Promoting Your Project in the Organization

An organization with a PMO may have just a few or as many as a few hundred projects going at any given time at various stages of starting and completing.  Priorities are set, projects are assigned, and project resources are divvied up by the powers that be and as the project manager you may have no say other than maybe what kinds of key skill sets you need on the projects that are eventually assigned to you.

So, how do you go about making your project visible?  Remember, the squeaky wheel gets the grease, right?  How do you ensure that your project gets the proper executive attention?  Gets the right resources assigned?  Gets funding if it grows through project need or customer request?  Gets needed cooperation and resources from outlying business units if the project ends up calling for it?  Those are all big tasks and if your project isn’t visible enough and some or all of these things are needed, then you may be sunk before you even get started.

Here are a few steps I’ve taken on projects or in preparation for projects that have seemed to help promote the projects that I am leading to a point of visibility necessary to smooth the process somewhat:

Generate pre-kickoff interest

Once the project is assigned to you work hard to generate some pre-kickoff buzz.  Run through the statement of work and verify any critical items that may need special team member skill sets.  This will allow you to campaign very early about getting the proper resources assigned to your project.  I don’t know about you, but in most professional services organizations, getting the right resources at the right time and with the right experience is always a struggle.  Plus, any pre-kickoff buzz you can create with upper management will only help serve your interests in gaining project visibility with this group later on.

Involve executive management in your project

Get your executive leadership involved in your project.  Invite them to the kickoff meeting and to several weekly status meetings with the customer.  The customer will think they are a very important customer and your leadership will be well versed in the project when you come asking for funds or resources or some other favor for the project.

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Fixing a Really Bad Problem – Like the Apple iPhone 4 Nightmare

I just read a great article concerning the nightmare of a week that Apple is having due to the iPhone antenna problems and so far the week isn’t even half over.  The author’s suggested course of action got me thinking about how a project with a somewhat similar issue (though not likely as specific as a mobile phone antenna problem) might go about damage control.  I concluded that it would be pretty close to how this author described Apple’s best courses of action.

Let’s say you’ve completed the IT project and rolled it out to the customer and now you’re hearing that there’s a major flaw that causes, say, the payroll system to calculate paychecks incorrectly for every month that has five weeks in it (and it’s no small, quick or cheap fix – just like the Apple iPhone 4 antenna issue seems to be).

Here’s the modified version – for our payroll system problem – of the author’s suggested course of action to both make things right with the client (or Apple customers in the case of the iPhone) and create the least amount of backlash and bad press beyond what has already been generated so far….

#1 – Acknowledge that the problem is real

Glossing over the issue or making it seem like a non-issue is not a good idea.  Hello, have we not learned anything from British Petroleum’s (BP) disaster and denial, which has now stretched well beyond 80 days with no end in sight?  Own up to the problem, embrace the problem, and commit the proper resources to fix the problem.  This will instill confidence in the customer that you actually care to make things right and it may even bring them back for more business in the future no matter how well or how badly this situation turns out.

#2 – Divulge the technical details of the issue

Explain what the problem is to the customer and why it’s happened.  The customer isn’t stupid.  But if you don’t explain the problem well and what the root of the problem is, they may indeed think that you are.  Flex your technical expertise – show the customer you know how to fix the problem.  Keeping it secretive gives the impression that you are either shifty or you really don’t know how to fix the problem.  Either way it’s not the proper way to win referenceable customers.

#3 – Roll out the proper software and hardware fixes

Actually get around to fixing the problem.  And fix it as quickly as possible.  You want them to come back for more, right?  Whatever software and/or hardware fix that needs to be put into place to fix – in our example – the payroll system problem…do it.  Quickly.

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How to Keep Project Management Fresh

Ok, let’s face it.  Project Management – while it is very challenging – isn’t the most thrilling or exciting career choice in the world.  It often isn’t even a career choice – most project managers are thrust into the role at some time or another and then possibly continue down that path by choice or just out of need for a job.

So, if it’s not particularly exciting, how do we keep it fresh?  How do we keep it interesting so that we’re excited about the future challenges and fresh in how we approach each project?

For me, it’s not about the thrill of the project and the technology that will be utilized.  It’s also not about how high-profile the client is or isn’t.  Some of the most interesting projects for me have involved startups that no one has heard about.  It is, however, about the challenge of the solution and the makeup of the team that I will be managing.

We can keep things fresh and challenging on our projects by incorporating these three practices into every project we take on as a project manager:

Treat each phase of the project as a mini project

This works especially well on a longer-term project.  As the project manager, when you’re putting the project schedule together keep an eye to the future and plan the project out into phases, if possible.  That way, smaller successes can be realized and celebrated as a team and with the customer throughout the project.

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Never Tell the Customer the Sky is Falling

Every project is important – no matter how big or small it is.  We want to succeed on every project and we want our customers to realize that success and build confidence in us.

Building customer confidence

In fact, it is my belief that everything we do on a project we should do with a mindful eye to building customer confidence in both our ability as a project manager and our team’s ability to deliver a quality solution to the customer.  Given that concept, it is then understandable that how we conduct ourselves and how are team conducts themselves on the project and in front of the customer is of utmost importance.

I am a firm believer that we should not withhold bad news from the customer.  It is certainly reasonable and acceptable to withhold it long enough to strategize with your team or your executive management on how to present the news or to quickly work up some potential response scenarios.  But that should be done swiftly and the customer needs to hear the news quickly from the project team before they find out through another means or on their own.  And in every instance that I can ever dream up, that news needs to come first from the project manager.

The sky is falling

What can’t happen is a project team member that essentially exhibits behavior that tells the customer “the sky is falling” when a problem or issue is faced on the project.  The quickest way to lose customer confidence in the project manager, the potential for project success, and the team member who is professing that the sky is falling is to act like an insurmountable issue has reared it’s ugly head.

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Four Project Decisions You May Regret Later On

Sometimes, depending on the size and visibility of the project, there is a tendency to want to cut some corners on.  This may come about due to pure laziness.  Or maybe it comes as a directive or request from your executive management.  However it evolves, it can be a slippery slope and it can cause big problems on your project.  You may have to ‘scale’ your best practices for the project depending on its size and budget, but it’s never a good idea to skip key activities altogether – even if you’re being told to do this by superiors.  If the directive to cut corners is coming from above, you may need to educate them on the risks that are invited into the project by eliminating key best practices steps along the way.

At any rate, it’s important to pay attention to detail no matter how big or small the project is.  And, given that thought, I’ve outlined four poor decisions you could make on your project just to save time or money – these could come back to haunt you in a big way later in the project.  They are:

Skipping key up front planning documents

What you or  your customer may consider time wasters are actually building blocks to good project documentation and understanding.  Even if the customer isn’t paying for the early planning documents some of them still should be created – especially ones like the Communications Plan, the Risk Plan, and the Change Control Document outlining how project changes and change orders will be handled.  Creation and signoff of these plans at the beginning of the project will ensure everyone understands how to handle these issues and processes when they come up and customer satisfaction will be higher as a result.

Not putting together a detailed master schedule

This should be done even for the smaller projects.  A detailed project schedule created and distributed early in the project provides the customer and project team with a solid understanding of the tasks, goals, level of effort, and timeframe for the project.  Even if the project is extremely simple and you never update it after the first creation, it will still help your project team and customer – and you – far more than you realize.

Not creating a requirements traceability matrix

Thorough requirements documentation with a matrix to trace the requirements through the design and development of the solution will help ensure that key requirements aren’t missed in the process.  With a requirements traceability matrix, you’ll be able to document how and where each customer requirement is met in the solution.

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