Feature

May/June 2009

Project Managers Are Natural Leaders

Q&A with an experienced heavy/highway PM

By H.L. Hild

What got you interested in becoming a project manager?

TERRY MARTIN Deputy Project Manager, Stacy and Witbeck Inc. Alameda, Calif. Member: Stacy and Witbeck Inc. is a member of multiple AGC chapters Age: 52 Experience: 30 years in construction, one and a half years with Stacy and Witbeck Education: B.S.,M.S., civil engineering, Stanford Univ. Current project: FasTracks West Corridor Light Rail, Denver Most successful project managed so far: “SR-22 design-build in Orange County, Calif., 2004-08. It was an extremely difficult project from the standpoint of schedule and budget. Despite the adversity, we maintained high morale and a strong-willed team to complete the job.” E-mail: tmartin@dtcgjv.com Website: www.stacywitbeck.com

I’ve been around construction all of my life. My dad was a bricklayer, so there was a natural attraction to the construction field in general. Becoming a project manager was a natural progression based on first learning the fundamentals of the business, then understanding how the pieces fit together—and this was coupled with my tendency to take on a leadership role when working with groups of people.

Essentially, I didn’t go into the industry with a goal of becoming a project manager. The position came to me as a result of combining experience with skills that came somewhat naturally to me.

What do today’s project managers most need to know to handle a variety of construction projects successfully?

Assuming that an understanding of the work has been attained, once a person has become a project manager the most important thing to know is how to deal effectively with a variety of different personalities. There are hundreds of individuals on the projects that I manage who represent many different agencies and stakeholders, in addition to the hundreds employed by my own company. My role is to continually represent the success of the project as the common goal so that everyone hopefully understands how their concerns contribute to the overall success.

For the most part, everyone associated with a project supports the goals at the beginning. If any discord develops, it is usually due to an individual or group feeling they are out of the loop or otherwise not being listened to. The project manager’s job is to keep everyone engaged, and that requires an ability to relate to many different types of people.

What is the biggest obstacle that project managers face on the jobsite today?

On my projects it is bureaucracy; specifically, when agencies associated with a project make decisions that affect the project but don’t really have any stake in it. Oftentimes, the process for getting to a decision is not subject to the same kind of urgency that a project is. If the individuals responsible for moving the process along and making decisions are not on the project, they may not understand how their actions affect the success of the project. The challenge for the project manager is to engage those entities to the extent possible.

How has the role of project manager changed in the last five to 10 years?

MSE wall construction progresses on the west-side approach to the Kipling Street Light-Rail Bridge for the first segment of Denver’s FasTracks project.

I don’t believe that it really has. I see the role as fundamentally unchanged over the last 10 years. It’s still about continually representing the common goal for success, charting the course for how to get there, and then, through effective leadership, drawing the entire team together and moving toward that goal.

What has been your role in green building?

My projects are on the heavy-civil side— highways and light rail—so I’m not constructing buildings.

However, one of our goals is the reuse and recycling of materials, which is beneficial from both environmental and financial standpoints.

Crews set precast girders for a light rail bridge at Dry Gulch West Bridge in Denver.

What training do you recommend for someone who wants to be a project manager?

Leadership training will always pay huge dividends. The traditional skills related to scheduling, estimating and cost controls also can be learned in a training environment as long as it goes hand in hand with on-the-job training.

Traditional training is much more effective when it can be put into practice immediately on the job.

What is the value of AGC and its programs in helping to develop better project managers?

The Advanced Management Program is excellent. The quality and experience of the speakers is very impressive, and one can’t help but learn from them.

Perhaps the most beneficial aspect of the program, though, is the interaction with peers from across the country and with a variety of construction firms who all face similar challenges as project managers.