Now Project Management

The Motorcycle Safety Foundation Basic Rider Course is divided into classroom and hands on training. The purpose of the course is to help motorcyclists understand the risks of riding, the fundamentals of a motorcycle, and how to ride. I was sitting in the class room portion of the course and the instructor was discussing the 2 second, 4 second and 12 second rule and how it helps keep a motorcyclist out of harms way. The 2 second view helps avoid immediate dangers, the 4 second view for is for preparing for things that could occur and the 12 second view is for fewer pressing concerns, although critical to view traffic patterns as possible warning signs. The course then uses a video to help accentuate the point. Viewing the video is like playing the game "how much can you see given 2 or 3 seconds to look"? After we described what we'd seen they asked us to explain what actions we would take based on the what was happening in the video. It was a good way to think through hazards and determine the actions needed at the given moment to maneuver safely through to safety.

I was managing a project when my lead architect came to me with an issue. We sat down and discussed the problem to determine what our next steps should be and decided that, based on the criticality and impact of the issue, we should move into the problem solving process we'd outlined at the beginning of the project. Long story short, we implemented a solution based on the best alternative possible. After that problem was solved I pulled the team together to gather leasons learned. We covered the standard leasons learned and discussed how we handled this particular issue. I then moved into a leasons learned about the timing of when this problem was identified. The team had mentioned that this issue should have been identified as a risk earlier so I thought it important to uncover the reason for this apparant miss.

One of the things a project manager needs to balance is the past, the present and the future. This lesson learned covered all three. We retrospectively reviewed the problems' path within the project. We discussed the apparent miss when gathering risks, the manner in which the problem was handled when it became an immediate issue and how we could prevent this type of "fire" next time. "NOW" Project Management doesn't avoid the past and nor avoid preparing for the future. It emphasizes what needs to be done "Now", in this moment, at this time. Whether we are looking at 2 seconds, 4 seconds or 12 seconds, there is something we should do NOW for all of these elements. Whether it is simply to put something on a watch list, to do an immediate corrective action or to put together a plan of action, there is something in this moment that should be done. The most important thing to remember is that, whatever we did yesterday is complete and we have new information. When we stay in the present moment we have both a changed past and a changed future. Nothing about our present is stagnant.

When we stay in the Now, in the present, we have a clearer picture of what is going on in our project, we have a better understanding of the relationships between what has happened and what may happen, and we have a greater appreciation for the project dynamics. The great thing about having a project team is the opportunity for perspectives outside of our own to look at the project landscape and be able to view the past and the future differently. Making sure to review todays' information such as tasks, decisions, risks, issues, assumptions and constraints is important. None of the activities associated with managing a project are a "once and done" endeavor, hence checklists can be deceiving. It would be easy to manage a project if nothing changed, if our predictions all came true and our plans were always correct and the past always supported the future. That isn't the case.

Managing projects in the Now is important for the stakeholders. Providing a lens into the current state of a project, not a predicted past state or a hoped for future state, a present state. When we speak in the language of "if" we are not in the present state. The language of "if" is one of conjecture and hope. The language of "Now" can seem impersonal, cold. The language of "Now" is factual in nature, like a snap shot. It is a picture with a caption of what the project team sees and what it is doing today to prepare for what it sees. That is what "Now Project Management" is designed to do for the project. Keep the language to what is being done today, not about what will be done "if" something occurs. Don't misunderstand, contingency plans are important, more important though is that a contingency plan has been put in place today. The question that is most important in a project is "What must we do today". What the plan is is secondary to having a plan. "Now Project Management", stay in today and answer: What did the project complete yesterday? How did that affect the project tomorrow (2 second, 4 second, 12 second view)? What needs to be done today as a result?

Ride On, Manage On