Johanna Rothman posted recently over on her blog about Results versus tasks which I highly recommend. I’ve writtten on this before myself here, here, and probably elsewhere, but Johanna offers a nice real-world example. As a PM, manager, or any other insane person, you cannot expect people to finish tasks if you are not explaining the results. For that matter, I daresay you can’t project manage at all. After all, how are you supposed to know if they’re done if you don’t know what the results are? Can’t they come into the meeting and just nod and smile at you? How will you know they’re telling you the truth?
You simply cannot manage what you don’t understand, nor can you delegate it or request updates on it. Understand and manage to results, not to line items on a task list.
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This blog is written by me, Stacey Douglas, an analyst, project manager, systems designer and executive in the software industry. You can learn more about me at my website, http://www.staceydouglas.com.