The Swiss Project Management Journal
The People Project
But first, take a moment to think about
the situation they are in, okay? So. I pre-
sume most readers of this article are
working as project managers in organi-
zations which have more in common with
my own organization than the ICRC. I work
at a for-profit company in a technical
industry, which is competing against
other like-minded companies all trying to
sell to other for-profit companies who
aim to bring more technology to people’s
lives. Did you notice that “for profit” was
mentioned twice? We are all in it for the
money. And because we are in tight com-
petition with other companies like my
own, we are racing against each other and
against time, and the pressure is huge to
be as quick and as cost-conscious as
possible. Every decision we make in our
projects is evaluated in terms of, what is
the deadline we are trying to meet? What
is the most cost-effective way to meet this
deadline? Full disclosure: we also keep a
very high standard of quality while doing
all this. Of course.
But Tarun and Robert don’t work on
projects which have the luxury of insig-
nificance; decisions made during the pro-
ject can have a profound impact on
people’s welfare and safety. A project for
the ICRC can easily be about improving
how people on the field set up a means to
supply fresh water to a group of people
who find themselves suddenly cut off
from the normal supply. Or setting up a
means to bring chi ldren to school. Or
medical care. Shelter. Food … the list goes
on. When your project is about working to
protect, and assist people affected by
armed conflict and other situations of
violence, you want your project team to
realize the intended results in the most
effective manner possible. People’s lives
may in fact be at stake.
“Our projects are often about improving
the infrastructure, services, information
and processes that allow us to protect and
assist: for example, improving our logis-
tics supply chain, strengthening the way
we manage and exchange information in
the field, the way we manage our staff …
We also have projects that are specifically
about helping individuals caught up in
conflict, for instance through better pa-
tient management, or beneficiary feed-
back.”
So, this is what Tarun is doing to help
projects at the ICRC get better results: he
establishes a team of people who will be
out in the field, wherever it may be, and
sets up a pilot or a proof-of-concept which
helps to determine what seems to be
working in that particular situation.
“What we are working towards achieving
in innovation is to make those who are
affected by conflict the 'primary clients' of
the pilot or project. For example, if we
And the result tends to be this: if my pro-
ject decisions do not lead immediately to
an absolute success, well, I get my team to
make a new decision. Quickly. And we try
again. And sometimes again. And all this
can cause stress to team members and
project managers alike.
But my/our projects are not about life-
and-death situations, are they? In fact,
when the stress levels run high, it is
sometimes useful for me to regain per-
spective by recalling something my men-
tor said to me twenty-four years ago,
when I started in my career in telecommu-
nications. “It is not like we are talking
about serious things,” she said, “Really, it
is just a phone bill.”
Project Management Institute
SWITZERLAND Chapter
Nigeria
9
2017 Edition