Project Team Leadership and Communication

246 Pages·2018·3.018 MB·English

by  Samuel Malachowsky

Project Team
Leadership
and
Communication
Samuel Malachowsky, PMP
This book is dedicated to my wife, Patty, in appreciation of all of her support.
Special thanks to my editor, George Goga, for his excellent work.
Cover design, graphics, illustrations, and text © 2018 Samuel A. Malachowsky. All
rights reserved.
The Blowing Tree logo and the Boxed Seed logo are © 2018 Lintwood Press.
Author Photo (page 234) by Luke Sturgis © 2017. Used with permission.
No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic, manual, photocopying, recording, or by any information storage
and retrieval system without prior written permission by the author. Please contact
[email protected].
Everyefforthasbeenmadeinthepreparationofthisbooktofindandconveyaccurate,
truthful information. However, this book is sold without warranty, either expressed
or implied. The author, publisher, distributors, or dealers will not be held liable for
damages caused or alleged to have been caused directly or indirectly by this book.
Use the information contained at your own risk.
Due to environmental considerations, this book may be print-on-demand. Because
of this, small variations in alignment, color, and cover design may be present. Please
report issues that affect overall quality or readability to the publisher.
Significant discounts are available for large orders.
Please direct inquiries to [email protected].
Instructional resources available at http://lintwood.com/ProjectLeadership
Publisher’s Cataloging-in-Publication data
Names: Malachowsky, Samuel, author.
Title: Project team leadership and communication / Samuel Malachowsky.
Description: Includes bibliographical references and index. | Rochester, NY:
Lintwood Press, 2018.
Identifiers: ISBN 978-1-7323789-1-9 (Hardcover) | 978-1-7323789-0-2 (pbk.) |
LCCN 2018906120
Subjects: LCSH Leadership. | Project management. | Communication. | Teams in
the workplace. | Agile software development–Management. |
BISAC TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING / Project Management |
BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Project Management | COMPUTERS /
Software Development & Engineering / Project Management
Classification: LCC HD69.P75 .M354 2018 | DDC 658.404–dc23
19618AMEL
Brief Contents
About This Book vii
1 Understanding Leadership 1
In this introduction, we explore what it means to be a leader and how to match
your leadership style, influence, and motivators with the culture of the team you
are leading. Additionally, this chapter explores who is important to the project
and provides a basic understanding of the field of Project Management.
2 Project Fundamentals 25
This chapter lays the foundation for understanding the nature of projects. In
addition to establishing what a project is and the terminology used by project
teams, it also explores the organizational structures projects live in and the early
steps required to begin a project.
3 Prioritization: The Core of Project Leadership 79
Reviewing what they are trying to accomplish can leave a project team over-
whelmed. In this chapter, we’ll explore the concepts behind choosing priority:
properly understanding how long tasks will take, ordering them properly, consis-
tently and accurately evaluating risk and status, and analyzing the people impor-
tant to the project.
i
ii BRIEF CONTENTS
4 Team Structure and Development 111
In this chapter, we’ll try to understand what a team is and what makes it suc-
cessful. By exploring success factors, structures, stages of development, and the
core needs of a team, we’ll gain the ability to properly use the tools that help a
team produce consistent, positive results.
5 Communication and Expectation Management 149
In this chapter, we address the mechanics of team communication, meeting suc-
cess, and the ethics of communication. To do this, we focus on the importance of
“expectation management” as well as how to achieve appropriate communication
when including metrics and reports.
6 Pitfalls to Identify and Avoid 179
In the conclusion of this book, we present an extensive list of common team and
project issues with the hope that the reader can learn to regularly identify and
avoid them.
Agile: The Future of Projects? 195
This appendix explores some new ideas in project management, concentrating
mostly on Agile methods, values, and techniques, and how they can benefit a
modern project team.
Index 225
Detailed Contents
About This Book vii
1 Understanding Leadership 1
1.1 The Leader’s Title . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.2 Leadership Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.3 Influence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.4 Motivators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.5 Matching Leadership with Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.6 Who We Lead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.7 The Discipline of Project Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1.8 Chapter Tool: Who We Are as Leaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
1.9 Summary and Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Key Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Review Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2 Project Fundamentals 25
2.1 What is a Project? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
2.2 The Project Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
2.3 Values, Needs, and Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
2.4 Quality and The Project Triangle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
2.5 Defining Project Outcomes: A Layered Approach . . . . . . . . . . . 51
2.6 The Project’s Early Stages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
2.7 Chapter Tool: Planning Project Quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
2.8 Summary and Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Key Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Review Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
iii
iv DETAILED CONTENTS
3 Prioritization: The Core of Project Leadership 79
3.1 Why is Prioritization So Essential? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
3.2 Estimation Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
3.3 Estimates vs. Commitments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
3.4 Accuracy and Precision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
3.5 Project Scheduling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
3.6 Project Tracking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
3.7 Risk Management. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
3.8 Chapter Tool: Prioritizing Stakeholders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
3.9 Summary and Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Key Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Review Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
4 Team Structure and Development 111
4.1 What Makes a Team Successful? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
4.2 Team Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
4.3 Team Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
4.4 Needs and the Team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
4.5 Building Trust . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
4.6 Managing Conflict . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
4.7 Achieving Commitment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
4.8 Embracing Accountability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
4.9 Focusing on Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
4.10 Chapter Tool: Evaluating Your Team’s Maturity . . . . . . . . . . . 140
4.11 Summary and Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Key Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Review Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
DETAILED CONTENTS v
5 Communication and Expectation Management 149
5.1 The Importance of Project Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
5.2 Basic Communication Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
5.3 Push/Pull Communication: A Hybrid Approach . . . . . . . . . . . 155
5.4 Communications within the Team: Meeting Success . . . . . . . . . 159
5.5 Ethics in Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
5.6 Communicating with Metrics and Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
5.7 Stakeholder Expectation Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
5.8 Chapter Tool: The Quad Chart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
5.9 Summary and Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Key Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Review Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
6 Pitfalls to Identify and Avoid 179
6.1 Team Pitfalls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
6.2 Process and Product Pitfalls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
6.3 Chapter Tool: Pitfall “Hot Spots” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
6.4 Summary and Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Key Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Review Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
A Agile: The Future of Projects? 195
A.1 The History of Agile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
A.2 Why Agile is Important . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
A.3 Agile: A Group of Defined Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
A.4 Agile: A Set of Practices and Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
A.5 Agile: A Defined Set of Core Values and Principles . . . . . . . . . . 212
A.6 Implementation in Your Organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
vi DETAILED CONTENTS
A.7 Summary and Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
Key Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
Review Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
Answers to Review Questions 223
Index 225
About the Author 234
About This Book
W elcome and thank you for picking up this book! It is my hope that it will
return the favor by elevating your ability to lead a project team, raising
your understanding of the situations you will face, and increasing your
skillofeffectivelycommunicatingandmanagingtheexpectationsofthoseimportant
to your projects.
In addition to covering the concepts implied by the book’s title, a main objective
of the text is to accommodate readers’ varied preferences and learning styles. The
writing and resources included in the text are designed to be useful to all, but your
learning style will contribute to your understanding and application of the concepts
and practices included.
How You Learn
I have tried to structure this book so that it appeals to the many diverse learning
styles readers bring to the text.
Some readers may choose to read the book cover-to-cover in one or two sessions. To
accommodate these readers, I’ve carefully considered which managerial concepts to
include and which to omit; I’ve also been deliberate with the ordering of chapters
and the central ideas which lead into and build on each other—these decisions
will benefit the type of reader who will keep the text as a resource to reference
when needed. To further support these readers, I’ve included an extensive table of
contents, exhaustive index, and numerous cross-references throughout the text. I
understand that the speed at which this type of reader can connect their need for
a refresher with the material they’ve read is important—to these readers, value is
mined out of a book on a situational basis, and they tend to have a mastery of
knowing where to find information, thus placing less value on memorization.
vii
viii ABOUT THIS BOOK
Otherreadersprefertointentionallylimithowmuchtheyreadinonesittingsothey
can ruminate over what they’ve just absorbed. Once they have completed a book,
thesereadersarelikelytoneveropenitspagesagain. Iftheychoosetokeepthetext
itself, it’s often used as a memento—these readers relish the opportunity to pass it
along to another person who may find it useful, and its existence on their shelf is
tied to reminding them of an experience rather than its availability to be used as
a reference. To support this type of learner, I’ve included resources and exercises
both within and at the end of chapters. These questions and scenarios are designed
to deepen understanding and retention of the material, taking longer to complete
but also giving the reader an opportunity to visualize and apply what they’ve just
learned.
Finally, other readers have enrolled in a class or training that includes this book as
a reference. These readers are likely to employ some combination of the two reading
styles listed above. If you are one of these readers, your instructor has likely seen
value in the concepts covered herein and has crafted a curriculum unique to your
situation(whetheracademicorindustry). Tosupportthissituation, thetextadopts
many of the conventions of a textbook, with clear chapter structure, activities,
glossaries, questions and exercises, academic citation of sources, and “courseware”
(slides, curricula, etc.), which are available on the publisher’s website. It is my hope
that you will find both the instructor’s efforts and the resources you retain after
training valuable, honing you as a professional and increasing your ability to cope
with and manage the situations you’ll encounter in the future.
Book Structure
A brief description of what each chapter covers has been included in the Brief
Contents at the beginning of this book. Generally, chapters flow into each other
and link the ideas and practical coverage of concepts into one another. To build
this cohesiveness, I’ve liberally used cross-references throughout the text. Chapter
6, titled Pitfalls to Identify and Avoid, concludes the book by presenting several
common (negative) scenarios, which give readers a chance to apply what they’ve
learned appropriately to each situation if it were to occur.
In addition to content, most chapters include a “chapter tool” and additional re-
sources after their conclusions. Each chapter tool is designed to give the reader a
practical, relevant resource designed to create a measurable effect on their individ-
ual, team, or overall project development. Resources at the end of each chapter