14.1 How Much Autonomy do Project Managers Have?

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Left to our own devices, project managers will assume as much autonomy as possible. After all, it is our project, and we are paid to shepherd this thing as the sole proprietor. Of course, the ranking partner in this relationship, your supervisor, may wish to have his or her hand in everything of importance that transpires. In that case, you find yourself to be a junior partner with less than a whole vote. Part of the adjustment process you go through with a new boss is finding that level of autonomy both parties can be comfortable with. As the junior partner, it is generally up to you to figure that out by yourself because bosses generally do not make their expectations clear in this regard. Adding to the confusion is the fact that you and your boss are relatively accomplished and thus pretty far up the food chain. This means that both of you are likely to assume as much autonomy as you can get away with - egos and all being what they are.

Gauging the level of autonomy a project manager can expect to enjoy is not easy. The factors that influence a supervisor's decision about how much leeway they will grant you are:

His or her management style
The political nature of the project and the environment in which it will operate
The degree of difficulty, or risk, inherent in the project
The level to which this manager trusts:
- Subordinates in general
- You, based on the relationship existing, or emerging, between the two of you
The senior manager's perception of the level of your:
- Competency
- Maturity
- Reliability
- Loyalty (to him or her)

Although I have been on both sides of the street on this one, this book is intended for project managers, so most of this chapter covers that side. A few words regarding the view from the top are worth casting out there first. I have built some large operations, and I ran some program offices as well. The stakes at these levels are a bit elevated from the political perspective. When you and I sit around the table as project managers discussing an issue, chances are we spend most, if not all, of our time understanding the issue and kicking around a solution or two before getting down to the nitty-gritty of cleaning up the mess.

At the more senior level, the conversation is far shorter and, generally, less pleasant. The executive says to you, "What is this I hear about a missed date/unhappy beneficiary/cost overrun in the XYZ Project?" You had best be prepared to say, "Yes sir, we ran into a snag because of the vendor/operations/manufacturer/technology. This is what we are doing, this is when it will be fixed, and this is how we will insulate ourselves from further exposure."

That is it. No explanations take more than a sentence or two, no excuses, and no uncertainty as to whether you will facilitate timely resolution and effective damage control - period. Some senior managers are more gracious in these conversations than others, but they all want you to stick to verbs that are positive and unadorned with adjectives and adverbs that make them suspicious and "knee-jerky." Needless to say, the program manager or sponsor does not want to have those conversations with the senior vice president or chief information officer, so they try to avoid that by carefully watching you, their subordinate.

Unless you are totally dense, you already know this, and you make every effort to have nothing but good news for your boss. This is precisely so that he or she will not have to endure the bushwhacking I just recounted. But, here is the problem. You are managing the project, which by default is going to be at times somewhat unkempt. Unless your boss understands this and appreciates and trusts your efforts to minimize these unpleasant "optics," you get the stress of covering up that which cannot be disguised.

Some of this goes with the territory, and some of it can be eliminated by understanding in more precise terms what your manager's various thresholds are on key personal attributes. Now that we have painted the back-drop, let us take a more detailed look at these qualities and see what we can do with, or about, them.

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