Alexander Laufer

What successful project managers do

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Tailoring Project Decisions to Project Context

Since each project is unique, a one-size-fits-all paradigm won’t work; the project manager must tailor decisions to the context of the specific situation. Indeed, judgment is the most critical attribute of any manager. And the story approach used in this book—highly context sensitive as it is—is the best way to teach others how to become a project leader.

The Agility Practice: Be Responsive and Action Oriented

On responsive agility. The key challenge for project managers today is coping with frequent unexpected events, so they must have agility: quick action during the execution phase. Disseminating information frequently and routinely contributes to both flexibility and stability. Improvisation and quick action minimize the severity and duration of the impact of unexpected events. Managers who maintain a stationary position may be forced to make complex judgments with incomplete or misleading information; those who move about are better situated to be agile. A successful project manager enables the team, allowing them to focus on their work and trusting their expertise and decisions. The second role of the successful project manager is as a plumber, who gets his hands dirty by being highly responsive and action oriented.

The Resilience Practice: Challenge the Status Quo, Proactively Yet Selectively

On proactive resilience. Proactive resilience is about initiating change rather than simply responding to events, and it often requires challenging the status quo. Intervening prior to a major crisis and creatively enlisting new stakeholders can help prevent problems. Great leaders have “productive paranoia”—they’re always considering how things could go wrong—and courage, required not only for taking risks but also for recovering from failures and wrong turns. Successful project managers combine the traits of the hedgehog and the fox, and in attempting to cope with disruptions before they’ve occurred, they are very similar to entrepreneurs (the third role). For successful projects, stability and flexibility must be complementary and mutually enabling, and great project managers lead (occasionally) in order to manage (most of the time).

The Planning Practice: Employ an Evolving Process

On evolving planning. Since project objectives are contingent on some of the early outcomes of the project, they should not be finalized too early. In fact, it may be wise to bring key stakeholders in on the objective formulation and to create prototypes to aid in objective formulation. The “rolling wave” approach of project planning incorporates plans of varying detail and time horizons, and evolves as a result of learning-based reviews. Quantitative risk management is of questionable use, but building in redundancies helps project managers cope with problems that may arise. The first role of the project manager is as a decision choreographer, who moves and synchronizes decisions to create an integrated plan that evolves as the project proceeds.

Collaborative Teamwork: Cultivate and Sustain Collaboration by Focusing on the Individual, the Team, and the Work

On collaborative teamwork. Project team members are the “make or break factor” for success, but stars aren’t necessarily the right people. Those who adhere to project goals are most effective. Teams function best under conditions of mutual respect, interdependence, and mutual trust. Tradition and critical feedback can aid in bringing about respect. Trust can be maintained through face-to-face interaction; restructuring relationships; and maintaining teamwork by emphasizing purpose, tolerating failure, and using humor and play. Challenging and meaningful work can also galvanize and motivate teams. The successful project manager’s fourth role is as a gardener, tending to the culture of the garden, pulling weeds, positioning plants to the best mutual effect. But the four roles of the project manager are themselves interdependent.

Leading the Project from Living Order to Geometric Order

Introduction. Projects are defined as temporary endeavors undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result, and in today’s ever-shifting world, project thinking is a necessity across most job sectors. But projects fail at an alarming rate; an important reason for that failure is the enormous gap between research and practice. The methodologies used by the authors bridge that gap. To deal with the high degree of unexpected events plaguing today’s projects, successful project managers employ both traditional, ordered approaches and more flexible and responsive, agile approaches. This book promotes a combination of four roles—planning, agility, resilience, and collaborative teamwork—as necessary for successful project management, and further posits that the successful project manager must learn from practice.