Why project managers ride an emotional rollercoaster.

Introduction

A typical project manager does not only need to manage the rational parts of a project, but also be half a psychologist. Per phase she will need to address a different emotion to be successful. This phenomenon brings her into an emotional roller coaster where fear, hope and satisfaction follow one after the other in rapid succession – and hopefully also in this order.

Fear

When starting a project (‘Project Initiation’ in Prince2-terms) as a main objective the ‘Business Case’ is determined. Generally, what the sponsor would like to achieve is pretty clear (at least to herself) but to translate that into an unambiguous and unaltering description of scope generally proves to be quite a deliverance. Immediately afterwards, the discussion will turn to which resources will be necessary to achieve these goals, and this is exactly the point where the project manager needs to deal with ‘Fear’.

Inexperienced project managers often use a ‘sunny scenario’ in which insufficient room is left for setbacks, risks and delays; in other words, they do not have enough ‘Fear’, even to the extent that some ‘pragmatists’ consider risk management a purely academic exercise. Longer-tenured colleagues usually have seen some more startling surprises – euphemistically called ‘experiences’ – and therefore assess more risks and allow for more buffers. The degree to which the project manager can convey this ‘Fear’ to the sponsor and use it to obtain budget for risk management and time for delays sets the basis for realism in the objectives and expectations for the project.

It is easy to go overboard on ‘Fear’ and to claim unrealistic budgets or time requirements. However, in such cases the project manager looses not only sight of realism, but also the support of the Business Case, the sponsor and ultimately of the project.

Hope

As soon as the project plan, or ‘Project Initiation Document’ (PID) has been approved, the release of the resources initiates a flurry of activities and a wave of ‘Hope’ permeates the organization: now they will realize the illusive goal. If you are not careful, some project team members might even start off too enthusiastic: meeting structures are set up, hours of project team members are claimed, money is being spent before you know it. Other Departments are being swept along, since the management apparently found this so important that they decided to give it a ‘Go’, and colleagues are spending their time supporting where they can.

the budget seems huge and only when distributed over time periods more realism sinks in. If the release of time and budget is not done in a controlled manner, time requirements need to be scaled back because there generally are also some other tasks that still need to be taken care off as well. The enthusiasm here needs to be controlled, so that you are not pulling a sprint instead of running a marathon.

Keep in mind, though, that hope is a dangerous phenomenon: if it is bridled too much, the energy can easily turn into disappointment (“apparently they do not need me here, so I will let them feel later on, of which crucial importance I am”) to haunt the project (leader) in a later stage.

Satisfaction

After reaching the goal, the perhaps most neglected phase of the project arrives: the completion phase. The project team members are ready with their tasks and are already being pulled into new projects, where new and daunting challenges await them. They are biting at the bit, ready to conquer new horizons. Stil there are several items that still need to be done to properly complete the ‘old’ project. There are such minute details like ‘handover to the operation’ which only in the ideal case includes a proper handover instead of a ‘throwing over the fence’-experience. An acceptance test is something that is easily overlooked, let alone a ‘Lessons Learned’.

Still, the project manager should not underestimate this phase, since it determines the reputation of both the project and herself. Crucial in the assessment is the realism that has been displayed at the upstart of the project: how many projects did not ‘objectively seen’ obtain the maximum that they could get out of a situation, but because at the start expectations – not infrequently set by a Sales Department eager to win a deal – were not managed properly the sponsor still feels cheated?

Conclusion

The same psychology mentioned before can “bring home the bacon” all by itself. One time I saw a project which was seen as extremely successful by virtually everybody in it’s environment, it only lacked one thing for anybody taking the time to read through the plan: logic. Phantastic flow charts and Powerpoints were shown, but they had nothing to do with one another, let alone with reality. On this basis, multiple millions were expended with an unclear effect on the operation. However, this project was used to substantiate a significant reduction in FTE’s. After this workforce reduction, the employees were still doing the same workload in the same manner, and I observed that there was still significant overstaffing. This psychological strategy can only be applied in a limited number of situations, but I have deep respect for the project leader that pulled this one off.

 (Originally posted on December 14, 2014)