5 minutes with… James Leigh
James Leigh is the Head of Consultancy at James Chase Consulting, a digital solutions organisation that has high value Delivery at its core. He got into project and stakeholder management about 10 years ago and is based in Lewes, East Sussex.
This article was originally posted on LinkedIn in May 2023 and James has kindly given permission for the content to be added here.
Why did you choose a career in delivery or project management?
I don’t think I’ll be alone in saying I didn’t choose project management as much as I was drawn to elements that make up good delivery and then found myself filling the functions that lead to the role, rather than the other way round. Once I found myself in Delivery World however I knew that was a space I could really grow.
What advice would you give someone starting out in the industry?
I’d say do the fundamentals well, early in my career I tried too hard to be too ‘clever’.....and it didn’t work - AT ALL! The best projects are the ones that run smoothly- on time, to budget, to brief. So, approach all tasks with a factual, neutral approach that has outcomes and outputs at its heart. When things go wrong (and they will) it's never about blame, it's about a sustainable and considered resolution - and then in the retrospective attacking problems not people.
As a PM you have a dual responsibility to protect the studio and be the voice of the client, this isn’t a burden but rather a golden opportunity to embody a ‘one team’ approach and let that resonate out for the rest of the team.
Have you ever worked on a particularly difficult project? Why was it rubbish/tough/hard?
Hahaha! Yeah, a few! Usually it’s down to misaligned understandings between what you’re producing and what is expected/sold in. More often than not this issue raises it’s head on projects or clients that you take over that are already ‘in flight’, I find a good way to tackle this is to move everyone to a model of maximum transparency - a fully client shared Jira board, daily stand ups where the team can factually and neutrally speak to challenges and retrospectives which celebrate success while always looking for process improvement go a long way.
When that’s not enough a good old fashion RACI session where everyone involved in the project participates and switch the narrative, if people feel ownership of the ask on them and know they’re not alone in brining it to fruition it can work wonders.
What do you think are the most important skills for a delivery or project manager to have?
Not being afraid to say no, if it’s in the best interests of the project, is a great skill to hone - especially if the person you’re saying no to is very senior and client side! If you can put forth your case in a constructive way that shows you’re able to make those challenging, upward management calls it can build a lot of faith in your abilities from the project team.
What do you think are the biggest challenges facing delivery and project managers today?
With the growth of non-office working it is incumbent on project managers to structure ceremonies to fit that reality, it’s not a challenge as much as it is an opportunity but one that must be addressed and tailored to the team.
It doesn’t leave space for any complacency but get it right and you can help the team unlock so much.
What projects would you have loved to have been involved in?
I’ve been very lucky to have been involved in some brilliant projects with fantastic clients, working on some truly innovative digital products, so I can’t say I have any projects I feel I’ve missed out on.
This post is part of a services called ‘5 minutes with’ series of articles from people in the delivery management and project management space.