To deliver with a limited resource

Good day...

Have you experienced a time when you are expected to deliver good result, nevertheless you are equipped with a very limited number of resources? You have a small team, who are passionate about the work, yet, very obvious that you fall short of resources immediately after the delivery commences.

This is where you need to be smart in utilizing any source of assistance you can get. Highly qualified vendor is always a good option for you to turn to. Browse through different vendors you can possibly work with and use them as your partner. In this situation you might want to sacrifice some of your idealism and rely more on the capable team the vendor has. A careful vendor selection process is key for you to appoint the right one, based on their experience, expertise and team capabilities. Getting recommendations from other people, your manager, your team members, your cross department colleagues will also help in determining the right vendor.

Picture credit: Tumisu

Another good option you will have in this situation is to look around and see any resource outside of your department that are passionate about the work you are doing. For example, any work related to innovation, technology, or digital might sound very attractive to most people and I am sure that you will be able to find good people that are not officially reporting to you, but are willing to spare some of their time to be involved in the activity you are doing. In this case, make sure that you have the endorsement from their line managers to avoid any future conflict.

Lastly and very importantly, you need to develop your team. No matter how junior they are, as long as they are passionate on what they are doing and willing to do extra mile, there is a huge chance that they will be strong contributors to your work. You might need to spend extra time to coach them and make sure that they are up to speed with your expectation, but do not hold off, just do it! It is the right thing you need to do.

-Edwin-

Becoming a good team player

Good day...

Throughout the postings I have done so far, you would have noticed that majority of the topic is discussing to become a strong leader and a highly capable project manager. But not in every occasion we can be the leader. In many occasions we have to play our role as a team member or as a project supporter. Especially when you are a new starter at project management.

This is completely OK and it is key for you not to feel that you are not important. A project or any other team efforts can run successfully only when all of the team members contribute to the expected level. Therefore, when you are in the position as a team player, make sure that you do all you can to bring the project into success. Despite that you have been a seasoned project manager for multiple large and complex projects, when you are in the position of a team player, demonstrate your respect to your leader.

It might be tempting to start thinking that you can do better than what your project manager does to lead the project. However, remember, you are not expected to lead the project at that very moment. Hence, keep the temptation deep inside your heart and put aside your ego for a while. By becoming a strongly contributing team member, you will be surprised that without you realize, there will be chance to lead part of the project, or even, the entire project one day, or even better, to lead another similarly important project.

Whenever you are positioned as a team member, always be sure that you become a catalyst for the other team members to work effectively. Try to remove any barrier with any third party of the project. And most importantly, try your best to becoming a problem solver and provide conflict resolution to the team. I am sure that your project manager or anyone observing the project journey will soon realize your potential and give you a more important role within the project or at other projects.

-Edwin

Picture credit: bykst

Are you a project manager without team?

Good day...

What is your first impression when you read the above question? It might sound ridiculous, doesn't it? How can you become a project manager if you do not have project team assigned to you? But wait! For some people it is so true that they are assigned project manager job, however, they haven't got anyone reporting to them. Well, what would be the solution in this case?

Picture credit: SJJP

As I have experienced the situation myself, I will try to give some tips here. Firstly, it would be acceptable if you are a lone-ranger project manager at start. However, with more success being delivered, I would strongly recommend you to strive for resources. I believe that by then your manager will realize how valuable your work is and obtaining resources to continue the successful delivery must not be that hard.

Secondly, during the 'proof-your-self' stage, it is barely possible to do everything by yourself. This is the time when your wit is being challenged. You would need to think of something creative here. In my experience, finding a resourceful vendor would be one good option. As usually, when your organization does not provide you with resources, they will back you up with budget.

Well, when neither of resource and budget is allocated to you, here is the time for you to use your personal relationship with your colleagues and other team members to help you out. Try to make use of every opportunity that resources can be assigned to you, for example, through internship or management trainee program. Once you notice that the organization is open for such program, be the first who voluntarily applies to be a mentor. In a worse scenario you need to leverage your bonding with the other team members and asking them to assist you. In return, you would need to give them the credit they deserve, appraisals, and could be some form of personal reward. Trust me, they will appreciate your sincere reaction to their assistance.

In the end, to answer the first question whether being a project manager alone is possible... I would say NO for a literal single-fighter project manager without any team member. The key to the question is use all of your creativity to find a team member and proof yourself and your project worthy for team members along the way to obtain all the resources you need.

-Edwin