If you are currently a Project Manager or have some interest in project management, you would most likely have an idea of what the responsibilities of a Project Manager are. So, for the purpose of this article, I will skip those details. Now, assuming that we are on the same page on the role of a Project Manager, I will proceed to discuss some steps a Project Manager can take to successfully transition from a Manager of projects, to an individual who nurtures and supports his team while doubling as a leader.
1. Have a Paradigm Shift
The Project Manager needs to renew his way of thinking; you are not directing or in command and control mode anymore. Responsibilities are now shared, to put it more simply; power has been decentralized and different members of the team now have different responsibilities. The Agile Leader for ensuring the agility of the team, the Product Owner for determining and prioritizing the requirements, the development team for the system being developed.
2. Redirect Focus from Tasks and Processes to People
The members of the project team are the most important part of the project; they make the decisions, they complete the work and are responsible for the improvement of the developing system. They determine the pace at which they can effectively work and invariably, determine the schedule. They equally determine the most effective practices (refactoring/code standards/continuous integration etc.) to utilize for the best results. You should endeavour to understand the motivations of your team and ensure to align this with their individual tasks and goals.
3. Go from Control Mode to Empowerment
As a Project Manager, you determined and supervised what happened and how it happened on your team and on the project. Now however, you would have to increase the degree of autonomy and self-determination of your team members. They are on the team because they are smart and know what needs to be done to deliver the best value to your client, step back and let them do this. Do not focus your time or resources trying to hand down orders or instructions on how tasks should be completed, trust them to deliver on their promises and stay on the sidelines to provide the much-needed support.
4. Pay more attention to the Principles that guide your team than to their Practices
You need to pay more attention to the “why” your team is doing what it does as against the “what”. Do not panic if the team does not commit to your previous schedules as a Project Manager when they would work overtime to meet up with a schedule set by you. Maybe they are putting in 6 hours daily because it is the realistic number of hours they can sustainably commit uninterruptedly to on a daily basis. I understand your initial frustration; I had previously, frequently, recorded over 12 hours daily on my timesheet. This is not in any way agile, in an Agile environment, sustainability is key.
5. Move from Doing Things Right to Doing the Right Things
When you use a top-down approach, you will be focused on making sure the team does things “right” because someone in authority such as yourself or Senior Management had already determined what is right and this, the team must follow even if they are more informed about the technical details than yourself. When you utilize a bottom-up approach however, you give voice and power to the team. You allow them to use their intellect, experience and initiative to do the right thing. The truth is that, sometimes, the individual who manages the team has only a theoretical understanding of the work that is being completed while the team understands both the principles and practice and have a lot of individual and collective lessons learned to help their work.
6. Place Less Emphasis on Speed and More on Direction
It is a common occurrence that a team moves mountains to meet schedules on projects that do not properly align with the client’s requirements or actual business needs. So, while speed is important, the importance of direction cannot be over-emphasized. The team should have a clear and common vision, this is one of your core responsibilities and the onus is on you to ensure the team remains focused on the objective of the project so there are no de-railings.
7. Go from Command to Communication
Rather than hand down directions to your team, consult with them. There is a reason they were hired in the first place; to do what they know best. Learn to socialize with your team and listen to what they have to say because sometimes or dare I say, frequently, they may know something that you do not. It would be ironic for someone on the sidelines to give instructions that must be followed on a process that is meant to be successful. When it comes to the role of the team and their Leader in an Agile environment, the business fable of the chicken and the pig comes to mind. When producing a dish made of ham and eggs, the pig provides the ham which requires its sacrifice and the chicken provides the eggs which are not as difficult to produce. Thus, the pig is really committed to that dish while the chicken is only involved, yet both are needed to produce the dish. Unlike what obtains in Waterfall, you are the chicken here while the development team are the pigs, not literally of course.
8. Redirect Focus from Efficiency to Effectiveness
Your emphasis should no longer be on the process or how organized the work is, while these are important, effectiveness will produce more value for the customer or return on investments for your organization. Going forward, you should be more focused on results. If your team comes up with a novel way of executing a particular task, though unfamiliar to you, encourage them to do this and remember that Agile recommends creating a safe environment for experimentation. You cannot possibly foretell the outcome of a new approach. The greatest innovations were once questionable approaches. The worst-case scenario is that your team learns one way of not approaching their work.
Good luck with your transformation process, it is gradual but certainly not impossible.