Financial Services CIO’s:

For the CIO, running blind on projects can only lead to one thing: the dreaded project over-run. This nightmare is often the result of using inexperienced project resources.

We usually find two types of project managers in organizations, namely the ‘over-certified’ project manager and the ‘accidental’ project manager. The ‘over-certified’ project manager has every project management certification under the sun. They look good on paper but cannot manage their way out of a paper bag. The ‘accidental’ project manager is a person who finds themselves managing a project without having any of the necessary certifications or experience.

Since 1998 we have interfaced with many organisations in different industries all over the world and the common problem that we see across all of them is the difficulty in finding skilled and experienced project managers. We often notice ‘accidental’ or ‘over-certified’ project managers in critical positions and foresee the brick wall coming to meet the project...

Certifications aren’t everything…

A certification in a nice frame may seem impressive but managing a project from start to finish requires a key set of skills and experience that many ‘accidental’ or ‘over-certified’ project managers just don't have. Research by Millhollan & Kaarst-Brown (2016: p.90) states that “Earning a certification may provide evidence of experience and knowledge; however, holding a certification does not always provide evidence of an IT project manager’s skill or his or her efficacy.”

We don’t disagree that being the holder of a project management certification is an indication of some level of baseline knowledge; however, this doesn’t mean that the project manager has the necessary ‘soft skills’ to deliver a project successfully. The PMI’s Pulse of the Profession® (2018: p.17), found that “four in five respondents reported that soft skills, such as communications, leadership, and negotiation, are more important today than they were just five years ago.”

Projects are more about the people involved than the ‘To Do List’ of the project itself.

Some say that it shouldn’t be called ‘project management’, it should be called ‘people management’, and rightly so. You need to apply soft or interpersonal skills in order to deliver a project successfully. Soft skills can be defined as, “those abilities that a project manager must possess to apply effectively the project management tools and techniques within the organization, across stakeholder groups and over the project life cycle” (Millhollan & Kaarst-Brown, 2016: p.91).

These abilities come with experience and usually don’t come in the form of a ‘certification’.

‘Over-certified’ or ‘accidental’ project managers don’t necessarily have the right experience in managing projects and mobilizing people. Project management is a soft science, they may know the theory, but in many instances, they don’t know how to apply it. When it comes to IT projects, there are usually many changes throughout the project and increased pressure from stakeholders; the project manager must maintain composure, manage stakeholder relationships, be a problem-solver and a challenger, and approach each change with interest and excitement. A successful project manager is not just a box ticker.

Your project managers aren’t passionate enough

Anything executed with passion is more likely to be a success. Unfortunately, the opposite is also true – a lack of enthusiasm or motivation often results in a lacklustre project at the finish line, if it even reaches the finish line.

However, a passionate project manager will get stuck in 110% and do whatever needs to be done for the project to be successful. Even if that means having difficult conversations with clients and breaking news that they may not want to hear.

Uninvested project managers will often skirt around these prickly issues and avoid getting their hands dirty.

Most of us know that passion is contagious, therefore the attitude of the project manager influences the energy of the rest of the team. Müller & Turner reports that team satisfaction impacts most of the measures of project success (2007: p.306). A successful project manager creates team cohesion by empowering and inspiring members with a common purpose. Their commitment and positivity should drive their team to act to achieve project goals.

Without a project manager with a passion for project management and the project there is far less chance of achieving project success. Who can afford that in our current climate?

Poor delivery without accountability

Who is responsible for the project manager’s performance? Who is ensuring that the project manager is on schedule and is being held accountable for all the promises made? There must be a ‘boss for the boss’, someone who keeps the project manager in check and identifies any gaps before it’s too late.

Without this accountability, how can there be any confidence in the likelihood of project success?

Without someone with the right skills ensuring proper control over the project execution, constant monitoring and offering guidance and direction, an inexperienced project manager would not know what they don’t (but should) know. Growing a new generation of project managers with the required experience demands a healthy mix of hands-on project management, leeway to make some mistakes, and coaching by experienced project managers.

Zero transparency

Do you really know what your project managers are up to or how your projects are doing? Are your stakeholders being updated regularly? Is everyone who should know what’s going on being kept in the loop?

An experienced project manager will know that, in order to be successful, one must keep your project team close and your stakeholders closer. Stakeholders cannot be replaced or removed and therefore one must ensure that a good relationship is established and maintained throughout the project.

All the project facts and progress should be visible to eliminate any unwanted surprises.

Without transparency and accountability, you won’t know that your project is headed for disaster until it already is.

Missing the deadline, the scope and the budget!

To summarize, there are many ways that inexperienced project managers can derail a project:

• Not enough preparation – mediocre or lack of project planning and setup. Lack of due diligence prior to project kick-off. No risk mitigation plans in place to prevent things from going wrong, again. Failing to prepare is preparing to fail,’ it’s a cliché for a reason.
• No insight – not considering or integrating any of the previous lessons learnt. Using inaccurate or optimistic estimates.
• An unsuccessful team – not selecting the right team. Selecting unskilled resources or failing to create cohesion within the team.
• Poor relationship management – not managing stakeholder relationships effectively. No stakeholder buy-in or engagement.

All the above can have a negative impact on achieving the project objectives to support the organizational strategy.

Project success is not luck, it requires a combination of experience, knowledge and passion. Project professionals with the ultimate trifecta are difficult and rare to find, leaving many CIOs feeling like their project managers don’t know what they are doing. Our email series will discuss solutions to the above pain points and how we can assist.