Posts Tagged ‘Manager’

This month, a very interesting book that I anticipated was released: "The Plugged-in Manger: Get in Tune with Your People, Technology and Organization to Thrive" by professor Terri Griffith, a seasoned management and technology expert. Terri describes a game-changing approach to management that is based on the concept of being plugged into each one of the organizational dimensions – people, technology and organizational processes – simultaneously. Oftentimes, managers underemphasize one of the components – say, they address the people and organizational processes, but overlook the technological dimension. Or conversely, some consider technology to be a lifesaver per se. The balance of people, technology and process is something that I think is really important for any organization, and I often referred to this triangle in my previous posts. So it was a pleasure for me to meet Terri and discuss this topic, as well as find out more about her new book. Naturally, our conversation went way beyond defining who exactly a "plugged-in manager" is, as we proceeded to talk about the role technology plays in modern business. To know more about the concept of a plugged-in manager, the best ways to leverage technology and to discover some curious examples from Terri's experience, as well as mine, I invite you to listen to the podcast with our conversation.

For your convenience, here's also a transcript of the interview below. In your work, do you put more emphasis on people, processes or technology? Do you consider yourself a plugged-in manager?

P.S. You can get your own copy of “The Plugged-in Manger: Get in Tune with Your People, Technology and Organization to Thrive” on Amazon.

Andrew: Hi everyone, it’s great to hear you on our podcast today. And let me introduce our honored guest. Terri Griffith is a professor in Santa Clara University's Leavey School of Business. Located in the heart of the Silicon Valley, she studies how we mix together the technology of work (everything from telepresence to the size and type of tools a crew would use to build a fence), the way we organize to do this work (virtual teams, collaborative leadership, innovation strategies), and the knowledge, skills, and abilities of the people we work with. Terri has just released a new book called “The Plugged-In Manager: Get in Tune with Your People, Technology, and Organization to Thrive.” The book addresses an important topic that’s very relevant to what I usually write about: how we become more productive, how we work together both in the same office and in virtual teams. Terri, it’s definitely an honor and pleasure to have you here today with us.

Terri: Thank you very much!

Andrew: Let me jump straight into the questions. And the first one, I think you can already guess what it is. Could you tell the listeners who exactly the plugged-in manager is and how he or she is different from most managers we see.

Terri: First I’ll say that anybody can be a plugged-in manager because I think individual contributors, as well as managers, teams and even organizations, can be plugged in. They make sure that, as they think about an organizational practice, as they think about getting their work done, they think about the people — so what the skills are that the people have, how long they’ve been in the organization, the kinds of things they like to do. They think about the technology tools that they have available to them. So, like you said in the introduction, everything from telepresence to collaboration tools, to the kinds of tools we would use to build a fence, all those are the different kinds of technologies that we have at our disposal. And then what are the organizational process issues that we need to address as we think about the work that we’re trying to get done. A plugged-in manager is somebody who’s going to think about all three of those at the same time and going to understand that you have to mix them together. So if we’re going to use a particular technology tool, we may have to provide some training, and it may work out better if we have a certain kind of individual that we’ve already hired.

On the other hand, if we have a bunch of expert employees, we may not have to provide so much training. So the people would reduce the amount of organizational processes we might have to deal with, even though we were choosing a pretty sophisticated technology. I think the big difference is plugged-in managers, plugged-in organizations, they don’t seem to think about there being a magic bullet — that if I just had that technology, or if just hired that one person, or if just changed this one organizational process. They know that’s never going to work, it’s always going to be some combination of the people, the technology and the organization that really make something work well.

Andrew: I absolutely agree with you. This triangle of people, tools and processes is definitely crucial. And in my career, I’ve seen a lot of organization overemphasizing or underemphasizing part of that. My opinion is that people definitely are the cornerstone in that. Because, obviously, people make the choices on tools and processes, but other components, nevertheless, are also very important. Do you share the same view in terms of priorities between those three?

Terri: I’d say those priorities are right, but I’m thinking about Andrew McAfee’s new book “Race Against the Machine” or even Jonathan Zittrain’s book, where they talk about how a lot of our work is being taken over by the technology itself. You know, an algorithm might be choosing what articles are going to get presented on a newspaper, rather than an editor. And so, at the tail end of the whole distribution of how we might think about how the choices get made. I’m going to say people play the biggest piece because they are generally the ones doing the work. But I think as we move into the future, we’re going to have to keep a pretty open mind. Is it a technology that’s making this choice for us? And it may be the case that, originally, it was people who wrote the code that is making that choice, but it’s going to become more of an open question as we move forward.

Andrew: Yes, that’s definitely an interesting view. I’m a big fan of AI (artificial intelligence), so definitely one thing that I see on the market today is the concept of the big data, right? That we accumulate more and more data, and we come up with more and more sophisticated algorithms to process that data and build intelligence out of that data. So that’s an interesting angle.

And one other insight that popped in my mind is that, obviously, some people are key to the success. But then processes and tools actually help them influence other people on the team. It’s kind of an interesting flow where you may have a champion, somebody who is either creative or smart or experienced or versatile in change management. And then, through the use of tools and technologies, they actually multiply that knowledge or culture power. Going back to the plugged-in manager and to your definition, do you see many managers right now who you could say are really plugged-in, or is there still a way to go for all of us?

Terri: I’m not sure about you because the technology your company is putting out is pretty plugged-in, in my perspective. But I’m a little bit sad to say that it’s more rare than it is common for me to get into a conversation with someone and to immediately be able to say: “Wow, that person gets it, that person’s completely plugged-in.” We collect a lot of data about this, and we continue to collect it because we want to make sure we have a tool that will help us assess different levels of how plugged-in you are, and then hopefully we’ll be able to change the kind of training and workshops to be based on the kinds of results that we’re getting. While a lot of people think they are plugged-in, when we actually put them in situations where we want them to make choices, often they are biased toward taking the shiny technology. And they’ll go rank a technology solution higher than a solution that includes the technology, the organization and the people.

We’re doing whatever we can to make that change, and we would like it to be really common for somebody to sit down and say: “All right, we have a new team project we need to do. What are the technology tools we are going to use, who are the people that we need to have on this team, and what’s our process going to be? Is it going to be a very face-to-face kind of process? Is it going to be more virtual? How are we going to approach the problem? And just have it be super common that everybody goes through that kind of three-point checklist of people, technology and organizational process. But I’m not seeing that yet.

Andrew: I like Gartner’s hype curve. They do an aggregate, but even when we look at the particular person or organization, oftentimes what happens is they get excited about a shiny tool, but they hope that the tool will solve their problems by itself, and they don’t make their organizational challenge, and then it drops, and they become naysayers. They become the other part, and they develop a culture of “everything is already invented.” Then I talk to those people and ask them: “Do you remember the time when we didn’t have mobile phones, Skype, e-mails, so it makes them think. If you put it in perspective, technology does change our life. You can’t delegate everything to the technology. You have to control the process, but technology does change our life in a big way. Starting from something that we consider everyday, like giving a phone call and air travel and obviously e-mail and everything else. As we look at it, more and more work becomes informational work. And that actually goes hand-in-hand with that trend of the big data that we’ve just touched because it reinforces it. There’s more and more informational work, the information systems become more and more sophisticated, and there are more and more helpful tools.

Back again to the plugged-in managers, I think this concept is very important. But why do you personally consider this is a game-changing approach to management?

Terri: I think it goes to the number of organizational changes, either technology changes or organizational process changes that fail. And the number hasn’t changed in decades! We’ve been collecting data about organizational change failure for a long time. The number hangs around 50%. So 50% of all organizational changes, either technology or process changes, don’t do what the people who set out to implement them think they are going to do. And generally it’s because they don’t manage the implementation process very well. Oftentimes, what they’ve done is they thought: “Well, if I just make this one silver bullet adjustment, and I parachute this change in, everything is going to be different.” And it just doesn’t work that way. As a result, that’s just painful as a professor of organizations to stand up in front of a class and say, “Here are all these ideas about great things you can do to improve your organization, but by the way, 50% of the time they are not going to work for you,” I would like to see that change. It’s almost painful, too. I was giving a talk on this issue last night, and they asked, “Why would you spend two years writing a book? And I said, “Because it’s painful for me to see the situation where someone’s only focused on one of those three issues.” I thought about the United States TSA, our transportation safety authority that brings us all that fine effort that we go through, as we come to the airport. And for the most part, that was a technology change. That was: “We’re going to run this technology, and the technology demands that you take off your clothes, and the technology demands that you take off shoes. And we’re going to focus on that technology.”

I think all the fighting and unhappiness that goes along with going to the airport now didn’t have to happen if they had thought about their stakeholders a little bit more and thought about how they could integrate stakeholder needs into the process that they need to make airport security good. But they didn’t think about it that way, as far as I can tell from reading the external reports.

Andrew: Yes, I think that’s a great point. Now, in your book, you speak about three key practices for the plugged-in managers. Can you please briefly describe them for the listeners?

Terri: Absolutely. The way I like to describe it is that here we’ve been talking about 3 dimensions: the people, the technology and the organization, and then we also have these 3 practices. So if we just keep in mind the number 3, maybe it’ll all help to stick a little bit. So the first one is “Stop, Look, Listen,” and even though it has three words in it, it’s still just one practice. But the idea is that you stop and you look. Can you say who are the people who are going to be impacted by this? What is the technology that we’re talking about? What do I have available to me already, or what might I need to go buy, and then what’s the organizational setting that this thing has to go into? By stopping for just a moment to reflect on what the current status is, and what the opportunities are that are out there, what the different choices are. And I think that keeps us from grabbing for that shiny thing and forgetting about all the rest. So if we just say to ourselves: “I’m going to go into this process. I’m going to think about a new way of doing things.” First thing I’m going to do it, I’m going to stop and look, and then after I take that first step, I’m going to start to listen. Well, I took the first step. What was the feedback from that? And is it going well, or do I need to make some adjustments?

So “Stop, Look, Listen” is the first practice. The second practice is really the most powerful one, and this is the issue of mixing, mixing together those 3 ingredients: the people, the technology and the organization, in a way that makes sense. And I’ve shown this a couple times, as putting out on a table all the different ingredients for a chocolate chip cookie, and if you look at those ingredients, some of them are pretty tasty on their own, but for the most part, we’re going to have a better outcome once we mix it together. We’ve got to mix it together in the appropriate proportions for what we’re trying to achieve. And so mixing becomes the key. I like food a lot, so mixing and thinking about mixing a great meal or mixing a great dish is the way I kind of keep that one in my head. And then the 3rd practice is — really, you were talking about it a little bit — how do you multiply or leverage your advantage? And it’s through sharing.

Sharing is the 3rd practice, and I’m going to kind of think aloud as I work in a team setting or think aloud as I talk to a group of executives and say, “Always look how every time I assess a situation, I’m always looking at the people, the technology and the organization. And always see how I’m trying to figure out what the blend is. I’m not going to try and change everything all at once, but I’m going to change a few things as I go along, and then gather up the feedback. But as I talk aloud about that process, I share the process, I’m doing 2 things. The 1st is that I’m spreading the idea of how to be a plugged-in manager, but the other one is, as I teach that idea through sharing, it means that the next time we go to make an adjustment, they are already going to know what we have in mind. I won’t have to implement the idea of being plugged-in, as well as implementing whatever the changes are that we’re looking at. Instead, they are already going to be aware of that part. So sharing is an important one, if we want to expand or leverage the impact that we can have in our organization. The 3 practices are “Stop, Look, Listen,” the reflective piece; then mixing, which is really where the heavy part of the process takes place, to really find out what a good combination is going to be; and then sharing, just to make it easier down the road.

Andrew: Those are indeed great practices. There was the PMI Global Congress in Dallas, and I was invited to speak on virtual teams, and I brought out the topic that in virtual and distributed teams, a lot of communications are asynchronous, compared to the team that is co-located in one office. And in that environment, sharing is really crucial because you not only want to tell people what to do, but you also want them to understand your thinking. Exactly what you said, thinking out loud, so they know your reason, and even though the communication is asynchronous, and you are not necessarily there to make the decision for them, when they need to make, it they know your reasons, so they can make a similar decision, so it’s very aligned with what you’ve just described. So in your opinion, this approach, does it differ between SMBs and enterprises?  And if so, how? And if we’re speaking about enterprise, will it work for all levels, or does it differ as we start speaking about enterprise-wide changes and things like that?

Terri: I think it’s just an issue of scale. So in a small or medium-sized business, it will be easier to demonstrate the process. Even if it’s a small organization that is virtual, it’s just easier because you’re talking to fewer people. You have more opportunity to clarify what your meaning is and clarify the approach. But even at an enterprise level, some of the top executives have the skills that they’ve learned to be plugged-in through experience, they’ve learned over time, and they are already practicing these approaches. They may not be calling it plugged-in management, but they’re certainly doing it. And as I think about executives at Microsoft that I got to talk to for the book, that would be a big organization looking at how to manage a virtual team between Washington and China. Then if I look at some of the startups that I was able to talk to in the book, they’re all doing the same practices, it’s just the matter of scale. In the larger organizations, and I’m thinking about Nucor Steel — as I say, Nucor Steel, the largest steel company in the U.S., and I think the largest recycler in the world (metal recycler). And for them the process that I would describe as being plugged-in, to them it’s just the new core way of doing things.

They’ve been building that approach since the 1960s, and it actually came from the top, which I think may be a little bit rare. Often what I see is people in the middle of the organization find that these are good approaches, and then as other people see their success, they learn from that. So it’s almost a top or bottom-down of that process in larger organizations. If you are a big enterprise, and people are practicing plugged-in management, that’s a lot of leverage, very successful.

Andrew: Now I only have a couple questions left, one would be, could you share with us some interesting anecdotes that might illustrate concept of your book or your research?

Terri: Certainly. I often think about sailing, as a process that helps people learn about being plugged-in. I have a sailboat, and I have a crew of other people on their boats.  A sailboat itself is a technology, and so if you think about the size of the sails, the size of the mast, the size of the boat, everything has to scale appropriately. Also because I’m a woman, I’m not as strong as some of these big football-player-looking guys who might be on the America’s Cup boat or something like that, and because of that I have to use more pulleys. I have a lot of pulleys on my boat because I don’t have that much strength, but I can use the technology to increase the strength and increase the benefit of the strength that I do have.  Sometimes in class I’ll draw a picture of a sailboat that has 2 sails, and then I’ll draw a picture of a sailboat that has 3 sails, and we’ll talk about the difference. As for someone who isn’t a football-player-strong person, it’s harder to pull up one really large sail. Maybe I’d be better off pulling up two smaller ones. How do you make those choices, and how do you keep those choices top of mind? And it really does back to this idea of reflection. If we’re just charging ahead, we’re not going to be thoughtful and think about the different options we might have. So if we do that “Stop, Look, Listen” practice, we’re going to think of a few more options and maybe make a slightly better choice.

Then the other example I have is probably a little more standard. Here at the university, we haven’t been all that modern about our own collaborative practice. As you can imagine, as somebody who writes about collaborative practice all the time, it’s been a frustration for me. But we’re finally moving ahead and looking at our communication and collaboration and even workflow. And I’m getting to practice these very things myself. I’m the chair of this university task force on communication and collaboration. And I can see why some people are drawn to simply make a decision and move ahead quickly. We keep pulling ourselves back and saying, “No, let’s not focus on the technology, let’s focus on the work to be done. Keep those examples top of mind. And then we’ll bring in the technology as we need to.”

Both of those, both the sailing and this collaboration task force have been great learning experiences for me.

Andrew: Yes, I think that sailing was a great metaphor because oftentimes people just go with the flow, especially if the user of technology and the decision-maker are not the same people. If their CIO chooses the software for business users, they are not necessarily going to be the most happy and productive with the defect or the most marketed choice, or the most feature-heavy choice, or the most complex choice. So that’s an interesting metaphor because they are not those football players oftentimes; they just want to get the work done.

So applying your ideas about plugged-in managers, I know you already gave a lot of good advice. Before the closing, what would be the final advice that you’d give to project managers and business managers for getting their work done more efficiently.

Terri: It’s all going to come back to the “Stop, Look, Listen” idea, but once you’ve done that “Stop, Look, Listen,” and you’ve moved into mixing together what your choices are, the simplest way I have of describing that is you don’t have to be an expert, you don’t have to be a technology expert, you don’t have to be a management expert, you don’t have to be a people expert, but what you have to do is have an appreciation for all three of those being important, and then to be able to put yourself in the shoes or in the minds of the other stakeholders and really think about the work design as a negotiation. We all negotiate. We either negotiate well or we don’t, but we all at least know how to do that. And think about the organizational change. The thing that you’re looking at, as you’re trying to be a plugged-in manager, think of it as a negotiation and have the different issues of the negotiation that you have on the table be all those different options. So is it going to be a big team or a small team? Is it going to be a team that has core members, or is everyone going to be equal? Are we going to use this kind of collaboration tool or that kind of collaboration tool? Are we’re going to have experts on the team, or is everybody coming from the lower levels of the organization, and they’re going to have to learn on the job? And what’s the negotiation that I might go through that’s going to come up with the solution, that’s going to be best for us? I like to take a practice that we already understand at least a little bit, and so if everybody’s done a negotiation, then everybody has done a little bit of this mixing that I’m talking about.

Andrew: I think that’s great advice to wrap up, and I welcome all listeners of the podcast and readers of the blog to go to amazon.com and check out Terri’s new book “The Plugged-in Manager.” There are both hard cover and Kindle versions available, and if you like the book, feel free to leave a great review on Terri’s work. Terri, thanks a lot for your time today. I hope the readers will enjoy it, and I hope the rest of you day will be great!

Terri: Thank you so much. I’m going to go tweet about the conversation because you made me think about some new ideas!
Project Management 2.0

I’ve hopped around for a while trying to find a career path for myself and I think I may have found it. What I like about my current position (title: Project Assistant) may not be necessarily related or on the top priority lists for many PMs, but I know that this is just the beginning and so my list will change.

1. Communication, communication, communication. Making sure everyone is clear with each other on particular tasks and the big picture.

2. Organization. Keeping track of the details of the big projects and sometimes focusing more on the smaller ones and trying to manipulate with the few surprises that may filter in throughout the day.

3. Time efficiency. Trying to keep every simple. A friend gave me this quote and I think it stands true: “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.”

4. Management skills. Being personable. No one wants to be kept with a timer and looked over the shoulder. I guess that wouldn’t keep anyone on any single project for that long. So I think it’s best to follow up and maintain #1 and keep that “open door policy” really open and it can be related to the project or to the weather!

5. Follow up. Be it email, phone, in person, fax, etc. There should always be some form of acknowledgment because the person is waiting for a response and with our high tech field, it shouldn’t feel like snail mail.

6. Educate. I’ve got so much to learn about my position and, more so, about the field of software development. So listening to others and asking questions to educate myself has been a huge learning curve. It is where, at the end of the day, I feel exhausted from absorbing the information and reviewing my notes.

There are several other little things that may relate, but I didn’t learn them here. Those are things like: mutual respect, willingness to learn, openness and adapting to the given (work) environment-although it’s important to be adaptable to any environment even if it’s not work-related.

Project Management Blog – Connecting Developers, Building Worlds

In the spirit of the season, since this will be my last post until after the holiday, I thought I would write my post to the tune of Jolly Old Saint Nicolas. Feel free to sing along:

Jolly Project Manager,

Send your Gantt this way,

Don’t you tell your Stakeholders,

What I’m going to say,

Mile-stones are coming fast,

Time is running low,

Will the project finish by…

Deadline … you should know.

IT wants a big new raid,

Dev, they want some sleep,

Marketing is speaking now,

Wow, it’s getting deep…

Con-sul-ting and ser-vic-es,

They all want to aid,

Jolly Project Manager,

Your looking kind of frayed.

As for me, this holiday,

As time abbreviates,

Christmas Eve is almost here,

Our families all await…

Happy holidays everyone.

—Ty

Strategic Project Management

In the spirit of the season, since this will be my last post until after the holiday, I thought I would write my post to the tune of Jolly Old Saint Nicolas. Feel free to sing along:

Jolly Project Manager,

Send your Gantt this way,

Don’t you tell your Stakeholders,

What I’m going to say,

Mile-stones are coming fast,

Time is running low,

Will the project finish by…

Deadline … you should know.

IT wants a big new raid,

Dev, they want some sleep,

Marketing is speaking now,

Wow, it’s getting deep…

Con-sul-ting and ser-vic-es,

They all want to aid,

Jolly Project Manager,

Your looking kind of frayed.

As for me, this holiday,

As time abbreviates,

Christmas Eve is almost here,

Our families all await…

Happy holidays everyone.

—Ty

Strategic Project Management

If you are like me, it doesn’t really matter how much you are making, you need a pay raise! Vicky Wrona of Global knowledge did a study of Project Manager salaries and discovered that certified PMPs recieve 15-30% more than their non-certified co-workers! Don’t you think it would be worth passing that PMP exam for a 15 to 30% raise? Of course it would. There are some other things that, as a project manager, you have to understand. People count on you. They count on you, as the project manager, to control the scope of the project, control the budget of the project, and keep the project on a course for success. No one wants to be part of a failed project, and as the project manager, you are the responsible one. Standish Group International reported that up to 75% of all IT projects fail. They fail to come in at or under budget, fail to complete on time, or may fail altogether and be canceled. The core cause of the failure? According to Standish Group, it was plain and simple Project Management! Stop being part of the problem, and become part of the solution.

How will PMP certification help me as a project manager?

The PMP certification will give you the training you need to make the projects you manage successes. You are already being trusted to make the core decisions that will drive your projects–don’t you think it is time to get the tools and the training that will give your projects the edge they need to be successful. You owe it to your team to get trained, pass the exam, and get those projects on schedule, to complete on time, within budget, and to successfully fulfill the project objectives. I have seen how project managers that have become PMP certified have really matured and have been able to bring down project costs, managed schedule over-runs, and learned to deal with stakeholders better than ever before. You owe it to your employer, to your co-workers, but especially to yourself. Your success as a project manager will earn you that 15-30% raise that you deserve, and people will know you deserve it with that PMP at the end of your name.

Project Management Blog – Connecting Developers, Building Worlds

We talk a lot about the skills a good project leader needs. Is certification one of them?

I was reading a post written by Derek Huether of The Critical Path blog titled, Failing the Exam. He cites an example of a known problem with the PMP certification which he and I talked about a couple of weeks ago. First the example, then my comments:

"I was approached a while back by someone looking for assistance in prepping for his PMP," writes Huether. "He is not a project manager (never was; never will be) and does not want to be. But, his company told him to get the certification."

Having never managed a project made the application problematic for this person. He obviously didn’t want to be audited by the PMI, but he needed to fabricate a body of experience so he could take the test and obtain the certification. After attending some training, he sat for the test and fortunately failed it. I say fortunately because the guy has no business having the certification in the first place.

Speaking with Derek, I think we both agree that certification, although a potentially valuable measure of whether or not a person is prepared to manage projects, is being misused by companies, hiring managers, and even some project managers. Why do I say that?

1. Certification is basically an indication that a project manager understands the fundamentals of managing projects according to the certification body (the PMI in Derek’s example), it is not an indication of expertise. Organizations and hiring managers who use certification as go-no-go indication of a project managers fitness are misusing the certification. It is a reasonable criteria when considering a potential project manager for hire or advancement, but there are other criteria (like experience) which should probably be weighted as more important.
2. Project managers who misrepresent their expertise to achieve certification are misusing same. Apparently fear of a random audit is not enough as Derek’s example demonstrates. I realize that a mandatory audit of every application might be difficult, but could be necessary. For example, Derek and I talked about recent college graduates who couldn’t possibly have the requisite experience, yet have their PMP. How does that work?

Don’t misunderstand, I am not trying to bash certification in general or any certification body in particular. I’m suggesting that organizations, hiring managers, project managers, and the industry at large should take a look at the process with fresh eyes to determine how we can repair what is obviously broken. Maybe there should be some kind of apprenticeship associated with certification for example. However, as long as certification is misinterpreted as an indication of expertise rather than fundamental knowledge, the system isn’t working.

"When I asked him if he thought the exam was hard he gave me a very good answer," continued Huether. "He admitted he didn’t even understand half of the terminology or formulas, let alone when and why he would use them."

In my opinion, that is an excellent example of a weakness in the current system. Now, what do we do as an industry to fix it?

Strategic Project Management

With the current economic conditions, an increasing number of people are either afraid of losing their jobs or desperately searching for work. Just like it’s a buyer’s market for housing, it also seems to be a buyer’s market for employers. Those who are hiring can be extremely selective in whom they choose. That’s why smart Project Managers plan today for tomorrow’s “what if.” We need to be smart about managing our own career “risks” and have a mitigation plan firmly in place now. There are three simple, cheap, and super smart things you can start doing now to avoid any unneeded worry and panic if you do, in fact, find yourself looking for other career opportunities.

1. Invest in yourself. First, make time to invest in yourself. No more excuses! If you do not currently have your PMP® certification, now is the time. You don’t have to spend a lot of money. A PMP exam prep course can range from about 0 for a PMI® chapter sponsored course up to ,000 for a professional training course. All told, your total required investment is small compared to the rewards (significantly better pay and more visibility as a job candidate). Further, if your current company pays for training, you really have no excuse; that’s a benefit you can’t afford to pass up. Nothing in life is guaranteed, and that includes the job you have today. Take the time to invest in your career now, so you do not end up having to scramble if things take a turn for the worse.

If you already have PMP certification, look into some advanced training that is complementary to project management. There are a number of niche areas that employers are starting to look for (i.e. Six Sigma, ITIL, CMMI, Agile/Scrum, etc.). There is a strong emphasis on “doing more with less” these days, and employers are looking for people who can help improve how they run as a business. Broaden your skills, and differentiate yourself by being a project manager who understands the world outside of just managing projects.

2. Create a buzz. Now is the to start making a name for yourself! Start a course of action to position yourself as an expert in your field. One way to create a buzz is to write articles on what you know. You can do this a number of ways. First, try submitting articles to your local chapter of PMI or another local professional organization. Groups like this are always looking for new content and will often be more than happy to publish your work in an online newsletter.

Another way to get your ideas out there is to start a blog (or post here!). Also, WordPress offers free blogs that take only a few minutes to set up. You can write as often or as little as you like. Write about whatever you are passionate about, and you may be surprised at how many readers you end up with!

Consider joining a local Toastmasters club in your area. If you’re feeling adventurous, book a speaking engagement or two! This will provide you with credibility in your industry, and you will undoubtedly become a better speaker as a result. Plus, it’s a great way to meet influential people in your industry.

Demonstrating your communication skills, both written and verbal, is a good way to make you a better project manager and get the word out that you are an expert in your field. Start building your reputation by putting your thoughts and ideas out there.

3. Make a difference. If you are busy making a positive difference in this world, you will be rewarded. Volunteer your time! If you are not doing so already, get involved as a volunteer with your local PMI chapter, or work with another non-profit organization in your area. By giving of your time and talents, you will likely find you get tremendous satisfaction in mentoring others around you. You will also strengthen your own skills and maybe even pick up a few new ones. It’s also another great way to meet good people in your area. I personally know a lot of people who have found wonderful new jobs as a result of becoming a volunteer. Make a difference in the lives of others, and your life will positively benefit as well.

If you focus on developing these three areas, you will undoubtedly have an amazing road ahead of you, both personally and professionally, regardless of the ups and downs of our economy.

Erika Flora, PMP, ITIL Expert
Principal Consultant, Beyond20
erika.flora@GoBeyond20.com

http://blog.erikaflora.com

Project Management Blog – Connecting Developers, Building Worlds

Recently, Dave Garett, the founder of the well-known project management community, GanttHead.com invited me to take part in a collaborative project of creating a book. The book is called "Project Pain Reliever" and it is a collection of chapters by experts in various fields of project management aimed at helping those, who just start their project management journey. Each chapter represents a real life problem that you may be facing today and offers a solution, written in plain English. In my opinion, this book is what many project managers today are looking for when they have questions that PMBOK cannot really answer. The book is going through the editorial and publishing process and I will definitely tell you more about it, as soon as it comes out.

Working on this collaborative project was a very valuable experience for me, as I met lots of interesting people, who have profound expertise in project management. Today I want to introduce you to one of them, Peter Taylor, also known as "the Lazy Project Manager". Peter is a dynamic and commercially astute professional who has achieved notable success in Project Management; currently as head of a PMO at Siemens Industry Software Limited, a supplier of global product lifecycle management solutions. He is also very interested in maintaining a good work/life balance. Peter has very impressive project management background, which also allowed him to come up with his own methodology that helps project managers become more productive. Read our conversation below and find out how lazy project managers can be efficient. Peter, could you please tell us a few words about your pm experience and background?

My background is in project management across three major business areas over the last 25 years; MRP/ERP systems with various software houses and culminating in a role with KPMG, and then Business Intelligence with Cognos, and now as Head of a PMO within product lifecycle management (PLM) with Siemens Industry Software. I have spent the last 7 years leading PMOs and developing project managers.

Why do you call yourself a lazy project manager?

It all began with an insult from my manager. At the time I had been working on a training program for our project managers and one of the common questions people asked me was ‘how do you manage to seem so relaxed and yet run a large business operation with hundreds of projects?

I was on my way back from Milan, Italy, and travelled with my manager. Now we have worked together for the last 15 years across three companies and he does know me very well. As we chatted about what would we like to do in life I mentioned that I enjoyed writing and speaking/presentations and that sort of thing could be fun to do. He agreed saying that I would probably be very good at this but that I was too ‘lazy’.

And there you have it – an insult? Perhaps but more an insight really, he had identified the key to describing my approach to work and life. From this came ‘The Lazy Project Manager’ and the world of productive laziness.

Now have I always been ‘lazy’ – no I don’t believe so. Certainly in my early days of project management I worked long and hard and definitely was a ‘busy, busy bee’ but after completing a major three year project I looked back and reflected on the effort I had put in to make the project successful. I realised that that much of what I had done was unnecessary and that I often created work for myself that was either not really essential or that others could have done (probably better that my efforts if truth be told).

The Lazy Project Manager was first a website in November 2008 and then a book in September 2009. Now I would love to share the world of productive laziness with the world through speaking engagements.

What is Productive Laziness?

'Progress isn't made by early risers. It's made by lazy men trying to find easier ways to do something.' Robert Heinlein (1907 – 1988)

By advocating being a 'lazy' project manager I do not intend that we should all do absolutely nothing. I am not saying we should all sit around drinking coffee, reading a good book and engaging in idle gossip whilst watching the project hours go by and the non-delivered project milestones disappear over the horizon.  That would obviously be plain stupid and would result in an extremely short career in project management, in fact probably a very short career full stop!

Lazy does not mean Stupid. No I really mean that we should all adopt a more focused approach to project management and to exercise our efforts where it really matters, rather than rushing around like busy, busy bees involving ourselves in unimportant, non-critical activities that others can better address, or indeed that do not need addressing at all in some cases.

The Lazy Project Manager explores the science behind ‘productive laziness’ (yes there is some) and the intelligence behind ‘productive laziness’ (and yes there is some of that as well). It attempts to share with the reader some of my own experiences that have led to my style of project management where, it is often observed, that I appear to be less stressed, less busy and yet more productive.

‘Productive Laziness’ is the term that I use to express this approach and it is a style of working that is beneficial to an individual, through a better work/life balance, and to the project(s) that they are leading.

How did you arrive at these ideas and came up with a whole methodology?

As I explained the origins of the term were as a result of an insult but having created the Lazy Project Manager title I just worked through the typical lifecycle of the project and considered Productive Laziness at each step.

I am not sure that I would describe it as a methodology but more of a way for project managers to better manage themselves when they are managing projects.
The book does describe The Lazy Project Manager's Theory of Projects, from a Productive Laziness aspect: 'All projects are thick at one end, much, much thinner in the middle and then thick again at the far end. ' The point here is that, working with the productive lazy rule, a smart project manager should apply time and effort at the critical stages of a project, i.e. the start and the finish, and less time in the middle or the less critical stage. At this point it should be the project team that are productive and mostly self-sufficient.

Does a project manager’s productivity depend on a project size? The size of his team? On the fact that the team is distributed across several locations?

I don’t believe that it does. All of these factors complicate the process of project delivery but the principals of Productive Laziness remain the same. One of the biggest challenges to projects these days is the virtual project team. We all know about the Tuckman defined team phases, ‘forming – storming – norming – performing – (and these days mourning; the experience of leaving a good team at the close)’ – if you don’t there is plenty of information on the topic out there in ‘Google-land’.

For virtual teams the forming part works pretty much as any team. Resources are identified and there you have a team. Some members will be happy and others less so.

It starts getting tricky just after that. The ‘storming’ phase is important in preparing the team for working together, resolving character imbalances, sorting out territorial issues and generally getting everyone to know everyone else. Now without a face to face session (or two… or three) this will be very challenging and so you have to compensate somehow. At this time decisions don't come easily within the group and team members will no doubt vie for position as they attempt to establish themselves in relation to other team members. Clarity of purpose increases but plenty of uncertainties will persist. Typically cliques and factions form and there may be power struggles. The team needs to be focused on its goals to avoid becoming distracted by relationships and emotional issues. Compromises may well be required to enable real progress.

Now in a virtual situation a lot of these issues can be hidden so, as the leader, you almost have to force the matter. It is also very easy to jump to a wrong conclusion about a fellow team member, apply stereotypical attributes and miss tensions hidden by a reduced communication process and lack of physical visibility at how people are behaving.

If at all possible make the investment in a ‘hothouse’ face to face. By this I mean an intensive, almost 24/7 5 day team experience. Use an external facilitator to drive the storming process harder and faster to a conclusion. Make the business case that this is an investment, no matter how significant, that will pay off. If this is financially impossible then you may just have to accept that the ‘storming’ phase will be longer than usual.

Can a team (not only the project manager) also be made more productive in a lazy way?

Absolutely! In fact being a lazy project manager demands that you share the knowledge with your project team and teach them how to work in this way.

For example in communications I talk about the importance of allowing yourself time to focus and concentrate at times. That the ‘open door’ policy is good but that there are times you, as the project manager, and your team should feel it acceptable to take time out and not get distracted by other matters.

What would be the first 3 steps to becoming more productive, according to your methodology?

Well where better to start than to focus the art of ‘productive laziness’ in the area of communication within the project.

The would be ‘lazy’ project manager will think very, very carefully about what they need to communicate and how they need to communicate it and why they are communicating what they are communicating.

The general guidance is that some 70-80% of a project manager’s time will be spent in communicating. That is 70-80% of your time!

So, if you play the productive lazy game at all, and you only apply it in one area of project management it makes blinding sense to do it here, in communication. This is by far the biggest activity and offers the greatest opportunity of time in the comfy chair.
Imagine if you would able to save some of that 70-80% of your time, how much more relaxed would you be?

Beyond this then consider how you are using your project team. Are they being truly utilised in the sense of applying their combined knowledge and skills? Could you use them more, delegate more, trust them more, and benefit from their experience more? I bet you could. Try it.

Finally, something I have always advocated if having fun.  Whilst this does not necessarily allow you to be more ’productively lazy’ it does bring a very positive feeling to any project and thus should encourage the wider team to more ‘lazy’ (in a good way of course).

‘I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by’ Douglas Adams (Author of ‘The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy’)

You have to laugh; well I think you have to laugh. Without a little bit of fun in every project then the project world can be a dark and depressing place. Setting a professional but fun structure for your project can really be beneficial for when the problems start to rise up to challenge your plan of perfectness. And problems will inevitably arise.

I'd love to finish my statement with a funny story:

A man in a hot air balloon was lost.  He reduced altitude and spotted a woman below.  He descended a little bit more and shouted:

'Excuse me madam, can you help?  I promised a friend I would meet him an hour ago, but I don't know where I am.'

The woman replied: ‘You are in a hot air balloon hovering approximately 30 feet above alkali desert scrub habitat, 2.7 miles west of the Colorado River near one of the remnant populations and spawning grounds of the razorback sucker’.

‘You must be a biologist’ said the balloonist.

‘I am’ replied the woman. ‘How did you know?’

‘Well’ answered the balloonist ‘everything you told me is technically correct, but I have no idea what to make of your information, and the fact is I am still lost. Frankly, you've not been much help so far’.

The woman below responded ‘You must be a project manager’.

‘I am’ replied the balloonist ‘but how did you know?’

‘Well, said the woman ‘you don't know where you are or where you're going. You have risen to where you are due to a large quantity of hot air.  You made a promise to someone that you have no idea how to keep, and you expect me to solve your problem.  The fact is, you are in exactly the same position you were in before we met, but somehow it's now my fault!’

Thank you, Peter! It was a pleasure. For our readers I’d like to note that, if you liked Peter’s ideas and want to find out more, you are welcome to visit his site at www.thelazyprojectmanager.net and hear his free podcasts on iTunes. Also make sure to check out his book: "The Lazy Project Manager: How to be twice as productive and still leave the office early". 
 
Project Management 2.0

How to get the best from your Project Manager

Project management is a skill that must be learned and refined like any other. It takes time and experience to become a good project manager, longer to become a great project manager.

A failed project can lead to loss of revenue and opportunity; failure to achieve business goals; diversion of resources from other activities; sapping of staff morale and, perhaps, even business failure. So, as projects become more complex and critical to business performance, how do you improve your chances of success?

Manage by exception: clients should avoid getting too bogged down in the day-to-day running of projects and instead allow the project manager to concentrate on this area. Micro-management by a client is a hindrance, not a help. Clients should set clear boundaries for cost and time, with which the manager should work. If he/she cannot provide the agreed deliverables within these constraints, concerns must be escalated to the client for a decision.

Stages: break the project up into smaller chunks, or stages. Each stage marks a point at which the client will make key decisions. For example, is the project still worthwhile? Are the risks still acceptable? Dividing a project into stages, and only committing to one stage at a time, is a low risk approach that enables the clients to manage by exception.

Products: it is vital that clients and customers think carefully about the products, or deliverables, they require, before the project begins. The clearer they can be about their requirements, the more realistic and achievable the plans that can be produced. This makes it a lot easier for the project manager and less risky.

It’s a Learning Curve: don’t risk making the same mistakes on every project; consider why certain aspects went well or badly, then incorporate the lessons learned into your approach to your next project. Humans have an amazing capacity to learn, but when it comes to repeating errors made during previous projects, we all too often fail to learn the lessons.

The environment: whatever project management methodology or framework you favour, it must be tailored to suit the needs of your project. Rather than blindly following a methodology, the project manager must be able to adapt procedures to meet the demands of the work in hand. How you plan on a two-week project is likely to be very different from how you plan on a two-year project.

If you are looking for a project manager you really need to look for leadership skills! Today’s project managers must have leadership skills in order to effectively perform their roles in the organisation and stand out from the crowd. Something must make them distinct from the others.

Related “project Management” Articles

Do You Need a Project Manager?

Whether you run a small Internet company or a large, offline one, you will eventually get bogged down in details and problem solving that could slow down your production and sales.

When you plan your projects and determine the objectives for each project, you will normally be surprised by the number of distinct tasks it will take to get even one project off the ground and making you money. Trying to multitask several projects at one time might prove to be more than you can integrate into all the other tasks and problems you need to take care of on a daily basis.

This might be the time to consider hiring a project manager to take on the responsibility of creating the objectives needed to guide your projects to a successful end…time, cost and quality.

You will have to integrate your project manager into your business profile and objectives. In order to be successful, you will have to decide what is most important to your production success and make that a priority for your project manager’s attention. There’s three common priorities most business owners want addressed:

#1…Improving quality of the products to raise customer satisfaction and perceived value.

#2…Reducing costs across the manufacturing process to increase profit and eliminate duplication and waste.

#3…Meeting deadlines, which includes setting realistic deadlines that can be met without loads of expensive overtime.

The one major benefit of using a project manager to you, the business owner, is the freedom you will gain to deal with employee problems, daily meetings, inventory control, product catalogs, customer service and marketing campaigns, to name a few tasks that will take up your time.

The major task for a project manager is actually the most basic skill you can ask for, time management. Your manager will have to know how to manage his or her own time and that of your production teams. Each day should be planned to move your project forward without depleting your resources.

Productive project managers can explain each day’s production plan so everyone is clear about what they need to do and the scheduled milestones that keep everyone on track.

Make sure your project manager knows the 80/20 Rule and will be able to determine which issues are important enough to affect the end result. You should remember that the 80/20 Rule could apply to your daily activities, as well. If you concentrate on the 20% of your activities that will produce the most dramatic benefits to your business plan, the other 80% could easily be given to the specific departments already involved in the processes.

When you interview possible project managers, ask about some not so easily determined attitudes that will have a great impact on your business, like useless team meetings and micro management.

Meetings should be used for brainstorming and creating ideas for product improvement, not updates on production status or technical discussions. If you should be unlucky enough to hire a micro-managing project manager, you will be stuck with a manager who ends up doing the work the employees should be doing instead of concentrating on the goals that move production ahead.

Back to the original question: “Do You Need A Project Manager?” If you have been balancing more than several production processes and falling behind everyday, the answer is “Yes!” If you are interrupted frequently with problems or difficulties to solve that take your focus off the bottom line in your budget and the goals you’ve set for production, your answer is “Definitely Yes!”

A production manager would take all those distracting details off your desk and let you manage where it is needed.