Project Managers tend to forget that being task master is not the only reason they have been hired for. A PM is hired also because he knows the domain in which the project operates, the culture and processes of the company, and can integrate all these elements together to deliver the project. Fundamentally, PMs are consultants to their projects too- someone who understands the gaps, finds options for it, and implements the option that best fits the goals of the company, project and the team members.
A lot of Project Management theories focus on the most common requirements a PM should have: Good Communication Skills, Negotiation Skills, Technical Know-how, Team Management and the likes. However, at the crux of all these 'everyday' activities lies the constant process of what I term the "understand-analyze-decide-implement" chain. As is pretty evident from the name, for any situation, a PM first understands the issue at hand, analyzes the possible options that can help resolve the situation, make a decesion/recommendation around the most feasible option, and finally, implement it.
There is great power in options. And these are the reasons why:
1) Options make you think: The whole process of determining options forces the PM to think about the situation, the project and the likes. Digging out options itself makes the PM sharp and aware of what may have gone wrong. Imagine a production issue in which, a DB is at fault. What will you do first?
2) Options are based on facts: Options can be determined only on the basis of clear facts. They help the stakeholders read between the lines and weed out things that are helpful, significant, but may not be obvious at the first sight.
3) Options build confidence that the PM is incharge: Possibly bigger than the solution itself, is the impression that the PM is in charge. Things have gone wrong, yes, but the PM knows his business. Presenting a list of well thought out options gives everyone the sense that a solution is soon on its way.
4) Options help validate the decesion: Most modern decesion making tools and techniques- the balanced score card, the solution matrix, distribution curves,and the likes- feed on options that are evaluated using the tool. This enables better decisions to be made, ones that are based on facts,data and well thought out analysis.
Options make life easy. They help reach decisions faster and effectively. Options are possibly the most important deliverable from the PM to the project-on the first day, the last day, and everyday.
A lot of Project Management theories focus on the most common requirements a PM should have: Good Communication Skills, Negotiation Skills, Technical Know-how, Team Management and the likes. However, at the crux of all these 'everyday' activities lies the constant process of what I term the "understand-analyze-decide-implement" chain. As is pretty evident from the name, for any situation, a PM first understands the issue at hand, analyzes the possible options that can help resolve the situation, make a decesion/recommendation around the most feasible option, and finally, implement it.
There is great power in options. And these are the reasons why:
1) Options make you think: The whole process of determining options forces the PM to think about the situation, the project and the likes. Digging out options itself makes the PM sharp and aware of what may have gone wrong. Imagine a production issue in which, a DB is at fault. What will you do first?
2) Options are based on facts: Options can be determined only on the basis of clear facts. They help the stakeholders read between the lines and weed out things that are helpful, significant, but may not be obvious at the first sight.
3) Options build confidence that the PM is incharge: Possibly bigger than the solution itself, is the impression that the PM is in charge. Things have gone wrong, yes, but the PM knows his business. Presenting a list of well thought out options gives everyone the sense that a solution is soon on its way.
4) Options help validate the decesion: Most modern decesion making tools and techniques- the balanced score card, the solution matrix, distribution curves,and the likes- feed on options that are evaluated using the tool. This enables better decisions to be made, ones that are based on facts,data and well thought out analysis.
Options make life easy. They help reach decisions faster and effectively. Options are possibly the most important deliverable from the PM to the project-on the first day, the last day, and everyday.
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