The document discusses how personality type, as measured by the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, can influence one's approach to project management. It describes the four scales of personality type - orientation, information gathering, decision-making, and attitude - and provides examples of how each personality preference may impact project management style, potential sources of conflict, and questions to avoid issues. The document concludes with sample questions an ESTJ and INFP may ask themselves.

1. Project
Management
and Personality Type

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

3. 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

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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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?”

9. 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

10. 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?”

11. 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

12. 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?”

13. 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

14. 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?”

15. 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

16. 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?”

17. 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

18. 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?”

19. 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

20. 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?”

21. 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

22. 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?”

23. Examples

24. 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?”

25. 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?”

26. 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

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