Utility Players - Making the Case for Project Managers with Range

Recently I finished two books: Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World and The Sports Gene: Inside the Science of Extraordinary Athletic Performance by David Epstein. Funny enough, when I originally picked the books up I was thinking about helping my 8 year old daughter achieve her dreams of playing in the 2033 Women’s Soccer World Cup without burning out. Right after, I was tagged in a post by Andy Kaufman asking folks about career paths in comparison to their education. The inspiration for his post was from the People and Projects Podcast, featuring none other than the author of one of the books I just read, David Epstein. I started thinking about what I look for when hiring, and why specialization is not always a good thing. I am still digging into the whole create-a-strong-daughter thing, but that's a lifelong passion.

When hiring Project Managers, one of the first questions recruiters ask me is: “what kind of project will they be managing?” My typical answer is: “any project, but make sure that they are of the type that if you were going out for a beer, you would invite them”. Vetting someone’s project management background past the resume basics is my job as an industry professional. The goal of this "beer" question is to drive home the point that a good personality and being able to connect with others are both critical. These skills are much harder to cultivate than understanding the nuances of status reporting in an Agile development project. Obviously, I would prefer they have ample experience with the exact projects and methodologies planned, but these fall lower on the priority scale behind likeability, attitude, and aptitude. If the next project is an ERP implementation and that specific niche is the focus of the hire, do I then fire them if the project gets put on hold? In one of my first acts as a manager this was a question that was posed to me after my predecessor hired a specialist. The bottom line is really to hire the person, not the resume.

In The Sports Gene, there’s an interesting Barry Bonds anecdote. He is a hall of fame hitter who along with several other baseball legends couldn’t hit a college level softball pitch. The changes in distance, speed, and size left the greatest hitters of his generation humbled at the hands of Jennie Finch, a women’s college softball great. Applying this story to project management, how do you think the world's foremost expert in SMB Oracle ERP implementations for the past decade does in charge of a marketing campaign? Are you making a good employee more vulnerable by leaving them in the same situation no matter how well they perform? My take has always been every PM should be able to manage any project, because you have consistently moved the goal line. I have seen organizations that break projects into specialized tasks almost like an assembly line were the PM changes between each deliverable. Each Project Manager has a unique schedule in what would look like a program, but no one typically watches the end-to-end delivery to maximize value. This can work, but you can lose accountability. You will also often see resources and partners frustrated trying to get the actual story. This experience can leave the customer feeling as if they just entered a game of ping pong.

Before thinking that I only hire the class clown, I do look for more than soft skills. My second level of focus is less on the specific projects a potential hire has managed, but to see in his or her background variety, career progression, and an obvious willingness to take on challenges. This shows that they can deal with ambiguous situations, adjust to an environment, and deal with whatever is thrown at them, as they would have developed foundational tools, such as time management and communication to be successful. This can sometimes be identified through focusing the interview questions on the past, but with a twist. Take the example provided and throw in new variables or problems that adjust their story line. See how they respond to the challenge and if they can think on their feet. 

One of my favorite slogans is from the Marine Corps “Improvise, Adapt, and Overcome”. If a project manager or leader can operate with this mentality, any challenge can be conquered. Some situations happen once every decade, can't fail, and require the specialist. My belief is if the knowledge is really that specialized and the duration is finite then hire a consulting firm. Consulting firms were built for this role and in many cases you can often find a niche firm that focuses solely on your specific project and need. The best talent with this specialized skill most likely gravitated to these firms anyway since it’s the best fit.

While a considerable number of stories in Epstein’s book “Range” are on sports and music topics, the focus on bypassing early specialization matches my beliefs closely. Stepping out of your comfort zone builds brain muscle memory with skills and methods to be successful in just about any situation. Personally, I have always looked for any opportunity to challenge myself. Don't get me wrong, in each situation I questioned myself, and used the fear of failure to drive me toward the end goal. Mistakes were made and failures occurred, but they were turned into learning opportunities. These learning opportunities turned into a library of best practices for managing ambiguous situations, which have saved me more times that I can tell. How many times have you seen a senior executive appear unprepared? Not often, right. Is it because they they prepare for everything constantly? The latter may be true, but more often they are using a lifetime of learning by pushing their own limits of comfort. In grad school I had the opportunity to interview the late Paul Raines for a course on Leadership. At the time Paul was the CEO of GameStop and in our time speaking he walked through the roles he filled throughout his career. One of the things that stuck out was his emphasis on how it prepared him to make decisions with limited information and learn quickly from his mistakes. Paul felt the combination of desire to learn, knowledge, and experience were critical to being a successful leader with learning being the most important

At the end of the day specialists have roles. People with range have roles. What you must determine when hiring a PM is if the project type they will be leading will continue in perpetuity, or will you need them to do a variety of things throughout their tenure. If it’s a single task, then maybe finding a consultant or contract resource would be the best strategy. In my experience almost every company shifts focus on a regular basis due to priority or market changes. Think about questions that test the capability to deal with ambiguity versus how they handled the last project. Explaining the past is easy. The situation can be prepared for and rehearsed. The challenge in solving a set of simple problems outside of the norm with little context requires range and the ability to adapt. Test how your team members operate and if they have the range required to hit a home run when the distance between the mound shrinks by 13 feet. One of my favorite questions came from a previous boss. He caught me off guard momentarily when he asked me “what makes you the rainmaker”? I am not sure how to explain my reaction, but at the time it made my brain spin as it created a new muscle.

Special thanks to Sean Martin, Eric Lyke, and Dee Ann Gordon for giving me feedback.