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Jay Maechtlen wrote [about project meetings being blown off by attendees]
then they [the PM] need to wake up and get closer with their boss and/or the
owner of the project. The PM represents that person or group. If there
isn't a business need for the project, it shouldn't be wasting anybody's
time.
Identifying all the stakeholders and getting buy-in is a critical part
of setting up a project.
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Exactly right. So what's going on when the boss is the owner/director of the project, and _they_ are the critical person blowing off the meeting? And when approached about it by the TW charged with conducting the weekly one-hour meeting, they agree and say "Yeah, we have to get better about that." For a month, for two months, for three months....
...and then her boss's boss suddenly calls the TW and her boss into the conference room to scold the TW because the project isn't moving ahead faster. And her boss again admits "Yeah, we haven't been very good about getting her the information she needs, we have to get better about that."
And that's where it sits today. Sure, the TW could cut and run (and maybe should). But there's a _lot_ of good that can be done here if this can be worked through -- for the company and for the people out on the plant floor. Nobody ever said it would be easy, and the rewards can be worth the risks of hanging in to the bitter end (i.e., layoff because the project didn't move ahead faster, replacement by a professional expensive consulting firm that maybe should have been brought in from the beginning).
Dori Green
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