Simple Chief

Use Project Management Principles to Go From School Work to the Real World

noreply@blogger.com (GolfTipEditor) — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 00:08:00 +0000

Symptom: You did very well in school, but find yourself unable to excel in the workplace the way you dominated at school. It's tough to get clear direction, hard to figure out what you should be working on, hard to define success for your tasks -- it's just hard. So you are frustrated, and so is your boss...

Cure: Treat work assignments as Projects, with a Spec, a Schedule, and a Budget, and get these things straight before expending any effort in the workplace.

Why it Works: In school, there is a direct relationship to the effort you put in (studying, reading, taking good notes, attending class, etc.) and the outcome you get (good grades). And every class you take contributes to your GPA -- in other words, every class you take is equally important in terms of your GPA. And your GPA is your primary performance metric at school. So it follows that you should do everything as accurately and precisely as you can in order to do as well as possible.

But this is not true in the world of work. In the workplace, the assignments are often vague, the success criteria are not precisely defined, and you are not going to be given a letter grade for your work. All you can hope for is sporadic feedback from your boss and your peers, a performance review on a periodic basis, and (hopefully) nice raises along the way.

How to bridge this gap? I suggest that you view all assignments at work as projects. Every project has three competing factors -- Schedule, Spec, and Budget. For example:


Spec, Schedule, Budget always compete.

It might be more important to get the project done fast (an hour, a day, whatever) than to get it done cheaply or well, so that Schedule is the most important thing.
Or maybe, meeting the precise letter of the Spec is the most important thing. This is most similar to the classroom environment. But such situations are rare in the workplace -- most specs have some room for negotiation, especially if a different spec can save money or time.
Sometimes the Budget is the key thing, because if a budget is exceeded then a new round of approvals need to be asked for and granted, and nobody wants to ask for such approval.

Whenever you are given an assignment, you should always ask questions to clarify what is being asked. In other words, you need to define your project. The first question you should ask is about Schedule -- "When do you need it?" Getting the time frame right makes it much easier to frame, negotiate, and document the rest of the assignment.

The next question is some variant of "Please rank these factors in order of importance -- Spec, Budget, and Schedule". This question will generate good discussion about what is really being asked, what else is going on with the project, any sensitive issues that might not have been mentioned before, and so on. And don't take "All of them" for an answer -- that sort of thinking leads to lame projects that sap everybody's energy.

After this, be sure to document your understanding in a concise email, and ask for validation that you have gotten it right.

Do you promise to approach your work assignments like Projects from now on? Then tell your friends! Like, Share, Tweet, or Email below!

Copyright Simple Chief, www.SimpleChief.com, 2011-present, All Rights Reserved.

Use Effective Business Email Formats to Drive Results at Work

noreply@blogger.com (GolfTipEditor) — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 14:06:00 +0000

Symptom: Your emails don't seem to generate the immediate and decisive action you had hoped for, and you can't understand why. After all, you have a lot of important and useful information to convey to your co-workers, and your carefully-crafted essay dissected the issue at hand from all possible angles and with multiple embedded clauses and subsections. What went wrong? "Maybe everybody else is just not able to think at my high level," you say to yourself...

Cure: Don't write long, rambling emails. Make your emails easy for the recipient to read, comprehend, and react to in thirty seconds or less.

Why it Works: Long and complex email messages seldom get read, and are usually a sign that you could be using your time more effectively. Your boss probably gets hundreds of emails per day, and can only read them in between meetings, over lunch hour, or outside normal working hours. So make your email short and sweet, with clear questions, directions, or calls for action!

Short, Sweet, and to the Point, please.

Consider this situation: Let's suppose you are worried about the quality of a shipment your company is going to receive tomorrow, and you want to make people aware of your concern and why, and take appropriate action to prevent loss of business and save the company some money. A noble goal, right? Let's say it's a shipment of printed circuit boards from Thailand.

Example 1 -- A very poor email:
-------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Some Concerns
Hi Everybody, I was just thinking about some of the things that might be an issue for us in the next few weeks and I think that I may have stumbled upon something we should all take a hard look at. I know that we are all real busy but it's not a bad idea to think about this kind of thing sometimes. The shipment we will get from abroad tomorrow or in the next couple of days might have some issues. I'm just saying we should be careful about it. Thanks, Ima Badwriter
-------------------------------------------------------

Example 2 - A much better email:
-------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Defective Printed Circuit Boards May Arrive Tomorrow -- Action Required.
Dear Mr. IncomingQualityMgr,
I have been informed through several sources that tomorrow's shipment of 5,550 Printed Circuit Boards from Orient Express Inc. in Thailand may be defective. Our PO# was 345738, the FEDEX tracking number is 3847639374.

Please have your people ready to inspect the shipment upon arrival.

Call or email me with the results of the inspections once they are available.

Please let me know if any of this is unclear, or if there are other things we should also consider regarding this situation.

Best Regards,
Ima Goodwriter
874.872.9890
ImaGoodwriter@printedcircuitworld.com
-------------------------------------------------------

I hope you see the differences. The good email has:

A relevant subject line with a clear call to action.
A clear request for specific action from a specific individual.
Instructions for exactly what is to be done and what to do once the task is completed.
All pertinent detail surrounding the situation, so no followup emails will be required to understand precisely what is being requested.
An open question to the recipient to contact the sender if anything is unclear.
An invitation to improve upon the proposed course of action if there are better ideas out there.
All pertinent contact information of the writer, and so on.

The good email will drive results. The bad email will just annoy people and limit your career.

Short and Sweet
If you find that your email is getting longer than a couple paragraphs, stop and ask a few questions: Why is this concept so hard to convey concisely? Maybe I don't know what I actually want to do here, so I better stop and think about it. Do I actually need a meeting or a presentation instead? Or maybe I should just go talk to a few people and try to get a feel for the situation?

If you can't write an email that can be read, digested, and acted upon within thirty seconds, then don't send it! Get out and talk to people, and stop typing! You'll be more effective at work, and probably have more fun too!

Will this tip help you write better business emails in a format that drives results? Then tell your friends and co-workers! Like, Share, Tweet, or Email below!

Copyright 2011-present, Simple Chief, www.SimpleChief.com, All Rights Reserved

Avoid Termination or Layoffs by Staying Valuable to your Employer

noreply@blogger.com (GolfTipEditor) — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 21:08:00 +0000

Symptom: You are feeling pretty satisfied with your workplace performance, and you feel like you are paid pretty well for the work you do for your employer. Work is not all that stressful for you any more, not like the old days when you were just learning the ropes...

Cure: You need to get quite a bit more paranoid about your situation, and fast, before it's too late!

Why it Works: You and you alone are responsible for increasing your value to the company. Don't let anybody tell you otherwise. And you need to be a bit paranoid about this, a bit concerned and edgy that you might be falling behind. Because guess what--you probably are.

Here's why: As your career advances, so does your pay. It's rare for any company to give people an annual decrease in pay to correspond to decreasing output or effectiveness. So you really can't afford to become less valuable, or stay equally valuable, year after year. Otherwise you will become both overpaid and obsolete, and will eventually find yourself looking for work!

Do your job profitably to stay valuable to your employer.

Think back to your first job out of school. If you're like most people, your schooling wasn't all that relevant to your job, and at first you were not all that valuable to your company. But the company saw potential in you, and so they took a risk that you would be able to contribute profitably in a reasonable amount of time. You had a steep learning curve at first as you learned how to contribute. During this time you probably worked pretty hard and worried quite a bit about how you were doing, how to do better, how to best present your work to others, and so on.

But now you've learned your job, you're doing it competently, more-or-less earning your salary, and your employer seems basically happy with your work.

But beware! This stable situation could change very quickly. There are a lot of forces that are changing your environment, whether you acknowledge them or not:

Your company faces competition from companies with lower-cost labor.
You face competition from younger people entering the workforce.
Your company may be acquired by a competitor, with the resulting "elimination of redundant positions" that may affect you.
Your skills may be getting rusty due to inactivity.
Your energy level and drive may have tapered off a bit.
New methods and tools have evolved that you are not familiar with.

The fact is that a company must always try to hire the best people, get the most they can out of their people, and retain only the best people, in order to be competitive and viable. It's your responsibility to always provide good value to your employer.

If you want to advance your career, or even stay employed and continue your career, you need to provide ever-increasing value to your employer, even in the face of the external factors described above. Don't expect anyone else to do this for you! Take responsibility for this yourself. It's not too hard to do, just look for the nearest mess and take charge!

Copyright 2011 - present, Simple Chief, www.SimpleChief.com, All Rights Reserved.

Become an Apprentice at Your Workplace to Land the Best Jobs

noreply@blogger.com (GolfTipEditor) — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 03:11:00 +0000

Symptom: You are wondering how to learn the things you need to know to advance your career. Maybe you should go back to school? Maybe take an online college class or two? You are not really quite sure what will give you the best return on your investment.

Cure: Study the people in your workplace who are doing the best jobs, the jobs you want to do. What do these people know that you don't know? Go learn those things!

Why it Works: Whatever you know about your job, it is not enough if you want to advance your career. If you intend to advance your career, then you will need to know and do things that you don't currently know or do. I hope this is obvious to you. But where to go for these precious nuggets of information? Open your eyes. If you look around, you will quickly discover the people and behavior that gets rewarded at your company.

Take careful note of who and what is getting the positive attention. What are they doing, or what do they know, that you don't currently do or know? Set about to close this gap. You want to be an apprentice to these people. I am not talking about following them around, doing everything they do, having a master - apprentice secret handshake, and so on. I mean you start from the assumption that these people are where they are because they know and do things that you don't know or do. Hence you can learn from them. You are an apprentice.

Observe who has gotten where you want to go and learn from them.

Who should you look to first? Your boss. A good manager will be very open and receptive to this sort of question, as long as it's simple and straightforward. For example, "Can you recommend a book on ______, I know you are good at this and figured you would have a good idea where I could start." And, your boss should have a pretty clear picture of your strengths and weaknesses -- after all, they are responsible for your performance review!

In addition, every good manager knows that she cannot advance her career unless there is a suitable replacement for her. Maybe that replacement could be you!

Did this tip inspire you to look around your workplace to design your own apprenticeship program? Then tell your friends! Like, Share, Tweet, or Email below!

Copyright Simple Chief, www.SimpleChief.com, 2011 - present, All Rights Reserved.

Want the Best Job? Go After the High Visibility Mess to Gain Experience

noreply@blogger.com (GolfTipEditor) — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 19:55:00 +0000

Symptom: You do your work well, and you make contributions to your company. Your job is secure, but you are irritated that you aren't moving ahead as quickly as you feel you should. "Why can't everybody see all the potential I bring?" you think to yourself.

Cure: You, yourself, will need to take on more responsibility, seek leadership positions, and gain the experience of leading and managing others. You can't wait for this to be handed to you.

Why it Works: If you want to advance in your career, you cannot simply do what you are asked to do, or what your job description says. You must go and do more than you are asked, or appears in your job description, on your own.

This sort of risk ought to take you out of your comfort zone, make you nervous about failing, cause you some concern about how your actions might impact the people around you, and so on. It is natural to feel this way. Indeed, it is healthy. To not feel this way would be reckless.

Transform dysfunction and aim at the goal.

You can find such opportunities pretty easily. Simply look around for a big, messy problem. Every company has them. Indeed, a company without them is either boring, or going downhill, or both. Whoever can fix the problem will help the company, gain visibility, and advance their career. Such situations will give you far more practical experience within your company than a half-dozen leadership seminars, I guarantee you.

The point is that you will need to step out of your comfort zone, take on new challenges, and fight the battles as they come if you want to advance your career. Once you have the situation under control, or even have the situation understood, be sure to give an effective presentation to the people concerned.

Many senior managers decide who to promote, and give the best jobs to, by watching and seeing who distinguishes themselves from the pack. They look for the "natural leaders", those who want more responsibility, who can organize people around their vision, and so on. Promoting such people to the best jobs is a low-risk move for upper management. And so that is usually what happens. Make sure the low-risk play for your manager is you!

Will you step out of your comfort zone in order to get the best job? Tell your friends about it! Like, Share, Tweet, or Email below!

Copyright Simple Chief, www.SimpleChief.com, 2011 - present, All Rights Reserved.

Give Effective PowerPoint Presentations With Clear Graphics and Legible Text

noreply@blogger.com (GolfTipEditor) — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 13:14:00 +0000

Symptom: You feel like you are good at your job specialty. You want to do more for the company. But outside of a few people with whom you work, nobody else seems to understand what you do, or notice the quality of work you produce. And this limits your career options both within and outside your group.

Cure: Start giving effective presentations whenever you have the chance to tell anybody about your results.

Why it Works: The purpose of a presentation is NOT to impress the audience with how much you know.

Nobody likes to be told they aren't smart.

The purpose of a presentation is to convey your message to the entire audience in the most effective and efficient manner possible, so as to influence their behavior or attitudes about what you have to say.

Depending on the venue, your audience may feature people from different disciplines, backgrounds, and interest levels in your message. You are trying to influence their thoughts, opinions, and behavior to your point of view, right? Otherwise everybody in the room is wasting their time at this meeting! They should leave and get back to work if there is nothing to discuss!

Now, how to make effective presentations? Assuming you are a good speaker, there are three main things to focus on:

The Power of Pictures
You can only influence the audience if they can connect with your message. And this is best done with pictures.

I am not talking about meaningless clip art and distracting decoration, animation, and fluff on your PowerPoint template. I'm talking about showing graphs instead of data tables, flow diagrams instead of a list of bullet points, and so on.

Think Win-Win and you will be more successful.

The reason pictures work is that our brains are capable of taking in the message from a good picture or graph much, much faster than we can from reading text. And pictures cut across disciplines, cultures, languages, and other things that separate your audience members from each other. Pictures hold people's attention the way words cannot.

So whatever you have to say, say it with a picture or graphic or something other than just text. You'll find that you have a much more engaged audience!

Make it Big
Everything on your slides must be legible from the back of the room, to a person with 20/40 eyesight. You want bold type, at least 24pt (this is easy to set up on the Power Point template, so that every slide you make has a uniform look and feel). Because guess what -- if your boss is 50-ish or older, chances are they don't see as well as they used to. Don't aggravate them by putting up things they can't read! It will create a negative association that you don't need.

There is another important reason to make your text big. It's so that you hone your message and make it concise. If you have just a few words to play with on each slide, it forces you to hit only the high points, stick only to the essential things, and keep your presentation focused. And that will make it much more effective.

Preview it yourself
Nobody wants to hear you say "oh, well, this looked different on my screen" when you are presenting! Preview your presentation in the room you will be using for the presentation. Stand in the back of the room, with the lights on, and see if you can read and understand everything. Many projectors wash out or alter your carefully-chosen colors, so make adjustments as needed. The subtlety of dark green versus light green may have been stunning on your computer screen, but a green mess when projected onto a screen in a conference room.

Do you promise to make an effective presentation the next time you speak? Then let your friends know too -- Share, Like, Tweet, or Email below!

Copyright Simple Chief, www.SimpleChief.com, 2011 - present, All Rights Reserved.

Take Control of a Messy Workplace Situation by Driving Change

noreply@blogger.com (GolfTipEditor) — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 00:31:00 +0000

Symptom: You are wondering how you will get ahead at your company, how you can distinguish yourself from the pack, how you can get noticed. You have tried pushing a few ideas of your own to your boss and your co-workers, but have met with a lukewarm reception so far, and are not quite sure what to do next.

Cure: Find a mess (the biggest one you think you can handle), step in, and take charge of the situation by driving change, sorting out responsibilities, clarifying roles, and getting things back to a smooth state of affairs.

Why it Works: When a problem or mess arises at work, it is tempting to run away, point fingers, pass the buck, and so on. But a messy situation may actually be an opportunity in disguise.

In any messy situation, there is always plenty of blame to go around. Everybody involved could have made different choices along the way, which would have positively affected the outcome. And anybody could step in, at any time, and try to bring order to the chaos. But few people do.

Bring Order to a Mess to gain visibility at work.

Times of turmoil such as this are stressful. This stress reveals the character and nature of the individuals involved in a way that daily work cannot. The people that most rapidly advance in their career are those that don't pass the blame along. Rather, they ask the questions "What could I have done differently? And what can I do now, even though nobody is asking me to?"

The key word here is I. The ones who advance understand that times of crisis and change are times of opportunity. In such situations it is easy to gain the visibility and experience that you need to advance your career, if you can bring about some positive change to the situation and seize the moment.

There is another important reason to take charge of a messy situation. If all parties involved agree that the situation is messy or the system is indeed broken, then all parties will be receptive to change. It is relatively easy to align people around the idea that we need to "fix what is broken", which is crucial to getting the support you need to enact your change. So getting involved in the messy situation (assuming you can fix it, of course!) can also a very efficient use of your resources and time.

By contrast, it is hard to convince people to do things differently when there is no crisis -- most people don't want to try to fix things that aren't broken. Most organizations and people have a natural tendency to keep things the same, with only minor modifications, as long as possible.

People that can step in and take charge are the people that are called upon to lead difficult projects, to turn around failed projects, to take on bigger and larger roles, and so forth. In other words, they advance their career. So don't run away from the next mess you find, step in and fix it! It will go a long way towards advancing your career!

Did you like this tip? Will you take control of the next mess you find? Then tell a friend! Share, Like, Tweet, or Email below!

Copyright Simple Chief, www.SimpleChief.com, 2011-present, All Rights Reserved.

Go Above and Beyond -- Do a Bit More than Asked

noreply@blogger.com (GolfTipEditor) — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 23:07:00 +0000

Symptom: You do the work you are assigned by your boss, and you do it well. But you haven't yet been promoted or gotten a big raise, and you're not really sure why. Maybe she doesn't like me? Maybe it's my clothing? You're just not sure...

Cure: If you want to advance your career you need to go above and beyond, and do a bit more than you were asked.

Why it Works: An exempt employee earns a salary. This means you are not paid by the hour, or by the job. You are simply paid based on your experience, your qualifications, your education, and the prevailing market price for similar workers. How much work you do for the pay you get is an item for negotiation between you and your boss. It is also one of the central decisions that will make or break your career.

Doing a bit more than asked can have a large payoff for you.

I have personally observed a wide range of attitudes on this point -- some people always do more than they are assigned, some tend to do just barely enough. Of course people that can't complete the tasks they have been assigned generally wash out of the company fairly quickly. But a great many people, either consciously or unconsciously, figure out what it takes to get by and then adjust their work habits and output accordingly. Such people will never get the big raise, or the big promotion.

If you intend to advance your career, you must always do a bit more than you were asked. Not less. And, there is always more work to do at a growing and dynamic company -- even if it's only doing competitive analysis on the web. There's usually a lame project somewhere that could use some redefinition and reassessment. If there is really nothing else to do, that is a bad sign! Your company or group is in big trouble! It's time to start looking for a new job!

Copyright Simple Chief, www.SimpleChief.com, 2011 - present, All Rights Reserved.

"Projects" Without Specs are Mere Activities Doomed to Fail

noreply@blogger.com (GolfTipEditor) — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 17:23:00 +0000

Symptom: You find yourself very busy at work, with a lot of things to do and crises to manage, but you never quite seem to advance, and the situation never quite seems to improve for you or your peers.

Cure: Turn all your activities into projects, so that you can work toward stated goals within time, budget, and specification constraints that everybody acknowledges. Whatever can't be turned into a project is a candidate for your "stop doing" list.

Why it Works: You must avoid working on "projects" that lack specifications. People doing things without a spec are not working on a Project -- they are engaged in Activity, or perhaps a Lame Project. Unlike a Lame Project, which might produce some (sub-par) results someday, activity never produces results. Activity cannot produce results, because there is no Goal (Spec) by which to judge success. Activities are Doomed to fail. You don't want to be around them, they are bad for your career.

Activities lack a Spec and/or Schedule and/or Budget.

Either create a spec if one does not exist, force the project leader or project manager to create one, or run away from activity that is not spec-driven. Your career will be better off for it.

The paradox, of course, is that engineering or development or whomever is doing the actual work must have a precise spec to design against, or else the project cannot be executed in a way that will be successful. And, it also is true that the customer's reaction to your spec is uncertain. So if the spec you design to is wrong, you will also not be successful.

But hey, no risk, no reward! What do we pay marketing people for anyway? The role of Marketing is to see through the murk, take the calculated risk, and define the future. If you are a designer, make them do their job and define a spec for you! Don't accept anything less! If you are a marketer, stick your neck out and define what you want, don't be wishy-washy!

Or better yet, work together to define something that your company can sell and you can produce in a reasonable time, for a profit. People that can do this are truly valuable, and will be the ones that advance their career within the company.

Did this tip inspire you to turn your activities into projects? Then tell your friends! Like, Share, Tweet, or Email below!

Copyright 2011- present, Simple Chief, www.SimpleChief.com, All Rights Reserved.

Treat Your Company's Money As Your Own

noreply@blogger.com (GolfTipEditor) — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 19:43:00 +0000

Symptom: You seek broader business responsibility within your organization, but can't seem to get people to view you as someone with "business sense" and an "operations mindset", because of your current role as a specialist in your discipline.

Cure: You should treat your company's money as your own. That is, you should seek out ways to track, save, and conserve the company's money, and invest it wisely when it is time to spend money.

To whom would you give the raise?

Why it Works: This point goes deeper than a simple "don't steal from the company because stealing is bad" message. Being frugal and thrifty with the company's money is one of the most powerful, and quantifiable, ways to demonstrate your worth to your employer, and turn your job into the career you want.

Most people don't waste company money. But very few people, especially specialists in their disciplines, look for ways to aggressively save or wisely invest company money. Those are the people who stand apart from the crowd. Good businesses are always looking for people with specialized skills who can also think on a more general, business level.

Being frugal is also good for your job security, because when a company needs to figure out how to save money (which is always!), they are not likely to let people go who are good at saving money! Or if the company needs to expand into a new market, a new manufacturing venture, a new acquisition, or whatever, who will they put on the team? Somebody who can spot a good deal, and works to save money! Make sure that person is you!

Did this tip inspire you to track your spending and find ways to save? Then tell your friends! Share, Like, Tweet, or Email below!

Copyright Simple Chief, www.SimpleChief.com, 2011-present, All Rights Reserved.

Email is Not Enough! You Must Talk to People Too

noreply@blogger.com (GolfTipEditor) — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 15:03:00 +0000

Symptom: You feel like you are doing a good job of communicating at work, yet somehow you always seem to miss out on the timely, fast-breaking, important information that runs through informal workplace channels. Since you are not in the know, opportunities pass you by, leaving you frustrated and confused.

Cure: If you can choose between talking to someone at work and writing an email to them, consider exercising your vocal chords instead, or in addition to, your fingertips.

Why it Works: Obviously email is an important part of the workplace. It is fast, efficient, traceable, and easy.

It is also very impersonal. And often it is not very effective at driving results.

Why does this matter to you, the up-and-comer seeking to advance your career? Consider the following:

Conversation provides far more insight than email.

Written communication is inherently limited in the amount and type of information that can be conveyed. Context, nuance, inflection, body language, and other such intangible forms of expression cannot be easily communicated with email.
Email exchanges cannot form a meaningful bond between people. Without a bond between people, you cannot find synergy, or common ground, or creative solutions to problems, and other things that can grow value for you and your company.
People will generally say things to you that they would never write in an email (after all, email lives forever, but conversations can remain private). If you want the "real" scoop on almost any subject, you need to talk with people.
Email is easy to ignore. A person standing in front of you is much harder to ignore.

Even if you need to write an email to convey information to people, it is always a good idea to follow up verbally to make sure the point sticks. Similarly, after a personal conversation, you should follow up with a short email summarizing your discussion, and to make sure that you document what you have both agreed to. In both cases you are using email in conjunction with verbal discussion to maximize your effectiveness at work.

Did this tip get you off your butt and out and about talking to people? Then tell your friends! Share, Like, Tweet, or Email below!

Copyright 2011, Simple Chief, www.SimpleChief.com, All Rights Reserved.

Explain What You're Doing in Thirty Seconds

noreply@blogger.com (GolfTipEditor) — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 22:33:00 +0000

Symptom: When your boss asks you what you're up to, she soon starts fidgeting, looking around, checking the time, looking around some more, and so on. Eventually she cuts you off and says something like "sounds great, thanks" and moves along. And you hadn't even gotten to the important stuff yet!

Cure: You should be able to concisely explain what you are doing, and how your work aligns with the bigger picture, to anybody who asks, in about thirty seconds.

An ideal answer to a casual query.

Why it Works: You need to be able to explain what you are doing to people familiar with your work, but more importantly, to people unfamiliar with your work. The goal is not to impress the other party with your vast knowledge, but to make a connection and a contact, and to perhaps learn something new that may be of value to you.

There are a lot of excellent reasons for you to have your 30-second explanation ready at all times.

You need to completely understand how your actions are aligned with the objectives of your company, your department, your boss, and so on. Indeed, if you can't do this, how can you possibly know if you are doing the right things on a daily basis?
Nobody really wants to listen to you prattle on about the details of what you are actually are doing. What they want to know is if what your doing might affect them in some way.

Often, opportunities for advancement lie outside your department, not within. Being able to converse easily with people from a broad range of backgrounds and disciplines can help your standing when such opportunities arise. A concise explanation of what you are doing can serve as a good ice-breaker to get the conversation rolling.
By explaining what you are doing and why in a concise manner, the questioner will understand you much more readily. Most people will not ask for clarification if they don't quite understand you, for fear of looking foolish. If they understand what you are doing, they are much more likely to be able to help you in some way. Which would be good for all parties, and your company, and hence your career.

Fix or Kill Lame Projects

noreply@blogger.com (GolfTipEditor) — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 16:47:00 +0000

Symptom: You feel trapped by a project from hell -- it won't die, yet it won't succeed either. It just plods along, slowly, inexorably, day after day, week after week, onward but not upward. Your energy is sapped and you are thinking about dusting off your resume and shopping it around...

Cure: Force a crisis that will either fix or kill your lame project.

Why it Works: You need to deal with lame projects aggressively, before somebody else does. Because, believe me, somebody eventually will deal with the lame project, and it will not be pleasant.

A lame project is one that is underfunded, ill-defined, set up to fail, has lukewarm support from management, or something similar. You cannot afford to be associated with lame projects, for many reasons:

The stigma of the lame project can rub off on you and limit your career.
The lame project might get terminated abruptly, leaving you scrambling to find another job either inside or outside the company.
At the very least, a bad project will sap your energy and enthusiasm for your work. And this will certainly diminish your performance on the job.

Where do lame projects come from? After all, every project seemed like a good idea at inception. But, along the way, things in the environment change -- the market, the competition, the technology, whatever. In a lame project, the project scope and charter do not change to align to the new reality. Often it is politically easier for managers to keep a project going than to kill it outright. This is bad project management, and a bad practice. But it happens all the time, even in good companies.

Learn to spot a lame project quickly, and then fix, kill, or avoid it.

You need to stay away from, or get off bad projects. But how? Simple, really. You force a crisis. It's not too hard to do. Ask a few simple questions of the project sponsors and see what answers you get:

Where is the spec? If there is no spec, it's not a project, it's an activity. A very bad sign.
Who is the customer? If there is no lead customer who you know will buy the thing you are working on, that is a bad sign.
What is the ROI? It had better be reasonable, and positive, with upside.
Where is the schedule? Are we on schedule? If there is no schedule, run away!
What is the budget? Are we under budget? Projects that are over budget draw attention from high-level executives, often far removed from the details of what you are doing. Not good.

Taking on these issues directly will force your company's management to take notice of you, which will also raise your visibility within the company. And that is a good thing.

Hopefully the project shapes up (good), or it goes away and you are assigned to a new, better project (also good). Either way, you win by being proactive and aggressive.

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