Project Management: Still More Art Than Science - A paper

Project Management : Still More Art than Science

by Kate Belzer

The Key to Project Management Success

Change is here to stay. Organizations are changing at a breakneck pace in

order to satisfy their customers and stay competitive. It is in this environment
that project managers must learn to thrive, delivering products and services that
meet the needs of the organization and assist businesses in delivering value to
their customers. It is not surprising that project management has become a
profession in its own right. Project managers who can be successful in this
environment are sought after. The question that everyone is asking is, "What
makes a project manager successful?"

Before that question can be answered, a more important question is, "What
makes a project successful?" Some would define a successful project simply as
satisfying the client’s requirements within schedule and budget limitations and
without burning out the project team. But the focus should be on adding value to
the business. Therefore, simply meeting requirements does not define project
success. Delivering business value does.

So how does a project manager deliver business value? Project management is

art as well as science. Understanding processes, tools, and techniques (the hard
skills, the science of project management)—and knowing when and how to apply
them—is only part of the answer. A greater piece of the puzzle for successful
project delivery is soft skills (the art of project management)--the timeless
principles of working within an organization. Soft skills help to define the
business value, clarify the vision, determine requirements, provide direction,
build teams, resolve issues, and mitigate risk. Without the appropriate soft skills,
the likelihood of project success diminishes.

Know When and How to Use Hard Skills

Project managers must have the appropriate processes, tools, and techniques at
their fingertips to deliver projects. A key resource to many project managers
today is the Project Management Institutes Project Management Body of
Knowledge (PMBOK), which provides the manager with generally accepted
processes, tools, and techniques of project management. It groups the
processes into nine knowledge areas, detailing what is required by the process
(the inputs), what occurs during the process, and the deliverables of the process
(the outputs). This document merely provides the project manager with a guide;
the appropriate implementation of these processes, tools, and techniques on a

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given project is another challenge. Understanding the best way to do this comes
with experience.

Of course, there are many other project management practices available in

today's market. For example, the Unified Software Development Process
outlines a process that is use-case driven, architecture-centric, iterative, and
incremental. It requires a different approach to project management in order to
be successful while still using some of the PMBOK practices. The same holds
true for Critical Chain Project Management. While this form of managing projects
has a different focus than the Critical Path--the Critical Chain--it does not
replace all of the processes and tools of the PMBOK.

It is true that the hard skills associated with these project management practices
can be learned from a textbook and can be further developed through
experience. But if a project manager focuses on these practices and skimps on
the broader soft skills, success will be elusive. Consider the following scenarios:

Managing scope without being able to clearly communicate its meaning

can cause unclear deliverables and requirements and a dissatisfied client.
Managing communications without the ability to develop an open and
honest exchange of ideas within the project team can result in issues not
being raised until they reach a critical point.
Developing a project plan without engaging the team appropriately can
lead team members to ignore the plan and create mistrust within the team.
Making use of all these processes and procedures without displaying
leadership in delivering the end product or service will result in failure.

Even with a mastery of hard skills and a keen sense of when to use them, a
project will rarely be completely successful without the appropriate application of
soft skills.

The Missing Link - Soft Skills

A clear understanding of the soft skills of project management and the ability to
apply these skills effectively throughout the life cycle of a project will enhance
the success of a project exponentially. Few projects fail because the Gantt
chart/PERT/CPM are wrong, the roles/responsibilities are not mapped out in a
matrix, or the cost charts were off. More often they fail because of a project
manager’s inability to communicate effectively, work within the organization’s
culture, motivate the project team, manage stakeholder expectations, understand
the business objectives, solve problems effectively, and make clear and
knowledgeable decisions. These are the skills that take time to acquire through
experience, coaching, and mentoring. The following soft skills are crucial for
successful project management:

Communication - This is, quite simply, the most important soft skill for all

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project managers. They must have the ability to convey complex ideas easily,
clearly articulate what must be accomplished, keep the team moving toward a
common goal, foster an environment that allows team members to communicate
openly and honestly, admit their own mistakes without loosing respect,
negotiate, listen, facilitate the list goes on.

Organizational Effectiveness - Project managers must understand

the corporate culture, the organizational dynamics, and the
individuals they are dealing with. With this understanding, they will
be able to obtain resources more effectively, gain support, and build
a stronger foundation for the effort.
Leadership - Project Managers must lead. They frequently do not
have direct authority, yet they do have direct responsibility. They
must build authority through appropriate leadership.
Problem Solving and Decision-Making - Resolving issues or
solving problems is a large portion of what a project manager does
every day. Each phase of a project has its own unique set of
problems. Without strong problem-solving skills, the sheer volume of
issues that are a normal part of every project will soon overwhelm the
project manager.
Team Building - Building a team in the business environment is a
challenge. Co-location is not easy and rarely occurs. More frequently
a project team is made up of borrowed resources from other
functional areas within the organization and usually also has vendors
and suppliers. Creating a team atmosphere where the team believes
that "we are all in this together" is a critical component to project
success.
Flexibility and Creativity - Having a proven framework to guide a
project manager is not enough. The project manager must also adapt
to the needs of the project. Since every project is unique, each may
require different components, templates, tools, and techniques. Using
the "project manager toolbox" effectively will assist in delivering a
successful project.
Trustworthiness - The project manager must have the trust of all of
the stakeholders involved in the project. Simply meeting deadlines is
just one facet of this; a project manager must also be able to convey
that he can be trusted day-to-day to do what is right at the right time
to keep the project successful and the client satisfied.
The list above is not all-inclusive. Time management, stress
management, customer relationship management, expectation
management, coaching, mentoring, and sound business judgment
are other soft skills that a project manager needs to be successful.

Keep the Big Picture in Mind

Of course, a project manager operates within the context of the enterprise itself,

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and so a full understanding of the organization and how it works is essential.

The figure below represents the “big picture” of the enterprise, the system in
which daily activity takes place. The outer ring represents the unwritten and
written rules by which the organization operates. The middle ring is where the
leadership of the organization puts into practice these rules of operation. The
core is where project management and other capabilities within the organization
are developed and supported.

Figure 1: This picture represents a holistic view of the organization. The project manager must be able to
work at all three levels or rings. The outer ring represents the corporate view where the organization
forms its strategy and determines policies and procedures, the middle ring represents where the corporate
view is put into practice through tactical plans and initiatives, and the inner circle is where the actual
work gets done: where project management takes place.

The Outer Ring: Written and Unwritten Rules

When undertaking a project, it is necessary to understand both the business’s

corporate culture (behavior patterns and beliefs) and its organizational dynamics
(an interactive system, especially one involving competing or conflicting forces).
A project manager must work within these unwritten guidelines to be successful.
An understanding of culture and organizational dynamics will dictate whom to
work with, how to work with them, and why—not to mention more superficial but

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still important issues such as appropriate dress and work schedule. It is also
clear that both culture and organizational dynamics change over time. These
changes come about through the restructuring, downsizing, or flattening of the
organization itself or by changes in key players (the sponsor or support staff of
the project), all of which could impact a project. These two portions of the outer
ring, corporate culture and organizational dynamics, influence the business
practices within the enterprise.

Understanding business practices, the written guidelines, is the third key

element of this outer ring. Each business unit within an organization may run
projects differently. In some cases, business practices might be nonexistent, the
participants expecting magic to deliver successful projects; in other situations, a
clearly defined project management methodology might already be in place. If a
project manager is not prepared to deal with this diversity and insists on sticking
to a given method, no matter how strong the method is, the project could suffer.
If a client, sponsor, user, or project team is expecting some information in a
particular format and receives it in a different, less familiar form, confusion will
likely result.

When an organization has no defined business practice around project delivery,

the project manager is not only challenged with managing the project effort, but
must also educate the various stakeholders in their roles and responsibilities of
project management. This is a tall order and can be a roadblock to success.
Skillful and constant communication with all involved is critical. The project
manager may use processes, tools, and techniques that they know are
successful—but must remain flexible.

The Inner Ring: Building Relationships with Executives/Sponsors/Business

Units

One would think that with the many volumes written about project management,
executives, sponsors, and business units involved in a project would understand
their roles and responsibilities. But instead there is often a gap between what is
required from these audiences and what actually occurs. Working within the
organization to educate these groups of people is a key responsibility of the
project manager. It is essential to guide the sponsor in building the relationships
necessary for project success and to identify key individuals and groups within
the organization that must be appropriately engaged. Without these
relationships, a project can become mired in political bogs; it can be difficult to
have changes approved and get sign-off on key phases, slowing the progress of
a project to a crawl. On the other hand, strong relationships can help a project
move forward. Building these relationships before the project gets started will
ensure appropriate involvement, maintaining these relationships during the
project will ensure successful implementation, and closing out the project on
good terms with all involved will ensure that future efforts will have a greater
likelihood of success. Communication and organizational effectiveness are

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critical skills to apply at this inner ring, where the support for the project at the
organizational level exists.

The Core - Continued Success Requires Continual Renewal

The core of the organization is where project managers actually manage the
work that produces the end product or service for which the project was
chartered in the first place. This is the nuts-and-bolts of project management,
where the hard skills come into play. This is also where you will find the actual
management and support of the project itself, including any training required for
team members.

The project manager who believes she has all of the answers is doomed to fail.
When someone believes he has seen it all, he no longer learns and grows as an
individual. When project managers get stuck in this place, they will most
assuredly begin to fail. Understanding the natural laws of growth and
development makes for successful project managers. The continued
development of both the art and the science of project management will serve to
strengthen the individual project manager. The organization itself must support
the continued development of individuals within the organization to sustain their
ability to provide themselves with skilled individuals in the art and science of
project management.

Business is Complex - Grow With It

Today's work environment is inherently complex, constantly changing, and

focused on customer satisfaction. This environment is challenging the
capabilities of project managers. Delivering business value on time, within
budget, and to the customers' satisfaction is both science and art. Today's
project manager must be able to apply the processes, tools, and techniques of
the trade efficiently and effectively to be successful. However, without mastering
the timeless soft skills to supplement the hard skills, few project managers will
succeed. This combination of art and science, while taking into consideration the
broader organizational context, will lead to successful projects.

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