.gif)
It's the thoughts you develop that aren't always reasonable, as covered in the PMP course online. These are important considerations to keep in mind. This is what some individuals refer to as their gut instincts. Consider the following scenario:
I once oversaw a project in which the structure was a balanced matrix. Of course, you recall that this meant I was pooling resources, which were provided to me by various functional managers. I had equal power with the functional managers. One functional manager was offering a critical technical resource, but she wouldn't let me speak with him directly. This was her commandment. Everything had to be funneled via her. Her resource was in charge of a project's crucial technical component.
This functional manager insisted on assuring me that her resource was on the case and that everything was OK. It just didn't sit well with me. I didn't want to go to the resource without her permission. There was no reason for me to go behind her back or over her head. My comfort level was just not very high for whatever reason. And guess what? Unfortunately, I was right. It didn't work when it came time to integrate his component. It wasn't that he hadn't done a good job; it was that he hadn't done any work at all! His functional manager (the one who refused to speak to me directly) had not assigned him the assignment. She'd gotten him to work on something else. She didn't inform me because she felt something else was more important. This did not go well for her, and she was eventually demoted as a result of her actions.
But, in the meantime, we'd missed a deadline for no apparent reason. I should have gone with my gut, my project manager's intuition. You should have faith in yours as well.
There are undoubtedly some other lessons to be learned here. We have tools and strategies so we don't have to rely on intuition to manage, right? There would have been an early warning if there had been some checkpoints where we could see a prototype or walk-through of the work being done. This is, of course, why we divide the project labor into digestible portions! Use the tools and procedures, but keep your project management intuition active. Sure, your intuition can be inaccurate at times, but it can also be correct.
It is preferable to act on an instinct and be relieved that you are incorrect than to disregard your intuition and discover that you were correct but it is now too late.
Need more insights on the same? Enroll in a PMP or CAPM course today!