Your mom’s best friend’s project manager!
Key skills for a successful career in project management and management
Semyon Kolosov

In memory of a friend and like-minded person…

Dedicated to Dmitry Moroz.

Proofreader Irina Ignatyeva

Illustrator Dasha Shchegolyutina

© Semyon Kolosov, 2024

© Dasha Shchegolyutina, illustrations, 2024

ISBN 978-5-0064-3202-4

Created with Ridero smart publishing system

About the author

Before you start reading this book, I thought I’d write about my experience so you can better understand the context in which my thoughts and conclusions were formed.

My name is Semyon Kolosov. I am a management consultant in IT. I help founders, top managers and executives to organize effective management of strategy, projects, teams and business processes at all the stages: from idea generation to scaling. In addition as a mentor, I help people change their lives and careers for the better through developing soft skills and management development.

Prior to that, I was the COO of a design unit and center of expertise at a company that builds digital products and digital transformation for big tech companies. Even before that, I was there as a project manager and Head of Project Management Office in client projects for digital services development.

I was also engaged in developing and conducting internships and educational programs on people management, project and product approaches, problem-solving and change management, motivation and team management for IT-companies.

Overall, I have 10 years of experience managing projects and teams in digital products, education, consulting and marketing.

I consider project management a prioritized skill in today’s world, so I strive to ensure that everyone can implement a project approach in their lives to achieve the results they want.

To that end, I wrote my first book “System Life” about management for life and work, which has already helped many people. “Your mom’s best friend’s project manager!” – is my second book, and it’s already specifically for project managers and executives. I also run telegram channels about self and project management.

All links and contacts can be found at the end of the book. Subscribe, I will be glad to receive any feedback and new acquaintances.

Enjoy reading!

Prehistory

Inside the psychotherapy room, lost in the hustle and bustle of the city, was a comfortable leather couch filled with pastel colors and fluffy cushions. The room was dimly lit, bookshelves lined the walls, and sitting at a desk with books was Dr. Emily Milestone, a somewhat eccentric psychotherapist known for her unusual approaches.

Mr. Gregory Sprintsky, the CEO of a successful technology company, burst into the office, looking disheveled and agitated. He was breathing heavily, pouring sweat and radiating nervous energy.

Dr. Milestone, watching this show, raised her eyebrows and asked:

Doctor: Good afternoon, Mr. Gregory. What brings you here so urgently today?

Gregory: Doc, I had another dream last night. About the perfect project manager.

Please sit down and tell me more about it.

Gregory: Well, I dreamed of a project manager who could easily handle any project. He was riding a beautiful electric bike smoothly and silently on a quiet road surrounded by beautiful scenery. There was water all around and the people were transfixed with tranquility and harmony. He was organized, adaptable and had cool communication skills. He had a sense of humor. He knew how to make the team laugh and keep morale high even during stressful times. He was a creative problem solver, always coming up with innovative solutions to even the most difficult problems. And he wasn’t afraid to take risks and take responsibility.

Doctor: I understand. How did you feel after that dream?

Gregory: Encouragement. Hope. But also a little anxiety. Because I know that finding a project manager like that is like finding a needle in a haystack. His image is always with me. I can’t avoid him! He’s always there, like a ghost that won’t let me rest! When I walked into my office in the morning, it seemed to me that the furniture had become an exact replica of this perfect project manager’s workplace. My desk, my chair – everything was just as I envisioned it. I tried to change things around, moved furniture around, but nothing worked. That image always found me. In meetings with my employees, they would start talking exactly as I envisioned the ideal project manager in my head. They would say phrases that I had only heard in my mind. Even when I was resting, that image never left me. I saw his face in the clouds, in the fire of a campfire on the beach, even in the stars in the sky. It’s just crazy!

Doctor: Is this perfect project manager with us now, in this room?

Gregory: Yes!

Doctor: Gregory, I’m going to say a phrase that will make you feel better. Calm down, Gregory. Now that you’re calm, describe him more specifically. What does he do? What skills does he possess? What results does he achieve? What makes him the perfect project manager for you? What kind of image is that?

Session 1.
Self-management

Gregory started telling:

For me, the ideal project manager, or, as we tend to say, PM, is an independent part of the company. He achieves the result of the project in any understandable and incomprehensible situation. He is a team leader who broadcasts the rules of work. He sets the vector of movement, the right mood, the pace of work. He watches for deviations and corrects the direction. He is a project manager who chooses and applies the management technology. Keeps the situation under control, analyzes and makes decisions. Makes the process transparent and communicates decisions. Organizes a purposeful course of work and people to achieve the result. Simply put, this is the person to whom I voice a goal or say, “Do it right,” and he or she produces a predictable result. Without too much oversight, I’m always sure he knows what “right” means, that there won’t be any surprises before the deadline, and if conditions or the environment make the result unfeasible, everyone will know about it beforehand and the PM will come up with a solution to change those conditions. And sometimes we don’t even know the goal ourselves. We just want him to figure it out and do it himself. An ideal PM is not afraid of problems, does not whine, knows how to organize and negotiate, is responsible for the quality of the result and delivers everything on time.

Organized and systematic

This is the base. A systematic approach to tasks and problem solving is the foundation in work. An unorganized person will not be able to organize others. The ideal PM effectively plans and organizes his time and workspace. He has his own self-organization system with his favorite tools from calendar to task manager. It’s without flaw, without cheating, as reliable as a couch spring. It evolves and adapts so that it never wastes time on uselessness. That doesn’t mean he’s obsessed with systematization like a maniac. When needed, he can unfocus or go into creative mode. But systematically managing your life, time and tasks is a masterstroke. It is always said about the ideal PM that he is a systematic person who has everything in order.

Punctuality and compliance to agreements

The ideal PM performs tasks on time, does not allow delays, does not break agreements and promises. The team and clients can rely on him because he always keeps his word. When he says what will be done, it really happens. And if he didn’t give us a heads-up and he didn’t show up for the meeting or he didn’t send us the paperwork, something really bad happened. The perfect PM exemplifies its punctuality and discipline to other team members. It sets high standards and ensures that all employees are accountable and comply with agreements. It helps create an atmosphere where everyone knows that their work is appreciated.

Working under conditions of uncertainty

Systemic does not mean bureaucracy and unconditional adherence to algorithms. The ideal PM is flexible, able to work in a changing environment, and able to develop solutions in the face of uncertainty. He knows that certainty exists only in mediocre projects. And not always. He is not afraid of uncertainty, he knows that projects can be subject to change, sudden shifts and surprises. He is ready to adapt coolly to new circumstances, to eliminate uncertainty or turn it into risks with all his actions. When it’s unclear what to do, there are many inputs or interdependent connections, he doesn’t panic, lose direction or call his mom in tears. The ideal PM is creative and goes beyond traditional methods and solutions. He is especially adept at communicating with the team and stakeholders to ensure that the situation is understood and changes are agreed to. Uncertainty for him is an everyday occurrence. No matter what happens, he will change the system to suit the conditions, just as sailors change course and sail position simultaneously when the wind changes.

Responsibility and reliability

In almost every job opening for a project manager you will find the requirement “to be responsible”. You don’t know the goals, conditions, team and atmosphere yet, but they already say that you will start working and you will be responsible. In short, the ideal PM is a responsible PM. But what does it mean to be responsible? I thought about this question for a very long time and decided that “taking responsibility” means making a decision and being prepared to experience negative emotions, suffering and pain if something goes wrong. To experience failure on one’s own, rather than being scared of it in the beginning and inaction. And if everything is clear with a person’s personal life, because there the consequences will inevitably come and it will be painful, where does responsibility at work come from?

In the workplace, it is commonly believed that to be “responsible” is to have a vested interest in the business, the project, the outcome, etc. But how should an employee have a vested interest in someone else’s business? Cultures of “ownership positions” are invented and “shared missions and values” are created, but it doesn’t work. Because the business owner, partner and employees have different goals. And they use their work in the company for their own purposes, not for shared ones. They don’t care no matter what they tell them in the interview. The interests of the employees conflict with the interests of the owner at every turn. The business owner risks everything every day, the workers risk nothing. Where would the consequences that the worker would fear come from in such an arrangement? There is no accountability. Even to fire an employee for a joint is very difficult, if he is employed by law. And even if there is such leverage, the employee will simply change jobs. For some people this is scary, so they tolerate, do not dare to change and do their job responsibly. And some do it irresponsibly, but take advantage of the unprofessionalism or softness of management. Spent someone else’s investment, sitting on a salary, and no result – oh, well, it happens, sent the payment to the wrong place – sorry, promised cosmic goals and did not do it – so the world has changed, we are not to blame. It won’t be a big deal, the money and resources are not spent by the employee. And an employee will not agree to risk something personal and his own. Why should he go out of his comfort zone for a paycheck? There is no accountability, just a line in the mission and in the dreams of the manager. Even if the owner thinks he’s paying fairly. We know we never have enough and we work like wolves. It’s always unfair by default.

Employees aren’t bad, they just have their own goals and motivations. That’s the way it should be. This needs to be recognized and understood, then the picture of what to do about it will become clearer. You just need to recognize that there is no premise for the birth of responsibility at work. Come down from the turquoise skies and stop imposing responsibility. Responsibility comes from within. And in the perfect PM, and in any human being. No matter where I’ve worked – from shanty towns to cool companies – there have been non-ideal processes, non-ideal salaries and non-ideal teams, but my employees have always been accountable. They may have complained and been disgruntled, but no one ever let me down. They were reliable. Their accountability came from not wanting to let me down specifically or let anyone down in principle. But in the beginning there was a desire to accomplish the goal, to be committed to achieving the goal and meeting the needs of the stakeholders, and to implement all necessary measures to achieve a successful bottom line. This is the kind of attitude that is valued in an ideal PM. It is always easier to quit than to change your attitude to that of a business owner. But it is this transformation that affects the application of all the skills of the ideal PM. Whatever he does, he will put his best effort to make the result. I mention this at the beginning because without an understanding of responsibility, the other skills are meaningless.

Ability to recognize and reflect on mistakes

A perfect PM knows that no one is perfect. Everyone is strong and weak at the same time. That is why he is not afraid to admit his mistakes, realize them and learn from past experiences. He knows that mistakes are inevitable, and instead of hiding them or denying them, he openly admits to them rather than turning the tables or holing up in Zoom without a camera. He accepts responsibility for mistakes, looks for ways to correct them, and never repeats them again. He may step on new rakes, but never on old ones. I have seen people who will deny their mistake and blame everyone around them until the end. I have seen managers who would rather find someone to blame and make him a scapegoat than draw conclusions and support the team. Therefore, it is equally important to understand the culture and management styles of the company to avoid being the one who just takes everything on himself and destroys his reputation. The ideal PM knows when to admit mistakes publicly, and when to admit them in the small circle of the team or in his or her own mind.

Session 2.
Planning

Planning for the ideal PM is not just a Gantt chart. First and foremost, for him, it’s a process. A thought process. When planning, he looks at the entire project from analyzing the current situation to the ideal end result. This allows him to assemble a plan of action that will lead to the outcome with the highest probability. That is, to sign up for a plan that is impossible not to execute. Or realize on the shore that you need to change the terms or not do the project. You’ll never hear from the perfect PM, “Why bother planning? Things change so fast” or “There are too many inputs and scenarios, you can’t plan here.” He will consider all aspects of the situation and prioritize scenarios. He will choose the best plan of action and how to work with the plan to adapt when it is implemented.

Evaluation and verification

In a perfect world, the ideal PM is involved in sales, preparing a project estimate and a commercial proposal that leaves no chance to the client. He takes into account all factors related to the project and creates accurate estimates that help in planning and decision making. In the real world, a job estimate can be passed to the PM from sales department, another PM, etc. The project may be new, obscure, or have specific requirements. In such a case, I want the PM to know how to prepare a detailed estimate. Verify the functionality, cost and team, consider the risks and not overpromise. And if there is no experience, could organize the estimate using methodologies or with the help of other team members and experts that allow to make a realistic estimate in different scenarios, highlight assumptions and constraints. I think a 20% deviation from the initial estimate is acceptable, but you still want everything to be perfect. Often novice project managers can’t understand what to estimate because the scope is unclear or there are a lot of inputs. An ideal PM in such a situation fixes the project boundaries himself and describes the constraints. In his evaluation, it is always clear what scope or result is being evaluated, what can affect the evaluation and what needs to be clarified for a more detailed evaluation.

Goal setting

The ideal PM knows that goals need to be real and clear, and then SMART and other tools that help you move organically toward the goal and revise them as needed. Real goals means actually leading to the desired result in the shortest path. I often see aspiring project managers perfectly articulate framework goals, but can’t explain why this is our goal. Or because of insecurity, they make a big list of goals and can’t prioritize them. Especially if the right goal is ambitious and the degree of responsibility rises. An ideal PM doesn’t set goals like “for all good and against all bad” or “because they said so”. He knows how to distinguish fake goals from real ones and communicate this to the team in clear language. Moreover, he tries to make sure that his goals in the project are achieved by all parties: the client, the company and all team members. Therefore, he can organize communication and find an approach to help formulate the goals of each side of the project. Needless to say, this is an agile process and the goals are not carved in stone. Let’s not forget the times we live in.

Planning horizons

As the big goal is broken down into a chain of smaller goals, short-, medium-, and long-term planning emerges. Our handsome PM lives and thrives in these horizons. He effectively does short-term planning based on medium-term plans. Everyone understands the weekly and daily plan and keeps the project plan up to date. He does medium-term planning competently, assessing risks and timelines correctly. Informs the team of key milestones and mid-term project plans. He can plan a long-term project plan. For long-term projects, he uses the “surging wave” method, when the plan for the immediate period is as detailed as possible, and further on it is quite top-level. Even if it is the realization of a new project from scratch and a long-term roadmap is needed. He works out plans without fanaticism. The depth and detail of the plan is always directly proportional to the incomprehensibility and complexity. This skill is a good basis for strategic thinking, which is very useful for career development.

Work Breakdown Structures

The ideal PM breaks down complex project plans into smaller, manageable elements, making it easier to plan, allocate resources, and control tasks. Work Breakdown Structure or WBS is the organization of project tasks and activities in a hierarchy where each larger task is divided into smaller subtasks and activities. This structure provides a clear view of the order in which work is performed and its interrelationships and dependencies. The point is to break the project down into subtasks until a level is reached where each subtask becomes manageable. The ideal PM doesn’t crush the entire project down to the smallest tasks by instruction. He uses the world’s most effective tool – common sense. If the decomposition covers the whole project, has a clear hierarchy and interrelationships are logical and clear to the whole team, then there is no need to go further into detail. As always, everything depends on the team and the complexity of the project. First of all, WBS is done to get clarity of planning. This way, at the start it is possible to notice unobvious risks, actualize the necessary resources and blind spots of the project.

Risk management

The credo of the ideal PM is that risks cannot be eliminated, but they can be managed. He is not afraid of risks. He assesses the probability of risks and the effect of the consequences, prioritizes them and puts their treatment in the plan. In short, he identifies, plans, minimizes or eliminates risks on a project on time. Without giving cognitive distortions a chance. The cooler person is not the one who sees more risks in advance, but the one who sees the most devastating risks he can influence. The greater the ambition, the greater the risks. This has a direct impact on responsibility. That is why it is very important to work with risks in a focused way. Otherwise, you can make up so many ideas that you may not even be able to start the project. Working with risks is one of the foundations of planning. An ideal PM has a lot of experience and knowledge. Therefore, his head is full of cases with the most common risks and strategies for responding to them. If you don’t have enough cases of your own, you can always find those who do. They can suggest new risks and help with the assessment of current ones. The main thing is to soberly add them to the risk matrix and not add fuel to the fire of anxiety. In any communication, the ideal PM always uses the word “risks” along with a suggestion of what can be done about them. Sometimes you need to take a risk, but if the risk works, it is important to have an experience, not a total fiasco and psychological trauma.

Priority management

Priorities are linked to goals and are also subject to change. Priorities are a matter of choice. The ideal PM knows how to make the right choice at each point in time to maximize value. He or she not only knows prioritization techniques, but can describe the logical process of why a particular choice was made and what can change. Working with priorities affects the customer, the team, and task completion. That’s why it’s important to communicate the mechanics of prioritization in advance and transparently communicate why they have changed. So that everyone on the team prioritizes based on team principles or project goals, rather than on a whim. A cool PM knows that the word “priorities” didn’t exist before and if you have to choose one of the three most important priorities, he knows how to consciously do it. With all information and data, the ideal PM uses a visual hierarchy. He places the most important tasks or figures at the top so that everyone always knows what is most important right now.

Strategic thinking

I’m probably nuts, but the ideal PM knows how to live from the future to the present. For him, the word “strategy” is not “understanding where we want to go, what plan and approaches to use” and certainly not a document with a written strategy. It is a process of managing strategic tasks and decisions. It requires an understanding of the place and role of yourself, your company or project in the future. Understanding what should be done now, what decisions should be made in order to have a favorable position and competitive advantage there, in the future. No matter how ideal a PM is, he cannot predict the future and accurately determine the end point. It’s about working with the future on different horizons to understand how it’s changing and what you need to focus on in the here and now. What balance to choose between strategic actions and operational actions. So first the strategic process, then the strategy, and then the planning and approaches that need to change with the changing future. Often aspiring PM confuse planning with strategic process, but not our ideal PM. After all, he always thinks with a sequence of “Why?”, “How?”, “What?”. By the way, with these skills, he can build a personal life strategy. Therefore, he will always grow in all areas faster than others.

Session 3.
Managing the project

In fact, it doesn’t matter how a PM manages a project, as long as the result is done on time and on budget, the team is happy and demands continuation, the case is getting likes, the company has earned money, and the client is already filling the case with money to continue working with you. You can read as much as you want about methodologies, get smart with quotes from PMBOK and cross Scrum with anything, but project management is a constant problem solving to make results. Knowledge of classic project management and modern frameworks gives you a base, but no project goes perfectly according to the plan. Not even the perfect PM’a. If the client, team, events or uncertainty make adjustments to the actual process, the ideal PM always remembers that the team is not working for the sake of following the process, but for the result. The process can change, and for a great PM’a this is not a problem!

Project milestones and areas of responsibility

Of course, an ideal PM knows the main stages of any project: preparation, planning, execution and completion. He has a detailed project launch template with decomposition of the main stages, goals, timelines, resources, risks, artifacts, templates, etc. He knows how to customize it for each project so that he doesn’t spend too much time on the launch and doesn’t forget anything. The ideal PM is not a working hand that executes regulations according to a described process. Through all major project phases, he analyzes, plans, manages, communicates, systematizes, optimizes, and reflexes to orchestrate a focused project workflow for results. He is responsible for goal setting, product production, team, quality, timelines, finances, documents, communication, client relations, company reputation, product development and removing obstacles to the result. It’s as if he took a loan from a drug cartel to launch the product and there is no chance of failure, only positive results, period. Like in the Eminem song, “Success is my only option, failure’s not”. By the way, Dr. Milestone, do you know the name of that song?

Doctor: I’m not a fan of rap. I prefer something soothing. Like Lorna Shore.

Project triangle and other shapes

Project managers have a favorite figure: the triangle. It’s not simple. It consists of three constraints that define the quality of a project: scope, budget, and schedule. The ideal PM knows that these are not just project control areas. It’s a balancing act of project management. The simple analogy is “fast, cheap, quality.” Every variable affects every other variable. And it’s not a math problem. The client is spending real money, and the real reputation of the company and the team is at stake. The ideal PM understands the consequences of unbalancing the triangle, so from the very beginning of the project works with the client’s expectations and chooses an approach of working with balance. People have invented other shapes – project squares, hexagons, etc. But they are more like project control tricks, and working with balance is not the main thing. For example, there is a heptagon: plan, cost, scope or scope, quality, customer satisfaction, risk and resources. Who likes what you like. At least a circle, if it works well.

Control of project milestones and process adherence

No one likes the word “control”, it carries negativity. But if the PM is perfect, he or she has made preparations for the project, set goals, outlined project milestones, milestones and key metrics, and loaded the team with what will be done and how it will be done. Then control has a positive intent. Traffic rules are also control, but they are only useful. Either everything goes beautifully according to the process or there are problems. PM provides monitoring and control of process compliance at all stages of the project to detect deviations and problems in time. Of course, not to find fault, but to make decisions to fix them. I mean problems, not blame. An ideal PM is not a supervisor or a babysitter. He knows how to set up process monitoring in such a way that he needs minimal effort to know about problems in advance. This can be done in many different ways. Through culture, rituals, and Google Sheets. The main thing is to make sure that no one suffers. Then it will no longer be control, but management.

Team effectiveness

The job of the ideal PM is to make the team productive. To do this, you don’t need to develop KPIs and make dashboards for tracking. An effective team works on the principle of minimax. Maximize results with minimal effort and cost. An ideal PM makes sure there is nothing unnecessary and useless. No unnecessary communications, no processes, no downtime, no rework, no wrong decisions, etc. Nothing should get in the way of people working and showing team qualities that individually team members don’t have. If the PM is really good at his job, the team will be effective. It simply can’t be otherwise. Just having the perfect PM on a team does not make it effective. Any new team goes through 5 stages: formation, confrontation, normalization, functioning and breaking up. By the way, Dr. Milestone, this model was coined by your fellow psychologist Bruce Tuckman. Therefore, the task of the ideal PM is to get the team to the functioning stage faster, when the team reaches its potential and starts delivering results. You need to understand what stage the team is at and give it enough time to go through this cycle. How long the cycle takes depends on the team and the context. If the team is going to go on a quest before going to a bar, the team will go through all the cycles in a couple of hours, but if there is a big project to be done, it can take several months to reach a good level of performance.

Translation of principles and culture

The worst thing a PM can do is to make up rules and force everyone to follow them. Moreover, if at the same time he will not follow them himself. An ideal PM carefully and permanently communicates the principles of work to the whole team, because it creates a common understanding of how work should be done, what is bad and what is good. Like Morpheus, he should plug a bio-port into everyone’s head and download the team’s cultural code. Even earlier, the company’s HR brand, recruiters and onboarding should do this, but we understand that everyone likes to sugarcoat reality. At the project level, the ideal PM broadcasts his cultural code and demonstrates it by his own example. He may not completely copy the company culture. This applies not only to the team, but also to the client. For the client, this process has a special job of teaching the client how to do the job in a cool and efficient way. At a minimum you will keep the client within your principles. At most, you’ll teach the client or their team something new. There can’t just be one perfect PM. The more the better.

Communication management

Without communication management, you can forget about the effective and comfortable functioning of the team. Consequently, you can forget about the results. Communication is the foundation of interaction and maintaining context. An ideal PM knows how to organize communication between all stakeholders and participants so that it is clear where and how everyone communicates, what meetings are for what and what is discussed at them, what is done, how it is done, when the key milestones are, and what responsibility each participant has. It’s not about communication skill, it’s about interaction design. The ideal PM doesn’t have one that talked to someone somewhere but others didn’t know or didn’t understand. He makes sure that from the very beginning there are no uncontrolled communication flows, everyone knows their roles, expected results, when important deadlines are, who can be brought together directly without mediation, and for whom you need to be an information broker.

Change management

Since “eliminating uncertainty” is the second name of an ideal PM and risk management is routine, he cannot be intimidated by any changes. Therefore, he is characterized by quick and adequate response to changing conditions and unplanned situations. He does not sow panic in the team himself and does not let others sow it. Does not lose focus, but takes responsibility for solving problems that arise. Overall, it’s unclear what else there is to explain. He is able to adapt to new conditions and revise plans, while maintaining the quality and timing of the project. And when a PM is like that, the team is flexible. He reacts calmly to everything and comes to the rescue. The ideal PM identifies possible sources of change from the beginning of the project, and systematically transitions from old conditions to new ones, smoothing out resistance and loss of team productivity. Of course, he’s not Dr. Strange who can roll everything back and get away with it. He’s cooler than that! He’s the perfect PM who is ready for change. And is willing to apply his skills and tools to deal with change depending on context and scope.

Document flow

Of course, it’s too boring for turquoise organizations and should be handled by special people. But no matter how perfect a PM you are, what good is it if you signed a contract with postpayment in 5 years and endless revisions. There are lawyers and financiers almost everywhere, but the ideal PM understands the documents himself. Why they are needed, what the approval process is and what you need to pay attention to so you don’t get caught in an endless hell of client manipulation. Naturally, your clients are different, you have a great relationship, and it will never come to a shootout with wording from the contract. But trust me, sooner or later it will, and you’ll be visiting Dr. Milestone afterwards. Lawyers can help you check strange wording, signatories, and the date of the power of attorney, but the ideal PM knows how to organize the paperwork process and always pays attention to the subject matter of the contract, terms and conditions on time, payment, liability, and acceptance of work. And when the time comes to meet the horseman of the apocalypse – the start of work without a contract – he knows where to lay the straw and how to communicate with the client even in the mail to minimize problems.

Closing gaps and conflicts

I’d like to say about problem solving skill, but it’s a complex skill, we’ll talk about it later. But I would like to point out that the ideal PM sets up transparent processes and teams where everything that is hindering the project comes up. Then he or she systematically removes any obstacles to keep the team steam locomotive running on the tracks. Whether it’s a bottleneck in the process, client-side bureaucracy, or a designer didn’t like the way a developer reacted to his zodiac sign. If it’s hindering the project, you need to fix it or eliminate it. And if it’s not working, then you need to escalate. PM is perfect, but not omnipotent. Until it’s time to escalate, he’s always focused on improving the process. Drives it and helps the team solve problems. As Churchill said, “I love it when something happens. If it doesn’t happen, I do everything I can to make it happen”.

Decision-making

The ideal PM avoids intuitive decisions and stomps for rational thinking. He analyzes, considers all factors and chooses the best option. A decision is a choice with consequences. And the PM is responsible for them. He is not afraid to make decisions and doesn’t procrastinate because he has a system for making decisions in general and specifically for the project. This helps to neutralize cognitive distortions and escape the quagmire of inaction. This approach works in all complex and uncertain situations. It helps in making constructive and informed decisions. For an ideal PM, decision making is the courage to just take everything upon himself, because the decision is his, not a way to show his coolness, like, I’m the boss and I make decisions. It is above all knowledge about thinking and decision making process. An ideal PM can easily explain the logic of decision making and his/her actions in case of negative consequences.

Project portfolio management

A project doesn’t come alone. More often than not, a PM has one large project or several medium-sized ones. In every company, the size of a project is a subjective concept, but it doesn’t matter, because every project has a different team, client, rhythm and dynamics. There are times when five projects can be safely controlled by coming once to a meeting with the team, and there are times when one small project sucks all the energy until the end of the working day. The ideal PM knows that the ideal project is the one he doesn’t need right now. If he sees that his resource is critically short, he will reason with you at the beginning. Often, though, you have to save the world and take on a new project. At least temporarily. Then you need to talk about risks, a backup plan and the period until the load stabilizes. When an ideal PM leads several projects, he doesn’t jump between projects like a wolf after eggs. He strives for harmony and organization between projects. So that there is no overlap in communication, resources, and key milestones. Often you can’t get everything set up in unison and have to juggle priorities, meetings, time and resources. But for the ideal PM, this is not a problem. Once you’ve juggled, you can continue to work smoothly, because he knows what he can adjust in the project to manage his workload. Sometimes you have to take a risk and delegate without preparation, but it helps to gain experience for ideal PMs who are starting out.

Session 4.
Team management

The goal is clear – to ensure that the team works efficiently and comfortably so that project, team and company goals are achieved. Managing roles and assigning responsibilities in a team contributes to more efficient work, better communication and reduced risk. But to do this, you need to realize that a team is not just about the roles needed to achieve results. There are people on the team. With their values, experience, cockroaches, expertise, strengths and weaknesses, attitude to you, to the company, etc. It is not possible to describe roles and assign tasks to everyone. Everything is much more complicated. A team of ordinary specialists can achieve super results, while a team of stars sometimes can’t even start doing something. We are dealing with human nature and efficient processes. The ideal PM knows how to bring these things together. He knows how to lead the team according to Bruce Tuckman’s model and not interfere with the work, so that everyone in the team reaches his goal and gives 100% for the overall result.

Atmospheric management

Kurt Cobain said, “You can survive anything if you pick the right song”. I’m saying that any difficulties on a project can be survived if you find the right PM. And if he picks the right meme, the team can survive anything. No kidding. Maintaining a cool atmosphere in the team is a tough task. The PM should definitely eliminate all the problems and blockers that depend on what the PM and the team can affect. Uncertainty, bad processes, problems, etc. Everything else is an art that allows ordinary people to do incredible things. It could be the culture, the atmosphere, or the PM’a leadership skills. Everyone finds their own approach. A key metric for me is how people on the team relate to each other. PM will explain the goals, plan and organize the process, but if there is no atmosphere of support and mutual assistance in the team, there will be no unified mechanism. And neither the values on the company website nor supervision will help. The people you saw at the interview, where they told you how they want to grow and do good for society, disappear on the first day of work. The work is done by other, real people.The ideal PM understands this. He creates a positive environment where every team member feels comfortable and important. He maintains open communication where people can express ideas and opinions and resolve conflicts and disagreements constructively. Where no one is afraid of making mistakes and doesn’t make the same mistakes twice. Atmosphere is closely related to culture. Together they allow PM to create an environment and positive social pressure. Where you don’t have to specifically motivate someone or be demanding. Where you don’t look for blame or reasons, but decide what to do. Where everyone understands each other’s strengths and weaknesses, comes to the rescue and helps you grow. Doing cool results should be fun. For everyone, not just PM.

Infrastructure and teamwork

Once roles and areas of responsibility are assigned, processes, approaches, principles, rituals and communication are aligned, the ideal PM needs to provide the infrastructure and information sharing, i.e. create the physical part of the system that the team will work with. This can include folders in cloud storage, accesses, a task manager, a financial model, collaboration services, and so on. The team should be provided with everything they need to work. Then you have to build the interaction with the system and between team members. It’s cool when a project is done and someone goes on vacation, but the work doesn’t stop. Because the vacation is accounted for in the plan, everyone knows where the necessary artifacts are and where to put new ones. Anyone has access to where they need to go, without too many questions in chat. An ideal PM doesn’t build big systems, he looks for a balance so that there are no services for services’ sake. He also skillfully divides the system into parts and divides responsibility between team members. Everyone keeps the system running, simplifies and fixes it if needed. An ideal PM has a backbone of basic artifacts and solutions for organizing the work of the team under his cloak. He does not reinvent the wheel every time, but adapts proven tools.

Facilitation

There is always a lot of communication in a project. The ideal PM doesn’t mind discussing pets and talking about any topic. He is not a douche who interrupts a smol-talk with the words, “Colleagues, let’s get down to business already.” For every meeting, he has a purpose, an agenda, a lineup of attendees, and the materials needed. But when the discussion starts drifting away from the purpose, he can non-toxically bring everyone back to the purpose of the conversation. This kind of PM knows how to make meetings effective. So that there is no discussion for the sake of discussion, and the amount of uncertainty, tasks and questions after the meeting is reduced, not increased. And if he does everything right, but participants still don’t talk in the right direction, avoid solutions and the next steps are unclear, then it’s a difficult topic. The ideal PM will always ask the right and uncomfortable questions so that the substance becomes easier to talk about. And problem identification and decision making was done through constructive discussion.

Task setting and delegation

Management is the art of doing other people’s work. In a good way. There is no way to do it without task setting and delegation. An ideal PM sets tasks so that no one has any questions about the purpose of the task and the expected result. He makes sure that the task is understood and accepted correctly, taking into account the overall context, workload and the peculiarities of the performer. The ideal PM does not have a situation where a task is set, done, and on the day of the deadline it turns out that the wrong thing was done or nothing was done at all. If you need to delegate, the PM doesn’t fight fear or micromanage. He has a well-established process for smooth delegation and monitoring the transition of responsibility. For some reason, for many, it’s easier to burn out doing everything themselves than it is to delegate and give corrective feedback. It’s important to learn people skills to understand who you are tasking and delegating to. Someday there will come a point when you just have to trust, and the cost of making a mistake will be high. By understanding people, you will be able to better assess the risks and not lose out. And don’t forget about the support of the people you delegate to. They are more scared than you are.

Resources inside and out

The ideal PM manages internal and external resources, and his prime version always knows in advance when everyone on the team is on vacation. He always knows the actual and planned workload of the team. He keeps track of deviations from the plan, allocates resources to project tasks, accounts for vacations, rotations and onboarding of new specialists. He communicates important changes and plans to the resource manager of the company. There is no such thing as a team suddenly being abruptly released or work extending for several months due to his fault, but no one knew about it in advance. Otherwise, managing expectations is simply not possible. If there are not enough resources and external specialists or services are connected, their load or costs are also taken into account in the project. Usually the main resources are team hours and money. They are never infinite, so the ideal PM controls them to make the best use of them. If resources are shared in a company, conflicts are inevitable. Communication and willingness to help each other to agree is important here. The better a PM works on load predictability, the less such conflicts will occur. For this to happen, this is what every PM should do, not just one PM.

Feedback and motivation

Feedback is a very cool and useful thing. Many times I have seen teams where they decided to give honest feedback. They have a culture and honesty is one of the most important values. As a result, half of the team ends up with feedback like “this is shit, we need to redo it, can’t you do it properly, do I have to do everything for you?”. It’s fashionably called toxic. In a perfect PM, feedback is part of the atmosphere and culture. He doesn’t have toxic feedback. He has honesty used to build trust, adjust behavior, get in sync, and help grow. He knows when and how to give out feedback. Negative feedback is given out in person and praise is given out publicly. He has no favorites, celebrates employee accomplishments and objectively evaluates the contribution of each project team member to the success of the project. This process is called “feedback” for a reason. Communication works both ways. And it should have a supportive, corrective and developmental function. It’s like WD-40 for the social mechanisms in the team. The right feedback can have a tremendous impact on a team’s self-esteem, and motivation will be a natural side effect. You don’t need to look for motivation externally, you need to create the conditions for it to appear internally.

Knowledge sharing

Given what I said earlier, you’ll have a team of “sweet cats”. In this situation, knowledge sharing between team members is inevitable. An ideal PM encourages such processes and at the end of the project he will discuss with the team who has learned what. He is a professional mentor himself. He helps people to systematically pump up their skills. Not only with tales from the field, but also with the help of a development plan and mentee support. He can turn an ordinary PM into an ideal one in a clear time frame, and enrich the team with managerial skills that will increase its maturity. Such a skill makes the ideal PM very important for the company as he is the custodian and dispenser of the right culture and knowledge in the company. And if the company has a knowledge base that will store all this and provide people with information through easy search, then it is a fairy tale in general.

Session 5.
Financial Management

When it comes to finance, many PMs cringe and turn the tables on accountants, financiers or a process called “I don’t know, I plan the tasks and someone else does the math”. The ideal PM knows that he/she is not working in a hobby circle. The company is doing business and making money. For money to be made, there must be more revenue than expenses. He understands what revenue, inflows, expenses, and profitability are. Knows what affects these metrics in a project and how to work with them. All resources and tasks have a cost and their effective allocation affects the success of the project. This understanding of the financial aspects of a project helps him make informed decisions to optimize costs and increase profitability. And also not to get into preemptively failed or unfeasible projects. A general understanding of finances and managing the financial model of the project helps in better bagging, not…

Doctor: I see, Mr. Gregory. Please continue.

Financial modeling

When it comes to launching or deciding to launch a project, the ideal PM uses financial tools and programs to create detailed financial models. At least on a napkin, at least in Google Sheets. He or she knows how to create budgets, analyze financial metrics, and forecast future revenues and expenses. A project financial model describes project parameters in money, allows you to interpret financial data and draw reasonable conclusions. The ideal PM always keeps the financial model up to date. At any given time, he or she knows what the projected profitability of the project will be and what will happen if a developer is suddenly removed from the project or a client takes several weeks to coordinate the color of a button with his wife. If due to the specifics of the project the financial model also becomes complex or individual calculations are needed, PM quickly finds a common language with financiers to make a tool convenient for all. Since the concepts of PL, CF, CM and COST for an ideal PM are not TikTok slang. We can say that a financial model for a PM is like a unit-economy for products. It gives you an understanding of the parameters at which the project will succeed, and at which parameters it is not even worth starting and you need to change the conditions. The financial model fixes the indicators at the beginning of the project, always shows the planned figures, the forecast of hitting the plan and the actual figures. The PM monitors deviations and makes decisions. The head of such a PM or CEO may not even communicate with him if he is sure that the financial model is up to date and the numbers do not give alarm bells. Financial modeling makes the ideal PM an entrepreneur in his project, and this is a completely different level of thinking and management.

Cash flow

Everything may be rosy on paper or in the tables, but if you don’t get the planned cash (CF), you may have a cash gap. Cash flow is live money that falls into the company’s account. It is used to pay salaries and buy coffee for the office. Every month, regardless of how things are going in the project. When there is no money in the account, but there are expenses, it is unpleasant. It’s good if the lost money covers the income from other projects. But this is not always the case. That’s why the ideal PM ensures that the money is received in a timely manner. From the very beginning, from getting to know the client to receiving payments, he or she builds agreements and controls the process to make sure everything is on time. Believe me, as soon as a scheduled money arrival appears in the financial model, the finance people read it as “PM [Name] has signed in blood that amount N will be on X number. Nothing can prevent that, and if it does, the PM will kick that money out and we are 100% counting on it.” They’ll never say that, but that’s what they think. For the ideal PM, getting paid is a separate sub-project. From the beginning, he studies the payment process at the client’s company, outlines it and coordinates it. He knows the timings and everyone involved so he can monitor and very specifically ping who needs to be pinged. When necessary, he can even go into “cute collector” mode or escalate when nothing else is working.

Session 6. Communication

I don’t think I need to explain that effective communication is the foundation of successful project work. Communication affects every aspect of a project manager’s work. Without effective communication, interactions with stakeholders become unpredictable and risky. The ideal PM has an exorbitant level of verbal and written communication. For him, it is not the transfer of information. It is the art of reading between the lines, listening and hearing, persuading, motivating, building trust, resolving conflicts and more. Strong communication skills can compensate for errors and mistakes in projects and break down very complex problems. The ideal PM is a true connoisseur of digital etiquette, handles all communication responsibly and cares about the consumer of information. This is a very rare skill and I value it very much in project managers. I cannot describe all the applications of communication, but I will go over the most important components of an ideal PM.

Flexibility and empathy

Ford President Lee Iacocca said, “There is one phrase in the characterization of any manager, no matter how capable, that I do not tolerate; this is it: “He doesn’t get along with people.” I think that’s a killer characterization.” Totally supportive. Unless the other side is a complete asshole who deliberately wants to hurt you, you can always negotiate. Unfortunately, people often label people without even trying to understand the person. Being flexible doesn’t mean bending to someone else’s interests, but tuning in to the same wavelength with the person to find common ground. Understand the overall context and emotional response, notice the true motive or issues that the person doesn’t talk about but they influence their decision. The ideal PM always shows empathy. He understands and empathizes with the feelings and thoughts of others. Engages in the emotional experience of others and is able to perceive their world from their perspective. Therefore, he is open to discussing opinions different from his own and is willing to change his point of view when influenced by reasonable arguments. He does not communicate with clients and the team as “one of many’”, but as a specific individual. Attentively and openly, so that there is an atmosphere of mutual understanding. This approach helps to conduct constructive dialogue, resolve conflicts and build communication on the basis of mutual respect and trust. Because any mistrust is a virus for the team and the project.

Influence and persuasion

By influence I do not mean any manipulation or coercion. Influence comes organically from the ability to persuade. That is, how to build storytelling and argumentation to convincingly present ideas, motivate the team and overcome resistance to change. Without pressure or damaged relationships. The ideal PM builds a logical line of argument with transparent cause and effect relationships so that people quickly get the big picture and resistance is reduced. He knows all about cognitive distortions and traps. So he builds arguments that protect people from erroneous judgments. You bet, because he has books by Chaldini and Kahneman on his shelf. I won’t repeat myself about the effectiveness of communication. I’ll just say that this skill helps get agreement and support for important decisions faster. There are situations when it is very important. And the ability to insist on your decision saves a project from failure. A special place in the heart of an ideal PM heart is the application of this skill in negotiations and defense of their decisions in front of stakeholders. Because clients often give money to professionals to do the right thing. But when they do, the client abruptly realizes that they know the right thing to do, even though they are not professionals. So you have to convince people that there are many options, but common sense is the only one.

Ability to explain and concise

If I were as concise as the perfect PM, we’d get through this faster. But for now, listen up. Especially since I think you benefit from people who aren’t brief. You’re paid by the hour, aren’t you, Dr. Milestone? Just kidding.) Agreed, a clear and concise explanation allows you to convey information effectively and minimize the possibility of misunderstandings. Brevity, on the other hand, allows you to emphasize the main point, focus on the essence and avoid information overload. The ideal PM is able to condense complex concepts and key messages into clear and concise statements. He builds logical and consistent explanations, uses simple and clear language, adapts to the interlocutor and gives out only the necessary information. In any way that is convenient for everyone. From drawings on the blackboard to facial expressions. In short, he does not pour water and always speaks to the point, which allows you to focus on the main objectives and the result. This greatly improves the quality of communication and saves time and attention.

Conflict resolution

Conflicts of interest or resources are understandable. But conflicts between people are a complicated story, because people are involved. Conflicts can arise because of differences in views, interests and personalities, and they cannot be completely avoided. There may be a perfect culture and a rosy atmosphere, but sooner or later irrationality and emotions will make themselves known. An art director may express dissatisfaction with a designer, an analyst will be upset that they laughed at his toy on the table, and someone will harbor a grudge for an unfounded claim. Open or hidden conflict, it doesn’t matter. It will affect the job. The ideal PM makes sure it doesn’t come into conflict. But if a conflict has happened, the PM will not stand by. He will always try to move the conflict in a constructive direction. To turn on the maximum ability to listen and understand the parties, to search for compromises, to find mutually beneficial solutions and to apply approaches to conflict resolution. He will always be a neutral mediator, able to overcome emotional obstacles and find constructive solutions. Especially in group discussions. The ideal PM is the perfect facilitator. He plans and structures meetings, uses tools to stimulate discussion, exchange ideas and joint decision-making, and manages time and ensures that all team members participate. And all this in a trusting and supportive atmosphere. By the way, working with conflicts is not just about rushing in a second before a fight and settling it all. It is about preventing conflicts and building a culture of constructive conflict. After all, Patrick Lencioni said that “any long-term relationship requires constructive conflict for its development. This applies to marriage, partnership, friendship and, of course, business”.

Public communication

The ideal PM uses all of the above confidently not only at home in front of the mirror, but also in public speeches, presentations and any group communications. It is not a problem for him to speak clearly and convincingly in front of an audience, present a project or defend the team’s solution to a client. He plans and prepares for speeches in detail, but if it is necessary to improvise, he will be an interesting and charismatic speaker who holds the audience’s attention and inspires confidence. He skillfully uses storytelling and presentation techniques to achieve his goals. The shorter the speech and presentation, the more time is spent on preparation. A perfect PM presentation always wins over the listener’s desire to get stuck on the phone. This strengthens his reputation and attitude towards the company, and if used correctly, it also pumps up the HR brand.

Caring for the information consumer

I’ve said before that the ideal PM is a true connoisseur of digital etiquette. He is not just an embodiment of it, he is a product owner of information: in a letter, in a message, in spreadsheets, documents, comments, etc. In any communication channel, he thinks about the user and delivers value to him. It takes care of his eyes and brains. There is never any question about the layout and formatting of the texts of an ideal PM. Consumers of his information need to do minimum actions to respond, understand or use the information. Since he always takes care of its appearance, structure, hierarchy, readability and further usage scenarios. In short, an ideal PM always has everything clear, structured and understandable. Such digital care creates a good impression, increases the coolness and brand of systematicity. Because it saves other people’s time, which is invaluable.

Session 7. Sales, business and clients

It would seem that why would an ideal PM need sales? There is a sales department and account managers who sell, hand over the project to the PM, and he realizes it. But if a project manager knows how to sell, everyone benefits. First, he closes a bigger block of work, as a sales person is not needed. Secondly, there is no process of transfer from sales to production, because who sold, he does. Third, if you start with sales, it’s a whole different level of awareness and approach. The ideal PM doesn’t show a price list to the client to choose a service and have the team do the technical requirements. He or she works with the client’s goal-setting and scrupulously searches for the answer to the question, “Why does the client need the project?” It often happens that it is necessary to do something quite different from what was voiced in the request. In this way, a relationship with the client is formed from the very beginning and expertise is demonstrated. Since a project manager knows better than any salesman how projects are done and what risks there are. And expertise sells very well. An ideal PM doesn’t sell anything, he tries to help and find a solution. When the project is realized, the relationship with the client develops, and the project manager becomes more and more deeply immersed in the client’s business. This allows for pre-sales. When the project involves doing the right thing and not doing the right thing, you will inevitably have to figure out the client’s business and motivations. These skills, along with communication, make the perfect PM the perfect salesperson.

Understanding the client’s business

The ideal PM may not understand all businesses and have all industry expertise. But he knows how to immerse himself in the business so that he has a sufficient understanding of how the business works and how it makes money. Before the first meeting, he gathers information about the client: he studies the field, the market, competitors, trends, etc. If possible, he finds all the client’s statements in the public domain to understand the company’s development vector. Then it understands the client’s current situation, its place in the market, maturity, strengths and weaknesses. And the coolest part is that the ideal PM has an understanding of the client’s value delivery chain. Not to the client, but from the client to their customers. Projects and products are not made for the client, but for his clients own customers. He understands the client’s business model. How value is produced and how it is delivered to the customer. Therefore, the ideal PM in the first meeting can talk about the client and not about himself or his product. And this is the ultimate in building trust and first impression. When the client says, “I don’t understand anything about this, you’re the expert, do it right” – and when the team does it right, but the client disagrees, the ideal PM can argue all decisions in the language of business.

Positioning and portfolio knowledge

Ask your project managers, sales people, or any employee, “What do we sell?” In most cases, you’ll hear a list of services: design, development, etc. This is equivalent to saying that a restaurant sells food. A vegetable garden and a grocery store sell food, too. It’s cheaper too. Why do we go to restaurants? The ideal PM doesn’t just freely broadcast the company’s position in the market and appeal to services, portfolio cases in relevant situations. He explains the value of services to all levels on the customer side. He explains how the service will help the project holder to get a promotion, their manager to show the right result, and their company to achieve the goal. He makes the case for why your company is the one that knows what to do and how to do it. And masterfully pulls relevant services out of his sleeve as the conversation progresses, explaining when they are most needed. Explains in the language of the client how to evaluate results and select contractors, and if he realizes that the client’s need is beyond the company’s expertise, he figures out a way to close the need by collaborating with someone or contracting out. After talking about services with the ideal PM, the client always learns something new and is convinced that no one else will do it better. While others list a list of services and don’t respond to emails for two days, the ideal PM closes deals.

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