Project Management is Strategically Underutilized by Companies Transcript

Ross Martin:

The first topic that we're going to tee up here is project management is strategically underutilized by companies. What does that mean and why? Project management is strategically underutilized by companies, right? Idris, what do you think?

Idris Manley:

So my view on that is project management is oftentimes looked at as operators to supporting business goals, right? So there's a business goal that needs to be achieved and the executives are putting together the strategies for achieving that business goal. And more than likely, there's some change initiative or change management require to support achieving that business goal. And so it is at that point where project management sort of gets involved to support the execution of some planning and execution of a deliverable or a set of deliverables that will ultimately support achieving that business goal. More often than not, those deliverables require an operator, usually in some other function, to take responsibility for executing on those deliverables or for operationalizing those deliverables after go live to ensure that they're actually achieving the business goals and outcomes that are desired, right? And so from a project management perspective, they aren't a part of the conversations prior to the initiation of a project. They're not involved in the strategic planning, the creation of the business case, any of that sort of strategic work. They are really tapped after all of those things have been defined and there is a clear need to initiate a project. nor is a project manager involved, you know, after the deliverables have completed, you know, in terms of, you know, the key metrics and KPIs and just being able to contribute to the operational side of achieving or getting to the business goals or outcomes that are desired either.

Ross Martin:

Yeah, and thinking back to Silicon Valley, big tech company that I worked at, the reality is, like you said, some sort of strategy shift has happened, and there's a realization that we need to implement some sort of software, or make a change, or do an organizational shift, or something like that. A project is conceived of. And what would happen then is there was actually an approach to the executive in charge of the PMO for that area in this case. And then they're like, hey, do you have any project managers that you can assign to this project? Um, and sometimes if it was an important enough project, they would actually, uh, yank that person off of something else that was less of a priority. And so as a project, or add more to their plate, they go on that responsibility. That is a very good point. Yes. Please also keep doing what you were doing before. But the point is, I remember, again, as a project manager at the manager level, being in a situation where, you know, all of a sudden I find out about this thing as it's being handed to me. You are now on this project. Please meet with these stakeholders, these executives and others, and find out more about it and put together a plan as quickly as possible. Oh, and schedule the meetings. Yep. So, uh, I think, yeah, I think that's, that's the, exactly how it has been played out traditionally.

Idris Manley:

Yeah. And so I think when you think about sort of strategic underutilization, it's really the, um, the lack of engagement and, and perceived value that project managers have to contributing to strategic sort of planning and considerations. um, for, for projects and for achieving a business outcome or a set of business goals.

Ross Martin:

Yeah. And as, as, as we've seen, as we moved up in our careers, um, we started to be more involved earlier in that. Um, not necessarily as involved as, as we felt that would have been even more helpful to the company, like back when at, in the early days where the strategy is being conceived. Sure. But as head of PMO, you're brought in at a certain point as the projects are starting to kind of, you know, solidify a little bit, partly because they're wanting you to assign some people to help drive these things forward.

Idris Manley:

Yeah, no, I think when you, if you, if you look at, so, you know, every company has, or tends to have an annual planning sort of event, right? So once a year, usually mid year, they start, you know, strategic planning and execution sort of activities. You know, I have, it has been rare to see anyone from PMO be a part of any of those engagements, any of those discussions, any, to contribute in any kind of meaningful way. And for myself, even though I've been an executive head of PMO, PMO VP, I've rarely been a part of those. And if I've been included, it's been sort of isolated for very specific sort of inputs and contributions. And so I think generally speaking, there is just this perception within corporations in business in terms of what our role is, what our value add is and what it isn't. And so I think when I think about strategic underutilization, it's really the perception of PMO as not being able to offer more than just tactical or very specific sort of project operational sort of capabilities and value contributions.

Ross Martin:

This reminds me. as they all do. Everything reminds you, right? Exactly. Interestingly enough, this reminds me at, in two different companies I've been at, I felt like I actually had a little bit of a foot in the door on that, in that I was brought in early on to help the strategy person drives the annual print planning process. They thought, hey, if we bring in a senior project leader to help drive the process, the strategy person can spend more time worrying about the strategy itself and not how we go about doing that. And in two different companies, this actually happened. And in both cases, uh, I, I felt actually marginalized in that case. Um, and this is for a senior, uh, you know, senior director, uh, level project manager. And the reason was, is that the strategy person really didn't want to give up that kind of control over the process. Um, and again, they were nice about it, but I felt, uh, like I, I kept saying, okay, let me do that. No, no, no, no, no. I feel like you were stepping on their toes. Exactly. And, and that they didn't, you just could kind of tell that they were like, they, they didn't really need me. And, or, or if, or they started to, again, we, we've used the use of marginalized a little bit. They'd say, you know what? here's all the meetings I need you to schedule or please take notes in these meetings, which are, you know, the, the, the very base level of project management contribution, which again goes back to our, what we've talked about, which is that people, um, haven't necessarily seen project managers be strategic in their thinking. So they don't think about allowing us to be strategic in our thing.

Idris Manley:

Yeah, yeah, no, no, I think I think you're spot on. I think as a PMO leader, when I think about there's usually two scenarios that occur when as a leader, I am seeking to, you know, encourage more strategic thinking, or contribution, or encourage my team to write, it's either the stakeholder will embrace it and say, Hey, that's great. You know, yeah, and you can you're making my life easier, or you're adding more strategic value. I'm glad to have you. Glad to have you. Or it's the other, which is what you described, which is, what are you doing? Why are you doing that? I need you to, you know, you guys need to do this, or you're stepping on our toes, or you're trying to change things in a way that they don't need to be changed. Right. And so there's basically there's a change management sort of resistant. I've got this. You don't, you know, thank you. Stay in your lane. Thank you. Yeah, exactly. And I think there certainly are strategies and techniques that can be used to sort of overcome that. But I do think it's important, particularly for more senior PMs, for senior, for PMO leaders, to really sort of recognize those two worlds and to figure out how to navigate it. Because at the end of the day, as a project manager, as a project management leader, it's in your interest to become more strategic. In fact, not only is it in your interest, it's really your success depends upon it. Your sustainability depends upon it because if you are banking on just adding tactical operator value, you're going to find yourself marginalized and you're going to probably shorten the you know, your, your, you know, your opportunity at whichever company that you're at, um, in addition is going to also constrain your, you know, your, um, you know, the ability to be promoted and compensation, et cetera. So there's a lot of reasons, um, that it is in our interest to become more strategic. And we just have to figure out despite the constraints and the external sort of challenges and forces that are sort of counter to that, how do we overcome them?

Ross Martin:

Yeah, no, that's, that's interesting. Yeah, the, I think about it, it's a little bit of a question. It's like, are our project managers not as strategic because we have not been allowed to play in strategic realms by the senior leadership of the company? So is it that there's a ceiling that's holding us back? Or is it more about that the project managers have not displayed the strategic acumen and behaviors that senior executives, if they saw it, would say, I want this person to be in the room when we're talking about this, because I really liked the way they think.

Idris Manley:

Yeah, yeah, it's both. I mean, it's a good question. It's both it is certainly there are perceptions culturally within corporations in terms of what project managers management's function is and contribution is. Yeah, there's biases. Yeah. I mean, certainly work with project managers, but we've probably worked with a lot of project managers that really take a lot of pride in the tactical value adds. And, and so they see us through that lens of, Oh, you're, you're, you know, you guys are tactical contributors. You'll take those meeting notes and schedule those meetings and, you know, and, and, you know, stay in your lane, like do do that. Um, but also, but not everyone, not every executive, not every sponsor has that view. And so on the other side, PMs, you know, it's a mindset. A lot of PMs have embraced the mindset that their value add is really more of it as a tactical or tactician or as an operator. And that's where they tend to focus their energies. And so I think that there are certainly, when you look to how to evolve that, how to shift that, It takes some, you know, we can't, we can't really, we can't expect the stakeholders or the executives to sort of change overnight that point of view. So really we have to figure out how do we begin to educate, inspire a change. And, and we, you know, and so I think those are probably different topics or it makes sense altogether how we do that.

Ross Martin:

It's interesting in a way. I think part of it is people who choose to go into project management, like anyone who chooses any particular profession, the tactical organizational sort of superpowers are the comfort zone. And so, uh, this, and so to be told that you actually have to master that, but then sort of start to fade away from it a bit, you can never completely get rid of it, but, and focus on areas you aren't comfortable in and going into uncomfortable areas is, uh, you know, is, is exciting and opportunistic for some people and scary for others. Yeah. Yeah.

Idris Manley:

No, I think the underlying problem with many PMs is we, we don't necessarily understand the nuances of different sort of audiences that we're trying to support and trying to, um, make sure, you know, gain the right sort of perception of us. Right. And so I think we spend a lot of time on what the stakeholder wants. We try and lock into, you know, the project sponsor. what are their needs, or the key sort of stakeholders in a project, what are their needs? And you may find that a lot of them, not all of them, but a lot of them may really value and appreciate your ability to be a tactician. Yeah, schedule those meetings, take those meeting notes in there, and they're happy. You know, but I think we lose sight of other audiences like that, you know, that VP or that C-level executive that maybe they're not actively involved in the project, but they're watching from afar, and they would like a different type of value from you. And, but you're not, but you're so locked in on the people that are right in front of you, the people that you're working with on a daily basis and what their needs are, that you're not really recognizing that the, you know, key decision makers, you know, and people that can really sort of determine your, your long term success and your ability to be promoted and to really move up the ranks. Those are individuals that may desire to see another sort of capability and value contribution from you.

Ross Martin:

I'm sure you've heard as a parent the you're being watched concept and the idea is... Or in a horror movie. Yes, fair enough, fair enough. But in the context of children, the you're being watched is to try and remember that you may tell them you want them to behave in a certain way, but if you actually act in a very different way, they notice. And I think that's not a bad, hopefully not in a paranoid way, but I think it's not a bad thing to think about as a person in a company in that how you're perceived in small moments, especially by the people that don't work with you a lot, makes a huge difference. And as we moved up in our company, and I remember being in some discussions around possible promotions, And you never know when somebody who doesn't work that often with the person would say, well, I had one experience with them that was really poor, and that'll derail any promotion.

Idris Manley:

Or the opposite, where I had one, you know, I saw, I had a conversation with them, or they did a presentation and they shared some really interesting, compelling insights. And I was like, wow, I don't work with them often, but I happened to be in the meeting, you know, And so it works both ways. Yes, yes, you're right. And first impressions or infrequent impressions really matter. And so again, despite the fact that you don't necessarily work with that particular leader often, the few interactions that they get, they have an opportunity to observe your work or to get a sense of your value are really critical. And if you are already in sort of tactical operator mode, And that person gets a chance to interact with you. And that is the side that you're demonstrating. It may be all they need to see to come with, you know, to reach a conclusion that will influence, you know, promotional decisions.

Ross Martin:

Yeah, absolutely. I remember a situation where I was on a business trip and the CFO of the company, uh, invited me to dinner, just, just one-on-one. Um, and I didn't work with him that often. Um, and, uh, and so, you know, you're aware, like how important it is that you act and behave in a certain way, but also just the conversation itself and the ability to not just be the person who can explain very well what you're working on and the importance of it, but. stepping back and showing them that you think strategically, that you understand the domain of what the company is all about and its goals, and how you are thinking about those in doing your work at all times is really critical.

Idris Manley:

Yeah, yeah. So I think just to sort of to wrap up, I definitely think that we are strategically underutilized, and it will continue to be so. I was chatting with a friend recently, and she mentioned that it was actually pretty dire for our profession, as in if PMO, as a profession, if we don't figure out how to become more strategic, As a profession, we will continue to become more isolated or more marginalized, and how it's really critical that... Why?

Ross Martin:

Why more marginalized than already?

Idris Manley:

Because AI will begin to perform more and more of the tactical work that we hang our hat on. And so as AI continues to sort of erode that sort of value from below, and then we're already being sort of marginalized from the top in terms of executives not allowing us to become or encouraging us to be more strategic. And then, you know, and so basically from the top and from the bottom, we're continuing to sort of be squeezed. And so and then you already have sort of on the side, you have other department leaders that already think that they can perform, they can manage projects themselves, like their team members have an ability to manage a project. You know, and so they don't necessarily always believe that they need a project manager, you know, unless it's, it's a larger project or it's really complex, or they just don't have the resources.

Ross Martin:

I've seen that sometimes they want a project manager, but there's no cost justification for such a thing. So then they just, well, they just do it themselves or they have their team member do it. And then that's okay.

Idris Manley:

Right. Right. But, but the point is just that for sort of 360, I feel like the profession is being sort of, you know, it's, it's, it's being attacked from all directions in a sense. And I think it's important. And I think strategy being more strategic is really, is really sort of the guiding light. It's the beacon, uh, that will allow project management to really begin to offer greater value that really begins to sort of resist, um, sort of the erosion that's happening, um, in, in different directions.

Ross Martin:

Sounds. Yeah. Sounds dire and, and critical.