My husband, Dad and I just finished building a house, with the help of a great builder. It’s been an incredible, gratifying (and yes, often aggravating) accomplishment which has brought great lessons in project management.

When we set out a year ago April, we were focused on the elements new project managers learn: time, cost, quality, scope and risk. We were challenged to assess their competing demands and determined to keep it all in check. Sure. While a project in formalized “PM” circles is recognized as a temporary endeavor, having a beginning and an end, we did often question there being a real end to ours (as you know if you’ve ever managed a large project).

Project management as a concept dawned in the late 1950s (through the U.S. Navy’s quest to manage the complex creation of the first submarine-launched Polaris missile system) with the PERT method that led to mathematical formulas to establish critical paths to a series of planned tasks to accomplish a project. Yet modern project management as a profession, or extension of a profession, has seen a rapid boost in recent years as complex projects — most often IT-based — must be accomplished that are critical to business success but also have to use scarce resources wisely. Sound familiar?

Success in managing a project has as much to do with complex planning and vision and careful execution as it does employing the human traits of leadership, motivation and teamwork. Soft skills and good communication smooth the way — whether you are building a house or planning and integrating new technology into a radiology department. Managing external and internal politics sensitively and positively is too; always beware on whose toes you may tread.

Along the way, we tracked our milestones and measured performance through plumbing, electrical and HVAC approval stickers on the front window — and eventually a certificate of occupancy. We further employed controls — lots of phone calls and visits to the site — to focus the builder on our priorities.

As we come to the end of our project, we’re assessing our problem areas. I’m glad we’re not being graded on our project management skills since we’ve come in over budget and let this drag on six months longer than originally contracted. But we have succeeded in our quality objectives. Our new home is just what we envisioned.

So what would we do differently next time? Shop around for more prices with more suppliers before signing the contract; more carefully define who manages which sub-projects (my husband does the I-beams and I the bathroom tile); and demand tighter control on expenses. In the meantime, I hope next time isn’t anytime soon. Good luck with your big project in the works.

Mary C. Tierney, Editor
mtierney@mwc.com