Excerpt

Introduction

The most common vehicle for implementing change within an organization

is the project, or a combination of projects known as a

program. Projects are becoming more strategic in nature and scope,

and an increasing number of traditional white-collar workers are involved

with projects in some fashion. These projects often require

unprecedented collaboration within an organization’s lines of business,

and across the business enterprise. This dynamic is creating a

need for functional managers to work in collaboration, communicate

effectively, and appreciate the best practice methods of project

teams.

Project executives, sponsors, middle managers, and functional

managers are expected to be involved in an organization’s projects—

over and above their duties of managing budgets, operations, and

personnel. Functional managers’ job responsibilities, if not formally

written, often implicitly include the implementation of positive

change, delivered through projects. However, little attention is focused

on the importance of functional managers’ understanding of

how projects should work. Despite this, functional managers are the

bridge to successful organizational change.

Unfortunately, project managers and their teams have embraced

their own project management idiom. They communicate successfully

among themselves using their own dialect and project management

jargon. These project teams are often trained in organizational

project management methodology and industry standards (e.g., they

have read A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge,

the PMBOK Guide), and their jargon can isolate a functional manager

from his or her project team. This can lead to a lack of understanding

of fundamental project processes on the part of functional

manager and can result in poor communication, unhealthy conflict,

project rework, schedule delays, cost overruns, and lost business opportunities.

While project management has grown rapidly as a career and

core competency, with organizations embracing industry certifications

such as the Project Management Professional (PMP), project

management methodology and processes have done little to improve

the working relationships between project teams (providers) and

business units (customers).

As a seasoned project management consultant and instructor for

American Management Association, I have worked with countless

functional managers attending project management classes, looking

for a way to demystify project management so that they can improve

the way that projects are performed in their organizations. These

functional managers tell stories of being thrust into project teams

and even project leadership positions with no training. Although they

express no desire to achieve a project management certification, they

recognize the importance of consistently delivering business value

through the projects they work on. What they are missing is basic

project management knowledge; they need core skills explained and

taught with a commonsense approach to managing business change.

This book provides a practical guide for functional managers to

learn what project managers and teams are doing—or should be

doing—and to acquire the four critical project management skills to

be an active, value-adding participant to the project organization:

1. Articulating the real customer need and business case for the

project.

2. Staying focused on project deliverables.

3. Understanding key project dependencies.

4. Being proactive about project risk.

This book will motivate readers to take ownership of their project

role and engage productively with project managers and teams

to increase the business value being created from the project. Furthermore,

it will enable functional managers to unveil the ‘‘what’’

and ‘‘why’’ of project management methodologies, processes, and

deliverables and become active participants in increasing the value of

these components, while eliminating the unnecessary project work

that often slows them down.

The first four chapters discuss why you as a functional manager

must take a more aggressive role in managing your projects. Drawing

on my years of experience, I describe the value you need to bring to

the project and why you are often the only one who can bring this

value.

In the remaining chapters, I explore the core project management

skills (listed above) that functional managers must use to succeed

when they find themselves in strategic organization change

projects. Each skill is taught by walking through a typical organizational

project involving business process change, technology, and impacts

to business partners and customers. At the end of each chapter,

I use my own experience and case studies to reinforce the concepts.

My hope is that this book will help you to be much more project

savvy, to embrace your role in your project organization, to partner

closely with project teams, and, ultimately, to be a spearhead of

change in your organization.