It’s Magic

Project success can seem like a magic trick, the audience isn’t quite sure what happened and, even if they know how the trick works, it can still appear magical. So, it is with project success. The number of books written, methodologies identified, and the number of diplomas and certifications available suggest that project management is an extremely complex, challenging, and potentially rewarding career. The interesting thing is, we manage projects as a normal part of our lives. From getting a job to cooking a meal, taking care of a lawn to painting a room, taking a vacation to going to college. Almost everything we do requires creating a plan to obtain a specific outcome and then executing that plan which is what project management is in its simplest form. What are the inherent challenges of creating a successful project? Where do these challenges come from? Where in the project life cycle do projects begin to fail? While failure is frequently discovered towards the end of a project, it rarely starts where it is discovered. Intrinsically, we sense that it isn’t the end where failure occurs, it is simply where it is noticed. How do we, with all the education, knowledge, historical information, and brain power available still find ourselves pushing hard toward the end line, sacrificing our personal lives for a work project?

Where and why do projects fail? Projects fail because we fail to practice the due diligence and rigor necessary at the very beginning. They fail before the project start date, prior to anyone beginning the work associated with the plan. Failure occurs when we begin work before we consider where the end line is, what it will take to get there, and why we are doing the work. Failure occurs every step along the project plan when we do work that is unplanned, unscheduled, and out of scope. Failure occurs when we start work prior to clearly defining the work. Failure occurs when assumptions are made without writing them down or eliminating the assumption and gathering the necessary details. Failure occurs when we fail to audit the work done through reviews or other means of verification and validation. It isn’t the big things that create project failure, it is a myriad of small details missed along the way.

Knowing the answer to where and why projects fail hasn’t seemed to prevent projects from failing. That would imply that project failure is always one of the possible outcomes for every project started. It is always possible that we won’t get a job, cook a delightful meal, have a beautiful lawn, or have a delightful vacation. Failure can always occur. Instead of avoiding that possible outcome, what if we embraced that as one of the many possibilities? What constructs would we put in place, what guard rails would be available, what exit strategies would be manifest, and what conversations would we have if we discussed the possibility of failure and discovered the opportunities available? What if we documented the myriad of small things that could go wrong, the failures that could occur along the way, and that could occur, and built our plan around those items? Yes, this does sound like risk analysis and mitigation, mostly because it is that very tool that could be used to embrace failure as a possibility.

The biggest barrier to project success is us. It isn’t as if we don’t know how to have a successful project, it is as if we believe nothing will go wrong if we push on, move forward, and ignore the warning signs. The cautionary flags of wrong resource for the job, work taking more effort, an increase in error rates, or the number of hours we are putting in continues to climb without an end in sight. It is as if the warning signs are invisible to us, like knowing the magic trick and not seeing the slight of hand. We know what is necessary to create a successful project. We fail to hold ourselves to the rigor and due diligence necessary and we fail to hold every project team member to the same level of rigor and due diligence, especially the client.

Take a moment, do a quick inventory of where you are in the project, review the current health of the project you are managing and ask yourself one question. What am I practicing today? If you find that you are spending more hours than the agreed upon amount (and if there isn’t an agreement you may want to create one), if you find that there are more mistakes being made than expected or than what had been occurring a month ago, if you are discovering a higher level of resource turn over, if your client meetings are filled with additional documentation requests, you may be in the midst of or at the beginning of the signs of project failure occurring. This is the time to ask, what do we need to do in this moment to capture what is occurring and then create a go to green plan. A plan to get the unhealthy into a healthier state. The issues will be in the details, and it would be best to identify and create a plan to resolve those issues, even if it requires moving the date and cost additional capital. It is better to be clear about where you are, only then can you plan the path to where you are going.

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Mindful Project Management

What is mindfulness and what bearing does it have on project management? Put simply, mindfulness has a bearing on every aspect of our lives and therefore, is significant to project management. Mindfulness is defined by Merriam-Webster as the practice of maintaining a nonjudgmental state of heightened or complete awareness of one's thoughts, emotions, or experiences on a moment-to-moment basis. What project wouldn’t benefit from a project manager being in that state of mind? What friend, husband, wife, child, or parent wouldn’t benefit from being in that state of mind? Greater Good Berkley goes a bit further by defining mindfulness as maintaining a moment-by-moment awareness of our thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and surrounding environment, through a gentle, nurturing lens. In other words, being in the present, being self-aware, and being open to possibility (the nonjudgmental part). When we manage or lead any effort, being mindful of our state of being is beneficial to us, our team, and the project.

There have been studies that have shown great benefits to mindfulness including decreased stress, improved focus and efficiency, improved sleep, improved relationship quality, and improved general health. Those benefits directly impact our responses to issues we uncover while delivering a project and how we engage the team in resolving those issues. It also allows us to be less biased and increases our objectivity which allows increased critical thinking skills. Mindfulness allows to move urgently, without stress, without bias, and with an open mind to look for the resolution of what is standing in the way of completing a project. It supports us in shifting when our plans have been changed due to unforeseen circumstances. While it isn’t a miracle cure, it allows us to create an environment where failure, mistakes, and unforeseen circumstances no longer disrupts us for days. Simply put, it increases our resilience and flexibility when things go “wrong” on our projects, which can happen frequently. The pandemic has showed all of us that nothing is predictable, and things can change without warning. Mindfulness allows us to move through the changes that occur.

How do you achieve a state of mindfulness? Well, that’s where ancient practices come to play. Interestingly enough, mindfulness has been practiced for thousands of years. It can be found in both eastern and western teachings, although literature suggests that Buddhist and Hindu practices are the true origins. Whether that is true or not, suffice it to say, the practice has been around for a very long time. I can tell you that, when I was in college, there wasn’t a course on Mindfulness. Of course, there wasn’t a course on Well-Being either and one exists at Yale today. The practice of mindfulness, in my experience, is best achieved through meditation. Meditation twice daily creates a focused effort of being in the present moment, connecting with mind and body, and settling into cohesion. Being in a meditative state allows awareness to come alive. While there are other ways to practice mindfulness such as yoga or through heightened awareness of everyday activities, the awareness that meditation provides is extremely effective. In my experience, meditation accelerates the learning of mindfulness.

There are several apps such as Headspace, Insight Timer, and Calm that support in meditation practices. If you are new to meditation those should be supportive. The key, as always, is consistency in the practice itself. When I started practicing meditation, I noticed (as did my wife), a shift in how I handled circumstances, in my driving, and in my general calmness in less than one month. Continuing the practice has continued to allow me to respond, rather than react, to belay judgment and stay open to possibilities, and to bring a sense of level-headedness to stressful situations. Oh, and my resting heart rate has dropped. Mindfulness matters, what are you practicing today? 

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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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