The worst thing any executive can do is put an un-seasoned Project Manager at the helm of a large, complex project. “Seasoned” is a funny word in that everyone uses it, but its definition is varied and broad. We’ve all met and suffered under un-seasoned PMs, and there’s lots of literature about poor performers who kill projects. But what about those great PM heros, the legend we all want to work for, or under whom you finally were able to shine, or who took a failing team and turned them around?
“Seasoned” implies time. And that’s because time implies experience but more so, time implies great changes and hardship. A tree that’s only withstood spring-like weather is not “seasoned”. A great oak that has withstood winter after winter, sudden changes, harsh winds, intense heat, and deadly parasites is “seasoned”. We also use “seasoned” when referring to pots that have been used so much that cooking in them imparts a certain flavor or ‘seasoning’ to the food. In effect, all the food that’s ever been cooked in that pot, even dishes that have burned, have left a mark that adds tremendous value in subtle ways to any future dish.
I can’t speak for every trait of the seasonsed PM, but I can say that I’ve noticed, unilaterally, that the great PMs I’ve worked for have all possessed the following four character traits.
Seasoned PMs have encyclopedic knowledge of the project The seasoned PM knows that the devil is in the details. She understands that knowledge is like a sword that cuts through obfuscation and clarifies mistakes to right the ship. Handling this sword of knowledge like a master fencer, the seasoned PM can recite the risk register by memory, has delved deep into all the issues, reads all the documentation, grasps predecessor and successor relationships faster than anyone else, and makes the connections others don’t see. In fact, she understands that she is the ‘connection maker’ for the project. Someone has be able to take both the ground level assessment and them zoom out to get the birds-eye view, and keenly spot trouble areas before molehills become mountains. A seasoned PM sees this important task as her innate duty to the project.
Seasoned PMs are patient with the faults of others The seasoned PM understands the rule of try and try again. The rule is that no one, and no team, ever really gets it right the first time. And the corollary is that sometimes people will get things really really wrong. The seasoned PM doesn’t harp on failure. He’s interested in why something didn’t work only to fold that understanding back into future project assumptions. In team meetings, he won’t point fingers and blame team members for failure, rather, he’ll encourage a healthy second attempt. He realizes that the deep dive into a problem is not about discovering and unearthing the personal failings of the people, but about the causal analysis of facts, that leads to discovery of the nuggets of learning inherent in the failing.
Seasoned PMs hear the facts despite the delivery Seasoned PMs don’t get caught in how people say things. In fact, the seasoned PM can sometimes appear to be completely unphased by vehement emotions. She knows that when people are highly emotionally charged, focusing on their delivery only makes them more strident. So she never tells people to ‘calm down’ or ‘watch your tone’. She knows that if someone is so stressed that they’ve lost their professionalism in emotion, that there is indeed a systematic problem somewhere in the project that has to be addressed, and she focuses on finding that issue. Her self-confidence is intact, forged over time, and that enables her to exhibit a calmness even in the face of strident emotion.
Seasoned PMs have been broken in by failure In mythology, the hero must overcome some major setback. This is because the setback serves two purposes. First, it inculcates humility. Failure proves to the hero that despite his many talents, he is, in fact, as capable as failing as anyone else. No one person can control everything and failure moves the hero from the one person savior who takes all the glory to the leader behind the scenes who works in concert and harmony with others. Second, it sharpens the hero’s key skill. Every hero has a unique talent. When you’ve been humiliated by defeat, you tend to be stripped of all the things that were inconsequential, burned by fire, if you will, to that which is your true essence. That unique skill will survive the struggle and is strengthened by failure, so when the hero emerges, he is quite certain of what he carry with him everywhere.
When I was in my early 30’s I used to be so proud of the fact that I had been so successful. But now, if you ask me what my best projects were, I’ll tell you about my flops, or the people who drove me nuts, or the team that was a full of misfits. I’ve reduced a measure of pride, gained a measure of humility, learned a measure of respect for others…and that’s what makes me successful now. All this to say that if you have experienced a set-back, or a project failure, use it to develop your flavor of who you are. These are your golden opportunities to grow into a great, seasoned PM and Lord knows we need em!
