The Project Manager Is the Keystone to Successful Delivery

Jim Harris

April 5, 2001

Successful projects have satisfied customers. Customer satisfaction requires setting clear expectations, managing those expectations and meeting those expectations. (Principles of Project Management)

Senior management of every organization cherishes a customer base that provides positive references to prospective clients. Since the mid-1980s, management has implemented quality programs, structured testing processes and departmental procedures to get and keep that customer base. However, management’s efforts to execute processes have often remained fragmented and uncoordinated. Many organizations simply have yet to fully embrace the discipline of actively and centrally managing the delivery of products or services.

Successful delivery management is an enterprise effort whose objective is a service/product delivery that is on time, within budget and fully satisfactory to the client. Management processes, software tool evaluations and integrated enterprise applications help managers achieve this goal, but when you really think about it, tools and processes alone can’t do the job. What you need is a project manager to be responsible and accountable for delivering products and services.

Imagine going to a philharmonic concert to hear a program of music played by an orchestra without a conductor. Each orchestra section would be playing its particular interpretation of the music score. The combined finished product would sound like nothing that either the composer or the listener ever expected. The same discordant outcome occurs when a project is undertaken without benefit of a project manager. Like an orchestra conductor, the PM ensures that the various project components are fully recognized, understood and orchestrated to blend with one another. The result is a successful project.

The savvy project manager applies three key management skills: project planning and implementation management, human resources expertise and thorough knowledge of the product or service he delivers. Project planning and implementation management take the greatest share of the PM’s time and attention, with the remaining items dividing the rest.

A few years ago at a project management seminar, someone presented the challenges faced by a project manager: "Dealing with a perceived need, based on less-than-complete data and not knowing how much money is required, surrounded by an urgency to complete the project." This light-hearted statement sums up the real-life experience of a typical project manager. Miracles are expected from the person who is handed executive management’s high-level vision, impatience for success and an inadequate budget—and who is expected to bring about a successful conclusion despite it all.

Take Your Time to Make a Plan
In the real world, the project manager takes a deliberate, well-paced approach in his project management methodology by investing the time to develop a comprehensive project plan. Too often, insufficient time is spent in the planning process because of stakeholder eagerness to get the project going and the product delivered. The PM’s first challenge is to hold stakeholders at bay while developing a complete, comprehensive plan that will serve as the project’s blueprint. This plan gives everyone a clear, unambiguous understanding of the project’s scope, budget, estimated timeline and identified risks. Developing a project plan takes time. All parties, particularly stakeholders, should understand that.

The project manager:

Develops the plan to such detail that there is no question who does what and when.
Maintains focus on the end deliverable and the major activities that need to be done.
Dissects each major activity into manageable pieces to include quality points, success criteria, risk areas and delivery points supporting the development of other sub-deliverables and the final deliverable.
Reviews the plan with key stakeholders before starting the project. This review must include the PM’s understanding of stakeholder expectations and must establish buy-in to the project’s constraints and deliverables. This review will minimize misunderstanding and frustration resulting from slipped schedules and additional implementation costs down the road. A small investment in time ensures a successful delivery—and a satisfied customer more than willing to provide a positive reference.

But Wait, There’s More!
The planning process doesn’t end when the project is started. The PM will have to re-plan and make adjustments to accommodate for deviations from the plan. Deviations from the plan will occur through the project’s lifecycle, requiring the PM to determine their cause. With the project team, the PM will make necessary adjustments to the plan to resume an orderly and predictable implementation.

Planning is an endless cycle throughout the project lifecycle. The PM must come to the project with strong planning skills; this is no place for a student.

But Can You Manage?
In addition to planning skills, the PM must have effective management skills to implement the plan. The plan drives management activities, but management does not drive the plan. The plan provides common ground for what needs to be done, when and at what level of resources. As the implementation manager, the project manager’s goal is to ensure the project is accomplished within the agreed timeline, within budget and according to contracted specifications. This requires the PM to be equally focused in the areas of contract management, client relations, deliverable timelines, financial management and timely reporting of overall project status to senior management. In other words, the PM is the business manager for the project. The PM must maintain complete "situational awareness" of the project’s status and activities.

I Can’t Do This Alone!
To execute a well-planned project, you’ll need to apply the human assets of your enterprise. Coordination and delivery of these supporting assets is an integrated and, at times, complex process. The PM coordinates the various enterprise elements to ensure timely delivery of all expected project deliverables. He does it by forming a project team with members assigned from functional elements that reflect client requirements in the contract or statement of work. These team members are the PM’s focal point for delivering the specified product/service.

There are many schools of thought regarding the establishment of a project team. But one basic tenet prevails: A team must focus on meeting client expectations. To successfully do this, a project team must provide:

An organizational structure aligned with cross-functional support from each organizational staff element involved in the delivery process;
A global view of project resources, status and skill sets to meet the goal; and
Clear ownership of responsibility and accountability of project performance measurements and success.

The PM must have effective team building and interpersonal soft skills, including the ability to:

Effectively bridge cross-functional organizational boundaries to coordinate and perform tasks.
Formulate and effectively allocate team talents to accomplish identified project tasks.
Manage a multi-skilled project team.
Perform business management functions related to the project.
Mentor the project team throughout the deliverable process.
Audit deliverables from functional areas to ensure they support the end deliverable(s).
Provide feedback on team performance in meeting the objectives of the implementation plan.
Mediate coordination issues encountered by team members and supporting functional staff.
Conduct regular project status/quality meetings and reports.
Maintain overall project documentation for the post-project lessons learned review (project post-mortem).
Maintain clear and open communications among supporting functional staff sections.

Do You Know What You're Delivering?
The third key management skill of the PM is to have expertise and knowledge of the product(s) or service(s) he is to deliver. This knowledge base is akin to knowledge management (KM), but is closer to personal knowledge management (PKM).

From the perspective of a project manager, knowledge of what is being delivered is crucial to a successful delivery. The PM must be aware not only how the product or service can benefit the customer (and be able to demonstrate that), but he also must know how the delivery is put together. Let’s make the analogy of the PM as a building general contractor. This person knows the stages of construction needed to build a building. Likewise, the PM must know the various components that make up the final delivery item, be it a building, road, professional service or an IT system.

Knowing how to formulate the final delivery is vital when building the project plan, establishing intermediate goals, timelines and checkpoints. This ability to connect the dots in the project plan is directly dependent on the PM’s personal knowledge base. This knowledge base, developed from experience, is enhanced by after-project reviews evaluating the effectiveness of the management processes and technology.

The More Things Change, The More They Stay the Same
Project management has evolved over the past 20 years as a discipline and career path profession supported by the latest in technology, tools and processes. But, with all the latest and greatest enhancements to make project management tool kit more robust, one basic tenet still holds: The project manager is the keystone for a successful delivery. The key to delivery management is the same today as it was a generation ago: project managers must effectively use the skill sets they bring to the project. After all, the latest software, tools, templates and processes are just aids to make the PM challenge easier, but they do not guarantee a successful delivery. That is a direct result of how the project manager executes his knowledge, skills and abilities.

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