The project manager is the surgeon of an organization

The PM's in the middle.  The person at the middle of all things (related to their specific initiative(s)) in an organization is the project manager.  Whether it's engineering work, communications, planning, or whatever, the PM is in the middle of it all (related to their objectives).  There are other stakeholders in the project team or organization that have more sway or power than the PM but the good PM always drives, and hopefully does so gracefully and in a relationship- and team-building way given this context of initiative and performance.  The PM knows how to operate on the body that is the organization supporting their initiative.  In this way they are both graceful, powerful, and dangerous; like a surgeon is.

Surgery and PM operations defined.  Google defines surgery as, "The branch of medicine concerned with treatment of injuries or disorders of the body by incision or manipulation, esp. with instruments."  To me, this is metaphorically similar to the actions of a PM (in my words), "The branch of business concerned with the identification and resolution of problems of an organization by direct involvement, action, esp. with tools and frameworks."

Similarities abound.  We can see the many similarities between the surgeon and the PM in that the PM is an operator and a skilled technician, operating on something (the organization and team and instruments to produce a desired outcome).

A balanced and skilled operator.  The PM is not held up on roles or titles, they have a specific mission to deliver a specific result, product, or service, and they are going to do it, by hook or by crook (but gracefully through the team).  The PM's goal is to figure out what work needs to be done from the various stakeholders.  The PM must know when to push and when to pull, when to cut and when to sew.  They lead very stealthily but when they push they push really hard and it's obvious; they can make a very deep impact.  Many people may resist the role of the PM but it is an important one:  The organization would not change as rapidly as is required for it to deliver the desired outcome if it weren't for the PM operator.

Not a tracker.  I'm not referring here to a PM who is a "task tracker" or anything of that nature.  I'm referring to a driving, smart, analytical, senior PM who is all about getting the best results possible on time given his resources and communicating effectively at all levels in between.

Concluding thoughts.  As you can see, there are many similarities to a PM operating on an organization to create a result and a real surgeon operating on a body.  They're deep in the weeds of the operation but can come up to a bird's eye view to understand the context and next courses of action.

Delivering a project as organizational development

Managing projects in enterprises isn't easy.  Someone has to have focus and sometimes focus is very hard to find.  Defining goals and objectives can be easy but getting buy-in from the people that are required to implement the plan is again not always easy or possible.  The project manager is left, then, in a position where he/she must continue to 'plod along' and lead that thing until that thing is real; or give that thing up, or give that thing, successively, to others.

Making forward motion.  In this article I argue that the basic job of the project manager is to delegate and create forward motion.  The project manager needs to promote their project and tweak it as necessary to finish according to the people involved, gracefully.  One goal of a project, therefore, is to do it in such a way that you have a good core team at the end of it, meaning you have freed up resources for your general use and that they support you and you support them (symbiosis).

Deliver to the performance context.  In total, it is my opinion that the project manager must create the project that the stakeholders will accept and will allow him and the team to see another day or another project (move to program-level status).  This means creating a performance context and set of expectations that are beneficial to the performance of the team and business (there is a shared vision).


An example.  I recently did a project for Microsoft Xbox where we enabled a key account management function (AutoRenewal management) on xbox.com for the 15 million users worldwide.  There were a LOT of stakeholders involved with the project and many pieces of leadership (technical, communication, and business measurement) were required to deliver.  We have all now bonded together and have a core team that is 'high functioning', I believe.  What this means to me is that we:

1. Did it.  (Delivered what we said we would)
2. Are in control in operation.  (Have a way of measuring and tracking what we did (Business Intelligence dashboard)), and 
3. Are still together and respect each other.  (Have a high functioning, high communicating team that can communicate effectively and grow as required.)

A simple process for creating high-performing teams.  Creating high functioning teams like this may follow a simple pattern.  That pattern is:

1. Choose.  Pick a project, any old project
2. Deliver.  Do a project together with the people who will participate
3. Finish.  Finish that project and deliver to some larger audience
4. Improve and Adjust.  Figure out what worked and what didn't in the team and project and how to react.

Concluding thoughts.  Managing projects is fun when they're good.  It's hard and it's fun and it's an adventure.  Choose your's wisely and keep improving.  Get to that place where you have a growing team--both inside the organization and out--that continues to deliver great results into a variety of contexts!