Part 2 – the Checklist

In Project Resourcing in HRIS: the Person Specification I discussed how looking at attributes required within the overall project team – the why of roles, not the what – opens up options, maximises value and manages risk.
Here is the start of your “person specification” for the project in a checklist. The essential v. desirable I leave to you:

Control and Communication

  • Someone is in charge of control – and control means method and not “power”
  • Project management does not have overlaps – scope is clearly delineated, so that control and communication are clearly owned
  • Communication is open, organised and without organisational or personal barrier
  • The person at the centre really “gets us” as a business

Leadership and Decisions

  • Everyone knows who makes decisions and, if delegated, within what tolerances
  • We have minimised the number of people in Board/decision-making meetings
  • Our sponsor/decision-maker is in a position to stand back from the detail and make judgments based on organisational priority
  • Those who must decide trust that they are getting the right information from those that must give it to them

Specialist Experts

  • Technical experts cover all systems bases – the full project scope is covered and not just current modules
  • We have a network of experts available to us and a plan with providers to take care of experts leaving
  • My experts are challenging me about what I think I want – they communicate the impact of my choices
  • Technical expert resource is targeted towards points of maximum project leverage, because I understand the value it is bringing

User Experiences

  • Involved users represent the good, the bad and the ugly of attitudes towards HRIS in the business
  • Experts and do-er’s delegate tasks to users to experience only in so far as that experience has ongoing value to them
  • Experts and potential core or “super-users” are working together to build self-sufficiency and engagement
  • I have the right potential learning (training) opportunities naturally built in to project team structures

Getting Tasks Done

  • Someone in the work-stream has an eye for detail and for finishing the job, and:
  • That someone trusts someone else enough to tell them when quality, time, cost, risk or outcomes are in jeopardy
  • Time-consuming tasks sit at a level which appropriately balances the best use of my budget with a realism about how much time we all have to commit
  • There is an allocation of expert resource to support for those doing the supporting!

These are simpler but harder issues than the career history scan for the right application, sector or qualification skillset match. Not what, but why.

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