Project Management: A Partnership Approach

According to a recent article in ComputerWorld magazine, technical recruiters and industry associations say that the demand for project managers is surging. The Project Management Institute, Inc. (PMI) reports that there are some 27,000 certified project management professionals in 26 countries.

The job of project manager can be a stepping stone for people with information technology experience and an eye on a management career. Unfortunately, lots of novice project managers find that their stepping stone can turn to quicksand.

Too many PMs find that once they are in the job, they encounter problems they never expected. Often it is not the technology or methodology that is the trouble - it is their own lack of people skills that causes projects to go awry. Even project managers who have been trained and certified in traditional skills find that the human side of project management is more than they bargained for.

We asked a group of experienced project management professionals to participate in a virtual roundtable discussion about what makes project management so challenging. We also asked what approaches and strategies they have used to provide practical, immediately applicable skills that enhance the effectiveness of their project management culture.

Joining us are:

• Roger Agee, Information Technology Manager, JELD-WEN, Klamath Falls, Oregon
• Tim Crothers, Information Technology Business Communications Manager, 3M Company, St. Paul, Minnesota
• Tim Huwe, Manager of Systems Development Projects, Schwan's, Marshall, Minnesota
• Terry Patane, Director IS Training, Multimedia, Documentation, Purchasing and Recruiting and former Director of the IT Project Management Group, Costco, Issaquah, Washington
• Greg Fouquet, senior consultant, O&A, and former Vice President and Manager of Systems Development for a major financial services firm
• Bill Hagerup, senior consultant, O&A, and former Vice President of Organization Effectiveness and Systems for a health insurance company

Why is it that so many IT projects fail and so many IT project managers fail right along with them?

Patane: The reason for this failure comes from two major areas. First, with the extremely fast paced environments in most companies, executive management far too often must place demands on projects that supercede even the best of methodologies. Completion dates, for example, are sometimes placed on projects before a formal analysis and timeline can be created.

Second is the reality of the corporate world. The day-to-day pressures to get things done quickly can derail even the best intentions. Even though management may buy into the concept, the formal aspects of project management, which may be perceived as time consuming, are often set aside for the sake of expediency.

Crothers: IT professionals need to remember they are business partners. The technical skills they bring to the table are only part of what can make a project successful. Project managers need to communicate early and often with their business partner (client). In addition to sharing information, this will also increase the client's level of commitment and accountability.

Project success is really all about the soft skills. Managing a project requires political awareness and the ability to understand the "WIFFM's" (what's in it for me) for all the players with skin in the game. Once this information is known, a project manager should be able to identify and avoid the pitfalls and roadblocks on the way to completion.

Fouquet: Projects don't fail because somebody drew the Gantt chart wrong. Generally project failure isn't the result of mechanics or technology or engineering. Projects fail because of the common belief that an individual with technical competencies can translate those skills automatically into managerial and human relationship abilities. Too often, that is just not the case.

Conversely, a project succeeds because the people on it succeed. Even if the project team missed a target date or blew the budget, a project can succeed if the client perceives that the team was responsive, competent and dealt well with clients - and ultimately accomplished the objectives of the project.

How can you learn to build those kinds of relationships with clients?

Agee: The reality is that IT has been blind for so long to the importance of the human side of technology and project management. Relationships get the project done right - it is the people who matter, not the technology. Project managers tend to be knowledgeable about technology but weak in interpersonal skills and this creates a difficult challenge. We need to help these project managers understand the key role relationships play in the success and failure of projects.

Unfortunately, there are too few options offering help in this area. The best option I've found has been sharing the experiences of experts who have been successful in the IT field. Ouellette workshops offer exactly that. O&A instructors have a proven approach to project management and a wealth of experience to share. These instructors have the knowledge and the experience to help others learn the value of the human side of project management and enjoy teaching those skills to the rest of us.

Crothers: After I attended O&A's workshop called the "Politics of Project Management," I put three key things I had learned into practice. First, I created an organizational chart with the materials I received in the workshop. It is not a typical org chart. Instead, it identifies all the players on my project - the team members, the client and customers, and other stakeholders such as the director who sponsored the project. I began to see what each person had at risk by being involved in the project. With that information, I was better able to motivate the team and satisfy the client's expectations.

Second, the workshop encouraged us to build relationships outside of the current ones we have within our IT organization. I began to identify potential allies in different parts of the company and made a point of inviting them to lunch just to get to know them and their work.

Third, I revived past relationships from previous projects. I've been in four different remote sites, working in a different job in each location. I hadn't maintained the relationships I'd formed in my previous positions, but I am now making it a point to call those people or visit with them to keep our relationship fresh.

The main thing the workshop impressed on me was that building relationships is an ongoing responsibility and that we must continue to work on them so that people will want to work with us after the conclusion of each successful project.

You mentioned "politics." How can politics affect project management?

Crothers: I always thought politics was dirty - and a lot of people had that same feeling. In the O&A workshop, I learned that politics is actually neutral. It is really about how you work with people. You can use political savvy and still be completely ethical and above-board. That's the kind of politics I'm comfortable with - where everyone wins.

Huwe: For some in IT, the mere mention of the word politics is enough to make them shudder, with thoughts of "dirty politics" leaping immediately to mind. These people need to realize that politics in and of itself is not dirty, that it can be used with either negative or noble intentions.

People who undermine decisions, by-pass procedure, and manipulate team members for self-serving purposes are the "dirty" politicians. Unfortunately, these are the people who most often come to mind when talking about politics. But there are those who help others to be successful, who pursue the goals of the team and the organization, and who build coalitions with clients and other IT members. These are the "noble" practitioners of politics. These are the people you want leading your projects. They are the people you will respect when the project is complete and the individuals you want to work with on future projects.

Hagerup: I've been in the IT field since the early 1970s, and I've found that IT works differently from the rest of the real world. IT is a closed community. In other business units, the work gets done by networking, making contacts, forming connections and building relationships. In the IT world, we typically don't recognize that view. We circle our wagons and protect ourselves so we can play with our toys - our technology. Most of us get into IT because we love the toys, not people. But in the rest of the world, business gets done through the interaction of people.

When we talk about politics, we are talking about those human interactions that many of our colleagues in other fields - the areas we support with our technology - seem to understand intuitively. As IT professionals, and particularly, project managers, we need to understand how to get work done by motivating people to action and managing expectations in addition to providing technical advice and know-how. People outside IT are often more adept at building these necessary relationships - IT professionals have to work harder at it.

How do you prepare your project managers for today's environment?

Patane: Project managers need knowledge, but they must be able to use it on the job. Our team of project managers attended the O&A workshop on politics because we were looking for a new level of learning. We had established our basic PM infrastructure, methodologies and customer service philosophy. We needed to train our key project managers in how to deal effectively with our senior management in order to win their support.

Agee: I try to strengthen their interpersonal skills. That's why I found the O&A workshops so motivating. Project success is ultimately hinged on human factors. I have found good relationships between the project team and the client and the stakeholders to be a significant ingredient in project success. If we can get our managers to develop and use good interpersonal skills in their project work we will enjoy client satisfaction and project success to a much greater degree.

Huwe: The content of O&A's workshops is right on the money. And there is no fluff or filler like you get in some other vendor's courses. But, I think the thing I like best about O&A's workshops is that they appeal to a number of different learning styles so that everyone can learn and take away practical, applicable skills. O&A provides reading, lecture, hands-on exercises, discussion, case studies and more to keep the class focused and attentive and to give all participants an equal opportunity to learn in ways that are most effective for them.

Fouquet: Traditionally, project managers have been subject to three major accountabilities: complete the project on time, within budget and according to the specified requirements. O&A believes there's a fourth accountability: client satisfaction, and that no project can be successful without it. Our approach is to enhance the existing technical expertise of project managers with a service-oriented, client-focused philosophy and the tools to make it effective. Good project managers recognize that successfully managing the human side of their projects is at least as important as mastering the technology.

Hagerup: We should point out another critical difference in our workshops and approach. We work closely with our clients to customize a certificate program that provides a common project management language and experience for a group of colleagues. We certify a group of people - not individuals. So when clients partner with us, their project management professionals are trained in their own environment, in a cost-effective, time-efficient way. Their learning is highly specific to the workplace.

What are some of the benefits of O&A's "Human Side" approach?

Patane: Results. A lot of Costco's managers and directors attended O&A's customer service workshop and we saw immediate, positive results within our user community. O&A taught us a new approach to handling irate calls to the help desk, for example, and in making that one change, we experienced a change of attitude among our customers. O&A brings that same kind of practical training to project managers in the workshops designed specifically for them.

Huwe: The O&A workshops taught me a more structured, analytical approach to project management. I learned how to assess certain factors that I'd previously overlooked in my risk analysis. For example, I learned the skills to determine how well team members would get along. I learned to identify potential opponents to the project. The Politics workshop, particularly, taught me how to think through the WIIFMs (What's In It For Me) for every stakeholder and then drive to common interests to keep the project on track. I've learned to invest in relationships over the long term and to rely on those relationships to make the next project and the next successful.

Would you recommend the O&A project management workshops?

Agee: Yes! And in fact, I have. We had so many project managers eager to attend the workshops that we had to make special provisions to accommodate them all.

In my 30 years in IT, I've attended more than 70 industry workshops and seminars, and O&A is heads above the rest. The instructors don't just give a presentation - it is more like a testimonial. They have all lived and breathed what they teach - and the content shows it and so does their enthusiasm. They love the IT field - it is their lifeblood - and they enjoy IT people because they are IT people.

Not many presenters can keep my attention for two days, but the O&A instructors can. They are charismatic and have a great sense of humor. The workshops are jammed with so much information, we could barely cover it all in the two days.

For detailed information about how O&A can partner with you to develop a team of client focused IT and project leaders who apply a consistent project management approach, please call Tom McDonough at 1-800-878-4551 or E-mail him at tmcdonough@ouellette-online.com.