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Fellow project managers: Who are we?
Are we the paper pushers and process police, as an article in this month's PM Network® magazine is titled?
Do we really obsess over reports, come across as control freaks or do everything "by the book"?
Even though most project managers deny they fit these stereotypes, perception is reality for your stakeholders and team members. You may have to fight these false perceptions. Or maybe you need to examine your attitude.
Fight Back!
Do your team members or stakeholders really feel they are drowning in reports? Work with your organization to see if it´s possible to minimize the volume of project documentation.
Do your team members or stakeholders really feel they are drowning in reports? Work with your organization to see if it´s possible to minimize the volume of project documentation.
Then, clearly communicate the importance of basic reports for the project, particularly for monitoring and controlling, risk management or future lessons learned.
Project managers who are seen as controlling should contemplate a change in attitude. Consider adopting a "servant leader" mentality. Try to transfer your responsibility from making decisions for the team to coaching them so that they can make their own decisions.
Project managers always need to be open to new ideas. Ideas about these new ways of working may come from books, journals, your team or other project managers. Creativity should always be part of the equation—and that can help fight a project manager’s "straight-laced" reputation.
How Your Organization Can Help
Organization executives and project managers themselves can do their part to put to rest any misconceptions about their project managers.
Organization executives and project managers themselves can do their part to put to rest any misconceptions about their project managers.
Education of stakeholders and team members will help—perhaps you, as the project manager, could initiate that. Additionally, professional and personal development can assist project managers who might see a little truth in their labels.
Everyone Stereotypes
Of course, stereotypes can go both ways. Software developer Kenneth Ahlstrom posted a 3 x 3 matrix on hisblog that, somewhat tongue in cheek, noted that project managers might view developers as "unthinking assembly-line workers," designers as "unthinking assembly-line slave workers with paintbrushes" and themselves as "leaders of the free world with all of the ideas and know-how."
Of course, stereotypes can go both ways. Software developer Kenneth Ahlstrom posted a 3 x 3 matrix on hisblog that, somewhat tongue in cheek, noted that project managers might view developers as "unthinking assembly-line workers," designers as "unthinking assembly-line slave workers with paintbrushes" and themselves as "leaders of the free world with all of the ideas and know-how."
Mr. Ahlstrom had a remedy for all this labeling: Understand your own role and respect the roles of others. "Resentment sets in when one group or another attempts to infringe on another group's job."
Guido Schoonheim, CTO at Xebia, an IT services firm based in The Netherlands, advised project managers to "Provide structure and process while promoting personal initiative. Deliver on time and budget while keeping your team happy and healthy. It is your job to find the appropriate balance between these forces and thereby avoid these stereotypes."
Mr. Ahlstrom concluded that if everyone learns to "trust, respect and value each other, the stereotypes... will continue to fade and our projects together will reach heights never before imagined."
Is this you?
Blogger Kailash Awati, co-author of The Heretics Guide to Best Practices, presents these project manager caricatures:
Barry Bureaucrat: Barry has a form for everything and is a master of fine print.
Conroy Cowboy: Con has a strictly shoot-from-the-hip approach. He reacts fast to events, even if that means there's no thought preceding the action.
Igor Inflexible: Once he has an opinion, he's congenitally incapable of changing it.
Mac Machiavelli: Mac's a schemer. To him, the project and team are important only in how they serve his relentless pursuit of fame and glory.
Norman No–decision: Norm enjoys discussing issues and analyzing them. He’s elevated analysis paralysis to a fine art.
Sally Shifter: Sally has an unblemished record as a project manager because she's good at shifting the blame for mess-ups on to other people, generally her team members.
Conroy Cowboy: Con has a strictly shoot-from-the-hip approach. He reacts fast to events, even if that means there's no thought preceding the action.
Igor Inflexible: Once he has an opinion, he's congenitally incapable of changing it.
Mac Machiavelli: Mac's a schemer. To him, the project and team are important only in how they serve his relentless pursuit of fame and glory.
Norman No–decision: Norm enjoys discussing issues and analyzing them. He’s elevated analysis paralysis to a fine art.
Sally Shifter: Sally has an unblemished record as a project manager because she's good at shifting the blame for mess-ups on to other people, generally her team members.
Do you deal with these people?
Mr. Awati also wants you to know what stakeholders look like:
Mr. Awati also wants you to know what stakeholders look like:
Andrew Astronaut: With all the big-picture stuff to look after, your project is just a small speck of inconsequence for him.
Charlie Count-the-cash: Charlie sees the project as a black hole for company cash. To counter this, he has a bag of tried and tested money-saving devices.
Devlin Details: He's the kind of sponsor for whom the 50-page progress report (and the 500-page business case) was invented.
Len Leftfield: Len's questions may not be relevant, but they're always clever and, of course, unanswerable.
Mick Micromanager: Mick likes to see the "small picture" or the "trees for the forest," and offer unsolicited advice on project planning and execution.
Charlie Count-the-cash: Charlie sees the project as a black hole for company cash. To counter this, he has a bag of tried and tested money-saving devices.
Devlin Details: He's the kind of sponsor for whom the 50-page progress report (and the 500-page business case) was invented.
Len Leftfield: Len's questions may not be relevant, but they're always clever and, of course, unanswerable.
Mick Micromanager: Mick likes to see the "small picture" or the "trees for the forest," and offer unsolicited advice on project planning and execution.
"Stereotypical behavior generally occurs in dysfunctional environments where stakeholders assume adversarial attitudes that lead to conflict rather than cooperation," said Mr. Awati. "The key to avoiding such problems is to reconcile diverse viewpoints upfront so that all stakeholders have a shared understanding of project goals and a shared commitment to achieving them."
