The People, Process, & Progress Podcast - How to Navigate the Top 7 Challenges Project Managers Faced in 2022 | KEV Talks #12

Episode Date: December 14, 2022

Whether you're new to Project Management or a seasoned Senior PM leading program-level efforts, there are 7 challenges you will inevitably face. In this episode, I talk through these and provide a path for new or seasoned Program or Project Managers to not only navigate through or around these obstacles but to also excel in the process.The 7 Challenges:Choosing a methodology to implementSelecting a Program/Project Management System (PMS) to useCommunicating and leading hybrid program or project teamsAligning PM skillsets to the right workWorking within and planning toward budget constraintsSynchronizing internal and external partners as one teamDealing with internal staff turnover to keep the work movingThank you for listening to 7 Challenges Facing Program and Project Managers in 2022 (And How to Navigate Them).Do these challenges match what you've seen in the Program and Project Management world? Leave a comment on the post at https://kevtalkspod.com/7-challenges-program-and-project-managers-faced-in-2022/Have a planStay informedGet involved

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Hey, everybody. Kevin Paddell. Thanks for coming back to the KevTalks podcast. This week, I'm going to talk about seven issues facing program and project managers today, and more importantly, to help you, the listener, navigate them. Let's jump into this. So the first thing is choosing a methodology. Let's say that you have a new project management office, or you're asked to help stand up a project management office or whatever. What do I use for what type of project? So should you go chasing waterfalls as TLC asks? Yeah, I think that's a great one to start with. If you don't have basic methodology established in your organization or again, you're standing

up a project management office that gets you those traditional initiating, planning, executing, monitoring through the whole time, and then closing routines, right, phases. And so that's a great way to start. It's simple, it's straightforward, it's a bit of a predictive model, right? So we're pretty sure we're going to do this, there's not as much room for change as there is in our next methodology that we have to stay agile sometimes in. So agile, right? That's another thing that has scrums and sprints and scrum masters and all that kind of stuff. But basically, you know, you do work in short periods of time and then you evaluate it, then you make changes. So it's, it's very much lends itself to software development or any product development

where you're going to look at something, send it out for testing, do internal testing, give that feedback, make changes on the fly, as opposed to kind of incrementally planning it, even though there's some of that involved. What do I think is best? I think Agile, Waterfall, and Agile combined. So you have some predictive planning, you have some of the traditional, maybe a scope document, scope statement, those kinds of things, but you leave room to be flexible and dynamic enough to say, you know what, this isn't what it was three months ago when we planned and we made our charter. Let's be agile and let's do some sprints and let's throw some standups in there because we need to touch base each day. So I think agile accommodation is good overall.

But again, if you're heavy in software development and customer feedback is driving it and you're making changes on the fly, agile is it. If you have a more predictive model, kind of like construction or maybe a hardware deployment, then Waterfall's a good thing to do. So let's go to number two that I think folks are facing that I've faced is what project management system or PMS should we use to either pull up all the information in a program with multiple projects or a singular project? Let's start with Old Faithful. You know it, you love it. It's Microsoft Project. It's got Gantt charts and tasks and due dates and milestones, all that good stuff. You can connect it to Project Online. You can work online. It's connected to Office and all that things.

So again, it's a great baseline or foundation to start if you're just getting into project management. It's kind of the next step from using like an Excel spreadsheet. And again, if you can capture basic things in Excel and you're just getting started either as an associate PM or a PM or you're brand new, your company standing something up, Excel project, those work great. As you mature a little bit, or if you're just interested, you get into the web or cloud based stuff like Jira monday.com. I've used Jira, it's awesome. The key to any of these is putting the work in to figure out what you want to track, like the traditional stuff. What's the work? When does it start? When does it stop? What's the status of it? Maybe who owns it, responsible for doing it, that kind of stuff. Basic task

management. And also though it ties to reporting, helps you fill out plans because again, tasks and schedules are the project plan. It's a combination of stuff, but I digress. We'll get into that in another episode. But JIRA and things, it's a little smoother, it has better dashboards. And that's a big thing. So for me, when I'm doing, I'm a senior PM, but when I'm doing program management level stuff, it is very helpful for me and the organization, frankly, to have a system that automatically pulls data from all the subordinate and connected projects. So from a program management standpoint, I want to in either as those systems work project has project and sub projects, JIRA Monday, you can set those up the same kind of way. So just remember, if you're doing program management, you want something that has a top level program that can

pull milestones, go live dates, anything you want from any subordinate project, and then be able to quickly pull that and put it in some sort of effective reporting format. For managing individual projects, it's kind of like the basic stuff I touched on below. You know, what is the task? When does it start? How long does it take? When is it supposed to be due? What are the milestones for it? And then who's going to do the work? That's a great way just that to start and track things. And some folks, you know, we're still have nothing in place. So if you have nothing, if you can just do those things, and that's super helpful. So the second problem that I see folks ask questions about either on Reddit, or, you know, ask me via LinkedIn is, you know, what system do I use? And how do I get started?

So those are my suggestions. The third thing that I know folks program and project managers are facing is leading hybrid project teams, right? Because we are in this remote or hybrid world or fully remote or not, depending on your job, maybe you have to be on site a lot if you're doing construction project management or program management. And so how do you do that? So the first thing to me is lights, camera, action, question mark, right? So more on the camera piece is how often do you see each other? I believe we should see each other on every call on the camera. I think being remote and even hybrid disconnects people and we lose some of that human interaction that's so valuable in our soft skills as program

and project managers. So I think you should set ground rules for visibility. We're going to be on camera for all the calls, maybe not at lunch, and maybe not every other Friday or something like that. But by and large, I think it's very beneficial to see each other live, right? And you can still make some kind of connection, even though it's virtual with the person that you're talking to. You can read their emotions a little bit better. You can't do that. You can't see eyes rolling, right? If folks are off camera. And I think that's important. You also need to make, I think with hybrid project teams, ground rules for communication. How often are we going to communicate? Meaning how often are we going to have meetings? What are the expectations in time to respond to emails? Which I think good guidance is like 24 hours. And messaging,

depending on what platform you're using, within 15, 20 minutes. And then phone calls and texts, of course, are pretty immediate. That to me is the escalation of communication where, hey, something bad's going on or it's going to happen. I need to reach out and get in touch with you. So I'm going to go ahead and give you a text or phone call. And again, it establishes to a phone call direct with somebody when you first start a project together. Say you're a client, a vendor working together, or you're coming in as a program manager leading a new team. Those direct phone calls, those one-on-one teleconferences are hugely helpful to get to know the person, know what their needs are, know what they want you to help with, not help with, all that kind of stuff. So the communication is not just how you can lead the hybrid project team for this number three item that program and project managers are facing, but it's how can you more effectively be a leader and support the team that you're leading. Number four, aligning project manager skill set. So if you're

leading, particularly if you're a senior project manager or a program manager and you have a team full of project managers or associate project managers or technicians, you can have a mix of introverts, extroverts, right? You can have technical or non-technical people. You can have a mix of introverts, extroverts, right? You can have technical and non-technical people. You can have people that document really well and people that remember things really well, but don't document. And all of that's going to happen or a mix of those or all of them. And so as a leader of that team, it helps for the introverts and extroverts, maybe for the introverts, have them work with the programmers that probably are also introverts and have them do a lot of backend stuff. So they're not out meeting with people a lot. They're not out, you know, on site

a lot if they don't want to be, and then have your extroverts be the one that do the presentations that are meeting and greeting folks, right? Similar with techie versus non-techie kind of project managers that are on your team. If they're very technical, put them with the real technical work. If they're not very technical and maybe they're like I'm in healthcare IT, they're more clinical, then match them up there. The documentation piece, we want to streamline that for our teams so that they don't have to repeat documentation across multiple platforms or that I don't have to copy and paste it so I don't screw it up. But we can't just have all this knowledge in someone's head. That doesn't help everybody. It doesn't help the projects or the program. So we got to get that balance of the

required documentation, meaning it's required because it's actually going to help and people are going to read it, not just because it says we're going to do it and not have folks just keep stuff in their head that nobody else knows that may have dependencies for other projects within your program. Number five of the seven things that program and project managers face is working within budget constraints. So these days, budgets are tight all over the place, right? There's been a lot of change in our economy. So the first thing you need to make sure

that you're doing well as a program manager or project manager even is to track the project budget, right? And so that's tracking key elements like what's the overall budget, right? How much will you approve for, for whether it's the program or the projects or all of them broken down?

What's the budget for each of the projects within the program that equals the total you were approved for? What is the initial capital expenditures or CapEx, right? How much are we going to spend? And then track each one as they come in, set up some simple formulas in Excel or whatever tracking, you know, maybe using one of the project management system tools, excuse me, that has budgeting in it. And so use that, but Excel works pretty good. You know, what is it you're tracking? How much is it do, you know, subtraction or something taken away from the

overall budget and you're tracking that kind of stuff. The other key thing these days is planning for future operating expenditures, right? So how much is this going to cost us down the road for the next one, two, three, five years, and tracking those so you can know when you're getting close to closing the project or while you're monitoring it, hey, it's going to cost us this much. What's that total cost of ownership between our CapEx and our OpEx and any other, you know, fees or something, they should all fall in those two categories, really. But that's very, very helpful, right? So if you can show your leadership, and your team, hey, we've spent this much out of our total budget and capital so far, and then for the next five years,

it's going to cost this much. So the total cost for this and the total cost for everything is key. And just try and be predictive as possible. So even for the capital stuff, that's not really ongoing costs. If you know, hey, we're gonna have to spend extra money on this widget or that widget, then if you can give leaders a heads up and your team and your finance folks that you work with, and that's gonna be really helpful as well. Number six, internal team members and external partners, man, this is this is tough, but so common, right? I'm typically and have been in the past few years on the client side of things, not the vendor side. So that's an interesting relationship. But I think what works

has to balance with what's policy, right? And part of that has to do with setting an expectations meeting. So one thing I like to do is set up a meeting with the vendor partner, their account manager, their PM, whoever their point person is that I'm going to be working with a lot or both or a couple folks, myself and my leader and them, and just have a discussion, right? Hey, what do you all usually do? Do you have template plans that you use? How do you usually, you know, manage this program and then work together by saying, hey, we use this system, this is a system of record that we need to use, here's, here's what we need to store documentation. But how can we work? So it's familiar to you and us, but also that we're within kind of

our either security policies or just the rules of the road that we just have to follow in our program or project management office? And have regular sync meetings with those external partners. Don't have, hey, our team and your team. There's one team. We have to work like one team because we are, whether we have the same logos or not. And that's, that's critical. That's another thing in verbiage that I hear a lot is, well, my team's gonna go plan this, and your team's gonna go plan that for my project and your project. If if you're all working on the same project, you're all on the

same team, right. And so thinking that way, and talking that way, to me makes a big difference, both in how you work together, how you can resolve issues. And so just from the get go, you know, start talking like that. How can we, you know, how can our combined project team work together? You know, let's, here's a sample of kind of the functional organizational structure, number three in the foundational five, right, that I think could work and then build from there. It's a great place to start. It's a great conversation started to go there with, here's what I was thinking based on what we usually do with our business owner, our steering committee, our sponsor, our teams, our groups that we use that are functional. But it just really helps do that. But you have to balance that, getting to the point of this is what the expectations we have as the client that's

honestly paying you all to help us with this service. And this is where we're willing to meet you halfway. This is where we can't change what we're doing. And this is where we can use a lot of your suggestions. So it's an interesting balance, but it's a good one. It's a good opportunity to build new relationships and really get the job done with a mixed and matrix team. Number seven, dealing with staff turnover. Man, in the past few years, has this been realistic, right? And so it's tough if your teams change, if you change jobs or every facet of it, it can be great opportunity. It can be a little heartbreak if there's folks that you work with for a while that leave. But I think dealing with it is just, you know, part for the course these days, right? The

days seem to be long gone of staying places 5, 10, 15 years at a time. So how can we navigate this challenge, this seventh challenge? If you're the incoming project manager or program manager, ask for a good turnover, right? Set up a meeting with the person that was running that program or project or with the PMO director or program manager you're working with or senior PM you're working with. Whoever you need to talk to that has the scoop on the initiative that you're gonna take over, get a good turnover and ask for it, be proactive in that. If you're leaving, if you're the outgoing

program or project manager, make sure to give a good turnover, right? Make sure to set up time proactively, knowing that I'm gonna leave by this date, we should set up time to meet right now because it's known, it's been announced, et cetera, and then have regular sync meetings too. If you're the incoming person, they've done this a few times now, both here in the private sector and incident management,

you know, taking over the planning section or different units is listen first, and then change is needed, right? So you want to listen to what's happening, get the scoop, get that good turnover, listen to the team after you have those one onon-ones with the team, and then make changes, right? Because you can't be afraid to speak up because you were picked, right? You were picked for a reason. You were picked because you're capable, because you can lead the program, because you can lead the project. And so certainly don't just jump in and say, oh, I'm going to, you know, and kind of, I'm

making a wipe the desk movement with my hand here, just clear it out. But take note, ask what's working, what's not notice what works better for you. Because you know what, if you don't work as effective, because you're just trying to not change things, then you're not going to be as helpful as you could be as a leader of that program or that project. So don't be afraid to speak up, they picture. But again, listen first, and then you know, make incremental changes. The goal is to reduce administrative overhead from your teams and increase their productivity and listen to their input and let their plans succeed and work where they are. And sometimes they'll give feedback if you've already gotten leadership guidance or you maybe

know a little something about the environment a little better where the suggestion is not going to work, but be dynamic, work together. So I hope this list is pretty quick episode, but seven things, choosing a methodology, selecting your project management system, leading a hybrid project team, the fourth aligning PM skills, working within budget constraints, working between internal and external team partners, i.e. clients and vendors, and dealing with staff turnover. Those are seven issues, challenges,

opportunities we'll say to be positive, right? That I know I've experienced, that I've read about on the project and program management boards and Reddit, talked to folks about, chatted with folks about on LinkedIn. So I hope this was a helpful kind of quick primer. If you have any other questions

or want to know more program and project management stuff, go to KevTalksPod.com. There's a search feature down at the bottom of the page. I actually just reformatted it, simplified it quite a bit, much shorter menu, some scoop about me. The foundational five, of course, which I believe leaders, program managers, project managers, public safety folks, whomever can, if you try and get that leader's intent, you get your objectives, you know what the org structure is, you get and coordinate resources and you communicate well, you can jump into the middle of anything, you can solve those problems. So in addition to solutions that I talked about here, for these seven problems program and project managers could face, check out the foundational five there. And then I have a

communications plan that is really links to everywhere that I am on the YouTubes and Instagram and Twitter. And so thanks for checking out the KevTalks podcast, YouTube channel, the at Penel 5 Fit YouTube channel. I put short 15 second videos up there, mostly as kind of accountability, but also I know I've gotten inspiration and some ideas from other folks I've seen exercise. And then, of course, you can listen to this podcast, wherever podcasts are played, and the Jiu-Jitsu, Y-O-U-Jitsu podcast, where I share tips and tricks for aspiring and new Jiu-Jitsu players. Thank you so much for being here. Remember, have that plan, stay informed with facts, not fear, and get involved so you can make a difference. But for now, I've got to fly.