Page 49 - Straight Talk On Project Management IV

IT Project Leadership #2: How to lead a team through burnout and boredom

I’ve been thinking about IT Projects that we've helped
steer out of troubled waters lately and in, probably,
eight out of ten cases the issue was with the people
working on the project. This isn't a criticism of that
talent, far from it, I'd happily be a referee for most of
them. The issue isn't quality, it boils down to two talent
issues that will sink a project faster than scope creep ...

Burnout and Boredom.

Great IT Project talent doesn't suddenly start
performing less well for no reason. IT Project rock stars
don't lose their A-game overnight, they leave clues.
Project managers often relinquish this responsibility as
‘a problem for the line manager’ but as leaders, we are
just as responsible. Shaking things up – breathing life into a bored or burnt out project team is a
fabulous investment in time and will pay back in greater productivity and project success.

Burnout and boredom are on the rise. They are symptoms of a perfect storm of increasingly complex
IT Projects, tighter budgets, greater transparency, blurred business needs, stakeholder interference,
actually it's a long list and it's stressing me out just writing about it so let's cut to the cure.

It's all about you
The first thing is to accept responsibility. As Project Leader, it's all down to you! Yep! All of it!! The
project manager who is having the extended cigarette breaks, the guy who seems to spend twice as
long as everyone else boiling a kettle, the BA who quickly flicks their screen from Facebook to Slack
when you enter the office – all the above and more.

In the same way that you'll take the applause from the c-suite when your project delivers in triumph,
you need to also shoulder some responsibility for your team's less productive behaviours and
address them. BUT find out what’s driving them first!

One vision

Does YOUR team understand the purpose they work toward? I can't think of an IT Project that has
ever failed where the team is 100% on board with the mission vision. It just doesn't happen! On the
contrary, teams who are bought into the WHY of an IT Project delight in finding the HOW. Make sure
that your project’s vision and its importance to the business is understood by everyone.

Complicated

Complexity is one of the greatest drivers of both burnout and boredom. IT Projects are getting
increasingly complex and I'm seeing a lot of frazzled talent trying to keep up with it all and a lot of
apathy among those that have given up trying.

Better training; extra resourcing from the Project Management as a Service market; better
separation of tasks into more manageable, workable chunks; more open cultures where talent can