Project Management for the Unofficial Project Manager – Complete Book Summary & All Key Ideas

Project Management for the Unofficial Project Manager: Complete Summary of Kory Kogon and Suzette Blakemore’s Principles for Project Success

Introduction: What This Book Is About

Project Management for the Unofficial Project Manager by Kory Kogon and Suzette Blakemore offers a refreshing solution for individuals unexpectedly thrust into project management roles. This book provides a practical, easy-to-use framework for anyone needing to organize and lead projects effectively, even without formal training or a project manager title. It addresses the common workplace challenge of leading companies to a new future through project work, making project management an essential professional skill for everyone.

The authors distill the vast body of project management knowledge into simple, clear, and immediately implementable principles and tools. While drawing from established methodologies like the PMBOK Guide and the Agile Method, they simplify complex processes to make them accessible for “regular” people. This book is for knowledge workers paid to think, innovate, and create, helping them deliver value, manage processes, and lead people in any project, from micro-projects to large-scale initiatives.

Readers will learn how to take control fast with the knowledge in these pages, gaining the confidence and practical skills to navigate project challenges. The book outlines a basic method for project success, applicable whether you’re handling a professional project or planning a personal event. By following the advice within, individuals can achieve a tremendous, positive impact on their career and avoid common project pitfalls like cost overruns, delays, and stakeholder disappointments.

The comprehensive coverage ensures that readers are well-equipped with a basic process and tools to carry out their own projects successfully. It promises to guide users in going from good to great in both their professional and personal lives by consistently practicing foundational principles. This summary will delve into each chapter, providing a detailed overview of all key insights, methodologies, and actionable advice.

Chapter 1: The Job to Be Done Now

This chapter sets the stage by illustrating the growing prevalence of project work in today’s economy and the challenges faced by “unofficial project managers.” It highlights why everyone is essentially a project manager now and why most projects fail, emphasizing the need for structured approaches even without formal training.

The Rise of the Project Economy

The modern workplace increasingly relies on project work to deliver value for customers. Author Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez states, “Soon we will no longer have job descriptions. We will have only project descriptions,” underscoring a global phenomenon of organizational transformations, faster product development, and quicker technology adoption. This shift demands nimbleness and responsiveness to customer demands, moving beyond traditional job descriptions. For example, Hedda, a scientist, suddenly finds herself responsible for speeding up drug approvals at Lettal Pharmaceuticals, a task far removed from her initial job description but crucial for the company’s revenue.

The “Big Whammy” of Project Failure

Despite the boom in project management, a Harvard study reveals that only 35% of projects worldwide succeed. This statistic points to a “multiple ‘whammy’” of time and cost overruns, business-case failures, stakeholder disappointments, and sustainability shortfalls. This means that nearly two out of three projects fail to deliver value to customers, wasting significant time and resources. The authors emphasize that apprehension about taking on a project manager role is natural given these high failure rates and the lack of formal training for many.

Common Reasons Projects Fail

Projects often fail due to a combination of internal and external factors. According to the Project Management Institute (PMI), organizations without formal processes fail more often, but even those with processes experience significant failures. The common reasons for project failure include:

Unclear outcomes or expectations: Teams lack a shared understanding of “Why are we doing this?”
Lack of commitment or support from leaders: Leadership provides insufficient backing, leading to phrases like “Okay, go ahead with it, I guess…”
Unrealistic timelines: Projects are often pushed with demands like “We need this yesterday!”
Lack of or mismanaged budget: Insufficient financial resources or poor allocation leads to questions like “You need how much more money?”
Competing priorities: Team members are pulled in multiple directions, impacting their focus on the project.
Unrealistic resources: Projects are expected to succeed with inadequate staffing or tools.
Politics: Internal power struggles and hidden agendas can derail progress.
Lack of a big picture: A narrow focus leads to overlooking seemingly minor issues with major consequences, as seen with loose screws in the James Webb Space Telescope project.
Poor planning: Rushing into execution without adequate thought, such as “Don’t overthink it. Let’s get started already. We know what to do.”
Lack of leadership: Absence of clear direction and guidance, creating uncertainty about “Who’s in charge here, anyway?”
Changing standards: Requirements shift unexpectedly, making it difficult to meet goals.

The Power of Principles for Success

To combat the “big whammy,” this book offers established project management principles that provide hope. Unlike dense textbooks, it focuses on a handful of universally applicable principles derived from the PMI’s PMBOK Guide, 7th edition. These principles, described by Stephen R. Covey as “rules or laws that are permanent, unchanging and universal in nature,” consistently lead to success regardless of the specific process or situation. One professional notes that “Whether it’s a $50,000 study or a

        30billion‘giga’project,thebasictenetsofprojectmanagementshouldnotchange."Thisfoundationalunderstandingiscrucialforthe∗∗tensofthousandsofunofficialprojectmanagers∗∗whohavelearnedthismethod,leadingtosignificantsavingsandprojectsuccess.Forexample,oneclientsaved∗∗30 billion ‘giga’ project, the basic tenets of project management should not change." This foundational understanding is crucial for the **tens of thousands of unofficial project managers** who have learned this method, leading to significant savings and project success. For example, one client saved **30billion‘giga’project,thebasictenetsofprojectmanagementshouldnotchange."Thisfoundationalunderstandingiscrucialforthe∗∗tensofthousandsofunofficialprojectmanagers∗∗whohavelearnedthismethod,leadingtosignificantsavingsandprojectsuccess.Forexample,oneclientsaved∗∗

2.5 million** by applying these principles to “Small p” projects often overlooked.

Chapter 2: Principles of Project Success

This chapter introduces the three governing principles of successful project management: Create Value, Lead People, and Manage Processes, forming a foundational success formula. It delves into the nuances of each principle, emphasizing their interconnectedness and importance for unofficial project managers.

Create Value: The Ultimate Measure of Success

The first and most crucial principle of project success is to Create Value. While timeliness and cost-effectiveness are important, the best measure of project success is whether end users are happy and if the project achieves its intended organizational outcome. Historically, project success was often attributed to “process compliance,” but the Agile Manifesto shifted this focus by declaring, “Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of value.” The latest PMBOK Guide (7th edition) now recognizes value as a fundamental principle, emphasizing that managers must “continually evaluate and adjust project alignment to business objectives and intended benefits and value… defined in quantitative and/or qualitative terms.”

Quantitative value is typically defined by financial metrics such as Return on Investment (ROI) and Net Present Value (NPV). Project managers should conduct or obtain this analysis during the scoping phase, as it is often what key stakeholders care most about. Qualitative value, while harder to measure, is equally critical and includes less tangible benefits like increased brand awareness, market share, customer satisfaction, educational results, or market trust. Project managers must constantly keep in mind why people care about their project, how much they care, and how the project aligns with the organization’s larger vision or purpose. The tools provided in this book are designed to ensure that projects consistently create value, preventing “dumb things” from being done on time and on budget.

Lead People: Inspiring Engagement and Trust

The second governing principle is to Lead People. Stephen R. Covey’s adage, “Manage organizations, lead people,” highlights the distinction: management is task coordination, while leadership inspires willing and enthusiastic follow-through. The project team is the “goose” that lays the “golden egg” of value, so a project leader must keep the team happy and creative rather than abusing them. Research from the Standish Group indicates that project success is more dependent on the “emotional maturity” of the team than the process used, by a factor of more than three times. This emotional maturity stems from “the basic behaviors of how people work together.”

As an unofficial project manager, you likely hold informal authority rather than formal authority. Informal authority comes from your character and capabilities, built through trustworthiness, clear expectations, commitment-keeping, and respectful treatment of others. In contrast, formal authority comes from a title, which doesn’t guarantee good leadership or willing followers. This informal authority is especially crucial with younger workers who prioritize authenticity, ethics, and values, making them less likely to follow simply because someone is “in charge.”

To earn the informal authority needed for effective leadership, project managers must practice the Five Foundational Behaviors:

Listen First: Avoid the urge to “know it all” or constantly tell others what to do. Empathy is key, allowing team members to express ideas and complaints without interruption. This approach fosters new ideas and makes team members feel respected.
Clarify Expectations: The “great enemy of communication is the illusion of it.” Fuzzy expectations are fatal to a project. Project success hinges on everyone having a clear, unambiguous picture of what they expect from themselves and others. This involves asking clarifying questions like “What do you mean by (blank)?” and “Can I clarify one thing?” to ensure shared understanding.
Extend Trust: Trusting people to keep their commitments motivates them to work harder and manage themselves. Counterfeit trust, such as micromanaging or delegating without true empowerment, can undermine initiative. Giving team members a chance to earn trust almost always yields positive results.
Practice Accountability: As a project leader, you must model commitment-keeping to build informal authority. If you are late with tasks, your ability to hold others accountable diminishes. When a team member misses a commitment, the goal is to find out why and clear the path for them, rather than punishing them. Accountability is about helping people keep their promises.
Demonstrate Respect: Mutual respect speeds up projects and fosters emotional maturity within the team. It means speaking the truth respectfully and consistently, and it is demonstrated by practicing the other four foundational behaviors. A project leader’s inner character, not just knowledge of processes, determines success; otherwise, the project becomes “nice on the outside, and one big mess inside,” like a watermelon.

These behaviors require discipline to maintain, especially under pressure, ensuring that project managers lead people effectively rather than getting caught in process management or shirking responsibilities. Ineffective managers often fall into abandonment (leaving the team to struggle) or micromanagement (crushing initiative). The tools in this book integrate these principles to encourage mature team behaviors.

Manage the Process: Navigating the Project Journey

The third element in the success formula is to Manage the Process. While some may dislike the term “process,” it refers to the pathway or method used to complete a project. A good process, whether complicated or simple, offers flexibility and security, ensuring efficient use of time and resources. Historically, two main methods have governed project processes: the Waterfall Method and the Agile Method.

The Waterfall Method is a traditional, step-by-step approach where the project schedule resembles a cascading waterfall. It is best suited for projects with a well-defined scope, clear objectives, and a fixed deadline, such as building a skyscraper or flying to a specific destination. In this method, value is determined at the outset and realized after completion, with minimal changes along the way. However, it can be rigid, leading to problems if requirements change after the initial planning phase.

In contrast, the Agile Method emerged in reaction to the rigidity of Waterfall, particularly in industries like software development, advertising, and banking, where products undergo constant change. Agile focuses on fast delivery and continuous re-evaluation of project value throughout its creation. Teams collaborate closely, working in “iterations” or “sprints” where they quickly develop, deploy, and test deliverables, then review and resolve issues as they go. This approach helps teams create value incrementally and adapt to evolving needs, ensuring the project delivers what’s truly needed.

For unofficial project managers, the authors propose a hybrid process that combines the best aspects of both Waterfall and Agile. This FranklinCovey project management process involves five core steps:

Scope: Define the project’s value for its beneficiaries.
Plan: Outline how to achieve the scoped value, including scheduling activities and assigning resources.
Engage: Inspire people to give their best to the work, continuously revisiting the plan.
Track & Adapt: Monitor progress and make necessary adjustments throughout the project lifecycle to ensure continued value creation.
Close: Conclude the project, celebrate successes, and document lessons learned for future endeavors.

This integrated approach provides a doable, practical framework for consistent project success, ensuring that even tasks like painting an apartment can follow a structured process from planning (paint type, tools, time) to engagement (team collaboration), tracking (monitoring for drips, touching up), and closing (cleanup, celebration). The remainder of the book is structured around these five steps, providing stories and tools to guide unofficial project managers.

Chapter 3: Scoping the Project

This chapter emphasizes that scoping is the most critical step in project management, defining “what” the project aims to achieve and “what do we need to do to get it done.” It highlights the importance of clarity and shared understanding to prevent projects from “circling around” due to miscommunication or “scope creep.”

The Importance of Initial Clarity

Scoping is paramount due to the principle of “sensitivity to initial conditions.” Even a slight misunderstanding at the project’s outset can lead to disaster later on, much like a flight veering off course. The authors stress that without a clear and shared picture of the value being created, a project is doomed. The number-one reason for project failure is “unrealistic expectations based on insufficient data and information.” Project managers must ensure everyone involved sees the same picture of the project’s outcome, confirming its value is clear and unquestionable to all stakeholders. This begins by assuming nothing is clear, preventing future disappointment and ensuring that the project does not end up as “not what we wanted.”

Identifying Key Stakeholders

Effective scoping begins by identifying all potential stakeholders—anyone involved in or positively or negatively impacted by the project. This involves casting a wide net during brainstorming to avoid missing crucial individuals who might later question why they weren’t consulted. Examples include a pharma company failing to involve marketing, leading to a two-dose drug that couldn’t compete with a one-dose alternative, or a bank whose new product was deemed illegal because lawyers weren’t consulted. Thorough stakeholder identification reduces the risk of costly mess-ups.

Once all stakeholders are listed, the next step is to pinpoint key stakeholders, who are the decision-makers and those who ultimately determine project success or failure. These include customers (internal and external), sponsors, financial leads, department heads, regulators, legal advisors, community members, and even critics or skeptics. The value of the project is often defined collectively by these key stakeholders. To determine who is key, the book introduces the Key Stakeholder DANCE tool:

D (Decisions): Individuals who make decisions that control or influence the project.
A (Authority): Those who grant permission to proceed or stop the project.
N (Need): People who directly benefit from or are affected by the project.
C (Connections): Individuals who are connected to the required people, money, or resources.
E (Energy): Stakeholders with positive or negative energy that could significantly affect the project.

The C and E stakeholders (“influencers”) are particularly important, as their informal authority can greatly impact the project despite lacking formal titles. Proactively engaging with them using the Five Foundational Behaviors (listening, clarifying, trusting, holding accountable, respecting) can mitigate negative energy and harness new ideas.

Interviewing Key Stakeholders

Once key stakeholders are identified, the crucial step is to interview them to gather input early in the process, a principle known as frontloading. This means getting as much information as possible, as soon as possible, from as many key people as possible. Common excuses for skipping this step—such as lack of time, assuming knowledge of stakeholder needs, or fear of appearing unintelligent—are highlighted as putting the project in real jeopardy.

Tips for making useful contacts with key stakeholders include:

Discover preferred communication methods (text, email, in-person).
Introduce yourself and your role clearly.
For high-level stakeholders, reach out to their preferred contact who is knowledgeable.
Capture their attention with a “hook” (WIIFM—”What’s in it for me?”), linking the project to their goals or expertise.
Briefly explain what you need and why to respect their time.
Follow up consistently without giving up.
Balance courage with consideration by stepping up to ask vital questions while being sensitive to their time constraints.

It is critical not to assume you already know what stakeholders want. For example, asking “Why, by how much, by when, who can help, and who decides what’s fast enough?” for a project to “speed up that process” is essential. The Project Scope Statement tool is used to guide these interviews, covering elements like Project Purpose, Description, Desired Results, Exclusions, Feedback Loops, People Resources, Priorities (Time, Quality, Budget), and Acceptance Criteria. This systematic approach ensures unambiguous clarity and prevents the project from becoming a “never-ending wish list.”

When conducting interviews, use a Question Funnel to move from general to specific information:

Open questions (e.g., “How do you define success?”)
Detailed questions (e.g., “Could you tell me more about what that means?”)
Closed questions (e.g., “So, here is what I hear you saying… Did I get that exactly right?”).

This funnel helps “tie down the value of your project.” Group interviews can be effective for gathering rapid input but require strict time limits, a no-interruption rule, and respectful listening from all participants. Recording and distributing results ensures everyone is on the same page. Stakeholder disagreements should be noted and addressed later, not during the initial interview.

Documenting the Project Scope

The outcome of key stakeholder interviews is a Project Scope Statement, which formally defines the “work performed to deliver a product, service, or result with the specified features and functions.” This document acts as a “compass,” providing direction without excessive detail, allowing flexibility while preventing aimless wandering. It typically includes:

Project Purpose: The fundamental “why” behind the project, linking to organizational goals.
Description: How, what, and when the project will be executed.
Desired Results: Specific, measurable outcomes (e.g., “Raise aggregate reading scores by three levels per term”).
Exclusions: Explicitly stating what is not included in the project to prevent “scope creep.”
Feedback Loops: Who provides feedback, when, and how, ensuring continuous value assessment.
People Resources: Identifying key team members, prioritizing those who embody the Five Foundational Behaviors.
Priorities (Constraints): Ranking Time, Quality, and Budget based on stakeholder importance. These are interconnected, like threads in a spider’s web—pulling one affects the others.
Acceptance Criteria: Who needs to sign off on the project and by when, ensuring formal agreement on completion.

The Project Scope Statement provides a clear, shared understanding of expectations and, when signed off by key stakeholders, offers leverage for holding them to their commitments. It serves as a “truth teller,” managing initial impractical expectations and reducing the risk of the project becoming an endless “wish list.” This structured approach, exemplified by Hedda’s drug approval project, moves the project forward with clarity and greatly increases the chances of success, avoiding the “big whammy.”

Chapter 4: Planning the Project

This chapter details the crucial step of planning the project, transforming the “compass” of the Project Scope Statement into a “road map” for execution. It covers building a robust risk strategy and creating a comprehensive project schedule, ensuring smart decision-making and preparedness for the unexpected.

Building a Risk Strategy

Project planning begins with a risk-management strategy, essential for anticipating and mitigating “what-ifs.” The authors introduce Murphy’s Law (“Anything that can go wrong, will”) as a guiding principle, advocating for proactive planning rather than reactive problem-solving. This involves three steps:

Identify Risks: Brainstorm all potential problems that could derail the project. These can include issues related to finance, team strength, changing priorities, technology, disruptive innovations, or political issues. Olivia’s hybrid work project, for example, identified risks such as employee isolation, data security threats, reduced collaboration, and potential burnout. While initially overwhelming, the goal is to list everything before prioritizing.
Prioritize Risks: Not all risks require equal attention. The Risk Strategy tool helps quantify risks using a formula: Impact x Probability = Risk Score.
- Impact: Assessed on a scale of 1-5 (5 = worst case, 1 = minimal impact).
- Probability: Assessed on a scale of 1-5 (5 = going to happen, 1 = unlikely).
  Multiplying these scores helps identify high-priority risks (scores of 12 or higher) that demand a specific plan. For Olivia’s project, risks like customer relationships suffering and data security were identified as high-scoring, indicating a need for targeted management.
Plan for Risks (TAME): For high-scoring risks, a strategy is developed using the TAME acronym:
- Transfer: Shift the risk to a third party (e.g., hiring a consultant for data security, as Olivia did).
- Accept: Acknowledge the risk and decide to deal with it if it occurs, without proactive measures.
- Mitigate: Lessen the risk by reducing its probability and/or impact (e.g., surveying employees to address isolation by aligning work preferences).
- Eliminate: Remove the risk entirely (e.g., reconfiguring the customer-contact system to prevent exasperation).
  This Risk-Management Plan assigns ownership for each strategy to a team member, ensuring accountability. Communicating this plan to key stakeholders demonstrates transparency and allows collective effort in taming risks.

Creating a Project Schedule

After establishing a risk strategy, the next step is to create the project schedule, acting as a GPS to guide the project. The ultimate goal is to identify the critical path, which is the longest sequence of activities that must start and end on time and be done with quality. This path is the “most strategic instrument” for managing the project, as any delay or poor execution on it will jeopardize the entire project.

The process of creating a project schedule involves five steps:

1. Develop the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS): The WBS is a hierarchical list of all deliverables necessary for project success. A deliverable is a product of some kind (a noun, e.g., “laptop,” not “buy a laptop”). Brainstorming with the project team, customers, and suppliers is crucial, ideally using a mind map to visually organize deliverables and their components. For Olivia’s hybrid work project, deliverables included research on best practices, technology solutions, and a new workspace plan, each broken down into sub-components and then into specific activities (e.g., “create budget,” “survey workers”). Each activity is stated with a verb to denote action.
2. Sequence Activities: Determine the order of activities and their dependencies.
- Finish-to-Start (FS): The most common, where one activity must finish before another can start (e.g., developing a plan before executing it).
- Start-to-Start (SS): The start of one activity triggers the start of another, allowing overlap (e.g., researching workspace repurposing while researching collaboration best practices).
- Finish-to-Finish (FF): One activity cannot finish until another preceding activity has finished (e.g., a drug trial cannot finish until the last patient visit is complete).
3. Identify and Assign People to Each Activity: The principle “the goal defines the team” guides this step. While having the luxury of choosing team members, prioritize those with appropriate skillsets and values (Five Foundational Behaviors). Influential people can also add cachet to the project. Hedda faced challenges recruiting scientists for a “speeding up approvals” project but successfully onboarded Dr. Brack and other key personnel. Olivia struggled with team availability due to competing priorities but adapted by leveraging her HR manager’s assistance and building trust. A clear WBS allows team members to volunteer for assignments, increasing ownership and informal authority.
4. Estimate the Duration of Each Activity: Distinguish between “work” (effort in hours) and “duration” (calendar time, accounting for real-life commitments). For example, 16 hours of painting work might translate to a 4-day duration if scheduled in 4-hour shifts. This realistic estimation prevents unrealistic deadlines, protects integrity, and avoids Parkinson’s Law (“work takes exactly the amount of time allotted for it”). Suggestions for estimating duration include:
- Drawing on experience.
- Asking knowledgeable individuals.
- Using the PERT formula (Program Evaluation and Review Technique): Duration = (Optimistic + 4 x Normal + Pessimistic) / 6. This formula helps cope with uncertainty and balances the tendency to underestimate.
  Setting milestones—significant decision points—within the schedule acts like a GPS signal, indicating crucial checkpoints for review and potential redirection.
5. Identify the Critical Path: This is the final goal of project scheduling. The critical path is the longest sequence of activities that, if delayed, will delay the entire project. Identifying it allows for proactive management of bottlenecks.
Tips for avoiding bottlenecks on the critical path include:
- Best people: Assign your most trusted and talented individuals to critical-path activities.
- Cross-training: Ensure multiple people can perform critical tasks to account for unavailability.
- Team Accountability Sessions: Regular huddles help spot bottlenecks early and allow for collective problem-solving.
  Identifying the critical path provides strategic management capabilities, highlights “slack” or “float” activities, and enables anticipation of potential delays, all contributing to a higher probability of project success. Project management software can automatically generate the critical path and visually display the schedule using Gantt charts, simplifying tracking and collaboration.

Chapter 5: Engaging the Team

This chapter focuses on the crucial task of engaging the project team, moving beyond mere task assignment to inspiring shared accountability and fostering high performance. It introduces the concepts of establishing a cadence of accountability and conducting effective Performance Conversations.

Creating a Cadence of Accountability

The core of team engagement is accountability, which, when properly understood, is a positive force. Accountability starts with the project leader by consistently keeping their own commitments. This builds trust with team members and stakeholders, establishing the project leader’s informal authority. The challenge for unofficial project managers, especially with cross-functional teams, is combating the “daily whirlwind” of competing priorities that can cause projects to fade. When team members know they will be held accountable regularly, they are far more likely to perform.

To foster this, project managers must create a “cadence of accountability” through regular and frequent Team Accountability Sessions (also known as huddles, quick-check meetings, Daily Standup Meetings, or Daily Scrums). These differ significantly from typical “project status meetings” in that they are:

Regular and frequent: Not occasional or random.
Focused on the project schedule: Checking progress against planned activities.
Centered on chosen commitments: Team members report on promises made and choose new ones, fostering ownership.
Action-oriented: The project manager commits to clearing obstacles for the team.

The four key activities for every Team Accountability Session are:

1. Review the project schedule as a team: Treat it like a scoreboard to assess if the team is winning or losing and identify areas falling behind.
2. Report on commitments made in the previous session: Recognize successes and, if a commitment is missed, understand the obstacle without blaming, and work together to overcome it.
3. Make commitments to keep the schedule moving: Ideally, team members self-select their next commitments, with team agreement and support.
4. Clear the path: The project leader or other team members commit to remove obstacles identified, whether finding resources, fixing budgets, or resolving organizational issues.

These sessions should be fast-paced and efficient, ideally lasting only a few minutes, though longer if issues warrant. The benefits include: constant awareness of project status, a stronger spirit of accountability, increased ownership and engagement as team members choose their commitments, and a spirit of helpfulness as members support each other in overcoming obstacles. This proactive approach helps the team stay in cadence, marching together toward shared goals and proving that every request and commitment matters. It also surfaces problems quickly, preventing them from festering, as “hiding roadblocks, mistakes, and worries” can compound trouble.

Holding Performance Conversations

Even with a strong cadence of accountability, individual team member issues may arise, such as consistent negativity, underperformance, or destructive behavior. When this occurs, the project leader must take the next step: a Performance Conversation. Rather than resorting to reactive behaviors like shaming or ignoring, the project leader must adhere to the Five Foundational Behaviors and manage their own emotions (disappointment, frustration, anger) to conduct a constructive dialogue. Unloading emotions, as with an angry text, can severely damage professional relationships. The goal is to build people up, especially when times are tough, and not just finish the project but build a great project team.

The Performance Conversation Planner tool guides this process:

What Is My Intent? Define your agenda for the conversation, ensuring it focuses on project outcomes and not personal grievances.
What Are the Facts of the Situation? Record observable, specific events, not opinions, with examples or evidence.
What Is the Impact on the Project? Clearly articulate how the team member’s behavior or missed commitments affect the overall project, helping them understand the bigger picture.

During the conversation, follow these steps:

State your intent and the facts clearly, firmly, and invitingly, then pause to allow processing.
Listen empathetically to the team member’s point of view, putting yourself in their shoes. Listening quietly allows them to decompress and might reveal valuable insights.
Ask for suggestions on how to solve the problem, then clarify expectations by agreeing on specific action items and deadlines.
Practice accountability by setting a follow-up appointment.
Extend trust by expressing confidence, even if misgivings exist, as the goal is to build the team.

Hedda’s high-stakes conversation with Eilert, a medical writer who disrupted a meeting and doubted a proposed project component, demonstrates this process. By defining her intent, stating facts about his behavior, and listening to his underlying frustrations (feeling ignored by a colleague), Hedda was able to identify personal dynamics affecting the project. They agreed on action items including Hedda addressing the colleague’s behavior, Eilert collaborating on the prototype, and a special meeting for Eilert to present his ideas, all while recommitting to the Five Foundational Behaviors. This approach brought Eilert back as a productive member and even led to innovative solutions like a “rolling wave” writing process.

The Performance Conversation tool is also valuable for positive feedback. Instead of vague “Good work!”, project managers can use the Intent-Facts-Impact formula to provide specific praise, reinforcing desired behaviors and building relationships. By engaging people, respecting their contributions, and holding them accountable with discipline, project managers, even unofficial ones, can inspire their teams to choose to bring their best efforts to achieve project success.

Chapter 6: Track & Adapt

This chapter emphasizes that Track & Adapt is a continuous process throughout the project lifecycle, not just a distinct phase. It covers the principles of proactivity, managing change requests, and distinguishing between “scope creep” and “scope discovery” to ensure the project consistently delivers value.

The Principle of Proactivity

Tracking and adapting means consistently monitoring project progress against the plan, ensuring it remains on time, on budget, and delivers the promised value. This includes tracking identified risks to confirm they are being managed as intended, identifying new risks, and determining if re-scoping or re-planning is necessary. The core principle here is proactivity: anticipating problems rather than merely reacting to them. While risk planning is done early, proactivity also means being ready to handle and even embrace change, especially when it significantly enhances project value.

The world is constantly changing, and projects often fail because they cannot adapt to shifting market conditions, new technologies, or evolving stakeholder expectations. While “scope creep” (uncontrolled project growth) is a significant challenge, it can be mitigated by clear initial scoping and a robust cadence of accountability. However, effective project managers understand that change can also add value. For example, in Agile methods, “Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for the customer’s competitive advantage.” This means that as a project unfolds, new information and feedback can lead to valuable improvements that were not evident at the outset. Regular and frequent feedback loops, ideally built into the project schedule from the beginning, are crucial for adapting effectively.

Communicating Project Status

To maintain stakeholder alignment and gather necessary feedback, project managers should use a Project Status Report tool. This report serves not only to keep stakeholders informed but also to solicit their help in clearing obstacles or leveraging new opportunities. The report should be an “at-a-glance” document, easy to understand quickly.

Key elements of the Project Status Report include:

Overall project health: A clear indicator (often “green,” “yellow,” or “red”) of whether the project is on target, at risk, or in danger concerning time, budget, and overall delivery.
Deliverables: A list of deliverables with their individual status (green, yellow, or red). A yellow or red light signals a need for stakeholder assistance with resources, timelines, or budget, or it can indicate an opportunity for value-added changes.
Notes: Proactive suggestions for fixing problems and a space to record stakeholder feedback and ideas for improvement during review meetings.
Clear the path: Defining specific commitments from stakeholders or team members to remove identified obstacles.

The Project Status Report is a “talk document,” designed to facilitate constructive dialogue with stakeholders. It helps manage expectations by keeping them informed “along the way,” even if challenges arise. Regular communication through this tool increases the project manager’s informal authority by demonstrating competence, accountability, and transparency. Hedda’s project status review meeting, where she presented a working model of a speeded-up drug approval process, showcased new stakeholder suggestions (partnering with specialty drug companies, collaborating with the regulatory agency) that significantly added value and cleared the path for approvals.

Adapting to Change

Projects can sometimes turn into “black holes,” consuming disproportionate time and energy, similar to the experience of a home renovation spiraling out of control. A “black hole” is a deliverable that becomes so problematic it threatens the entire project schedule. This can happen due to inadequate initial scoping, underestimating complexity, or unforeseen changes in stakeholder priorities, market shifts, or technology. A project manager’s reputation hinges on delivering value on time and on budget, making it crucial to manage change effectively and avoid uncontrolled growth.

The key is to differentiate between “scope creep” and “scope discovery.” While scope creep involves adding costs and time without significant value, making the project confusing, or being driven by politics, scope discovery involves changes that:

Create significant new value (e.g., substantial increase in ROI/NPV).
Lead to a substantially better way to meet immediate stakeholder needs.
Clarify the project’s purposes or focus it more narrowly on a manageable solution.

When a change is suggested, especially by influential stakeholders, it’s essential to use a structured Project Change Request tool. This tool ensures a professional and coherent conversation, preventing arbitrary changes that could push the project into a black hole.

The Project Change Request tool includes:

Project Name: The official name of the project.
Request By: Who is proposing the change.
Proposed Change: A specific, detailed description of what is to be changed, avoiding vague language.
Reasons for the Change: The proponent’s stated reasons, captured in their own words to avoid bias.
How This Change Will Add Value: The proponent’s explanation of the value, again in their own words.
How This Change Will Affect the Constraints: Detailed estimates of the impact on Time, Quality, and Budget. This factual presentation allows stakeholders to weigh the true costs and benefits.
Key Stakeholder Approval: Sign-off from stakeholders to formally accept or deny the change.

By taking a proposed change through this filter, a project manager can have a rational discussion based on facts, rather than emotional responses. For instance, Lee, a project leader at ScamCatch, used this process when her CEO requested a shift to experimental satellite smartphones. By detailing the significant time, quality, and budget implications (1,000% increase in budget, years of delay), she was able to convince stakeholders, including the CFO, to postpone the change, thus preventing a financial disaster. This demonstrates how adhering to the Five Foundational Behaviors (listening, clarifying, trusting, holding accountable, respecting) empowers a project manager to say no when necessary, even to powerful individuals. Even when changes are unavoidable, using these tools helps the project manager remain in control and maintain integrity.

Chapter 7: Close

This final chapter outlines the essential steps for formally closing a project, ensuring that it is truly “done” and that valuable lessons are captured for future success. It covers confirming project completion, documenting lessons learned, and celebrating team accomplishments.

Confirming Project Close

A project, by definition, has a beginning and an end. The closing process ensures that this end is definitive and comprehensive. While specific organizational procedures may vary, a Project Close Checklist is recommended to ensure all loose ends are tied up.

Key items on the Project Close Checklist include:

Confirm fulfillment of project scope: Systematically review the initial Project Scope Statement to ensure all agreed-upon deliverables and specifications have been met.
Confirm fulfillment of approved change requests: Verify that any formally approved changes to the original scope have also been completed to specification. This acts as a “punch list” for final checks.
Obtain necessary sign-offs: Secure formal acceptance from key stakeholders, often through their physical signatures on the final Project Status Report. This provides leverage and prevents disputes later, ensuring “done done” rather than just “done.”
Submit final status report, including measurable value added, to key stakeholders: Provide a comprehensive overview of the project’s outcomes, emphasizing the value delivered in concrete, measurable terms.

The authors note that defining project success can be subjective. While time and budget are important metrics, the main measure of success is the value delivered to stakeholders—their happiness with the quality and business results. Even projects with cost overruns or delays, like the Sydney Opera House (14x over budget) or the James Webb Space Telescope (22 years late, 1,000% over budget), can be considered successes if they ultimately deliver immense long-term value. If a project is perceived as a “failure,” the project manager should practice the Five Foundational Behaviors, especially respect and accountability, by reflecting on what could have been done better and transparently communicating lessons learned.

Documenting Lessons Learned

A crucial part of project close is to document what was learned throughout the project. This involves conducting a “project retrospective”—a session to gather feedback from key stakeholders, team members, and even end-users.

The agenda for a project retrospective typically includes:

What was done well? Identifying successful practices and elements.
What needs to be done better or differently? Pinpointing areas for improvement in processes, tools, or team dynamics.
What unexpected risks did we have to deal with? Reviewing unforeseen challenges and how they were managed.
How does our project management process need to change to meet future goals? Using insights to refine future project methodologies.

The Five Foundational Behaviors are paramount here: the project leader must listen without defensiveness, creating a safe environment for candid feedback. All insights, positive and negative, should be recorded for future reference, forming intellectual capital for the organization. This “gold” of experience prevents future unofficial project managers (which could be you) from having to learn the same lessons repeatedly. Additionally, publishing success by sharing team achievements through organizational channels (websites, blogs, social media) highlights the value created and boosts team morale.

Celebrating Project Close

The final element of closing a project is celebration and recognition. Project managers should:

Distribute rewards and recognition: A personal note or specific, well-articulated positive feedback (using the Intent-Facts-Impact formula from Chapter 5) goes a long way in acknowledging individual contributions.
Hold a celebration: A gathering with snacks and key stakeholders allows for public recognition of the team’s efforts. The project leader should be ready to say something nice about each team member and highlight lessons learned.
Ensure everyone understands the value they’ve created: Clearly articulate the measurable, concrete terms of their contribution, reinforcing the meaningful impact of their work.

Olivia’s successful hybrid work project culminated in a ribbon-cutting ceremony, where she reported a 50% drop in turnover rate, nearly 50% savings in operational costs, and an at least 10% increase in employee time on task. Hedda’s drug approval project, despite initial setbacks, celebrated the approval of a new cancer treatment in a record five months, achieved through innovations like partnering with regulators and “rolling wave” report writing. Both examples highlight the importance of recognizing the team’s disciplined accountability and the tangible value delivered, setting the stage for future projects and reinforcing the cycle of continuous improvement.

Conclusion: Your Informal Authority Is Needed Now!

The conclusion reiterates that the most significant job for any project manager is to grow their informal authority. The authors emphasize that project success, regardless of the specific process or tools used, ultimately hinges on emotionally mature team behavior and principled leadership. If project managers become overly focused on tactics while neglecting the Five Foundational Behaviors, their projects will falter. As one experienced project manager observed, “Successful projects are transparent. Everyone knows what’s working well and what isn’t… In unsuccessful projects, information is doled out on an as-needed basis. People work in silos, keep their heads down, and focus on their own thing.” This highlights a critical gap in many traditional approaches, where leaders still need to catch up to today’s demands for transparency and engagement.

The core insight is that character and integrity count as much as skill and knowledge. By consistently practicing the Foundational Behaviors (listen first, clarify expectations, extend trust, practice accountability, and demonstrate respect), project managers will “always succeed as a person,” regardless of external outcomes. This principled leadership is what prevents teams from floundering.

For unofficial project managers, this book provides:

Confidence in managing the process: A clear, step-by-step framework.
Well-equipped for every step: Practical tools and techniques.
Less fearful of risk and failure: Proactive strategies for identifying and mitigating challenges.
Better able to handle change: Differentiating scope creep from scope discovery and using structured change requests.

Ultimately, by embracing these principles and tools, individuals will find their projects—and their lives—moving more smoothly. They will learn to dodge the “big whammy” and skip past “black holes” with poise and self-assurance. In a rapidly changing world, the ability to effectively manage projects, especially with informal authority, is an increasingly valuable and impactful skill.

Key Takeaways: What You Need to Remember

Core Insights from Project Management for the Unofficial Project Manager

Project success is defined by delivering value to end users, not just by staying on time and budget.
Informal authority, built through character and capabilities, is more crucial than formal titles for leading project teams effectively.
Emotional maturity and the practice of foundational behaviors are more significant for project success than adherence to a rigid process.
Frontloading—gathering as much information from key stakeholders as early as possible—is vital to clarifying scope and preventing future problems.
A Project Scope Statement acts as a compass, providing direction and shared expectations, while remaining flexible for valuable adaptations.
Risk management is proactive, requiring identification, prioritization, and planned strategies (TAME) to mitigate potential issues.
The critical path is the strategic backbone of the project schedule, identifying the longest sequence of activities that must be executed on time to avoid overall project delays.
A consistent cadence of accountability through regular Team Accountability Sessions keeps teams engaged, focused, and mutually supportive.
Performance Conversations are essential for both addressing missed commitments and providing specific positive feedback, fostering individual growth and reinforcing desired behaviors.
Continuous tracking and adaptation are necessary to navigate changes, distinguishing between detrimental “scope creep” and value-adding “scope discovery.”
Formal project closure is critical for documenting lessons learned and celebrating team contributions, building intellectual capital for future endeavors.

Immediate Actions to Take Today

Identify key stakeholders for your current or next project using the DANCE acronym to ensure comprehensive coverage.
Schedule individual or group interviews with your key stakeholders to clarify project purpose, desired results, and constraints.
Draft a Project Scope Statement based on stakeholder input, explicitly listing exclusions to prevent scope creep.
Brainstorm potential risks for your project and prioritize them using the Impact x Probability formula to focus on high-priority threats.
Develop TAME strategies (Transfer, Accept, Mitigate, Eliminate) for your top-scoring risks and assign ownership.
Start or refine your Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), breaking down deliverables into components and activities with estimated durations.
Establish a regular cadence of Team Accountability Sessions with your project team, focusing on reviewing the schedule, reporting commitments, making new commitments, and clearing obstacles.
Plan a Performance Conversation for any team member issue (or a positive reinforcement conversation), defining your intent, stating facts, and articulating the impact.
Communicate project status regularly using a Project Status Report, highlighting health, deliverables, and any needs for stakeholder support.
Prepare for project closure by outlining how you will confirm fulfillment, document lessons learned, and celebrate successes.

Questions for Personal Application

How clear is my current project’s purpose and desired results to all key stakeholders? Am I truly listening to their input, or just hearing what I expect?
Which of the Five Foundational Behaviors do I need to personally focus on most to enhance my informal authority and better lead my project team?
Am I consistently holding myself accountable for my commitments before expecting others to do the same? How can I improve my own discipline?
What are the biggest potential “black holes” in my project, and how can I proactively TAME them before they derail progress?
How can I improve my project’s feedback loops to ensure I’m adapting to truly valuable changes rather than succumbing to scope creep?
When was the last time I formally recognized a team member’s specific contribution using the Intent-Facts-Impact method, and how can I make this a regular practice?
Do I have a clear plan for formally closing my project, capturing lessons learned, and celebrating achievements to build intellectual capital and team morale?