Results Without Authority
Authors: Tom Kendrick, Tom Kendrick
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Overview
This book offers practical advice and techniques for achieving project success for project leaders who have little or no formal authority over their team members. The advice is presented using real-world examples and stories from many types of projects.
Project leadership without authority is an increasingly common situation. Project teams are increasingly cross-functional, virtual, and global. Many projects include contributions from other companies or outsourced work. Even in organizations that place a high value on project management methods, parts of any project usually depend on other organizations and team members who do not report to the project leader and often do not even share the same manager. Effectively managing these challenges is crucial for project success.
I introduce the key elements of project control: processes, influence, and measurement. I use real-world examples of how these are used to successfully complete challenging projects, along with case studies of approaches that did not work well. The main advice for project leaders without authority is to plan projects collaboratively using these control elements. Project success also depends on effectively influencing sponsors, stakeholders, other project leaders, and your team members to maintain control throughout the project, and to successfully complete and close out project activities.
Book Outline
3. Influence
Project control involves not just managing tasks and timelines but also influencing and motivating people. This can be achieved through fostering a collaborative environment, understanding individual motivations, and establishing clear communication channels. The WIIFM principle (What’s In It For Me) is crucial for gaining buy-in and commitment from team members by aligning project goals with their individual needs and aspirations.
Key concept: WIIFM (What’s In It For Me). Effective project leaders identify opportunities to align the project’s needs with what the individuals want to do, and they assign responsibility for project activities accordingly.
2. Control Through Process
Well-defined project processes are essential for project control, particularly for leaders with limited formal authority. These processes act as bumpers, guiding the project toward successful completion and providing a framework for managing the work and making decisions. Establishing these processes early, with team buy-in, is crucial for effective project management.
Key concept: Project Processes. Well-defined processes, properly applied, keep projects from rolling off into the gutter. They are a source of substantial control, and they are usually owned by project leaders.
4. Control Through Project Metrics
Measurement is a cornerstone of project control. Metrics provide insights into project performance, influence team behavior, and enable data-driven decision-making. Carefully selecting and managing a small set of key metrics, aligned with project objectives and desired behaviors, empowers project leaders to track progress, identify issues, and encourage desired outcomes.
Key concept: What gets measured gets done. Measuring a few key things on a project and publishing the results powerfully affect your project’s progress
5. Control Begins with Project Initiation
Initiating a project effectively involves securing sponsorship and setting clear expectations. Engage your sponsor early on, obtain their support for project processes, and secure their commitment to provide resources and protect the project from disruptions. Early engagement and alignment with your sponsor are crucial for project success and your ability to maintain control.
Key concept: Project sponsors are most engaged at the beginning. By retaining management’s attention and focus, use your sponsor’s authority to enhance your project control.
6. Building Control Through Project Planning
Collaborative project planning builds team ownership, motivation, and a shared understanding of project goals. It is especially crucial for project leaders who lack direct authority over their team members, as it fosters buy-in and increases the likelihood of cooperation and successful execution.
Key concept: Collaborative planning is universally beneficial. For those who do not directly manage staff, it is crucial. Independent team members are much less likely to cooperate with your requests when they don’t understand or agree with them
7. Maintaining Control During Project Execution
Maintaining control during project execution requires disciplined status collection. Regular, consistent gathering of data allows for early detection of variances and facilitates prompt responses. Utilize diagnostic metrics to gain insights into resource consumption, schedule adherence, and emerging risks, enabling proactive course correction and informed decision-making. Consistent status collection also sets the expectation that every activity is important and promotes team accountability.
Key concept: Dogmatic status collection sets the expectation that each activity is equally important. To suspend collection is to lose control; you must find a way to recover while collecting the data you need.
8. Tracking and Monitoring for Project Control
Tracking and monitoring involve effective communication, managing scope changes, addressing performance issues, resolving risks, and conducting project reviews. Implementing a robust change management process, rooted in value assessment, helps maintain control and minimize disruptions, even in agile environments where adjustments are expected. Regular communication with stakeholders, rewards for team contributions, and project reviews ensure alignment, motivation, and timely course correction.
Key concept: Changes are the enemy of control. Changes on agile projects are expected, but must be justified based on value.
9. Enhancing Overall Control Through Project Closure
Project closure involves finalizing deliverables, obtaining sign-off, conducting post-project reviews, and capturing lessons learned. Retrospective metrics provide valuable insights for continuous improvement by evaluating project performance and identifying areas for process optimization. Effective closure not only marks the completion of the current project but also lays the groundwork for better control and increased success in future endeavors.
Key concept: Retrospective metrics are a project’s rearview mirror. They are used to improve current processes for future projects.
Essential Questions
1. What is project control and why is it important?
Project control is about getting desired outcomes, not just checking boxes on a plan. It involves achieving project objectives, managing processes effectively, and leading the team. This requires a blend of process rigor, interpersonal skills, and metrics to guide progress and ensure alignment with goals. Effective project leaders, regardless of their formal authority, use processes, influence, and metrics to keep projects on track and ensure successful outcomes.
2. Can you control a project without formal authority?
Formal authority can make things easier but project leaders can establish and maintain project control even without it. By focusing on factors they can control - project processes, team motivation through influence, and accurate project measurement - a project leader can guide a project to a successful conclusion.
3. How do you influence people to contribute to your project?
Influence, particularly when formal authority is lacking, is essential for securing commitments and building buy-in. Effective strategies include: WIIFM (understanding individual motivations and aligning project tasks accordingly), effective communication (both formal and informal), building trust and respect, negotiating effectively (by offering exchanges and finding common ground), and leading by example (demonstrating commitment and active participation in the project). Effective influence is built on reciprocity, an exchange of value between parties.
4. How do you use project metrics for project control?
Project metrics provide objective data for understanding project status and driving desired behaviors. Different types of metrics serve various purposes: predictive metrics (for planning and setting expectations), diagnostic metrics (for real-time monitoring and control), and retrospective metrics (for evaluating project performance and capturing lessons learned). Effective measurement involves selecting the right metrics, establishing baselines, and consistently collecting and analyzing data to gain insights and enable informed decision-making.
5. What are the key stages of a successful project, and how do you manage each stage to maintain control?
Projects are never easy, but by starting with a clear vision, building a strong foundation through project initiation and planning, and then actively managing through execution and closure, you increase the likelihood of project success. Project initiation establishes project sponsorship, defines the project’s scope and objectives, and sets up the project infrastructure for success. Project planning involves creating a detailed plan, assembling the project team, defining processes, identifying risks, and developing strategies for managing the work. Project execution focuses on collecting status, managing changes, addressing issues, monitoring risks, and keeping the team focused and motivated. Project closure involves delivering results, getting sign-off, capturing lessons learned, and celebrating accomplishments.
1. What is project control and why is it important?
Project control is about getting desired outcomes, not just checking boxes on a plan. It involves achieving project objectives, managing processes effectively, and leading the team. This requires a blend of process rigor, interpersonal skills, and metrics to guide progress and ensure alignment with goals. Effective project leaders, regardless of their formal authority, use processes, influence, and metrics to keep projects on track and ensure successful outcomes.
2. Can you control a project without formal authority?
Formal authority can make things easier but project leaders can establish and maintain project control even without it. By focusing on factors they can control - project processes, team motivation through influence, and accurate project measurement - a project leader can guide a project to a successful conclusion.
3. How do you influence people to contribute to your project?
Influence, particularly when formal authority is lacking, is essential for securing commitments and building buy-in. Effective strategies include: WIIFM (understanding individual motivations and aligning project tasks accordingly), effective communication (both formal and informal), building trust and respect, negotiating effectively (by offering exchanges and finding common ground), and leading by example (demonstrating commitment and active participation in the project). Effective influence is built on reciprocity, an exchange of value between parties.
4. How do you use project metrics for project control?
Project metrics provide objective data for understanding project status and driving desired behaviors. Different types of metrics serve various purposes: predictive metrics (for planning and setting expectations), diagnostic metrics (for real-time monitoring and control), and retrospective metrics (for evaluating project performance and capturing lessons learned). Effective measurement involves selecting the right metrics, establishing baselines, and consistently collecting and analyzing data to gain insights and enable informed decision-making.
5. What are the key stages of a successful project, and how do you manage each stage to maintain control?
Projects are never easy, but by starting with a clear vision, building a strong foundation through project initiation and planning, and then actively managing through execution and closure, you increase the likelihood of project success. Project initiation establishes project sponsorship, defines the project’s scope and objectives, and sets up the project infrastructure for success. Project planning involves creating a detailed plan, assembling the project team, defining processes, identifying risks, and developing strategies for managing the work. Project execution focuses on collecting status, managing changes, addressing issues, monitoring risks, and keeping the team focused and motivated. Project closure involves delivering results, getting sign-off, capturing lessons learned, and celebrating accomplishments.
Key Takeaways
1. The Importance of Project Vision
A compelling vision helps build team commitment and fosters a shared sense of purpose. By articulating the project’s value in terms that resonate with individual team members’ aspirations and motivations, project leaders can inspire greater dedication and ownership of the work. This shared vision becomes a powerful tool for overcoming challenges and maintaining focus throughout the project lifecycle, especially when the project leader lacks formal authority.
Practical Application:
In developing a new AI product, the product owner could emphasize the potential for team members to gain experience with cutting-edge machine learning algorithms or contribute to a product with significant societal impact, aligning their individual goals with the project vision and increasing their motivation to contribute effectively.
2. The Power of Project Processes
Well-defined processes provide a structured approach for managing the work, making decisions, and ensuring consistent execution. This is particularly important for project leaders without formal authority, as it provides a substitute for hierarchical control. Clearly defined processes promote team buy-in, set expectations for performance, and facilitate coordination and communication within the project team and with stakeholders.
Practical Application:
In an AI software development project, a project leader might establish regular code reviews, automated testing procedures, and continuous integration pipelines to ensure consistent code quality and adherence to coding standards, minimizing the potential for errors and rework.
3. The Role of Project Metrics
Metrics provide objective data for understanding project status, identifying potential problems, and making informed decisions. Selecting a small set of key metrics, aligned with project objectives, is essential for tracking progress, driving desired behaviors, and communicating effectively with stakeholders. Consistent data collection and analysis enable project leaders to stay informed, anticipate challenges, and make data-driven decisions throughout the project lifecycle.
Practical Application:
An AI product manager could use metrics like user engagement, model accuracy, or revenue generated to track progress towards product goals, identify potential problems (like decreasing user engagement or declining model accuracy), and make data-driven decisions about product improvements or feature development.
4. The Importance of Informal Communication
Informal communication plays a vital role in building relationships, fostering trust, and resolving issues efficiently. Engaging in casual conversations, seeking feedback through informal channels, and making oneself available for discussions builds rapport with team members and stakeholders. This type of interaction is especially valuable for project leaders with limited authority, as it creates opportunities to address concerns, gather feedback, and resolve potential problems before they escalate.
Practical Application:
A tech lead, tasked with integrating a new AI model into an existing platform, could leverage informal communication to build rapport with the platform team, understand their concerns and priorities, and negotiate for the resources and support needed for successful integration.
5. Collaboration and Teamwork
Collaboration and team engagement are essential for overcoming challenges and maintaining focus throughout the project. Actively involving team members in planning and decision-making processes creates a sense of shared ownership, motivates contributions, and fosters collaboration. Regular status updates, team meetings, and interpersonal communication ensure transparency, alignment, and the opportunity to address concerns and celebrate accomplishments.
Practical Application:
A project leader working on implementing a new AI chatbot could set up daily stand-up meetings to discuss progress from the prior day, plans for the current day, and identify any blockers or challenges that team members are facing.
1. The Importance of Project Vision
A compelling vision helps build team commitment and fosters a shared sense of purpose. By articulating the project’s value in terms that resonate with individual team members’ aspirations and motivations, project leaders can inspire greater dedication and ownership of the work. This shared vision becomes a powerful tool for overcoming challenges and maintaining focus throughout the project lifecycle, especially when the project leader lacks formal authority.
Practical Application:
In developing a new AI product, the product owner could emphasize the potential for team members to gain experience with cutting-edge machine learning algorithms or contribute to a product with significant societal impact, aligning their individual goals with the project vision and increasing their motivation to contribute effectively.
2. The Power of Project Processes
Well-defined processes provide a structured approach for managing the work, making decisions, and ensuring consistent execution. This is particularly important for project leaders without formal authority, as it provides a substitute for hierarchical control. Clearly defined processes promote team buy-in, set expectations for performance, and facilitate coordination and communication within the project team and with stakeholders.
Practical Application:
In an AI software development project, a project leader might establish regular code reviews, automated testing procedures, and continuous integration pipelines to ensure consistent code quality and adherence to coding standards, minimizing the potential for errors and rework.
3. The Role of Project Metrics
Metrics provide objective data for understanding project status, identifying potential problems, and making informed decisions. Selecting a small set of key metrics, aligned with project objectives, is essential for tracking progress, driving desired behaviors, and communicating effectively with stakeholders. Consistent data collection and analysis enable project leaders to stay informed, anticipate challenges, and make data-driven decisions throughout the project lifecycle.
Practical Application:
An AI product manager could use metrics like user engagement, model accuracy, or revenue generated to track progress towards product goals, identify potential problems (like decreasing user engagement or declining model accuracy), and make data-driven decisions about product improvements or feature development.
4. The Importance of Informal Communication
Informal communication plays a vital role in building relationships, fostering trust, and resolving issues efficiently. Engaging in casual conversations, seeking feedback through informal channels, and making oneself available for discussions builds rapport with team members and stakeholders. This type of interaction is especially valuable for project leaders with limited authority, as it creates opportunities to address concerns, gather feedback, and resolve potential problems before they escalate.
Practical Application:
A tech lead, tasked with integrating a new AI model into an existing platform, could leverage informal communication to build rapport with the platform team, understand their concerns and priorities, and negotiate for the resources and support needed for successful integration.
5. Collaboration and Teamwork
Collaboration and team engagement are essential for overcoming challenges and maintaining focus throughout the project. Actively involving team members in planning and decision-making processes creates a sense of shared ownership, motivates contributions, and fosters collaboration. Regular status updates, team meetings, and interpersonal communication ensure transparency, alignment, and the opportunity to address concerns and celebrate accomplishments.
Practical Application:
A project leader working on implementing a new AI chatbot could set up daily stand-up meetings to discuss progress from the prior day, plans for the current day, and identify any blockers or challenges that team members are facing.
Suggested Deep Dive
Chapter: Chapter 3: Control Through Influence
This chapter offers the most valuable insights for AI product engineers, especially those new to leadership positions. Understanding the nuances of influence, particularly without formal authority, is crucial in cross-functional technology project environments. The concepts of WIIFM, leveraging expertise, and building relationships through effective communication are essential skills for success in leading AI project teams and navigating complex organizational dynamics.
Memorable Quotes
Chapter 1. 3
As the leader of your project, you must assume control, whether or not you possess organizational authority.
Chapter 1. 8
Either project leaders are good communicators, or they are not project leaders for long.
Chapter 1. 9
What gets measured gets done.
Chapter 3. 64
The fundamental basis for getting what you need relies, as it always does, on exchange.
Chapter 3. 83
When you ask anything of anybody, always formulate your request with a ‘because’ statement, followed by a reason.
Chapter 1. 3
As the leader of your project, you must assume control, whether or not you possess organizational authority.
Chapter 1. 8
Either project leaders are good communicators, or they are not project leaders for long.
Chapter 1. 9
What gets measured gets done.
Chapter 3. 64
The fundamental basis for getting what you need relies, as it always does, on exchange.
Chapter 3. 83
When you ask anything of anybody, always formulate your request with a ‘because’ statement, followed by a reason.
Comparative Analysis
Compared to other project management books, “Results Without Authority” stands out by specifically addressing the challenges faced by project leaders lacking formal authority. Many other books, such as Kerzner’s “Project Management: A Systems Approach”, assume that the project manager has a defined position of power. This book fills a gap by offering practical advice and techniques for influencing, motivating, and ultimately controlling project outcomes without relying on traditional hierarchical structures. While other books may touch on influence and soft skills, this book makes them central to its thesis. It aligns with the principles of adaptive leadership and collaboration found in books like “Influence Without Authority” by Cohen and Bradford, emphasizing the importance of building relationships, understanding individual motivations, and negotiating for commitments. Unlike books focused solely on agile methodologies, such as “Effective Project Management: Traditional, Agile, Extreme” by Wysocki, this book’s approach is methodology-agnostic, making it applicable to various project environments and team structures. This book shares similarities with DeMarco and Lister’s “Peopleware” in its focus on the human aspects of project management and the importance of teamwork and communication. It provides a more concrete framework for addressing these challenges.
Reflection
“Results Without Authority” provides a valuable framework for project management in matrixed, collaborative environments. The emphasis on influence, negotiation, and building relationships resonates with current trends in workplace dynamics and the growing need for cross-functional teamwork. However, the book’s focus on traditional project management processes may not fully address the nuances of highly dynamic or agile environments where change is constant and scope is less clearly defined upfront. Furthermore, the effectiveness of the proposed techniques relies on the willingness of stakeholders to engage in collaborative planning and decision-making, which may not always be realistic in organizational settings with strong hierarchical structures or competing priorities. Despite these limitations, the book offers valuable insights for project leaders navigating complex organizational dynamics and provides practical tools for building influence and achieving results without relying solely on formal authority. The book’s strengths lie in its practical, experience-based approach, use of relatable examples, and focus on the human dynamics of project management. The book could benefit from incorporating more specific examples related to technology projects and addressing the challenges of managing remote or distributed teams in greater depth.
Flashcards
What is WIIFM?
A technique to align project tasks with individual motivations (What’s In It For Me?) and assign responsibilities accordingly.
What are the three principal elements of project control?
Project processes, influence, and metrics.
What are project processes in the context of control?
Processes that provide a framework for executing the project and substitute for organizational authority.
What is influence in the context of project control?
The ability to sway, encourage, or win over team members and stakeholders to gain their cooperation.
What are metrics in the context of project control?
Measurements that quantify results, drive behavior, and help understand project status and encourage cooperation.
What are the five process groups defined in the PMBOK Guide?
Initiating, Planning, Executing, Monitoring and Controlling, Closing.
Who is the project sponsor?
The person who provides strategic direction, approves funding, and makes key project decisions.
What are agile project management methods?
A collaborative approach that emphasizes incremental development, frequent feedback, and adaptation to change.
What is a project charter?
A document outlining project objectives, priorities, benefits, scope, constraints, dependencies, and risks.
What is a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)?
A hierarchical decomposition of project work into smaller, manageable activities.
What is WIIFM?
A technique to align project tasks with individual motivations (What’s In It For Me?) and assign responsibilities accordingly.
What are the three principal elements of project control?
Project processes, influence, and metrics.
What are project processes in the context of control?
Processes that provide a framework for executing the project and substitute for organizational authority.
What is influence in the context of project control?
The ability to sway, encourage, or win over team members and stakeholders to gain their cooperation.
What are metrics in the context of project control?
Measurements that quantify results, drive behavior, and help understand project status and encourage cooperation.
What are the five process groups defined in the PMBOK Guide?
Initiating, Planning, Executing, Monitoring and Controlling, Closing.
Who is the project sponsor?
The person who provides strategic direction, approves funding, and makes key project decisions.
What are agile project management methods?
A collaborative approach that emphasizes incremental development, frequent feedback, and adaptation to change.
What is a project charter?
A document outlining project objectives, priorities, benefits, scope, constraints, dependencies, and risks.
What is a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)?
A hierarchical decomposition of project work into smaller, manageable activities.