The Contract Project Manager: Free Agents and
Pinch Hitters, continued
© 2004 By Donna Fitzgerald
The Program Manager/Project Manager Model
Another
effective way to use contract project managers is in support
of very large or very complex projects. If we move ahead one
year in our
example, the company has now chosen as their primary project
a complete rollout of the latest software from Microsoft. This
software rollout will
touch every desk in the company and will need to be coordinated
in seven sales offices and three division locations. In this
case, the role of
the contract manager is to become the aide de camp of the company
program manager.
For our proposes, we’ll define the program manager as being primarily
focused on meeting the needs of the sponsors and stakeholders while the
project manager is focused on the day to day operations of the project.
Some companies leap to the conclusion that this project management role
is by definition a subordinate position that will require less experience
and less sophistication. They therefore staff it with a young inexperienced
PMs in order to preserve their employment hierarchy and salary scales.
While there are some times when this might work in general on mission
critical, high risk projects it is a terrible mistake.
The goal in the program manager/project manager staffing model is to
effectively clone the program manager and in order to do that it is necessary
to hire someone of equal skill, background and ability. From the point
of view of promotional opportunities, salary scales, job grades, etc,
etc the simplest and easiest way to accomplish this is to bring in a contract
project manager. This person is able to function as a peer and help get
the job done but since they will be leaving at the end of the project
the company hasn’t been forced to invest in a “duplicate” resource
for one project only.
One other factor that can make this relationship work particularly well
is if the contract PM is comfortable operating in a people management
role. As the person in charge of most of the day to day activities of
the project they see the members of the project team on an up close and
personal basis and they need to be comfortable providing guidance and
direction not only on project tasks but on any area where the team member
might need management guidance.
The Consultant PM as Mentor
Which leads us directly to the third possible
role a contract PM can play; that of mentor to an employee PM. For companies
that aren’t
large enough to have a PM center of excellence being able to provide mentoring
and guidance to an up and coming employee is money well spent. The relationship
of a contract PM mentor to an employee is different than the model we
discussed above. In this case the PM mentor is always the more experience
member of the team. The PM mentor in general does not take on a day to
day project role and serves primarily as reviewer, facilitator and advisor.
Hiring a contract PM into this role is usually the only option for a smaller
company since it’s difficult to justify the cost of a very senior
person in an oversight and support role unless they’re working with
a significant number of people.
Most project managers would be delighted to have their company make this
investment in their career, but according to Barry Sweeny (the mentor
of mentors) it is critical that the employee PM commit to the following:
1. To defer to the greater experience of a mentor
2. To learn through others' experiences and mistakes and avoid
learning by trial and error.
3. To take the risks of discussing their own weaknesses and needs
and of learning in front of someone more senior.
Surprisingly these three steps are almost always easier for an employee
to do with a mentor brought in from the outside than to do with a company
mentor/supervisor. A contract PM mentor is almost always perceived as
less of a threat and as more of a safe ally to learn from than a senior
level employee.
The Consultant PM as head of the PMO
Contract project managers can bring
unique value to a company in running their Project Management Office (PMO).
Consider the following reasons:
• The right consultant PM brings extensive experience in running
project management organizations that
actually work. Assuming the company
is willing to avoid remaking mistakes others have made, the
payback and
results from a PMO can be rapid.
•
A consultant is free of the company’s promotional pressure and therefore
can focus on the job at hand.
•
A consultant is usually interested in achieving results and not
personal power. This should make the
recommendations and design of the
PMO lean toward lighter weight, more sustainable processes.
By making the decision to staff the PMO with a known, trusted external
resource the company can increase their flexibility without running the
risk of building an unnecessarily bureaucratic organization. A number
of consulting companies specialize in providing this type of support.
When it’s done right the company purchasing the services actually
will spend less money than if they attempted to build a PMO from the ground
up themselves.
Maximizing the free agent relationship
The world has changed from the
days of the accidental project manager. Companies no longer can count
on having the right people with the right
experience on staff. In order to stay competitive, companies
need to know when to bring in help from the outside. Contract PMs can
offer significant
value to a company through peak loading, program/project support,
mentoring, and PMO leadership. The highest value can only be realized,
however, if
the company and the contract PM both agree that the maximum benefit
for both parties comes from developing a stable longer term relationship.
From the perspective of the company this means dealing with firms
or individuals
that specialize in project management and who are willing to
invest themselves in adjusting to the needs of the client organization.
From the perspective
of the contract PM this relationship requires respecting and
accommodating the companies unique culture, being willing to
manage employees and not
just tasks and simply in general being willing to go the extra
mile in order to get the project done. The reengineering movement of the 90's and the downsizing of corporations
has created a situation that all the king’s men can’t put
back together again. On the other hand, the new relationship
can yield some efficiencies and benefits that weren’t possible in
the old full time employee model. All it takes is the commitment on both
parties
to establish a long term as opposed to full time relationship.
• Top •
Editor's Note: Donna Fitzgerald is asapm's past Director of Education,
and in addition to managing her own Project Management Consulting firm, she
runs NewGrange, asapm's official list serve, the "hottest place
on the web to discuss project management", at www.newgrange.org. |
