The road to super project management

Introduction

Do you have a strong desire to be a super project manager? Are you relatively new to project management and keen to develop your skills quickly? Or are you an experienced professional looking for a refresher? If yes, then you're the kind of person this practical guide is intended for.

In this guide we've distilled down what we think it takes to be a super project manager. We've drawn on the good, the bad and the ugly - and the eccentric. But above all, we've thought long and hard about what we've learned from rolling up our sleeves and getting our hands dirty. Between us (writers of this guide) we've got well over 40 years of hands-on project-management experience. That's plenty of time to learn lessons at the school of hard knocks!

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PRO TIP

Experience alone is unlikely to make you a super project manager. You'll also need to do your own research and get good advice along the way.

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The buck stops here

You've probably noticed that projects don't always run according to plan. In fact, you may have concluded that spiraling budgets, missed deadlines and half-baked deliveries are the norm rather than the exception. It's certainly true that failures are commonplace and some surveys put the rate as high as 70%. So what keeps going wrong? Much of this is down to projects being inadequately planned and poorly managed. Responsibility for this has to be placed at the project manager's door. This might seem a harsh assessment when external factors contribute to failure, but project managers are ultimately held accountable for the fate of their projects. Failures can't solely be put down to inexperience either, since even hardened project managers are seen leading their projects down paths that can only end in disaster.

There are project managers - we've dubbed them super project managers - who consistently succeed. This select group has the winning knack of regularly delivering the goods and we're going to share the techniques they use. The good news is: none of it is complicated advice. What we have to offer is based on a combination of good old-fashioned common sense, practical experience of what works well and knowledge of the pitfalls to avoid.

What's in this guide?

Project management can seem a solitary trade at times but you're not alone. Many of the day-to-day issues you'll come across have already been tackled before and Super Project Management passes on this experience.

Our advice has been condensed in this succinct guide to project management.

You can dip into the topics that interest you most or read it from cover to cover. Like any guide we've had to be selective about the subjects we explore. However, we've focused our attention on what you'll find of most practical use and can immediately apply. We'll show you the tricks of the trade and the traps to avoid. Best of all, this advice is tried and tested in the real world of project management.

We've got plenty to say about the traditional project management topics, as well as the people side of the job that often gets overlooked.

Project managers don't just struggle with the intricacies of plans and risk logs, they struggle with people too!

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Topics in this Guide:

Core project management skills Planning projects, dealing with risks and issues, delivering quality, resource planning and management People-related skills Providing leadership, running effective meetings, facilitation techniques Learning lessons Benefiting from experience

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We recognize that becoming a super project manager takes much more than this brief guide; there's no substitute for practical experience. But as you develop your skills, we hope you'll turn to this guide for a reminder of the good practice it's so easy to forget during the daily cut and thrust. We say this based on our experience of creating this guide, gaining so much from another look at familiar ground during the process. In fact, the catchphrase soon became: 'Wow! This is superb advice; we should be doing this ourselves!' Most of the time, we were only joking.

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Five important reasons why it's awesome to be a project manager:

1 Work is interesting and challenging. You'll be kept busy solving one problem or another, and there's never a dull moment!

2 There's plenty of job satisfaction. Especially when you see something through to completion.

3 Variety is the spice of life. No two projects are exactly the same and there's always something new to learn.

4 It's a people business. You get to work with all sorts of interesting types.

5 You'll never be short of work. The world will never run out of projects that need managing.

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NOTE:

A skilled specialist accepted a job as a project manager. Years of watching others in action - both good and bad - provided her with plenty of ideas about how to do a brilliant job. Mentored by an experienced colleague, she took to the role with enthusiasm. The project was fraught with problems, went over budget and was delivered very late - but it was like being on an intense training program. Within 15 months she was troubleshooting problematic projects and mentoring junior managers.

Managing demanding projects is a great way to learn quickly. It may seem hard at the time but there's no substitute for on-the job training in challenging circumstances.

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