5 Pillars of Project Management
“Management is, above all, a practice where art, science, and craft meet.” ~ Henry Mintzberg, Canadian academic and author on business and management.
I have spent almost all of my professional life involved with projects.
As an Industrial Engineer with Crayola, I developed and ran many production projects. I then managed the Project Engineering group that did approximately 150 capital and equipment projects per year. As Director for Quality, Research and Development and Operations for three operating divisions, I oversaw many more projects that solved issues, introduced new products or improved our already outstanding lines of products.
Once I left Crayola, I went in Business Consulting. Working with 300+ clients virtually all of my time was involved in project work when not attending to the running on the firm.
Even now, in “retirement” I have worked on projects and teach Project Management at Alvernia University. So as you can see, I have been involved with and around projects for a long, long time.
Recently I appeared on a podcast with Tim Hughes, entitled, “Tim Talk”.
The discussion centered around what I consider the 5 pillars of Project Management. While there are many articles on this subject, through my experiences, I established my own top 5. They are not in a priority, as with any construct, all of the pillars serve a purpose and are important to holding up the construct.
That said, here are my top 5 Pillars of Project Management:
Pillar #1 — Develop clearly defined plans with assigned responsibilities and accountabilities.
“If You Fail to Plan, You Are Planning to Fail” — Benjamin Franklin.
Through all of my experience managing and working on 1,000s of projects, I have yet to see one succeed without a good if not great game plan. In fact, those which do not have a good plan fail, in some cases causing more harm than if the project was never undertaken.
There is an old saying. “If you do not know where you are going, any road will get you there”. Of course where you wind up may be a far different place than you imagined. It isn’t that the initial thought was bad, but poorly constructed and carried out.
I myself never managed a project that did not have a solid plan to start. I realized that changes would be made along the way. No plan or project is perfect. And things crop up even with the most thought and preparation that was accounted for.
But with proper planning, much of that can be avoided or easily taken care of. Imagine any team going into a game with no plan as to how to defeat their opponent. Chaos may ensue and the rout is on.
And if the game plan isn’t working, the coach calls time out to adjust. How many teams are losing at halftime and in the second half look like a different team and come back to win and even dominate the other team? It happens often and such is the case in managing and running a project.
The other part of getting started is to make sure that each person involved in the project knows what his or her role is and that they are accountable for what they do or do not do. No team has all scorers and no assist person or persons. Also, without rebounders, a basketball team is bound to lose.
Each person must fulfill his or her role or it affects the entire team. You can do your job perfectly, but if your interaction with the other team members is not good, they may be unable to complete their portion and the project suffers.
And the team is not alone in this, The project sponsor has a role to play as well as a Steering Committee. If they do not support the Project Manager and the team, especially when a problem develops, more trouble may ensue.
I was once instructed that a good Project Manager does four main things. These are:
1. Define what the project is, what end results are expected, and get agreement from the Sponsor, Steering Committee, Stakeholders and the team. If there are any disagreements, these must be resolved before starting.
2. Define what each person’s roles and responsibilities in the project are. Make sure you put these in writing. Then, get agreement from the person, Sponsor, Steering Committee and the person’s regular manager. If there are any disagreements, these must be resolved and everyone signs off and gets a copy. If there is ever a question, pull out the document and end any misunderstanding.
3. The Project Manager, manages the team and what they are doing and accomplishing. He or she does not work directly on the project activities, but on the people doing the activities. If changes need to be made or someone isn’t doing their job, the PM takes appropriate action. Communication to all people involved with the project is maintained at all times.
4. If and when a change occurs, revisit items 1 and 2 and make sure everyone is aware of the changes, what that means to the project and them personally and is communicated to all. Everything is done in writing and the project moves on.
If these things are done and done properly, the chances of a successful project are high. It is never 100%, because nothing in life is 100%. There is always room for failure. But that margin is so slim that it should not happen.
Pillar #2 — Manage the project scope effectively using the right tools.
“It is essential to have good tools, but it is also essential that the tools should be used in the right way.” ― Wallace D. Wattles.
There are many tools that can be used in or on projects. The ones that I teach to my Project Management class are:
· Stage Gate
· Project Charter
· Action and Decision log
· Change log
· Written individual Roles and Responsibilities
· Budget
· Schedule
· Risk Register
· Project team roster
· Lessons learned
Not all of these need to be used on every project. A good Project Manager can determine which to use. If one is not and needs to be, it can always be added.
I do require, that a Charter is a project must. While it is a summary about the project, it contains all of the important things involved with the project including:
· Scope
· Desired results
· Cost
· Timing
· Team
· Plan
· Potential risks
· Sign offs
If and when anything on the project changes, the Charter is updated to reflect the changes and dated accordingly. It is the project bible and constantly referred to throughout the project.
It is also important that the project have a proper budget, schedule and roles and responsibilities for the team members.
In some cases, the project is small and costs are viewed as minimal. But, that does not take into account the value of the team members’ time spent. In such a case the budget can be the estimated time each person will spend on the project.
The Lessons Learned tool is not used during the project, but at its end. The team should get together and cover what went right so it can repeated and similarly what went wrong, so it will not be repeated.
As with anything, the proper use of the tools is important. Just as not using a hammer to screw a screw or a screwdriver to hammer a nail, each tool has a purpose and use. When utilized properly, it helps make a project function smoothly.
The key is to not make the tools the focus of the work. If so, too much time is spent on that and not the project itself. A good Project Manager and his team knows this and uses the tools as intended and when needed.
Pillar #3 — Work with a flexible team whose skills combine well and keep them motivated.
“Alone, we can do so little; together, we can do so much.” — Helen Keller
Having a good and reliable team is essential to getting projects done properly. Being on the same page with your team is what every Project Manager aspires to.
As you build your relationship with your team members that should become the norm. Of course there are always exceptions to every case and at times someone may fall out of line or you are faced with a team member not of your choosing.
When that occurs there is a process to handle that, that involves dealing directly with the individual, resolving the problem and taking a course of action so it does not happen again. Even then the issue may not be resolved at which point more drastic action (Firing that team member) may be necessary. We always hope that it doesn’t come to that, but it does unfortunately occur.
Having a good team that you can trust to fulfill the roles and responsibilities you laid out at the start of the project is important. Also important is that there is good communication between you and each team member and also among themselves.
Team members must also be flexible. While the project mission was defined and signed up for initially and spelled out in the Charter, things happen to the best conceived project and its plan. The company’s priorities may change, circumstances may crop up or additional requirements may be added.
If and when any of those things occur (Remember there is no perfect plan) each team member must be flexible and change with whatever needs to be done.
As at the start of the project, there must be a clear understanding of what is needed now and acceptance of these changes needs to happen.
Remember that as the Project Manager you are not a project doer. That is what the team does. You are there to manage them and the activities, relying on each person’s skill and knowledge. If additional help is needed it is up to you to define what is needed and get the extra help.
If all of this is done properly, the projects should run fairly smoothly. If not then do not be surprised by the problems that may arise.
Pillar #4 — Foster clear and effective communication.
“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” ~ George Bernard Shaw
While I previously stated that all of the pillars are important, this one stands out to me as my favorite one (We all have our favorites).
While we have so many means of communicating with each other, we still manage to do a terrible job, because we are not doing everything needed to communicate properly. Through my experience and reading much about proper communication, I have come to the following about what this really means:
1. To start you send a message to the person with your information, request or question.
2. You then follow up to make sure that the person received the communication and understood it. I can’t tell you how many times an email wasn’t received or read. It happens often, so I have learned the hard way not to assume these things are ok.
3. If the communication was not received or understood, resend it and follow up again.
4. Once the communication is received and understood, make sure it is agreed to. Often individuals are not in agreement with something. Instead of voicing their displeasure, they just ignore what was sent. If there is a disagreement, it needs to be discussed and resolved.
5. Once agreement is made, make sure action is taken. This means again following up to make sure that whatever was agreed to is done. Never assume anything. If you do it is at your own peril.
This is what I and many others consider proper communication. Too often this stops at point #1. And then we wonder why things are late or do not get done.
And the Project Manger is not the only person on the team to initiate communication. All team members are expected to do so between themselves and the Project Manager, especially if there is a problem or issue. Letting things go or ignoring them is a recipe for disaster. As a Project Manager, do not let this happen.
Now communication does not mean every minute about everything. An experienced Project Manager learns through trial and error what is enough and what is timely communication.
Pillar #5 — Make sure you have management support.
“Strong and cohesive teams thrive when leaders highlight how much they all have in common, not how much he or she stands above from the crowd.” — Moira Alexander
Many projects are initiated by company executives. They have a certain desire to change or add things and bring their request to a manager to make whatever they want a reality.
However, while they want a change or addition, some do not want their name to be associated with it in case something goes wrong or their idea does not pan out. When that occurs, be wary of doing a project which is not supported by the idea person or any of the other executives. As previously discussed, when a problem or issue crops up, as it inevitably will, there will be little or no support for what is needed to correct the issue.
I had instances of such. A Human Resources Vice President told me that a particular piece of equipment on the Manufacturing floor was too noisy. A simple solution was for the operators to wear hearing protection. But he balked at that and wanted a more elegant solution.
After studying the problem and talking to noise control experts, we came up with a way to reduce and muffle the sound. I developed the Capital request and permission form to solve this issue in an elegant, but $30,000 way. When I asked him to sign off, he refused. Since no one else thought this was an issue or liked the hearing protection idea (Less than $100 in cost), the project went nowhere.
Then, I had a tooling project that affected one operating division. The cost of the tooling was $6,000, which was no big deal. Unfortunately, at the time even after a capital request was approved, I still had to get VP sign off to actually spend the money.
My VP who would sign in 2 seconds was away so I went to the operating VP. He made me get 10 other signatures before he would sign off. I did, but it took me a day to round these folks up. Finally, he signed. He told me that he did all of this because he was on the hook for the money. I told him, he wasn’t, I was and he had wasted my time and probably spent that much to get the signatures.
When my VP returned I went immediately to his office and told him what happened. I was pissed. We then had the policy changed so I could buy things on an approved request as long as the scope was not changed.
If you have situations like this, get them resolved as soon as you can. Both examples were a waste of time that can and should be used elsewhere. And if executives want initiatives done. make sure they are supporting what they are asking for.
Just as you are supporting your team members, they should be supporting you and the team. If not, either find an executive who will or do not attempt to make changes without their support.
“Project Management is like juggling three balls: time, cost and quality. Program Management is like a troupe of circus performers standing in a circle, each juggling three balls and swapping balls from time to time.” Geoff Reiss , author of Project Management Demystified
As I mentioned earlier, these are my 5 Pillars of Project Management. Others will have the same, some of them, or possibly 5 completely different ones. That is not to say that I am right and they are wrong or vice versa.
There are a lot of aspects to project and managing them. Pick what you feel are the most important aspects to focus on and do so. But do not forget the 5 I have covered. My experience is that these are quite important and should be a part of your consideration in any project you manage.
If you are interested, why wouldn’t you be?, here is my podcast on this subject. Tim is a great host and interviewer and we had a blast doing this podcast.
#TimTalk — 5 successful pillars of project management with Peter Christian — YouTube
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Peter H. Christian was a founding partner and president of espi, a business consulting firm in Northeastern PA. Previously he was an Executive at Crayola Corporation. He has worked with 300+ clients in business development, profit improvement, operations, IS selection and implementation, and Project Management. He has 40+ years of experience in strategic and facility planning, CI, lean, and supply chain. He has helped companies to realize millions of dollars in cost reductions and profit improvements adding and retaining thousands of jobs. He has authored the Amazon bestselling business books, “What About the Vermin Problem?” and “Influences and Influencers” (4 out of 4 star review on Online Bookclub) which are highlighted in his profile. He is also published in a variety of professional magazines. He is most appreciative of Dr. Rodney Ridley, Donald Schalk and Gaetan Gianinni of Alvernia University for their support in allowing him to teach Project Management at the University.
