To a project manager there are no sweeter words than, “This project is finished. Signed, sealed, and delivered.” But as my dad used to say, “Joe, that grass isn’t going to mow itself.” In other words, the projects get done in the doing. Projects, like mowing the grass, are done by people, and projects can go together like pork chops and applesauce or the less appetizing liver and onions.
The people interested in the outcome of your project are called stakeholders. These folks vary in their influence over the project from casual observer to the guy calling the shots and signing the checks. Stakeholders always fall into one of two categories:
- Positive stakeholders – The people that are happy your project is happening and want the project to be successful.
- Negative stakeholders – The grumps/grouches that hate your project and hope that it (and maybe even you) go away and had never existed. In other words, they don’t like your project.
- Key stakeholders on most projects include all of the following:
- Project manager – You, the project manager. If the project fails it’s this person’s fault. If the project succeeds, the project manager shares in the celebration with the project team and staff who all worked hard for the betterment of the organization.
- Customer – The person or group of people that will use the product the project will create. Most often the customer pays for the project either directly or indirectly. To clarify, if I hire you to build a house for me, I directly pay for the project. If you create a product that will be sold at Piggly Wiggly Grocery Stores the customers pays Piggly Wiggly, who pays the distributor, which pays you.
- Performing organization – The organization whose project team members are doing the project work. If you’re an IT integrator you and your project team represent your performing organization. The customer gets the product you’re installing for them.
- Project team members – These are the wonderful people who love, admire, and respect you, the project manager. They do the project work.
- Project sponsor –The person or group of people that you, the project manager, love, admire, and respect. The project sponsor helps the project manager by authorizing the project manager to use resources such as people, monies, and other resources. He’s a cool dude.
- Influencers – These are people that wield influence over your project for good or evil. Hmm… can you say politics? These folks may or may not be directly affected by your project or the product your project is creating, but they may have, by position or politics, control over your project resources or decisions made in the project.
- Project Management Office (PMO) – Not every performing organization has a project management office, but the PMO is a stakeholder if one exists. A PMO is a centralized business unit that oversees all project management activities within an organization, company, or even a department. PMOs are to assist the project managers with scheduling, resource management, training, and more. They are fine people.
While people complete projects, projects are done within organizations. These organizations, not-for-profit or otherwise, have cultures, styles, and values that affect how the project is managed and eventually completed. Things that affect the project and how the project manager manages the project:
- Organizational values, beliefs, and expectations
- Policies and procedures the project manager, the project team, and stakeholders are required to follow
- View and opinion of authority
- Work ethic and hours of operation
- Willingness to accept risk
- Management style
These organizational influences can work for and against the project manager. The important thing is the project manager has to know what the “rules” are and then play them accordingly. Certainly there are rules that are documented and rules that are not. Isn’t it funny how the undocumented rules are often the most important ones?
There are some other factors that influence how a project is completed. As a project manager you’ll no doubt use organizational process assets. These are project plans and files from old projects, lessons learned, policies and procedures, and project-related knowledge bases. Enterprise environmental factors also affect projects. Enterprise environmental factors are things such as the organizational culture, structure, resources, commercial estimating databases, project management software, and any other enterprise influences on the project management processes.
Real World Note: As we move through the five process groups we’ll revisit, from time-to-time, organizational process assets and enterprise environmental factors. The primary thing to know about these two wacky terms is that the project manager will use these things to leverage the project forward. It’s essential for the project manager to know what resources, tools, and policies exist and then use those factors to his advantage to get the project done.
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