Manage Your Management, Manage Your Team

by Dr. Gerald Mulenburg, PMP:

What Managers Need to Know About Managing Projects

Having been both a project manager and a manager of project managers, I’ve developed a clear impression of what a project produces, what it costs, and what its value is to an organization. A first principle of projects is that, by themselves, they do not make money-they are cost centers. Managers don’t like to hear this. They seem to think that projects make money.  Projects only cost money. It is the products of projects that make money, but only if, and when, they are successful and implemented.

Managing Your Management

So what can you tell your manager about the value your project will produce? Keep in mind that management doesn’t understand project-speak. You need to talk to them in management-speak. What managers need to know about your project are only a few simple things:

• What is it costing?
• How long is it taking?
• What problems are there for them to be concerned about?

That’s it! Of course, if there are variances between what was planned and the new reality for any of these three parameters, it is necessary that you provide a solution to correct these variances. Note that I said provide a solution, not just present them with a problem. That’s why you are there as project manager. It’s not their job to manage the project. They don’t want to hear about a problem unless it’s presented with a reasonable solution to solve it.

Managing Your Team

This same philosophy applies to managing your team. You want to know how their work on the project is progressing, the costs, and the time to completion compared to their original estimates. Just as you do with your managers, your team needs to provide you with solutions if there are problems in meeting their estimates. They are there to solve the problems related to their work. That’s not your job.

In reality, of course, as the project manager, you need to help them achieve the objectives you defined together during project planning. That is your job—to provide them with what they need to accomplish their work. To do that, you must be available to them. Not just during meetings, but visible regularly and frequently to discuss anything that comes up on a day-to-day basis, to deal with on-the-spot rather than letting things linger until the next status meeting. Some successful project managers hold stand-up meetings each day where the key participants have an opportunity to voice any needs or concerns about their work for that day.

Ensuring project success is your job. To achieve it, you need to manage both your management and your team.