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There Is No Crying in Project Management

By James Comstock, PMP

In the movie "A League of Their Own," a new baseball league consisting solely of women is formed. One of the teams, the Rockford Peaches, hires a famous ex-baseball player, Jimmy Dugan, as its manager. He is a foul-mouthed heavy drinker who doesn't believe there is a place for "girls in baseball." After his right fielder makes a terrible miscue on a routine play, Jimmy chastises her for making the error. As he is yelling at her, she begins to cry. Dugan looks at her and says, "Are you crying? There's no crying in baseball!"

There will be times when we as project managers will make errors in judgment and will be berated by others for our mistakes. There will be other times when things will happen that make us throw up our arms and want to sob. However, just as in baseball, there should be no crying in project management. With good planning, organization, communication and leadership, crying can almost be eliminated. The following are some situations that might make us weepy, but can be mitigated.

You have a kickoff meeting and nobody shows up.

Planning plays a critical role in managing a project. One of the most important stages of your project is getting it started in an upbeat, professional manner. The Project Management Institute (PMI®) believes strongly in good, sound kickoff meetings. These meetings are used to introduce team members, establish working relationships, set team goals and objectives, review project plans and obtain commitment from team members.

Kickoff meetings should have an agenda that includes team-building activities, dynamic presentations and food. Invitations and agendas should be sent to all project stakeholders well in advance of the meeting. Then, remind the presenters and other attendees two or three days before the meeting. As the project manager, you must ensure that everything is prepared for the meeting. You must follow-up on all aspects of the meeting. Who's sitting where? Was the correct food delivered? Are all technical apparatus working correctly and does somebody know how to operate them? A well-planned, energized kickoff meeting gets the project off to a great start.

The Project Management Office (PMO) moves and nobody tells you about it.

Communication is another key element in the project management process. The project manager must keep everyone involved in the project up to date at the appropriate level of detail and must be ready at all times to provide information to team members and stakeholders that is relevant to their particular roles within the organization. You don't want to focus on a low priority risk event with your boss's boss unless that is truly the most relevant event at the moment. Your team needs plenty of project details. Your sponsor needs important financial data, updates on risks and important milestones. You need information on what the current climate or culture is in your organization. In order to keep all of these levels of detail straight in an already overburdened project manager's mind, a formal communication plan is a must.

The communication plan should include the type of communication, the format to be used, the frequency of the communication and who should receive this communication.

The project manager should understand the importance of informal communication with stakeholders and team members. He or she should be prepared to share project information at a moment's notice, unless it is proprietary or violates a confidential agreement. Bill Shackleford (2004) calls this the "two-floor rule." If someone gets on an elevator with you and asks about your project, you should be able to communicate that information by the time you have traveled two floors.

This communication should be two-way. Listening for feedback and concerns from team members should be of utmost importance to the project manager. If you are not open to what your team members are trying to tell you, they will stop sharing information and, as a result, you will not know what is happening in your own project.

Your project team misses every deliverable.

The work breakdown structure (WBS) is perhaps the most useful tool in project management. When used correctly, the WBS is the basis for project planning, scheduling, budgeting and controlling. The WBS can be used to help understand the deliverables and when they should be accomplished.

Using the WBS, a network diagram can be developed to track and control a logical schedule. A network diagram should be developed with accurate information about the length of time each task should take. Using a PERT analysis, each task can be assigned an accurate time estimate for use in the network diagram. Once the diagram is complete, it can then become the schedule baseline for your project, indicating when a task can start without affecting the outcome and identifying the path that is most critical to the finish time of the project. One word of caution: a network diagram won't work if it is started in reverse, with the finish date imposed by someone. It is crucial that a schedule be started with a project start date. Beginning with a finish date will result in unrealistic start and end times, unnecessary crashing of tasks and frustrated team members who are trying to finish the tasks on time.

On your way to a client meeting, you spill coffee on your freshly starched white shirt and then your computer crashes during the presentation.

An important part of managing projects is identifying and responding to risks associated with that project. The Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide®) has a definitive chapter on dealing with risks. A project team should identify, analyze, develop response strategies and respond to those strategies.

I travel a great deal working for ESI International. I know that there are a number of risks associated with this job. My luggage may be misplaced, I could get ill, the overhead projector may not work, there could be an uninvited co-trainer in my class or I could get lost in the heart of Houston. I have completed a risk analysis table to identify, analyze and list the possible responses to the identified risks. If I am working with technology such as PowerPoint presentations, I will always have a secondary plan. When I go to class, I never try to multi-task. Simple things like having a morning cup of java and driving down an unknown highway increase risk. The likelihood of spilling coffee while driving is much higher than while sitting at a table in Starbucks or Krispy Kreme.

The problem with developing risk response strategies is that we often don't use them. We look at the risks and decide that the probability is so low that there is no reason to implement what we planned. I travel to Kansas City from Denver now and then. I look at my strategies and think, "The airline can't misplace my luggage on a 600 mile flight." I get to Kansas City and my luggage doesn't. The first day of class I teach from a student handbook and am wearing a pair of jogging pants and a T-shirt that says, "World's Greatest Grandpa." Even though the airline lost the luggage, it is partly my fault for not following the strategies I listed in the risk table.

Your project team has a team celebration, but you're not invited.

Being a leader on a project includes much more than just developing a good schedule and in-depth risk analysis. It means leading a group of diverse people with complimentary skills through a process of difficult tasks. It involves understanding the dynamics of human interaction. If you enjoy working alone in an office with a door that can be locked, don't become a project manager. Developing a dynamic Gantt chart and network diagram are not nearly as important as leading your project team through a project exercise. There are hundreds of books on leadership, but basically they all say the same things.

• Involve your people in the process. From the very first meeting you have with the project team, ask for their input into the process. People will not buy into a process unless they feel they are important enough to contribute. This contribution has to be considered, discussed and possibly implemented in the process. You need to build an environment that allows team members to truly participate.
• Communicate with them frequently. James Autry (1991) says that nobody does a worse job because of too much information. Team members will appreciate all information given to them. Part of this communication is listening. Listen to the concerns and successes of your project team. By listening, I mean engaging your team in meaningful conversation and then helping them through the difficult processes and praising them for the things they have done well. Also, you must communicate when they are not doing a good job.
• Be honest. You will sometimes need to communicate when your team or a member of the team is not doing well. It is easy to tell someone, "Janet, you're doing a great job." It is more difficult to say, "Janet, you're not doing a good job." Honesty and ethics in the workplace seem to be on the wane nowadays. In all of your interaction with team members and stakeholders, don't hide the truth and don't expect honesty to be easy.
• Trust your people. Autry (1991) also says that people will do a good job if you trust them to do a good job. You might lose some power by trusting your team, but you will gain the support and trust of those people working for you. You might lose some of the prestige of being the leader, but you will gain the reward of watching people successfully accomplish a task that you have assigned to them and selflessly helped them finish.

A good leader is like the traveling preacher of the late 1800s. He helped put up the tent, preached the gospel, helped others with understanding the message, and then helped dismantle the tent and went on to his next meeting.

Your dog doesn't recognize you anymore. Finally, project management can be stressful and angst-filled. Be sure you understand that the project comes after you, your family and your health. Many project managers work long days, only to be ineffective and miserable in their personal lives. Make time for some fun with friends or family. Take a walk. Go to a movie. Parachute. Read a novel. Go rafting. Relax and just think. Play golf.

Project managing is not easy. It involves many, many things that can bring anxiety and worry to your life. However, if you are plan well and stay organized, there should be no tears.

References Autry, James. Love and Profit, the Art of Caring Leadership. New York: The Hearst Corporation, 1991.

Shackleford, Bill. Project Management Training. Alexandria, VA: ASTD Press, 2004.

James Comstock, PMP, is an instructor with ESI International and Comstock Communication Concepts. He has more than 30 years of experience in management, training, quality and manufacturing processes. E-mail Jim at jimcomstock@comcast.net.

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