Any Project Mgr That Has Taken Over A Crappy Project Sympathizes with Obama

[Yavin4]

As a PM, I have had my share of taking over troubled projects, and every time that I see Obama, I know exactly what he's going through. Stakeholders have very short term memories and are incredibly impatient. They expect you, as the new PM, to instantly fix fuck-ups that were years in the making, and they cannot, and will not, accept that fixing some fuck ups cannot be done over night and some may never be fixed at all.

Sure, you can explain to them ad nauseum that your predecessor didn't "do this" or "do that" which caused "this fuck up" and "that fuck", and that fixing these fuck ups will take some time, but they don't want to hear that.

In addition, you have to deal with politics of the office. Some people liked your predecessor, even though your predecessor was fucking incompetent, and they want you to fail. They pick apart everything that you're doing and question you at every step. Something they didn't do with your predecessor, because if they had, there wouldn't be all of these "fuck ups" in the first place.

I truly admire Obama, and I am learning a lot about being a PM. I am learning that you have to maintain calm, confidence, and patience even through the worst of times.

[RandomThoughts]

1. Its not where you are, or even how far you are going every day.

It is all about what direction you are pointed.

I think they are making progress.

[NJmaverick]

2. That's a good point

[HughMoran]

3. K&R

Leading is a tough job.

[BootinUp]

4. sarcastic question

what is a project manager anyways? At my company we have to do 2 or 3 projects at the same time as we do our regular full time job. lol.

[Indenturedebtor]

7. Typically someone who:

Manages between 10-20 projects simultaneously, handling budgets, resource allocation, tight timelines, etc, etc. The basic job of a PM is to make sure that a project happens on time and under budget. Most fail - over 60% of IT projects are over budget and late. It's not easy, and if you're unsure what it is then you're not a PM though you may have some experience running projects.

[rufus dog]

5. Have had similar experiences and I agree with it all but you left one thing out

Usually when you go in to clean up there is one other factor involved. The company is a bit fucked up too! Those people who liked the predecessor probably weren't helping him/her either, because they don't want the change, they just want to bitch. Sound familiar?

[johnaries]

6. Patience. Let me add another layer to that.....

I know exactly what you are talking about. In the position I was placed, I was also given a VP to report to who was very much an old-school X-theory management type (Work harder! Work Faster!) while I had been trained as a Six-Sigma Black Belt and was very much a Y-theory manager. When I took over the group and looked at their day-to-day operations, I immediately recognized many problems and wanted to try some solutions that I had seen implemented in other departments with great success. I argued mu point with my VP in private sessions, but I could tell pretty quickly when I was getting "nowhere". He was stuck in the "work harder, work faster" mind-set and I could not convince him otherwise no matter what argument or example I used.

But this was not entirely new to me. I had encountered policies before that I disagreed with but was over-ridden. After all, I could be wrong.

So, as the Supervisor or Manager who was tasked with implementing this new policy (that I had openly disagreed with) I felt that the best way to prove that I was right or wrong was to support the new policy 150% and do everything in my power to make it work - and document, document, document.

Let me make this clear - if it were a policy that I had openly disagreed with in the past I felt I had to work even harder to make it successful, even if I felt it was doomed. I didn't want anyone else coming back and claiming "Oh, the only reason it didn't work is because John was against it from the beginning, and it's all John's fault it didn't work".

I wanted to prove that it didn't work because it was a bad idea. Period.

Some people would call me a sell-out for supporting and actively promoting a position I did not believe in. I looked at it as 1. I could be wrong and this may be a good idea, and 2. if it fails, I don't want to be used as a "scape-goat" and try the same stupid idea with someone else expecting better results - I want everyone to know that it failed because it was a bad idea. Period.

This was taken to the extreme in my department. My VP was known to respond to employee complaints with "you should just be glad you have a job!". I was called repeatedly to Human Resources to explain complaints against his policies.

When the shit finally hit the fan, I was as honest and objective as I could be. The new VP was someone I had worked with for years and who also was a Six Sigma Black Belt. She interviewed me extensively, but she also interviewed each of the members of our group. After interviewing them, she called me back in and I could tell that I shocked her.

She told me that she kept hearing horrible things about me from the front-line people and how much they hated me. She is pretty much unflappable, because she's heard it all before and always keeps a positive attitude that comes with perseverance and patience. And so, it was interesting to see the look on her face when she said "knowing you, it's hard for me to believe all these horrible things they are saying about you" and I replied with "Deborah, believe it. I would have hated me, too."

But I went on to explain that I did what I believed I was forced to do for the good of the group. I also outlined what I thought should be done to improve the group. I should add that I fully expected to be fired when I went into that meeting.

Guess what? Everything I suggested was implemented, and the group went from one of the lowest performing and lowest morale groups to the top 10 in the entire company in both areas! Deborah offered me a "lower position" (same base pay but no Manager Incentive bonus - bummer!) as a trainer which I love!

Did I compromise my principles?

Some people would say yes. But I would say no, absolutely not. Because I believed in my principles so much that I wanted them proven beyond a question of a doubt. I wanted my principles to stand the test of time. Which they have. But, first, they have to be given the opportunity.

What vexes me is that we have given the various incarnations of "trickle-down" economics, Caveat Emptor free market, and Libertarian "values" the test of time and they have failed miserably.

And yet some people want to keep repeating the mistakes of the past.

Hmmm, wasn't there some saying about trying the same strategy and expecting different results?