Bookworm: Transforming Project Management

Project management is a skilled job that revolves around strategic planning, writes Duane Petersen.

What’s the main thing we need to know about project management?

Author Duane Peterson, who helps businesses improve their ‘strategic vision’, says it’s all to do with strategic planning, which comprises three elements: an assessment of the business and the environment in which it operates, a baseline, to help us understand our current reality, and a benchmark to help us understand where our company needs to get to. The needs to underpin all our projects.

Where do people fit into this?

A mix of people is important for strategic planning; it shouldn't just be the company’s most experienced managers huddling together and reinforcing the status quo. As well as a project manager, you’ll want around a dozen people from different levels and sections of the organisation who can each provide different perspectives and expertise.

Is a project manager’s role all about budgeting?

Project managers need to know how to manage budgets, for sure. More specifically, they need to be honest about the number of potential costs that a business might incur. Far too often, Petersen says, budgets don’t adequately account for reality. Good project managers keep a keen eye on the detail to prevent costs quietly ratcheting up.

It helps if you’re a pessimist, then?

A realist, certainly. This is also relevant when it comes to scheduling. An effective project manager understands that people tend to overestimate their productivity levels. Schedules often fail to take account of human frailties – from lunch breaks to other pressing bits of work that have to be done, and days off sick.

What else to project managers need to know?

They need to understand contracts. Petersen advises drawing up cost-plus contracts (such as cost-plus-incentives or cost-plus-fixed-fee) and advises against time-and-materials and fixed-fee contracts.

This is to minimise exploitation: contractors can quote too big a fixed fee or simply lie about their time and materials, taking advantage of the loose terms of the agreement. However, the former types of contract are easier for a project manager to control.

So, project managers need quite a mix of skills?

Yes, as we've seen, the role requires juggling a variety of tasks from contract negotiation and scheduling to budget management. Project managers need to be organised, numerate and have excellent communication and influencing skills.

The bottom line is that a professional project manager cannot be easily replaced by someone whose specialism lies elsewhere. Their valuable skill set is in making things happen smoothly, efficiently and safely on behalf of the interests of the business. 

What am I most likely to say after reading this book?  

“Let’s appoint a qualified project manager for this.”

What am I least likely to say after reading this book?

“Pah, anyone can manage a project.”