Are You Running a Project or Managing a Project?
Difference between running and managing a project is not negligible. You may think that this is just a wording issue and both alternatives mean roughly the same thing. But that is far from truth. Seth Godin is saying that running a project is “an active engagement, bending the status quo to your will, ensuring that you ship”. You are only managing a project if your concerns are limited to:
- Tracking progress
- Generating weekly reports for management
- Taking care for resourcing side of a project
- Resolving blockers for your team
I’m far from saying that the above objectives are useless or ease to achieve. However I see them as a starting point for any PM. If you are good at it, then great, but to become a really good manager and run projects you need to do a lot more:
- Keep an eye on project’s scope and make sure that it’s not mounting
- Look for bottlenecks in your team and eliminate them
- Make sure that there is a good communication between your team and a client
- Do whatever you can to verify frequently that your are building the right thing, that this is what your client needs
- Identify problems which may prevent your team for shipping and resolve them – “bend the status quo to your will”
- Make sure that your team knows exactly what is expected from them in all phases of a project
Seth wrote: “Running a project requires a level of commitment that’s absent from someone who is managing one” To run a project you can’t spend all day adjusting Gant charts in MS Project. You can’t sit all day in JIRA or Excel spreadsheet. You have to move your ass and talk with people, talk with clients, be active, be a leader. You have to leave safe waters and put yourself on risk.
What can you gain? Seth gives the best answer: “Who would you rather hire, a manager or a runner?”
Sorry, don’t feel it and it’s somewhat offensive too. I know that you literally run over 10 km daily and you like the word, but it just feels bogus. Isn’t it just a a difference between good and bad PM? If PM adjust gants all day long, and is not committed, than let’s start with firing his ass!!
Michau0142
30 Jul 10 at 7:00 pm
“Sorry, don’t feel it and it’s somewhat offensive too.”
I didn’t expect this kind of comment … I was hoping that people will find it thought-provoking but definitely not offensive. Sorry for that!
“I know that you literally run over 10 km daily and you like the word, but it just feels bogus. Isn’t it just a a difference between good and bad PM?”
You are right, I like the word
but this is just a coincidence. Actually it was Seth who used this word to name those managers with commitment.
I agree, it’s a difference between good and bad PM. But good and bad PM can say (and that will be true) that they manage a project. Term “manage” is so general and overloaded that it can mean way too many different things. On the other side, only good PM can say that he/she run a project. That’s how I see it, does it still feel bogus to you?
Marek Blotny
30 Jul 10 at 7:37 pm
I think the words themselves are irrelevant
here.. There are various parts to the pm role
and it is different across industries/projects etc..
One side is administration, reporting, planning
resources, tracking dependencies etc.. This is
all necessary and valuable but will not drastically
effect the success rate of projects.
The other is leadership.. The involves sticking your
neck on the line, making decisions and driving the
project forward..
Both are required.. The second is where the true value
lies..
Stu dean
31 Jul 10 at 2:33 pm