Today we launch our March newsletter looking at Project Management Success; taking a look at what makes a successful project management professional. So who better to ask about success in a project management career than a well respected project management veteran and author. I asked Dennis Lock to share insights about his own career and also thoughts about what makes a successful project management professional.
LS Dennis, may I please ask you which parts of project management came easiest to you in the beginning?
DL Well, Lindsay, it’s not really easy for me to say because I made no conscious effort to become a project manager. Rather I drifted into it in my youthful electronic engineering days as a result of following through things as they went into the production and manufacturing processes. But, on reflection, I remember that most of my project management activity in those early days was spent in arranging Gantt charts displayed on adjustable wall boards to plan jobs and allocate resources.
All that was in the days before we had even heard of critical path networks. When those networks and computers did enter the project management scene, even back in the late 1960s there were programs available to us that could schedule work, resources and costs as well as the most modern systems. But then it took a large mainframe and two weeks to bang out the results instead of a laptop and a few minutes.
So to get back to your question, I found all this easy to manage because by fortune of birth I have the kind of brain that likes solving puzzles – such as crossword puzzles and the kinds of problems one finds in intelligence tests.
LS Thank you Dennis. Now I suppose the obvious follow up to that question is, what did you find most difficult about project management?
DL That’s easy to answer, although solving the problem is far less easy. At first I confess I was terrible at managing other people. It was only in later years that, almost by accident, I acquired any skills in that direction.
Of course when one works with people who are well motivated and share the same goals, work becomes a delight. I remember once, in a heavy engineering company where four supervisors reported directly to me, feeling supported by their loyalty to the extent that I likened it to riding on top of a horse with four dependable and strong legs. Of course I never told them that – how would you like being told that you are like the leg of a horse?
LS I’ve had worse things said to me. But Dennis, another question for you. What do you think makes a successful project manager?
DL That’s a big question, and I’m not sure there’s a simple answer. But I can offer a few pointers.
One is that a successful project manager is pro-active, always ready to take personal, decisive and dedicated action to sort out difficulties or make decisions — not making the mistake of believing that techniques or even the very latest IT systems will by themselves make the project a success. People make projects a success.
My second point is that most project managers get fed bucket loads of information, and they will do best if they know how to sort out the wheat from the chaff. One has to concentrate on the data that will move the project forward or help to solve problems – in other words practising what we used to call ‘management by exception’.
Another thing I came to learn very early in my career was never to believe everything that everyone told me. Although I am a born cynic, I’m not saying that people are necessarily dishonest. Most people in projects are incurable optimists and will feed back information that sometimes paints a picture that can never be realized in practice. That argument goes also for information fed back by the project manager to the customer or client: one must always try to be honest in such dealings.
I suppose that much of this could be summed up succinctly under the single word communications. Indeed, the respected author Francis Hartman once wrote ‘[bad] Communications – the only cause of project failure’1
Here’s another thing. I never fail to be astonished by the lack of commonsense displayed by some project managers and many writers. On reflection off the top of my shiny bald head, here are three things that should give cause for thought:
- Why do people and writers pay almost no attention to the subject of procurement, when in many projects the costs of materials and bought-out services can account for well over half the total project cost and considerable waiting time? In some cases that proportion of costs can be as high as 80 per cent.
- Why do people spend so much effort on systems for recording and reporting costs, above and beyond what is legally necessary, without realizing that such systems are merely cost reporting and not cost control? I’m not saying that earned value measurement is not a valuable reporting tool but true cost control is exercised by beginning with a well defined task, followed up with strict change control and contract administration, efficient procurement and diligent control of progress – remembering always that ‘time is money’.
- Here’s another example where commonsense is noticeable by its absence. How many books on project risk management fail to deal adequately with, or even mention, commercial insurance?
LS Well, you’ve certainly made some points forcefully there Dennis. I’m not sure how many people would agree with you. I’ve got one last question for you. Would you have any advice or personal tips that you could pass on to those thinking of becoming project managers, or who are relatively inexperienced?
DL First, my congratulations to anyone wishing to join our rewarding profession. But personal advice or tips?
I suppose the most important single tip is to learn from others who are successful, and that means getting to know those people and making many friends within the profession. One clear path to that goal is to join one of the professional associations, such as the APM or PMI. Then one can progress to gaining recognition by following an approved course of study that will lead to academic qualifications – which in themselves will not make a person a good manager but they will give third parties such as employers and clients some initial degree of confidence.
A project manager’s circle of supporters must include the top management of the organization. They must be willing to support you by backing your decisions and by funding your work. You will do best in an organization where the senior corporate managers realize that the relatively small amount of money invested in an efficient project management function can reap huge returns, both for the individual projects and for the corporate organization.
References
1 Hartman, F.T. (2000), Don’t Park Your Brain Outside, Newtown Square, PA., Project Management Institute
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EDITOR’S NOTE: Here’s another post from Lindsay about Dennis
Image – Wordle
