PM ADVISORY:

Productive Laziness and the Open Door Policy

By Peter Taylor
Author of “The Lazy Project Manager”

ABSTRACT

Welcome back to the world of ‘Productive Laziness’, a world that will help you focus on what really matters and still deliver the results that you and your sponsor demands.

Here we explore the balancing act that project managers face in being both accessible to their teams, the open door policy, and getting on with the job with the right level of focus and attention.

I’m all for being there for people, honest I am. It’s just that people take advantage of it if I am.

So for the ‘productive lazy’ project manager I would suggest that it is perfectly acceptable for the lights to be on and for no-one to be at home; not all of the time obviously, and at critical times access and visibility are all too important. But for the rest of the time, why not let the whole of the team work a few things out for themselves, take some degree of responsibility and decision making, and generally get on with the tasks at hand.

Being there when you are really needed and being there all the time are very different things indeed.

You never know till you try to reach them how accessible men are; but you must approach each man by the right door. Henry Ward Beecher

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About the Author Peter Taylor Author Despite his title of 'The Lazy Project Manager’, Peter Taylor is in fact a dynamic and commercially astute professional who has achieved notable success in project management, program management and the professional development of project managers: currently as Director of a PMO at Siemens PLM Software, a global supplier of product lifecycle management solutions. He is an accomplished communicator and leader; always adopting a proactive and business-focused approach and he is a professional speaker with City Speakers International. Peter is also the author of ‘The Lazy Project Manager’ book (Infinite Ideas 2009) – for more information - www.thelazyprojectmanager.com - you can also subscribe to a series of free podcasts on iTunes (The Lazy Project Manager).