Why you should protect your project and organization.......Reputation in Project Management

Project managers and quality professionals should consider reputation in four areas:
- Impact from the project on the reputation of the organization involved
- The reputation of the project.
- Impact and completeness of project communications.
- The reputation of the project management profession.
It is good for a project to be focused on its objective, but the team can lose sight of the organization's broader needs. The quality professional's independence and consideration of the organization as a whole is a useful perspective for a project manager. In reviewing the plan, considering what the project will do for the organization's reputation may change some of the options available for the solution, challenge assumptions or identify risks. These should be managed in the project but may also be included in the wider organization's risk or issue management.

The project
Projects can be the mechanism to execute strategy for organizational change or to develop new products, services or capabilities. In these cases, the project plans should consider the project's impact on the organization's brand and reputation. How will the changes the projects makes be a reflection of the corporate brand? How will the project's way of working or dealing with stakeholder's enhance the organization's reputation? The project's communication plan should ensure that influencing the influencers is part of the project.

Additionally. all projects should look to their own reputation within the organization. A good reputation can help to improve stakeholder participation in project meetings and provide valuable support for the resources the project needs. This can be especially true for projects based in one part of an organization that directly causes changes to occur in another part of the organization. Distance , language and culture can change reputations and support. Careful communication planning can help to avoid problems.

The project manager
Project managers are often measured against a scope, schedule and budget, which are all fixed at the beginning of the project. The reputation of the project manager to deliver is dependent on estimates that are often based on best-case scenarios with little in depth analysis or risk assessment. Sometimes the full impact and associated costs for the organization cannot be fully estimated at that time. The business needs and the market in which the project works will change and therefore the scope, resources, schedule or budget may need to change dramatically.

While these initial estimates of cost are necessary for business planning, it is only when the project is fully defined, planned and costed that the budget and schedule can be properly known. In innovative projects or those with significant risks, this may be in the much later stages of the project. Recognizing this dilemma between the need to plan and understanding the potential inaccuracy of estimates, a quality manager can serve the organization and avoid the project's reputation becoming a scapegoat if things go wrong.

Project management
The reputation of project management is, of course, dependent on perceived success of projects. If a project runs smoothly, it is often assumed that the project was easily managed. If the project is seen as more difficult but produces results, project managers are lauded. This fact of human nature may not be a true reflection of the reality of the project: a complex project that run smoothly is actually down to the skill of the project management team and should be celebrated.

As each project can add to or detract from the project management profession's reputation, the quality professionals can also help the organization to form  an objective opinion on the value of the project management profession, the project managers it recruits , and style and methods used by the more successful projects