I was recently having coffee with a fellow business owner. His company is in IT services. He made a statement which was one of those ones that, in hindsight, seemed brain dead obvious. But after more than a decade in business it hadn’t really occurred to us: “Everything we do is projects. We should have project managers.”
I’ve worked with many IT departments and technologists. By far the easiest to work with, most likely to achieve the desired results, best able to deal with hurdles that arise, with the best communication, most able to adapt to evolving business situations, and most able to pull together individuals with diverse backgrounds and from different companies, have been those with formally designated project managers who are part of the (ad hoc) project group, but outside of and separate from (at least most of) the day-to-day technical, get-it-done, labor or brain intensive work.
In short, the PMs work ON the project, while the rest of us work IN the project. (There a lot of different philosophies and perspectives on project management; that’s outside the scope of this post.)
Having formal project managers still seems to be exceedingly rare among the organizations I work with. Even those that do have “PMs” on the payroll, are very selective about what projects they put them on. And, it is not unusual for IT to “just do it” before anyone realizes the PM role was overlooked, even on complex, long-term projects.
Well, IT is full of projects. In fact, other than the call center/support desk and a few other process-based areas, EVERYTHING in IT is a project. And IT projects are notorious for not being on time, being over budget, having underwhelming business results/impact, being (too) disruptive, poorly communicating changes to the stakeholders (which include all of the so-called “users”), never quite being done, and similar malfeasance.
IT Project Managers Get Boost From Downturn
According to Computer Economics, investments in project managers within IT departments have grown throughout the economic downturn. This may seem counter-intuitive, but it actually makes a lot of sense:
Perhaps the most pressing reason for the growth in project management personnel is that many organizations have a poor record of bringing IT projects in on time and within budget. Much of the work in IT organizations today is project-based, and IT managers realize that project management is a critical element in delivering successful projects—and thus, value—to the business.
That’s equivalent to MORE than 25% growth, starting in — notably — the year that businesses really started looking at their capital spending, operating efficiency, project efficacy, business priorities, business models, sourcing approaches, and staffing levels. All of which touched IT.
You’re Already Paying for Project Managers Whether You Have Any or Not
Project management should be a core competency of any IT department. If it’s not in yours, you’re still “investing” in it — by flushing time, money, energy, and success down the drain — you’re just not getting the returns you ought to be.
You’re paying for “de facto” project managers even if you don’t hire any. But using a key member of your existing project’s team may not be the most appropriate use of resources. The only question is, are you utilizing your resources wisely and getting your value worth?
It is not an appropriate use of resources to expect the closest executive to the project to take on the PM role, any more than it is to expect one of the key engineers with expertise in a critical area of the project to fill the role. Even intermediate managers are often spread too thin or too wrapped up in politics to fill the role.
I part with this thought: it is not unusual to be contacted by a client to resolve a “technical” hurdle that can be traced to a lack of project management. IT projects inherently involve systems thinking, and that includes technical, business, and people, which are all part of and influences on the success and level of impact of a project. And without success and a high level of impact on the business, what’s the point of showing up for work at all?
