Project Manager and Talent

A project’s success ultimately is with the talent of the team and the project manager.  There are more team members, only one project manager, and the team carries the bulk of the work even if the project manager is responsible.  The composition of the team is the very important.  Talent constraints are very real; many companies have gone through “right-sizing” many times and are operating with lean resources.  Successfully fighting for the appropriate talent on behalf of the project is fundamental to project success.  We are not only talking about the appropriate skill set but also in the correct proportion or amount.  That does not mean large amount of multitasking on key personnel and that does not mean booking that key talent greater than 80% capacity without considering the consequences.

Talent Availability does Not Always Mean Available

Chances for success are not improved just because you are informed the talent is available to you.  In fact, you may find out the hard way that the talent is available to you — and several other simultaneous projects.  Meaning, the talent you relied upon may not really be secured for your project work.  Question what available means to understand if the project really has what it needs for success.

Talent Planning and Growth

If an organization has training and succession plans, it is possible there are human talents being groomed to bolster any short supply of a specific talent.  These may not be quite up for the challenge, but can be augmented with existing talents.  However, experience suggests that many organizations do not have effective plans or execute well to grow these other talents.

Effective training improves the capability of your organization.

Talent and Outsource

We may be able to find the talent our project needs via outsourcing hiring contractors either internal to the company or external to our company, for example XDIN-USA.  For internal staff are embedded directly into your company and project. For external, the talent will reside offsite but will still be connected directly to the project team. Both can be an appropriate solution to talent shortage.

Summary

Getting the right talent and hours for your project is important.  If you can not convince the sponsor to support your talent needs, help them evaluate their priorities.  Perhaps this project should be delayed until talent is available or outright terminated.