Number 1 Cheerleader

Part of being the Project Manager is being the #1 cheerleader of the result or product. As such, I'm currently in that "ra ra" mode right now. Most of what we do represents a change from the status quo. Most people get nervous around change. As PMs we have both an opportunity and a responsibility to make that process go well. It will be different every time. But this is now the second time that I am employing this strategy and it has been effective both times.

Grass roots. Most of my friends and colleagues are probably local to the Washington DC area. I will heretofor refer to that place as the Ivory Tower. We build systems and applications in the ivory tower and they get deployed and used everywhere but. This causes a sense of alienation for the people actually executing programs and using the systems and applications we develop. In order to overcome this alienation I make it my job to be the #1 cheerleader for the product. I have been visiting places, Minneapolis last week, Atlanta yesterday, Denver a few weeks from now, and my message is the same; 'Take a look at this new application.'

I had a great platform yesterday to go out and speak with the leadership in the field. I was allotted a half hour. I got to the end of my 30 minutes and thanked them for their time. And then they didn't go away. They kept asking questions and wanting to see different functions. Before I knew it another 30 minutes went by. They loved the application and are pushing hard to expand the scope to meet the divergent needs of a broader set of programs.

It doesn't hurt that I have an excellent team of contractors working to develop the functionality. Very hard working and very responsive to customer needs. But the thing that is really different here is that I get the feeling that people in IT don't take the initiative to go out into the field to do this kind of grass-roots marketing. There is something to be said about getting out there and sitting down with people and looking them in the eye. I could read body language from people and probe to get their questions out. I love Live Meeting, but I can never read that type of feedback through a Live Meeting.

Lesson learned is, Web Exs and Live Meetings are great tools, but don't overuse them. Sometimes you need to get out of the Ivory Tower and share the pain. Only then will people pay attention and only then will you be able to really connect with them.