Reforming Project Management » training

Training Within Industry Summit

Hal — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 22:25:52 +0000

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The Training Within Industry Summit is happening the week of May 11, 2009 in Mason, OH. I'm presenting for the third year in a row. This year we're sharing our experience creating two new J-programs. The first is for leading small group efforts at Quick 'n Easy kaizen. The second is on Conducting a Good 5 Why™. We've taught each course 4 times. We're quite excited to share it.

You can get a 10% discount if you use my name when you register: "macomber". Hope to see you there!

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Project Management Professional

Hal — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 00:03:50 +0000

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Is project management a profession? The experts in the matter of establishing conditions for a profession say no. Why? Most of it has to do with the accumulation and study of theory. I've been on the fence about whether or not we should seek professional status for project managers. I'm married to a registered nurse. Her brother is a registered engineer. My cousin is a licensed physician. One son is finishing his law degree so he can sit for the Bar while the other is studying for the landscape architect's exam. I know what these people have done to become professionals. It's time that project managers do the same.

The world needs project managers who know how and why projects succeed and can create the circumstances so they do.

We live in a project age. An age that I predict will last for generations. Sure, the industrial age was less than 200 years. The information age surrounds us. Some say the knowledge age is upon us. But the project age — this time where great things happen in a project setting — is only going to become more important as companies, communities, and professions deal with the rapidly changing technological environment. The world needs project managers who know how and why projects succeed and can create the circumstances so they do.(...)
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JI for Developing the Five Why Habit

Hal — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 01:05:15 +0000

I spent the last week in Bellingham, WA in a training program. I am now a TWI Institute Qualified Trainer for the Job Instruction (JI) program. This is the same program Toyota uses to teach their team leaders and supervisors how to train their staff. I am quite pleased with the training. The TWI Institute is doing a good job replicating the TWI Service's training program. We used the same basic materials, although the guide was well-annotated and included very useful references for trainers.

You might be wondering, "Why did you get qualified to deliver the training?" In June I participated in the course to become a Job Instructor. Since then, I've had the opportunity to develop some training and to see how much more effective our staff has been delivering training TWI-style. Further, Jeffrey Liker's latest book, Toyota Talent, shows how important a reliable method is to the functioning of the workforce and the satisfaction of the employees.

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Read the rest of JI for Developing the Five Why Habit (125 words)

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JM: Improving Work Systematically

Hal — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 15:54:13 +0000

We've all heard about kaizen. It's a practice for individuals, teams, and across process. People seem to take to it quite well in the factory and process environments. That's not the case in the project setting. At the TWI Summit, I was introduced to the Job Methods (JM) improvement approach. JM teaches how to see waste. JI in combination with JM teaches people the skills of improving.

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TWI Summit 2007

Hal — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 21:04:24 +0000

Have you tried drinking from a fire hose? I did last week at the TWI Summit. It was the largest meeting of TWI proponents in over 50 years. Next year will be bigger. How do I know? They've reserved more rooms and moved to a larger venue at Disney World. But the real reason it will be bigger has to do with a happy accident. But before I share that I'll give you a taste of the summit. It started with a few answers to some tough questions.

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Read the rest of TWI Summit 2007 (369 words)

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How to Hire Project Talent

Hal — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 03:47:41 +0000

Short answer: Don't try! That's the advice anyway from the people at The Four Seasons hotel chain. Instead, they hire for attitude. US News goes on to report in Four Seasons Service Is Unstinting, "…then train them thoroughly and treat them with the same respect (management) expects them to show hotel guests." When scanning resumes and interviewing candidates the question they try to answer is, "Are you an innately happy person?" They understand how to teach people to be a bellman or a deskclerk, but "If your momma didn't teach you to be nice, then (they) can't either."

What would be the equivalent attitudes for people who work on projects?

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Seth Spreads the Idea of Mastery

Hal — Wed, 16 May 2007 17:13:55 +0000

Vince Lombardi was wrong when he said, "Winners never quit and quitters never win." Do I have your attention? That's how Seth Godin opened his presentation this morning in Philadelphia. It's the first stop on his book tour to promote The Dip. I've been asked many times, "Why does a project management guy write about a marketing guy." Seth is not just a marketing guy. He's strung together one best-selling book on marketing one-after-another. Seth describes himself as a guy committed to spreading the best ideas. His book Purple Cow on doing work that stands out is great advice for individuals and teams.

(...)
Read the rest of Seth Spreads the Idea of Mastery (327 words)

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Succeeding with Projects Requires a New Set of Skills

Hal — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 20:58:59 +0000

Currently, people seem to not be ready to participate in lean construction environments. Catolica University, Santiago, Chile has a Center of Excellence in Production Management (GEPUC) that is researching and developing a competency profile that supports the adoption and expansion of lean construction in companies and industry.

Qualifying People to Work in Lean Construction

Ignacio Pavez and Luis Alarcon

This is an important paper. The authors have researched the skills necessary to perform well in project management roles. They found that people are not generally prepared in school for the roles they play in industry. Current industry is fragmented in the approaches to managing projects. Adopting lean approaches exaggerates the situation. Project manager-leaders have a new responsibility to bring about a change in standard practices while acquiring new skills for themselves.

"Lean requires a social competence to develop relationships among team members."

They have defined a structure for a lean construction professional profile (LCPP) that could serve as a basis for developing assessments and providing training opportunities. They are continuing in their process of surveying "lean construction experts" to develop the criteria further.

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Why (Most) Training Is Useless

Hal — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 15:23:42 +0000

My company does a lot of training to introduce lean project delivery approaches to client teams. We use a coaching approach rather than a front-of-the-room teaching approach. David Maister's, author of numerous books, latest article caught my attention, Why (Most) Training Is Useless. He makes the case that the way people attempt training is useless. He encourages people to think about training the way we think about athletic training. A trainer works with you as you workout. Attention is given to performing something new and performing better.

David is provocative.

"Becoming good at dealing with people (inside or outside the organization) is not accomplished by taking a college course in psychology, sociology, anthropology, or any other '-ology' where people sit around and intellectualize about "human resources" or "market segmentation" but never have to actually deal with a real, live human being."

And, he is quite practical. David offers these questions to guide thinking on training:

What behaviors by top management need to change to convince people that the new behaviors are really required, not just encouraged? If the behavior is going to be optional, then so should the training be.
What measurements need to change?
What has to happen before the training sessions occur in order to bring about the change?
What has to be in place the very day they finish?

David goes on,

"The best training is usually done by the firm’s own practitioners…Outsiders should be used only to help develop programs and "train-the-trainers.""

David has strong opinions. There's value in that. If you are considering any serious training, then at least consider his opinions.

And if you like David Maister's view, then you might also like David's manifesto published at ChangeThis Strategy and the Fat Smoker.

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Late to the Party

Hal — Sat, 22 Oct 2005 02:27:44 +0000

Business 2.0 is one of my favorite magazines. They have a way of breaking great stories and introducing topics from new perspectives. In June this year their cover story was The CEO's Secret Handbook. They broke the story of a CEO's advice to managers in his firm. Everywhere I looked someone else picked up the story. There were so many stories I decided not to write about it. I took another look. The advice works for project managers and leaders just as it does for division managers.

Read the rest of the story Bill Swanson's 25 Unwritten Rules of Management.

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Not too Late to Attend the 7th Annual Lean Construction Congress

Hal — Fri, 16 Sep 2005 03:07:07 +0000

This is the seventh consecutive year the Lean Construction Institute has convened a meeting of its members to give them an opportunity to share what they have been learning adopting lean approaches to delivering their projects. The Congress Agenda continues to expand with this year two days of practitioner presentations sandwiched between an Introduction to Lean Construction and a plenary session to explore some challenging issues in open meeting. The 7th Annual LCI Congress is at the Cathedral Hill Hotel in San Francisco. I hope to see you there September 21 – 24, 2005.

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Beyond Leadership…in Walla Walla

Hal — Sat, 29 Jan 2005 05:24:52 +0000

Develop yourself as a leader in Walla Walla:

"We designed BeyondLeadership to help individuals discover how to teach themselves what they need to become the leader they aspire to be. Rather than learning to follow others' models of leadership, participants investigate their own behavior patterns. By discovering how they succeed and fail in their own situations, they begin to learn the lessons that grow into the ability to more consciously employ their skills, especially in those moments when different choices are needed."

Join David Schmaltz and Amy Schwab at their residential leadership development program for project leaders. These two people will push you, nurture you, and keep you just at the edge of discomfort…just the place you need to be for a great learning experience. Check it out!

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