MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS

During the last two sessions we covered the topic of Project Management, and the importance of having the right skills and knowledge in order to manage project successfully, meeting its agreed time, cost, scope without compromising on quality. We’ve also briefly discussed the roles and responsibilities of the Project Manager, but would you like know more about the roles and responsibilities of the Project Manager? Well MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS!!! If you are a Project Manager, do you start your work every day thinking about ways to move your company forward?? Well again, MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS!!! Or do you think of how to get better deals for your procurement processes? One more time, MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS!!! Yes, you read correctly, MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS.

In most of the projects the Project Manager is minding the business of the cost controller, the Human Resource Manager, the Risk Manager, the Quality Manager, the COO, the CFO and sometimes even the CEO.  Why is that? Because Project Managers always feel that they are in charge of the entire project and its end result, and tend to forget that they are not solely in charge of it, and that other team players are also in charge.

Think of it as channeling your energies toward successfully completing your own assignments – your domain of responsibility.  If everyone in your project focused on his/her own domain of responsibility, the project will do just fine.  In fact if your entire company started to think with this mentality, then not only your project will be more successful, but also your company will be more successful than it is today.

Let us agree on the definition of “Your domain of responsibility”, it includes all responsibilities and commitments that fall within the score of your assignment.  And this applies whether you are a one-person project, or a member of a 10-person project, of a 1000-person project, your project success is directly related to how well you perform within your domain of responsibilities.  It has been my experience that if you focus superbly within your domain of responsibility, your contributions will be the most effective and your career will shine brightly even without the extra credit.

I once worked in a company that did not have well-defined project management best practices that we could adopt as project managers for our projects, nor it had well-defined roles and responsibilities of the project manager, so we – the few project managers – worked together and developed clear “domain of responsibilities” as per the project management best practices and aligned with the PMI’s PMBoK Guide (Project Management Body of Knowledge Guide).  Examples of the items we included in our domain of responsibilities that project manager often pursued weakly include:
– Seeking out a project sponsor and establishing an effective relationship
– Adopting/defining project management best practices for your own project
– Ensuring client participation
– Obtaining commitment from others and then holding them accountable

Some might think that focusing on your domain of responsibility is selfish and that you do not care about your company, I don’t think so, so what are your thought on this? Will you MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS or Not?

5 thoughts on “MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS

  1. Well, I think you touch the concept of team work in one way or another. I would confirm the importance of team roles and responsibilities for the success of the project and its essential part for any project. However, I see that the project manager received high visibility in a firm and is responsible for making sure that the people assigned to the project receive the motivation, direction, and information needed to do their jobs by him. So, I do MIND MY OWN BUSINESS but I should not ignore the spirit of team work.

  2. I hear what you’re saying, but would like to add that, while it is important to mind “your own business” it is equally crucial to have proper communication among all the parties involved in the project. By proper communication I mean, there should be a culture of assistance and feedback between all members in the project. If you and all project members were to just focus on your own work and responsibilities, and mind your own business, then you WILL find that the project is not going to run as smoothly as hoped. Also, if you recall, part of project management activities is Controlling the project, how would you as a project manager be able to control the project if you’re oblivious to what your team is doing (because you are JUST minding your own business)?

  3. Your article caught my attention as it shows interesting fact about a role of project manager. Honestly speaking, I do agree that a project manager should mind his own business, but at the same time I think that team work would play a vital role in accelerating the project. While it is true that each manager should focus solely on his own job, each service unit within organizations has a common objective towards company mission. So, poor performance of other units within the organizations will affect your department even if you score an exceptional performance.

  4. I think it depends on what the team’s definition of “Project Management” is and also on the culture of the organization.

    You said that Project Managers always feel that they are in charge of the entire project themselves. A lot of times we see Project Managers, or managers in general, making the mistake of controlling and micro-managing every aspect of the project.

    This is frustrating for the manager himself and the rest of the team members. The manager, because he feels overwhelmed and responsible for things that cannot possibly be done by an individual alone, and the team member, because it hinders their personal growth and chance to prove themselves.

    A good project manager, and a leader actually, has the ability to bring out the best out of every team member.

  5. I agree with you that it is critical a project manager focuses on their core ‘domain of responsibility’, and utilize best practices whenever possible. At the same time, due to the complexity of working with people having their own priorities, perspectives, and personalities, my experience is that the areas of responsibility become blurry in the sociocultural dimensions of project management. Not only does a project manager have their core duties, but they have to manage the team as noorz599 mentioned to try and bring out the best in each person. Outside the team, the project manager has to be the salesperson, or even cheerleader, in some organizations. Project advocates and customers request frequent updates. Those in the organization who are indifferent, but are contributing resources to the project, need reinforcement of the importance of the project. In addition, the search for additional advocates is almost always beneficial and can be helpful when management decisions need to be made or resources are moved off of a project because of some other ’emergency’. This can be especially a problem when a project has low visibility, is on schedule and under budget. Projects that are behind schedule tend to gain higher visibility and absorb resources from on-time projects, placing them in peril very quickly. This is one of the reasons that I believe a key role for a project manager is to be a project’s biggest advocate and periodically update upper management on the status, importance and benefits of the projects they are managing. One of the many roles a project manager must play in the political realm of an organization.

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