Principles of Successful Project Management

What skills really matter when hiring a project manager? The PMBOK divides the capabilities into the knowledge areas, all of which are weighted based on a notion of importance. Every time I consider a project manager for hire, I consider the same areas represented in the PMBOK as important and weigh some more so than others. The knowledge areas (integration management, scope management, time management, cost management, quality management, human resource management, communications management, risk management, procurement management, and stakeholder management), when balanced appropriately, provide the framework for successful and effective project management. These knowledge areas all fall within certain process areas within the PMBOK. Those process areas (initiation, planning, execution, monitoring and controlling, and closing) are generally well established within most organizations and there are usually well-established tools and frameworks for knowledge areas as well. If that is the case, that most processes, tools, and frameworks are in place, how do projects fail? Is it the project manager’s abilities or the circumstances of the projects? Put another way, is it possible for a project manager to be successful whether or not the project succeeds?

Let’s look to sports for the answer to that question. Let’s assume that every game is a project. Let’s also assume that the project manager is the coach of the entire team. Some of the best coaches have unsuccessful games and yet they are still held as great coaches. These coaches have had unsuccessful seasons and still are seen as great coaches. They’ve been unsuccessful in big games and small. So, to respond to the question, yes, it is possible that successful project managers have unsuccessful projects, so it is possible that the circumstances of the project itself influences its own success. The question becomes, how does a project manager maintain their own success when they find themselves in an unsuccessful project? The answer to this can be found in the principles of successful and effective project management.

These principles are based on years of experience managing successful and unsuccessful projects for various companies representing various industries. They are based on fundamental principles which are proven by years of use. You may recognize some of the principles as adaptations from other books, postings, you tube videos, and other works. While none of these may be new (after all, Aristotle said “It is not once nor twice but times without number that the same ideas make their appearance in the world.”), they are presented here with a focus on project management.

The list of principles I’ve gathered are:

·       Vision Drives Success

·       Staying Open to All Possibilities Reduces Perceived Obstacles

·       Being Curious Provides the Space to Ask Questions

·       Willingness to do What it Takes When Project Health is in Jeopardy

·       Strength of Character and Personal Values Matter

·       Communicate 360 often

·       Be Responsible for the Outcome No Matter What

·       Change When Change is Needed

·       Take Risks When Risk is Called for

·       Act with Urgency

·       Go to the Source Don’t use Assumptions or Second-Hand Information

·       While Responsible for it All You Don’t Have to Do It All

This is not a comprehensive list, like many principles they are intertwined and woven together in a tapestry. This list may change over time AND it I will be elaborating on each of them.

Practicing each of the principles in our daily life, in the small things we do every day is what matters most. Being a successful project manager is intertwined with being successful in life. Each of us decides what that looks like. The beauty of life is the fact that we all get to trust the process, live within the circumstances of our lives, and find the magical pixy dust that keeps us alive and well to journey another day. The magical pixy dust is found in the journey itself, in the way we rejoice in each moment we breath and in the care, we give ourselves and our fellow travelers. What are you practicing today?