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18 ORGANIZING FOR PROJECT MANAGEMENT

ership. Senior management must understand the concept of Matrix Management
and maintain sufficient involvement to make it work.

Beyond these dangers, however, the Matrix model represents the most practi-
cal organization for the firm that is continually involved on multiple, overlapping
projects. The functional managers are responsible for maintaining adequate lev-
els of staffing and developing or acquiring skills as needed to support incoming
project work. They also maintain technical standards, and assure that the group is
up to speed on the latest developments in the discipline. They oversee the assign-
ments of personnel to projects, and provide for evaluation and career develop-
ment of their personnel.

The functional specialists are assigned to one or more projects, based on the
current needs of the project. Efficient utilization of resources is achieved due to
staggered peaking of resource needs as the projects move through their various
phases. In an engineering/design project, the engineering group will move on to
the next development project, as the designers move in to execute the design (ob-
viously, with a degree of overlap). In a software development project, the systems
designers might move on to the next development project, as the programmers
move in from another project.

Knowledge and technology gained from one assignment is immediately
available to the next project that is worked on. The functional specialists form a
temporary team, focusing on the project objectives, while maintaining a func-
tional discipline.

At the same time, all the benefits attributed to the Project Organization re-
main available to the Matrix Organization. Via the Projects function, we provide
projects standards, develop project management practices, and maintain a strong
focus on bringing the project to a successful conclusion, to the satisfaction of all
the stakeholders. Professional project managers and project support personnel
are developed and assigned to projects. The project function assures the availabil-
ity of skilled projects personnel and provides for personnel evaluation and career
development. The Projects function develops the PM standards and oversees
their application to the various projects.

As I said earlier, this is the best of both worlds, under most conditions that in-
volve projects.

Trap All of a sudden, we see companies attempting to imple-
ment project management by putting a copy of Microsoft
Project on everyone’s desk, and asking functional managers or
self-directing teams to be responsible for achieving project
success. This is a perilous approach. Managing projects re-