History tells us that at the end of World War II, in the first half of the last century, the world’s major powers were devastated, and everything had to be built or rebuilt from scratch. The vast number of opportunities and projects that needed to be developed to get the world back on track drove the systematization of what we now know as Project Management.
That said, up until the mid-1960s, we were talking about a very early stage, where the project lead was always the person with the most experience and technical expertise in the field in which the project was to be carried out. In other words, if the project involved building a bridge, the project manager had to be the engineer on staff who had built the most bridges, and so on for each type of project.
This line of reasoning, from an objective standpoint, is not without logic and yielded good results at the time. But in our contemporary era, projects are becoming increasingly complex and work teams are becoming increasingly diverse in terms of technical skills. And today, the interpersonal, leadership, and coordination skills, are the most important and defining qualities for a project manager; since it is nearly impossible for a single professional to have in-depth mastery of the entire technical spectrum required by a project.
What is project integration?
It is one of the 10 areas of knowledge proposed by the PMBOK, and it involves the overall management of the project. In other words, it identifies, defines, combines, unifies, and coordinates the processes and activities of project management. This makes it a very demanding and challenging field from the perspective of professional experience, rather than theoretical inquiry.
Project integration is the only one of the 10 areas that encompasses all 5 process groups, starting from the From start to finish, including planning, execution, and monitoring/control. And it must take the following considerations into account:
- Project Life Cycle: It represents the set of consecutive phases into which a project is divided, and these phases must be completed in order for the project to be considered closed. These phases are unique to each project, which is why they differ from the five progress groups.
- Development Life Cycle: It has to do with the approach that will be taken to address the various phases of the project's life cycle; it aims to provide a strategy for carrying out these phases so that they can be executed as efficiently as possible.
- Management Approaches: In project management, there are predictive and adaptive approaches, and the latter can be implemented incrementally or iteratively. Depending on the characteristics of each project, you can choose to manage it using either approach, or even a hybrid approach.
- Knowledge Management: Projects generate knowledge and experience, and this must be documented and managed so that it can always be put to use in future projects.
- Change: Changes will most likely occur, and we need to manage how these changes affect the project, with the goal of minimizing deviations as much as possible.
- Governance: In a project, it is necessary to establish guidelines in order to objectively evaluate progress and delays; this involves setting objectives, preparing reports, and conducting periodic audits.
- Lessons Learned: It addresses the manner and extent to which existing documentation from previous projects (knowledge management) will be utilized to streamline processes and make work more efficient.
- Benefits: When tracking the benefits of the project—or even each phase of its life cycle—it is very important to establish the metrics against which they will be measured
As you can see, this involves a very wide range of considerations, which in turn are spread throughout the project and must be integrated as effectively as possible to ensure the project’s success. And this integration falls to the Project Director.
Project Manager
Now that we have clarified the relationship between integration management and project management, it is important to define the qualities sought in a project manager. As we mentioned earlier, technical expertise in specific fields is being replaced by the this person's interpersonal skills and big-picture perspective that I may have regarding a project and its participants.
Based on this premise, the ideal combination of skills or qualities that a project manager must possess and apply to tackle today’s projects consists of the following elements:
- Active listening: It not only allows you to make the most of the information provided by project team members, but also builds a bond of trust: One of the best-known active listening techniques involves the listener explaining to the speaker what they understood from the speaker's remarks.
- Facilitation: It’s about having the willingness to find a solution, rather than defending a position or an ideal that might hinder progress or frustrate team members. This will show the team that the goal is shared and that everyone is pulling in the same direction.
- Leadership: It is a concept that is controversial, to say the least, since there are many different types and styles of leadership. What is certain is that, as a project manager, it is important to strike the right balance between the strictness required to meet objectives and deadlines, and the team’s motivation and well-being.
- Building Working Relationships: Work relationships serve to foster a bond that improves collaboration among team members and, in turn, creates a sense of belonging to the project.
- Political Awareness: Assist the Project Director in understanding different contexts and situations in order to best manage conflicts and communications, thereby maintaining a healthy work environment that is as transparent as possible.
In most cases, these attitudes or skills are not innate, but the good news is that they can be developed and honed through training, on the one hand, and by putting these points into practice at every opportunity, on the other. We should always strive to maintain a holistic view of the projects we’re involved in, while never losing sight of the human and professional value of our colleagues, so that we can add value to every outcome.
