A projection of management

Congratulations, you get to be PM.” “Whoa, Prime Minister?” “No, more important than that – Project Manager on our big install job.” So went the conversation with my then Tech Manager.

But first, some background. What is a Project Manager (PM) and what defines a project? Oxford defines a project as “an individual or collaborative enterprise that is carefully planned to achieve a particular aim.” A PM is the individual tasked with planning and executing that project.

Wiki elaborates further: “The primary constraints are scope, time, budget. The secondary challenge is to optimize the allocation of necessary inputs and apply them to meet pre-defined objectives.”

All parts of our personal and professional lives can be divided into projects. Running a gig, tour or install is a project. They have time, scope, and budget to contend with. Even a simple task such as making lunch has these constraints: how much time can I allocate to preparing or buying; do I want a simple sandwich or a 3-course gourmet spread; and can I afford lobster or Vegemite?

As PM, it’s your gig to manage these inputs effectively to deliver the project. As PM, the buck stops with you. You own the project and are responsible for seeing it through. That doesn’t mean that you should personally complete every task. Far from it.

Our wannabe-PM’s favourite source continues: “Project managers are in charge of the people in a project. People are the key to any successful project. Without the correct people in the right place and at the right time a project cannot be successful.”

For greatest efficacy, a good PM should delegate well but keep a strong grasp on how the different elements of the project intersect, particularly the people involved.

A dummies guide to being PM

Modern project management became formalised as a distinct management discipline in the 1950s. Many theories and methodologies have since evolved but most contemporary practices contain characteristics of either Critical Path Method (CPM) or Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) approaches. 

CPM suits construction style projects with the defined end goal of building handover in mind. IT projects are a better fit with the more iterative PERT style PM techniques.

In 1969, the Project Management Institute formed and produced PMBOK Guide. I’ve delved into this monster tome and found it deep and heady – it’s still a widely used reference. As are the various ISO standards. Prince2 (PRojects IN Controlled Environments) and Capability Maturity Model (CMM) are common in information and IT scenarios. Agile, Lean, Waterfall and many more have their place too.

Regardless of methodology, it all comes down to how well you manage the “4 Ps” – Planning, Processes, People, and Power. Plan well at the start, adopt and adapt processes that enhance workflow and governance, understand and manage the dynamics of the people (and personalities) involved, and be clear about lines of authority or responsibility.

Some of these steps are best managed with assistance from a PM software package. There are dozens of these in the market and each has differing features and price points. Many share common tools, including my favourite – the GANNT chart (a bit like a spreadsheet to the left and a timeline to the right). Many also feature Dashboards, Task Lists, Kanban Boards, and a variety of Project Reports (to identify strategic progress).

You can even do plenty of funky things with spreadsheets. I’ve run all manner of big and small projects with just these. Before widespread computing, we used paper and still hit targets. It’s all about getting the job done on time and under budget, regardless of what soft or hard tools you use.

Learning from major projects

For real world analogies, here’s a potted history of my professional experience and some lessons learned alongside.

In 1987, the average income was about $26k. After six months as assistant PM and no qualifications beyond year 12, I’d just doubled my wage to $40k and was banking a $500k cheque for work – it all seemed a bit surreal. 1987 was Gordon Gekko year after all. Five of us (Developer, Architect, Administrator, PM, Assistant PM) were running $9m of mainly commercial construction. I was responsible for all the tenders.

I also had to do the pay runs. It was completely legit, with pay slips and appropriate deductions but workers expected cash every Thursday. With all our sites in full swing, that could total over $35k in folding that I was packing. Imagine a callow 20-year-old walking onto a building site with catcalls of “let’s bash the office guy and hit the pub for a blinder”. I saw their bants as bluff and told them to self-fornicate if they wanted me to come back again next week. The site crews respected me after that.

PM lesson number 1 – nurture strategic relationships, however difficult

Ten years later I fell into the $4m project mentioned above. This one was a multi-screen installation as part of a $1.5b behemoth. A job of that scale required formality and was all managed under ISO 9001. It felt like unending layers of paperwork after my more ‘seat of the pants’ RnR management of the previous decade. I still have a copy of the installation manual – it’s 70mm thick!

In more evidence of the harsh environment of the construction industry, we were stood over and hardballed by highly experienced professional bullies. I had the good sense to know our contract intimately and stared them down, refusing to do works variations without full contractual authority. This mightily impressed my own managers. As did delivering on time, beyond scope and under budget.  

PM lesson number 2 – know exactly what you are contracted to do and stick to it

Fast forward to the mid naughts, where I invoiced about $5.5m as sales rep over 2.5 years. Exceeding budget (cost control) is the main driver in this role, with monthly or annual targets and KPIs. But you still must be across all your (current and prospective) client’s projects. It is easy to get sucked into any one of them but, in this ongoing project, you do what you need to lock an order in.

PM lesson number 3 – always retain focus on the project goal (KPI, milestone, budget)

That transitioned into being a PM for a residential integration company with $5m of projects in my direct auspice. I thought I was given clear authority to manage our resources (staff, contractors, suppliers) as efficiently as possible to get our multiple projects satisfactorily completed. Unfortunately, the boss kept undermining this by re-allocating staff and stock on the fly to satisfy whimsical customer requests. If he’d been firmer with them and lied less to me, we would have completed most of the jobs well. As it was, it all turned to crap and imploded.

PM lesson number 4 – make sure that the key stakeholders are on your side

Next up came my magnum opus project – the house build. I planned hard but it ended up being the least controlled, worst timeline blowout, and greatest percentage budget over-run I’ve ever done. Ultimately, it was also the most satisfying. This gig was more personal than professional. Scope, time, budget – meh, check out this shiny new addition…

PM lesson number 5 – when you are also the client, it’s quite easy to move goal posts

Some rough sums on all those projects add up to over $40m in 2021 dollars of other people’s money that I’ve been substantially responsible for. They were stressful but much less so than spending $300k of my own hard earned.

I learnt early on that worrying about the big numbers was pointless. You still have to make similar decisions, regardless of the number of zeroes on the end of any figure. Whatever the scope, you never have room for profligacy and need to keep an eye on project budget (and outcomes) at every step.

Staying in control

The PM principles outlined above can be applied to much of your life. You don’t need a degree or expensive software to track these endeavours. I’ve never had formal education in this discipline and (with a little homework along the way) picked up all this knowledge on the job. Particularly useful concepts are milestones, key dependencies, and trigger points.

A good project manager embraces multiple disciplines. Apart from being across the technical limitations of the project, they need to show leadership, influence key players, be deft at negotiations and managing politics, take control of change and conflict management, and employ humour at the right moments. These soft skills help engage the most important part of your project – people.

These people are the inputs that will help you control the triple constraints of scope, time, and budget. If you’ve planned well, all you need do is get the right people (and gear) to the right place at the right time.

With the high level of planning and logistics required in a project like rapid mass vaccination, I know which type of PM I would prefer.