The Project Book

PROJECT MANAGEMENT SUMMARY

So there you have it. Hands up if you thought project management involved all of these things? Okay, seven of you ... that’s a start.

Of course, reading the first section of this book was the easy part. You now have to go away and put all of these ideas into practice, but here’s the rub: the triumvirate of leadership, culture and methods must be applied in equal measure across the life of a project for you to be successful as a project leader. And it’s a balance you need to get right.

Too much leadership

Project leadership, done well, is a great thing to behold. It’s like Simon with Garfunkel, Morecambe with Wise, Hall with Oates and, er, Turner with Hooch. It picks us up, it’s energetic, it gets us involved, it tells us we’re great and we need to get better still. It’s honest, forthright and inspiring. However, if that charisma isn’t backed up with the knowledge of how to get things done, you’ll soon hear, ‘Graeme is a lovely guy, but ...’

If you place too much emphasis on charismatic leadership and not enough on the culture or mechanisms for productivity or progression, in no time at all you’ll find yourself as ‘Head of Special Projects’.

Project leaders build cultures and are aware of the processes and tools available. They then make good use of both to capture the information necessary to support the successful completion of milestones.

‘Charisma is a sparkle in people that money can’t buy,’ says Marianne Williamson in her book Elements of Leaders ...