A great post yesterday at Emotional Intelligence for PMs: “People Skills – Not So Important to Project Managers”. It reminded me that I needed to answer this particular question more in detail.
Why are soft skills essential for Project Managers?
Photography by From A Second Story.
You all know I just keep on rambling about this issue until no one ever wonders about that question again. That might take a while.
Let’s forget all the current globalization and mobilization for a moment. Just go back to what Project Management is all about. It is the management of scarce resources towards a defined goal using a temporary organizational structure (that’s my current definition).
As PMs we allocate scarce resources in such a way that we get closer to our desired project goal. We prioritize, monitor, shift and adjust money, time, people, equipment and all other things that are limited in supply. We operate in a temporary organizational form, which means we either have no authority or limited authority or an ambiguous authority. Either way, “authority” is an issue.
Projects typically do not operate under ideal circumstances. We have to motivate people, under time pressure, with uncertain conditions towards an uncertain goal. We need to motivate them to keep on trucking towards the next corner.
With ever changing conditions, resources need to be reorganized and re-prioritized. Decisions are to be made continuously. People need to choose under uncertain conditions; a situation in which they are most likely reluctant to do so. As a PM you need to facilitate and stimulate your stakeholders to take action.
These are most likely the stakeholders with who we have a clash of authority. We use their people, we use their equipment, and we are rearranging their business process. We are basically thrashing up their garden. Oh boy, what would a Project Manager do without his negotiation skills.
Remember that clear and defined goal we are working towards? It might be a moving target. Stakeholders change their minds. By discussing, thinking about it and reflecting on the subject, a stakeholder can change his mind on what he wants. Or the project team interpreted requirements differently than intended by a stakeholder. Two people didn’t understand each other correctly. Did I just hear anyone scream “communication skills”?
Yes, planning is a Project Management skill. So is getting the right estimates from reluctant developers. So is explaining to management the uncertainties involved in the planning.
I agree with Anthony Mersino in the EQ for PM post I mentioned in the beginning:
“…the single most important reason that people skills are important to project managers: Project Management is Getting Work Done Through People!”
What does a Project manager has to do?
He can watch the “Project Management in 15 Minutes” video.
Or just follow the “Flow Of Stakes”:
- Stakeholders have stakes
- Stakeholders communicate their stakes by means of requirements to the process or the product
- Project management should make every stakeholder a winner by accepting and inventing requirements that keep satisfying the stakes of individual stakeholders and are not conflicting with the general process and product
- Project management should give continuous feedback on the state of the stakes
- Based upon the feedback, the requirements might change. In this way, a new cycle starts.
Soft skills are essential to Project Management. Without soft skills you would not be able to perform any “hard skill”. And you better be darn good at it. If you run projects you have an impact on many people. It does matter.
9 Comments
Reread your post… the English is pretty bad. You’ll want to edit it. Very good message as always though =).
Thanks. Hope it is a little better now
There is not enough communication on the value of soft skills in Project Management. Too many people think it is all about scheduling. Thank you for contributing to getting the message out there.
Hi Linda, thanks for your kind words. It may not be a surprise that i agree with you
to bring the message across to the majority of PMs, we need to appeal to the ratio. And that is were i think most discussions get out of synch.
Cheers
Bas
Well, I may more or less disagree on the “uncertain goals”, but “moving target” is often the case, and I definitely agree with “uncertain conditions”, “changing the mind” and “authority issues”, and “two people didn’t understand each other correctly”. It has been said multiple times, and is still true – communication skills play the key role in (project)/team management.
Good “to know” information.
Bas, great post. Did I really say people skills are not so important to project managers? My next post is likely to be about how great project management would be if only you could whack any offensive or difficult project team members, sponsors, or other stakeholders. I saw that approach used on the Sopranos TV Series but otherwise that isn’t legal here in the US and I am pretty sure it isn’t in other countries either though I haven’t researched it.
Thanks for the link and I look forward to reading more of your writing.
Anthony Mersino
@Anthony: many thanks. I would love to see some Soprano approach to PM
I hope that it is clear that you didn’t say you don’t need them… it was just the title (good for catching the eye!) … and you handling that question reminded me that I had to write something about it on my own site (hope I didn’t confuse people with that / seems something I keep on doing hehe)… Looking forward to your next posting (to people out there: check the blog!).
@myroslava: thanks for the reply. I guess its almost a philosophical discussion if the moving of the target was triggered by the goals being uncertain or vv.
I think a good balance of both is always essential. Not too softie but not to techie either. Best of both i think is the best approach.
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[...] 1. Ever wondered why the client needs a professional project manager? He can hire a team to do the job for him without paying you extra bucks but you still get the job of thrashing out ways to achieve a goal. You channel the scarce resources so they lead to one end aim that may actually be a moving target if the client decides on changes in the requirements. Similarly the coders themselves can be in a fix over something; maybe the big question would be ‘authority’ since projects are usually temporary set ups that move in different directions once the project is complete. It is your job to be able to communicate with all stakeholders and come out of a project with no losers. Work on your people skills and understand why they are needed. Soft skills make or break the aura of dependability around you, the very thing that lets the stakeholders trust you to get the job done for or from them. [more] [...]