PMcrunch

As project and program managers we need to make sure that our projects are moving forward. We need to make sure that we identify the obstacles that get in the way of progress and that we address and remove them. We need to make sure that the greater project team has the tools and resources [...]

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If you are at all like me, achieving work/life balance is a challenge. As I think about it, there are a few key things that present the greatest obstacles – and thus provide the starting point for managing the situation.

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We never really arrive at the end of the road in our quest to become leaders. We may achieve [tag-tec]leadership[/tag-tec] status in some way but it is always a moving target. Indeed, I believe it is our own movement on a continuous basis that can enable us to maintain ourselves as a leader. One way that we can do this is by continuously evaluating our own leadership capabilities.

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Oftentimes, as[tag-dir]project managers[/tag-dir] and leaders, we are called upon to compare a variety of potential solutions and to either recommend or choose the best one for our situation. There are a variety of ways to do this. It is important for us to recognize that the answer we come up with is very closely related to the questions we ask and how we do the comparison. Many times—perhaps even most of the time—we do this comparisons in a relatively informal way, putting together our own structure. In other cases however, there is a much formalized organizational structure with a formal name such as [/tag-tec]“analysis of alternatives”[tag-dir] that is performed.

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When we first build our [tag-tec]project plan[/tag-tec], we need to make many [tag-dir]assumptions. As part of our project plan, we need to document what these assumptions are. We also need to acknowledge the reality that many of those assumptions may not prove out as the project unfolds.

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What do you do when hopelessness seems on the horizon? What do you do when it appears you have tried everything and nothing is working? What do you do when it appears that you are at the end of the road?

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I just heard a discussion led by a Duke University economics professor (sorry, I didn’t get his name) who had some interesting points to make about things being for free or being for money. He draws some very interesting conclusions that might be helpful to many of us on our projects.

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[tag-tec]Gold plating[/tag-tec], or the idea of delivering more or better than requested is generally not accepted in [tag-dir]project management[/tag-dir] doctrine. However, I think we need to take this with a grain of salt and consider how to discern when and how we might over deliver.

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[tag-tec]Task estimating[/tag-tec] is a critical skill for [tag-dir]project managers[/tag-dir] and [tag-dir]project teams[/tag-dir]. We cannot manage what we cannot estimate. However, realistically, it is very difficult to be able to estimate every possible task accurately.

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Often on our projects there is none a perfect match between the talents of our team and the challenges of the project. We do the best we can to match capabilities and prior experience to the needs of our current projects but as reality has it each project is unique. We try to “are the best athletes” but invariably there are going to be some gaps in the skills required. [tag-tec]“Just in time learning”[/tag-tec] can be the answer to these issues.

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