how to handle multiple project managers?

Question

I am a team leader. My team handles multiple projects. Each has a different project manager. Our priorities keep changing according to deals the company is about to close. The project managers are not synchronized and whenever I talk to one PM I have to explain why other tasks of other projects were declared as more important than his/her project. I need to create an environment for a changing work-plan (deadline, design, priorities etc..) and that will keep all my project managers synchronized. - How can I set this kind of work environment? - Who is supposed to synchronize parallel work-plans for different projects? Is it the project managers or the RnD manager?

Answer 1

There really needs to be a Portfolio Management Team (PMT) that schedules the projects. They really need to police this situation. The managers will never be able to do this on their own because they are being rated on how well they deliver their projects. This is a common problem and can only be reconciled when a very senior manage steps in to direct change.

I will tell you that my experience has been when a company make this change and manages the pipeline the results can be fantastic.