Project Management with Purpose Series
Part One: What PM is Right for You Right Now?
Project management has become a pretty ubiquitous term these days. How do you choose a PM for a project when you’re not even sure what obstacles or complications you might face? How can you be strategic when you don’t know what you don’t know? Here’s how I like to breakdown PMs along with conditions for each.
Strategic
An SPM (strategic project manager) is perfect for the beginning of a project. They can interpret your input, clarify your goals, poke holes in your rationale, assesses risk with deep pools of nerdy expertise (i.e. compliance) visualize your end goal and then attempt to connect your plans with your outcomes–likely better than you can. They have outside perspective and this matters. They should come at the project from both ends. And ask scary questions that have gotten lost along the way.
When to Hire: Let’s just say it’s never too soon. Once a visionary has an idea, an SPM is the first person you should engage.
Programming
A PPM (program project manager) stays focused on the content and consequences of your project–that are often somewhat independent of the nuts and bolts. How will this project impact the associated departments? What are the consequences for personnel? Is there capacity and resources to sustain it? What are the expected revenue forecasts? How will this new project weave its way into current programs? Has there been enough conversation between senior management and middle management? Have execs validated impacts to frontline staff? Do all those left hands know what all those right hands are up to? You get the idea.
When to Hire: Decisions are piling up and you’re lacking guidance. If you’re ready to nail high level budget and need to narrow down scope, it’s time to talk to a PPM.
Executionary
An EPM (executionary project manager) is an unflappable details person. A conference call leader. An action item assigner. A relentless task-master, spreadsheet creator and boundary-setter. They understand scope, dependencies, scheduling and budgets. They have been doing this for a long time. On big projects. Once they know what needs to be done, they can make it happen.
When to Hire: Right after the approval stage. When someone has signed on the dotted line about high level scope, budget and schedule, you should talk to an EPM.
Harmonizing
A HPM (harmonizing project manager) the most underrated of PM roles, has plenty of soft skills. Empathy, mediation and facilitation to name a few. This professional knows how to keep the team motivated, expose fears, avoid blame, navigate executive participation and correct mistakes with minimal drama. They build relationships from the beginning with various members of the team. They celebrate and enforce transparency. They organize relationship-building events and keep people doing their blue-ribbon best.
When to Hire: After you’ve hired an SPM and an EPM and chosen a team. Before bad habits happen. Alternatively, an HPM could be hired to rescue a project gone wrong.
Can one PM do everything?
In my almost 30 years of project management experience, hiring and managing hundreds of PMs, I can honestly say no. Less than 5% of PMs can perform all four of these roles with success.