October 13, 2009

Project Management from a Distance – Part 2

Posted by Brad Egeland

In Part 1 of this six-part series, we covered the concept of “Why remote?” In this Part 2, we’ll discuss if it will work for you and how you can ensure that it will:

Part 1 – Why remote?

Part 2 – Will it work for you?

Part 3 – What type of job enables remote PM?

Part 4 – What setup do you need?

Part 5 – Negotiating when it’s not an obvious move

Part 6 – Staying the course

I keep calling this remote but I should probably call it telecommuting – or at least refer to it that way occasionally for the benefit of search engines.

When trying to decide if telecommuting or remote project management will work for you, it is necessary to examine it from all angles:

Management and corporate policy
Project scenario
Customer
Home setup

Let’s look at each of these in more detail:

Management and Corporate Policy

If you’re just coming onboard with an organization, you can sometimes make this part of the negotiation process. However, introducing it as an option that interests you too early on in negotiations can turn off the hiring manager and may end the process right there. If you’re already an employee and want to bring it up, make sure the time is right and the scenario is the right one (see the next section). Asking to work remotely on a project when it doesn’t make sense at all will make you look like you’ve lost touch with reality or are not concerned enough with your project’s needs.

One final thought on this – know what your corporate policy is on this…assuming there is one. There may not be anything in place, but if there is, it will be helpful to know that before bring up the subject to your manager or HR.

Project Scenario

The next thing to consider – will your project work with a remote project manager? Is the project such that you can maintain control of it from afar and you don’t need the hands-on, in-person representation with the customer and/or the customer team on a daily basis?

If the project is for an external customer and it’s of a long duration, the answer is probably yes. If it’s an internal customer or of a relatively short duration, the answer is likely going to be no. Internal customers want you there, interacting with them so they can reach out and touch you when they need to. I suppose that’s not always the case, but in my experience it has been.

If you’re running a project for an external customer and it’s a long-term engagement, then it’s likely that you can do most of it remotely with some hands-on, onsite time with the customer…especially to kickoff the project. It depends on several things – the type of project, the amount of detailed meetings that need to be held on a weekly basis and the customer themselves (we’ll discuss that next). Projects involve a long-term software implementation with a geographically dispersed team make it relatively easy to handle remotely.

Customer

The customer and their preferences play into the decision-making process of whether or not you can manage a given project remotely. For the past three years, I’ve managed all of my projects remotely, but I’ve had two customers that demanded an onsite resource 24/7. In the case of these two projects, they were not PM resources they needed onsite. One required that a Business Analyst be available 24/7 and they paid dearly for it through the change order process as it was not part of the original agreement. In the other case, the customer requested that a development resource be onsite for an extended period of time to work through software modifications with them. In neither case did they have the budget available to also afford having a PM onsite 24/7, however.

Home Setup

Your home situation also plays a role – actually, a major role – in whether or not you can pull off the telecommuting scenario. First, you must have a place to call your own – the high-speed home office. You don’t have to work in it full-time…I certainly don’t. But you do need that availability for seclusion to handle conference calls and just to be able to have a quiet place to get work done fast when necessary.

Secondly, your family must be supportive. You don’t have to be childless…I’m certainly not…but they need to understand your boundaries and the work demands on your time. I’m stating the obvious here, but the bottom line is they need to understand that you have to work and that you can’t always be ‘dad’ or ‘mom’ when you’re home.

Summary

As with answering the question of ‘why remote?’, it’s very important to know if it will work for you before trying it or before even bringing it to the attention of your hiring manager or your current employer. If you’re an independent consultant, then it’s all up to you and whether you can pull it off given your distractions at home. The decision, for the most part, is often yours.

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