Bring multiple choice questions/options to every discussion

Don’t bring problems to the desk of the project sponsor, bring options. This technique, if used consistently, does put a burden on us as project managers. However, if we don’t have time to do the research to understand the pros/cons of the various options that we believe should be considered, certainly the project sponsor won’t have time to perform this analysis, and the decisions we need won’t be made. The formulation of those options and the resulting consequences are relatively straightforward. Just apply what we have learned through PMI and via good solid project management training. First and foremost, define the probable impact on the triple constraints of time, cost and scope. Secondly, determine the impact on the quality of the project’s product. Lastly we need to consider an area that usually is very important to the project sponsor, but is often overlooked by individual project managers: examine the impact of changes to your project on the other projects being championed by the sponsor. This involves talking to other project managers and making sure you are aware of the status of other initiatives. Remember, our sponsors are often in the same “accidental” role for other projects as well – if you are looking to a sponsor to provide a decision, and you don’t provide data as to the impact on other initiatives, you are very unlikely to get a decision. Rather you will get a “send away” to do more research, or more often than not you will get a “I need to consider this” type of response, that goes unanswered for a long period of time, if at all.

Make communications short, to the point and relevant

We all receive a large number of emails, especially as we work in a world with more home based offices, virtual teams, and international initiatives. In my experience in managing project teams and IT delivery contracts, I have managed teams as large as 460 people. Regardless of the environment, one thing is constant – the flood of emails. In my experience, that flow is actually quite consistent. On an average day, the number of emails I receive is .85 times the number of people I am managing. Consider that when working with your project sponsor – if your sponsor is managing a team of 460 people, he/she is probably receiving well over 350 emails a day. Considering more and more senior leaders are making due with a limited amount of administrative assistance (or none at all) just keeping up on emails can be a daunting experience. How is this done? Senior leaders rarely read their emails in their entirety – they skim them for context and relevance and sometimes don’t even get beyond the subject line.

We always hear about “email rules” that talk about using relevant subject headings, and brief sentences, with no more than two paragraphs, etc. In the case of sending emails to the busy sponsor, the use of these email principles is absolutely mandatory. Get to the point, say what you need, present the options and a short snippet of the pros/cons and be done with it. If you need to communicate more extensively, state the subject and why it is important (hopefully by reflecting on the techniques discussed in the first bullet of this article, or something like it) and request a discussion. Schedule it for 15 minutes, no more, and practice getting your point across in that period of time, while allowing for questions and clarifications from your sponsor. If your sponsor wants to discuss this for longer than 15 minutes, they will, or will ask you to come back at a time that is convenient for them. Either way, you are sure to be communicating, instead of attempting to communicate via a drawn out email that is unlikely to be read.

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