I Made A Mistake

by Lech on April 7, 2012

ErrorI made a mistake. It involved relations between stakeholders in a project. I hope I will be able to sort it out, but it’s already in the “issue” bucket.

At the end of the day my wife reminded me that we can only look back for lessons learned — to learn as much as possible from a given experience, to prevent it from occurring again.

Sometimes all it takes is a wrong forward or carbon copy of a message for hell to break lose. Even with good intentions, even with hopes to resolve an ongoing dispute. Mistakes come in different forms and flavors.

“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”

— Viktor E. Frankl

Sometimes it feels we cannot wait, but even then we should consider waiting

Consistency is supported by restraint. A consistent person maintains a steady stance, using emotions like a tool rather than to be driven by them. It takes time to become proficient at that. But it’s a good road to follow.

Mitigate using the strongest communication tool and limit the parties involved

I prefer picking up the phone or an informal F2F to solve a delicate or more complicated issue. If there is an ongoing “flame war” and I see a chance to settle the case, my “lessons learned” is to radically decrease the number of recipients in any follow-up or summary (especially the “for information” type). And definitely double & triple check before pressing “send.”

“Don’t drive drunk”

Even if drinking is not the case, we have to assess our ability to think clearly. A brewing illness or little sleep can seriously impact our thinking, emotions in particular. Especially then, it is advisable to wait and reconsider.

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What Is Common About Projects?

by Lech on April 3, 2012

Differences between project environments never stop to astonish me. Having experienced a number of approaches to project management, I can’t help thinking there’s so much more to a project than what’s described in a typical manual. In fact, I often wonder — is there anything common about project management apart from a couple of definitions?

I have recently come across construction “projects” where hardly any scheduling was expected — everything process-based, depending on sequential document updates and approval steps, preferably tightly supported by workflow tooling. Project managers? A handful, basically pushing “their projects” from step A to step B, often taking care of more than two dozens of such activities.

Then, there are projects without a Steering Committee whatsoever or depending on a common body — doing both basic portfolio management and project / program steering and treating projects in a FIFO manner.

There are stories of Project Managers who used to work with their teams in an operational-like manner and discussions about virtual teams becoming predominant in our times.

Or construction PMs acting more as salesmen and account managers, depending on site managers to do “typical project management”.

Why are various project management implementations so different? Why can’t one find scheduling, risk management, change management or let alone earned value management in most settings?

Even if we are understandably against “silver bullets,” what are best practices for?

Development With PDUs

by Lech on February 4, 2012

A while ago I opened my email to find a fresh, consitently regular information from Cornelius’s PM Podcast service (hope you feel better now, Cornelius). This time the topic of the podcast was about changes to PDU (Professional Development Units) categories made by PMI. If you feel like learning about this, please take a look here…

I wanted to spend a moment to reflect on this PDU thing. Some of you might have come accross PDUs a while ago and wondered why did they exist in the first place or what was their value?

Project Management as an ever-changing discipline

There is a lot of “art” in Project Management. In that sense I find it similar to medicine. “Evidence-based” is more of an ideal, difficult to reach in practice. The complexity one finds in a typical project allows only basic support from project methodologies and business processes (applying methodologies — often complex by themselves — also requires experience). The best advice is then to constantly learn and re-learn, to “stay in touch” with our métier, pick different “angles” – methods, tools, and disciplines. Our toolbox needs to be challenged all the time. Continuous learning and improving one’s effectiveness and efficiency at that is a good option.

Nothing helps better than a healthy dose of routine

As a PMP one has to gather a number of points in a defined period — based on seminars, conferences attended, volunteering etc. To reach that goal regularity is advisable.

If you add the fact, that PMI Communities of Practice give countless learning opportunities free of charge (I’m a big fan of webinars, BTW), one can only appreciate the “healthy push.” The more we value others sharing, the more we feel the need to give back, to join this “best practice-generating cycle.” Involvement is where the fun starts.

Project vs. Team Member Objectives

by Lech on November 21, 2011

I have read an interesting statement about project objectives recently:

Question: “How does a successful Project Manager effectively communicate the vision and objectives of an organization to the project team?”
Answer: “Some of the most successful projects I have been involved with, both leading and as part of the project team, have also asked the team members what their own aims and objectives are.”

(The discussion took place in a closed group — I decided to remove the names of the authors in this case.)

As project managers we aim to deliver expected results with focus on the following:

  1. Project objectives
  2. Team
  3. Individual members

Of course, one could argue we should consider all known constraints, knowledge areas or themes. Understood. There are many project-related aspects to juggle with, but the above focuses on a leadership perspective — overall project, team, individual members.

No. 1 — project objectives — is a no-brainer. We launch projects to “translate” business objectives into reality. To reach these objectives we form a team (no. 2), a team composed of individuals (no. 3).
When a project is launched teams and members are closely considered. With the deadline behind the corner, however, it’s common to neglect some of the PM’s team-related duties, the project manager is less likely to give team members enough attention. This is why I find the idea — to consider both project and team member objectives — useful throughout the project.

We might not need to communicate team member objectives in the same way as project objectives, but it helps to know them and return to them at regular intervals, e.g. team meetings or discussions with our colleagues.

“How do you understand the objectives of the project?”
“What are your personal goals related to this project?”
“What do you want to achieve as a member of our team?”

One can say that we should apply the same strategy for the project team as we do with other stakeholders – define attitude, influence, and expectations — objectives (among others). Moving a step further, i.e. keeping the team’s objectives closer to overall project objectives, might help us maintain stronger focus throughout the project.

Other suggestions:

  • Use the kick-off to communicate project objectives and their link to strategy (bottom-up), link to deliverables (top-down); use the occasion for the sponsor to endorse you, make you his or her representative
  • Put project objectives in a visible place throughout the project — board in meeting room, presentation / document templates, email signatures etc.
  • Repeat project objectives when possible / review at phase gates
  • No need to repeat that, I suppose – make sure project objectives are S.M.A.R.T., linked not only to deliverables (traceability), but also the business case

What are your favorite practices, techniques with regard to project and/or team objectives?

Interesting posts on the topic:

Timeless Leadership

by Lech on October 11, 2011

In life — nothing seems permanent. As it was famously described by Steve Jobs in his Stanford Commencement Address:

“… death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away.”
Source: http://news.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html

I’ve previously written about the “3 things that matter”. It occurred to me that there is an extra layer about things, ideas and people — permanence.

Things age. All of them. Attaching oneself to things is plain shortsighted.

Moving on to ideas. Most of them age as well — it takes perspective to see that, but man’s history is littered with dead ideas, which back in their time felt permanent. They weren’t.
Some ideas evolve.

All relationships can become timeless. Throughout our lives — and this is certain — we work on relationships so that they can evolve and develop, for the common good. When we look at “famous people,” their likely impact on our lives, on history, was through connecting with others — leading them, helping them, serving them.

Things age, most ideas become obsolete, and relationships — have the potential to be timeless.

“We take a little piece of every person we meet with us, wherever we go.” – @marcandangel

How does this matter?

Personally or professionally, what we do allows us to connect, serve, and inspire other people. By learning to recognize the importance of relationships in our actions, we embark on a journey towards timelessness.

Why Do You Launch a Project?

by Lech on September 20, 2011

Construction by caribb

Photo courtesy of flickr.com/caribb/

Can’t you simply develop an application, write a business procedure, set up a point of sales, build… another Dreamliner?

The problem is either too big, too complex or there is not enough time for operations to deal with it.

I used to think ‘projects’ were but a modern buzzword stolen from the construction business. After all, we used to build buildings, roads, bridges, for quite a while (these were big). By the same token, we now farm, hunt clients or execute (things, hopefully).

I used to think good operations would be able to manage (or execute, for that matter) the kind of change that is expected from a project — thanks to sound business processes and continuous improvement.

And yet, if projects are a means of putting someone’s vision into life, the TO-BE can differ significantly from the AS-IS, and it may be that a vision is almost oposite to any “business as usual”. A broad perspective then, a different set of skills or know-how, combined with orderly, persistent execution, are the kind of ability you look for in a Project Manager.

A strategic choice

by Lech on August 4, 2011

Product, customer or operational excellence — according to M. Treacy and F. Wiersma one of these three directions is a choice every company needs to make in order to succeed on the market.

… Apple is all about products — solid, shiny artifacts.
… Amazon is about customer intimacy — top-notch service and support. 
… Walmart is about operations — quick, low-cost, “reusable” business processes.

You cannot be all three. If you want your brand to stay meaningful, you better chose.

Two types of employees

by Lech on July 26, 2011

In my early working years I came across a manager who had a peculiar way of dealing with recruits. When a team member was on board, she allowed that person to do… nothing. After several days you could observe one of the following patterns:

Pattern 1: Passive

The employee waited for instructions, for work to be handed over. After a long enough period, when frustration levels became unbearable, the person started complaining and often quit.

Pattern 2: Active

After a short period of time, one could observe the “active” employee talking with other team members — gathering knowledge, building a network, setting up tools. It happened once or twice that the newly recruited person excelled in a given area in less than a month.

Conclusion

Two behaviors, one setting, two outcomes: one of disillusionment, second one — of confidence and strength.

Everyone has to find his or her place in this world. Still, if I were to choose a project team member, I would certainly opt for the “active” type.

First, build relations

by Lech on May 19, 2011

I was recently reminded how important it is to build relations between individual members of a team before any collaborative work is being initiated. And this isn’t solely a virtual teams’ issue. It’s common.

The trouble spot

What if someone disagrees with your opinion? What if you hear a remark that doesn’t *seem* all too kind? Or if someone pats you on the shoulder for some reason (and you don’t like it)? What if the message in your inbox is too short or too long, too harsh or too sweet?

We usually consult our internal judge. In practice, emotions often win – we complain, burst out, start arguing or exercise “assertiveness”. Even if we are able to refrain from any immediate reaction, we might be holding a grudge, collecting “minuses”, waiting for the right moment when our “patience tank” is empty and then.. well… we have to act.

But what if?

What if the other person was actually wrong? What if he or she made a mistake? Overestimated our sense of humor, didn’t realize patting on the shoulder didn’t necessarly work in our culture, misunderstood our “friendly signal”? What if that person didn’t figure out (somehow) that we had “one of those days…”?

Intentions are key

When you start by building relations, you realize the first thing you gain is trust in the other person’s good intent. Sometimes this means getting to know the traditions of a different culture, dealing with generalizations and prejudices, or any virtual barriers for that matter.

“As human beings, we are all the same, there is no need to build some kind of artificial barrier between us.” – Dalai Lama

The bottom line

Trusting the good intentions behind another person’s actions, we often learn from hindsight, that indeed, they where pure, the reasoning understandable. For the team this understanding means higher likelihood of success in any endeavor, fewer conflicts in general, and more fun on the way.

First, build relations.

A leadership exercise

by Lech on May 18, 2011

“We start in pairs. One person will have his eyes covered. The other will be the leader.”

A typical leadership excercise, done in rounds. Both participants (the ‘leader’ and the ‘follower’) are instructed separately. The leader is told to guide the follower to an agreed location, usually several hundred meters away. The single oddity being that the latter cannot see a single thing and has to rely on the assurance, instructions, and a helpful hand from the leader (first round). In the second round, the task and route stay the same, but the leader’s assurance and instructions will have to do. In the third – the follower is entirely on his own.

Neither of the two roles are easy. Clarity is paramount. Clarity drives trust. However, the responsibility you bare, as a leader, is in proportion to the trust you were able to build. You give your team the right to make mistakes (a must), but responsibility stays on your side.

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