PM: Lead vs. Push

One of the more common concerns of a Project Manager is not wanting to be perceived as a nag, or someone who is unnecessarily pushy. This, as a result of the constant and never-ending requirement for a PM to seek information and/or updates relative to the myriad tasks and activities associated with a project.

This is not hard to imagine, considering one of the guidelines I follow is: if we’re not checking on the status of key tasks or activities we can safely assume that the work is not getting done.

That is, we’ll often find that a teammate was sidetracked with a customer issue, out sick or just plain forgot about the assignment.

In fact, PM’s have often been referred to as glorified baby-sitters, for this very reason: it being extremely important that we obtain commitments from our teammates and follow-up with each to ensure they did what they said they were going to do, in the timeframe within which they said they’d do it.

To be fair, many, if not most of our teammates will complete their tasks and activities on or as close to plan as possible. However, even the most well-intentioned individuals will occasionally miss the mark.

As such, the importance of constant follow-up on critical items cannot be over-stated.

So, what is a PM to do, to avoid being considered a pest or otherwise someone people don’t want to hear from?

Instead of “pushing” we must simply “lead.”

In a nutshell, it all goes back to one of the most common guidelines I share: It is not what we say but how we say it.

For example, we may need to determine when someone (let’s say Fred) will complete their task, so that a subsequent activity can be performed by another teammate (Wilma), who is dependent on the completion of Fred’s work.

A novice PM may simply call or email Fred asking: “when will you complete your task, so that I can update the project plan?”.

Taking this approach, makes the request all about us (the PM), when in reality, it is NOT about us at all. What we are trying to do is provide Wilma the information she needs in order to be ready to begin performing her task.

As such, a more effective way to ask Fred for an update might be something like: “Fred, as you know your project task is an extremely important deliverable that, once complete, will allow Wilma to get started on her activity. As such, could you let me know the timing of when you’ll complete your task so that I can let Wilma know when she can get started on her’s?”

By taking this approach, we are making the inquiry on behalf of the team, the project and NOT simply ourselves.

While the recommended approach will “help” in obtaining the desired information, know that the response from Fred might be “it depends.” To that, we’ll want to determine the dependency or dependencies Fred has identified as necessary prerequisites for him to get started on and/or completing his work.

A simple question here is, “What do you need, from whom and by when?”

As we continue this dialog we may realize that Fred needs help securing delivery of these dependencies. As a result, we may have one or more additional people to follow-up with to confirm their tasking, quantify the level of effort, timeframe required and any dependencies they may have to wrapping up their work. And, we’ll do this on Fred’s behalf!

Again, during these inquiries, we will be well served to maintain the posture of this being about the project and team and NOT about us.

During this process I like to frame things with my teammates by saying something like: “My goal is to make you and the team successful. As such, I’m trying to obtain the necessary information to ensure that everyone performing on the project clearly knows the ask: what the task is meant to accomplish, by when and who may depend on the outcome of the work.”

To learn more on Obtaining Time Estimates, you are encouraged to read our prior blog post on that topic by clicking here...

In closing, if you are seeking to up-level PM competencies in yourself, or organization, please reach out to discuss how we can help.

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