Curiosity and Project Management

I was part of a team meeting working to resolve an issue. Two teams were focused on their position regarding the issue. The team with the technical expertise was clear that what was being asked should not be implemented. The other team required the technical team to implement the change for their portion of the project to progress. It was a good choice vs bad choice, right choice vs wrong choice conversation. Both sides were clear about their position and we were not moving forward. When faced with this type of dilemma, maintaining a curious mindset becomes important. Being able to ask probing questions to move teams away from positions and beginning to look for potential solutions requires that both teams begin to focus on the outcomes and move away from their respective positions.

To move most issues forward rather than staying locked in circular conversations, back and forth dialogue, or other time-wasting meeting discussions, framing the end goal and gaining alignment by the people involved is required. Documenting what the end goal and the associated drivers of success will allow the teams involved to focus together on a single topic rather than continue to hold their positions. If the teams are moving toward different end goals agreement is unlikely. The first step is creating the end goal and the drivers. The end goal could be to complete testing with the primary drivers being maintaining a short timeline and keeping the cost low. Once that information has been established and everyone involved is aligned, the teams are able to move forward. I am using the term alignment versus agreement. It is an important distinction. When seeking agreement, there is room for disagreement. Disagreement means that something small can stand in the way. Alignment suggests I may not agree, and I can move forward with the chosen direction because I can align my behavior to that goal. If I cannot align, then a change must be made to move forward. Agreement is a 100% and can cause an all or nothing barrier. Alignment allows for wiggle room.

Once aligned on the goal and the associated drivers, the teams can begin to bring forward the ideas to move forward toward the goal. Brainstorming is an ideal way to create as many possibilities as possible. Brainstorming requires that everyone involved sustains their judgement. No idea is skipped or shot down. All ideas are welcome, expanding ideas is a thrill, and all are kept while brainstorming. Once there is a laundry list of possibilities they can be discussed, combined, removed, and cleansed until there is a smaller subset of possibilities. That subset of possibilities is then ranked so that there is an order in which everyone aligns that they are further analyzed. Again, alignment matters as there will always be disagreement amongst the teams as to what should be tackled first. Most of the time, the teams can align on an order.

The Next step is to analyze the ideas, gathering data points for the primary drivers, in this case time and cost. Once the data is available the viable and most likely candidates are available. Since the teams came up with the ideas together, there is generally a stronger team bond, all parties are aligned on how to move forward, and the issues has an identified resolution. These steps can be applied to almost any situation where there is conflict, positions, and polarized teams. The primary ingredient that the project manager brings to the meeting is curiosity. Staying away from solutioning and allowing the teams to work together while asking the probing questions is the most valuable tool a project manager can learn. Being able to draw out the ideas of others, focused on a common understanding of the issue, the goal, and the primary drivers will bring issues to a close as quickly as possible. Practicing these tools in our every day lives will allow us to sharpen our project management skill sets. Project management skills are applicable every where in life. What are you practicing today?

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Project Management and Leadership

I was involved in interviewing a candidate for a project management position when one of the interviewers asked, “Do you consider yourself a project manager or a project leader, do you lead or manage the projects your responsible for?” I found this to be an interesting question, one that I’d not heard before. The longer I consider the question the more I embrace the importance of the word “and”. Working in a world of “or” tends to create a right or wrong mentality, a good or bad judgement filled arena. Creating the possibilities of good and bad as well as right and wrong allows the cultivation of a workplace filled with differing possibility, one in which we can review actions looking for what works and examining what doesn’t work rather than judging actions as correct or incorrect. In my experience, a project manager who manages but does not use leadership principles to manage or leads but does not use management disciplines is not as effective and successful as one who manages and leads.

What is the fundamental difference between the two? Let’s look at the basic definitions of both. A manager is a person responsible for controlling or administering all or part of a company or similar organization. The definition of a leader is that they are the one in the charge, the person who convinces other people to follow, who inspires confidence in other people and moves them to action. These definitions are similar and yet, certainly not the same. A manager is focused on creating efficiency through process and procedure, to organize the plan, and to ensure the result is attained. They do this by managing the team and the activities through the plan, ensuring risk is identified and mitigated, and by reacting to change as circumstances change. Leaders are focused on inspiring the team to attain the result, looking ahead to see what opportunities exist, identifying change to be used to improve the result, and ensures the team has what is needed for them to be successful. Leaders facilitate progress, decisions, and outcomes. Managers create the plan by which progress, decisions and outcomes can be realized. Leaders have followers, managers have team members.

Clearly, there is a difference between managing and leading. The management disciplines needed to become an efficient project manager are outlined in The Project Management Book of Knowledge (PMBOK). Being competent in Scope, Schedule, Risk, Cost, Resource, Communication, Procurement, Quality, Stakeholder, and Integration management is necessary. Fundamental to being successful is the ability to create an actionable plan, to identify those involved and be able to communicate effectively to manage risk and scope, and to manage cost. These administrative disciplines are required for successful project managers and mastering them is a life-long endeavor. What works on one project may or may not work on another. Every organization and team will be different and requires a different approach. The fundamentals will not change, how the disciplines are applied will change based on the circumstances of the project. That is where being an effective leader becomes most important.

Without the ability to inspire a team, projects fail. Without the ability to look for ways to improve results, projects fail. Without being able to facilitate the team to discover the response needed, projects will fail. These skills, the ability to inspire, the drive toward change and the ability to facilitate are leadership skills. If every project were identical, management would be easy. Put together a plan and begin to drive. The issue is that projects are unpredictable, people are unpredictable, circumstances are unpredictable. The project management disciplines are founded on predictability. Leadership is about navigating through the unpredictable. It is about looking for opportunities when there are obstacles blocking forward progress. It is about looking for the change that is needed to generate success. It is about having a vision for the end point for which the team is driving and continuing to hold that vision as the driving force. Those are leadership skills, not management disciplines. Both are needed. Developing management disciplines while cultivating leadership principles is what makes an effective and efficient project manager. What are you practicing today?

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Play it Again: Keeping Skills Alive

Ever wonder how many ground balls a short stop navigates in their career? How about the number of time Joni Mitchell was asked to play “Both Sides Now”? And while DaVinci was never asked to sculpt “David” again, how many sculptures, paintings, and ceilings did he paint in his lifetime? Every artist, and dare I say every career, is filled with repetition. We are asked to do the same thing again and again. It is interesting to consider, repetition is what the great masters do. They work on a brush stroke, a cord progression, a building design, always looking for a higher possibility. It is no different in project management. Project Managers are asked to create schedules, identify risks, manage change, and manage the various knowledge areas over and over again. It could conceivably become mundane, we could easily fall into mediocrity, unless we continuously consider the work we are doing as new, fresh, unique, and from a place of curiosity.

I’ve never lived this moment before, the possibilities are endless is the battle cry of seeing each moment of our lives as filled with possibility. It is with this approach, from a place of wonderment, that we can see opportunities where others may simply see obstacles. It is when we embrace this moment as different from all the others that we’ve faced that possibilities spring forward into view. It is when we acknowledge that, right here, right now, is the only time and place that matters. Like the uniqueness of a snowflake, every moment is fresh and new. Different yet similar circumstances, different yet similar participants, and different yet similar you.

When a new issue comes zipping into the project like a baseball single heading for the shortstop, there is little time to respond, natural instincts take over as the player moves quickly toward the ball, the synapse firing and the brain determining measurements, distance, velocity and where to throw the ball for the best play possible. Split second decisions based on practice with the team on the field, knowing where everyone is because everyone has played together, practiced together, and won and lost together. The degree of trust is high, everyone knows they can count on everyone else to absolutely do their best.

How does that relate to Project Management? When something comes up in a project, allow the team to handle the issue. The manager doesn’t run onto the field and suggest what play the shortstop should make. The players each have a role to play throughout the game, including the manager. Each player stays in their lane, doing their job to the best of their ability. If the manager believes there is a higher possibility, they may work with the shortstop after the play. The team practices together, going through the various plays, getting to know the strengths and areas of growth of each player. The same is true for a project team. Each member of the team works with the other, again and again, passing “the ball” back and forth. The project managers role, is to look for ways to strengthen the team, suggesting ways to work together differently, and finding different processes to use to ensure the communication between team members is strong.

The work we do in project delivery, is repetitive. It is when we fail to see the unique aspects of every project and to view every project as a learning opportunity rather than a way to show everyone what we already know. Making every project the same or making every problem look like the puzzle we’ve solved before generally does not work. It creates solutions that may not fit, it alienates project team members with new ideas, and it rarely builds trust within the team. When a manager sits back and judges every play a player makes on the field distrust is created. When a manager encourages each player and sees the players doing their best it creates team and it creates trust.

Allowing the team members to play their part, using each moment on a project as a learning opportunity, and encouraging and supporting skill development creates strong teams. When something new comes up, they won’t be looking to you if you have set the context of the project, they will know what move to make, they will be clear on what to do because you’ve set the direction. Stating that direction again and again is a practice. What are you practicing today? 

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Forest and Trees

Project schedules, how many have you created in your career? I can honestly say that I lost track a while ago. I don’t even remember the first schedule I put together, nor the first tool I used. I can say that over the expanse of my career, the tools have improved in being able to create, maintain, and manage a schedule. I can also say there is more information available on how to create a schedule. If those things are true, that there is more information available and better tools, then why is project scheduling and control such a challenge? Why have we been surprised when a schedule we create in March is no longer accurate in October? What is it that happens to derail our schedule, especially after we took the time, energy, and effort to create a schedule that everyone agreed to and believed would work? What are the factors that impact project schedules and how can we ensure we have taken those factors into consideration? More importantly, have we taken the time to view it from the top down (the forest) and the bottom up (the trees)? Without zooming in and zooming out (trees and forest), opportunities to make necessary adjustments to keep our projects on track can easily be missed. Learning to work from a forest and trees perspective will serve us in our project management. Below are the ways in which we can ensure we are looking at both.

Start at the End

Being clear about the end of the project and what it produces is essential for building the plan on how to get there, and I don’t mean the narrow view, I mean the broad 360 view. Clients may ask for a high quality, quick delivery, and leading-edge functionality. Users may ask for an easy to use and intuitive product. The organization may ask to maintain the margin that was sold. The team members may want work-life balance and engaging work. Having a clear vision of what is created by the project, not just product it delivers, ensures a schedule is generated and created from a zoom out perspective. Will it produce a long-term client relationship or a once and done result? Will it strengthen employee retention or cause higher turn-over? Will it allow for additional business for the company or reduce its market penetration? Finding the balance or perhaps a way to create a win for all involved is the challenge at hand. Each project has the possibility to elevate or damage relationships while delivering the product sold. Creating the schedule outline using the 360 vision is defining the forest. Once created, gaining alignment allows all involved to have a stake in future adjustments due to changing circumstances. Additionally, the 360 vision provides the necessary components to the schedule outline while also providing stakeholder priorities when changes to the schedule are required.

Be Curious

Building the detail associated with the project, the bottom-up version, requires a great deal of curiosity. This is where assumptions can be made without explicitly discussing them. Hidden assumptions create instability in project schedules. Staying curious ensures there is no question that isn’t asked and answered in a factual manner. Uncovering the assumptions allows you to build contingency into the schedule based on as many unknowns as possible and yes, you may not uncover everything. The unknowns of a project are not known. Being clear about what is known versus what is not known ensures everyone has the same information. Preventing surprises is what is desired and staying curious provides the foundation to continue to ask questions even when everyone seems to know the answer. What I’ve experienced is that those who have experience can sometimes fall into the trap of knowing the outcome, planning for that outcome, and discovering they made some assumptions that were simply not true. Staying in a place of not knowing is more productive than coming from a place of knowing the answers.

Again and Again

Once the details have been added to the schedule, the impacts to the outline are reviewed and the review and update process is underway. The top-down and bottom-up are adjusted until the plan is agreed upon and, once agreed upon, a snapshot is taken. The snapshot includes assumptions, decisions, agreements on scope, and alignment on when the schedule will be revisited for revision to the snapshot. The project manager then begins the review on a week over week basis. Zooming in by adjusting tasks, reviewing resources, identifying impacts, and adjusting the details as needed. Zooming out by reviewing the assumptions made, the scope agreed to, and seeing what changes may be needed and when. Reviewing the 360 vision and the priorities of the stakeholders and coming back to those agreements regularly. When circumstances change that require an adjustment to the schedule which impacts the agreements reached, the project manager can work with everyone involved to determine the appropriate course of action. An adjustment to the schedule can be made without surprise and with alignment.

Summary

The way we do one thing is the way we do everything. What does that mean? It means how we create our project schedules may be how we do everything in our project management and in our lives. Learning to build our schedules from a 360 vision of the outcome we are creating will serve other areas of our lives. Once we’ve determined the 360 vision, we can build the detailed schedule. Reviewing and adjusting the schedule, looking at the forest and the trees, we can take a snapshot of the plan. Revisiting the plan based on the 360 vision, again and again, adjusting the schedule along the way rather than being surprised when what we planned didn’t happen the way we expected. What are you practicing today?

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Quieting the Noise – Part 2

Last week I covered the first two tenets that have increased my ability to maintain healthy project communication. They are integrity and responsibility. These two key principles, being your word and being responsible for all aspects of communication, are the foundation for ensuring communication is managed. There are three remaining tenets which I’ve found are important to reducing misunderstandings and adding clarity. Interestingly, these seem to be so obvious and yet they are frequently missed. By missed, I mean we fail to recognize that we are making the mistake that these tenets help us avoid. One of the reasons we miss them is that the speed at which a project moves, we just don’t seem to have the time, our brains move so quickly to the next action item, that we fail to slow down enough to take these into consideration. The first of the tenets is to assume nothing. The second is to maintain objectivity, and the last is once is never enough.

Assume Nothing

I was in a meeting where someone was sharing information. The information they were sharing seemed factual, they were speaking about it with authority and seemed to have gotten the information from a good source. The problem was it wasn’t fact, it was hearsay. After a few pointed questions it was discovered that no one had proven the information true or not. When communicating on a project, it is imperative that no assumptions are made, that facts are shared, not hearsay, and if hearsay is shared, represent it as such.

This tenet goes for all aspects of communication for all aspects of the project. No assumptions associated with requirements, design, coding, or testing may create a higher quality product. At issue is that we are not always aware of the assumptions that we are making. A second set of eyes when delivering any communication will support in reducing the assumptions made. Requesting feedback on a note out to a client is a great way to reduce the likelihood of any assumptions making it into the communication.

Maintain Objectivity

Maintaining objectivity simply means we are aware of our feelings while we are communicating. Ensuring we aren’t allowing our emotions to control our communication is a key component of emotional intelligence, understanding our emotions and being aware of them without them taking over. Additionally, being aware of the cause of the emotion is another important insight. That doesn’t mean that we don’t get angry, frustrated, or find ourselves in conflict. It simply means that we are aware and maintain our objectivity throughout the dialogue. Continuing to look for a positive outcome throughout the communication process is the goal and ensuring that those that you are working with are after the same goal moves the conversation forward.

Once is Never Enough

How many times have you heard a teammate say, “I sent him an email”, as if that was the only way to communicate an urgent request with someone. We have so many methods of communication, use all of them. When an important message must be sent, send it in multiple ways. When an important message must be heard, send it more than once. When an action must be completed in a timely manner, send a reminder, or five. Large projects require push and pull communication. They require that we push information out to various participants and then work to pull the information critical to the project into the appropriate place. Once is never enough when it is critical to project success or a timely response is needed.

Maintaining transparency in communication with the client to build trust is one of the most important foundations that a project manager can build. Communicating with integrity, responsibility, without assumptions, with objectivity, and frequently will make a difference in your client relationship. Discovering what is important to your client (objectively with no assumptions) and then delivering on that matters. What are you practicing today?

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