Project Management Essays

1. Know them uniquely - Go 1-on-1 with them and learn what matters to them.
2. Find their gift - Observe what they do well, and not well. Help them understand their natural gifts, and channel your opportunities to align with their strengths.
3. Promote them - More than just giving them a raise or a new title, call attention to them. Let people around you know what they're good at and give them your endorsement.
4. Take risks - As you see strengths, give opportunities that may stretch them. Let them know you won't abandon them if they fail, but track their progress so they won't.
5. Coach them - Provide on-the-job training. As you assign them stretch-opportunities, be aware of their challenges and coach them through situations.
6. Listen - The best advice often comes from the most unsuspecting people. Seek thought-leadership, and listen when you receive it.
7. Acknowledge - Let people know when they've delivered a gem of an idea or solution. They may not perceive it on their own.
8. Push back - Require that one or more potential solutions are presented with problems. Remind people that they often have greater context for a problem than you. Affirm them.

If you invest in your people, they will invest in you.

The real value of a scapegoat is to accept blame. It's a specialty, and I claim there's a huge market for this service.

Think about it. If you had a choice to sidestep the wrath of a fire-breathing stakeholder for a mistake you made, wouldn't you take it? Without missing a beat, and based on established role, the Scapegoat steps in and with undisguised embarrassment admits fault. You wink knowingly at the scapegoat, who is well-versed in the correct body language throughout the lashing. Head slightly lowered, only occasional eye-contact, rapidly shuffling through a few papers as if to wonder where it all went wrong. After the fire-breather is out of fuel, the Scapegoat appears to discover the cause of the problem. That puts people at ease, knowing that at least they have somebody that can trace the problem to its root cause and therefore fix it. Lucky for them! The stakeholders couldn't have figured it out. They are too removed from the situation. They all breathe a sigh of relief. And you go back to whatever you were doing before the meeting, and make whatever adjustments you think appropriate, inspired and energized.

The role of Scapegoat has been in place for decades, just known by different names: Total Quality Manager or TQM, Business Process Reengineer or BPR, Subject Matter Expert or SME, Database Modeler, MS Project czar, or the more inclusive title of Contractor. They all mean the same thing at the end of the day: Scapegoat. It's just that in the past they've had to do actual work enroute to getting blamed. But that doesn't make sense because they're all tired out when blame hits, and don't respond well to it. Better to have them avoid any work so they're fresh and ready when blame hits.

On the advice of an interested client, I think I will start a new venture and call it "Scapegoat Consulting Group" which of course will be known simply as SCG, just as with IBM, 3M, and UPS. The tag line will be:

So, distinguish yourself! Hire your own Scapegoat early. Have them around when most of the problems originate. They will be much more credible when fault has to be assigned. And your peers will be green with envy.

If you need somebody to blame, give us a call. Our doors are open for business. Just don't expect us to do any work.

• TLA - Three Letter Acronym
• WBS - Work Breakdown Structure
• PDM - Precedence Diagram Method
• AoN - Activity-on-Node
• EVM - Earned Value Method
• CPM - Critical Path Method
• EMV - Estimate Monetary value
• RAM - Responsibility Assignment Matrix
• RACI - Responsible Accountable Consult Inform format (whoops, that's a FLA)
• CPI - Cost Performance Index
• SPI - Schedule Performance Index
• CCB - Change Control Board

After you unbundle the TLA, you can follow with any translation of the phrase you want. Remember, it not the translation that matters. It's the fact that you had to give it in the first place that makes you the leader and them the follower.

One last tip. You might want get a full-length mirror so you can practice the deliberate calm you'll want to exhibit for your followers. Body language is very important when baffling.

• Be clear on what you want - Start the project with clear vision for what you want at the end of the project. This can be articulated with a few SMART project objectives. Having clear objectives narrows the focus of the entire team, which can save an impressive amount of time and costs over the life of a project.
• Push pace, not schedule - You become part of the problem when you push for early dates, because the project manager will short-cut needed work in deference to your wishes, resulting in quality problems that are disguised until the latter stages of the project. Instead, engage your project manager in creative thinking about how needed work can be done at a faster pace; run tasks in parallel, temporarily augment core staff, deliver in smaller increments, etc.
• Ask precision questions - You're the investor and you have the right to be informed. Give yourself permission to ask the tough questions. Instead of "How are we doing?" ask "How many tasks did you plan on completing last week, and how many did you actually complete?" Also, don't be satisfied with sweep-aside answers to your questions. I've found that the knowledge I want comes after I ask "Why?" the third time.
• Require results, over process - Require your project manager to break down the work so that a steady stream of verifiable results can be delivered. Be alert to status reports that begin with the term "We continued....". That is a tell-tale sign that your project is focusing on process, not results.
• Advocate success - Talk to anybody who will listen, as often as they will listen. Keep the message alive. It will keep the inspiration alive.

Projects are increasingly being recognized as the way to drive change. Sponsorship is an essential role on projects, and practicing these tips will help you become an effective sponsor. Gaining sponsorship skills will also make you more effective in your day-to-day leadership responsibilities.

So, I'm sitting here wondering what wrong. What made the Sponsor suddenly pull the plug on our project?

I was one of the highest rated line managers before being given this project, and I applied that experience to this project.

My people were the best. They would always drop whatever they were doing to take care of the customer. Most customer calls were just about a simple need they had that they'd neglected to mention during the requirements gathering process.

We also know the importance of being a team, so my people attended all the meetings they were invited to, even when others quit going.

I reported to the Steering Committee on a regular basis. I talked about how much closer we were getting to the finish line, and that there was nothing we needed to bother them with. We had it under control.

When I finally garnered the courage to talk wtih the Sponsor, she told me that while I may indeed be 99.99% done, the resulting product looked nothing like the product we had originally agreed, and we were over budget by 45%. Even worse, the 5 month delay made us miss the market opportunity that had existed when the project was initiated.

I'm still not sure what lessons I should take away from this experience, but you can rest assured... I'm going to read ProjectsAtWork on a regular basis and figure it out!  :O)