A lesson in project management I just learned

Couple of friends stopped by my office today for a quick brief on a project we are working on, one of these friends is a senior project manager for a major telecom company.

He was telling us a little about his management style and how he likes to communicate with his project team only when he needs them and only with a single person at a time. He had to debate this style with his boss who thought it was not the best style for managing a project. His boss asked him to change his management style and to start to have more meetings with his team members and meet them all at once.

My friend asked his boss “have I ever failed you in any project before?” and the answer was “No”, then, asked my friend, “Why you want me to change?”

My friend told us “I had to options, either I let my ego get in the way or listen to my boss and adopt his ways” and he decided to adopt.

He decided to let his ego down and go along with his boss. As a manager, I find it hard sometimes to see management changing the way I manage projects and sometimes I let my ego go unchecked but today I learned that sometimes it is OK to let your ego down and it may be the best for everyone.