20th July 2011.
Not everyone believes in project managers. Some people say project managers are simply bureaucrats that push paper and don't provide value to the project. Other's think they know about useless processes but not about the real work of the project.
It is difficult to accept the notion that the typical project manager does not have a clue about what he or she is doing, and in fact cause more harm than benefit. And yet, this is the perspective taken by some.
There are many fine and capable project managers. In fact, most could likely be placed in this category. However, that doesn’t mean that everyone is competent, or that even the capable ones are perfect. That’s one reason (but not the only reason) why there are still projects today that fail, or suffer significant cost and schedule overruns. Being a successful project manager in the past should provide confidence that you will be successful in the future. However, there are no guarantees. Sometimes the project manager has been successful in the past, but just does not have enough experience in a particular area to manage a project in that area well.
Some perspective on project management
There is no guarantee that every project will be successful. However, it seems intuitive that major work initiatives will be more successful if they are planned ahead of time and managed as a project. While many cases exist that show successful outcomes based solely on the skills and talents of the project team, these appear to be in the minority.
There are good people who have skills or who even specialize in project management. If they apply their skills correctly, the project has a much better chance of being successful than ones that do not apply project management processes.
Some people believe that a good project manager can be successful on any type of project, regardless of whether they have any subject-matter experienced in that area or not. Other people believe you cannot manage an effort without prior subject-matter experience. My belief is that subject matter experience is very helpful, but not absolutely vital. It is better to have a skilled project manager with no subject matter experience than a subject matter expert without project management experience.
The project management processes used on a project must be scaled based on the size and complexity of the work itself. If there are too many cumbersome processes in place for a small project, the work will take longer than needed and everyone will be frustrated. Not enough processes for a large project also limits your chance of being successful.
Fundamentally, the end deliverables are the reason that the project exists. If you have the best project management processes in place, but you are not delivering your project deliverables, you are not going to be successful.
Summary
All project managers should make sure to be intent on delivering value, not just processes, in the work assigned. For those who believe that project management provides universal value whenever and wherever it is applied, pause to reflect. If the pedestal is too high, perhaps it should be knocked down a little – maybe to the same level as the rest of the team. |
