4.1. Introduction

Projects don't fail, people do. That basic statement sums up the challenge every project manager faces. Any research done in this area returns time and again to the underlying cause of project failure: people. Most technology projects are complex and lack of funding, lack of staff, and lack of time or focus are all blamed in equal measure for project failure. Projects don't arise from the dust and run themselvessomeone has to define them, fund them, staff them, and run them. The people involved are responsible for the success (or failure) of the project. As the project manager, you're ultimately responsible for the success of the project. For that reason, we're devoting a chapter to managing the project team. We're taking a slightly different approach than you may have seen in the past. We're going to explore not only how people tend to work (work styles) but also how you, as the project manager, can be more effective in managing teams that may be geographically , culturally, or technically diverse. In today's wired world (and increasingly, wireless world), we work with people around the globe in different time zones, different countries , and different cultures. While one chapter won't give you all the tools you need to perfect your multicultural management skills, it will help you better understand some of the challenges and give you some tools you can use immediately to improve your team management skills.

Project management, by definition, is the process of working with a team of people to solve a problem. In a vast majority of projects, the project manager (PM) must manage people over whom he or she has no direct (organizational) authority. Much of the PM's job, then, is using influence to generate the desired results. As you learned in Chapter 3, there are many sources of power and many methods of influencing people. Understanding these basics will help you as you manage your project team.

If you've ever wondered what makes people tick or what makes some managers so good at getting people on board with their projects, this chapter will give you some insight into those skills. If you manage a team that is across the continent or across the world, you'll learn highly useful information that will make your job a bit easier. And, if you've ever felt like your team was simply running you ragged, this chapter is a must-read for you.

4.2. Today's Management Environment

It has been estimated that the amount of information contained in one issue of the Wall Street Journal or the New York Times is more information than people processed in a year a century ago. We're all hit with the onslaught of informationfrom television, radio, newspapers, magazines, books, e-mail, to the Internet news and blogs . We get information instantly and we scan, absorb , reject, and move on. A century ago, a manager was in the position to have all the needed information and could make informed decisions for the people who worked for that manager. Today, managers are more like traffic cops, trying to direct the efforts of those in the organization toward a common goal while avoiding head-on collisions. The manager is no longer in the best position to know everything and make all the decisions. Instead, a manager must rely upon the people on his or her team to have expertise and to take initiative. However, at the same time this is needed, people are more mobile and less committed to employers than they were one hundred years ago. Today's manager needs to find a way to foster commitment and initiative with employees who are likely to change careers five times and hold ten or more jobs over their lifetimes. In order to manage this workforce, an effective manager must use new tools to achieve desired results.

Commitment and initiative are more important when managers have to process so much information that they are no longer the "experts" but the " generalists ." Increasingly, companies must depend on highly skilled employees to think and act intelligently on behalf of the company since they have the technical knowledge, the imagination , and the connection with customers, vendors , and the marketplace . Technology has had a significant impact on the way we work and process information. A successful manager today must be able to mobilize employees to figure out how to get more done with less; a successful manager must find ways to inspire commitment and initiative to get the best possible results; and a successful manager must understand what challenges employees face to clear roadblocks and provide the best possible environment for success. That's a tall order, but in this chapter, we're going to look at some of the ways you can do just that.