Project Manager Credentials

    "According to others, the Project Manager is the person who, with the help of nine women, can give birth to a baby in one month" - quote from the Internet


    Often there is a situation when the project manager is required to successfully complete the project without providing sufficient authority to achieve the goal.
    The other day I got involved in a theoretical debate on the topic what powers are needed for the project manager (RP) for the successful completion of the project. Or, more precisely, in the wording, what powers should be granted to the RP in the project, so that there is no justification for "their lack" in case of unsuccessful completion.



    Below I give my thoughts on how I see the situation in theory, and how it most often occurs in my practice.


    Terminology


    First you need to decide on key terminology. I suggest using the terminology from the PMBOK guide.


    Sponsor - a person (or group of people) providing resources and support for a project and responsible for achieving success. Sets the priority of the project in the organization; provides resources; approves the priority level of resources. I want to note that, despite the fact that in Russian the word sponsor is associated primarily with money, and that financing is very important for the project, the sponsor also has other equally important responsibilities.


    Customers - persons or organizations who will approve
    and manage a product, service or project result. Formulate requirements for project results, accept and approve final results.


    Project team - the rest of the team members who perform work on the project.


    Successful project - a project that fits into the project triangle (time, cost, maintenance), if satisfied with the results of the customer.



    During the project, the main interactions of the RP occur with the Customer, the Sponsor and the Project team (not to be confused with the communication channels on the project, which are much larger). From this point of view, I will consider the required authority for the successful completion of the project.


    RP authorization theory (ideal project in an ideal company)


    I see the following picture of the manager’s ideal authority:


    Communication authority


    Free communication with the Customer
    RP should have the opportunity to communicate directly with the Customer. The presence of such powers greatly simplifies the process of interaction, meetings and escalations.


    Availability of the sponsor of the
    RP should be able to regularly communicate with the sponsor to report on the current status of the project, and, if necessary, to escalate and solve problems that fall outside the scope of the RP.
    Also, it is often necessary to resort to the help of the Sponsor in the part of closing the project . For example, to get the latest signature on closing acts (quite often this is purely political activity, and, unfortunately, in Russian realities it is not always dependent on the Republic of Poland).


    Organizational Powers


    RP participation in the project initiation phase
    Coordination of the project objectives during its initiation / launch provides an opportunity to formulate, fix and coordinate the project objectives with all interested parties (with the Customer, the Sponsor and the project team) at the project start.


    The Project Management Institute (PMI, http://www.pmi.org ) insists, and I fully support this position, so that the RP is involved in the project as early as possible (initiation phase). Ideally, before concluding a contract, in order to be able to evaluate the realism of the project triangle promised to the customer (terms, functionality, budget).


    The sooner the RP joins the project management organization, the more opportunities it has for the formation of a common perception of the goals and objectives of the project by all participants.


    Official confirmation of the status of the Republic of Poland
    Official permission is required (for example, in the charter of the project) to attract resources to the project. And, most importantly, the Sponsor is required to formally agree on the project priorities within the framework of the project organization or portfolio, so that line managers (in the matrix structure) do not allocate resources to carry out the tasks of the project on a residual basis, justifying this with more important / urgent projects.


    Team Permissions


    One of the key points of successful completion of the project is the formation of an effective team. This requires:


    Adding and replacing people on a project.
    If for some parameters the employee does not fit into the project team, then the RP should be able to replace the employee or remove him from the project. Yes, I understand that you need to be able to work with those who are, but sometimes it’s more efficient to replace an employee than to spend time on him, both in the long and short term.


    In the same paragraph, I attribute the possibility of adding people to the project . That is, if the RP can justify (at the project planning phase, in the event of a change in the project triangle, or in the event of a risk) why more people are needed, then they will be allocated to the project. The key phrase is “if RP can justify”, as adding new people does not always reduce time or increase productivity. In addition, there are far from always “extra people” in the company, but why not try :)


    The ability to motivate people:


    Motivation requiring the allocation of financial resources, which, in turn, is divided into:


    Financial motivation - bonuses, overtime / weekend pay, bonuses ...


    Indirectly financial motivation - carrying out team building, training, providing more comfortable working conditions (that is, a budget for coffee makers, comfortable tables / chairs, productive computers), joint placement of employees (collocation). In Russia, the term “non-financial motivation” is used, although the term “indirect financial motivation” seems to be more appropriate, since all this requires financial expenses of the company one way or another.


    Leadership motivation . The presence of the very “soft skills” of the project manager about which they like to talk at various trainings is communication and managerial skills (the ability to persuade, motivate, manage, find the right approach to people, and resolve conflict situations). That is, the inherent skills of a good leader, which are applied constantly.


    Practice (as it happens in real life):



    All of the above applies to the most desirable credentials, and for each item I can say that I have never had this in my project activities. Not that this caused the project to fail, but additional difficulties arose.

    My strong belief is that in organizations that provide all of the above powers in 100% volume, the project can be brought to the end without the participation of the RP. Scrum-master or yesterday team lead will quite cope with the task. Perhaps with difficulties, with a delay in terms or inefficient use of resources, but the project is elongated.

    Unfortunately, or fortunately for the Republic of Poland, in reality such organizations do not exist. In any case, I have never heard of such people.

    The question arises, what is really minimally necessary RP for the successful completion of the project.

    All of the above items can be divided into three types:

    • Financial - which require financial investment
    • Organizational - which are governed by company rules
    • Personal - which require the use of personal skills RP


    In the table below, I give my vision of the breakdown of the listed permissions into types, as well as what, in the first place, are affected by the absence of these permissions. In the last column, I indicated how, from my point of view, their absence can be compensated.



    (*) - Here it should be read as “More careful planning” - crookedly, but in essence - since the RP should already plan carefully, and in this case even more “more carefully”.

    It is worth noting that “compensation” does not mean full replacement. A project may be such that without a sponsor and his personal connections not to sign an act (we work in conditions of Russian realities) - it all depends on the specifics of the project or the project area.

    On the other hand, the need to compensate for the missing authority potentially puts an additional amount of work on the RP. And to compensate for the lack of two or three powers, there may not be enough time in days.

    Thus we can say that
    • there is an ideal list of powers
    • there are options "how to get out," in the absence of one or another authority
    • to fully compensate for something missing - it will not work
    • A universal list of mandatory powers for any project does not exist, in view of the specifics of each project.
    • Personal qualities of RP significantly help in the successful completion of the project.


    I will explain the last thought in more detail.

    You can see that the RP has the opportunity, mainly to influence organizational authority. Personal powers (soft skills) are either there or not, and having time to develop them during the project is unlikely. On the other hand, if they exist, then no one can pick them up or “prohibit” them from being used on the project.

    Financing is also very difficult to change. There is a certain budget planned for the project, and it is rarely possible to increase it with the same amount of work.

    Quite often, it is possible to successfully resolve the issue with the absence of any authority through the personal qualities of the Republic of Poland. For example, to agree with the sponsor on the allocation of 15 minutes per week, even if the company “doesn’t accept this” regarding such communication.

    My practice fully confirms this conclusion. I have repeatedly observed that more successful (from the point of view of project success) managers are those who walk and demand, persuade, and beg, standing above their souls. Who agrees with line managers about people (he himself brought a box of beer from Prague in exchange for the participation of a strong analyst on my project).

    Who manages to persuade the manager to more convenient tables / chairs, headsets and telephones ...

    Who asks for better working conditions from managers, tangible and intangible incentives to employees.

    Who catches and communicates with the sponsor about the status and problems of the project (including intercepting the sponsor at the elevator to tell about the urgent, and connect to solving problems).

    Who keeps the customer informed (even despite resistance from the customer), connects him to the discussion and resolution of problems. He wants everyone (the customer, team, users) to have a common understanding of the goals and status of the project ...

    In general, I want to emphasize the idea that the very proactivity that we project managers love to see among our employees is very useful to include yourself. At a minimum, this is useful for the success of the project.

    Regards,
    Oleg Ponomarev, PMP

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