I recently read a great article on Seth’s Blog : Upstream and Downstream, which discussed about the importance of “getting out of the box” in our job. It is right to project management, too. Although most project managers are proactive, many just get concentrated too much on their own activities and forget about the big picture.
Upstream project management
The main function of project managers is to balance various project constraints: scope, schedule, budget, risks, stakeholders’ expectations etc. However, if a project manager over-focuses on internal project environment, she may get lost in details and forget about the business needs of her project. By taking a closer look at the organization strategy and the project’ business case in a larger context, a project manager has a chance to deliver more value to her company.
Moreover, project sponsors are mostly senior management, who are more strategy-oriented than business-operation-oriented. To gain and maintain support for projects from these key stakeholders, a project manager should understand the business requirements for her project and regularly communicate with senior management not only about project status, but also about the extent to which her project is aligned with organization strategy.
Downstream project management
In many projects there is a group of stakeholders whose interest is not considered closely enough: end-users, i.e. those who will use the product of the project. Many project managers work most closely with customers, who authorize the project, give formal acceptance or rejection for project deliverables, etc. Actually, if a project team take into account end-users’ expectations seriously enough, they can avoid many problems with customers.
What are the impediments for project manager to go upstream and downstream
Many project managers choose to stay “in box”, not because they do not understand the importance of going upstream and downstream, but because it is safer for them to stay within the comfort zone. There are also many project managers who implement project management methodology just to “protect” themselves from being blamed. The main challenge for project managers to broaden their activities is to establish a trust relationship with key stakeholders: sponsor, customer, key end-users and project team. It is the most important responsibility for project managers to gain common understanding from these groups. Support from key stakeholders is the key for successful upstream and downstream project management
