nice

கோபத்தோடு இருக்கும் போது கண்ணாடியில் உங்கள் முகத்தைப் பாருங்கள். கோபத்தோடு கூடிய உங்களது உருவம் மற்றவர்களது மனதில் எவ்வித தாக்கத்தை உருவாக்கும் என்று சற்று யோசியுங்கள்” ஒரு பறவையை நோக்கிக் கல்லை விட்டெறிந்தால், சுத்தியுள்ள நூறு பறவைகளும் பறந்துவிடும்.ஒருவரிடம் கோபத்தை காட்டினால் கூட, மற்ற அனைவருக்குமே உங்கள் மீது பிடிப்பும், நம்பிக்கையும் போய்விடும்.

நாம் பேசும் வார்த்தைகள், துப்பாக்கியின் தோட்டாவை விட விகமானது. தோட்டா உடலை காயபடுத்டும். வார்த்தைகல் மனதை காயபடுத்டும். இந்த காயங்களை யாராலும் குணமாக்க முடியாது .. எனவே --

மனம் திறந்து பேசுங்கள்.
ஆனால் மனதில் பட்டதெல்லாம் பேசாதீர்கள்._
சிலர் புரிந்துகொள்வார்கள் ! சிலர் பிரிந்து செல்வர்கள் 

PM - Quick focus

1) The courage to decide
2) The ability to prioritize
3) Not thrown off the scent of the critical path
4) The vision to see the goal
5) Can sense danger
6) The skill to be logical
7) The experience to know better
8) Less political, more substantive
9) The passion for "the important" and disdain for "the urgent"
10) Is articulate
11) Does not manage by email
12) Fair, but appropriately forceful
13) Might form hypothesis based on “gut feel”, but decides based on data
14) Understands that leadership is a series of hugs and kicks
15) Deals with people in a “mission first, people always” manner
16) Demonstrates the corollary to “mission first, people always” is “carry the wounded, shoot the stragglers”
17) Can balance confidence and humility

18) Creative

PM - casual thoughts

Project Integration Management

Project Scope Management

Project Cost Management

Project Time Management

Project Risk Management

Project Quality Management

Project HR Management

Project Communication Management

Project Procurement Management

I believe it is Project Risk Management. It is unidentified risk, which results in slippage in other aspect of project like cost/time/quality. In case if we identify the risk then lack of focus or monitoring will also result in slippage in key aspect of the project.

I personally think that it is Project Scope Management. The reason is that if you do not have a clear scope agreed and communicated to all stakeholders from the beggining of the project the problems will be inherited in all other areas like a chain reaction. Hence I believe that a lot of time has to be spent on the Project Scope Management making it the most important area throughout the project life cycle.

In my opinion, the following 2 areas need a PM's attention most.

#1 : Project Communications Management

#2 : Project Integration Management.

No one will and should own responsibility for these two areas.

The rest of the areas can be and should be handled by the Functional Managers.

The PM should only facilitate the FMs in doing their best in their respective areas.

Without looking at earlier replies, and without hesitation, I also chose Scope Management. Scope is the project itself, broken down into tasks, activities and work product. In truth we know each of these is important and valuable and contributing to overall project success. However, the majority of problems and dissatisfaction I've seen on projects stem from inadequate scope definition and/or miscommunication over scope, contributing to misalignment of stakeholder expectation. Every other area can be directly affected by scope. A smoother project is where assumption is removed from the equation. Take the time to fully define the scope with input and agreement from all stakeholders and it becomes the clear roadmap for any subsequent project occurrence, be it cost, schedule, risk, quality, and on.

Without a comprehensive and well thought out plan, then the project will likely bounce from problem to problem, as risks which could have been catered for arise as near term.

Get the start right, and the rest will drop into place. Works in the infrastructure world anyway, not sure about software development, not my bag.

Thanks for your inputs and while I appreciate your views, I wonder how uniformly all of you have ignored the importance of communication and integration skills of a PM.

A PM spends nearly 90% of his / her time on Communication, research says.

I too agree with the research.

A person who communicates well can capture & manage requirements (scope) well, although capturing requirements is not,many times and in many industries, usually the job of a PM. It is the job of a Business Analyst (BA) or Pre-sales engineer in IT industry and the job of Business Development Managers or Marketing Managers in other core industries. The PM enters into the picture mostly AFTER the contract is awarded to a company. Hence, "capturing scope by a PM” is a case that seldom is true.

Even if "eliciting / gathering requirements ( scope)" is included in the job description of a PM, a PM with excellent communication skills can do much better than a PM who is technically strong or theoretically strong in other areas (like time, risk, cost etc) but very weak in communication.

It may be now clear why communication skill is the #1 skill sought after any PM and hence needs most attention by every project manager.

He or she who communicates well integrates well the product scope and project scope, the rest only fire-fight throughout the project life cycle.

When a set of practices are discretely listed there's an unspoken assumption that success is based on a 'sum of the parts', each practice getting its appropriate and ideal 'part weight' and then in combination success just happens.

In fact, success is more dependent on how well you manage the set holistically, finding and adjusting the focus for each of them as circumstances demand, while ensuring none of them is undernourished.

That is what Integration is all about.

It involves focusing on the big-picture always ( ... how well you manage the set holistically), trade-off ( adjusting the focus ... as circumstances demand) , maintaining integrity ( ....ensuring none of them is undernourished ).

I have paraphrased your words below:

"In fact, success is more dependent on how well you manage the set holistically, finding and adjusting the focus for each of them as circumstances demand, while ensuring none of them is undernourished."

All the above are integration activities and are possible ONLY if a PM is effective in Communication (reading, writing, speaking, listening).

@ Neelesh:

That is not true, Neelesh.

Irrespective of the nature / type of project, a bad communicator and integrator can even spoil a good project. Just watch in your organization or society around, all successful PMs and leaders have always been good communicators and integrators irrespective of the nature / type of project they have handled.

The triple constraints may depend on the nature / type of project, but communication & integration are the two most important areas for a PM irrespective of the nature of project.

Think of a PM who is good in time, cost and risk management etc, but poor in communication ( say an extreme Introvert) and has to kick-off a fixed-price contract. It will be utter chaotic to start with itself, and then will remain chaotic all the way through.

Good communication means more confidence. More confidence means effective integration. Effective integration means, sure success, irrespective of the nature of project.

The project manager would be wise to give them all equal focus. Without a plan tey are flying blind, without risk management they will hit an issue wall. Unless the dependencies are managed the assumptions will make an ass out of u and me. Communications helps get the support of the stakeholder to share the load and the triangle of project life (cost, quality & time) balanced on each of its points in turn. Hug the team from time to time and have fun.

It seems that few could argue against there being a place and a time for focus for each of the knowlege areas (as Mark and Ian sum up); one will unlikely succeed in a project endeavor without applying them all at varying times, weights and competencies. Sanjay's question offered for discussion, as I read it, was (to over-paraphrase) that if you had to choose one as being most important, which One would that be? There is no one right answer, but the sum of the lessons from each of our experiences, and influenced by our respective industry(s), which dictate our own choice and rationale. And these are what fuel interesting discussions.

In the context of the question posed, however, it is important not to confuse communication skills with the knowledge area, Communications Management. Communication skills are a valuable asset in any industry, job, department, etc; further, good communication skills are not exclusive to project management. I did not read any response that implied that the ability to communicate effectively would not be required of a PM or of the knowledge area. Communications Management in these areas under discussion is a collection of processes with inputs, tools and outputs. The focus is on ensuring the timely and appropriate generation, collection, distribution, storage, retrieval and ultimate disposition of project information.

Interestingly, procurement documents and stakeholder expectations are primary inputs to Communications Management processes. And, scope change management is a frequent output. I hesitate to add that most of the activities ascribed to Communications Management could be effectively performed by an introvert competent in documentation, tracking and reporting.

The only aspect that really matters is stakeholder management – this is accomplished through effective communication. None of the other technical processes are worth anything if you are not listening effectively to your team, clients and other stakeholders. For a brief overview of stakeholders see: http://www.mosaicprojects.com.au/WhitePapers/WP1007_Stakeholder_Cycle.pdf

1 Framing sessions up front so people know where they are heading and issues discussed..Can this be achieved

2 Assurance - you need gating sessions at each phase to determine whether project is on track with initial scope and future state and viable or should it be killed.

3 Stakeholder Impact and Readiness - Elements such as - Status (Stakeholders need to acknowledged and respected otherwise I am not coming on your journey) - Certainty (Does everyone know where they are going. If not fear will drive behaviour and project will get blocked)

buffet