A good project manager in operations can be the driving force behind productivity and cost savings efforts.

Projects are almost a daily way of life in operations. Some projects are big, like changing enterprise-wide systems such as HR and payroll. Other projects are smaller and may be part of process improvement or technical upgrades.

In my time in operations, I don’t recall a time when I did not have people working on a project of some kind or another. I have played the role of project manager and I have worked with project managers. Some companies dedicate whole organizations to project management and call them a host of alphabet names such as Project Management Office (PMO), Center of Excellence (COE), Business Management Office (BMO), and Business Process Office (BPO).

As an operations manager, having a good project manager to partner with and who takes responsibility to drive the project to conclusion, is often the reason for any project’s success. Having both extensive experience as a project manager and as an operations manager, it is important that all operations have project management embedded in their organization, or at a minimum, an exclusive resource from the alphabet organizations focused on the operation.

What is project management? It is pretty basic.

Initiations. Planning and Design. Execution. Completion. Post Project Assessment.

Some models don’t include the last item, which I think is one of the most important. Usually, by the end of project, people are so tired, they just want to call it a day and not review what went well and want did not go well on the project. Key lessons learned will help future projects go better.

Finding a project manager who can rigorously drive a project to completion is not an easy task. It is especially important with mid-level to smaller projects. Enterprise-wide projects will have the support of senior leaders and will usually be funded. Projects driven by the operation are usually where the productivity gains and cost savings are found.

The only people who can hold an operation accountable to complete the project are the operations manager and the project manager. It is very easy to keep putting things off when the project is driven internally.

A project manager who can drive the schedule, hold people accountable, and at the same time be polite, is a valuable resource. People may find that person annoying, and that means they are doing their job. When playing the role of project manager, I found that the best way to drive the project was to communicate often and quickly. Don’t give people time to rethink things. Also, try to complete tasks as soon as possible. This is where I found the George C. Marshall quote that “a mediocre decision in time is better than a perfect decision too late”. Often internal projects can keep cycling, waiting for the perfect solution until the project dies of boredom.

Watch out for project managers who are too focused on the process and project manager who are technical experts. Analysis paralysis is a common term that is used to talk about projects that never move to the execution phase. Some project managers will almost insure that projects fall into analysis paralysis. I always said a key tip off on analysis paralysis was how much time was spent discussing project templates and project branding. If it is more than 15 minutes, then the project is in trouble.

Project managers who are technical experts can be a great benefit if they allow for open discussions and help to bring the best ideas forward. The pitfall of experts is that they can overwhelm new ideas with their technical knowledge.

There are three common themes in good project management.

Simple and frequent communication. Good project managers keep the communication short and to the point. The same is true for training, keep it simple and frequent. They will also create multiple options (live, video, documents).

Schedule driven, but flexible. Strong project managers drive to the schedule, but understand when things get in the way. When things get in the way, good project managers simply ask when the task will be completed and then hold people accountable to the next date. If a task keeps getting pushed out, they will identify other options.

Recognize their role in the project. Project managers should facilitate and lead. Their job is to keep the project on schedule, find out the barriers to success, and work to insure all team members are successful. They will communicate both good and bad news, and are not afraid to take facts to senior leaders.

There are a number of different project management approaches. I don’t think the approach matters as long as there is strong project management. As an operations manager, it is a good idea to understand some of the different approaches.

Most of the project managers I have worked with are usually are self taught. They have fallen into the role of project manager and built their approach over a series a projects. That was how I became a project manager. Although a long time ago I went through extensive learning on the Total-Quality-Management approach (TQM). I liked TQM because it was simple and continuous.

TQM evolved into Lean Six Sigma. I have seen a lot of success with project managers who use this approach. In my last two positions, I would attribute a significant amount of the productivity gains to projects managed using Six Sigma.

I have not had a chance to use SCRUM as a project management approach, but it looks interesting. The focus appears to be on speed and communication. The tools for capturing business requirements look helpful. For personal development, I plan to take a class on SCRUM in 2017.

The Project Management Institute offers a Project Management Professional (PMP) certification. Both Six Sigma and PMP require people to manage real projects in order to be certified. The PMP certification seems to be very detailed.

At the end of the day, regardless of certification or experience, a good project manager will drive projects to completion. Those projects will usually deliver productivity gains or cost savings.

Poor project management seems to be easy to disguise with analysis and nice PowerPoint slides.

Organizations showing strong productivity gains will usually have multiple project in-flight lead by strong project managers. Organization without productivity gains will also have projects in-flight and when you drill into the reason, the difference is often great project managers.

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