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The 3 Amigos - A Project Management Idea That Works

June 28, 2010 | Author: PM Hut | Filed under: Project Management Musings

The 3 Amigos - A Project Management Idea That Works
By Richard Morreale

When I take on a project, I put in place a strategy that I call the ‘3 Amigos’. I consider the ‘3 Amigos’ to be me, the Project Manager (1), a person on the Project that I have appointed as the Technical Director (2) and a Project Support Officer (3).

Although I have successfully managed some really huge technical Projects in my life. I do not come from a technical background. I have had lots of different jobs since I started working on the Apollo Program as a messenger. And my college degree is in Business. I’m not saying that I can’t understand technical issues but I do not have the experience necessary to really dig into the technical aspects of some Projects. And, by the way, I am not all that interested. Hence, I assign a person in charge of the technical aspects of the project.

When I was assigned to manage my first Project, I obviously took the job on even though I didn’t have a technical background and the Project was a highly technical one. I’m a real believer in never turning a job down because you think you are not skilled enough to do it. There is always a book or people out there that can help you get it done. So what did I do? I worked out a plan that showed that I needed some hotshot technical people. They were assigned to me and I made one of them my Technical Director. Her name was Rebecca and she was just great. Her job was to spend all of her time on technical issues and brief me on the various options associated with them. My lack of technical experience didn’t keep me from being smart enough to understand the issues. My job was to consider not only the technical issues but also the ramifications around cost, schedule and other resources and to make the decisions. It worked just great and it was on that Project, early in my career, that I realized that by appointing a Technical Director who understood the technical issues associated with the Project, I could manage any Project.

I am not a civil engineer but I know that I can build a bridge or a building. I would hire the best Civil Engineer that I could find and put her in charge of the technical aspects of the project. I believe that a really good Project Manager with a really good Technical Director can take on almost if not every type of Project and deliver it.

The 3rd person in the ‘3 Amigos’ is the Project Support Officer who either manages a Project Support Office (if the Project is big enough) or is the Project Support Office (if the Project is not big enough to have a Project Support Office Team). This person is responsible for supporting me and the rest of the Project Team in the areas of Project Planning and Control, Configuration Management, including Change Control, Risk and Issue Management, Action Item Administration, Documentation Management and other areas.

I believe in the ‘3 Amigos’ concept and I will never run a Project without my other 2 Amigos. And you should consider not doing it without your other 2 Amigos also.

Richard is an extremely experienced Program Manager, Professional Speaker and company executive of Inspiration Systems, Ltd. Richard can: Manage your biggest project, speak at your next meeting or conference, rescue any of your projects that are in trouble, help your project managers be better project managers, help your project managers make their certification work better for them, help your company enhance performance and increase production. He is also the Author of Over 50 Killer Ideas for Delivering Successful Projects. Buy it at www.buymorreale.com or Contact Richard at www.richardmorreale.com or 336 499 6677.

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This entry was posted on Monday, June 28th, 2010 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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[...] know that they could build anything. I’ve never built a bridge but I know I could. Using the ‘3 Amigos’ principle I would hire the best Civil Engineer and put her in charge of engineering on the [...]

The Project Manager Must Be a Master of Paradox - PM Hut wrote on August 2, 2010 - 1:11 pm | Visit Link

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