How to manage several projects simultaneously - and succeeding

Von Marcel Bhend

Zu viele Projekte, eine komplexe Materie und wechselnde Arbeitsumgebungen sind einige Gründe, weshalb mancher Projektleiter den Eindruck gewinnt, keinem seiner Projekte gerecht zu werden. Wie kann ein Projektleiter bei minimaler Präsenz vor Ort dennoch optimale Projektresultate erreichen? Meine persönliche Erfahrung mit drei zeitgleichen Projekten an drei verschiedenen Orten bei Kunden aus unterschiedlichen Branchen zeigt mir, dass dies nur mit einer besonderen Form des Projektmanagements zu bewerkstelligen ist: Ich nenne es "verteiltes Projektmanagement". Mit dem Ansatz des verteilten Projektmanagements wird ein Weg aufgezeigt, mit dem durch einfache Verhaltensweisen die vorhandenen Schwierigkeiten überwunden und Projekte erfolgreich abgeschlossen werden können. Auf einen Nenner gebracht bedeutet "verteiltes Projektmanagement" einfach, dass der Projektverantwortliche sowohl sein Wissen als auch die Verantwortung mit dem Projektteam teilt.

1. Backround

When it became necessary for me to direct three different projects at three different sites at the same time, I realized that only a form of joint or "shared" project management would lead to a successful conclusion. In each situation that deals with extremely knowledge-based work, direct control by the project manager will decrease, and an active information exchange benefiting all team members will increase. Especially with projects that operate under heavy time constraints, in which highly qualified experts develop innovative products in a unfamiliar environment, that is, at the customer's site, a necessary base of trust must first be built up. As time is scarce, however, an information exchange must begin at once, i.e. during the phase of consolidation, also known as "storming phase", and must be successful. For this to work, each team member does not just have to focus on his/her own skills, but must be familiar with each communicational interface.

Seen from the project manager's viewpoint, the situation with three projects that run simultaneously is. The lines of communication between the project manager and each project team are clearly visible as well as the interactive web between project team and customer representatives.

This "shared project management," as I call this form of team work with minimal overhead, requires project teams to know more about communication structures; they also will have to be able to translate project management know-how into success with the project.

Thus, the definition of the term "shared project management" turns on two meanings of "shared": Shared project management means that project managers "share" their capacity for work with different projects; it also means that they "share" their knowledge with all the members of each project team.


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