97 Things Every Project Manager Should Know

Chapter 71. It's the People, Stupid

Adrian Wible

NEVER LOSE SIGHT OF THE FACT that the members of your project team are human beings, with aspirations, strengths, constraints, and weaknesses. Your project's success hinges more on team members' attitudes and aptitudes than it does on your Gantt chart wizardry and project tracking prowess. Feel free to manage the project, but don't forget to lead the team.

Many of us manage projects in a matrix environment with team members reporting both to us and to a department manager. We do not have human resources (HR) hiring/firing/evaluation responsibility for them. However, don't abdicate responsibility for the care and feeding of the people on the team to managers in the HR or functional hierarchy.

Many of those managers get promoted based on technical knowledge of human resources or their departments, not on their ability to inspire people. Your project's success depends on your ability to lead. There are many books available on leadership. Read voraciously.

Everyone on your team wants to contribute, learn, and achieve. It may be challenging at times to dig deeply enough to find this desire in some team members, but it's what makes software project management challenging and fun.

Hold one-on-one conversations with your team members regularly. Determine what their issues are, ask them for ideas, and give them a voice in the project. Take their ...