3 Minus 3

Tweaks and small steps can take you far

2012-01-02T19:22:00.001-06:00

My buddy @ReidCarlberg talks about how tweaks beat resolutions in a post today. Loved it. Reid has set a goal for himself to do my morning reading of the Internets at the gym instead of while drinking coffee at home. No mention of when he is going to ingest his oatmeal (but that’s another story).

I talked about resolutions (more as goals and how to reach them) the other day. This tweaks concept fits into the main thrust that there is a lot that goes into reaching your goal and it usually starts with something small. Just as (what was all the rage in the late 90’s) Big Hairy Audacious Goals failed for so many companies that tried to adopt it when their culture did not support it, you probably want to start small (and specific) with your goals.

A journey of 1,000 miles started with a single step and a lot of heavy breathing

In that resolutions post, I also spoke of achieving a personal goal of running and completing my first marathon. That was not something I started in the same year (I didn’t start from being a couch stalagmite to running 40 miles a week). Instead, it was the result of many small (and yes – some large) tweaks over 3 years that got me home.

Some steps on the path:

I had to lose 80 pounds. Not with a rapid-loss fad diet or pills – but simple things over a period time (like mixing in a salad).
Getting back into running shape. When I picked up running seriously (after a couple of years layoff), I started small. My first workout was walk 1 min, jog 1 min for 20 minutes. 6 weeks later – I was running a 5K.
Adding overall fitness in my life. Whether it is spending some time with the Wii Fit, or taking the stairs at work (the latter more challenging when you’re hoofing it with a 9” Logger boot) – tweaking to a more active lifestyle helped the mental aspects of this life change.

Start small – but just start

So if you’re on the health kick bandwagon for 2012, find the tweak in your life to get you started. It may not being going to the club 5 days a week with the other folks who started today and will be gone by Valentines Day. It can be as simple as committing to walking the dog two blocks twice a day (instead of the one you do today).

If finding a job (or a new job) in 2012 is in your sights, a goal of having coffee with two people you don’t currently know each month may be your first step.

Whatever your goals (and steps to get there are) – they start with that first one.

I’m in a New Year State of Mind

2011-12-31T12:21:00.001-06:00

Billy with a lot more hair (I know the feeling)

A song by the boy from New York City is running through my head today.

A picture postcard
A folded stub
A program of the play
File away your photographs
Of your holiday

And your mementos
Will turn to dust
But that's the price you pay
For every year's a souvenir
That slowly fades away

Every year's a souvenir
That slowly fades away

Souvenir
Music & Lyrics by Billy Joel

2 things to add to your 2012 Resolutions

2011-12-30T14:43:00.001-06:00

As 2011 is all but in the rearview and we gird our loins for what awaits us in 2012 (ready or not, here it comes) – many of us go thru the annual rite of making resolutions (or goals) for the coming year. These may be of a personal or professional nature and are intended to start us – or keep us - on a desired path (to being a better father, a better widget maker, or a person of better health).

We all know if you don’t state (and re-state) and measure your goals, there is little chance of you reaching them. You gotta step on the scale each week (whether you ate a cabbage-only meal 3 times a day all week or spent Ladies Night downing 13 or 14 Mojitos with your pals). Those are the paint-by-the numbers way to achieve your goals and check the box complete at the end of the year.

But for all the PMP® in me – goals, resolutions and deadlines are more than numbers. I look back at one set of “project” goals from 2012 which I oft talked about here (my “Marathon Project”).

My project goals were:

Be (Significant) Injury Free (or at least reduce severity and length of the inevitable)
Train and run my first Marathon
Run 1,000 miles in 2011 (training for #2 should take care of #3)

I do an inside my head, Tiger Woods fist pump when I see that I achieved all three goals and exceeded my own expectations. But as I sit here on the cusp of the brand new year, I feel very different about these goals than when I set them.

The game inside the game…

This time last year, I was determined to cross off that bucket list item of finishing my first Marathon. That was the impetus for the journey and of the three goals - it is the “sexiest”. Run a marathon and people clap when you cross the finish line (even for slow people like me), you post pictures on Facebook and you get a shirt and a medal.

But on this end of the finish line, I feel more of a sense accomplishment with the other two goals.

The injury-free goal was the most important of the three (that’s why it was first). This was all about risk management. Simple: Get injured and your season is over (or at worst – you can’t properly train). I only missed one scheduled workout to injury all year (which is a first for any training season). That’s fairly remarkable given my age and size. Special thanks goes to the makers of Advil® and Archer Farmers frozen corn for helping me reach that mile marker (the latter used as ice packs that form fit to the sore body part)

As for running my first 1,000 mile season, that experience I cherish the most. Running that many miles means I survived the 115 degree swing in temps during the year, the pains and poundings (see bloody proof in the above picture), and the ear-piercing sound of the alarm clock going off at 3:07 a.m. to get a mid-range run in before work (when all I really wanted to do was stay in bed).

But there was the hidden ROI from my project.

…and the unexpected result

The sum of my journey was that I wielded discipline and patience. Discipline to hit the road on a below zero morning or a rainy, muggy afternoon married with patience not to overtrain. Knowing when to cut back to save your body and mind – not just because you are being a slacker that morning.

I knew (and planned) that I would need those two tools to reach my goal – but I didn’t realize that they would be something in themselves that I would covet at the end of the road (as it were).

The resolution will not be televised

As you set your goals – what other (step) goals and tools will you need to get there? What hidden outcomes from your journey await? At the end of 2012, will you be looking down at the integers on your scale or looking forward to the reflection of yourself in the mirror (and doing that fist pump).

What’s your plan? No matter what they are – most likely you’ll need to stock up on discipline and patience to get you there.

Enjoy the the last lap of 2011 and best wishes for Happy New Year to us all/

Top 10 Running Songs of 2011

2011-12-11T18:19:00.001-06:00

The fireside is burning bright, and you’re caroling through the night. That means Christmastime is here? And of course, that means it is time for everyone’s favorite post of the year (according to my Google Analytics): The Annual 3Minus3 Top 10 Running Songs of The Year (in this case, 2011).

2011 was a special year (personally). Crossing the 1,000 training mile single season mark for the first time (while training for my first marathon) made the importance of the well crafted playlist to keep me going on those long training runs (most of them in darkness) all that more crucial.

So pause your iPod and your a-wassailing long enough to lend an ear (and two eyes) to this year’s top tunes.

My Top 10 Running Songs of 2011

These are songs that got the most play (according to my iTunes play count) on my Running 2011 playlist (in reverse-order, David Letterman fashion):

Rank	Song	Artist	Comments
10	Hold It Against Me	Britney Spears	She may have a “bit of a pot” (Pulp Fiction reference) and is still trying to balance things in life – but the gal still can bust out a cardio friendly tune.
9	Rehab	Amy Winehouse	Speaking of not controlling things in life. Like with MJ – a tragic death placed songs into heavy rotation on my iPhone. We’ll miss the music you’ll never make, honey.
8	What Can I Say To Make You Love Me?	Alexander O’Neal	Taken from a 2010 live set at the iconic Dakota venue (in Minneapolis), Alex shows he can still throw down (and those Jimmy Jam synth horns keep you running). For extra credit, Fake (from a London show in the 90’s) will also blow some Minneapolis Sound into your funky ear buds.
7	I Ran	Ska Rangers	This tune is only thing good to come out of the dreadful Hangover 2 movie (I hate, hate, hate, hated that movie). However, a nice remake of the Flock of Seagulls classic (more craftsmanship, less mousse)
6	Backseat	New Boyz	A Funky-ass bridge (I met a group of girls in an Escalade) is the sweet spot of this jam.
5	Rolling In The Deep	John Legend	DJ Skeet Skeet gives John Legend a KC and The Sunshine Band vibe to this killer Adele joint.
4	All Summer Long	Kid Rock	I’m late to Kid Rock and this song and really despise anything that even smells like Lynyrd Skynyrd. However this Mellencamp-esque mixture of nostalgia and Warren Zevon is a perfect backdrop to those long, +80 dew point runs of late July (and transports me back to those cool, late nights at the lake when we are living in a teenage dream…but that’s another song entirely).
3	Judas	Lady Ga-Ga	Not since the Baritone Sax solo in Damned For All Time (Jesus Christ Superstar) has an allegory to Mr. Iscariot been so off the charts damned funky.
2	I Need a Doctor	Dre Dre (with Eminem)	Dr Dre coming back after 10 years – and Slimy Shady in the house? A can’t miss joint.
1	Pumped Up Kicks	Foster the People	Game, Set, Match! Not only the best song of 2011, but first ballot, Hall of Fame running tune of all time. Perfect beat and the refrain you better run, better run, faster than my bullet is a master stroke.

Extra Credit: #1 with a bullet (but released too late in the year to get enough plays) is the new joint by The Time (now going by the name The Original 7ven – thanks to the Purple Litigious One). With #Trendin, Morris and the boys show they still have funk firmly in the pocket (and could outpace your Saucony’s with those Stacy Adams).

Postscript

Hopefully this can help you goose your Playlist in the training year about to start. Please leave any songs that you think the rest of us should add.

Sin of Omission

2011-07-12T19:14:00.001-05:00

Dexter Riley and the crew pulling their antics at Medfield College

A peer was relating a story to me last week on a goat rodeo of project she recently (barely) lived through. She spoke of the project manager (as it were) who coincidently kicked off the project by publishing the Weekly Status Report each week (which is a good thing to do when “weekly” is in the title).

But as a few weeks passed in the life of the project, and that same project started going to the aforementioned goats, our plucky PM went into Billy Ocean mode and just stopped sending out a status report out - EVER.

No explanation – just now you see it, now you don’t (the Dexter Riley method of project management).

“No news” is rarely “good news”

Let’s be clear here:

The only thing worse than not sending a status report
is regularly sending one out and then just stopping (for no apparent reason).

Fade away is not a mitigation plan

A few rules in case you (or someone on your Impossible Mission Forces) thought there was a reason to stop communicating:

Not much activity last week? Write a short status report
Taking a day or two off? Send it before you go (or let your team and sponsors know they’ll get it when you get back)
Taking 10 days off to drive to and attend Space Camp? Delegate the task to someone on your team (watch them grow)
Are you more Agile? Then make sure your daily stand-up is daily (and opting out involves blood pouring from orifices).

This is a laborious task. Remember – a status report doesn’t have to be a pedantic, 12 page Communication Opus in Verdana 10 from Somewhere Over The Template Hell. It just needs to tell a story and be as regular as Dr. Oz.

Congrats to newbie PMPs

2011-06-24T18:35:00.001-05:00

A huge and heartfelt congrats to my Concord colleagues on passing their Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification test today!!!

New members of the order:

Victoria Ostlund, PMP (she’s already updated her Linked In profile)
Brian Berg
Richard (Pop-In) Orr

Welcome to the club – and yes…we have lapel pins.

Go forth and preach the Gospel (and see if you remember what Earned Value (EV) /Actual Cost (AC) defines).

p.s. Good luck to my buddy Jackie and cube wall mate Melissa who are taking the class soon (don’t let anything leak out!!!)

Goals and the long road

2011-06-23T04:31:00.001-05:00

I know a lot of program/project managers out there that are runners. I am not sure if there is data to back that up (or if it is just the circle of folks in my universe). But if that is true, it must be because by and large, runners employ some of the tools in the project management toolkit:

There’s setting goals and defining scope (run my first marathon by the end of the year)
Creating a schedule/plan (or better yet - nicking one off the internet)
Measuring and tracking performance against those goals and that plan (and yes – I have built my cloud dashboards in Force.com to facilitate this)
Mitigating risk (ice that knee, Tubby)
Start to finish (that’s a PM term that sounds race-like)
Understanding the cost of quality (I think I’ll stick with the Saucony shoes and skip that Walmart brand to save that injury downtime)
Ability to determine an ETC (Estimate To Complete) on the fly (if I continue to run at this languid pace for the rest of the race, they’ll be picking up cones right behind me)
Dealing with the ugliness that comes with almost any project (missing and blackened toenails, bloody nipples – and things even more ghastly than that)
Celebrating every win (first time running 6.2 miles without passing out, crossing the finish line of your first half-Marathon)
Reaching your goal - because you didn’t set it and forget it (that only works for Rotisserie Chicken)

1+1+1 = 3

So as you can see, the Denny Green plan your work and work your plan is as crucial as the Running 2011 iTunes playlist in my iPhone on the battle against the long road beneath my feet. Additionally - the double-down philosophy of bringing more than one of your talents to bear on a task is also in play (strength on strength).

But maybe my math is all wrong. My wife (after having been witness to more than one local road race) probably would support my hypothesis about running and project management. However, she would conclude that’s because (like project managers) runners are anal and prone to bizarre rituals and a myriad of idiosyncrasies.

Well - that might be true, too.

To take you and the Sun to promised lands

2011-06-21T05:27:00.001-05:00

The LEAST favorite day of the year is here (especially those in these Northern providences): The Summer Solstice.
I rant today not against the pagan underpinnings of this Solstice, but the Martellato tone of the bell for which it tolls. Although (contrary to popular wisdom) the days will not actually get shorter in these parts until Sunday, we’ve nonetheless reached the mountaintop of daylight in the Summer of 2011 (and I can see the other side). Just as quickly as (nearly all) those pre-commute tempo runs had been lapped by the light of dawn, the darkness will once again begin the take back of the night as it slithers upon the 6 month journey to the most dark time of the year.

While I am singing one season following another for you in my head, Asparagus is gone from the Farmers Market and will soon give way to juicy tomatoes, scary deep fried Mayonnaise (at your state and county fair), tart apples, bulbous pumpkins, and then flint corn (the multi-colored corn with the politically incorrect name) .

For runners, the dog days of summer may not be over (in fact they are just beginning) but that Fall marathon you’ve been training for is getting larger in the window (and gosh golly you’ve not done enough hill work, Fatso). Soon you'll be trying to get ice out – instead of into – your water bottle.

Gosh – I’m starting to depress myself (tapping my inner Marvin)

Marvin: I think you ought to know I'm feeling very depressed.
Trillian: Well, we have something that may take your mind off it.
Marvin: It won't work, I have an exceptionally large mind.

Well, I wish you'd just tell me rather than try to engage my enthusiasm

If you’re expecting a GATHER ye rosebuds while ye may post (then you’ve haven’t dug far enough into my back catalog of posts). This is just another riff on the previous post about goals (and tracking to them). Whether it is that aforementioned marathon, you’re first Triathlon, getting that new job/new promotion, mixing in (more than just) a salad into your diet, finishing painting trim on the backside of the house as you promised your wife or grabbing another catch with your son (or Dad) – another milestone like today (and the others you’ve set for yourself) are opportunities for you to ask yourself, how ya’, doin?

Having your corn knee-high – or being 2 pant sizes down – by the 4th of July is less than 2 weeks away.

Restate your goals

2011-06-17T05:00:00.001-05:00

Can’t pull your butt out of bed to hit the pavement for your next run because your mind is tired and body weary? The latest edition of Runner’s World has some suggestions on how to boost your mental energy to push you to choose your running shoes over the remote control (and that bag of Snyder’s Jalapeño Cheddar Sandwiches).

The top suggested tactic (and the one I most employ) is restate your goals. Running coach Rick Lovett sums up it up:

If you can’t answer, Why am I doing this?, you won’t last long.

Rick further suggests keeping a training log which includes your goals and the reason you run (essentially a project charter for your running). Therefore, when you get all Billy Ocean (and the going gets tough and there’s no more love on the run for you), pulling out our plan and having that black and white reminder stare back at you can help focus that sluggish grey matter.

Whooah, we’re half way there

In addition to my training log (I employ my Garmin Forerunner® 405 watch and the online/mobile app Strands Fitness for that), I have my stated running goals for the year:

Be (Significant) Injury Free (or at least reduce severity and length of the inevitable)
Train and run my first Marathon (can’t do #2 without #1)
Run 1,000 miles in 2011 (training for #2 should take care of #3)

Let’s check the tape. How am I doing?

Injury: Thanks to moderation, Advil, and ice (bags of frozen corn work best), only a few days lost to soreness (but not injury) so far in 2011.
Training: On track for the October Twin City Marathon – and we validate this goal on the field of play (first Half-Marathon completed 2 weeks ago - and getting ready for the second one)
1,000 Miles: I am 58% there (as we approach the half-way mark of the year)

What gets measured gets done

So what are your import goals for 2011? Personal (weight loss, financial stability, be a better Dad, long Vegas weekend, or a bathroom remodel)? Professional (that new job, new product launch, complete that project that was supposed to finish in 2010 and is still behind in 2011, getting funding for your start-up, and/or named etched on the door)? Are you tracking your progress? Are you going back and reminding yourself (your spouse, your department team) about why your are doing this?

Before you head out for the weekend, take 5 minutes and peek at your goals. But before you do, pass those Snyder’s Jalapeño Cheddar Sandwiches my way.

Book Review | Until Tuesday

2011-05-30T09:59:00.001-05:00

I don’t have the exact mathematic equation but my enjoyment of a book is directly related to how quickly I dispatch with it. That certainly was the case with my latest read, Until Tuesday: A Wounded Warrior and the Golden Retriever Who Saved Him by Former US Army Captain Luis Carlos Montalván with Bret Witter (the latter of Dewey fame). My Kindle for iPad and me zoomed through this book in just a few sittings.

By its cover

I’m more of a cat guy (as my Facebook friends – two of which are our two cats – can attest). But the stunning picture of a Golden Retriever named Tuesday gracing the cover (as I strolled through Dragonfly Books) grabbed me like a slobbery tennis ball in a dog’s mouth (and did not let go).

It’s not just a love story between a man and his dog – but journey of both parties (Captain Montalván’s and Tuesday’s) and how they found each other when they needed one another the most.

There are a collage of storylines:

Captain Montalván’s attack while stationed in Al-Waleed (in the Al Anbar province of Iraq) that inflicted permanent physical injures
One man’s penetrating explanation of PTSD (not the Hollywood, effects-driven flashback variety)
The story of ECAD (Educated Canines Assisting with Disabilities) and its founder Lu Picard
The fascinating process of how service dogs are trained (starting at 3 days old in a very human way)
Tuesday’s story of struggle and abandonment during this education (it is very much his story as well)
Infuriating stories of discrimination (that ain’t no service dog) encountered by Luis and Tuesday
The love story between man and dog (okay – it is a little bit about that)

Voices Carry

A few days past finishing the book, the part that stays with me most vividly is Luis’ accounts of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Like most of us, having only experienced the disorder through the lens of a Hollywood camera (cartoon ones like Rambo or even more educated ones like the West Wing episode Noel), we have not experienced it first person. Luis does an excellent job of portraying what is like to live in his skin (and the other veterans of foreign wars).

PTSD is not about flashbacks and rampages but more of a constant hyper vigilance (bred by training and the daily battle of survival in the desert) and sensory overload you can’t turn off. This is a skill that can keep you alive on the battlefield but makes it difficult to ride on claustrophobic subway train or pass a discarded soda can (a perfect IDE vessel) on the city street. Only with Tuesday’s help and love, is Captain Montalván able to balance himself (physically and psychologically).

Thank you for your service

On this Memorial Day 2011, I would like to send a thank you to all the men, women and four-legged fighters that are spending this holiday in harm’s way and an even larger group that have served in the past and present. I’m thinking of you today and gratefully appreciate your service.

A special thanks to Captain Montalván and Tuesday. With your insight, I feel as though I have a deeper understanding of the sacrifice and service of your brothers, sisters and canines in arms.

Related Links:
The pivotal role of military service dogs (CNN)

Random | And the beat goes on

2011-05-02T22:16:00.001-05:00

The news of the last 24 hours was one of those Al Stewart moments that collapses the bookends of (nearly) a decade into a single moment. I (like many folks) was immediately transported back to that Tuesday morning in September 2001. The sights, sounds, smells and the feelings of that day that also lives in infamy flooded me.

As is common in these human milestone markers (the birth of a child, your 40th birthday, MJ dying), we can often take stock and ponder the delta of all the things in our lives that have changed over that period.

I heard the news back then, oh boy

In 2001, I was in my recently purchased first home and my just as recently acquired unemployment status. Just 3 days past my 3 days of severance, I sat in my spacious home office that Tuesday morning massively searching online for a job and scheduling networking meetings. I was listening to KSTP-AM (talk radio - the social/edgy/viral/ media of that day) when (the late) Mark O’Connell announced “a private plane” had struck the Trade Center in New York.

Still in my work outfit of that day (running shorts and a wife beater), I headed into the living room and turned on the TV and flopped onto the couch. Moments later, I witnessed a second plane hit the other tower. For the next 3 days, Max (my cat) and I remained similarly splayed on that couch watching all the gory details unfold on broadcast/cable news (primarily through the eyes the late Peter Jennings and the now retired Tom Brokow). There was little else to do - my anemic job search ground to halt as quickly as civilian air traffic that day.

Who told you this guy was in here?

Fast forward to last night.

I am in the same room as 2001 – but now it is my master bedroom. Max the cat is still there – but also my wife (who I did not know in 2001). She was watching The Housewives of “Whatever” (since I was not paying attention).

I had my headphones plugged into my iPad and had resumed streaming “The Sting” via Netflix (as I often use movies as sleep inducing white noise):

Billie: Who told you this guy was in here?
Lieutenant William Snyder: Nobody. I just know what kind of woman he likes. Going to check all the joy houses till I find him

The movie had just rolled by the above scene (with Charles Durning and Eileen Brennan) when a muted beep from a KSTP-TV “push notification” informed me that President Obama was about to speak. Soon thereafter, we all knew why he was to speak. It would be over an hour before he came to the podium – by which time both my wife and I had fallen asleep.

The next day, reports chronicled (that like so many recent events around the globe) that Twitter was the source of the first credible reports.

History has turned a page, ah-huh

As I am wont to do – linking and transitions filled my mind and my morning commute (although dressed in a real suit as I headed to a client site today).

Of course, in 2001 I did not have a blog (let alone this one). In 2021, I doubt I will. What will be the social media killer app of that day?

October 23, 2001 – one month after 9/11, the first iPod was introduced to the market (white only). Many colors and variations of iPods, iPhones, iTouches and two iPads would follow. In 2020 – what will be the mass communication media platform of that day…the holodeck?. If so – I hope I have the life size (virtual) Paul Newman and Robert Redford acting in my living room

There are countless other examples that remind us that drums keep pounding rhythm to the brain….

All I know is we don’t really know what is to come in technology and media that far in advance (although we get closer to the Jetsons and jetpacks every day). All I know is that I look forward to the journey to come.

Oh – and don’t worry. My wife swears that Max will beat the odds and still be with us in 2021 (at a spry 25 years old).

Westbound and Down (Seeing is always believing)

2011-04-20T22:03:00.001-05:00

I’m just back from a 23 hour, 646 mile round trip odyssey to Grand Forks, North Dakota (oddly referred to – among other things - as the Flickertail State). Sleepy and sufficiently spiced – it’s time for a hot shower and ripping the cork out of the Valley of the Moon bottle calling from the wine rack.

We never get a chance to hear master bluesmen practicing their craft anymore

As part of my job at Concord, I spent this past solar day conducting a field study of one of my clients on location at one of their clients. This quite simply is one the favorite parts of the J-O-B for me.

I spent a fascinating Wednesday learning how these skilled artisans service their customers while drawing pictures inside my head on what the team can do to give them more time to ply their wares and engage directly (listen) with their customers while spending less time filling out forms, drilling into spreadsheets and flipping through handbooks (the trinity of time and soul robbers). Remember Hugh’s admonishment: it is not what the software does – it’s what the user does.

In addition to art of the discovery these sessions provide for whatever problem or opportunity is at hand, it is extremely enjoyable for me to interact and learn from people in the field and on the street doing that thing that they do.

All the collaborating and time-boxed, agenda-driven brainstorming can’t replace the feeling, taste and smell of being on the road, in the field, in the factory or on the sales floor. This Picture Picture view of the world provides context to all those pictures, use cases, BPMN swim lanes and (heaven help you) 1,000 page BRDs that you create in your windowless cubicles.

When you are leaving the office next?

Run to the line

2011-04-18T04:03:00.000-05:00

In honor of today’s 115th Boston Marathon, another running themed post is at the starting line.

Yesterday, I read a post on Active.com by Patrick McCrann about How to Race Your Best in Boston as research for my first marathon attempt later this year (yes – that’s how I spend an early Sunday morning).

Among other things, Patrick talks about “the line” - often referred to “the wall” (the metaphoric but all too real barrier that runners hit after the depletion of glycogen stores). Essentially – your body starts “pushing back” and you feel as though you’ve just strapped a 45lb weight to each of your thighs. Depending on your training, fitness level, the weather, the course, what you ate the day before and or your mood - for most marathoners, it usually hits 18-22 miles into the race (which really sucks because then you have still have anywhere from 4-8 miles to go).

Here’s the key point from Patrick:

Until you hit the "line" you aren't racing, you are running

In other words, what you’ve done to prepare for that moment (mentally and physically) and how you respond (mentally and physically) will determine your success that day (the number on the clock as your cross the finish line or whatever other goal you have set for yourself and that day).

If you’ve never trained for that moment (pushed yourself on that extra hill workout, felt the burn during those intense fartlek sessions) – not only will you not know what to do, your body will probably pitch a revolt.

Train for the race you’re running

Are you training for the race your team (project, department, management and or family) is running? Are you periodically (as a team) running to the line (and beyond), or simply running some junk miles to get the workout in before it rains?

Remember, achievement takes discipline (as Patrick also explains):

From day one in our training, we are focused on what we will ask our bodies to do on race day. There are no junk miles, there are no recovery workouts. We run with intent to build the requisite fitness to achieve our best on race day.

Is your team focused on what you will ask them to do? Can they handle the pain when the sledding gets tough? What junk miles is your team running? Are you focused (e.g. another status meeting that resembles a rambling travelogue)?

This doesn’t mean you need to start doing laps around the office park during your project meetings. It’s not about pushing all the time. Runners take rest days (that’s also part of the training – and your project planning - as well).

It comes back to what you’ve done to prepare for that moment and how you respond will determine your success (on the project, on your product launch, on your career, on your job search, or on your golf game).

Epilogue*

Good luck to everyone running the race today – especially my Concord colleague Jim van Bergan (who is racing today).

Tell a story - not just a status

2011-04-13T20:39:00.001-05:00

I’m fairly unabashed about the love for the city I live in (Minnesota’s Oldest Suburb, Richfield, MN). Richfield was once larger than the city of Minneapolis - until Minneapolis had a “size matters” problem and annexed a large portion of the (not yet incorporated) city starting back in 1867.

Richfield has the charm and vibe of a small town (35,00 residents) smack dab in the right ventricle of the Twin Cities (near the many rivers and lakes, my favorite urban park, and even the hedonistic Mall of America).

Looking forward

I know I am a geek for this stuff – but one of the things I really get a kick out of is how this town that’s been around for 150 years embraces 21st Century communication:

Richfield publishes a (Fortune 500-like) annual report (that they also put online). This literally illiterates my tax dollars at work.
They have seven (!) Facebook pages.

Of those seven Facebook pages, my favorite is the one for the Metro Sewer Project. This admiration is not simply due to my fascination for large machinery and earthmoving projects (going back to my kindergarten years as I once posted), but also this herculean effort is taking place 3 blocks from my house (and ripping up one of my primary running routes – speaking of obsessions).

Video Killed The Status Report

One of the great features of this sewer project page is that they produce video status updates. Although the production quality may be laced with the look and feel of Public Access Cable – they are actually very straight forward, informative and sometimes unintentionally humorous.

Don’t panic, Zaphod. I’m not suggesting you place your iPhone on a tripod and go all James Cameron for your next status report (and create something quite strange like this). Just like video resumes – the marketplace is not at the tipping point for this (if ever).

However, maybe this thinking outside the box (and inside the sewer pipe) will give you cause (as it did me) to ponder:

Important as they are - there’s more to a status report than red, yellow, green and BAC. In addition to the nuts and bolts and list of milestones, a well crafted status report should tell a story that answers the question your boss or sponsor most often wants to know (“was it a good week on the project?”). I’m a fan of the narrative summary to kick off the report (that should sound more like your natural speaking voice and less like a glossary of project management jargon).
Are you communicating what you need to – and are your recipients getting it? They can’t “get it” if they don’t read it. What can YOU change to make it a better experience for the reader?
Are there other vehicles to communicate what’s going on - in addition to the project status report/status meeting - you should be exploring (project portals, project podcasts, “office hours”, finger puppets or - as one of clients employs - elevator placards)?

Got any project communication vehicles and stories you want to share with us? Leave a comment (or two, they’re free).

Is your project drunk?

2011-04-12T20:52:00.001-05:00

Earlier today, I was trading emails with my buddy Huggy. We were (as we are periodically wont to do) discussing (and sometimes ranting on) the state of the art of the art of project management. We started talking about the old chestnut of the Project Team's Bill of Rights (from Steve McConnell) and segued into a document I recently re-found (is that a word?) deep in my hard-drive archives: the Project Breathalyzer (a document culled from the Software Program Managers Network that I originally found here).

This is not to be confused with a Project Team Breathalyzer - a device you may have deployed close to a stressful deadline when some of your team members forget to allow for the adequate interval of sleep between work days to properly re-oxygenate their bloodstream. No – this is the Project Breathalyzer that makes your project close its eyes and touch its nose (while walking a straight line and reciting the alphabet backwards).

And just like when you spot those party lights in your rearview – you’re not talking your way out of this one.

Harsh beam from the mag light

You can take the whole 79 question Breathalyzer test on your own – but here’s a Cliff Notes version (with some annotations):

Do you have a current, credible schedule and budget?

Does the schedule provide time for holidays, vacation, sick days, etc? (hello – Memorial Day is 48 days away and was already on the calendar when you created project schedule)
Can you perform to the schedule and budget? (even with all the sandbagging you’ve done?)

Do you know [what you] are responsible for delivering?

Are user requirements agreed to by joint teams of [project team members] and [end users]? (or did you just determine “what the business needs”?)
Are specific acceptance and delivery requirements explicitly defined? (what does done look like to you? To your sponsor? To the new junior BA that just joined your team?)

Can you list the current top ten project risks? (free $10 gift card to everyone on the team if everyone on the team can name the Top 3)

Are all project personnel encouraged to become risk identifiers? (or do you scream at them when they tell the Emperor to put on some sun screen?)
Are user requirements reasonably stable? (reasonably usually means they don’t change with each sunrise)
Do you know how the risks are changing over time? (objects in the mirror are closer than they appear)

Do you know your schedule compression percentage? (in other words - do you have enough runway left?)

Has the schedule been modified when major [scope changes] have taken place? (don’t laugh – some project managers actually adjust their schedule when this happens)
Does the project avoid extreme dependencies on specific individuals? (prepare to be a poached victim)
Are people working abnormal hours? (helpful hint: it is called abnormal for a reason)

Just 15 (simple) questions. Ask yourself – how would my project score? What would your team say? How would your sponsor answer these questions?

Do you have your own Project Breathalyzer? Add a comment if there’s a litmus test you normally run your team through.

Epilogue (I’ve been watching a lot of Quinn Martin on Netflix lately)

Project Breathalyzer just makes me smile every time I say it out loud in my head (you know what I mean). It reminds us that sometime the art of words can be married with art of project management. Project Risk Scoring Matrix (with weight averages and standard deviations) would not be as fun as the “Project Breathalyzer”.

What does success look like (Rawhide Down)

2011-03-30T21:33:00.001-05:00

It was 30 years ago today that I sat all day long in the center of my Mother’s living room. I was right next to my brother and a mere 6 inches from the TV screen. In that day – there was no remote and you had to engage in “channel turning” (the knob) instead of “channel flipping”. And there was a lot of flipping between the 3 network news channels (CNN was less than a year old – and this was long before I laid eyes on cable). And of course – given the date – we were watching the near assassination of the 40th president of the United States (Ronald Wilson Reagan).

As a news junkie (even at that young age), I mainlined the story. That’s a cycle that would repeat itself many times (OJ, Challenger/Columbia Explosions, 9/11, Katrina and most recently Japan) since then. Those memories are still crystal clear in my mind’s eyes and ears. That is especially true of Frank Reynolds’ rant at his off-screen producers (something not found on You Tube yet)..

Frank had a Denny Green-esque meltdown after he had earlier reported Reagan had not been shot (when he had been) and also mistakenly reported James Brady had died (when he had/has not to this day)

Let's get it nailed down...somebody...let's find out! Let's get it straight so we can report this thing accurately!)

Rawhide Down

By now – you’ve probably seen some news stories today on this subject or perhaps the great piece last Sunday from my favorite newscaster (Bob Schieffer’s) on my favorite television how (CBS Sunday Morning). Many of these stories mention the new book book by Del Quinton (Rawhide Down) that chronicles this story. The title is taken from the Secret Service’s code name for The Gipper (Rawhide).

With extensive research (including recently released Secret Service audio tapes) and new interviews of some of the principles, it’s a tick-tock of that day (and some those leading up to it) make it a quick and enjoyable read (I polished it off in two sittings). So much was not known (including presidential succession by the late General Al Haig).

Like I have talked about for – reading books not directly tied to your day job are often the most important things to read. There are volumes of project management and risk analysis in this book.

Nobody died

One of the phrases you’ll hear often on my projects is “nobody died”. That’s normally a result of some project team histrionics or panic because Use Case #2,103 had one of the Actor names spelled wrong (you laugh – but less trivial items derail many a project team meeting). It is in these cases that I remind folks that in the grand scheme of things (and in the determination of the project’s success), this won’t matter (in other words, lighten up, Francis).

Seriously.

There are no real bullets flying on your projects, hopefully (although I’ve been in a few that required a Waren Zevon mitigation plan). The scale is not equal – but let’s head back to the Washington Hilton Hotel to highlight a few of the project management principles came into play 30 years ago:

Risk Assessment As they do any time the President leaves the White House, Advance Team’s analyze the dangers and potential risks to the President and devise a plan to mitigate anything that comes up (expected or not). Push the President in the limo and get the heck out of there is the response to most bad things.
Plan your, work you plan (another Denny Green reference): A detailed plan is created to not only move the President from one location to another, but also steer clear of danger and what to do if it comes anyways. It’s not just the guys and gals in Ray-Bans sitting in a D.C. office that craft the plan – it a group of local authorities and agencies working together.
Train/Practice Any group of individuals (a thing we like to call a team) just doesn’t work together without practice and training. Rinse and Repeat.
Respond When trouble does comes – react. You didn’t need to solve it then – since you have already defined your risk mitigation plan.
Measure the right things Only one thing really mattered that day – that was a non-assassinated President. You didn’t need to calculate Earned Value Management on that day. Sure - figure out what the heck an armed person was doing with a gun 6 feet from the President (but do that another day).

Your turn

Apply these lessons learned to your projects

Risk Do you spend the time to plan for the risks that will sink your project and exasperate you sponsor and team members? I’m not saying you need to fly 7 people across the globe to do days of Advance planning (like the Secret Service). But how much time do you spend? 30 minutes? An afternoon? Or do you race through your PMO template? How much is enough? The answers is likely more than you are doing.
Plan Plan not only for what you know – but what you don’t know (sounds crazy I know). Have a plan to handle issues as they come (Escalation Policy or Communication Plan). And like the Secret Service – involve the whole team (not just the Project Manager alone in an office).
Train Does your team have the skills to do what they need to? Do you have them code “Hello World” before coding the math for your sales commission system? Does your team have muscle memory of how to handle the hard stuff?
Respond How many times have you been a part of a project that hit the iceberg and no one did anything about it? I doubt ignore was the mitigation strategy for that issue. Don’t freeze and don’t be afraid to react to something you (and the team) already predicated and planned for.
Measure the right things: Is your team focused on the right thing (“no dead presidents”) or on something that doesn’t matter to them? I know the cost performance index calculation helps you , the PMO Manager (and maybe the Sponsor) objectively determine if you are on track. But no one every took a bullet or work late to move that number to 1.05 (so make it real for them).

Related Content:
More 3Minus3 Book Reviews

There is discipline in the unremarkable

2011-03-23T20:22:00.001-05:00

One of the few daily missives that bombard my Inbox that I actually look forward to each weekday is the (verbosely entitled) Runner’s World Daily Kick In The Butt Quote of the Day. Especially on days like today (when the first week of Spring is heralded in these parts with a half-foot of snow), these quotes not only motivate me to get my butt out of bed and hit the pavement but often are an inspiration beyond their running context.

The challenge in running is not to aim at doing the things no one else has done, but to keep doing things anyone could do—but most never will.
Joe Henderson

In running, it is the countless, unremarkable miles at 4:00 a.m in April that allow you to finish that marathon strong in October. During these dog days, no one throws you a parade (or mans water stops to keep the running analogy going) while you’re slogging through those mindless training runs. The difference is – the other guy (or gal) is still in bed or only works out at the health club (when the lights, mirrors and eyes are upon them). Your accomplishment is not just race day – but knowing you mastered the journey up to and across the finish line.

So is it with your projects.

Forget the BHAGs that your boss keeps harping about (because she watched a 30 minute webinar on Lean) or the 36" X 48" GANTT chart you printed out on the plotter printer (because you’re full of sound and fury, signifying nothing). It is most often far less grandiose measures that are the ingredients of a successful project recipe.

Your project training miles could be:

Team meetings with agendas and recorded action items
Stopping by your project sponsor's office to just chat about anything (and nothing that is any part of a TaskID in your Planview schedule)
Conducting a project retrospective that actually is retrospective and avoids the all too common Lessons NOT Learned but instead Lessons, Finger Pointing and Drama that we talk about for 4 hours, write down some cryptic notes, and then bury them deep in the bowels of our SharePoint site to never see the light of day again (not that I am speaking from experience here)
Baking a cake for your developers when they dive below the burn-down line (a wink and nod to my pal Jason and his infamous Tunnel of Fudge offerings)

As Joe would say - things anyone could do—but most never will.

Related Content: Start what you (want to) finish

Tommy Can You Hear Me?

2011-03-08T20:03:00.001-06:00

Can you hear me now? That (now) iconic phrase (brought to you Verizon) brings me (uncharacteristically) quickly to my point today:

You can hear me now (and everyone else) from almost anywhere these days (the dead zones are shrinking faster than O’Neal Hampton)
Your customers want you to hear them now – and they want to be able to hear, see and buy from you wherever they are (at home or riding BART).
Your competition can hear your customers before you – because they are in the Cloud and you are not

For all the hype and hoopla of The Cloud lately – its roots are much closer to the ground: Main Street USA.

To read more – check on my post from today on the Concord Blog.

Inbox Zero | Stemming the tide

2011-03-06T05:40:00.001-06:00

I used a recent bout with insomnia to do a little Inbox Zero battle on my home (personal) email this morning (and hey – a bonus blog post came out of the deal). Although I made a dent (deleting over 5,000 emails), with each day’s incoming tide – I’ll be back underwater soon.

Like your project work (you knew another project management reference was coming) – focusing on single risk or trouble spot can make a huge impact. Where do you start your attack?

Well - at a root cause is always a good place to begin.

What we don’t need is in the way of what we do need (Lean manifestoism)

By ordering items online for birthdays, anniversaries, bathroom remodels and gifts for Christmas’ past over the years, I have accumulated a number of “marketing barnacles” from merchants that have been gumming up the works. It can be especially painful when folks like Crate and Barrel apparently use those crates and barrels to store emails (since they send one every 1-2 days even though I never order anything). Additionally, I am not sure I need to see what’s the hottest new items on sale at New York & Company (they rarely have my size in stock).

With mouse in hand – I embarked on a unsubscribe jihad. One or two click’s for each originator and I was free (for now) from the tsunami of emails (although Macy’s cheeky unsubscribe experience almost stopped me from cutting bait with them).

But - my inbox harpoon was surgical. There’s no such thing as too many emails from Caribou Coffee or Under Armour® (especially with the pending change from Coldgear® to Heatgear® on the calendar).

Trust but validate

Like any mitigation plan, you need to ensure your fix took. So – I’ll be watching if Lane Bryant tries to lure me back (their Marketing team needs to adjust their user personas analysis a bit) or if the Pottery Barn thinks we need another set of napkin rings around the house (you’re targeting the wrong member of the household on that one).

The battle of the inbox will continue. The next Sleepless in Minneapolis session I’ll need to wrangle my Linked In Group notification emails.

Thou Shalt Not One-off yourself (Project TKO)

2011-03-04T06:37:00.001-06:00

This week, I had a great conversation with one of my project team members. I was (if you can imagine) waxing poetic (or perhaps pontificating) on The Art of Project Management (not our project in particular – but the art in general).

I was quite specifically preaching on the hobgoblin of many a project: one-off meetings.

You know what I am talking about:

Team meeting occurs.
A decision is made about a change to the project (the project manager so documents it in the change log).
Everyone nods their head to the change - but secretly Jack does not agree but smiles and says nothing.
Jack sets off to find someone to agree with him (his boss, the CEO, a vendor, his cat, a person working drive thru at the local Caribou® Coffee).
Jack decides Caribou Gal has the right solution and implements that change instead (all by himself) of the one everyone already agreed to and has already started working on.
The Goat Rodeo is on!

Nothing will frost the bananas of the project manager more rapidly than someone going outside the circle (see below) without first bringing it back inside the circle for discussion (or as my buddy Huggy is wont to say, “family first”).

On my projects – such an offense could garner you the honor of displaying the team’s Scarlett Letter (or in this case, slacker coffee cup) on your desk that week.

An idea for your next back tattoo

So how do you stop the one-offs? You can’t. Everyone can’t meet for every meeting (scheduling aside – it is a waste of time and resources). Often you need to divide and conquer.

However, one of my many 3minus3 Project Lexicon sayings covers this problem:

Side meetings are fine
Side decisions are not (unless someone is bleeding or something is quite literally on fire and you need to flee the scene)

It is that simple. Changes and new information (risks, changes in schedule, we’re out of iodine tablets) are vetted with the core project team first (in almost every case). Of course there are exceptions, but that would be covered in your RACI and/or project management plan.

You don’t want to lose the project – or project team - by decision (especially a side decision).

Related:
Goats and Circles

Conjunction Junction – make that your function

2011-03-02T21:17:00.001-06:00

If I was to sort and group my email Sent folder by Subject text, “30 Second World Famous Introduction” would be one of the most used texts. I just finished sending another one of these networking “blind dates”.

I talked about this in a longer post in 2009 (20 Job Search Answers You Need To Know | #4 How do I start to network?) but I wanted to hit this specific topic again (because it is so important).

To quote that post (and myself):

(Connecting people) is something I strongly believe in (and do at least once a week). This is all about hooking-up folks whenever you can - WITH NO STRINGS ATTACHED. Whether you call it pay it forward or Instant Karma (as I prefer to), connecting others in your circle expands your circle, too. So if you know two people that could benefit from meeting each other – hook them up.

I often hook-up people with my “Blind Date Introduction” email I am fond of sending (just did it last night).

The email comes in 4 parts and goes something like this:

The set-up: Why I think you two should meet

Person 1 Bio: How I know you and why you are special

Person 2 Bio: How I know the other person and why they are special

Contact: Provide each others contact info with a note to contact the person (or not) as they both see fit

If you do only one thing in 2011 to grow your network – make connecting people that one thing.

Stop Asking Bozo Interview Questions

2011-02-23T19:36:00.001-06:00

Let’s start with an admission: I have asked stupid interview questions. I’m not proud of it. But now – I’m in bozo recovery.

Before recovery, the bozo question I often asked (that I nicked from another bozo) was, “if you could be on a cover of a magazine, what cover would it be”? That, of course was before the TMZ, broadcast yourself on social media era).

After a year of asking that question, I got some good answers (PM Network) and some answers that I didn’t know quite what to do with (Dog Fancy) . But then - I just stopped.

No - I don’t find salvation from some great epiphany (or reading a blog post from a bozo like this one), I stopped because I realized that whatever answer they gave me to that question – it had no bearing on whether I would hire them (there were no obvious screen out answers like I want to be on Hustler magazine).

Hey man, Jaws was never my scene and I don’t like Star Wars

I was reminiscing about those Bozo Questions of Interviews Past after reading the CareerBuilder post Star Wars or Star Trek? Questions you just might hear in the interview . It was all about bozo interview questions – with one being “which do you like better, Star Wars or Star Trek”?

Really?

In addition to the bozo question of the title – it offered up a few more:

“I was once asked what I would bring if the department had a potluck.” - Amanda L.

“What color is your brain?” - Connie B.

“Which Winnie the Pooh character do you relate with the most and why?” - Celie H.

“If we asked you to wear a bumble bee costume, walk around and hand out candy to employees, would you do it?” - Lisa M.

Oh boy.

I’ll add one of my own (that I witnessed):

“If it was a dark alley at night, and I was a little girl, would you throw rocks at me”

Can I throw them now?

Incoming (Prepare for the bozo, not the question)

The CareerBuilder post went on to offer some more great examples and some good suggestions on preparing (like bolt if they ask you an illegal question). But really, I don’t think you can prepare for a question a bozo may ask. You just need to be prepared for the bozo on the other side of the desk.

That preparation looks like:

Prepare for what you can Get your ducks in a row for the questions that are legit (and you are likely to get). If you’re not sweating “why do you want to work here?”, you’ll have more time to side-step the bucket of confetti when it comes your way.
Breathe When the bozo question hits you – just breathe. Take a moment to formulate an answer. Really – the answer shouldn’t matter and probably won’t. If your job hinges on “I like Star Trek because Tribbles are cute” – it may be best to move on either way. Answer calmly and as intelligently as you can (just don’t say you like the Cardassians – or heaven forbid that you like The Kardashians).
Don’t answer wrong Don’t miss obvious wrong answers. If you are asked, “What outdoor activity do you hate the most?” – don’t answer fishing if there is a large, taxidermied carp mounted on a board behind the hiring manager’s desk. No reason to give a bad answer when other good answers (Lacrosse) are available in that spot.
May not be a bozo question Some questions may just appear to be bozo-filled but may be legitimate questions. If I ask you how would you get out of a stuck elevator, for certain jobs, that type of thinking may be important to know (your McGyverness if you will). Based on your prep work – you should be able to deduce what they are looking for.

Outgoing (If you have orange hair, a bright red nose, and big floppy shoes and are asking the questions)

For those of you still asking the bozo questions:

Stop it Right now.
Don’t Be a Shock Jock You have heard it before, right? I ask off the wall questions to see how people handle stress in their job. BS. You ask them because you are a bozo. That’s artificial stress that likely has no indication of how they will handle real stress, or the real stress in the particular job. You’re not probing – your dangling people (like Michael Jackson did with Blanket).
Don’t Be Lazy Devise your interview question that get you the answer you need. Using our stress example above, ask some probing questions about how they handled stress. That looks like this: “talk about a stressful project were you had to resolve the problem…how did you resolve it, be specific…give me an example where a resolution did not go well, be specific….). That should give you a better idea on how they think more than the “Boo!” approach.
You’re not Zappos Zappos is a very unique, very successful, and has a well-defined company culture. So when Zappos asks a candidate something like “On a scale of 1-10, how weird are you? Why did you choose that number?” – they can use that information to evaluate candidates (and after reading Tony’s book, I bet the second half of that question is the more important part). At your company, how weird someone is more likely will determine the size of their cubicle. That brings us to our next point…
Be genuine If your inquiry is on the edge of a bozo question (but you think it is important in the evaluation) put the candidate at ease. Loosen the jar (not the one with the pop out snakes) and let them know it is coming. If you’re not a bozo in the delivery, they won’t freak out and will be able to give you a more telling answer.
Stop it I mean it

Tell us (Shameless plug for Comments)

Have you asked a bozo question? What made you stop? What is the oddest question you were ever asked? What is the weirdest answer you gave?

Please – leave a comment (share the bozoisty).

You Can’t be Agile if You Can’t Get Along

2011-02-20T20:20:00.001-06:00

Fantastic post by my old boss Marc (@mstrohlein) talking about one of the most important things concerning Agile. To summarize, the key point is that you can wear your Manifesto hoodie and talk all the SCRUM, XP, and co-location you want. But all the downward facing dog methodology in the world can’t overcome a too common obstacle: a team that hates each other.

Marc explains:

I’m always amazed at companies that try to “get agile” without addressing the most fundamental consideration–the chemistry and interpersonal relations among members of agile teams. In many companies, prospective cross-functional team members don’t respect or like each other. While that may be workable in waterfall processes where work follows a sort of bucket brigade mentality, for agile, it is death. And even if you can somehow glue together an agile team made up of these folks, it is a simple fact that a happy team outperforms a less than happy one and unhappy teams have an unfortunate propensity to fail.

Not much more for me to add. Read the full post.

Goats and Circles

2011-02-17T06:07:00.001-06:00

I was having lunch with a colleague from a past life on Tuesday. She was telling me about one of her current projects that was not going so well. She talked about all the drama circling the project and a serious technical issue they had uncovered the night before “go live”.

As her story was ending, she sighed heavily and said, “Thomas. It’s a Goat Rodeo”

Stop all work.

I’ve used “herding cats” to explain the art of project management (and Glen has a great blog by that name). But this was a new (and humorous) term for me (surprising for one who is a devotee of tortured analogies and of, course annoying that I had not made it up).

I grabbed my iPad and hit “the Google”:

Goat rodeo:

chaotic situation, often one that involves several people, each with a different agenda/vision/perception of what's going on; a situation that is very difficult, despite energy and efforts, to instill any sense or order into

The Ops team is nuts. By the time each of them has his say and policy gets to us, it's a goat rodeo

Have you been to that rodeo before?

Grabbing the goat by the horns

We project managers harp about the success of our projects being dependent on strategic alignment, executive/stakeholder buy-in (goals and funding), governance and the proper platform for the product. That’s for good reason. Those are important things to keep your grip on.

The truth is that a large number of project failures (or fall shorts) are a result of project teams rotting from the inside out. By managing the external forces on the team – you sometimes take your eyes off of your project team. That normally does not end well.

Grabbing the goat by the horns

One picture I draw during most project kick-off meetings (or perhaps during a project team meeting that is going to the goats) is “The Circle Game” (an ode to Joni). This simple “project team boundary” drawing (below) drives home this simple message:

There are folks inside and outside of the circle
When there’s a problem – the folks inside the circle talk first

Like any rule, there are exceptions to this family first approach. But that is the exception and above is the rule.

With this “Circle Game” plan:

The team is able to get it’s ducks (or goats) in a row
The team is able to clearly define the problem
The team is able to clearly determine some options to resolve the problem (more than 1 option is best)
The project manager (or designee) is able to communicate the item outside the circle according to the communication/risk/escalation plan
Hopefully you avoid the Goat Rodeo

Disclaimer (in case you think I am totally daft): Don’t go crazy – of course you have to manage the outside of the circle folks (and how they impact the folks inside). There’s some very important folks outside the circle (your boss, the person paying for the project, the people that use the product the project delivers). But – that’s a post for another day and it won’t matter much if your team of goats has already succumbed to the bad side of the Circle Game.

Share the pain

Do you have any Goat rodeo stories to share? Any tactics you use to reign them in?

Remodel PM | Holmes on Homes Project Management

2011-02-14T06:31:00.001-06:00

As I mentioned many times, Project Management and the home life often intersect (or perhaps collide is a better term). For many couples, it first happens on their wedding day which often is a herding cats affair (as I wrote in How To Screw Yourself and Your Project #6 | Seat of Your Pants).

Another time in the life of a couple this happens is a sizeable home project (such as a kitchen or bathroom remodel and - lord help you - a Garage Sale). So would it be with my bride and I (or in this context – I’ll refer to her as the “project sponsor”).

To mitigate risk – and keep the project sponsor in line (see above) – we decided it was best to not deploy my PMP skills on this project (physician heal thyself is always tricky). Instead – we hired Dave.

Dave was our general contractor (which is just two other words for project manager). Dave did an awesome job on the final deliverable as well managing the sponsor and other stakeholders (the latter two words are just another title for me).

Demolition Derby

One of the project approaches we decided upon early on was what is called the Holmes on Homes Method (based on the TV show of the same name). On that show – Mike Holmes is really keen on ripping every thing out before the start of a remodeling job (so you know what you are working with – and up against). A great approach to any project (home or at work).

Therefore, to mitigate risk on our remodel project - and to get a more accurate Budget At Completion (BAC), we decided to this gut the “project site” method and strip it down the studs and floorboards before finalizing the scope. Given our house is over 80 years old, I knew the risk of unknown unknowns (the hobgoblin of many a project and a former Secretary of Defense) was likely (and those are never cheap).

I was the resource assigned for the demolition portion of the project. Soon after I began smashing away with a sledge-hammer and my Dead On Annihilator™ (the Ultimate Wrecking Bar), we found a problem that was not on our work breakdown structure (an impressive 10-tab Excel Workbook from Dave).

Apparently in addition to the nearly non-existent residential building codes of the 1920s and the now arcane balloon framing design employed - the craftsman that built our house were not trained in the arts in which they practiced. One prime (and dangerous) example was the main load-bearing beam in our house was not structurally sound (held up with shims, floating over some stud members, and the load was not transferred to the foundation properly).

As my friend Chris is wont to say – STOP ALL WORK!

Change is always part of the project

Not wanting (a) our house to fall down or (b) to incur the wrath of our local building inspector – we decided to fix the problem now. So – the first unplanned work creeps into the project and is added to our scope. And there is only one way to add scope in PMP land – and that’s through our agreed upon Integrated Change Control (ICC).

In our project management plan, ICC was handled this way:

Email sent to Dave copying myself and the project sponsor
Dave would evaluate and provide and solution and estimate for the change
Both the project sponsor and myself would send an email confirming it (approving the scope change)

This change was so approved. The project plan was updated, resources added (primarily a structural engineer to create a new framing design) and materials procured (a new beam). And behold, the house now stands stronger and the building inspector passed us on the framing inspection (i.e. Quality Assurance).

Although we a took a little hit on the budget, the timeline was not impacted (and I even got some extra time to complete my demolition tasks) and the quality (as in the final product) was far superior than the original plan.

Changes in scope can be a good thing.

Scope is a point in time

This little remodel parable illustrates a number of key project management principles:

Our risk mitigation plan worked. First off – we had a plan (which we went to many times). In this case, doing the Holmes on Homes approach, we discovered the problem early. Finding problems early is always good – because normally you have more options, more time and usually more of the budget remaining to work with. When you have time and money – you can still make trade-offs. Once all the money and time are gone – spending more money and taking more time is all that is normally left on the platter.
Don’t ignore the problem. We could have tried to disguise it from inspection or not pull permits at all (both are common practices). Would the house have fallen down (hadn’t so far in 80 years)? I don’t know. But the risk was not one the sponsor or I wanted to accept (and as a friend of mine likes to say, “it is never okay to do something wrongly”).
Scope always changes. Sorry. It does. Nothing ever goes as planned (sorry!). Scope is not a single decision at the start of the project. It is a 1,000 decisions (and non-decisions) that you make along the way. Therefore - it is the plan you have to handle when your plan changes that is far more important than your plan itself in most cases.