Our highlighted question of the month at Roeder Consulting fits in nicely with the September free webinar. Do you feel restricted as a project manager, like this individual? Does it affect your job satisfaction? Join us to discuss your job satisfaction as a project manager on Tuesday, the 11th of September. Read about our monthly free webinars and register here: http://www.roederconsulting.com/webinar.php
Question: I started working at a company that I believe has very restrictive PM processes and it hinders my ability as a PM to deliver on certain types of projects. Is this normal?
Answer: From Keith Jenkins, PMP, MBA
Unfortunately, without knowing the context of your project(s), the industry, and the standards implemented, your situation might be perfectly normal. Your perception of restrictive might be normal for someone else. There are usually valid reasons for the “so called” restricted processes.
PMs sometime feel restricted when they come into a company where a more mature project environment exists. This type of environment usually has more processes, tools, and governance in place. PMs not familiar with this type of environment may have to generate more project materials, get more approvals, etc. and it gives the appearance of restriction. In my context, “Restriction” is one of two things: Asking PMs to do something for a project even though it provides no value to company or limiting their adaptability / creativity / decision making.
Does this mean companies, even with mature PMOs can be overly restrictive? Absolutely and it frequently happens. From my experience, PMOs do a good job of initially defining procedures, defining how tools are used, governance, etc. but PMOs fail to monitor the relevance of these processes overtime. Lack of monitoring is usually brought on by shifting priorities within the PMO itself. Due to changes in company strategy, market influences, government regulation, etc. these processes / paperwork requirements become obsolete. This creates an environment where PMs are required to follow processes that no longer produce value to the project and become both restrictive and time consuming. Think about it as filling out paperwork that NO ONE reviews or takes action against.
Companies and PMOs also have to ensure they provide a PM with just enough rope to hang themselves. The successes and failures experienced during a project are the only way a company will grow competent PM talent. There has to be flexibility in the process so PMs can grow their managerial skills. The concepts of adapting approaches based on the situation, thinking outside the box to solve problems, or just exercising decisions making are core management concepts. If too restrictive, talent will not grow and flourish.
The Bottom Line:
When PMs are required to complete useless paperwork, follow obsolete processes, or processes that add absolutely no value, most mature project managers will find ways to subvert these constraints without negatively impacting their project or their end-users (i.e. customers). You then end up with some PMs performing well and others struggling because they are in fact following the rules. The system begins to experience diminishing returns. No two projects are ever the same, period. Even if they address the exact same deliverables, you typically end up with different stakeholders, customers, cross-functional teams, etc. each bringing a different dynamic to the planning and execution process. Companies, PMOs and those mentoring PMs need to ensure there is both flexibility within the system and the decision-making process. To use a football analogy: While a defense has a game plan, it still needs to empower players so they can easily adjust their approach based on the situation at hand.
Restrictions are typically needed to gain and maintain some type of control. The problem occurs when these restrictions are not monitored and become needless constraints. The best thing you can do is mentor PMs on how and when to change their approach and empower them to make decisions based on situations at hand. Don’t forget to go back to the PMO and inform them of useless constraints!
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Stakeholders in a project make decisions, provide input, deliver work, and impact if your project will be a success. Stakeholders may be the project team, functional management, a project sponsor, and most importantly, the customer. Anyone who participates in the project or is impacted by its results is a stakeholder. Each stakeholder has an essential contribution to make and all stakeholder expectations need to be met. It’s the responsibility of the project manager to understand how to identify, manage and clarify stakeholder direction.
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