Can a PM Define
the Responsibility of Other Project Team Members?
Yes. But as all short answers, there is a second
part to the answer. The PM can and should request the authority to define
responsibility and the authority to keep the project team members focused. That
not only comes from the PM’s management, but with the cooperation of the
project sponsor and the project team members’ management.
So when a PM receives a project, the PM must
meet with the project sponsor and discuss the project team members and identify
who is best suited for the project. Keeping in mind that sometimes the PM and
the project sponsor do not always get the resources they believe would be best
suited for the project, they must also pick a second person and think about
what the plan B would be. If the PM has
been with the organization for some time, the PM should already have an idea of
who will be best suited for the project tasks and who will be best suited for
that specific responsibility. The project sponsor should be able to provide the
PM with some guidance here also. If the project sponsor has had other projects
in the organization, the sponsor will have valuable input on the project team
members.
Once the
team has been allocated and given to the PM, the PM should begin with team
building by meeting with the team first and then meeting with the team members individually.
At the team meeting, the PM should come with the project sponsor and discuss
the goals of the project. Also, the PM should begin scheduling times to have
project-building meetings to plan the project. At the individual meetings, the
PM should come alone and be less formal, and discuss the expectations and
responsibilities for that specific team member.
When the team meets for the first project-building
meeting, everyone should build, acknowledge, and accept responsibility for
their tasks. It is at that time that project scheduling should begin. In most
organizations, the project team members are cross-functional, meaning they come
from different divisions of the organization. For example, development,
accounting, HR, and so on. So when building the plan and then the schedule, the
PM and the whole project team must realize and accept that everyone on that
team has their “full-time job” as well as being part of this project,
especially the project sponsor.
What is the
PM’s Role in Defining Responsibility?
The PM must be the one source of knowledge and
stability in the project. The PM is the one who keeps the whole project plan,
not just the schedule, but the communication plan, the HR plan, and so on in a
central repository that all of the project team members can access them.
Also, the PM should begin scheduling times to
have project-building meetings to plan the project. At the individual meetings,
the PM should come alone and be less formal, and discuss the expectations and
responsibilities for that specific team member. When the team meets for the
first project-building meeting, everyone should build, acknowledge, and accept
responsibility for their tasks. It is at that time that project scheduling
should begin. In most organizations, the project team members are
cross-functional.
How the PM
Keep Project Team Members Does Focused on Their Responsibilities?
In the project plan, the roles and
responsibilities must be kept by the PM, who must ensure that the team members
keep to the plan and their roles and responsibilities. Upon seeing that a
project team member is underperforming, the PM must take action. The PM must
also keep the team members motivated (see my blog on that topic at: http://blog.bennythepm.com/2013/03/how-to-keep-project-manager-and-project.html). The
introductory meeting should set the tone, and along with the project sponsor,
the PM should keep the teams’ eye on the goals of the project. However, if a
team member is not “pulling their weight” the PM must address that as soon as
possible. (I have written about that specifically in an earlier blog (http://blog.bennythepm.com/2013/02/how-to-deal-with-underperforming.html ).
The PM is the mini COO as the project sponsor is
the mini CEO. Those roles must not change and must be accepted by both the PM
and the project sponsor. However, both
must never forget that they are the leaders, and that holds especially true for
the PM.
I am open to discussion at any time on these blogs or anything else related to project management you would like to explore. If you would like to comment about this blog, please do so by posting on this blog or by responding in an email at Benny A. Recine. You may inspire a blog article. I look forward to your comments.
