Necessary but nobody’s job (NBNJ) projects are gray area projects
Every business has those projects that are absolutely necessary but also, apparently, nobody’s job. I like to refer to these as gray area projects, and they usually fall under “other duties as assigned” in job descriptions. Businesses prefer to give these important projects to internal experts because they assume their own staff should care more about doing a better job than anyone else. If your business already has on-staff experts who are able to complete cross-functional projects to your liking, consider yourself lucky. This usually isn’t the case. Here are three of my favorite responses when a business asks for someone to complete an NBNJ project.
If it’s a project, why can’t a project manager handle it?
Project managers are INTEGRAL to the success of any project, large or small, for any business. However, by their very nature (and likely their job description) their main purpose is to track tasks, deadlines and updates. They are inherently removed from the project itself as the only thing they own is the tracking and completion of the project. They own none of the tasks for project completion EXCEPT to keep everyone informed and progressing toward the same goal. Folks in project management positions are super amazing at follow-up, reminding task owners of their status and due dates, and letting a larger group know where there are deficits. They are not, and should not be, responsible for completing tasks on the list. You can certainly give NBNJ projects to a project manager, but my experience tells me that you won’t get the depth of information you’re requesting. Project managers are very “black and white” or “black OR white” and many are uncomfortable in the gray area. They tend to take something out of the gray area and fit it, even if loosely, into black or white which degrades the nature of the gray area and dilutes the black or white areas.
Folks in project management positions are super amazing at follow-up, reminding task owners of their status and due dates, and letting a larger group know where there are deficits. They are not, and should not be, responsible for completing tasks on the list.
It’s just a spreadsheet. My admin can do it.
Sure! That’s a logical response, but also one that’s short-sighted. Some businesses prefer to hand off seemingly straightforward tracking projects to admins or assistants because they see the project as “just” a spreadsheet. I’m not talking about projects that admins can handle with ease like getting a headcount for an event or tracking booked travel for a team. Those things are pretty straightforward. I’m talking about projects that require some business knowledge, some departmental knowledge, and complete and absolute understanding of the goal of the project. If you have an admin or assistant that can handle these types of projects, they probably need to be promoted.
If you have an admin or assistant that can handle these types of projects, they probably need to be promoted.
I don’t have time to do this.
This is usually the response when you ask an expert to complete one of these projects. They aren’t wrong. They probably actually don’t have time to think outside their box and to complete a cross-functional task. It’s okay though. They will gladly provide you with what they already have that they think should suffice for what you need. And, any and all information from an internal expert who doesn’t have time for the NBNJ project should absolutely be considered and used as the larger project is completed.
If they’ve already told you they don’t have time, you have choices on how to react.
- First, you can tell them to make time. (I mean, really, you are the boss and the business has a critical need.) Be careful with using what they produce as the authority source on something cross functional. Legal experts will give you legal impacts. Product experts will give you product impacts. Ops experts will give you ops impacts. Marketing experts will give you…. You get the picture.
- Second, you can find someone else in a different department or role to do the work. (See sections on Project Managers and Admins above.)
- Third, and what I think is the best option, give the NBNJ project to someone who lives in the gray area (like me!), who is comfortable in the gray area (like me!), internal or external, and who can objectively provide a cross-functional view including how each of the departmental impacts might impact other teams (like me!).
Necessary but nobody’s job projects are the definition of gray area projects. How can I help you find the magic in the gray? Contact me today!
Segovia Consulting 