of development, production, marketing, selling and customer
servicing would be carried out by the relevant departments in
various divisions of the company.
The project manager had the status and authority to get things
done by each department. The board was right behind the
project and had allocated the priorities and resources required.
But the different activities had to be coordinated and only the
project manager could do it.
The easy way out would have been to set up a massive co-
ordinating committee and leave it at that. This would have
failed. Projects of this complexity cannot be coordinated just by
creating a committee.
The project manager developed a different approach which
proved to be highly successful. His first objective was to make
everyone concerned enthusiastic about the project. He wanted
them to believe in its importance so that they would be
committed to working closely with the other departments
involved.
His next step was to hold separate discussions with depart-
mental heads so that they completely understood the
programme of work required in each area. With the help of a
project planner he then drew up a chart showing the key events
and activities, and the relationships between them and the
sequence in which they needed to take place in order to complete
the project. This chart was distributed to all the departmental
heads and supplemented by an explanatory brief on the work
required at each stage of the programme. Only then did he call a
meeting to iron out difficulties and to ensure that everyone knew
what had to be done and when.
He set up a system of progress reports and held progress
meetings with departmental heads. But these were only held as
necessary and he did not rely upon them to achieve coordin-
ation. He depended much more on personal contacts with indi-
vidual managers, reviewing problems, noting where
adjustments to the programme were needed, and stimulating the
managers to even greater efforts when required. It was time
consuming, but it kept him closely in touch so that he could
anticipate any likely delays, setbacks or failures in communica-
tion, and be in a position to take action. He used the chart as his
main instrument for checking that the critical events took place
as planned.
The successful coordination and completion of the project
30 How to be an Even Better Manager