Project work often consists of individual work that combines to create group work. Moreover, the project manager does not know how the project is really doing. When they ask questions, they just hear the project due date repeated at louder and louder volume. The project team members are trying to guess what is expected of them. No one actually knows what the project is supposed to deliver. Everyone on the project is wearing blindfolds. This is a bad, but common, example of project management tracking. As the due date draws closer, the team members make a wild guess at what they should produce and they frantically slap some junk together. The project manager soon resorts to saying, “Everything is going according to plan,” or “Every task is in ‘green light’ status.” No one is solving problems early. Everything besides good news triggers a snarl. The project manager’s experience when reporting to the senior executives is similar. That is because they quickly learned that to report anything else brings down the wrath of the gods. Soon no one admits any problems and everyone says they are on schedule. However, because the project manager does not know exactly what the project should produce, their answers are vague. In this environment, the team members have to guess about what is expected or run to the project manager daily to ask what they should do. Isn’t it funny how the project manager does not hear any bad news after that? Well, at least not until the finish date draws near. They blame the team member for not asking the right questions, for slacking off or letting down the team. If a team member expresses confusion on their assignment or says that finishing by the due date is impossible, the project manager becomes frustrated. Some project managers conduct status meetings with the aim to report that nothing bad happened during the week. A Typical Scenario: Gathering Status Data from the TeamĮach week project managers gather status information to give project management tracking updates to the senior executives.
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