Dealing with Assigned Project Resources

Dealing with project resources that are not directly under you is an art on its own.

The PM could influence the assigned resources via the following ways:

• Motivation - that their contribution is crucial for the successful completion of the project
• Remind them of the strategic/tactical value of the project to the organization
• Direct Authority - tactfully referencing to the project sponsor who has supposedly "bestowed" the PM with the power to hold the stick
• Indirect Authority - by having a good business relationship with the assigned resources' immediate bosses. This takes effort & some amount of goodwill from within the PM's other juridiction to them. This good relationship opens up a useful path for the PM to escalate issues regarding the resource.