Shut up, be quiet and deliver the project! (Ode to Silence)

All you have to do is think!

A short post about web project management.

As most of you know I’ve been sailing in the web project management ocean since some time now, and I’ve had the opportunity to see successful and unsuccessful projects. As it always happens, the bad results have taught me more than the good ones 🙂

A leitmotiv that I have identified in the unsuccessful projects I observed is the lack of balance, quiet and calm of the project manager.

Too many times projects are managed without even knowing that they are projects. Let’s make myself clear: too many times projects are managed by whoever happens to be around when the idea is discussed with the clients. Not having designed project managers to deliver projects mean that the wrong people might be in charge. What do I mean by the wrong people? Well, I just mean people with the following attitude:

1) People who never shut up, take 1 hour of silence and actually THINK.

2) People who are reactive and not proactive.

3) People who produce noise, chaos and approximation in whatever they do.

In general, people who are unable to pursue interior silence. Therefore, people who are unable to approach a project calmly and by logically analysing how the work should be broken down, what the schedule should be, who is accountable for what, what issues might arise and how much time would be needed to overcome challenges. Another detail to consider is that projects are delivered by PEOPLE. If the project manager transmits a feeling of disorder, chaos, anxiety, etc, the people involved in the project will work like headless chickens (!!!). The project manager will most likely forget about these people until the project is due. Then, when things don’t go the right way, the people will be suddenly remembered again, only to be blamed.

Oh, and let us not forget about passion and enthusiasm.

Motivation and engagement are the key factor to a high performing project with people actually having fun delivering it!