Ethics and the Project Manager
By Bob McGannon

Maybe the average project manager isn't running a project or a company as large as an Enron, WorldCom or others that are beleaguered with accounting practice questions and investor doubt. The project manager's reputation is a critical element to success however, and needs to be nurtured and cared for with great caution and personal scrutiny. PMI® addition of ethics to the elements discussed in the PMBOK is important, but is secondary to what your team members, peers and management sponsors perceive as the essence of your character and integrity. Here are some tips and thoughts on nurturing and enhancing that perception.

Financial Reporting

As one of the primary "triple constraints", financial tracking and reporting is a pivotal part of project management. Project managers often will rely on proven, ongoing corporate processes for reporting the financial elements of project performance - saving time and focus for other areas of the project. However, are there exceptions that need to be considered for accurate reporting on your particular project? Are the supporting procedures for creating and processing data for the financial processes being followed appropriately?

Taking the time to examine these processes early in the project lifecycle can save embarrassment and undue scrutiny from stakeholders and your direct management. Items such as time reporting, the establishment and categorization of cost codes and the separation of internal and external costs (when tracking expenditures on behalf of a client) should be carefully examined and understood in detail by the project manager. This will prevent any questions, misunderstandings and misinterpretations by stakeholders and members of the project team.

Estimating

"Padding the schedule" is a discussion we often get into as we engage in project management training sessions across the country. In an effort to appropriately perform "expectations management" many project management practitioners will arbitrarily add a percentage of time to all estimates received from their project team members - sometimes as great as adding 100% to the estimates they receive. In defense of this practice, project managers will report that it "serves them well" - often these "padded" estimates actually hit the mark relative to the time or resources it takes to complete a project. Feeling justified by the accuracy of this approach, project managers continue the practice as a matter of course. This practice has long lasting and deteriorating consequences however.

When the project manager asks for estimates and proceeds to arbitrarily add time to them, what does that say to the team member who came up with those estimates? How does the practice promote the education of your team members relative to their estimating techniques? What could the consequences be if you were questioned in detail about how your estimates were derived?

continue>>