Tag: when projects go wrong

Skilled Tradespeople Are NOT Project Managers

On the solar installation project,
there was no on site, active
project manager.

They relied on their teams
to manage their parts
of the project.

The solar panel installation
was outsourced.

The team that arrived
was headed
by one of the founders
of the business.

He was skilled at project management
as he actively managed his own business.

That part of the project
went very well.

The electrical part
of the project
was given to
two electricians.

Those electricians were skilled
at being electricians.
They knew f*ck all
about the project management.

That part of the project
was a complete mess.

They had to run
to the store
to buy parts every couple hours.

They installed
random, not-at-all thought out parts.

They did work
out of logical order
and then had to redo it.

The project WAS
eventually complete
but it cost a lot more
and it took a lot longer.

Project management
is a separate skillset.

Don’t assume someone skilled
in other areas
is able to manage a project.

An On-Site Project Manager

You need an on-site
project manager.

This seems obvious
but I’ve recently been a part
of a couple projects
where this didn’t happen.

You can’t manage projects
from a distance.

Because a big part
of project management
is firefighting.
It is quickly dealing
with emergencies
and making those fast decisions.

That’s very difficult to do
if you’re not there,
on the site.

People have to hunt you down
and then describe the situation
over the phone or a video call
and it is impossible to describe
EVERYTHING that is happening.

The nuances WILL f*ck you
and your project up.

With the projects
I was involved in
that didn’t have on-site project managers,
someone else
(one time it was the client)
assumed that role.

These volunteer project managers
didn’t have the same agendas
as the true but off-site project managers.

It was a mess.

Have an on-site
project manager.

Taking The Blame And Moving On

If a project
goes terribly wrong
and I have to call a meeting
with key project people
to discuss it,
I’ll often start the meeting
by taking blame for
any and all mistakes/missteps.

This does a couple things.

It reconfirms I’m in charge
of the project.
The errors rest with me.

And it stops the blame game.

Team members aren’t worried
they’ll be blamed
for the mistakes/missteps.
They aren’t pre-occupied
during the meeting
with assigning blame.

We can focus
on fixing the mistakes
and saving the project.

Assigning blame
sucks up much needed time
and it can cause dissention
within a team.

Take the blame
and move on.