There are both human and project planning and execution techniques aspects to project management. Which is harder? Depends. But there are plenty of issues with the human side. In fact, a book that I was recently asked to contribute too names 77 sins of project management. Don’t despair – this book provides solutions. I choose to write about Blaming, Rigidity and Satisficing. Why? I had some great project examples and suggestions for project improvement. My thoughts:

Rigidity is being stiff or unyielding; not pliant or flexible; hard.

In projects it is indifferently or defiantly clinging to policies, practices and behaviors not tailored to the unique project characteristics.
There are several organizational drivers that tend to fossilize project practices.

Large organization: The corporate staff may mandate practices that work across country and functional lines. These practices may sub-optimize your practices.

Financial pressure. When large organizations are not making money, all hands are on deck to get project work done and no resources are dedicated to optimizing the process to gain back time or money.

Low growth organizations: These organizations have limited ability to bring in new staff, new ideas and re-engineer for success.

Heavy reliance on outsource partners: Outsourcing may be legislatively mandated or a cost cutting reality. These organizations may lose the subject matter or domain experts that are the change catalysts or leaders.

What is the solution? Organizations must tailor project practices. Period. If there are not enough project resources, there are too many projects. Challenging times call for courage.

What can project managers do?

- Project managers must articulate when projects are going to fast to appropriately balance cost, time, quality, scope or when project process are too rigid to meet current market or mission needs.
- The organization can’t fund projects without understanding how the scope is delivered. Conflicts between policies and traditions around processes and life cycles vs. need for speed must be escalated to leadership as risks.
- Approach change in an incremental fashion, focusing on one major change idea at one time. Sometimes slow but steady is a stealthy and smart approach.

Reprinted [adapted] with permission from The 77 Deadly Sins of Project Management, © 2009 by Management Concepts, Inc. All rights reserved. www.managementconcepts.com

Rosemary Hossenlopp, founder of Project Management Perspectives is the facilitator of an audio series by key project management professionals on what Business Leaders must understand about accelerating execution of strategy through projectized work.

She interviews Mike Jenkins, the Managing Director of the Quilogy Healthcare National Practice. Mike is a PMP(r), an MBA, a member of HIMSS and MS-HUG, and has been influencing the vision and development of technology solutions in the healthcare space for a decade.

Click below to listen to the interview. Approx 6 minutes.
Interview

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I was invited to participate in writing the 77 Sins of Project Management. I had fun looking over the juicy list of sins. It was hard but I choose Blaming, Rigidity and Satisficing. Why? I had some great project examples and suggestions for project improvement. My thoughts:

Blaming is an aggressive and often acrimonious assignment of blame for project failure.

During project execution blaming is a reflexive, speed of light response. It is part of our human nature. We are rational. We want answers. The sound byte nature of guilt assignment is beguiling. Quick and witty assessments resonate with us. The issue is decided; maybe only in our mind. So we blame, dump on others and move on to the other 50 action items that we need to accomplish . . . before noon. But is blame that simple. No.

Many of the 77 Sins of Project Management are organizational or cultural issues. This one is personal. The following solutions will improve project practices and so they look like they are fact based. Actually the solutions are about controlling your emotions. If you don’t control your emotions, when you feel under attack, you will attempt to blame back.

Basic marriage counseling principle is changing yourself before you request change from others. What does dysfunctional communication have to do with project management? Lots!

Dysfunction 1: Recognize when we blame. This doesn’t need to be a weekend offsite retreat event. It is a quick process of self-evaluation. Watch for when your emotions are engaged. There might be a bit of judgment, criticism. Stop and picture the situation from the others perspective or a longer time frame.

Dysfunction 2: Recognize when we are at fault. Great project managers are authentic and genuine. Have a sense of humor and humility if you have publicly expressed an erroneous or uninformed decision. Model humility and fess up to the thought process that got you here.

Dysfunction 3: Recognize a team opportunity for improvement. If you model open and honest communication, you can request that the team does the same. Paybacks in loyalty are immense.

Reprinted [adapted] with permission from The 77 Deadly Sins of Project Management, © 2009 by Management Concepts, Inc. All rights reserved. www.managementconcepts.com

Whew - this social marketing is causing me a late night. But if you are a FaceBook User - become a fan on my newly created FaceBook Page.

Click Below - the link is in blue and really, really small. But click below to become a fan.

Generally there are two reasons that you are considering a contract project management job; inspiration or desperation. Let’s start on the happy side; inspiration. Being a contractor gives you a chance to work on different projects, engage with different companies, meet lots of solid project management professionals, gets lots of experience, learn lots of tools and get paid for overtime (most of the time:-)

I wish I had this amount of foresight to pursue this route. I didn’t. I followed the second path; desperation.

So desperation means that you have been kicked out of the corporate nest. You were laid off. It was a comfortable nest and so this season is incredibly stressful on you. It is a culture change for companies too. Corporations are enveloped in global panic and fear. When hiring managers finally get an ok to proceed with bringing back staff, they may only be hiring contractors to reduce their cash burn-rate risk. Since you are addicted to eating, you want to consider a contract job.

Now I think being a contractor is a great path to success. I wish I would have done it earlier. Don’t get my giddiness wrong. I loved working as a Silicon Valley project manager. But as a contractor, I have had professional opportunities and personal satisfaction that I would never have had in a corporate environment.

Some of you may not be as excited as I am. I understand. I made it across the chasm. I’m feeling very confident about my ability to compete in this economy due to the lessons I’ve learned over the years.

Let’s see if you want to take this same path as a longer term career choice. Take a test.

Rate yourself on a 1-10 on these areas.
Grab a pencil!
1 indicates strong disagreement and 10 indicates strong agreement

1. Finances: My bank account can handle gaps in my employment.
2. Personal Relationships: My significant other can handle gaps in my employment.
3. Emotional Intelligence: I can adapt too many situations and people.
4. Skill Inventory: I ask for work where I both gain critical skills yet deliver success.
5. Influence: I demonstrate tangible value to the project management community.

Scoring:
0-10: Hum; you need to turn in your project management credentials
11-20: Seek an environment where soft skill and PM training is available
21-30: You consistently deliver high-quality project work.
31-40: You are professionally recognized and in comfortable control of your life
41-50: You need to publish a book; immediately!

In this economy you need to find the fastest path to cash. That may mean taking a contract job while waiting for your next job. But many of you, this is time to rebrand yourself as a contractor and turn up the dial closer to a score of 50 on your test. Tomorrow we talk about some key skills for project management contracting and consulting success.

Take this survey now for answers later this week on Project Management Contractor/Consultant Best Practices:
Click Here!

Rosemary Hossenlopp, MBA PMP © 2009 All Rights Reserved