Author: kaciew598

Scope BLEEEEEEP!

Posted on by kaciew598

After Saturday’s class and the teams’ status reports, I found myself reflecting on my team’s project status with an increased critical eye.

I found myself pondering about how our simple Face the Future Foundation and Potbelly’s event grew to the event, a cookie sale, and an office jeans day; while most teams, if not all, are just putting on an event. Talk about scope creep! Our project nearly tripled in tasks when the additional ideas were added. In most situations, scope creep can be horrible to a project; however, our scope increased by design and our group had control of the scope at all times.

While you read this you may think I sound like I am justifying what our group decided, but I stand by my opinion that we allowed the scope to increase due to one important fact: team size. Our team is comprised of seven team members when the average team size of the other groups is five. At the beginning of the project, I was excited about having the extra hands and minds to accomplish the event; however, I now know that my excitement was a rookie thought that was quickly replaced with the knowledge that an increased team size does not always equal more success.

The large team has been great so far except for the simple fact that because our team number grew to seven, our performance expectations also grew. Therefore, our group decided that we needed to work at guaranteeing a higher amount of donations. Not wanting to put all of our eggs into one basket, we decided to branch out and add more components to our fundraising event. Ipso facto: a cookie sale and an office jeans day.

With the decision to increase the scope of the project, our team is attempting to mitigate the risk of a low donation amount as well as increase chances of success. Sounds too good to be true, right? Well, hopefully not. At this point, we have not had any major adverse effects from having a large project team besides having to increase our project’s scope. We have not experienced the ‘too many cooks in the kitchen’ phenomena, major conflicting ideas, or excessive communication issues. Even thought, like most teams, we have experienced some unexpected obstacles, all in all the project has been running fairly smoothly. I am confident our team has done everything in our power to set up our event(s) for success. However, the final piece of the puzzle is the obvious concern of every group: hoping people show up.

With all that said, has anyone experienced scope creep causing negative implications on a project? Or has anyone been on an excessively large project team causing adverse outcomes?

Top 10 Leadership Qualities of a Project Manager

Posted on by kaciew598

Just beginning my career in project management, I wanted to discover some of the ‘must have’ skills and qualities that the industry requires. After reading “Top 10 Leadership Qualities of a Project Manager,” I agree with majority of the qualities chosen, but not exactly with the rank order or the written descriptions. However, Barry and ESI International, a leader in project management training, have agreed upon the following ten characteristics in rank order.

  1. Inspires a Shared Vision
  2. A Good Communicator
  3. Integrity
  4. Enthusiasm
  5. Empathy
  6. Competency
  7. Ability to Delegate Tasks
  8. Cool Under Pressure
  9. Team Building Skills
  10. Problem Solving Skills

While the article supposedly addresses project management, I strongly believe that the above list could describe the Top 10 Leadership Qualities for all Leaders. Honestly, I was surprised that there was not much, if any, content specifically geared towards project management. In an industry where there are countless business professionals specialized in project management, I would have imagined more informative and eye opening content would have been included in the article. The biggest surprise to me was that Barry and ESI International are basically saying that any good leader would be a good project manager and while that could be true, I am not quite sold on that idea.

In order to enhance the Top 10 list to better accommodate project managers, I feel it is necessary to amend the description for #6 Competency. I believe competency is a major factor in successfully project management, but the description does not illustrate the full importance of it. The competency description reads:

“We must believe that that person knows what he or she is doing. Leadership competence does not however necessarily refer to the project leader’s technical abilities in the core technology of the business. As project management continues to be recognized as a field in and of itself, project leaders will be chosen based on their ability to successfully lead others rather than on technical expertise, as in the past. Having a winning track record is the surest way to be considered competent. Expertise in leadership skills is another dimension in competence. The ability to challenge, inspire, enable, model and encourage must be demonstrated if leaders are to be seen as capable and competent.”

Yes, it is highly important for team members to know that their project manager knows what he or she is doing. But if a project manager is simply a good leader and has not mastered the core technical abilities of the business, no team member will want to follow them. An incompetent project manager with the necessary skill set but a good leader could be successful if they have other team members who are experts on the core business abilities; however, team members will be less inclined to follow someone who does not have the full knowledge or skill set.

Please feel free to share your opinion about what is right or wrong about the list, what is out of place, and what might be missing.

 

References:

Barry, Timothy. Top 10 Leadership Qualities of a Project Manager. Project Times. Published May 16, 2012. http://www.projecttimes.com/articles/top-10-leadership-qualities-of-a-project-manager.html