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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Quieting the Noise - Part 1

Have you ever heard someone say, “it is going to be challenging to spin that into a positive message”? How about “there is nothing positive that I can find in that situation”? If not those, what about “lets find a way to share this without causing any noise”? Let’s face it, communication can be challenging to manage, especially when a project is not going according to expectations, when the various audiences have had bad experiences on previous projects, or when a group is risk averse. Finding the right timing, language, and vehicle for communication can make or break a relationship. When done well, it builds trust, increases throughput, and increases velocity. When done poorly, it can cause rework, increase the level of documentation, slow project progress, and erode trust. When aspects of a project causing delays, increasing cost, or reducing quality, project communication with any of the audiences or groups involved becomes an art form. Clarity in messaging, in other words, being clear about the purpose or intention of the communication and having a vision for the outcome is critical, it will guide the language, timing, and vehicle of the communication and will have a clear focus on what is most important to land with the audience and the trust that is built or lost with the communication.

Communicating effectively is a life-long endeavor, one that requires intention and attention. There are some personal practices that will make a difference when it comes to communicating. The personal practices that have made a difference in my ability to deliver a difficult message to a team member, client, or leadership come from various authors and organizations and have been used for thousands of years. When used consistently, they create trust, which is why they are effective when used in communicating challenging information. Alignment with these fundamental ways of being will create an environment in which communication flows. The search for the timing, language, and vehicle for communication will begin to flow more naturally as these practices become ingrained. The first two, integrity and responsibility, are explained below. I will explore the remaining next week.

Integrity

Integrity put simply is being your word. That means being your word to yourself and others. For example, you are invited to a party and you say you will be there. What if something happens that prevents you from attending? First, if you are breathing, it is a choice to attend or not. Being your word does not require you to neglect yourself for others, it does require you to acknowledge the choice you are making to others and to let them know before the event. Not showing up is being out of integrity. Having an honest and healthy conversation as to what is preventing you from attending is being in integrity with yourself and others. The Newton’s third law of motion states “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction”. For every project action there is going to be an equal and opposite reaction. What that means is when our communication comes from a place of integrity, trust will come back.

Responsibility

This simply means that we are responsible for the outcomes associated with the project we are managing, not some of outcomes, every outcome. It means that when things are working, we can take responsibility and when they aren’t working, we can take responsibility. When we take responsibility for every action, every decision, every metric, whether favorable or not, we build trust and maintain our integrity. Taking responsibility means that you do not wait for information working under an assumption that someone will get it to you, you work under an assumption that you are responsible for ensuring you have the information you need to be able to be effective in your job. You no longer look for others to push information to you, you go after the information that is necessary. You no longer allow delays and obstacles to slow you down, you look for opportunities to move forward, to continue forward momentum and progress. You don’t say, “I don’t know”, you say, “I will find out”, you don’t say “I couldn’t get”, you say “I need your support in getting”. Taking responsibility is not about having the answers, it is about always being able to ask the questions, to stay curious about possibilities, and to continue to drive toward the goal.

Next week we will explore the additional tenets that have made a difference for me in communicating with the client, the team, and leadership. Integrity means that I do what I say I will do and if a change must occur, that communicating that change before the change is made matters to everyone. Saying a change was made and explaining it after the fact erodes trust, no matter what the explanation. Making sure everyone knows change is coming and the reason for the change builds trust. Taking responsibility for both the message and taking responsibility for managing the reaction to the message also matters. It isn’t just sending communication out and then hoping for the best. Communication continues once a reaction occurs, whether favorable or not. Taking responsibility for managing misinterpretations and miscommunications is part of the project managers responsibilities. Practicing integrity and responsibility in your life will make a difference in your project management. What are you practicing today?

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Being of Service, Avoiding Project Failure

Early in my career I was filled with ambition, striving to be at the top of my game, climbing the ladder of success, and driving to be the best project manager possible. What I wanted was to have the respect of others and financial independence along with a measure of achievement that proved my worth. While striving for prosperity, abundance, and success is a noble in many ways, how we go about achieving it is equally important. Additionally, the successes can be fleeting without a measure of humility and gratitude. Why this topic and what does it have to do with being a successful project manager? It is easy to fall into the trap of being attached to the accomplishments, the reputation, and what we have achieved. We can sometimes forget that each of those attachments can cause undue stress and anxiety which can warp our relationships and create the exact opposite of what we believe we want. James Allen wrote “We do not attract what we want, we attract what we are”. Anastasia Netri took it a step further adding “Take responsibility for everything that is showing up in your life, because it is reflecting back to you who you believe yourself to be, and what you believe is possible.” Being a project manager is about being of service to others. We are charged with delivering a product or service to a client. We are charged with ensuring the project team has everything needed for success. We are charged with looking into the future for possible points of failure and developing contingencies if those points of failure occur. In each of these examples, we are being of service to some other group. When we make project management all about us, we have created the greatest opportunity for a failed project.

Projects have an abundance of diverse groups which require a significant amount of give and take, balance, and harmony to create an outcome which satisfies those involved. Discovering what matters most to your client and maintaining balance in the different parameters that can be leveraged to ensure on-going client satisfaction is an art form. Clients generally want high quality, low cost, and fast turn-around time on projects. The challenge is to ensure they understand the trade-offs that are necessary to deliver the highest quality possible, at the lowest cost possible, in the fastest turn-around possible. Establishing clear boundaries and project governance at the outset and making sure the client understands the decisions they are making, because they do get to choose how the project proceeds, is imperative. Clarity in facts, concise in explanation, and ensuring that the project team has done the necessary due diligence to guide the client in the direction that benefits everyone matters most. Without the appropriate questions being asked, details being uncovered, and providing the quality, cost, time breakdown, the client is making decisions which could make it challenging to deliver without loosing some degree of integrity in the solution.

The same is true for every other group involved in a project, being it vendors, leadership, team members, or users. Each group has some criteria that they rank in importance that the project manager must be aware of to strike a balance that maintains an appropriate degree of buy-in from all involved. Being of service means that the project manager must understand what each group wants and needs to keep their satisfaction and engagement. When a project manager cares more about how they look, how successful they are being, focused purely on what they want, that the project can begin to suffer. This is when a win-lose relationship between groups can begin to develop, where one group becomes more important than another group. When that happens, the project itself begins to suffer due to a lack of coherence between groups.

When a project manager focus’ on what they want rather than what they are, projects can suffer simply because the project manager sets the tone for the project. Taking full responsibility for the project, being of service to those that are involved, maintains coherence between groups which allows for the balance and harmony necessary for project success. What are you practicing today?

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