ABSTRACT
Project Managers are already managers of projects and people. A good project manager will have enough leadership ability to inspire the team to complete projects. The Lean and Agile project manager will benefit from becoming familiar with the work of W. Edwards Deming. Deming was a pioneer in the quality movement and is well-known for a number of works and theories related to process improvement and project management concepts. Strong leadership is necessary to accomplish this task. Leaders must be willing to build alliances with employees. Lean and Agile project managers have more exposure in this area. Because projects are designed to produce results in a short period of time, it is critical to gain trust and respect very quickly. Interactions include the leader’s own personality, characteristics of the follower, demands evolving over time, and a host of environmental factors. Leaders have the ability to inspire employees to achieve greatness.
