Zapraszamy do lektury artykułu napisanego przez naszego trenera Łukasza Ziółkowskiego, Artykuł prezentuje sposoby jak ocenić efektywność działań kierownika projektów 

Project Managers are constantly evaluated by bosses, project team, suppliers, and other stakeholders. There are many standards to diagnose qualifications of the project manager [1] or the personality type in general [2]. In result one can get information about knowledge and (to put it simple) ability and motivators of the person. This may be the supporting information (for example) during project sourcing. However the purpose of these tools is not to assess the performance of the project manager but his potential.

And let me tell you that I don't know any (de facto industry) standards for project manager’s assessment in terms of results, outcome of their work. And this is what we care about most at the end of the day - we need to find out those project managers who do the projects and those who don't.

Organizations I met use well-known assessment techniques like MBO and 360 [3]. These two examples are only generally defined mechanisms and to function they need custom made assessment criteria (another question is if there is a place for the standard here?).

Let me present my idea of simple classification of project managers. I structured it around assessment of the two areas coming from two major project manager’s responsibility fields:

• Effectiveness – evaluation if the project manager delivers planned project results,
• Communication - evaluation if the project manager informs about results and project in general.

Base on this project managers fall into four categories as shown on the following picture.

Below I present short description of the each of four types.

SUPERMAN

Everybody wants to be Superman (me too ;-). The Superman not only does the project he also keeps stakeholders informed. In the same time it is rear species in the nature. If you find the one nourish this talent, praise and develop.

DUMMY

Dummy is the complete opposite of the Superman. Dummy project manager nor does the job nor communicates. It is also rare. With such an approach it is impossible to survive for long in the healthy project management ecosystem. Dummy is frequently met in the organisations affected by skilled incompetence [4]. For the rest of the team the most difficult task is to find out about the dummy as fast as possible. It helps prevent harm to be done. To do so proper communication and project progress control measurements should be in place.

SECRET AGENT

Secret Agent is very difficult type when it comes to diagnosis. Yes, it is difficult to make sure someone does the job learning it from everybody else but him. Yes it takes a patience and time to not mistake this case with the 'Dummy'.

In the same time this effort may pay off its price. If you help and develop Secret Agent in some time he may become Superman!

WINDOW DRESSER

Window Dresser is the biggest challenge for the management. In this situation trust and ethics is involved. To diagnose this case you need to see behind the curtains (one can be sure that curtains look nice and pretty) to find out the truth about the poor results.

Existence of window dresser is the measurement of the organization health. If you detect successful window dresser turn the red light in areas like control processes, management practices, culture and behaviours first.

Window dresser also has potential to become Superman. However, in contrast to Secret Agent in my opinion Window Dresser lacks "most critical half" of project manager (which is delivery). Usually, motivators and capability of the person, show that the chances to become Superman are low.

GENERAL DISCLAIMERS

First, any conclusions when it comes to people classifications have to be drawn with utmost care. Second, as every classification the one I proposed above, does not describe people’s complexity and diversity. Third, the classification is subjective and in next post I try to precise how to evaluate if the project manager delivers and communicates.

REFERENCES

[1] IPMA Competency Baseline by Project Management Association; Project Manager Competency Development Framework by Project Management Institute.

[2] DISC, Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, Ken Blanchard, Edgar Schein’s Career Anchors.

[3] Manage by Objectives (MBO) - term coined by Peter Drucker in The Practice of Management (1954); 360 degree assessment - first used in business in 1950s at Esso Research and Engineering Company.

[4] Skilled incompetence - term described by Chris Argyris (Harvard Business Review 1986).

Autor: Łukasz Ziółkowski