Business Empowered
Let me enlist my wishlist as a project manager (as well as for project manager wishlist) in year 2015.
There is no denying that project management related surveys, salaries offered to project management professionals are on positive side; not all organizations perceive project management or role of project managers as meaningful value contributor. Agreed that respect cannot be asked, it has to be earned. But I really wish that organizations start looking at project management discipline as value contributor rather than process/cost/standards/risks/project-plan stereo perception. Whether you may or may not do project management in a formal way, at least give it due credit when it brings operational excellence. Today’s project management goes beyond standards/processes, etc and focuses on collaboration among dispersed team, inspiring and leading teams.
No, I am not saying the best team; because there is no such thing :-) However I wish to have rightly skilled, experienced, passionate and committed team members. It is invaluable to have team members who understands business necessities and when required, they would go extra miles to meet project objectives.
As I said earlier, it is can either be a luck-by-chance or result of long/enduring efforts of building high performing team.
When down-the-line resources & external stakeholders see highest-level-stakeholders are involved in the projects, they take respective project-work really seriously. It is not uncommon to see the projects having higher-management’s focus and support gets delivered. There are two primary reasons for this:
So, as a project manager I wish that high priority projects get higher management support and their feedback too.
I wish for super simple communication at all level - to bridge all project stakeholders well and to keep them informed. By excellent I do not mean lengthy or repetitive rather I wish for appropriately brief/detailed and periodic/as need basis. The essential objective of such communication should be to avoid surprises and to make project team members well prepared to perform their job.
If you would like your team to glue well, do start with regular/weekly meeting in the beginning - to have better understanding of client’s expectations, project objective, project deliverables, timeline and urgency. Have brain storming, listen your team’s feedback.
I wish - not to make project communication boring or repetitive at the same time keep a tab on project issues or project risks without losing focus on project objectives.
I would like to see project managers actively engaging with customer right from the project conception /bidding phase. It is good for a project if PM gets involved in the beginning rather than being inducted at later stage. At this stage s/he is left with limited cards to play and yet expected to deliver unrealistic commitment.
I wish organizations realize that project manager is the person who carries the baton and burden of project delivery. S/he should be given enough head-start and should have a say in project deliverable, timeline, etc.
I wish my organization should have better change management practices in place in this year - be it through policies, assumed or designated roles/champions, trainings, and so on. Getting people to adopt new practices/process is just too tedious. Lack of well-defined change management processes sucks lot of energy, time of everyone involved. In year 2015, I would like to save my team from such frustration by having better change management.
I am convinced that greater adoption and regular usage of tools like project management software, collaboration tools keeps my team focused and improves team productivity. Such tools can help you avoid confusions, improves communication. In year 2015, I would like my team to use project management tool, collaboration software more regularly. It just simplify everybody’s life - team members, project managers, portfolio managers, executive management as well as customers.
Fellow PMs, what is on your wishlist for 2015? I would be happy to see any other item on project manager wishlist.
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