Doing My Best Not to Scream
August 19th, 2003 by Hal
Yesterday's posting hit a nerve. (Seems at least three people agree with me!) What might we be able to accomplish on our projects if we put our attention on learning to increase the relatedness of people on our projects rather than studying for the PMI certification exam? Does anyone really think that doing better work breakdown structures will make our projects successful? No one. That's what I thought. How about learning to repair trust between two important team members? Now that would make a difference. Not the role of a project manager, you say? Then who's role is it?
It's time we stopped acting like good technical wisdom is what makes for good project management. It doesn't. Likewise, accountability, authority, and responsibility (someone needs to explain the difference between accountability and responsibility for me) don't make a project manager. Let's try care, guidance, attention, listening, and openness. Now we're getting somewhere!
I recognize my mood in writing this is somewhat impertinent. Frankly, I'm doing my best not to scream. (It would wake the dogs.) We must shift our conversation about project management from the things we do to the people we do it with. Only when we put people at the center of projects can we have the fantastic environments that projects are for our clients, for us and our team mates, and our companies.
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August 20th, 2003 at 6:29 pm
Totally agree with you, Hal. Well stated! I love it when I see someone get passionate about defying conventional wisdom. You know more about this stuff than anyone else I have ever been exposed to. Let’s get some of this into The Zweig Letter ASAP!
Mark
August 20th, 2003 at 6:30 pm
Totally agree with you, Hal. Well stated! I love it when I see someone get passionate about defying conventional wisdom. You know more about this stuff than anyone else I have ever been exposed to. Let’s get some of this into The Zweig Letter ASAP!
Mark
August 21st, 2003 at 3:05 am
Well, I’m enjoying this! Here are a few of my comments.
1. Do get your PMP certification if that’s what you want. As Tom says, it is the gold standard. And, some of my best friends and colleagues are PMPs.
2. Thanks for the clarification on responsibility and accountability. I see it now. Very useful. With maturity we learn to be responsible. In our roles we have accountability. :+:
3. For all you AE folks look for me in the ZweigLetter the week of Sept 8th. No sense dawdling on this one!
4. What do I say about Gary’s and David’s comments except thank you. You’ve offered me encouragement AND more to think about!
August 21st, 2003 at 10:24 pm
There’s a great ranting section in DeMarco’s TheDeadline where the main character recalls storming out of a corporate course on project management after asking the green instructor about the lack of any truly useful (soft) skills on the curriculum (but plenty of stuff on plans and status reports).