Project Management for Non-Project Managers

CHAPTER FOURThe Ideal Functional Manager in the Project Organization

In complex organizations, strategic project initiatives require leadership and perseverance by key members of the project organization, none more important than the primary customer receiving the project’s benefits—the functional manager. A few years ago, I was asked to help upgrade a legacy system to a more modern system that would rein in maintenance costs and increase usage of the system throughout the organization. The organization had been going through cost-cutting measures for several years and had repeatedly put off upgrades to the system to the next budget cycle. As the system began to become unstable, the need to update it became urgent and finally made its way to ...