March 4, 2019: Question Series #11
Written By: Marc Moskowitz
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Every project manager wants to be successful, right? Right! That being settled, let’s jump right in and take a look at what 10 things all project managers can start doing today to ensure they “Kick A$$”.
In no particular order, here we go:
- Say NO more often. Being able to push back is one of the keys to success not only in project management, but in any job. For project managers, it’s not only about saying no to accepting more work for yourself, but protecting the team overall. If it’s not possible, don’t accept it. Just say NO!
- Build your project marketing material and keep it updated. There are threats to projects all over the place, including budgets, changes in the marketplace, and executive-level support. For these kinds of reasons, it’s always important to have your project marketing material up to date and ready to go. You never know who, where, and when you’ll need to defend your project.
- Adopt the attitude of never being afraid to lose your job. If you are consistently afraid to lose your job, you will always make the safe decisions. That is often counterproductive to being an excellent project manager and drives mediocrity. Have confidence in yourself and realize that very few people lose their jobs because of making a hard decision. If it does somehow happen to you, the attitude you must take is that it is your employer’s loss, not yours!
- Understand the product you are building and be able to demo it. What’s interesting to me is that most project managers cannot demo or deeply explain what it is they are helping to build. If you want to be at the top of your class, know your product. It will help you make better decisions and enable you to help out in more ways than you know, if things turn sideways.
- Use osmosis to learn your project financials inside and out. As it becomes more and more important for companies to control costs and drive ROI, it’s also more important for project managers to know their financials. Most project managers do a good job of working the budget, but if you want to take a step up, understand the details and ensure you know the revenue/benefit side of the equation as well. If you really want to be a rock star, learn about the capitalization rules and regulations.
- Learn more about what drives your stakeholders. All stakeholders are different and even within the same team, each is motivated by various things. Learn what those things are and build up as much cachet as you can early on. You’ll withdraw some of that cachet when things go wrong, but the goal is always to keep a positive balance. Side tip: Teach your stakeholders, if they don’t know already, what is expected from their role. A lot of times, they don’t really know or it’s their first project.
- Make friends in low places. This is one of my personal favorites. Treat everyone and anyone in your greater organization like kings. Treat the little guys and those who go above and beyond for you to lunch, especially if they are not on your direct team. You never know when you might need them again to get something done.
- Say thank you in profuse amounts. This is great advice in everyday life as it is, but it’s really important when you’re running a project, that more often than not, is in a matrix environment. It costs you nothing to do so and it goes further than you think. Saying it in front of your project team for high-performing members, is an extra gold star for you!
- Leverage the strengths of your team to counterbalance your weaknesses. You can’t be great at everything, though I have met a few people who think otherwise! For the rest of us, know your weaknesses and leverage your team to fill in the gaps. The best project managers aren’t afraid to do this and can admit that they aren’t the masters of everything.
- Tell yourself each and every day, that 90% of the battle is putting together the best team possible. I do truly believe that if you have the right team, your chances for success skyrocket! I also believe in having smaller teams with lots of high performers, rather than larger teams with mediocre talent. Never make this false trade if it’s offered to you. Bigger isn’t always better!
What do you think? What is in your Top 10? Thanks for reading!
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