Times Square "The Crossroads of the World" on New Year's Eve..what a site!

And, for those of you that are interested, here’s the ball that slides down the pole ticking off  the final 60 seconds of the  year. When it hits the bottom, the crowd goes wild!

Times Square Ball..marking the end, and the beginning

For hundreds of millions this season marks Christmas, the birth of Jesus Christ, savior to many, and the Christmas Tree. Here’s the Christmas Tree in Rockefeller Center in Manhattan.  Each day more than several hundred thousand visitors from all over the world wander through this magnificent public space to enjoy the spectacle of the tree and it’s thousands and thousands of lights. It’s a great tradition started many years ago. Don’t ever pass up a chance to visit Rockefeller Center during the Christmas season. It is, in my humble view, the most beautiful Christmas Tree in the world!

Christmas Tree at Rockefeller Center. It is simply stunning.

This time of year we also see millions celebrating Hanukkah which is an eight-day Jewish Holiday commemorating the rededication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. It’s symbol is the very recognizable, and beautiful, Menorah shown below.

Yet, for millions of others  Kwanzaa, an African American and Pan-African holiday is celebrated throughout the world African community. Here is their vibrant symbol below.

And, then there’s Festivus…Festivus? Yes, Festivus, a celebration founded by George Costanza’s father, Frank (played by Jerry Stiller)  in the epic Seinfeld series. He called it a “Festivus for the rest of us.” Meaning, here’s a day to celebrate for those who don’t celebrate anything at all. If you have a few minutes watch this clip from the eposide where the gang is talking about Festivus….it’s hilarious!

However way you celebrate, let me me wish you and your family a very happy and merry and peaceful holiday season. See you in the New Year!

Come on Lucky 7!

In his latest book Great by Choice (co-authored with Mort Hansen) Jim Collins has introduced the concept of return on luck (ROL).  According to Collins and Hansen, the difference between people who are successful and those who are 10X times as successful has to do with how they have capitalized on the luck they happened to stumble across.

Succinctly stated luck can be defined as an “event” that has three characteristics. Here’s how they put it: “We defined a “luck event” as one that meets three tests. First, some significant aspect of the event occurs largely or entirely independent of the actions of the enterprise’s main actors. Second, the event has a potentially significant consequence — good or bad.  And, third, it has some element of unpredictability.”

They use as an example none other than Bill Gates (doesn’t it seem that every management pundit either uses Bill Gates or Steve Jobs to illustrate an example….yet they represent something like .0000000000001 of the world’s population…oh well, it makes for good business book fodder I guess). Good old Bill was born into an upper middle class (whatever that means) family with a lot of opportunity. But, they write, so were a lot of people. However, it’s what he did with that situation that made all the difference.

According to Collins and Hansen, Bill noticed he was lucky and did something about it. I don’t buy that at all. Bill Gates, by all accounts, was a geek and simply followed his interests. I don’t think he had some Eureka moment where he thought to himself “gee, if I drop out of Harvard and do this software stuff one day I’ll have $50 billion dollars. So let me work my patooty off to make it happen.” (Ever notice how some people are more famous for dropping out of Harvard than putting their nose to the grindstone and actually earning a college degree someplace else?)

I think he came to the conclusion that living in Cambridge, Mass  was boring and the winters were a lot colder than in the Seattle suburbs, Harvard courses were hard and monotonous, and writing software just happened to be a lot more interesting. No one was grading you and you didn’t have to get up at 8:00 AM and walk across Hahvahd Yahd to take some worthless Pysch 101 snoozer.

All this makes for somewhat interesting reading I guess, but the point for us mere mortal project managers (that’s how I see myself anyway)  is how do we handle luck when we do stumble upon it? Are we maximizing our return on luck, our ROL as Hansen and Collins would put it?

Ask many project managers and they will say they have luck all right: bad luck! Many will claim they’re SOL with missing sponsors, unreasonable stakeholders, and not enough time, resources, and money to go around. Others might claim they did a good job because of dumb luck!

However, even project managers occasionally run into a bit of good luck. And, according to Collins’ and Hansen’s nine year study (imagine studying luck for 9 years) it’s what we do with it that makes a difference.They do have an interesting message though.

Look for luck. It’s there, and there’s a return to be had. You just have to make something out of it!

He was the voice of Looney Tunes..who could ever forget?

For those cultures who bury their dead (as opposed to cremation or the ultimate “green” approach used by Zoroastrians..read here), it is not uncommon, at least in the United States where I live, to place on the burial ground a memorial typically made of concrete.

Engraved into the stone is the name and dates of birth and death of the individual. On others, there is also a “statement” or what is known as an “epitaph,” some pithy quote, poem, or other literary expression by which the deceased (or, “dearly departed”) would like to be remembered.

Here’s an example of the epitaph of one of the great cartoon voice-over artists in history, Mel Blanc, who was the voice of Porky Pig, Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Yosemite Sam, and countless others. The epitaph was the signoff by Porky Pig at the end of each Warner Bros. cartoon. It was priceless.

Watch for yourself.

A staple in business seminars is for the facilitator to ask the audience how each would like to be remembered by asking them to write their own obituary. Boring; this takes too long, and quite frankly, it’s just not as captivating as it used to be.

What’s a better excersie is to have each person write their epitaph as they have to be more succinct, a lot more succinct.  So, let’s do it.

Imagine you’ve reached the end of a long, successful and glorious career as a project manager.  Sadly, you’ve gone to the great beyond. But right before you took your last breath you told your friend what you wanted written on your gravestone to be remembered for all the good project management services you provided……what would you write?

Here’s an example of what I would like my epitaph to read. Get the idea?

Oh, if it were only true!

How would your epitaph read? Send me your writeup in the comment section of this blog post (below). For the person who sends in the best one (meaning, funny, pithy, outrageous, serious, baleful, or whatever) I will send a free copy of Ginger Levin and my new book Program Management Complexity, A Competency Model published by CRC Press, and ten, yes 10 copies of my Dictionary of Project Management Terms, 3rd edition published by ESI International (one for you and 9 of your friends).

Contest ends January 15, 2012, so get writing. Submit as many entries as you’d like.

That’s All Folks!

When I say resources are as scarce as hen’s teeth, it’s really true!

I get a real kick when I read that project managers have to negotiate for resources. This is staple material in just about every book and every presentation on forming teams in project management. It’s as if people are waiting in line for you to pick them (well, with unemployment so high now, maybe they are!) and they would just jump at the chance to work on your project so you just have to hone your negotiation skills and compete against some other project manager to get them on your team. This is nonsense for two reasons.

The first is that resources are never waiting in line at your door (or, most likely, your cube); they’re not waiting by the phone like some recently released field goal kicker in the NFL hoping for another shot; and, they’re not scouring their email/IM/LinkedIn/Twitter accounts hoping you sent them a message. The good ones, at least, are toiling away on some important project and probably don’t even know you exist. So, your boss or someone else starts assigning folks to your team and you’ve got to make the most of the hand you’re dealt. Most project managers tell me they never negotiate for resources; those resources are simply given to them whether they like it or not.

The second reality is even if there are the good ones (team members that is) waiting in the wings, and you do have the opportunity to truly negotiate for them, why would they want to be on your team? All the books, articles, and presentations on the subject naievly assume they’re out there for the taking if you just ask. But ask yourself this question: “what did I do for this person the last time he or she was on my project team that would actually make them want to be on my team again.” To me, this is where you’d have to do the negotiating. Convincing someone it’s in their best interest to be on your team. You never see this written in these project management tomes.

So, why would, or should, someone want to join your team? Do you, for example, at the start of a project meet with folks individually and ask them what experiences or professional development they would like to get from working with you? Do you ask in what areas would they want to grow technically or from a management perspective? Do you make it a point to try to meet their requests? Or, do you put the work of the project so far ahead of those working on it, that professional development is merely a byproduct of their efforts and has almost nothing to do with any conscious action on your part? (As an example, it sounds like they’re working them to death at Zynga these days based on this article in the NY Times. Tough times for PMs, AND team members…they’re just hoping for a big payout when the IPO is done!)

Project work is transitory, but developing people is a never-ending process. As responsible project managers it is incumbent upon us to help grow those who come into our sphere of influence not merely because it’s good for the project, or even the organization, it is really our moral responsibility as professionals to promote life-long learning and advancement. Otherwise, how else would our profession grow?

Talk about hen’s teeth, I read a very interesting quote in the sports pages the other day. Seems like Robert Donewald, Jr., head coach of the Chinese National Basketball team, was lamenting the fact he can’t find a player to fill a key role. He remarked to the press “What’s amazing is in a land of 1.3 billion people I can’t find a point guard.” And you think you have problems.

Bob Donewald..even he has trouble finding resources

“It’s such a small ambition and sad really,” Mr. Jobs remarked. “They should want to build something, something that lasts.”

Such a small ambition

As I read this quote, I thought of a conversation I had with a PMO Director of a major mid-west health system who said something along the lines of “I don’t care if the project really works out. I’m incentivized to bring it in on time and on schedule. If it works or not is someone else’s problem.”

The Iron Triangle has taken such a strong hold in this organization that whether the product or service produced by this project, or any other project, is really not the concern of the project manager; just getting it done according to time and budget is what counts. That’s what they’re told to do, that’s what’s expected of them, and that’s how their pay check and bonus is being calculated.

And yet, we read all these articles from smart folks who claim that the project manager needs to be vitally concerned about whether the project is bringing “value to the organization,” and to make sure that the project “is aligned with corporate strategy.” In my view, these pundits, while well-meaning, have lost touch with reality.

Why do I say this?

He just does what he's told

Just look at the newly revised Role Delineation Study from PMI, a study done based on what real project managers are doing day in and day out. They’ve deleted any mention of the project manager being responsible for project selection. Seems like all this “MBA” talk of value and strategic alignment really doesn’t apply to PMs does it? PMs are the “mechanics” who get the job done according to other’s dictates.

Is this really the way it is, or should be? If it is, can we say that our role as project managers really amounts to a “small ambition”? Shouldn’t we as PMs really care if the project is the right one, selected for all the right reasons, and will ultimately bring to fruition some piece of the organization’s strategy?

In the end we are paid to get work done. And, as PMI has discovered through its global task analysis of project managers, it’s someone else’s job to figure out if we are doing the right work and if it really makes a difference to the organization; to quote the late Mr. Jobs, “…sad really.”

Bernard Baruch: New York Financier & Philanthropist (long gone!)

Hammers are a good analogy for project management methodologies why? Well, it has to do with how many PMO Heads, globally, are measuring the success of their PMOs; no, not by hammers, but by the use of a project management methodology. That’s right. In our recent survey Global State of the PMO, 50% of the approximately 3500 respondents reported that an important criteria of success has to do with how many of their project managers are using their project management methodology.

Let me ask you a question: do you measure the quality of a new home by measuring if all the carpenters used a hammer? And a specific one at that? I doubt it. You measure the quality of your new home by inspecting the end result, the home itself.

Would YOU care if they all used the same hammers?

In my humble view 99.99999% of our stakeholders really don’t give a hoot if we used a methodology or not.  All they really care about is if  it turned out as they hoped (and maybe prayed) it would.  So running to the head of the company claiming PMO success because everyone used some sort of method is really not in your best career interest.

I once asked the President of ESI if it was important to him that every project in the company had a WBS. He responded diplomatically stating that if a project manager found it useful, then using a WBS was fine. If that person didn’t that was fine too. What he wanted was the project done right.  Accordingly, he would not measure the success of project management based on tool usage; he would measure it on outcomes.

As project and PMO professionals we may care that our folks use a good methodology  because we either have some underlying faith, or perhaps even some stats, that using a methodology is actually a good thing and helps cause success.  And even if we tout to clients that we use a methodology as part of the “selling” our services to them, ultimately, they don’t care at all. They care about the end result. If you used a methodology, or you did it with chewing gum and bailing wire, so long as they get what they expected, at the negotiated price, that’s what ultimately matters.

Think of it this way: a project management methodology is one of the “inputs” to project management. What clients care about is the “outputs.” In other words, what they received for the money. My advice is if you really want to prove the value and effectiveness of your PMO, you’ve got to focus on the outputs, not the inputs, at least when making the “case” for PM to executives.  Leave the “inputs” conversation to your PM friends; only they will really appreciate what you’re saying.

• the annual revenue or budget of their company or organization
• the successes achieved by their PMO
• whether their PMO measures its own effectiveness.

Here are some selected charts from my presentation with the data.  The chart below shows that one in five do not know anything about the revenue or budget of their organization.

One in five don't know!

Here’s one that shows that many (based on write in statements) don’t know, and cannot name, any successes their PMO has had.

And, the mother of all “don’t knows” this one shows how many don’t know if their PMO is measuring their own success. Note that we divided the respondents into two groups: those who work directly for a PMO and those who don’t but who are “under the influence” of the PMO.

18% of those in the PMO don't know if their PMO is measuring its effectiveness...how odd

I may be wrong, and call me old fashion, but I think everyone in a company or organizaiton, from shipping and receiving to the CEO should know how much money they make or spend (I know the CEO knows!). It’s one of the most fundamental pieces of business knowledge. No wonder people outside of PM think we in PM are just “PM Geeks” just obsessing over WBS charts.

With respect to not knowing about PMO sucesses, that’s another story. Maybe the PMO has not been successful at all, at least in any meanginful way, or the PMO head has his or her head buried in their new iPad and never communicates to the staff.

But it’s shamefull that upwards of 30% of project managers do not know whether their PMO is measuring their effectiveness. Whose fault is that? It all starts with the PMO head in my view. That person has done a pathetic job of communicating to his or her stakeholders? But the question is why? Why wouldn’t the PMO head communicate such important information to those he or she influences? Any ideas? I ran out of them.

Bob Dylan was once interviewed by a journalist who said something like: “Mr Dylan, you’re a folk hero, a legend, your albums have sold millions and you’re a spokesperson for a generation. How do you explain it.” Mr. Dylan dryly commented “It’s a mystery to me too.” That’s sort of how I feel about the total lack of communication by some PMO heads. It’s all such a mystery.

I only like the cashews in a Mixed Nuts bowl….

When we were ready for round two (honestly, that was our last round!) we had eaten most of the nuts and the waitress asked, in fairly good English, did we want more. Trying to get her to laugh, I said “sure, but we just want the cashews.” Rather than burst out laughing at my seemingly rediculous request she said “hai,” the Japanese word for yes, and literally ran away to get us more.

As I peered down the bar I couldn’t believe what I saw. She was actually using a spoon to select only the cashews from the big jar of mixed nuts for Raed and me. I was floored (but obviously delighted because that’s all I ever want from a dish of mixed nuts). There’s no wait staff anywhere on earth that would ever do that I thought.

Just cashews….just what I like!

I often say this to wait staff just to get a reaction, and everytime I do it the flight attendant, waiter, or waitress bursst out laughing as if my request were just one big joke, which, of course, I always mean it to be. But this Japanese cocktail waitress took my request literally and delivered! Maybe her day job was as a Business Analyst and she was just trying to meet my “requirements”!
How many requests do you receive from stakeholders that you might consider ridiculous or unreasonable on their face so you think about all those negotiation classes you’ve taken (everyone around the world takes the same negotiation classes by the way) and try to reason your way out of it. But what if, just what if, you said “sure, no problem,” or “roger that,” or “I’m on it,” or “consider it done,” or “10-4,” and then you went and delivered. You’d forever stay in the mind of that stakeholder just like that Japanese cocktail waitress has stayed in my mind all these years.

I will never forget her very high level of service!

By the way, if Raed is ever speaking in your area, go see him. He’s one of the best presenters on the circuit and I don’t care how many pundits and grand pubahs are there. He trumps just about everyone.

Raed Haddad: one of the best on the circuit!

Oh, and pass the cashews (lightly salted please)!

Forget a team..I know some people who can eat 2 by themselves!

You may have heard of this already, and if you have skip this and launch your Angry Birds app. But I just read about Amazon’s two-pizza team rule which states:

If a project team can eat more than two pizzas, it’s too large.

First, let’s get something out of the way. Where you can find the best pizza on earth???….no, it’s not in New York City, and for sure, it’s not in Chicago.

It’s in New Haven, Connecticut at Pepe’s Pizza, where they still make the “Original Tomatoe Pies” or “abeets” as they call it (full disclosure: I was born and raised in New Haven so I’m a bit biased).

Pepe's Pizza..the best on earth..Frank in the early days..he's gone, but his legacy lives on!

O.k., now that that’s out of the way, let’s look at this rule. How many people can eat two pizzas?

Well, if you do some math it looks like this. Most people (who are not gluttons) will eat maybe 2 slices. If you buy two large pies and they cut them into 8 slices that means 4 people per pie or 8 people total? So, 8 people is the “Maximum” size of the team; any more and you have too many.

What do you think…….do you agree?  I do.

First, my experience tells me this is a good number and second, Amazon just says what studies have shown for years about the optimum size of teams which is anywhere from 6-10. If you think this is too small, consider that this number represents the core team. You’ll also have, in many projects of any real significant size, an extended team. So, from a core team perspective this will work fine.

Like to hear your thoughts…what experience have you had with teams and the right size?

By the way, if you’re driving on I91 or I95 and you’re passing through New Haven, go to Pepe’s at 157 Wooster Street….Dominoes or Papa Johns will never seem the same. In fact, they’re not even in the same league.

What’s ironic is that, while the financial services industry was unsuccessful in defeating Dodd-Frank (to be sure they paid millions to lobbyists to persuade Congress not to pass it), they actually have a lot more control over their project management practices which are losing them millions and millions. But the hard core reality is there’s no lobbyist in the world that can help them there. So, what’s going on?

In a recent report by the Economist Intelligence Unit, only 17% of financial services organizations deliver projects on time-and only 20% deliver projects on budget-at least 90% of the time. The reasons for these failures?  Let’s look at the top three-
 
1. Unrealistic project goals
2. Poor alignment between project goals and organizational goals
3. Inadequate human resources.

Is this your project sponsor?

One other interesting issue revealed in the survey is the lack of diligence on the part of bank executives when a project is headed for trouble. More than a quarter of project sponsors wait until a project is in serious trouble before getting involved, and another 7% never get involved (where do they go I wonder?). Something is really out of whack here. Project sponsorship must be a very foreign concept in this industry.

When a product doesn’t get delivered on time, when cost overruns erode a business case, or when we work people to death because we have grand dreams but few to bring them to fruition, we know instinctively that this adds up to real money. How much can be anybody’s guess, but given the nature of this industry and their projects my guess is it adds up to an awful lot.

I wish the bankers would spend at least half as much time complaining-and doing something-about their poor project management practices as they do about Dodd-Frank. Because if they did, I bet they’d see a rise in their sinking stock prices.