Succeeding in the Project Management Jungle

Introduction

ON MY FIRST PROJECT as a manufacturing project leader, inside a company known for its paternalistic management style and for being a big early driver of the Six Sigma methodology, I was the ultimate micromanager. I trusted no one, checked on everything, wanted to make every decision. I exhausted both my team and myself. I generated the desired short-term business results but was so unpopular that I was “moved on to the next challenge” as soon as it was clear the project would succeed. No one counseled me in what I should have done differently. At that point, writing a book on how to get effective results through the use of so-called soft people skills would have been inconceivable to me. And, yet, here it is.

Succeeding in the Project ...