The best of project people

The Best of Project People
A selection of professional insights from the Blog archive

ProjectManager.com © 2013 All Rights Reserved

Since 2008 our project management professionals have been sharing knowledge,
experience and learning with online readers via the Project Manager Blog.

Their collective wisdom provides a wealth of how to, top tips and best practice advice,
for project managers, teams and businesses.

To make their writings more accessible we’ve created a series of “Best of” project
management topics available free to download and share.

Here is a collection of excerpts from blog posts and our online video series that looks at
the different types of project people - from project teams and internal management to
client and stakeholder relationships.

People are the make or break resources of any business and we offer these insights so
that you can learn from our experience when it comes to leveraging talent and
mitigating non-constructive conflict.

Enjoy!

Jason Westland CEO

ProjectManager.com

5 Ways to Help Your Project Team.............................................................................................................. 3
How to Motivate Your Team ....................................................................................................................... 6
How to Motivate Your Team Without Paying Money ................................................................................. 7
Looking After Your Prized Staff ................................................................................................................. 10
How to Manage Team Performance ......................................................................................................... 11
Building Your Project Teams ..................................................................................................................... 12
Get a Room!............................................................................................................................................... 15
How to Objectively Throw Someone Under the Bus ................................................................................ 17
What Makes a Bad Project Sponsor? ........................................................................................................ 20
4 Signs That It May Be Time to Fire a Client .............................................................................................. 23
30 Day Free Software Trial ........................................................................................................................ 26

ProjectManager.com © 2013 All Rights Reserved 2

5 Ways to Help Your Project Team

No one can deliver a project alone. A team is great – you can surround yourself with
experts and build a real community spirit with common goals to help get your project
done. In reality, teams can be difficult to work with. Team members may not get on, and
they might not share your vision of how the project should be managed. There may be
conflict, or people holding on to their knowledge being unwilling to share it. Different
time zones, cultures and locations make things even worse.

Working with teams is a skill, and to be honest, it
comes with practice. You can’t just start out in
project management being an excellent team
leader, although you may find that some of your
natural abilities at working with groups helps
massively.

If you have ever worked with volunteer
organizations or in other team work situations like
sports teams, then all that experience will help
you too. But you will get better at leading teams
the more you do it.

That’s not much comfort to someone who needs to lead a project team right now, so
what can you do to help your team get off to a good start? Here are 5 tips that you can
put into practice today.

1. Be Reliable
Set a good example in everything you do. If you say you will ask for status reports every
Thursday afternoon, and then make it a habit. If you aren’t good at remembering, put a
recurring appointment in your calendar or set up your project management software to
email you a reminder once a week. Show your team that you are reliable, and they will
see that it is the appropriate way to manage themselves on the project. Don’t be afraid
to challenge anyone who isn’t reliable and ask them to up their game.


2. Don’t Micromanage
You’ll probably be working with subject matter experts who have a lot more experience
than you in their areas of expertise. So
don’t micromanage them. Explain the tasks
to be done and let them get on with it in
their own way.

This is also the best approach for people
who don’t fall into the ‘subject matter
expert’ category. Everyone has different
ways of working.

Some people thrive on the pressure of
deadlines, some will always deliver early
whatever milestone you give them. So let
people work in their own way.

Provided the output is good enough, it doesn’t matter if they get there in a different
way than you would have.

3. Get Them What They Need
One of the main roles of a project manager is to facilitate other people doing their jobs.
Do what you can to give them whatever they need to get their work done. This could be
training on the online project management software so they can update their own task
schedule, or arranging access to the IT system from home. It could be as simple as a new
office chair or organizing for them to have a company mobile phone so they can make
work calls while they are on the road.

Of course, some items are easier to procure than others and you may not have the
authority to sanction weekend working or overtime payments yourself. In that case, you
can at least ask the relevant people, and make sure that your project team know that
you have tried to get them what they asked for (let’s assume it was a reasonable
request that you would support!). Knowing that you have their best interests in mind
will also help the team work together and it sets a culture for the team as one of sharing
and collaborating.

Make your team members’ lives easier, and they will find it easier to concentrate on the
tasks they need to do on the project.

4. Share the Rationale
People thrive best when they know why
they are doing something. Don’t simply set
tasks and expect them to be done.
Explain the business justification for the
project. Go through the business case
with them. Share the project’s objectives and
explain how the work they are doing fits
with the company’s strategic goals.

You will find the team is more motivated if they know how their contribution fits into
the bigger picture. Another advantage is that they will be able to see how things that fall
outside the project may have an impact on the project. For example, someone who is
on the project team but who normally works in Sales could share some information with
you about another sales initiative that could impact the goals of the project you are
working with. If your team understands the complex web of how different projects fit
together they can listen out for information that can make a difference – you’d be
surprised at how much knowledge is out there if only they knew how relevant it would
be.

5. Say Thank You
You can never say ‘thank you’ too often. Project team members should be appreciated
for the work they are doing (assuming that they are doing a good job – if they aren’t,
then that is a different situation). Many managers forget to thank staff. Even if the
individual is doing the work they have been paid to do, you can still make the time to be
gracious and thank them for their contribution.

If you are going to say thanks, make it timely. You can thank people in person when you
recognize that they have done something that makes a contribution to the project, or
you can thank them over email. Putting it in writing means they have something for
their personnel file, and you can also copy in their manager.

Another approach to saying thanks is to let people know on a Friday that you appreciate
what they have done that week. You don’t have to be a great public speaker or make a
big declaration in front of lots of people. Simply saying that you appreciate their efforts
this week as you leave the office (or they leave the office) is enough.


How to Motivate Your Team

Jennifer Whitt, Director at ProjectManager.com presents tips on how to motivate your
team from our online series of project management training videos

 Setting realistic goals: As we start on a new project, we all get gung-ho and we’re all
excited about it. We start formulating our plan, but yet remember to get the input
and the agreement from the people on our team. So one of the tips is setting
realistic targets for the work that they have to do.
 Measure performance: How are we doing against the baseline of what we said we
were going to do? Are we on track? Are we off track? If we’re on track or off track,
how do we get back and how do we meet the goals that we set?’” It’s important for
the project manager to remember what support or what resources might my team or
project need to get us back on track. Provide the support and tools, but measure that
performance to see how we’re doing.
 Celebrating success: That is a big one. Celebrating success is not just at the end of
the project, but all along the way, whenever we meet those even small milestones,
acknowledging, “Hey, we met that,” and being excited about it, and looking at the
next one. Always rewarding the team for achieving success, and more importantly,
rewarding the team for working together as a team, not just the hero.
 Know your team: A lot of times we get involved with things where we have to know,
if this is a detailed task, if the person working on this is a detail-oriented person. They
may need to get some detailed information. If they’re not that type of person, we
need to know that and get them some support.

Just knowing your team, knowing their skills, their expertise, their idiosyncrasies, what
they like, what they don’t like. Those are really the things that we need to keep our
team motivated… being aware of the people on the team, being aware of where they
are on the project, being aware of what they need to succeed, and just being mindful
and treating people with respect, and again, not driving them to the next project.

I’m guilty as charged about keeping my team going, going, going. Sometimes I have to
stop and remember to be mindful and aware of the team members and what they need.
You are the project manager, so it’s your responsibility to make sure that your team is
motivated.


How to Motivate Your Team without Paying Money

People are motivated by different things, and project team members
are no different. While some will be motivated by the altruistic desire
to deliver a good project for the benefit of the company, others are
motivated by hard cash. And of course, you’ll find a whole range of
people in between.

Project managers rarely (if ever) have buckets of cash to give out to team members who
have done a good job. There can also be tax restrictions on how much you can
financially reward team members, to the point where some of them may prefer not to
get extra money as it could have a negative impact on their tax position.

If you can’t give bonuses or a pay rise to those project team members who have
performed well (or whom you want to entice to perform well in the future), you can still
provide a working environment that motivates in different ways. Here are some ways to
motivate your team without giving them more money.

Say Thank You
Saying thank you is free, quick and is
often more appreciated than cash
bonuses or a pay rise. People like to feel
appreciated.

Say thank you often, and in a timely
manner, which means just after the
event. It is better to recognize effort at the
time it was made instead of storing up
your thanks for a while to the point that the person may have forgotten what it was
they did that was so great.

If it is appropriate, put your thanks in writing. A hand-written note is good. Or produce a
letter on company headed notepaper and see if you can get your manager or a C-suite
executive to sign it. There’s no harm in asking! If they would rather not do this (or you
would rather not ask), sign it yourself.


If you say thanks by email, you can copy in their line manager. It is always nice to know
that someone else has recognized your effort and even more, that they want your boss
to know about it.

Offer Time Off in Lieu
If you can’t offer money as an incentive or motivating factor, what about offering time
off? These days, many workers spend more time at work than their contracted hours – it
is just the way we work nowadays, however unfair it may seem at times. If project team
members do a lot of extra hours, for example over a launch weekend or working out of
hours to avoid downtime to users during a system upgrade, find out if you can offer
them time off in lieu.

They could take the time off in exchange for hours worked, as long as they agree it with
their line manager and you in advance and it is taken at a time that is convenient for the
project and the rest of their work. Many people like the opportunity to have additional
time at home with family or to pursue a hobby, and because they have already worked
to ‘earn’ it, it’s like having extra vacation days.

Organize Training or Other Development Activities
Generally, people like to learn new things. What training could you offer project team
members? Maybe it is the chance to learn a new online project management tool. It
could be a formal course, such as an introduction to project management for those that
have not worked in a project environment before, or something relevant to the project
deliverables.

Soft skills training, such as leadership,
communication skills and coaching could also be
a possibility, although it could be harder to
argue why your project is funding this training
when it should be part of their general career
development. Talk to your HR department
about how this should be managed if you are
unsure.

Further education courses can be expensive, but your company may have a bursary
scheme to allow promising team members to enrol on MBA courses or similar. You
might not be funding this from your project, but you can support this type of training by


allowing the team member time off for study and exams, or by providing a supporting
testimonial for their course application.

Provide a Good Reference
This works best with contractors as they normally know they are leaving at the end of
the project. You wouldn’t want to offer a good reference to a salaried member of staff
in case they thought you were trying to get rid of them!

Even if a contractor isn’t going to be around long term, they still need to feel as if they
work in a motivating environment. Knowing that there is a good reference available to
them at the end of the project can be an incentive to doing an even better job.

Your HR department may have guidelines on who can write references and what they
can say, so if you have any doubts about what you are allowed to comment on
regarding their performance, just ask. You can always provide a reference in a personal
capacity rather than as a nominated representative of your company, so you could do
that as an alternative if appropriate.

Help Them Identify Transferable Skills
Projects give individuals the chance to try out
lots of new skills, and this can be a real
motivation to certain people. Think about how
you can ‘sell’ your project to your team
members by stressing the transferable skills that
they will acquire from working on it.

Transferable skills are things like planning, risk
management, solving problems, time
management and leadership – all things that
they can demonstrate through working on a project and things that translate well to
other projects or assignments.

You could also offer support towards accreditation. Credential schemes like those from
PMI require candidates to put forward a portfolio of evidence so you could help with
preparing this and providing the on-the-job opportunities for team members to gain
exposure to areas where they currently lack experience.


There are many ways that you can motivate project team members without giving them
money; you just have to think creatively about what would motivate that individual and
then work out a way to create the opportunity to deliver it.

Looking After Your Prized Staff

It’s a fact of life that your project team members can make you or break you as a project
manager. Jennifer Whitt, Director of ProjectManager.com presents her advice on how
to keep them both loyal to you AND to the project, from our series of online PM training
videos

There are a few things that we have found that are helpful in winning over our prized
staff and keeping them loyal to not only us as a project manager, but to the project.

 Identify who the critical people are on the project: There are critical people who, if
taken off for any reason, may be misdirected to another project or moved around,
that would have a significant impact. We want to know who those people are.
 Build the relationship: Forming and building and nurturing these relationships are
important to help identify how you as project manager can support them and being
more effective on your project.
 Awards and recognition: Being able to reward people or recognize them along the
way. What we found is that it doesn’t necessarily have to do with dollars. There’s
research that’s been done for a long time, and we know that a lot of times being able
to continue or do work that you like to do on a project keeps people rewarded.
Going to them and asking for their input and letting them provide input or ideas on
new approaches for the project. Being candid with them, being candid on when you
really like the way they do something or giving them candid feedback on how they
can grow. It’s all in positioning, things that you can say and do to help them grow as a
professional and let them know that you’re really interested in and invested in their
growth potential as well.
 Balance their workload: Many times when we find those critical resources or our go
to people, they are generally the ones that can do anything and everything, and you
can rest assured that they will get it done. What happens is we tend to overload
them. We give them more work and more and more and more, which burns them
out and makes them want to leave.


How to Manage Team Performance

Presented by Jennifer Whitt, Director of ProjectManager.com in our series of free
project management training videos - Performance reviews and managing your team’s
performance is one of the most critical things that you as a project manager have to do
to keep your team set up for success and your project on track. These are seven of my
tips that I use to set everyone up for success.

 Set targets: It’s easier for the team to know what they’re shooting for if you set
targets. What are they aiming for? Not only as a team within your project, but
individually.
 Conduct reviews on a regular and scheduled basis: I actually had them documented
so everyone knows ahead of time when the reviews are going to happen, and on a
regular basis.
 Provide feedback: it’s uncomfortable for most of us when we have to provide
feedback, whether it’s good or bad… but it’s a two-way street. So you as a project
manager are providing feedback to your team members and getting feedback from
them.
 Track performance metrics: have specific measures in place so you can measure that
you’re actually improving and measure what you want to improve.
 Celebrate successes: sometimes you may have a customer, a client, maybe another
organization or department give you accolades for something that one of your team
members did or your team as a whole did. Well, you want to bring attention to that
and celebrate. It adds fun. There are so many ways you can have fun.
 Reward team behavior: this idea is about rewarding the team versus the hero.
 Release or bench poor performers: whether it’s just a bad apple of someone who
really doesn’t want to be on the team or they have a bad attitude and they’re
disrupting the entire team, it’s best to address that and somehow get that person off
the team.
 Select for talent: Go for the A team. Get each of your team members up to par.
Support them in how and what they need to succeed… substitute the word
“managing” for one of these key words: “supporting your team’s performance”,
“encouraging your team’s performance”, “energizing your team’s performance”, or
“fueling your team’s performance”.


Building Your Project Teams

Devin Deen, Content Director at Projectmanager.com presents 3 key principles for
building project teams efficiently in our series of online PM training videos

Hi. I’m There’s three items that I have found to reuse many different times to help me
build those highly performing teams and those are the three items, the three principles
that I want to talk to you about today.

Building a high-performing you: now all your project teams, your sports teams, your
business teams, what they’re looking for in a leader is really to be that person to step
up. That doesn’t mean you have to be the loudest person in the room, but it does mean
you have to have the most confidence because that’s what your team is looking for, you
as their leader.

You have to exhibit certain behaviors about yourself, make sure that you are consistent
in those behaviors and also you have to have that positive energy because you really are
that foundation for the team. They’re looking to you to sort of have that energy that you
radiate out for them to sort of radiate it back to you. If you’re negative on the day, we
all have down days, your team will pick up on it. If you’re really positive, maybe a little
bit too cocky, a little bit over-the-top, they’ll also pick up on that and react accordingly.
You’ve got to have that consistent level of positive energy for them to capture.

Now, about the behaviors we talked about here, really what they’re looking for on their
team is someone that they can trust, someone that’s fair, they’re consistent, they
adjudicate when that needs to happen and sort of reward also often and early when
those special members stand out and work together as a team.

They’re looking for someone to be the judge and jury on aspects and also be the
ultimate direction. It’s those behaviors that you need to exhibit that you want your
team to exhibit and behave as you do, which comes to the last point, really, about
behaviors, it’s about leading by example.

Getting the right people for the job: it doesn’t always mean always getting the most
experienced people, though. Don’t confuse experience with output. What I’ve found in
my career is that, sometimes, those people with the most experience can actually cause
you the most problems as well. They’re the ones that have got the delicate personalities


that you have to manage every day of the week. They’re not always the people that are
going to perform the best for you.

So when I grow my team, when I hope to get a team together, what I look for is getting
the people with the minimum skilled requirements, so they’ve got the competencies to
do the job, but they also have the maximum positive energy and potential, that’s what
you’re looking for at 1:00 a.m. in the morning, when you’ve got to deliver that software
product into production, or in the middle of the day when you’ve got that crisis meeting
with the chief executive. You want those people who can carry themselves well, who
have that positive energy and that can go the extra mile.

It’s also about building a culture. You need a culture of people who can meld together,
right? You can have people of different races, different backgrounds, but really you, as
the leader, set that culture, establish that warm, open environment where your team
can actually try things out, can fail, can pick themselves up again and start achieving
again as a team. You want them to work together. You’re not looking for a group of
individuals who are trying to outshine their other team member. You’re looking for
people to come together with no egos in the way, who will come together and perform
as a team.

That’s also effective when you look at sports teams. If you look at, for example, teams
that bring a lot of highly competent people together, let’s say, on the basketball court,
rugby court, rugby field or the gridiron, if you see a team that actually just assembles
really good individuals, you’ll find that they crack under pressure. You’ll find that a lower
skilled team with a lot better attitude, a lot better synergy and working together, can
often defeat your most highly paid sports teams. So what you’re looking for when
you’re building your team, like I said, is you want the minimum competencies, those
people who can achieve the job, but with the most maximum positive energy.

Empowering your team: I’ve seen this before. I’ve seen dictatorial project managers,
who are dictatorial business leaders or sports teams’ captains get out there and expect
to do everything at their beckoned call. That’s not an effective way of building a good
high-performing team. A high-performing team is one that is actually empowered to
make decisions on your behalf. They know what you’re thinking. They know what the
objectives of the project or the sports game would be and they can act as individuals,
with the mission in mind, actually achieve the goal.


You’re not requiring them to go back to you for every single decision. You’re
empowering them to make those decisions. They won’t always get it right, but what you
want them to do is actually exercise good judgment and wisdom and make the best
decision they can on the day because a good decision, or a timely decision, is much
better than no decision at all.

If you have a bunch of robots, people who aren’t taking the initiative, then what you’ll
end up with is, again, a whole bunch of individuals who have to come to you for making
every little decision. As a project manager, you’re going to be in a million different
places at a million different times of the day, lots of project meetings, lots of
communication going on. You’re not going to have the time of day to make little
decisions that your entire project team has to do.

So, if you empower them, create the culture where they are actually allowed to make
decisions in a certain way, in a certain area, then you’re going to actually get them to
work together better as a team and get them to do what you want them to do without
you even having to give that direction.

So, just to bring it all together, my method, my three key areas for building highly-
performing teams first: make sure you’re a high-performing you. You’ve got the right
energy levels, you’ve got the clear mind. You’re confident. You’re leading by example.
The rest of the team will take up in your positive energy and radiate it back on the job at
hand on the task.

Secondly, is make sure that you get the right people for the job. Forgo those highly
experienced people with the massive egos. Steer well clear away from them. Get those
individuals who are competent at what they do, but more importantly have that positive
attitude and can go the extra mile.

And, lastly, make sure you empower your team. Make sure they know they can take the
initiative, they can take decisions in your stead and they can carry through on achieving
the objectives of the project.


Get a Room!

Have you been impacted by people in meetings that always want to talk about
something else besides what’s on the agenda? They put all their business out in front for
everyone else to see. Here are some reasons why people behave like this and what you
can do to help them take it offline.

People Have a Hard Time Focusing: One of the
biggest reasons people keep going off-topic is
that they have a hard time focusing on one thing
at a time.

Our daily professional lives have devolved to the
point that we only read headlines from news
outlets, or snippets of current events for a couple
minutes each morning.

We equate reading a blog post or two each day to reading a book. Twitter messages are
relegated to 140 characters and mobile texting is giving email a run for its money. From
the moment we wake up to the moment we go to sleep, it would seem that everything
is designed to interrupt us and get us thinking about something else.

Our adaption to this constant interruption of short bursts of thought has ramifications in
face-to-face meetings. Conversation naturally sparks other ideas or topics to be
discussed. But rather than writing those ideas down to explore at a more appropriate
time, most people turn the white rabbit loose so everyone can chase it down the rabbit
hole…never to be seen again.

People Think They Are More Important than Everyone Else: It’s possible that people
who discuss topics that really should be taken offline feel they are more important than
others in the room. They are not conscious of the fact that their pontificating about
things that are irrelevant to others cuts into everyone’s valuable time.

Don’t believe me? Watch their behavior in other settings. They are late to meetings or
don’t show up at all, or change directions without letting others know. Their world
revolves around them.

They Want Everyone to Think They Are Smart: A final
reason why people may get involved in public one-off
conversations is that they want everyone to think they are
smart.

If they are sharp enough to bring up tangential issues and
delve into details, they feel it will cause everyone to pause
and reflect on their wisdom. Unfortunately, the opposite
is most often the case. People will pause to acknowledge
their selfishness.

The net result of a meeting hijacked by an irrelevant topic
is that it will unequivocally derail the intended purpose of
the meeting.

You’ll struggle to facilitate the meeting back on track, mostly because as unnecessary
details are introduced, people become confused. In some cases, it may even spark an a-
ha! moment and someone else in the room will take things down an entirely new and
different path.

How to Take Things Offline
There are a number of things you can do to take irrelevant (yet important) subjects
offline.

If it’s you: First, if you’re the culprit…stop it. Many a meeting facilitator bounces off the
wall and gets off script. It is 100% within your power and influence to stick to YOUR
agenda. If you find there is time left at the end of the meeting, great. You can bring the
topic up with the handful of relevant people. Cover what you deemed to be most
important first and then use any excess time for the new topic.

If someone starts to derail you: Someone may not agree with what you say. They may
not like you, or they may not have the most recent information. If they keep bringing a
topic up repeatedly for the purpose of engaging you, let them know that you’ll be glad
to speak to them offline. Then, make sure to immediately talk to them about their
concerns; ideally, right after the meeting.

If someone starts to derail other meeting attendees: Someone may engage another
meeting attendee in a public display of arrogance, or agitate someone else, and you


may have to call a time-out. Let them know that everyone has a lot to cover and that it
would be best to take their conversation offline. Then, leave it up to them to figure out
the best time to get together and finish their discussion.

Here’s the trick with taking things offline. Sometimes it is a dismissive avoidance tactic
used by someone who really doesn’t want to talk about a topic. They’ll say “let’s take
this offline” but never get together to work out the details.

If you successfully avert the off-topic discussion, follow through to make sure that things
taken offline are actually discussed and then brought online again. Having said that, just
remember that there can be so many things offline at any given moment it’s a wonder
that anything runs at all.

How to Objectively Throw Someone Under the Bus

Have you had to deliver bad news about a project? It may be a weekly
status meeting, PMO meeting, or maybe even something bigger like an
executive review. The cause of the problem is in the same room as
you, and will unfortunately view your report of the problem or topic as
an act of betrayal.

You really do a lot of good things in the course of you project manager duties. You bring
order to chaos. You apply your project management skills to remove obstacles that are
preventing work from moving forward. You bring clarity to confusion and remove
ambiguity from vague situations. You go home at the end of the day and feel good
about what you do.

The curse of the project manager is the part of the job that requires you escalate or
report out on people that are not performing as expected or needed to for the sake of
the project. For most, this is such an uncomfortable position to be in. I’ve seen the
occasional project manager take a twisted delight in turning someone in who is behind
on their work, but thankfully these types are few and far between, and generally don’t
last very long.

 We don’t like turning people in: Let’s face it, it feels like you are turning someone in
that hasn’t done their work. It takes you back to 3rd grade when you ran up to the


teacher to tattle on the kid next to you that’s not doing what they were told to do.
Tell tale, definitely one of the least enjoyable project manager’s roles.
 We feel as if it could damage our relationship: We develop friendships and
relationships at work that may even carry over to our personal lives. We may feel
that reporting out on work that has not been complete is to turn our back on a
friend, or sacrificed friendship for the sake of a silly little project. Just like Connie said
above, “I thought we were friends.”
 You may feel somewhat responsible yourself: A third reason project managers are
hesitant to report someone is behind is that they may feel responsible themselves.
Here’s the scenario: you left out a key element of the plan during the project
planning process. The mistake was an oversight on your part, but now the
responsibility to get it done falls on someone else…for example, Connie. Not only
does the surprise of it cause Connie grief, but now you are telling everyone that she
is running behind and doesn’t have it done yet. Awkward.

These scenarios might not be included in your project manager job description yet they
are a reality that we need to keep in mind as project managers. You can’t dictate or
control whether someone is going to get their work done. They know what they need to
do and it’s ultimately their responsibility to get it done. It’s your responsibility to aid and
facilitate as much as possible, that’s why you are paid your project manager salary, but
the buck does stop with them to follow through on their commitments.

How to Throw Someone Under the Bus Objectively
We are using this expression very
loosely and primarily from the
perception of the person that feels
they are being thrown under the bus.
Our motive and goal as a project
manager is not to betray someone’s
trust and hold them up as the
scapegoat for all something that has
gone wrong. Our goal is to objectively
report on the issue and look for options to make things better.

The answer to this dilemma you face as a project manager is the quintessential project
status report. That’s right, when used properly, the humble status report can help you


report issues objectively, constructively, and remove emotion from the equation.
Here’s how to make it work:.

First include some a component on your weekly status report that lists deliverables that
are soon to be due (1-2 weeks out), deliverables that are due (this week), and
deliverables that are past due (even by just one day). This report serves as a dynamic
window into the key deliverables of your project. Then:

 Tell everyone the rules: Let everyone know that the purpose of this part of the
weekly status meeting is to stay on top of what is coming up and what is getting
behind. The primary owner’s name will be associated with each deliverable and
move along the timeline as it progresses. Everyone, including the owner of the
deliverable, will know what’s coming up next.
 Provide ample time to keep things on track: Your job as a project manager is to
provide ample time for the necessary resources to keep their deliverables on track.
You can go above and beyond using just the report. If you know someone has a
tendency to run behind, give them a heads up that something is coming their way
and they need to plan for it. They’ll appreciate the reminders and it will help keep
your projects on track.
 Be objective: Despite the fact that everyone knows the rules and you’ve provided
ample time for them to get their work done…some will still fall behind. Their name
will move from coming up, to due, to past due. This is where you need to be
objective in how you report out on this issue. There’s no need to editorialize and lace
the issue with your own opinions. “He said he would get it done, he didn’t, and now
we’re behind…just like all the other times,” should not be the way it is presented. It’s
obvious if their deliverable is in the Past Due column that they are running behind.
Spend the your time focusing on the solution that will help them to get caught up
again.
 Treat everyone the same: You need to be careful to not use this mechanism as a way
of ‘teaching someone a lesson.”’ You may not particularly care for someone that is
running behind on a deliverable. You use this report as an opportunity to highlight
their flaws and shortcomings every opportunity you get. On the other hand, you may
have a buddy that promises he’ll catch up by next week’s report if you just leave him
out of the Past Due column this week. What happens if next week he ends up being
two weeks behind? That could easily blow up in your face. Make sure to treat
everyone the same and you’ll end up with a higher level of respect.


 Be disciplined: Putting this report together requires some legwork on your part. It
could be easy to put the report together for a couple of weeks, let it slide for a
couple of weeks, and then do it again. Don’t fall into this trap. The strength of this
report is its consistency and regularity. It allows everyone to peer into the window of
activity without huge gaps of nothing happening in between.

What Makes a Bad Project Sponsor?

All projects need a project sponsor, and getting a good one can make or break a project.
The project manager who is saddled with a sponsor that doesn’t care about the
outcome, has no power to make decisions and can’t give you any resources is in a very
difficult situation.

Many experienced project managers have had to put up with awful sponsors – ask
someone with a few more years on the job than you and you’ll soon hear some horror
stories about project sponsorship.

So what sort of sponsor should you avoid? First
we should look at what a project sponsor is for.

A project sponsor is there to support the project
manager, the project team and to act as an
escalation route in case there are issues or
problems (and let’s face it, there will be).

While a project manager deals with the day-to-
day project stuff, a project sponsor helps resolve
the next level up issues. These are typically
things that fall outside the agreed boundaries for
a project manager; things like issues that need
extra money to resolve, or that would change
some key date or amend the scope significantly.

That’s when the project sponsor would step in and resolve the problem, or at least let
the project manager know what direction to take so that he or she could move the
project forward again.


As the sponsor doesn’t deal with the detail all the time, it’s the project manager’s job to
present a couple of options and a recommendation. It’s no use going to your sponsor
and asking them to solve a big problem for you without any of the background. If you
can’t work out the answer, the likelihood is that they won’t be able to either, so at least
give them a chance of being useful and offer them some options to choose from.

If your sponsor is too remote from the project, even options won’t help, so part of the
project manager’s role is to ensure the project sponsor is fully briefed with a general
overview of the project and the challenges at the moment.

10 Signs of a Bad Project Sponsor
Now you know what a sponsor should do, here are ten signs to look out for. These are
all signs of a bad project sponsor.

1. Unable to represent the project at senior management level: The sponsor doesn’t
have a seat at the top table, or has no opportunity to rub shoulders with the people
who make strategic decisions. A sponsor who can’t influence can’t keep your project
on the agenda.
2. Never gives you any information: Project information should go up and down the
management hierarchy, and a project sponsor who never tells you what is going on
can’t be trusted to give you information about strategic changes that may have an
impact on the project. Or they just aren’t privy to this information, which is equally
as useless.
3. Not prepared to communicate on
your behalf: The sponsor refuses to
send out communications on behalf
of the project, or to appear at
events or speak about the project in
staff forums. Part of the role of the
sponsor is to get attention for the
project, so if your sponsor won’t
help with this most basic of tasks
(even if you draft the
communications yourself) then you will struggle to get the support you need.
4. Won’t make decisions: Projects need decisions, and if your sponsor takes too long to
make them or won’t make them at all, your project will run so slowly it will


eventually stop. A sponsor who needs input from lots of people is probably too
insecure to be taking on a project sponsorship role at this time.
5. Refuses to attend the Project Board: The project board or steering group is their
meeting. If your sponsor won’t attend, or attends under duress and sits there saying
nothing, it is a sign that they don’t really care about the project. If their body
language implies they would rather be somewhere else then they are failing to give
the dedicated time to the project and to take the sponsorship role seriously.
6. Procrastinates about signing off project documentation: The sponsor won’t sign off
project documents or approve changes to the baseline schedule. In an extreme case,
the project sponsor won’t approve expenses or timesheets. All this holds the project
up and shows that the sponsor is not dedicating enough time to the project. Or that
they truly don’t know what they are doing and don’t have the authority to be making
these sorts of decisions.
7. Won’t get you the resources you need: The sponsor is unable to find the people or
money required to make the project a success. This could be a sign that they don’t
have authority over the right budgets or teams, or it could be a sign that they will not
make the budget and teams available to you for your project tasks. Either way, a
project sponsor who either blocks your access to the resources you need or fails to
argue the case to get you what you need means that
your project will eventually slow down or fail. Of course,
if you are asking for a team of 300 for a six month
initiative to launch a small piece of software, that isn’t
going to happen, but your sponsor should be able to
provide you with the required resources or at least an
explanation about why they are unavailable.
8. Unwilling to approve changes: Projects change all the
time. The sponsor who is unwilling to sign off changes
to requirements or other aspects of the project is
showing their inability to deviate from the agreed plan.
This could be due to nervousness or the inability to
make decisions. Or it could be because they don’t feel
they have the authority to make changes. If it is really
their project and they are responsible for the outcome, they should be pouring over
change requests and assessing them fully.


9. Doesn’t understand risk management: The sponsor who is too cautious will use up
all the contingency budget in risk mitigation activities. The sponsor who doesn’t care
about risk at all will take too many chances without mitigation plans and will end up
causing more problems. Risk mitigation can be difficult to understand, but your
sponsor needs a good grasp of the basics so that he or she can support you with risk
mitigation.
10.Doesn’t own the benefits: The sponsor doesn’t have any influence over the project
benefits or any interest in whether benefits are actually achieved. One of the best
ways to hook your sponsor into the project is because they have a strong desire to
see the project be successful because they have to live with the outcome. A sponsor
who doesn’t care about whether the goal is achieved or not won’t help fight the
corner for the project.

4 Signs That It May Be Time to Fire
a Client

There are many tell-tale signs that signal when it’s
time to break off a personal relationship. But, are
there any signs in your professional relationships?
Clients and projects are not all created equal. If you
dread working with particular clients, then it may be
time to put an exit strategy in place.

Rarely is the decision to fire a client in a project
manager’s jurisdiction. That would come from the
sales or executive team. However, a project
manager can certainly influence decision-makers as to whether or not a client has
become more trouble than they are worth. It is a business, after all.

The following are signs to look for if you struggle with how long to put up with a
troublesome client. One caveat…minor infractions are not cause for concern. We are all
capable of creating or causing occasional trouble. We’re talking about extreme cases of
consistent behavior that negatively affects the quality of your work life.


1. They don’t follow the advice of the company: The client has hired your company to
perform a service for them because of your expertise and ability to get the job done.
You need their cooperation to make this work. Case scenario: a client has decided to
implement a certain piece of software within their company, but based on your
experience, you advise that it is not going to work. Not only will it not work, it is sure
to make your company’s job that much harder to execute.

You warn them about the path they are taking. You let them know this is a slippery
slope that is sure to open a can of worms in the near future. They shake their head in
agreement, but you know they ultimately will not follow your advice. They are going
to do what they want to do, because it’s what they’ve done time and time again.

A client has unique needs in their organization that they have to accommodate.
However, if an obvious pattern of bad decisions continues to negatively impact your
company, you may want to analyze their fiscal value to the firm.

2. They Constantly Do an End Run Around the Hierarchy: Another trait of a client that
you would consider firing is that they don’t respect the hierarchy your company has
in place, or the procedures and protocols that must be followed in order to get things
done. For example, it is highly uncommon for a client to talk with developers,
engineers, DBAs, and other technical resources directly. The protocol of your
company is for them to work with you, the project manager, and for you to convey
the messages.

The protocol is valid for a number of reasons. First, it’s extremely disruptive when
technical resources talk to clients directly. It opens a door to questions that most
technical resources are ill-equipped to answer. It also costs the company money for
technical resources to ramp down, then up again to talk to someone.

Finally, technical resources may agree to work that is out of scope from the original
agreement. It may seem harmless at the outset to take on additional work, but
downstream consequences for other groups involved could be considerable. Test
plans, training, and documentation are all factors in agreeing to scope changes.

In spite of protocol, a client just can’t seem to get their head around the fact that


they shouldn’t talk to resources directly. Their end run around the project manager
structure is a sign that they do not respect the hierarchy in place. Are they not
getting the response they feel they need on their projects? If that’s the case, you
may need to step up your game in order to remove the need they feel they have to
talk to resources directly.

3. They Lose Their Tempers: A big part
of being professional is the ability to
control one’s temper. The good
news is that most of us learned long
ago, whether in school or at home,
that it’s unacceptable to throw
oneself on the floor in a fit of rage.

Well, most of us did. We’ve all seen grown adults that have lost it. I’ve worked with
clients who take pride in getting what they want by acting badly. I’ve worked with
employers that say yelling and screaming is just the way they do business. Needless
to say, I haven’t worked with them for too long, and neither should you. If you have a
client that loses their temper frequently, recommend letting them go.

4. They Incessantly Ask for Pro-Bono Work: Another trait of clients that negatively
impact your business are those that are always asking for free stuff. We get it; clients
want to feel that they are getting their money’s worth. We all do. However, if they
constantly ask that we just throw one more thing in, or give them this project for
free, or discount something to the point that it doesn’t make sense for the company
then we need to step back and consider that relationship.

No need for a rash decision here. Understand what their value to the company is
over the long-haul: have they been with you for years? Are they a huge name that
brings prestige by virtue of association? Is there an important strategic reason to do
business together? If someone is always asking for free work, and it doesn’t have the
potential for a long-term relationship or downstream referrals, then you have a
decision to make.


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