Project
Management
and Personality Type

Personality Type  Myers-Briggs Type
Indicator  Measures personality on 4 scales

1. Orientation Extraversion (E) Introversion
(I) Gain energy from the Gain energy from the external world of internal world of people, objects, and thoughts, ideas, and events emotions

2. Gathering information Sensation (S)
Intuition (N) Trust facts and Trust insight and focus focus on detail on the big picture

3. Making Decisions Thinking (T)
Feeling (F) Seek to objectively Seek to empathetically remove themselves project themselves into from a situation when a situation when making making decisions decisions

4. Attitude Judgment (J) Perception
(P) Seek closure and make Keep their options open decisions as soon as as long as possible in sufficient facts are case new facts or known opportunities arise

Extraversion: Project Mgmt Style 
Brainstorm and present ideas off the top of their head  Communicate regularly with other team members to discuss ideas and check on status  Prefer verbal to written communication

Extraversion: Conflict Sources  May
spend more time communicating about tasks than working on them  Risk scope creep by verbalizing impulsive ideas that sound like decisions  To avoid conflict, ask, “Will this discussion move the project forward?”

Introversion: Project Mgmt Style 
Consider their ideas carefully before discussing them with the group  Focus their time and energy on completing their tasks as individual contributors  Prefer written to verbal communication

Introversion: Conflict Sources  Fail
to adequately communicate decisions and delays to the entire team  Take action without considering the effect on the team  To avoid conflict, ask, “Do I need to discuss this with anyone first?”

Sensation: Project Mgmt Style 
Think in terms of present needs and the practical benefits of the product  Rely on past successes to build approaches to future projects  Break projects down into an assortment of small tasks

Sensation: Conflict Sources  View
tasks at such a granular level that they overlook opportunities to combine them  Fail to develop an overall vision that they can succinctly articulate to management  To avoid conflict, ask “What are the implications? What patterns are emerging?”

Intuition: Project Mgmt Style 
Take a long-term view and consider how current changes will affect future iterations  Innovate new and better ways of approaching the project  View the project from a high level and fill in the details as the need arises

Intuition: Conflict Sources  Underestimate
needed resources because they haven’t documented all tasks involved  Fail to articulate specific benefits to management and customers  To avoid conflict, ask, “Does this solution address today’s practical needs?”

Thinking: Project Mgmt Style 
Focus on an objective set of criteria  Consider problems before people  Challenge statements made by others, looking for holes and opportunities for improvement

Thinking: Conflict Sources  Assign
tasks without considering needs of team members, leading to alienation  Risk failure by developing a product that meets specs but that no one wants to buy  To avoid conflict, ask “What would customers and stakeholders think about this?”

Feeling: Project Mgmt Style 
Focus on pleasing customers and stakeholders  Assign tasks based on the skills and preferences of the individual  Encourage a team spirit and praise individual contributions, stating disagreement indirectly

Feeling: Conflict Sources  Maintain
harmony by leaving tasks unassigned or not pointing out when deliverables are late  Discourage debate that could lead to hurt feelings but also better solutions  To avoid conflict, ask, “What would I do if I weren’t worried about people’s feelings?”

Judgment: Project Mgmt Style 
Measure progress based on whether tasks are completed  Organize meetings according to an agenda and stick to it  Avoid scope creep, which could place the deadline at risk

Judgment: Conflict Sources  Focus
more on project management than on the end product  Appear inflexible to customers, stakeholders, and other team members  To avoid conflict, ask, “Can I adapt the schedule to accommodate new information?”

Perception: Project Mgmt Style 
Recognize that conditions evolve, so they focus on the ultimate goal rather than a schedule  Work intensely as the deadline approaches rather than steadily throughout the project  Develop informal projects when gaps are identified in existing projects or product offerings

Perception: Conflict Sources  Take
action without getting buy-in, leading to questions of who agreed to what  Focus more on the learning process than on completing tasks on time  To avoid conflict, ask, “Will exploring this option place the deadline at risk?”

Examples

ESTJ Questions  “Will this
discussion move the project forward?”  “What are the implications? What patterns are emerging?”  “What would customers and stakeholders think about this?”  “Can I adapt the schedule to accommodate new information?”

INFP Questions  “Do I
need to discuss this with anyone first?”  “Does this solution address today’s practical needs?”  “What would I do if I weren’t worried about people’s feelings?”  “Will exploring this option place the deadline at risk?”

Bibliography  Baron, Renee. What
Type Am I? New York, NY: Penguin Group, 1998.  Myers, Isabel Briggs with Peter B. Myers. Gifts Differing. Mountain View, CA: Davies-Black Publishing, 1980, 1995.  Tucker, Jennifer. Introduction to Type and Project Management. Mountain View, CA: CPP Inc, 2008.  Jung Typology Test at https:// www.humanmetrics.com

Contact Info Andrea J. Wenger
President, STC Carolina Chapter Membership Mgr., Technical Editing SIG awengerstc@yahoo.com www.WriteWithPersonality.com