| | March 20178CIOReviewThe Path to Project Success, Not the March toward FailureBy Ned Johnson, SVP, Project Management GTBAs a project manager, I am expected to lead and motivate a team, stay two steps ahead and break down barriers. I must position myself at the center of the project and be the go-to person for answers. I need to be the leader who gains and maintains control of the project team. If I were on a stage, the spotlight should be shining on me.This view of the project manager as a ruler is attractive and often times expected because all too many technology project teams face what Edward Yourdan, a pioneer in software engineering methodology, called "the project death march." In short, many technology projects are destined to fail because of unrealistic expectations in schedule and scope. Who is better to lead a project team on a death march than a ruler? A truly successful technology project manager is not one who can lead on a death march but one who, through early team engagement, avoids that trap. A project manager should indeed put themselves at the center of the project, but that center spot is not that of the lead actor, it is that of the lead communicator. A more precise description might be the stage manager who knows where and when to point the spotlight and turn up the microphone for the right player at the right time. For project managers, the instinct to grab the ruler position frequently starts even before a project is awarded. It is standard practice for a project manager and a sales person to have many conversations with a customer about a new project, long before any other team members, who will actually do the work, hear anything about the project. The customer, excited about the prospect of having key business challenges solved with this project, is willing to wax eloquently for long periods and discuss the challenges, stakeholders, competitors and required features.After several of these conversations, the customer, thinking they have told everything there is to know, abruptly shifts the conversation and asks, "Ok, how long is it going to take and how much will it cost?" Then you, the project manager, and your sales colleague agree to get back to the customer in a ridiculously short period of time with a proposal. At this point, with a good chance the project is going to turn into reality and with the sales person thinking about their next prospect, it is on IN MY OPINIONNed Johnson
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