ABSTRACT
Project managers and sponsors often think of human resource management as a low-risk process area. However, over the past fifteen years, the author led two project health assessments at the sponsor’s request, specifically because of problems within the project team. In both cases, problems were directly associated with the following:
◾ Lack of project team role and responsibility clarity ◾ Lack of honest, thorough project team communication ◾ Lack of support from project hierarchical management
Much project management literature stresses the importance of leadership and many continuing education units (CEU) and professional development units (PDU) building courses focus on building such skills. Nevertheless, the key is still in understanding what to do and when to do it. Just as with any other critical success factor, the project health assessor’s role here is to ensure that the necessary and sufficient human resource processes are in place, effectively executed, and maximize the efficient use of project team, user, and stakeholder time.
