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My (Project Management) Jurisdiction Ends Here

February 22, 2012 | Author: PM Hut | Filed under: Project Management Musings

My (Project Management) Jurisdiction Ends Here
By Kiron D. Bondale

The title of this article is the quote from John Cleese’s character, Sheriff Langston, in the movie Silverado. While this was uttered during a humorous sequence, it comes to mind whenever I witness a project manager imposing self-created limits on the extent of their influence.

In lower maturity organizations, Project Managers are often asked (or volunteer) to take on activities which are clearly the responsibility of other stakeholders just to keep their projects on track, and I’d be the last person to suggest that a PM should constantly be overstepping job boundaries that have been clearly defined as this will just reinforce inappropriate behavior on the part of others, and usually results in overwork and reduced job satisfaction for the PM.

On the other hand, the challenge with managing to the triple (or quadruple) constraint is that it can encourage a very clinical focus that runs counter to the “art” of project management. A Project Manager who blatantly ignores scope, schedule, cost or quality constraints is definitely not acting professionally, but neither is one who rigidly adheres to them while demonstrating a lack of perspective on the project’s outcomes.

So with tongue (only partially) planted in cheek, here’s my top five list of signs that you’ve been spending too much time living in what Bill Maher would term “the Bubble“?

  • You fend off pleas to look at the big picture by using your job summary and WBS like dueling weapons.

  • Your favorite expression is “throw it over the wall”.

  • You’ve requested that your PMO’s change request template be modified to accommodate six digit change request IDs.

  • You’ve kept a lawyer busy developing iron-clad “rules of engagement” contracts with peers from other departments.

  • The (project) operation was a success but the (product) patient died.

Kiron D. Bondale (PMP) is the Manager, Client Services for Solution Q Inc. which produces and implements project portfolio management solutions. Kiron has managed multiple mid-to-large-sized IT projects, and has worked for over twelve years in both internal and professional services project management capacities. He has setup and managed Project Management Offices (PMO) and has provided project portfolio management consulting services to clients across multiple industries. Kiron is actively involved with the Project Management Institute (PMI) and served as a volunteer director on the Board of the PMI Lakeshore Chapter from 2003 to 2009. Kiron has published articles on project management in a number of industry publications and has presented PPM/PM topics in multiple conferences and webinars.

For more of Kiron’s thoughts on project management, please visit his blog at http://solutionq.wordpress.com/.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 22nd, 2012 and is filed under Project Management Musings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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