The Gatekeeper

Seminar Round-Up: Project Management Masterclass

Last Tuesday, Professor Yael Grushka-Cockayne of the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business returned to The Chief of Staff Association to lead a Project Management Masterclass. During her session, Yael introduced members to helpful frameworks and tools to boost their project management capabilities. Here are a few key points that stood out.

Understanding Projects: Prioritisation

In this highly interactive session, Professor Yael invited participants to reflect on both their personal and professional projects. In doing so, members discussed universal project goals and the factors that most often constrain their success. 

The success of projects hinges upon three main dimensions: 

1. Scope 
2. Time
3. Cost 

Effectively balancing all of these dimensions at once is exceedingly difficult. Often, unexpected challenges arise over the course of a project that throw one, or all, of these dimensions into disarray. With this in mind, Professor Yael proposed a strategy for prioritisation which involves identifying the dimension which is the most pressing constraint within a project’s implementation. 

While many are quick to highlight time as the dimension which most often restricts the success of their projects, Yael clarifies that time is, in actuality, almost never the constraining factor. Instead, Yael invited participants to think more deeply about the true constraints of their projects and to identify areas where they are able to compromise. In locating the dimensions of a project which dictate its survival and areas where we have more flexibility, we are better equipped to focus on the most integral aspects of our projects.

The Project Management Paradox

While utilising project management tools and strategies may ensure a greater likelihood of success, projects often fail. During her seminar, Yael highlighted this reality, terming it “The Project Management Paradox.” 

In examining project failures more closely, Professor Yael highlighted a few key culprits: 

• Creeping timelines: Citing Parkinson’s Law (1955), Yael asserts that work grows to expand fill the timeframe provided. Similarly, she draws attention to “student syndrome”, or the propensity to procrastinate work until it is due. Both of these human factors often conspire to throw off project deadlines and undermine efficiency.
• Interdependencies: As Yael pointed out when one aspect of a project is thrown off, such as time, other parts of the project tend to follow suit. This creates a snowball effect which becomes increasingly difficult to contain. 
• Multitasking: Most people, and perhaps especially chiefs of staff, are managing multiple projects at once. This can make it difficult to balance priorities, focus and stay on track across multiple initiatives and tasks. 

After confronting these realities Professor Yael invited participants to share their advice for circumventing such pitfalls. This kicked off a fruitful discussion, highlighting the importance of trust, teamwork, agility, healthy organisational culture, data-informed approaches and effective task distribution. 

Conclusion

This core competency session enabled members to share their reflections on project management as they were exposed to new tools and best practices. Throughout the engaged discussion, it was clear to see that chiefs of staff share common ground in their experiences of project management.  

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