Submitted by adolgushin on
in
Forums
I've been working as a project manager in IT for 5 years. I've mostly managed single small projects in my career, haven't had an experience of managing a large group or multiple project teams.
In a few past months I suddenly got 3 project teams, total of 18 people.
Project M has recently enjoyed a product launch and that's where 90% of my time got sucked in recently. My role there is doing stuff on pretty much all levels from hi-level status reporting and planning to figuring out technical details for a tiny feature.
Project A has been there for 1.5 years and has a well established team and an extraordinary client who communicates a lot with the team. My role is to run daily scrum meetings and pretty much letting the team perform.
Project I is a team that reports directly to external customer with no project manager on our side. That has not been the most successful model and the management is pretty chaotic. I feel I need to invest time there but have no time left from 2 projects above. Also, this team suffers most from lack of my attention.
I have always been a PM but I feel my head will blow off if I don't change my mindset to a group manager & focus on effectiveness of the whole group, instead of trying to manage these 3 projects myself.
Talked with a peer and we agreed I need to start delegating a lot and focus on my core responsibilities exclusively.
What would be the most effective way for me to serve my organization in this environment?
Any advice from MT crowd is appreciated.
P.S. 3AM here, tried to sleep but was rethinking this situation and decided to post this thread. :)
I think the answer to your
I think the answer to your question is in your post:
Project M has recently enjoyed a product launch and that's where 90% of my time got sucked in recently. My role there is doing stuff on pretty much all levels from hi-level status reporting and planning to figuring out technical details for a tiny feature.
That's the project where you need to delegate more, so that you can pay attention to the project that has the wrong structure. (It's the project that's the most fun, I'll bet.)
Invest your time in setting up structures that will support you (and by extension, the teams). Once a structure is firmly in place, you can draw benefits from it without having to maintain it (much). You've diagnosed that Project I has the wrong structure, so find a way to apply a new structure to it.
Oh look, here's another good point you've made:
I have always been a PM but I feel my head will blow off if I don't change my mindset to a group manager & focus on effectiveness of the whole group, instead of trying to manage these 3 projects myself.
One of the interesting things that I keep picking up on is the distinction that MT draws between 'manager' and 'executive'. It seems to me that you're being called on to become 'more executive' than you were.
Worker: A person who does things
Manager (what I call 'supervisor): A person who makes people do things
Executive (what I call 'manager'): A person who makes things happen
It's not your job to do the work. It's your job to arrange things so that the work gets done. The further away you get from actually doing the work, the more subtle most of your work becomes.
Your people will follow the path of least resistance. So break down the barriers between them and the behaviours you want, and build barriers between them and the behaviours you don't want.
And, given that you're a self-reliant IT-type person (most likely), don't forget to ask your boss for help. Your analysis above seems realistic, and presenting it to your boss (together with a draft plan if you can) is likely to be a good thing. After all, they trusted you enough to promote you! (Congratulations on that.)
I agree with Nicka's
I agree with Nicka's suggestion.
90% of your time in a project doing all the detailed things does not sound good.
Usually, I always look for opportunities to develop team leaders, so that I do not need to do all the things myself. Leaders are usually people with enough drive and skill sets to help you. They are also looking for advancement in their careers so they would want more responsibilities. So, look for them and develop them to help you.