The management bottleneck syndrome

During my 21 years as a web project manager, I have been confronted with 2 major problems:

• the lack of time to manage my projects efficiently
• my teams' inertia and resistance to change

These two symptoms cause a bottleneck in our capacities of launching a project, in my case a digital project.

Here is a short series of articles that I will post regularly and in which I will share my reflections and feedback regarding the resolution of these problems.

Diagnostic N°1: lack of time

The lack of time problem is chronic with us, executives and managers in small and medium-sized enterprises. It becomes critical and it is an important risk factor when it affects our company's strategic development.

As managers, we are required to take vital strategic decisions for our company. Taking a decision requires comprehensive knowledge of the subject. We must possess essential information and have had time to analyze the hypotheses related to the project.

In large companies, this problem is transferred to the different management levels situated under you. It's the classic

"Jones, I need a report on the current market conditions and our competitors' positions for next Monday"...

In a small or medium-sized company, you can only count on your own capacities because all the employees are loaded to the full extent of their capabilities. If you outsource a task, you will need to find your provider, explain to him what you want and supervise his work.

Choosing a provider is not an easy thing to do. You will pay many of them in order to find the right one and it is likely that you will spend as much time on it as if you had done the job yourself.

In the end, you will do the job yourself because you know how to be efficient.

Big mistake!

Symptoms

Schedule overload

By piling up tasks you will end up doing everything very quickly and efficiently, but you will not think as much. And, indeed, thinking must be your priority.

It is your gray matter that is valuable, not the amount of executive tasks you can fit in your schedule.
Let's return to our topic. I was in a situation where, by constantly charging my schedule, I ended up losing interest in my work which had become a simple matter of managing tasks that had to be completed as soon as possible.

What I like above all, and where I excel, is reflecting, imagining, analyzing and converting that into concrete projects. Obviously, I no longer had time to do this.

The manager becomes a follower

Let's now talk about my field: the web. Studying a technology, even its implications, its potential and evolution is vital in this field.

Since the web's inception, I have seen a wide variety of new technologies, practices, and changes. Seeing clearly through it all is a real challenge.

Without an exhaustive vision based on observation and experience, you are bound to follow the fashionable trends instead of leading the way. You will take decisions based on the following principle:

"if everybody is doing it, it must be good".

In few words, you will inevitably condemn your enterprise to stagnation and remain at the mercy of your more visionary and innovative competitors.

This position is not sustainable. You must react.

➽ Next article: “It's time for thinking”

As a leader in IT development management and mentor for many businesses, I am involved in the lean startup process.

A while ago, I created a revolutionary method for IT project management: ZAPPIK Method that can be named "lean IT".

ZAPPIK method

ZAPPIK method, simplifies drastically digital project management.

Zappik.com is the first platform to implement ZAPPIK method.