February 5, 2010 - PM Value Brain Dump

I am sitting here writing down all the words and phrases that come to my mind in relationship to real Project Management. Here is what I have so far.

Communicating what Matters
Informed Decisions
Change with Purpose
Monitoring Direction
Leading, not just Reporting
Analysis of Activity
Controlling the Outcome
Removing Random Factors
Risk Management
Involved Stakeholders
Enabling Management
Planning Success
Integrity in Action
Confronting Conflict
Lessons Learned
Tension Breaking
Instilling Confidence
Team Defender
Resource Motivator
Promoting Purpose
Follow Through
Critical Thinking
Ownership
Improving... Self, Situation, Team, Understanding...
Challenging... Self, Situation, Team, Understanding...
Results Driven
Business Focused
Influential
Self Controlled

Pieces of this brain dump will be examined more in the next several blogs. We'll ask "What is the result of a project manager being ____?" We will also touch on ways to instill more of these in your thoughts, actions and reactions.

Until then, if you have additional ideas, pitch in by leaving a comment.

July 20, 2008 - Random Thoughts

While on vacation I am pulling together a chunk of my blog entries to publish in book format entitled Project Management RX: 101 Daily Doses. This hasn’t left me much time to sit down and write anything new, but I did have a couple of random thoughts to pass on to you.

Red, Yellow, Green. The often used RYG symbols indicating project status risk levels have proven very useful. But what if you were sitting at a stop light and the color never changed? It can be very frustrating. Sometimes I am tempted to jump out of my car and press the crosswalk button to make it change. For your project, anything other than Green should be temporary, too. Items causing your project to be Yellow should be resolved within 2 weeks. For Red issues, fast action should be taken to back it down to Yellow within 2-4 days.

Intolerable. While mentoring projects managers I occasionally hear the statement, “I guess we just have to live with it.” We cave in on many issues and inconveniences, including poor performers, additional scope, old resources, impossible time lines, or slow responses from other department. We feel like there is nothing we can do to stop it. Instead of whining about it, here’s a suggestion. Document the items as change requests and present them to the sponsor and PMO. Explain the impact to the project and receive their buy in stating that they are okay with it. When they see it in black and white it will be harder to ignore, forcing some action to be taken. If you put up with it, nothing will ever change.

July 23, 2007 – Random Quotes, Sayings and Definitions

I’ve started collecting sayings and words of wisdom having to do with project management. Some of them may eventually become entries on their own, but most of them are just a little too random. So today I’m going to pull a bunch of them together and run with it.

Getting it in writing is a key concept in project management. Here are a few sayings about the importance of the written word.
· Verbal approval isn’t worth the paper it is written on.
· A meeting without minutes didn’t really happen.
· Unwritten, unsaid.

I’ve also found some definitions that should be used more often.
Yellow Pad Session – informal requirements gathering meeting where notes are taken on a yellow legal pad. This is a term used quite often on the east coast of the US but no one here on the west side seems to have heard of it.

Double Whacking – hitting someone up for information or action from 2 or more directions. This can be effective if the person historically doesn’t respond the first time. It needs to be applied carefully so that the person being whacked doesn’t strike back.

Overkill – taking follow up or actions to an extreme. It invokes the idea of using a bazooka to kill a fly. Usually it happens when you react to something like an email. You end up shooting one back that starts a fire storm. Another example would be calling a company wide meeting to give examples of inappropriate dress instead of a simple email reminder.

Some quotes just need to be repeated.
“Do you think he plans it all out or just makes it up as he goes along?” When I heard this line in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End it struck me that the same thing could be asked of some project managers. With the good ones the planning is obvious, but every project needs a bit of improvisation and luck.

“If you really believe it, it isn’t a lie.” A friend of mine reported hearing a manager say this as he was preparing for a status meeting. I guess reality takes a break for some when it comes to status reporting.

“I love it when a plan comes together.” This was always my favorite line from the TV show A-Team. Hannibal always had a plan and managed to pull it off.

Finally, here are a few famous last words. If you hear these coming from your mouth, it may be time to run…fast.
· Sure, we can do that. What is it you want?
· It doesn’t look that big. We don’t need a Change Request.
· Risks? What risks?
· We’ll make up the time during the testing phase.
· It’s just changed a configuration file. We don’t need to test it.
· Everyone knows that isn’t our responsibility.
· Just one more minor change.

March 20 – Random Lessons Learned

Learning from your mistakes is a good but to learn from someone else’s mistakes saves a lot of time. The trick is to find someone willing to admit their mistakes. Fortunately I am secure enough in my stupidity to share a couple of mine.

Don’t be a bonehead. I remember trying to walk through an audit with a project manager that just didn’t seem to be getting the concept of project tracking. Rather than patiently working it through with him I blurted out, “Are you sure you want to be a project manager? We could probably work you back in to a technical field.” That effectively ended the conversation.

Avoid poking dragons. Within our consulting company everyone from newbie to upper management is expected to create a status report. As a member of the Project Office I was tracking and reporting on the number of individuals who where not producing them. During a meeting with upper management someone asked why I thought people weren’t doing it. In response I verbally picked up a stick and poked the management dragons by saying, “it could be because management isn’t producing theirs, either.” Needless to say, the dragons woke up.

Not all hopes come true. I have a good friend who worked as a process and quality auditor in a company that valued process less and less over the years. When her department was outsourced to a process oriented consulting firm her hopes soared. Finally the cavalry had arrived. Unfortunately the cavalry struggled with the same management issues she did. Management was slow to see the benefits of process and always tried to drop it. Rather than despair, the group aimed high, worked hard and lowered their expectations.

If you don’t want to milk cows for the rest of your life, don’t learn how. This was a bit of wisdom my grandmother used to tell my mother. Granted, there are aspects of your job that aren’t enjoyable but still need to be done. However, there are other things that probably don’t make sense for you to take on. SAS programming is a good example. Yes, it is still around. There may be a need for some simple SAS reports, but unless you want to be the one everyone goes to for SAS you might want to find someone else to do it and claim ignorance.

Hopefully you can take these lessons to heart and not have to stub your toe on them yourself.

If you have experience from the school of hard knocks, weigh in with a comment and help us all get a little wiser.

February 28, 2007 – Updates and Random Thoughts

Unfortunately I left my jump drive in my other computer so the planned blog for today isn't going to happen. Instead I have some updates on the Cutting's Edge and a couple of thoughts jotted down while commuting. The thoughts may eventually turn in to blog entries but they are worth throwing out there to chew on.

First the updates.
Many of you started visiting here because of The PM Podcast (www.thepmpodcast.com) interview on "How can I become a Project Manager?" There were over 6500 downloads of that episode! Cornelius Fichtner does a great job and I would encourage you to visit his site for other topics.

My next speaking engagement will be at the Practical Software Quality and Testing conference (www.psqtconference.com/2007west) on May 9, 2007 in Las Vegas. The topic will be “Avoiding Shock Therapy: A Case Study in Managing Directional Changes.” If your organization of company would be interested in having me speak, let me know (thomascutting@yahoo.com).

Cutting's Edge is closer to being "official." I have filed for a DBA (Doing Business As) in the state of California. I don't intend on quitting my day job any time soon, but....

Finally, Computerworld has accepted an article entitled "Management by Procrastination." Some of you may have read the blog series starting December 1, 2006 that is the basis for it. There isn't a date set for publication.

Two random thoughts.
The first thought is that in order to get ahead in your job and life, you have to hustle. Step up and offer to do whatever needs to be done to take the next step toward your goals. If you are not currently a PM and want to be, ask your manager for tasks to move you in that direction. Entering time and working the project schedule are usually things managers have little time for. It might be a good place to start. Another is taking meeting minutes. In addition to becoming a familiar face in management meetings you gain an understanding of how things work.

The other thought I'll let you ponder. One sign of maturity is recognizing and considering the consequences of your actions.