what a question!
And who is going to do this?
Have you ever heard this phrase?
Over time, I’ve learned to worry and pay attention every time I hear it.
I used to work with a project manager on the team, perhaps one of the most experienced I have ever shared a team with, who every time we would get into a difficult project that had complicated aspects that we were going to do for the first time, would ask the question “And who is going to do this?”
In a lot of these big messes, I used to put him on it and after getting mad at me, he would get on with it, work much harder than I anticipated and finish it on time and on budget.
That question was much deeper than I could imagine when he was on my team. His mind, he was never thinking about the IRR, the NPV, the benefit to the company, the strategic direction the company could take, the “know-how” that was to be acquired…. He was thinking about execution. In these days where marketing, take center stage more than ever, his mind was, how many site managers are needed, how many inspections are going to be needed, how am I going to make sure the new equipment does what it says on paper, how can I make sure they deliver this equipment on time, and not delay this other contractor, how am I going to coordinate the 5 contractors in that period of time… How am I going to do this?
His question, which at the time seemed silly to me, because I was surrounded by a team of brutal professionals, was far more important than I came to understand, but understanding what needs to be done in detail, and how to size the team needed to do it is not a task that many understand the complexity.
During the planning phase, smoke would come out of his head, and during the execution phase, I used to see him worrying during the project.
By comparing project managers like him to other project managers, I learned to be concerned when I saw a calm and collected project manager. In fact, I learned to see clearly by talking to project managers who was in control and who was not. If a project manager told me everything was fine, no problem, 99% of the time, it meant he didn’t know what was going on.
I recently met for a beer with him and another project manager who I also take my hat off to every time I get a chance to sit next to him. These days, he is enjoying retirement. We were talking about life in general and I told him a bit about one of the projects I am partially involved in. He quickly understood what needs to be done on that project. I suspect he was thinking about things, which I have not yet caught up to think about, and this time, from retirement, where he was previously angry, he looked at me smiling, and asked, “And who is going to do that?
Hats off to people like you!
