EQ4PM

Nobody Really Manages Projects - Not Even You

That's right, I said it, nobody really manages projects.  Not even project managers.  Not even you.  In fact, the term project manager is a misnomer. 

• Project managers do not manage scope
• Project managers do not manage time
• Project managers do not manage costs
• Project managers do not manage projects

They also don't manage integration, risk, quality, communications, procurement or any of the other nine knowledge areas of the Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) save one.  There is really only one of the nine knowledge areas that the PM actually does manage.

So what is that one thing that project managers do manage?  Project managers manage only one thing; people.  It is through people that all of those other things are managed.

Consider time management as an example.  How does a PM manage time?  What exactly do they manage when they manage a schedule?  You might argue that they manage the tasks on the schedule (they certainly don't manage the speed of time passing).  What exactly about those tasks do they manage?  The estimated or actual duration?  How would they "manage" that?  The sequence?  Perhaps.  But that is simply the sequence of when the tasks are performed, that is, when persons will work on them.  What else can they manage about a task?  Susan de la Vergne, a fellow fan of emotional intelligence, had it right when she said "You Can't Manage Time".

What about cost management?  The PMBOK® Guide breaks cost management down into the following three areas:  cost estimating, cost budgeting, and cost control.  What does the PM "manage" when they manage costs?

• Cost Estimating - estimating the costs of the resources needed for the project.  That is, the human resources (people) who will work on the project and the other resources that the people will install, use, or consume on the project.
• Cost Budgeting - Adding up the cost estimates to create a baseline.  How is that simple tabulation a "management" activity?  Answer- it isn't.
• Cost Control - influencing the factors (i.e. people) that cause cost variances and controlling changes (caused by people) to the project budget.  This is true management, however, the PM is managing the people, not the costs.

My point?  The PMBOK® Guide is long on managing all the wrong things, the things that cannot be managed, and short on managing people.  This is the inverse of what it needs to be.  Projects are completed by people first and foremost.  I dare you to show me a project that has no people on it - it doesn't exist.  Project managers manage people! 

Even the one section of the PMBOK® Guide that is reportedly about people (Human Resource Management) is weak on managing people.  The four parts of the HR Management section are:

• Human Resource Planning - Planning for the people we need on the project.
• Acquire Project Team - Get the people we need on the project.
• Develop Project Team - Invest in the people on the project.
• Manage Project Team - AHA!  Eureka!  I think I finally found what it is that PMs need to do on the project.

The HR Management chapter of the PMBOK® Guide is 21 pages long, representing just 6% of the PMBOK content (less back matter).  That is ridiculous!  HR or people management should be the largest section of the PMBOK and it should be first!

I know there are many of you out there who have drank the PMI Kool-Aid who I have completed offended.  Even now you are preparing to unscubscribe from this blog.  Before you do, I challenge you to show me where I am wrong.  I dare you to step up and point out how project managers manage anything but people, or how project management can be performed or separated from managing people. 

Show me and I will recant.  I promise.

Anthony

The Only Scope Crêpe You Will Like

You may already be aware of this, but I was a little startled to learn recently that there are now over 70 million weblogs.  New blogs are created at a rate of about 1.4 per second.  That is a lot of information and if you are like me, you probably already have a lot of information to deal with every day.  Among the many new blogs out there that are competing to be heard is one that I think you may want to pay attention to.  It is called scope crêpe.

The Scope crêpe blog is focused on project management issues.  Author Rich Maltzman is off to a great start with 11 posts in January ranging from topics like firefighting, pod-casts of interest to PMs, project metrics, and assumptions.  Rich has even mentioned me and my book in  a recent post on organizational cultures.  So clearly Rich has good taste.  I think he is going to be around a while.

I first heard about Rich through a book he is writing via the Wiki.  I have been waiting to hear about how this works out as it is one of the first project management ventures into Web 2.0.  Read more about the Wiki project on Elizabeth Harrin's excellent PM weblog called the Girls Guide to Managing Projects.  You can read about or contribute to the wiki book project by going to the Wiki site at: http://fiddlerontheproject.bluwiki.org/

Cheers!
Anthony

People Hate Their Jobs?

I read a post over at Ellen Weber's Brain Based Business blog that made me sad.  The post was called Top 10 Reasons People Hate Work.  It talks about some of the challenges that people face at work, like relationship problems, lack of problem resolution and goal achievement, negative and verbally abusive people, and stress.

I don't take exception to any of these problems.  Nor do I believe that these types of work environments don't exist because they certainly do.  What makes me sad is that people continue to work in these types of environments or in environments that they hate.  That is depressing.  That sounds like poor choices, victim-hood, or self-abuse.  Why would people do that to themselves?  It is a choice, after all.

Ellen closed her post with a challenge: What other reasons do people give for hating their work – that you could suggest a strategy to solve?

In the spirit of the current presidential debates, I am not going to answer the question that Ellen asked.  I don't want to think about other reasons that people give for hating their jobs.  I think it gets us to focus on the negative. 

Instead, I would suggest that we re-frame the question by moving from victim-hood and self-abuse to responsibility.  Here are some questions we can use to shift the focus from victim-hood to responsibility:

• How am I contributing to the current situation at work?
• What can I do differently to make a positive impact?
• How can I manage my emotions to stay positive in a negative or toxic environment?
• How can I change the tone or mood at work?

The key to moving away from victim-hood is to focus on the positive steps that we can take.  These may include personal stress management, cutting back on work hours, and avoiding or confronting negative and verbally abusive people.  We can also seek help from our manager, the HR department, or even reach out to co-workers who want to stay positive and healthy.

As a last step, consider a job change.  If you have done what you can to stay positive, manage yourself, and change your work environment, then you should seriously consider changing companies or jobs.  Why would you want to work at a place or job that you hate?  Doing so says a lot more about you than those you work with.  And if you are attracted to that environment or choose to stay even when you hate it, it would lead me to believe you were part of the problem.

Start the Year Off with a BHAG!

Last year I wrote about the hedghog principle and setting big, hairy, audacious goals (BHAGs) to motivate us to take on and accomplish great things.  I have been thinking a lot about goal setting and BHAGs this last year as well as the ways to succeed with them.  Since this is a time of year that many of us set goals, I thought it would be good to share with you some tips for applying BHAGs to our goals and use those BHAGs to motivate us to achieve great things.

I am a big believer in goal setting in general and the use of BHAGs in particular.  I used BHAGs to qualify and run the Boston Marathon, to write my book and get it published, and to pursue becoming a world class professional speaker.

My tips for applying BHAGs to your goals are in the January 2008 edition of the Monthly EQ Newsletter for Project Managers.  Download the PDF file of the Monthly Newsletter Here.  You can also sign up to get your own copy of the EQ Monthly Newsletter on my corporate website.

I would love to hear about your reactions to the tips, the BHAGs you set for yourself, and your success stories throughout this year.

Cheers!

Anthony