Archive for the 'tips' Category

…when's this pig gonna fly?

The concept of "we're working" hard toward the goal is not to be confused with the delivery of the outcome. This is a common mistake in the software development domain (and throughout the project world). One simple way out of this dilemma is to have "testable" outcomes that results in 0% or 100% credit for being complete. If the A-6 of VA-145 was in flyable condition then the maintenance crew got the credit. If not, then no credit.

Defining what "done" means or what "complete" means BEFORE starting the work is the simple way of avoiding the confusion between effort and results.

Projects are uniquely human endeavors. As such, we have the likelihood that the interests of the team members will be in conflict with one another, at one time or another in the life of a project. Those differences can lead to significant breakdowns on your project. Webster defines coherence as "becoming united in principles, relationships, or interests." Project leaders are responsible for producing that coherence.

Leadership in this blind-men-and-elephant world requires integrating disparate perspectives, not enforcing a dominant one. Our projects are poorly served by the belief, religiously defended, that leaders create meaning for their team, because they can at best only encourage some preconditions that might provoke an emerging coherence of shared meaning; acknowledging their own, personal blindness is the most prominent [precondition] among these.

Producing coherence is an everyday action. The project is always on the verge on shifting to incoherence. Each person's perspective can shift on a day-to-day basis as s/he engages with family, friends, co-workers, and the world. Vigilance is required to bring disparate perspectives and interests together in a synthesis. And, that synthesis undoubtedly changes as the project and peoples' lives unfold.

The Standish Group, in its 1999 Chaos Report, identifies user involvement as No. 1 in its Top Ten List of project key success factors. Yet many project managers shy away from this obvious tip, or, at the most, meet the customer at the start of the project to define requirements and will not 'converse' with him/her again until much later in the project, only to find a very uninformed, unpleased, and distressed party (and much to do to regain his/her trust).

User involvement must be more than that. Successful project managers have realized long ago that, in this changing world of us, customers/users also change their mind along the way and must also understand that conditions in the project environment change for all sort of uncontrollable reasons. Both the project manager and his/her customer minds must be 'in sync', preferably in a continuous manner, in order for the former to satisfy the latter. Thus, get and keep your customer involved in your project as much as humanly possible and you will automatically get, time after time, high quality deliverables (and a highly satisfied customer) while keeping the risks of not meeting requirements as low as possible.

Continuous end-user involvement: the obvious road still less traveled!

One of the challenges on every new project is getting project team members to adopt a standard set of practices. These might entail planning, reporting, preparing to start a task, and simple communication protocols among team members. Here's a way to turn your intention for a new practice into a new habit.

The following example uses the contrasting intention-commitment statement pairs used in Project e-Tip 014: Shift Good Intentions Into Commitments.

1. Make a 3×5 card with the contrasting statements on it and put the card in my pocket.
2. Make a simple chart for the next 20 work days and put it on my desk. Each day color code it: green means I used a statement like this 4 or more times — yellow 2 or 3 times — red means 0 or 1 time.
3. Each day assess how well I use the statements by referring to the chart. Note what I am learning, what I am getting good at, and where I will place my attention in the next day.
4. Enlist a colleague to help me accomplish my intent. Request that person's assessment weekly on my use of such language.

The intentionality and deliberateness of this exercise are what makes it work. And you might discover it is not easy to stay on a program of this sort. You will learn what it takes for you to produce a new habit. That will be great data for you when working with team members who are trying to do the same.

Most people are well-intended. They want to please and often will go out of their way for you. But good intentions are insufficient for coordinating action on projects. The work of projects entails sequences of action. The completion of one task often releases work for other team members. An intention to perform work is insufficient for others to plan their work and to make commitments.

Listen for the intention. Shift it to a commitment.

• Sure, I'll take care of that.
  Great! Can I expect it by tomorrow?
• I'll fit it into my schedule.
  Let's look at what you might reschedule.
• I'll look into that for you.
  Please stop by at 4:00 PM to let me know how it's going.
• I'll try to get it done this week.
  Mary is waiting on that. Let her know Thursday if you still expect to complete it this week.
• I can help.
  What would you like to do first?

This is not manipulation. Your team mates will thank you for helping others be reliable. It sets everyone up for success. Trust grows when people perform reliably for one another. Now that's a payoff worth pursuing!

So, I admit it; the title is a bit clumsy. Unfold the Project? What could that mean? All too often project plans are developed early in the life of a project without the input of those executing the project. While there may be great value in doing that early planning, continuing to operate to that one (right) plan misses the opportunities afforded by both the experience acquired while implementing AND the perspectives, talents, and intentions of the project participants.

When we try to operate to the baseline plan we work against nature. Life happens. People bring unexpected talents and challenges to the project. Instead of working to get reality to conform to the plan, try adjusting the plan to conform to reality! This is what I call unfolding the project.

Start by inviting people to share their ambitions for being on the project. Then inquire into the unique talents and strengths that each participant brings. Finally, invite team members to continuously offer their perspectives, assessments, recommendations, and needs to adjust the plan as you go. Sure this is more planning work than managing to the baseline plan. But it is not likely to be more work overall. When you help people unfold the project they will help you stay on target. That's help every project manager can appreciate.

Project breakdowns can often be traced to mis coordination. Coordination of all types involves communication. That calls for good listening. I'd bet that the majority of miscommunication is a function of poor listening.

Let's start by distinguishing hearing and listening. Hearing has to do with the functioning of the ear. Deaf people can't hear. But can deaf people listen? Maybe. Listening has to do with where one has his/her attention. There's plenty for people to hear at any moment…the whirring of the disk drive, the gurgling of the air conditioner, the low din of the TV in an adjoining room. But we normally don't notice those noises even though we can hear them. Why? We have our attention on something else. When we listen we focus our attention with a care for the interests of others.

We can avoid mis coordinations when we place our attention and care on the speaking of the other rather than on the 'little voice in our head'. You know the voice. The one that chatters non-stop. We are not listening when we have our attention on the chattering rather than on the interests of the person speaking. Miscommunication and miscoodination result.

Try this: Ignore the chattering. Instead, place your attention on what it is the speaker cares about. And be generous with your listening. None of us speaks our concerns clearly all the time. Be patient. Ask questions. Be ready to take care of the speaker. Now you're listening!

What's critical? Here's my top five list:

1. Checking on how people are doing is critical. Not for a status report; instead as one human being concerned for another.
2. Inquiring who needs help to keep their promises on the project.
3. Investigating what is going well, what people are learning, and what needs more attention.
4. Reminding team members of the up-coming promises due to the customer.
5. Acknowledging people for their effort, accomplishments, and cooperative behavior.

How do you go about these conversations? You make it your habit. Start by being intentional. Carry a cheat sheet to remind yourself of the conversations you will have. Make notes to yourself while in conversations to follow-up with help, to record what you are learning, and to increase your attention to the speakers. Repeat this process at least daily on your project. Share what you have learned from these conversations in project coordination meetings.

Project managers often think their work is having a good schedule, assuring the contracts are at the best prices, reporting status to management, and attending to the customers' changing requirements. While all that is important it isn't what separates a good project from a great project. Great projects occur in a setting of trust.

Projects inevitably require learning, innovation, and always cooperation. Many projects are composed of team members who are strangers to each other. Certainly the low-bid subcontractors find themselves on project teams where few people know each other. You even find strangers on project teams in the same company. If you want great project results you must have trust.

The principal work of the project manager/leader is to continuously tend to trust. Not the naive trust, rather a prudent trust that turns strangers into friends and friends into team mates. The work of cultivating trust ends when the project is complete.

I (Clarke) have a bad habit of trying to read 3,4,5 or more books at one time. My bedside currently has about 12 books, all of which are "in progress". It (unjustifiably, I think) annoys my wife immensely. If A-E represents the 5 books I am currently switching between, and I switch between each every so often then my reading looks like this:

ABCDEABCDEABCDEABCDE … all finished
                              a finished here
                                b finished here
                                  c finished here
                                    d finished here
                                      e finished here

Compare this where I read one at a time.

AAAABBBBCCCCDDDDEEEE
      a finished here
              b finished here
                      c finished here
                              d finished here
                                      e finished here

While it appears that all five tasks finish at the same time. We know from our own reading that it takes awhile to get back into a book. We might have to back up to re-acquaint ourself. And maybe our retention falls off. Projects are just the same. Task completions often release work for another person, consequently multi-tasking significantly delays the release of work and the completion of the project.

The Japanese have a goal-setting practice called hoshin. They use it for annual and five-year planning. It is a top-down and bottoms-up approach that aligns individual intentions for improvement with the strategic intentions of the firm. The brilliance of hoshin goals is in the limitation imposed for no more than 2 or 3 goals/division. Why is it brilliant? First, there are no corporate conflicting intentions. Everyone is focussed on the same thing. Second, it engages everyone's reticular activating system in the same way.

Take the time at the outset of every project to set 2 or 3 improvement goals. Do this with your team rather than for your team. Provide the context of the strategic intentions of your company. Also share what your customer would appreciate as added value. Then solicit team proposals in a way that allows a (re)shaping of goals. Finally, create a routine of reviewing improvements in team meetings.

Keith Ray reminds us that an intention and routine of improvement matters more than any specific improvement methods. Too often a bureaucratic intent to adopt a standard approach runs head-on into individuals' and teams' intentions to improve.

This may seem contrary to what we've read about either the Japanese firms' programmatic approaches or western firms' lean/six sigma black belts. While training and methodology can contribute to results, getting in a habit of improving seems to make more of a difference.

There are three aspects to creating the improving habit:

1. Establish and re-establish clear connections to the purpose of getting on and staying on an improving path.
2. Provide coherent actions from supervision and company leaders that value and expect the improving habit.
3. Engage with others who share the same intention for learning and support.

Still, this may not be enough. The leading impediment to adopting this or any other change is a conflicting intention. (More on this later.) For now, set a good example by getting yourself on an improving path and invite others to join you.

By proposal I mean the document — contract, statement of work or whatever — that describes what the project is supposed to accomplish. This advice keeps people on track, while helping to fight scope creep. When Frank was at KPMG in the 1980's, there was a law, a piece of folklore really, known as Klion's Law — it was named after Stan Klion who had been one of the firm's first partners in charge of consulting. Klion's Law was — you guessed it — read the proposal everyday. He's never lost site of this piece of advice because it works.

Read the proposal to team members. Don't let the promises you make to the customer slip into the background of the everyday urgencies of the project. Whenever that happens we risk the one thing that we're after on every project. What's that? Satisfying the customer completely.

Get clear about what is of value to your client in the work you are doing this week (and every week hereafter). Find some way to speak about this in your everyday-walking-around conversations. Customer value provides both the context for the work and the guidance when making choices. Don't let your team operate without it.

Keys for Value-Focussed Action:

• Speak about value from the client's perspective.
• Examine everything you do with the question, How does this add value for the client?
• Find and eliminate the sources of waste.
• Make work ready.

One of the principal sources of waste on projects is waiting for someone to complete their task so that you can begin. In the LPS™ we address this by "making work ready." Your attention to resolving constraints prior to the planned start of work will eliminate waste across your project.