Wim Lockefeer

As usual this post is a summary of what I learned from the interview and my own interpretation. Here’s my last question to start with, answered with a fairly epic quote in my opinion:

What does a good project manager do?

A good project manager makes sure the promises that other people make come true.

How can a project manager have the biggest impact on a company’s baseline?

You can look at this from several perspectives, a project manager has a role facing clients and a role in the middle management layer of a company.

Anyhow a PM is responsible for the profitability of a company and is morally bound to wear both hats.

Facing the client a project manager helps to realise quality pitches and has a kind of sales evangelist role.

As a middle manager a project manager is in a position where he has to maintain contact with more people in the company than any other function. That position gives a project manager the best information to work on company efficiency, there’s a lot of impact there as well.

Project managers aren’t line managers, they should think in more than one dimension.

How do you keep a clear overview of things?

For yourself, probably the best thing that works is keeping a daily list of things to do and writing them down in such a way that they are feasible.

In the wider project context, good overview comes with:

• creating a fairly detailed WBS
• keeping clear expectancies from clients and the people working on the project
• making sure people report accurately
• pointing people to their duties
• creating situations that are self-motivating for people
• being honest

Having someone responsible for a skill group – a team leader – puts him in a good position for keeping quality and good time reporting in check. A project manager isn’t supposed to come across as a controller, he should dispense the correct responsibilities. Overview is a result, it comes with the deal.

What is quality management?

It’s what a good producer is for a movie. A managers creates premises just like the producer does. He makes sure the conditions are met for people to put their skills to work.

Hence the classic expression 1+1=3.

You have to be hard on yourself as a manager to make this synergy happen, no matter how much experience you have.

What do you do to get a higher quality management?

Having more emphasis on overview and a bit less on insight. Find the perspective that allows you to work proactively.

Take a step back and let people come to you so they can explain what they need to get their jobs done. Experienced people like working like this, they know what they need to get their job done and come to you for those things.

It’s a bit like Lego, if you look at the Lego boxes from the old days they where full of pieces and you just had to make stuff. Today boxes are smaller and have a detailed manual.

Some people need manuals, some won’t, but work that’s boxed correctly results in better quality and gets good results faster.

How do you know that what you are doing works?

It’s a continuous process.

Having a good running company comes down to making sure people are doing what they are supposed to do during their working hours. The hours in a day are limited and can only be spent once, time spent is irreplaceable.

Conclusion

Something that keeps coming back in Wim’s answers is proper commitment from people and conveying a correct sense of duties. It reminds me of the One Minute Manager book. For you as a manager it all comes down to creating the environments for others to apply their skills in the most efficient way. Again, just like we noticed in the interview with Jan De Schepper you need good soft-skills to make it happen.

Follow Wim on Twitter and check out his neat blog on the fine art of comics The Ephemerist. He’s also a respected writer for the Flemish comic magazine Stripgids.