Impending sign #2: C-suite level involvement. Your project scope will change like the weather, for reasons you cannot fathom, and against which you have no ability to push back. The smoke of your...
Impending sign #2: C-suite level involvement. Your project scope will change like the weather, for reasons you cannot fathom, and against which you have no ability to push back. The smoke of your burning deadlines will outline vast and terrible corporate gods who do not wish you well.
Impending sign #3: The Attack of the Killer Accountants. A random bean counter will yell for the fainting couch when you submit a project expense line item which has been utterly unremarkable during your entire tenure. Long-standing vendor contracts will be scrutinized, every conceivable involved busybody will suddenly have to render judgment on a critical spending component of your plan which nonetheless represents <1% of the budgeted outlay. +25% to your project's delivery date.
Impending sign #4: A change in fashionable project models. You will be invited to do everything via Scrum methodology when your project is genuinely waterfall due to critical dependencies, or Kanban when breaking things down into tasks will literally take longer than completing the project itself.
I've got a few of these little nuggets. I did not set out to be a project manager; project management hunted me down, bit me in the neck, and I woke up like this.
That one is a double-edged sword, and depends on the competance of those involved. When working cross-departmental projects, being able to leverage C-suite to get things done can pay dividends....
C-suite level involvement
That one is a double-edged sword, and depends on the competance of those involved. When working cross-departmental projects, being able to leverage C-suite to get things done can pay dividends.
Your point stands however, as for every case like I described, three others will be dictated down due to vendor smoke-and-mirrors or the aforementioned meddling/micromanagement.
Yeah, I agree. It's a double-edged sword, but really spells doom if there is no leadership involvment whatsoever. You need a project sponsor that has clout; othewrise, projects can be completed;...
Yeah, I agree. It's a double-edged sword, but really spells doom if there is no leadership involvment whatsoever. You need a project sponsor that has clout; othewrise, projects can be completed; they're just rarely transformational.
I reported directly to a CIO for a couple of years, and my experience was like sliding down a razor blade. Things could fall either in your desired direction or away, but they might be vital parts...
I reported directly to a CIO for a couple of years, and my experience was like sliding down a razor blade. Things could fall either in your desired direction or away, but they might be vital parts you'd definitely miss.
Hm. While not immenent, I do think any project that doesn't have clear decisionmakers is doomed from the start. If you have to gather a committee for a 2 hour roundtable for every decision, in...
Hm. While not immenent, I do think any project that doesn't have clear decisionmakers is doomed from the start.
If you have to gather a committee for a 2 hour roundtable for every decision, in part because nobody can agree and nobody will accept one person making the call, it's a sure sign you should bump that project to the bottom of your priority list.
Related: Any meeting with more than 5 people, especially when managers outnumber workers, will be fairly unproductive. Each meeting like that moves the project doomsday clock closer to boom.
I was on a project like that. 10+ people each meeting, generally 3-4 workers and the rest managers of varying levels. End result was about 6 people doing full time work to get a system live, when closer to 12 were needed. 10 managers patting themselves on the back, and the system has been a mission-critical shitshow ever since.
Conversely, the projects most likely to succeed have like 1 Project Manager who keeps other managers off the worker's backs, and assembles a cross functional well-staffed team with a reasonable deadline to insure stability and documentation. Those are unicorns in my experience.
Heh. The best project decision I ever made was to explicitly identify who didn't need to be in the room, and tell them so politely. It was a big hospital contract where two different corporations...
Heh. The best project decision I ever made was to explicitly identify who didn't need to be in the room, and tell them so politely. It was a big hospital contract where two different corporations (one publicly traded and one religious) owned the involved hospitals and clinics. The project went from phone calls and meetings with 70+ attendees, down to two from each partner. The remaining attendees were high enough in their respective food chains to coordinate the necessary staff, without those staff having to be in attendance.
Because reasons, we didn't have a remotely sensible timeline, and got the job done anyway. Trimming the management and communication overhead was absolutely essential.
Impending sign #2: C-suite level involvement. Your project scope will change like the weather, for reasons you cannot fathom, and against which you have no ability to push back. The smoke of your burning deadlines will outline vast and terrible corporate gods who do not wish you well.
Impending sign #3: The Attack of the Killer Accountants. A random bean counter will yell for the fainting couch when you submit a project expense line item which has been utterly unremarkable during your entire tenure. Long-standing vendor contracts will be scrutinized, every conceivable involved busybody will suddenly have to render judgment on a critical spending component of your plan which nonetheless represents <1% of the budgeted outlay. +25% to your project's delivery date.
Impending sign #4: A change in fashionable project models. You will be invited to do everything via Scrum methodology when your project is genuinely waterfall due to critical dependencies, or Kanban when breaking things down into tasks will literally take longer than completing the project itself.
I've got a few of these little nuggets. I did not set out to be a project manager; project management hunted me down, bit me in the neck, and I woke up like this.
That one is a double-edged sword, and depends on the competance of those involved. When working cross-departmental projects, being able to leverage C-suite to get things done can pay dividends.
Your point stands however, as for every case like I described, three others will be dictated down due to vendor smoke-and-mirrors or the aforementioned meddling/micromanagement.
Yeah, I agree. It's a double-edged sword, but really spells doom if there is no leadership involvment whatsoever. You need a project sponsor that has clout; othewrise, projects can be completed; they're just rarely transformational.
I reported directly to a CIO for a couple of years, and my experience was like sliding down a razor blade. Things could fall either in your desired direction or away, but they might be vital parts you'd definitely miss.
"The attack of the killer accountants" deserves to be an article title of its own!
Hm. While not immenent, I do think any project that doesn't have clear decisionmakers is doomed from the start.
If you have to gather a committee for a 2 hour roundtable for every decision, in part because nobody can agree and nobody will accept one person making the call, it's a sure sign you should bump that project to the bottom of your priority list.
Related: Any meeting with more than 5 people, especially when managers outnumber workers, will be fairly unproductive. Each meeting like that moves the project doomsday clock closer to boom.
I was on a project like that. 10+ people each meeting, generally 3-4 workers and the rest managers of varying levels. End result was about 6 people doing full time work to get a system live, when closer to 12 were needed. 10 managers patting themselves on the back, and the system has been a mission-critical shitshow ever since.
Conversely, the projects most likely to succeed have like 1 Project Manager who keeps other managers off the worker's backs, and assembles a cross functional well-staffed team with a reasonable deadline to insure stability and documentation. Those are unicorns in my experience.
Heh. The best project decision I ever made was to explicitly identify who didn't need to be in the room, and tell them so politely. It was a big hospital contract where two different corporations (one publicly traded and one religious) owned the involved hospitals and clinics. The project went from phone calls and meetings with 70+ attendees, down to two from each partner. The remaining attendees were high enough in their respective food chains to coordinate the necessary staff, without those staff having to be in attendance.
Because reasons, we didn't have a remotely sensible timeline, and got the job done anyway. Trimming the management and communication overhead was absolutely essential.
I found this to be a powerful tool (and also completely honest):
The snack closet doesn't get refilled.