Last week, it was my project, and mine alone, to divert a river that was flooding directly into the space beneath the family cabin. As I worked for one whole day, morning to night, with only a shovel, I was unable to divert even part of it. In fact, on the next morning, the water level was about six inches higher.

If changing the course of the river had only been a matter of cutting off the upper parts to flow elsewhere, I would have. But, what made this project so difficult was that the other cabins in the area would be affected by whatever I did. So, I had to be careful. With a good survey of the land, I concluded that the only thing I could do was manage the water coming through my property alone.

In project management, similar circumstances occur. Often, one’s work is overwhelming, "flooding" into them. When the work involved in a project is not efficiently distributed among resources, the person simply cannot do the job required of him or her.

Now, one might call me out for not renting powered equipment, saying something like, "You are saving money by using a shovel, but what about the damages that will be done to the cabin because you have not rented a tractor? Now, it’s going to cost you more in the long run." In reply to this, I can only agree. But, I face one problem: the cabin is not owned by me. It is family property in which I am basically the only one with time to go. But, because I do not go enough, I cannot justify the costs of bringing up heavy equipment. The rest of the family only goes on rare occasions, so they don’t care about the eventual costs of the damages involved.

Similarly, these types of individuals exist in the project team. There are people who give their time despite their lack of resources, and there are others that do not give anything. From my own observations, one of the most common hindrances to successful project management is when these two types of team members do not equally take on the workload of a project. Sometimes, the only reason that a project is successful at all is because those that are working strenuously are just making up for those that aren’t working at all.

When a project manager is not doing his or her job, the individual that is putting out more effort than the rest can feel helpless and overwhelmed, just as I had felt at my cabin. I had wanted to avoid a flood, and worked with all that I had. But, nothing could stop the water.

Although my "team members" (those in the family and those in the other cabins around me) are never willing to help with the cabin, somehow, each summer, they still feel entitled to a free visit. In the same way, some employees feel entitled to a good paycheck and a stable job without earning it. After all, who cares if the business sinks? It isn’t mine.

One of the most important things a project manager can do is know who is out there alone, using only a shovel to stop a flood, while everyone else stays cozy in the sinking cabin.