Project Leadership

Software Project Management

Leadership
“The ability to inspire confidence and support among the people who
are needed to achieve organizational goals.”

Project management is leader intensive!

Leaders Vs. Managers
Managers have official titles in an organization
The word manager
Leaders focus on interpersonal relationships rather than
administration

Important differences exist between the two on:

•Creation of purpose •Outcomes
•Network development •Execution
•Focus timeframe
How the Project Manager Leads
Project managers function as mini-CEOs and manage both “hard”
technical details and “soft” people issues.

Project managers:
acquire project resources
motivate and build teams
have a vision and fight fires
communicate
Acquiring Resources
Project can be under funded for a variety of reasons:
vague goals

no sponsor

requirements understated

insufficient funds

distrust between managers

Communication
It is critical for a project manager to maintain strong contact with all
stakeholders

Project meetings feature task oriented and group maintenance

behaviors and serve to:
• update all participants
• increase understanding & commitment
• make decisions
• provide visibility
Traits of Effective Leaders:
Responsibility, authority and
accountability
• A person has responsibility for a task if:
• He is given sufficient authority to perform it
• He is accountable for its completion
• A person has authority to perform a task only if he is has adequate
control over the resources necessary to complete the task.
• A person is accountable for a task if failure to adequately perform that
task carries professional consequences.
Traits of Effective Leaders:
Delegation
• Delegation is assigning responsibility of a task to a team member.
• When delegating a task, the project manager must ensure that the
team member has the authority to perform it and is accountable for
the results.
Traits of Effective Leaders:
Transparency
• When the project manager creates a document, holds a meeting of
interest to others, or makes an important project decision, all of the
information produced should be shared and used with everyone
involved in the project.
Traits of Effective Leaders:
Transparency
• All work products should be public
• All team members, senior managers and stakeholders should have access to
every work product produced for the project.
• Project managers and team members benefit because they make more
informed decisions.
• Senior managers and stakeholders are always kept informed.
Traits of Effective Leaders:
Transparency
• Decisions should be made based on known guidelines
• Published standards documents help others understand the way certain roles
must be filled.
• Documents should be based on templates when possible.
• Process documents ensure that each project is done using a repeatable
process.
• Use performance plans to set expectations for individual team members.
Traits of Effective Leaders: Manage
the Organization
• Prevent senior managers from seeing software projects as a cost
burden
• A project is successful if its costs are justified by its benefits.
• Establishing a track record of successful projects is the most effective way for
a project manager to reverse dangerous attitudes in senior management.
Traits of Effective Leaders: Manage
the Organization
• Show senior managers the impact of their decisions
• Decisions are frequently made based on gut feelings instead of objective
analysis.
• The people making decisions about the project need to understand the
details.
• Show senior managers that improving project management practices will help
them meet their goals.
Traits of Effective Leaders: Manage
the Organization
• Don’t confuse flexibility with always saying yes
• Don’t agree to an unrealistic schedule.
• Change your approach when necessary.
• Don’t confuse “easy to describe” with “easy to implement.”
Traits of Effective Leaders: Manage
Your Team
• Avoid common management pitfalls
• Don’t manage from your gut.
• Don’t second-guess estimates.
• Remember Brooks’ Law: “Adding manpower to a late software project makes it later.”
• Don’t expect consensus all of the time.
• Make your mistakes public.
• Accept criticism.
Traits of Effective Leaders: Manage
Your Team
• Avoid micromanagement
• Don’t expect to review everything
• Don’t fall into the “hands-on manager” trap
• Use transparency to your advantage
• Don’t be afraid to let your team members make mistakes
Traits of Effective Leaders: Manage
Your Team
• Address performance problems early
• Work with each team member to develop a performance plan.
• Set standards that are fair and attainable.
• Measure each team member’s progress against known and agreed-upon
goals.
• Correct performance problems as early as possible.
Ethics and Project Management
• Ethical Dilemmas
• Situations where it is difficult to determine
whether conduct is right or wrong:
• Padding (amplifying) of cost and time estimations
• Exaggerating pay-offs of project proposals
• Falsely assuring customers that everything is on track
• Being pressured to alter status reports
• Falsifying cost accounts
• Compromising safety standards to accelerate progress
• Approving shoddy work
• Code of conduct
• Professional standards and personal integrity
Contradictions of Project
Management
• Innovate and maintain stability.
• See the big picture while getting
your hands dirty.
• Encourage individuals but stress the
team.
• Hands-off/Hands-on.
• Flexible but firm.
• Team versus organizational loyalties.
Qualities of an Effective Project
Manager
1. Systems thinker
2. Personal integrity
3. Proactive
4. High emotional intelligence (EQ).
5. General business perspective
6. Effective time management
7. Skillful politician
8. Optimist
Suggestions for Project Managers
• Build relationships
before you need them.
• Trust is sustained
through frequent
face-to-face contact.
• Realize that “what goes
around comes around.”
Question
• Discuss how project managers can be good leaders.
• What are the implications of ethics in leadership?