Fundamentals of Project Management, Third Edition

Promoting Teamwork Through Planning

A primary rule of planning is that those individuals who must implement the plan should participate in preparing it. Yet leaders often plan projects by themselves, then wonder why their team members seem to have no commitment to the plans.

All planning requires some estimating—how long a task will take, given the availability of certain resources, and so on. In my seminars, I ask participants, “Do you often find that your boss thinks you can do your work much faster than you actually can?” They laugh and agree. As I tell them, it seems to be some kind of psychological law that bosses are optimistic about how long it will take their staffs to get a job done.

When a manager gives a person an assignment that ...