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There are warning signs that commitments might be missed. Learn to focus your listening on a speaker's doubt.
 The Project Reformer's e-Tip of the Week |
| 040:Hope Is Not a Project Strategy |
I've been having some fun lately attending clients' project meetings. It's great seeing project teams plan collaboratively and make commitments to accomplish work. But, I'm worried. I don't recall attending a meeting where someone hasn't said, "I hope to get this done by…" and then the meeting just moves along to the next item. I'll repeat here what I say every time I hear "I hope…"
When we say, "I hope…" we are announcing some doubt we have about what we are setting out to do. Don't just continue in the conversation. Explore the doubt. What is it that is beyond our control? What are we missing to carry out our promise? Who are we depending on for wherewithal? Answering these questions (and others) can shift mere hope towards confidence — one way or the other — of fulfilling our promise. Replace the positive attitude of hope with positive actions for results. Our team is expecting nothing less from us. This e-Tip was inspired by a participant comment at a workshop and the book Hope Is Not a Strategy: The Six Keys to Winning the Complex Sale, by Rick Page.
href="http://www.complexsale.com/HopeIsNotAStrategyreview.pdf">Read the 10-page book summary. |
©2005 Hal Macomber | RPM | e-Tip Archive | PDFs | Submit Tip |
I have four more e-Tips in queue. How about some suggestions from readers?
? Guy Kawasaki wrote, "Less is the new more." Easy to learn: symmetry, seduction, subtraction, and sustainability. Very valuable to do. Step 1: Read Matt's book!! just 140 keystrokes.
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Johanna Rothman writing in Managing Product Development did a nice follow-up to this e-Tip. She writes, “I hope for lots of things, and most of the time nothing happens, unless I work to make it happen.” Have a look:
Schedule Game #4: Hope is Our Most Important Strategy.
The difference between a software development project and a 19th century furring expedition in the Canadian wilderness may be significant. Particularly, it makes perfect sense not to obtain resources up front such as test and integration personnel and equipment in a SW project, especially in the face of uncertain requirements (and they are always uncertain). Leaving the company store without your gun because you don’t plan to shoot any thing for the first few days is not an option, you can’t have one Fed-Ex’ed in 4 days upstream.