There are two kinds of motorcyclists, ones that have had a mishap (accident, falling) and one that hasn’t had one yet. One thing every new motorcyclist learns is that, at some point in their motorcycling career, they will drop their motorcycle. When I started riding, I knew it was just a matter of time before I fell. The same can be said of project managers. At some point in their career, they will have a project that falls. The extent of the damage to the project and the project manager, just as in the case of motorcyclist and motorcycle, is based on the amount of risk that the person took on for the effort.

Projects aren’t conducted in isolation, which means that the environment will change, sometimes for the good and sometimes, well, in the opposite direction. I haven’t met a project manager yet that has a perfect record of “on time, on budget, with quality delivery” for every project they’ve managed. I have met many project managers that have managed to avert disaster, where the project was not considered a failure, although it wasn’t considered a success either. Project errors, mistakes, miscalculations are part of maturing as a project manager. We have “opportunities” for growth where our best laid plans meet with unforeseen circumstances. These project errors are part of project management.

The trick to being a successful project manager is to manage the project difficulties and avert project disaster. The characteristics of the project managers that have been most successful in their careers have been those that have managed to stay “out of harms’ way”. There are some specific skills that these successful project managers have that have helped them to deliver projects successfully.

First, they know their stakeholders. That is more than identifying the stakeholders and capturing their needs and expectations. They have gone beyond those tasks and are able to identify the significant few, those that require more attention because of their role in the organization, their expertise for the specific project, or their influence. The project manager connects with those specific individuals differently than with the rest of the stakeholders. Obtaining direction, buy-in and support from those stakeholders can make or break the perception of success or failure of a project manager or a project. Since perception is reality, their backing is critical.

Second, they understand risk. It isn’t that they identify risks and perform the risk tasks. They understand the cumulative nature of risk and make specific choices about how to frame a project, present information on a project and strategically manage the project. They have mastered the art of ownership of project risk and are firm regarding the degree of risk that they believe is appropriate for the project they are managing.

Third, they can communicate project information accurately to the right people at the right time. They don’t cry wolf and they don’t cover potential problems. They are transparent in the communication and are not willing to gloss over potential problems and are willing to stop a failing project.

These are not the only reasons a project manager is successful. I would say these are my top 3. Know your stakeholders, know how to manage a risk portfolio and be able to communicate effectively. When you don’t have the right backing and the risk is above tolerable levels it won’t matter how good you are at controlling the other aspects of the project.

Ride On, Manage On