What Problem with Project-Driven Businesses?
December 17th, 2004 by HalMark Zweig writes an always-provocative column in the weekly newsletter The Zweig Letter. This week was no exception. Mark offers nine axioms — unifying characteristics — of the project-oriented firm:
There are no problems in this business that can't be addressed with enlightened managing, leading, and preparing.
- Clients are king.
- Internal initiatives take a back seat.
- HR problems WILL fester.
- The people who do well in the firm are those who seek out the attention and resources they need.
- No one can say for sure what comes first — the chicken or the egg, the project or the people who can do the project.
- Selling is easy if a client brings a problem or opportunity to the firm.
- Stars can be your greatest blessing and your greatest curse.
- You live and die by cash flow.
- Your worst clients and projects end up with your best people.
Mark titled his column The Problem with Project-Driven Businesses. I can't believe that Mark actually sees these nine items as problems. Mark is always writing about managing, leading, and preparing for the future of your business. You'll find the above "problems" when your not managing, leading, and preparing.
Are there "problems" with the project-driven business? The biggest problem is not recognizing that your firm is project-driven. A/E firms don't do one project at a time; they are multi-projects firms. A second problem is thinking that whatever "problems" you have are your problems alone. Mark and I visit with enough people in A/E to see the same symptoms over and over. For each axiom above there are a host of solution sets.
There are no problems in this business that can't be addressed with enlightened managing, leading, and preparing. Get to it!
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December 18th, 2004 at 3:12 pm
Nice site! Thoughts for all those Project Leaders out there :
The first job of a leader is to create reality. The last job of a leader is to say thank you. In between, the leader is servant.
The editors at the ZardozZ News Portal occasionally search the web for interesting feed content and we came across your site today. We would like to invite you to add your site’s url to our webring as your material appears interesting and aligned with our readership. If you are interested you can find further information at ZZ OpenRing and at the ZZ OpenWeb. This is not meant as spam but as an invitation. Hope you’ll join us…