Risk is a common topic and field of practice in both aviation and project management.  In aviation, the risk is more vivid.  If something goes wrong, it could affect life and limb, not just my ego, customer, or career.  That is why there are procedures, checklists, training requirements, and other elements throughout the industry.  But a good pilot will also personally go through a risk management process every time they fly.

Some risk questions that will be asked before every flight are:

• What is the weather situation?  What risk does the weather pose, both now and later on in the flight?  If it's a clear day, the risk is low, if it is a stormy day, the risk is higher.
• What are the capabilities of the airplane?  If I am flying a small, 4-seat propeller airplane than can only reasonably climb to 9,000 feet, I have a different risk profile than if I am flying a large commercial 777 airliner.
• What could go wrong?  What if the winds are stronger and it takes more time and fuel than expected?  What if the weather is unexpectedly bad at the destination?  What if?  What if?
• What is my experience level, personally?  Does it match the situation?  If I am an experienced pilot with thousands of hours flying in all sorts of weather, I have a different risk profile than a newly licensed pilot with little experience.
• What is my personal condition?  Am I fatigued?  Burned out?  Not feeling well?  Distracted by something personal?  No matter what the answer to the other questions, my risk profile will be different depending on the answer to these personal questions.

After answering those questions, I can make a go/no-go decision.  Or I can work to mitigate my risk.  Perhaps by carrying more fuel, waiting out the weather, bringing a more experienced pilot with me, getting some rest first, etc.

Whether you are doing large, formal risk management or informal, smaller-level risk management in a project management discipline, you should still do a personal risk assessment before every project.  Here are some related risk assessment questions to ask personally:

• What is the political and cultural situation?  Will I need to circumnavigate it?
• What are the capabilities of the team?  Have they been in this type of situation before?
• What could go wrong?  Could resources get pulled?  Could requirements change?  Could deliverables not meet expectations?
• What is my experience level, personally?  Can I handle the situation?  Is it above my head?  Am I comfortable with it?
• What is my personal condition?  Am I burned out?  Distracted?

Then I can determine how to proceed.  Do I need help?  A mentor?  Do I need some more seasoned team members?  Or set expectations up front based on the experience of the team we have?  Who should I talk to for help in circumnavigating the politics and culture?  What processes can I put in place to mitigate the risk of things going wrong?  What will I look for?  What can I do to take better care of myself so that I am more focused with more energy for the project?

Good questions to see if you are ready to go.

Happy project piloting...

One of the best experiences I ever had when flying was my first solo flight.  Prior to your first solo flight, you have gone flying with an experienced instructor.  He or she is your safety net.  You depend on them.  They know more than you.  They can handle a situation should it arise.

One day, somewhat unexpectedly, my instructor and I were flying, came back in and landed.  We taxied over to the ramp and shut down the engine.  He got out of the airplane and told me to take it back up...by myself.  Excitement, surprise, and fear all mix together in that instant.  Questions flood your mind.  What if I take off and can't land the plane?  What if something unexpected happens?  What if I make a fool of myself?  But you go.  And it works out ok.

The first thing I noticed was that my mouth was just a little drier when trying to talk with the controllers.  The next thing I noticed after accelerating down the runway was just how much my instructor weighed.  He was a bigger guy and when the plane took off...well in those small planes let's just say that the plane climbed into the air MUCH faster without his weight in the plane.  The next thing I noticed was a feeling of exhilaration.  I was flying.  By myself.  It was thrilling.

And yes the landing was uneventful.  I could do it.

When I was done, it is traditional to take your shirt, rip it, and write on it the date, time, etc. of your first solo.  I still have that shirt.

Are you passing on the profession?  Are you mentoring someone to "fly solo" in project management?

Lessons from flying solo?

• Don't forget that feeling the first time you brought a project in by yourself.
• Mentor someone.  Pass that feeling on to someone else.  Prepare them for the experience and then turn them loose.
• As you mentor someone, give them the mindsight that they will be doing this on their own.
• Write down the 9 or 10 things they need to do before they can be turned loose.
• Give them some recognition.

Happy project piloting...

Has project management arrived as an accepted practice?  How will we know when it has arrived?  I learned the answer to that question recently.  The answer is:

We will know when project management has arrived as an accepted practice when jokes are told about the practioners.

Pilots have their own jokes that have been tossed around for years such as:

Any landing you walk away from is a good landing.

Or the PA announcement after a particularly hard landing: "Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Anchorage, Alaska. Please remain in your seats with your seatbelts fastened while the Captain taxis what's left of our airplane to the gate."

So lighten up a little bit and start some jokes about project management such as:

Man walks into a...

The project manager walks into his boss' office and says, "Here is the bottom line budget needed for the success of the project."
The boss says, "What can you do for half the money?"
The project manager says, "Fail."
The boss says, "When can you get started?"
The project manager says, "I think I just did."
-- from Jokester.com

The Genie

Three men: a project manager, a software engineer, and a hardware engineer are helping out on a project. About midweek they decide to walk up and down the beach during their lunch hour. Halfway up the beach, they stumbled upon a lamp. As they rub the lamp a genie appears and says "Normally I would grant you three wishes, but since there are three of you, I will grant you each one wish." 

The hardware engineer went first. "I would like to spend the rest of my life living in a huge house in St. Thomas with no money worries." The genie granted him his wish and sent him on off to St. Thomas.

The software engineer went next. "I would like to spend the rest of my life living on a huge yacht cruising the Mediterranean with no money worries." The genie granted him his wish and sent him off to the Mediterranean.

Last, but not least, it was the project manager's turn. "And what would your wish be?" asked the genie. "I want them both back after lunch" replied the project manager.

 -- http://www.workjoke.comm

And...

To the optimist, the glass is half full.
To the pessimist, the glass is half empty.
To the project manager, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

You can read more at http://www.cvr-it.com/PM_Jokes.htm.

Happy project piloting...

I read an article recently about a pilot of a small plane who was in an accident apparently because he grew disoriented and ran into the ground while trying to find the runway.  When you dig deeper you find that this big event (the accident) was actually triggered by ignoring a small problem.  You see earlier in the flight, the pilot's radio stopped working (or so he thought).  We know this because air traffic control could no longer talk with him.  Upon examination, it appears that his radio was inadvertently switched to a non-broadcasting mode.

This is not necessarily a big deal - there are procedures for it and you can land get it fixed.  But this pilot kept on flying, for quite a while, to get to his destination.  The problem was that when he reached his destination, a small airport, at night, the runway lights were turned off.  Small airports do not keep their runway lights lit.  Pilots have the ability to activate the runway lights by clicking their...radio button, which of course was not transmitting for this pilot.  So he was in a position where he could not see the runway, at night, and could not activate the lights.  Unfortunately, he did not fly to a different airport and instead took a huge risk.

In project management, not all little problems end in disaster, but so many of them seem to end that way.  It's the little problem that does not get addressed and it slowly mushrooms into a bigger problem that bites you just when you can least afford it: an earlier deliverable doesn't quite match up to the spec, two team members can't seem to get along, or the client is wishy-washy on what they want.

Don't ignore the little problems - problems tend to get bigger, not better with time.  Address them, now, before it's too late.  If you find that you have gone too far, stop.  Address it.  Don't keep trying to band-aid it.  Address the root problem, deal with the pain, and get it over with.  That is far better than letting it drag on and on and on, always knowing that it is hanging over your head.  Even better, take the time, all the time, to do a little risk management, and keep your project flying smoothly.

Happy project piloting...

One of my favorite experiences as a pilot was a long time ago when I flew my first flight in clouds.  I couldn’t see a thing and it was raining.  Don’t worry, I had an instructor sitting in the seat next to me, ready to take over the controls if I suddenly got disoriented and tried to turn the airplane upside down (no such thing happened).

At the end of the flight, after not seeing the ground for at least 45 minutes, we broke out of the clouds 300 feet above the ground with the runway stretched right before us.  It was a beautiful sight.  What a feeling of satisfaction.

What made that possible?  A total reliance on instruments – on solid data.  When you fly on the clouds, you can’t use your gut, you can’t use your senses, you can’t use your perception, and you can’t use your instincts.  You have to trust the data.  You have to trust the instruments.  You make decisions and take action based on what you see.

In project management, there is a place for instincts, but they can sure get you in trouble quick.  You need to a reliable source of real data.  You need to know what work has been done – for sure.  You need to know what work is left.  Depending on your industry, you may need to know how much money has been spent.  I'm not talking about looking at your nice little report on your project management software dashboard either unless you have the maturity as an organization to trust what you see.  No, you have to ask questions and dig until you know, for sure, exactly where you are at all times and exactly where you have to go.  Otherwise, you are flying blind.  That is a pleasant place to be, until you suddenly realize that you have just become another accident statistic.

Happy project piloting…

You may have heard of the troubles of the Boeing 787 "Dreamliner" lately.  All fifty or so of these airplanes have been grounded due to a risk of fire from their batteries.  The lithium ion batteries are new - not the traditional batteries you would find on an airliner.  They are lighter, have more capacity, include more capability, and have more risk.

This is a good lesson in risk management.  Is it not true that no matter how much we test some new technology or a new way of doing things, there is almost always something we could not foresee.  Perhaps we never anticipated a user would use it that way, or that someone would make that mistake, or that someone actually uses this obscure but important feature in the old technology.

We have to expect these things in project management.  It's like when our car has a problem and we have to take it in for maintenance.  Is that really a surprise?  I mean, who hasn't had a car with a problem?  That's part of life.  It should be planned for and expected.  Same thing with projects - especially those with new technologies.  Think differently and when those unexpected glitches arrive it won't be a catastrophe.

Part of this of course is setting expectations.  I am an optimist and would prefer to lay out an optimistic plan for clients.  I have to continually remind myself to be realistic and expect the unexpected.  Something else runs late, something takes longer than expected, scope changes, or a problem "unexpectedly" pops up.  Well, it shouldn't be unexpected because...problems come up.

It's the same way when piloting an airplane.  Piloting an airplane is easy.  What is hard is the risk management and decision making.  Accidents happen because pilots get themselves in trouble.  Pilot training includes dealing with what ifs: what if my primary instruments fail, what if I lose communications, what if the weather deteriorates?

What "what ifs" are you training for, anticipating, and watching for in your projects?

Happy project piloting...

Did you see the movie Flight by Denzel Washington?  [Spoiler alert] The pilot (played by Washington) saved a plane from crashing by flipping it upside down to stop it from diving to the ground.  There is some level of truth in the principle there - a plane's wings can theoretically can fly upside down.  The point here is that the pilot understood how things worked - why a plane flies, how the controls work, how the aircraft systems work.

Do we?  Do we understand how things work in our project management arena in order to make effective decisions in the pressure situations?  Have we taken the time to understand how the organization makes decisions?  And who really has what power?  Do you know the organization's products and services and how the customer uses them?  Do you understand the management software and tools your organization uses to manage work?  Have you taken the time to understand the personality types of the people around you on your direct and indirect teams?

Just like a pilot needs to understand how things work to make the right decision when needed, a project manager needs to understand how things work in the organization and culture around them.  You cannot fly by the seat of your pants, and you cannot put your head down and focus exclusively on your project.  You have to put forth the effort to improve your understanding...if you want to become a real value-add to your organization.

Happy project piloting...

"The best landing is one you walk away from" is an old adage told by pilots.  That was back from the "golden days" of flying where there was a lot more seat of your pants flying.  Is the best project one in which you walk away from?  How many projects have ended...well...with a rather high dose of excitement?  How do we make those "landings" unexciting and routine?  Here are some random aviation-inspired lessons:

1.  Take the time to prepare for the conclusion.

Before a flight descends from altitude, makes its approach, and lands, the pilots will review what is about to happen.  Which approach are we likely to be assigned?  What runway?  Who will we need to talk to on the radios?  How much fuel do we have remaining?  How will we divide up the cockpit responsibilities?  In many cases, they will also do this before they even take off.

Don't let things just happen in the final phases of a project.  Be proactive.  Prepare.  Who needs to be kept informed?  Who will make decisions?  Review exactly what "done" really means.  Who needs to sign off?  What issues are going to bite us?

2.  Follow a process.

Pilots have a clear process for how the descent will occur.  They have checklists for when to descend, what the crew responsibilities are, what to review, how to setup the aircraft, etc.

3.  Maintain constant communication.

When a project is almost done, people (I'm talking to you stakeholders) seem to get the craziest ideas in their head.  They forget what was originally agreed upon.  Instead of a software module that produces an analysis report, they all of a sudden expect a software module that produces an analysis report and automatically goes through a decision matrix.  They may hear a rumor that the project will be done next week, when that is just a single milestone in the "descent" process.  Pilots communicate continuously while descending.  You do the same.  Keep everyone informed constantly about the conclusion to your project.  Be clear, concise, and direct.  Don't let anyone assume.

Here's to making your project landing uneventful.

Happy project piloting...

I was flying back to Nashville yesterday and was thinking about how we take flying for granted.  Does anyone appreciate the fact that we are hurtling in an aluminum tube at 400+ miles an hour 5 miles in the air?  And it is safe and relatively reliable.  It is downright boring and we take it for granted.  We expect it.

Our projects are usually exciting.  They tend to be filled with challenges, impossible deadlines, late deliveries, politics, resource conflicts, poor team dynamics, changing requirements, clients that change their minds, and a rush to the finish line (only to start all over again).

What if our projects were boring?  What if our processes and culture was such that the clients of our project management practices could rely on the project getting to the finish line reliably without a lot of drama and excitement?  What would that look like?

Some problems I see:

• Do some of us like the drama?  After all, if there was no drama, there would be less need for a top-level project manager.
• Is it possible to not have such a high level of drama or is it something we just have to accept?
  
• Clients and stakeholders can sometimes be sources of the drama.
• Does there need to be an underlying focus on changing the culture?

What are your thoughts?

In 1989, a United Airlines DC-10 lost its center engine as well as all of its hydraulics.  In essence, the plane could no longer be controlled with normal inputs from the pilots.  The crew ended up devising a strategy to use engine thrust to maintain flight.  The flight somehow made it all the way to the Sioux City, Iowa airport where it crashed right at the runway.  However, due to the amazing efforts of the crew, many lives were saved that day on the flight.

The crew used every resource they could to help achieve a successful outcome.  There was an instructor pilot who happened to be flying as a passenger on the plane.  The crew used this pilot as a fourth crew member to help manage the throttle settings.  The crew utilized air traffic control to help them identify options.  They utilized their maintenance department to help determine what the problem was.  They utilized the flight attendants to prepare the plane.  They used aircraft capabilities that perhaps were not intended for that function but were nevertheless an available resource.

The crew credited "crew resource management" training, which was proactive training to teach crew members to work together as a team and to use all available resources.  In project management, we don't do enough of training on the team skills and soft skills side of things.  But this is what really matters.  We need to instill an attitude of utilizing all resources available to us to solve challenges.  We do that by constantly training and emphasizing its importance.  Give me a project manager and a team with great soft skills and team skills over a project manager that is well schooled in how to build a PMI work breakdown structure.  I am not saying that is not important, but the soft skills and team environment is critical.

A resource could be a person, contractor, group, tool, service, lessons learned, mentor, team member, or a host of other things.

What are the resources available to you when faced with a challenge? 

Happy project piloting...