work results are not directly visible, because when the project is on track, the manager “simply capitalizes on good planning”. Moreover, in such circumstances, you are likely to hear statements such as: “our project managers do not add value”, they are just “forward managers” who barely transmit requests from the top management to the team and report data from the team to the top management.
Should then the project manager behave like a voluntary fire brigade, which may be inclined to set fire to some “old barn” just to prove its usefulness? Some individuals recommend that the manager should indeed initiate a crisis in the project in order to save it. I must admit that I really like the idea of finding the “old barn” in the project. Both to save the project, and—even more importantly—to direct the attention of all those outside the project team to some insignificant stuff that has no real impact on the project. But let’s get back to the point and focus on things that, in my opinion, a project manager can do to deliver much more than “just project management”!
In search for optimization and savings
Surely this is something that instantly came to your mind, so I will start with this topic. Finding a cheaper supplier; “expelling” a non-performing team member or someone who damages the efforts of the rest; establishing a better organization; re-using existing items (such as modules, technologies or lessons learned from other projects) are all examples of things intended to decrease project implementation costs. Sometimes we lack this type of thinking. Project manager check if they are within budget and if that is the case they simply forget about the topic. All they need to remember is to conduct such analysis at the right moment from the perspective of their organization’s budgeting cycle. Unfortunately, in many companies reporting “unspent” money in the last months of the year will be perceived as “unnecessary confusion” and “you’d better spend everything, because you know how many things need to be undone now”.
Stop this madness
The multitude of committees, boards, and other stakeholders leads to project managers being endlessly augmented with recommendations or (to make things even worse) decisions that reorganize and improve their projects. Sadly, these changes are made without involving the project manager or through an official consultation in which project managers have no real opportunity to present their view. And while many occurrences external to projects are outside of project manager’s sphere of influence, the way these “improvements” are implemented can actually be impacted by the project manager and the team. As an example I would refer to a new reporting format introduced by the top management in some organization for all investment projects. Initially, the development of its detailed form required 10 man-days of effort from the project team every week! The project manager was assertive enough to engage in the negotiations with the board. And the board was so keen to receive these reports that they eventually agreed to use a simplified approach to calculating the status. The format has not changed, but data preparation and analysis were a lot less time-consuming. One can only wonder why this approach was not used right from the beginning.
By the way, I hope that we all keep in mind that such a situation is an example of a project change. And consequently, project sponsor should provide additional resources for these activities if they with to continue the project in accordance with the guidelines received from the board. What should be done to stop this madness? In my opinion, project managers should become partners for stakeholders. Their interest should not be limited to an operational dimension of their project. Instead, they should also look into the impact of organizational changes resulting from their project. We would be interested in the future development of the system we are currently implementing. Together with our team, we would provide suggestion on how to increase benefits of the project product, or propose additional product features that would provide greater value. And we would always provide our recommendations. We would no longer be focused on the operational success of our project, but on creating the value for the organization where the project is implemented. Increasingly more individuals and organizations seem to be fed up with how much efforts project managers put to ensure good PR of their projects and to blame others for all the bad things that happen in their projects.
Develop project team
From the project manager’s perspective, the team’s competences should be matched with the project needs. We cannot see any incentive in spending team members’ precious time for acquiring knowledge that will be needed after the project is completed. This hesitation is even deeper when we are in the position of an external PM hired on contractual basis or a supplier who will “disappear” as soon as the project comes to an end. But what if half of the project team keep and develop the solution later? Invest in people during the project and you will benefit both in your project and beyond. Such investment will positively affect the team members, but also your project. And think about the feedback concerning your project, when the stabilization phase goes smoothly and without problems because the organization will have the capabilities needed to sustain and reinforce the outcomes of the project.
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Use your expertise from other domains
Prior to your project manager’s career, most probably you were performing other roles in your organizations. Your experience related to testing, business processes, products, or support functions may prove to be an added value for the project. Perhaps, you also have the capability to educate others and this could also be an advantage for the company? Do not hesitate to apply your strengths, because it actually makes a difference if you are paid for performing a single role or when you wear several “hats”. Educate new project managers by sharing project management knowledge.
Look beyond your project
What should you decide or recommend, when you could expand project scope with items that facilitate future development of the system, but such expansion results in additional effort or delay? Taking a traditional project manager’s perspective an obvious answer to this dilemma would be “no”. However, it may not be so obvious when you look form the business perspective. And if you think about the organization’s perspective the answer would become an evident “yes”! Being guided by the value for the company, and not only the value for your project, is a key aspect of the project manager’s work. The fact that work is organized in project or functional structures does not justify dissecting the company into distinct and unrelated islands and approaching everything solely from your own perspective.
So what should the project manager focus on to add value to the project? Above all, they should continuously look for opportunities to improve both the project and the post-project outcomes. Strive to become a partner and advisor to project stakeholders. Provide them with your recommendations of specific actions offering value from the perspective of customers and not just convenient for your project. Think what is your competitive advantage over other project managers? And I’m not talking about the corporate rat race, but a question of fundamental importance: why should the company pay me more? Now whether it will, that’s a different story. But take the first step in this direction and deliver added value to the project or from the project!
Ekspert w zakresie zarządzania projektami, portfelem projektów i PMO. Specjalizuje się w obszarze usprawnień organizacji poprzez wdrożenie zarządzania portfelem projektów i PMO oraz w obszarze rozwoju kierowników projektów. Od 2003 roku związany z PMI®, gdzie pełnił m.in. funkcję Prezesa Oddziału Polskiego. Z centralą PMI® w USA związany od 2010 roku – obecnie pracuje w Komitecie do Spraw Certyfikacji (CIT). Od 2010 roku prezes firmy WHITECOM Project Experience specjalizującej się w szkoleniach, ustawianiu PMO oraz zarządzaniu projektami i portfelem projektów. Współautor książki PMO. Praktyka zarządzania projektami i portfelem projektów w organizacji.