When I was a student in Mexico, in order to help my parents pay for my education I also had a scholarship/financing deal with the school, which meant I would do some assistant work in one of the departments.  A friend of mine was working in school administration, and I joined in.  There I had was trained on a technique that has helped me throughout my career.

Instead of just thinking of managing a project solely through deliverables, reviews and milestones, this focuses on the human component and the conversations that you as the project owner have with your stakeholders and contributors.   Therefore, you focus bit by bit on closing (completing) those simultaneous conversations to get closer to your specified goals.

It probably sounds obvious and even a little bit simplistic, but turning its tables on the process to work through the people rather than focus on the task on its own is an approach that has proven time and again to be effective in the ocassions when I’ve used it.  It also helps us “touchy-feely Latin types” to use our strengths to deliver, and builds strong personal relationships with your team.