IT Project Management: Ten Rules for Enhancing the Human Element
by Kevin McGaffey and Rob Beckmann
Educational institutions and certification organizations are fast at work trying to ensure that project managers have the skills and tools available to manage the process of project management but little is done to teach and mentor project managers on the key aspect of each and every project: People. People have to do tasks to make the project successful. Given the maze of challenges IT organizations face in these times of increased complexity and pressures from the business one often overlooked area is the people who work in these organizations day-in and day-out delivering on projects. Enhancing the human element in your project is the fundamental key to success. Ensuring that you have a developed strategy around people management in your project will put you on a solid foundation for a successful outcome.
This article originally appeared in the May, 2009 issue of the “Municipal Interface”, a newsletter published by the Municipal Information Systems Association (MISA) of Canada.
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Questions
Guys:
Thanks for the article. While I'm a BA, not a PM, I have several PM responsibilities in what I do. I wanted to ask some questions regarding your first 3 rules.
1. Remove obstacles to team performance; bureaucracy, politics, and unnecessary
meetings. Your focus as PM is to protect the team and ensure they focus on the
important work that delivers the results expected. You should lead the team and do
not get immersed in the details. Remember you are the CEO of the team.
In some organizations, the PMs don't have ownership of the teams or the process that governs SDLC implementation. Additionally, some PMs are more recipients of organizational politics more than they are agents of change or positive obstacles to protect team members from the political grind. So, even if a PM is a great PM, there may be a limit to what this person can achieve. Can you elaborate and recommend some paths to success in situations like these?
3. Just like a coach in hockey, recognize the flow of the game and play the right line combinations – look ahead and put the right people together in situations where they
are given the best chance at completing successfully.
On projects where there are very limited resources or the PM is expected to deliver with the resources that are provided, how does this person manipulate the resources by position to help ensure that they are placed properly?
Thanks again very much.
DougGtheBA