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Project Overload: Too Many Requests

I once read a bizarre statement, written by an overloaded IT manager.  He was complaining about the heavy workload his executive management was throwing on him.  Here is what he said:

When a new project request comes down, I just ignore it.  I ignore it until management makes it clear my job depends upon it.

Wow!  That’s revealing!  Evidently, this poor soul is so swamped with exciting new projects that he is forced to ignore the bulk of them.  I can vividly see how these superfluous demands go down.

First, the executives get a great idea.  Yeah!  Let’s restructure the customer database to maximize the communication [read: spam] we send out.  We’ll get some great sales!

The project is handed off to Harold in IT.  “He’ll make it happen,” the suits say.

Harold comes in Monday morning, sorts through 400 spams, and finds the outlandish request.  He rolls his eyes and drops it into the “Oh Boy!” folder.  And then he checks the ESPN stats.

The execs never give the project another thought.  They just go off and reinvent the company ten more times, dumping an equal number of requests on poor Harold.  And he ignores them all.  He doesn’t have time for the fun.  He’s got real work to do.

Am I off?  Got it all wrong?  Honestly, I don’t think so.  I’ve seen numerous projects like this get swept under the rug.  Execs don’t run the show, the little guy does…

 

–ray

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Bad Decisions Ruin Credibility

It is not easy being perfect, just ask Ed Hochuli, a widely respected NFL referee who blew a huge call last week during the Denver Broncos’ San Diego Chargers football game. You can not miss this guy. He has been a referee for many years and has worked playoffs and Super-bowls. Not to mention his arms are the size of tree trunks and he looks like he should be playing line-backer instead of throwing flags.

Anyhow, the point I am trying to make is that this guy set the standard for NFL ref’s throughout the league. Week after week, game after game, Ed Hochuli was the definition of steady and consistent.  In the world of referees, he was considered the best. Then came last Sunday, one bad call and bam!  Many in the media and fans across the country deriding him as brainless and calling him the worst referee on the planet. 

However, Ed is taking it like a champ. He is facing up to his giants. After receiving hundreds of hate filled e-mails, Ed is personally responding to every single one with a sincere apology.

So, what is the lesson in Project Management? You have got to be on your game and make the right decisions without EVER making a mistake? That’s impossible! But, what we can control is how we respond. People respect someone who takes responsibility for their mistakes. So, own up to it and move on. Only then can your team do the same. 

 

–Warren

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Engineers Hide Risks

Every project manager knows he must identify project risks, document them, and resolve each one.  In other words, he must learn what could jeapardize the duration, budget, or quality of his project.  If you don’t, the project may fly off the tracks and you’ll look bad, or worse.

Problem is, your engineers are hiding those risks from you.  The fictional dialogue below shows how it happens.  It is a faux conversation between your project manager and one of the engineers on the team.

PM: “I love your new designs!  This project is really coming along.”
Eng: “Uh-huh.” (hoping to be left alone.)
PM: “Do you think you’ll be finished by October.  Big deadline you know!”
Eng: “Of course.” (barely lifting his head.)
PM: “Any risks or unknowns?  How about that integration task?”
Eng: “Nothing I can’t handle.” (peering deeply into the montor.)

Engineer-boy has two problems.  First, he’s a little too independant to admit he needs help.  Secondly, he won’t risk the tarnish to his stellar reputation.  No white-shirt, tie-bearing, non-pierced PM will ever get him to crack.  He’ll work all-nighters if he has to, or so he tells himself.

 

–newshirt

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Raising the Flag the Marine Corps Way

I picked up a neat little business management book named “Semper Fi, Business Leadership the Marine Corps Way.”  The web address is below, in case you’d like to check it out.


http://www.semperficonsulting.com/

The philosophy of the book is to run your business like the Marine Corps.  Does that mean scream bloody murder into the faces of your new recruits?  Only if they need it.  🙂  No, it simply outlines the Marine Corps way of running its operation and the parallels to business management.  Here’s a quote from the book.

In Officer Candidate School, there is a famous exercise in which the prospective officers are given the assignment of raising a flag pole so that it meets a number of detailed specifications.  It is assumed in the exercise that the officer has one sergeant and two privates to assist him.  The instructors are constantly amazed at the ingenuity of the trainees, who have come up with a thousand and one ways to erect that flagpole.  What the instructors are looking for, however, is a much simpler answer: “Tell the sergeant to raise the flagpole and walk away.”

The point of the exersize is to delegate to subordinates.  The sergeant can figure out the details on his own.  And, if they are very detailed, he can present his plan to the officer before proceeding.  This leaves the sergeant to get the job done, and the officer free to strategize the next steps.  Everyone has his job to do, and things move efficiently.

 

–ray

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What’s In It For Me?

Something finally occurred to this week.  People care (mostly) for themselves.  I’ve been observing some people recently, and have noted their project participation.  When there’s something in a project for them personally, they go gangbusters to finish it.  And when there’s nothing, they lose interest and quit.  At least, mentally that is.  Be it financial gain, or street cred, or just looking good.  There must be something in it for them.

I may be a little slow, but I had never really studied this aspect of human behavior.  I just thought people worked hard for their company and that was that.  Not so.  They work strictly for themselves.  And now that I look back on my career, I see the same pattern.  My own career was carefully crafted to climb the ladder of success.  If a project didn’t fit that model, I found a way out.  If it did, I worked it for all I was worth.  I wasn’t greedy with my time, but eventually gravitated toward projects that benefited me.  That’s not selfish, it’s just natural.

Knowing that gives me something to work with.  It means I must find ways to help people succeed in the projects I expect their help with.  I must find a clear benefit for each team member.  If there’s nothing in it for them, I should expect them to grow disinterested and mentally quit.  Sounds like a real challenge!

 

–ray

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Project Managers are Coaches Too

Many people know that Phil Jackson coached 9 teams to NBA titles and Bill Walsh was a football genius with many Superbowl wins.

Do you ever hear about Project Managers who take multiple million-dollar projects to the finish line and bring home the victory?  Of course not, but they are critical in setting the tone of a project, defining clear objectives, and pushing all the right buttons to get a Project Team on the same page to accomplish their project goals.

People alone, with all of their various personalities, are tough to manage.  Project Managers are responsible for setting project task dependencies, trying to stay within project budgets, and work to keep a pulse on all the project resources.  Man, that is a lot of responsibility!

In sports, coaches use video tape, advanced scouts, and many other tools to accomplish their goals. In the project world, we use tools like MS Project or a good time tracking/project management tool such as Standard Time® software. Standard Time automatically e-mails Project Managers if a timesheet is insufficient and will warn a project team if a project is over budget.  It allows you to visually manage your resource allocation. It is a very effective tool.

The bottom line is that championships are not only won by pushing the right buttons. The foundation for winning starts with having the right tools. Are you still using antiquated spreadsheets and verbal discussions to win your championship?  If so, you may be setting yourself up for failure.

–Warren

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Question: Why Do Projects Cost More Than Expected?

There are a lot of possible reasons for this.  I’ll enumerate the reasons why I think projects cost more than expected, and then discuss the most probable ones.  Let me know what you think!  Got a few more reasons?

  1. Forgotten tasks
  2. Unknown tasks
  3. Customer expectations change
  4. Feature creep

My biggest issue is always ‘forgotten tasks’.  In my experience, forgotten tasks results in project cost overruns more often than any other reason.  People tend to throw out a cost before they have listed all the work involved.  Halfway down the road, they remember 25 – 50% more tasks.  That adds up!

Sometimes, one thing leads to another.  Tasks that you didn’t know about pop up.  What are you going to do when that happens?  You can’t just abandon the project.  You have to eat the extra work and absorb the cost overrun.

Once your customer gets a look at the product, he may have a few new ideas of his own.  He may see something he likes, and feel free suggest some additions.  Those add up too.  Just make sure he knows that he must absorb the additional project costs.  Otherwise, you’ll end up eating that too.

Feature creep happens when customers and developers like what they see and want a little more, and little more, and a little more.  Before you know it, there’s an extra 10% cost in the project.  Yikes!

–ray

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Fear or Fearless?

We’ve all heard the adage, “Afraid of change”.  It’s preached throughought the business world and even in our personal lives.  We are constantly told to step outside of our comfort zones, embrace change…don’t be afraid!  It is great advice that everyone has faced at some point. 

So why is it that as soon as the media starts telling us how terrible the economy is, we freeze up with fear?  Even in uncertain times we must press forward and get past our fear.  Yet it seems totally acceptable to use the economy as a reason to remain static.  This is bogus.  I agree that we must scrutinize our expenditures and evaluate new ideas, but we should do that in good and bad times.  What frustrates and kills businesses is doing nothing!

If you have an idea to save your company money and improve revenue, why let fear stand in the way?  During good and bad times we must always be prepared to step out and embrace change.  I can honestly say that I’ve had my wins and losses with fear.  However, it always comes down to a simple choice that we make…be controlled by fear or choose to be fearless.  I’d like to hear what you think? Are you driven by fear, or are you fearless?

–Warren

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Battles in the Conference Room

Having varying points of view is healthy for company growth.  However, sometimes the varying opinions have underlying meanings that aren’t always what they seem.

For instance, how often do IT teams resist implementing new programs out of fear, laziness or just the extra work it creates?  I mean they are tasked with everything from support desk tickets, computer set-ups for new employees and even firewall security.  So it’s easy to get bogged down with the extra work a new program rollout will cost instead of focusing on the big picture and long term benefits.  Other times people resist out of simple personality conflicts.

When this happens you will hear legitimate-sounding excuses of how the installation may conflict with another program or of how it may take up too many resources.  This happens because one manager doesn’t want to help another manager or due to many other normal and very human reasons.

So the next time you have someone objecting to what most everyone else is pushing for, ask yourself, “Why?” It could be a very real objection worthy of consideration.  Or, as I found out last week, it could be a person impeding progress because they simply do not want to put more work on their plate.  The tough part is determining which is true. After all, we are all human!

 

–Warren

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How to Lose Your Best People

Don’t get discouraged; losing your best people is not as hard as it sounds.  And we’re here to help!  We’ve offered a few good ideas below.  If you have others, please post a comment, and they’ll be added to the list.  Why remain in agony, when the answers are so simple.

#1: Make life easy
That’s right; lavish money, benefits, and perks on your best people.  Foosball, anyone?  They’ll relax from the high-tension goals you’ve set, and things will slowly go undone.  Small things.  Your competitors will make life hard for you, and remove your ability to compensate so graciously.  Your best people will leave as a result.  Harsh realities, but you can pull it off!

#2: Lower your expectations
Why treat your best people like slaves?  They’ve worked hard to get where they are today, and they deserve a rest.  After all, you don’t want to be known as the Pharoah’s taskmaster.  Trust me… this works.  The results will be similar to point #1.  As soon as they realize the company and project goals are negotiable, you won’t have far to go.

#3: Create a Dilbert environment
Don’t know Dilbert?  See the comic to the left, or click here to see the cartoon.  Poor Dilbert is an IT professional who faces more daily incompetence than an Oklahoma Street-sweeper.  (Get it?  Armadillos?  That was my own pitiful attempt at humor.)  🙂  Foster a certain degree of incompetence in the office, and your Dilbert will flee.

#4: Let your projects take care of themselves
They will, you know?  Project management is not a discipline, its a recreation.  Don’t track your project time.  Don’t bother with post-mortem analysis and percent complete.  If you must, use a little spreadsheet with some cool fonts and colors.  Your best people will drift along with you – until their job search pays off.

All kidding aside, people leave for a lot of reasons, and it’s not always the company’s fault.  Don’t beat yourself up too badly.  If you’re trying hard to keep good people, you’re probably doing okay.  It takes a pretty messed up organization to drive good people away.  And sometimes, even the best companies cannot keep them.  Keep up the good work, and don’t let these things happen to you.  🙂

 

–ray