Balancing the Art and Science of Project Management

The biggest variable to enable project management success is often strong leadership. 

AI and other project management tools are important and certainly provide needed capabilities to any project manager. However, at the end of the day, strong leadership is often the single most important variable to enable project success.  

Project management is a form of leadership. To drive their projects across the finish line, skilled project managers utilize various forms of leadership, including: 

Leading by influence:  Project managers generally do not have project team members reporting to them. Understanding how to lead team members through influence is critical, as leading projects often requires a different approach versus leading direct reports. 

Communication:  A majority of project management involves some form of communication. Providing concise and pertinent leadership communication — whether it is with status reports or in steering committee meetings — is critical to convey information to stakeholders to inform decision making. Most project team members are supporting the project in addition to their day-to-day job, so it is vital keep communication pertinent and meaningful. 

How can project managers balance technical and people skills to improve results? 

Technical project management skills are important, but like any technical skills they can be learned through training. While these skills are needed, the “soft skills” or “intangibles” can separate great project management from good project management: 

Adaptability:  Most projects have barriers or challenges arise and adjusting the plan to adapt to a new environment or new constraint is key. Nearly every project I’ve supported has had some form of adversity arise that requires an adaptable approach to successfully navigate and adjust. 

Resilience:   If all projects were easy, project managers would not be needed!  Resilience is a required leadership trait to lead a project through the inevitable setbacks or obstacles that typically occur on a project, while keeping the team motivated. 

Use of AI:  Similar to other professions, AI can serve as an enabler for efficiency for the project management field. Specifically, utilizing AI to capture minutes during project management meetings is a great way to allow a project manager to focus on facilitating the meeting and save time transcribing notes after the meeting. 

What habits or approaches help teams navigate unexpected challenges effectively? 

Sometimes project management processes can be too rigid for a given situation. Standardization is important; however, there are instances when flexibility and adaptability are needed. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many projects required instantaneous adjustments and modifications to the project approach to navigate the new environment. For example, a given project may begin as a traditional waterfall project, but due to unforeseen circumstances, inserting agile methodology to certain aspects may be required. 

As organizations navigate AI technology that is exponentially advancing at a rapid pace, a flexible approach will be needed to keep pace with the inevitable changes that will evolve over the next several years. Incorporating change management into the project management framework is also a best practice to ensure the project implementations are met with minimal resistance and utilized effectively. 

Eric Gentzel is an experienced and successful strategic consulting leader with 20 years of experience in project/program management, strategic leadership, training/facilitation and leadership development. He has served in the U.S. Army for over 20 years between active duty and reserve and currently serves as a lieutenant colonel and adjunct instructor for the U.S. Army Command and General Staff Officers Course. 

He co-founded and leads The Overwatch Partnership, a veteran mentoring nonprofit, and also provides strategic project management and consulting services for NeuZeit Group. His career includes diverse project management and operational leadership experiences with Deloitte Consulting, Navigator Management Partners and OhioHealth. 

Gentzel is a certified Project Management Professional, is Prosci Change Management certified and received an MPA from University of North Carolina-Charlotte. Gentzel is also an instructor for the Glenn College Management Advancement for the Public Service (MAPS) program.