Articles To help Project Leaders
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As project managers, we need to listen. We all have filters and our tendency is to hear what we think we should hear based on our frame of reference.
However, a good project manager listens, especially when someone tells you something that you don't expect to hear.
For example, today I was speaking with a business analyst in a distant division of a corporation. That division has a unique set of business processes and lines of responsibility. It works for them.
It is a different setup than I am used to, with different work flows.
I asked "How is status reported out on your projects" and I assumed that status is reported through the same channels as other organizations that I have worked in. She politely answered my questions (which must have seemed moronic from her viewpoint), while I was more and more puzzled at the answers.
It took ten minutes before the penny dropped and I actually heard what the analyst was telling me, and that her frame of reference was completely different to what I am used to.
Today's lesson is: "Listen, really listen, to what your stakeholders are telling you, because it might be based on a completely different assumption than your frame of reference. This is especially important when dealing with project teams in other divisions or outside of your own corporation."
Wayne, were you listening, and did you hear me?
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