I found this document on line and found it very inspiring. I think it is an important message for Project managers since they must constanly get their project teams to agree to a shared vision and be willing to be flexible as conditions change.
Author Unknown
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The Best-laid Plans
Climbing the world's highest mountain under normal circumstances requires months, sometimes years, of preparation. In May 1996, Breashears and his team faced a special challenge: making an IMAX film about their journey. Carrying and maintaining hundreds of pounds of filming equipment meant that planning was even more meticulous than usual. "We went to that mountain with a great plan, an elegant plan," said Breashears. For one, it was flexible. "A good plan makes you nimble, not stuck. Ours gave us options ... wiggle room." By rehearsing extensive "what if" scenarios long before they got to the mountain, the team was ready for the unexpected. So when a freak storm hit the day they were to approach the summit, Breashears' team turned back while other teams kept climbing. With the summit just within reach, the temptation to go on was enormous, Breashears recalled, especially since the team had already spent weeks on the mountain, passing through all four base camps and acclimatizing their lungs to the thin air. Yet, as Breashears noted, "We had to climb on the mountain's schedule, not ours," an acknowledgment that probably saved his life.
As Breashears' team went back down, they passed several other teams on their way up. By nightfall, eight people had perished, including Rob Hall, a world-renowned climber and friend of Breashears. Hall was leading a group of individuals who had paid him a substantial fee to lead them to the top. Jon Krakauer, a writer and outdoorsman who was on Hall's team, would eventually write the best-selling book Into Thin Air, chronicling in heartbreaking detail what had gone wrong.
Among the tragedies of that day was one event that many later described as a miracle. The storm that had hit as Hall's ill-fated team made its ascent caused many of the climbers to become separated. One small group was in desperate trouble: They had lost their way in the blinding snow and had run out of oxygen. In an attempt to save their own lives, they made the difficult decision to leave behind one of their team members, Beck Weathers, a doctor from Texas. By all accounts, Weathers was already close to death. He had no pulse and appeared to be frozen in the ground.
The next morning, however, as Breashears and his team helped with the rescue efforts for those teams still on the mountain, word came on the walkie-talkie that "the dead guy is alive." Weathers had spent the night in sub-zero temperatures fully exposed to the elements. The next morning, as the sun hit the mountain, he awoke from a hypothermic coma and, despite snow blindness and severe frostbite on his hands and feet, managed to stumble into camp. He was eventually flown off the mountain in a helicopter rescue that had its own share of danger and drama.
Having reached the summit of Mt. Everest five times, Breashears knows what he wants in a team. Surprisingly, he's not necessarily looking for the best climbers. "I look for talented people who believe in their craft, not those who are looking for praise," he said. "The most important quality is selflessness. I knew that no matter what, no one would leave me behind," he joked.
Sharing a common goal and vision is critical, and no one's ego can take precedence. "People who say 'me first' can be dangerous on Everest." Indeed, in Breashears' experience, the teams that operate best have a higher objective than themselves. Humility makes a great leader. "The kind of leader I want wakes up and asks, 'What did I do wrong yesterday, and how can I fix it today?' Your team doesn't need to like you, but they have to trust and respect you," he said. "A leader who puts his interests first is a highly demoralizing force."
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
More Ways to Reduce Stress
Get control of your stress before it controls you.
Do something everyday that you enjoy
Record your thoughts in writing (in a journal or blog) This can help you gain a new perspective on events
Do something nice for another person
Try a simple exercise to relieve stress. Inhale through your nose until you reach a count of seven, then exhale very slowly through your mouth to the count of 16, or for as long as you can. Repeat 10 times.
Turn off your phone(s). You can't relax if the phone is constantly ringing.
Tomorrow is another day. Learn when to let go of today.
Teach yourself to become the changes you want to see in others.
Seek first to understand, then be understood.
Make time for yourself! Schedule some quiet time, and relax.
Learn the art of compromise. No one likes a person that is always rigid.
Get up from behind your desk and take a short break several times a day.
Don’t take yourself too seriously or nobody else will either.
Don’t let pessimistic or negative people bring you down. Be positive.
Get past your fears and try something new.
Do something everyday that you enjoy
Record your thoughts in writing (in a journal or blog) This can help you gain a new perspective on events
Do something nice for another person
Try a simple exercise to relieve stress. Inhale through your nose until you reach a count of seven, then exhale very slowly through your mouth to the count of 16, or for as long as you can. Repeat 10 times.
Turn off your phone(s). You can't relax if the phone is constantly ringing.
Tomorrow is another day. Learn when to let go of today.
Teach yourself to become the changes you want to see in others.
Seek first to understand, then be understood.
Make time for yourself! Schedule some quiet time, and relax.
Learn the art of compromise. No one likes a person that is always rigid.
Get up from behind your desk and take a short break several times a day.
Don’t take yourself too seriously or nobody else will either.
Don’t let pessimistic or negative people bring you down. Be positive.
Get past your fears and try something new.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Stress Busters
With two teenage daughters at home I know stress. In order to be effective and productive we all need to manage stress so that it doesn't control our actions (think road rage).
I think we all can agree that project management can be stressful, however we need to manage stress or it will manage us.
Here are some great ways to reduce stress.
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Schedule your day to avoid back to back appointments; allow time between appointments to gather your thoughts.
Reduce your intake of caffeine
Don’t depend on your memory. Write things down.
Learn to enjoy waiting. Take an iPod or book to read while you wait.
Don't procrastinate. Don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today.
Don't be Rigid. It isn't the end of the world if the yard doesn't get mowed this weekend.
Get enough sleep.
Learn to say "No"! Sometimes it is hard, but necessary to keep your sanity.
Don't be negative. Stop saying things like, "I'm not smart enough", or "I'm too old".
Learn the difference between "need" and "want”. We need food, water, and sleep. Most everything else is a "want". Don’t let life's "wants" take control of your time and resources.
Do the tasks you don't want to do early in the day.
Have a forgiving spirit. Accept that people aren't perfect, and they will make mistakes.
Be optimistic. Believe that most people are doing the best they can.
More to come next time.
Monday, May 21, 2007
Project Scorecard
I found this document in my inventory of Project Management templates. I apologize that I can't credit the original author. If someone knows who created this template let me know and I will edit this post and include the author's name.
Project Scorecard Overview
1. Identify criteria for success. Review the objectives and deliverables in the Project Definition, as well as any other existing information that is relevant to the project. Based on this existing documentation, define what information is needed to show that the project was successful. This can be from two perspectives:
• Internal – These characteristics indicate that the project was managed and executed effectively and efficiently. This might include having deliverables approved with no more than two review iterations, hitting major internal milestone dates on time and having a minimum amount of errors uncovered in user acceptance testing.
• External – These characteristics indicate that your project objectives were completed successfully. Examples here include completing the project within approved budget and timeline, ensuring your deliverables meet approved quality criteria and customer satisfaction surveys.
2. Assign potential metrics. Identify potential metrics for each success criteria that provide an indication whether or not the criteria is being achieved. These can be direct, quantifiable metrics, or indirect metrics that give a sense for success criteria For each metric, briefly determine how you would collect the information, what the effort and cost of collection would be, and what value would be obtained.
3. Look for a balance. The potential list of metrics should be placed into categories to make sure that they provide a balanced view of the project. For instance, you do not want to end up with only a set of financial metrics, even though they might be easiest to obtain. In general, look for metrics that provide information in the areas such as:
• Cost
• Effort
• Duration
• Productivity
• Quality of deliverables
• Customer satisfaction with the deliverables produced
• Project team performance
• Business value delivered
4. Prioritize the balanced list of metrics: Depending on how many metrics you have identified, prioritize the list to include only those that have the least cost to collect and provide the most value to the project. There can certainly be as many metrics collected as make sense for the project, but there may end up being no more than one or two per category. In general, look to provide the most information with the least amount of work.
5. Set targets: The raw metric may be of some interest, but the measure of success comes from comparing your actuals against a predefined target. The target may be a single value you are trying to achieve, or it may be a range. For instance, you may need to complete your project by a certain fixed date, but your actual cost might need to be +/- 10% of approved budget.
6. Add workplan detail: For each metric that remains, determine the specific information necessary to add the appropriate activities to the project workplan. This will include:
• What specific data is needed for the metrics?
• Who is responsible for collecting the metric?
• When will the metric be collected and reported?
• How will the metrics be reported (status reports, quarterly meetings, metrics reports)?
Note: Define your success criteria upfront and get project sponsor sign-off.
Project Scorecard Overview
1. Identify criteria for success. Review the objectives and deliverables in the Project Definition, as well as any other existing information that is relevant to the project. Based on this existing documentation, define what information is needed to show that the project was successful. This can be from two perspectives:
• Internal – These characteristics indicate that the project was managed and executed effectively and efficiently. This might include having deliverables approved with no more than two review iterations, hitting major internal milestone dates on time and having a minimum amount of errors uncovered in user acceptance testing.
• External – These characteristics indicate that your project objectives were completed successfully. Examples here include completing the project within approved budget and timeline, ensuring your deliverables meet approved quality criteria and customer satisfaction surveys.
2. Assign potential metrics. Identify potential metrics for each success criteria that provide an indication whether or not the criteria is being achieved. These can be direct, quantifiable metrics, or indirect metrics that give a sense for success criteria For each metric, briefly determine how you would collect the information, what the effort and cost of collection would be, and what value would be obtained.
3. Look for a balance. The potential list of metrics should be placed into categories to make sure that they provide a balanced view of the project. For instance, you do not want to end up with only a set of financial metrics, even though they might be easiest to obtain. In general, look for metrics that provide information in the areas such as:
• Cost
• Effort
• Duration
• Productivity
• Quality of deliverables
• Customer satisfaction with the deliverables produced
• Project team performance
• Business value delivered
4. Prioritize the balanced list of metrics: Depending on how many metrics you have identified, prioritize the list to include only those that have the least cost to collect and provide the most value to the project. There can certainly be as many metrics collected as make sense for the project, but there may end up being no more than one or two per category. In general, look to provide the most information with the least amount of work.
5. Set targets: The raw metric may be of some interest, but the measure of success comes from comparing your actuals against a predefined target. The target may be a single value you are trying to achieve, or it may be a range. For instance, you may need to complete your project by a certain fixed date, but your actual cost might need to be +/- 10% of approved budget.
6. Add workplan detail: For each metric that remains, determine the specific information necessary to add the appropriate activities to the project workplan. This will include:
• What specific data is needed for the metrics?
• Who is responsible for collecting the metric?
• When will the metric be collected and reported?
• How will the metrics be reported (status reports, quarterly meetings, metrics reports)?
Note: Define your success criteria upfront and get project sponsor sign-off.
Monday, May 07, 2007
Why Is My Project Late?
Design Changes – Design changes during project execution almost always cause delays and impacts to your budget. Once the Scope document has been signed, any changes to the design need to go through your Scope Change Request Process.
Skill Sets – When planning, assumptions are made regarding people's skills. Sometimes these assumptions turn out to be wrong. Also, you will usually have people on your team who are new or are less experienced. These new or lower skilled workers won't be as productive or effective as higher skilled workers. Make sure your project plan has accounted for skill levels.
Unplanned Work or Workarounds – Many times changes must be made to the sequence of planned work. These changes can impact time, cost, budget, and quality. Think about these risks up front and discuss what if any workarounds will be used.
Rework – Rework happens; it is part of project management. Ensure your project plan accounts for rework.
Team Morale – Turnover, project conflict, sick time, vacations all can wreak havoc with your schedule and budget; plan for these things. A happy team is a productive team. Ensure your team is working towards a common goal and not working against each other. Remove disruptive team members from your project if their behavior can't be changed.
Schedules – Trying to do too much in too little time will result in delays. Once you get behind it is very difficult to catch up. Your project will have delays. You need to have contingency plans to get back on track quickly.
Work Environment – Ensure that your team has a proper workspace. Cramming people into poorly designed work spaces will lower productivity.
Tools – Ensure your team has the right tools to do the job. Having the right tool, but not getting into the teams hands at the right time will cause delays in your schedule.
Project Manager Overload – Too many people on a project team without the proper management oversight can cause major problems for the project manager.
Overtime – Adding hours to people's schedules in order to make a deadline will usually do nothing but increase your budget. Adding overtime rarely results in getting a late project back on track.
Executive – Executive apathy can kill your project. People are usually not going to make your project a priority if their boss isn't willing to tell them it is important.
Plan for the above "risks" and you will start to bring your projects in faster, cheaper, with higher quality.
Skill Sets – When planning, assumptions are made regarding people's skills. Sometimes these assumptions turn out to be wrong. Also, you will usually have people on your team who are new or are less experienced. These new or lower skilled workers won't be as productive or effective as higher skilled workers. Make sure your project plan has accounted for skill levels.
Unplanned Work or Workarounds – Many times changes must be made to the sequence of planned work. These changes can impact time, cost, budget, and quality. Think about these risks up front and discuss what if any workarounds will be used.
Rework – Rework happens; it is part of project management. Ensure your project plan accounts for rework.
Team Morale – Turnover, project conflict, sick time, vacations all can wreak havoc with your schedule and budget; plan for these things. A happy team is a productive team. Ensure your team is working towards a common goal and not working against each other. Remove disruptive team members from your project if their behavior can't be changed.
Schedules – Trying to do too much in too little time will result in delays. Once you get behind it is very difficult to catch up. Your project will have delays. You need to have contingency plans to get back on track quickly.
Work Environment – Ensure that your team has a proper workspace. Cramming people into poorly designed work spaces will lower productivity.
Tools – Ensure your team has the right tools to do the job. Having the right tool, but not getting into the teams hands at the right time will cause delays in your schedule.
Project Manager Overload – Too many people on a project team without the proper management oversight can cause major problems for the project manager.
Overtime – Adding hours to people's schedules in order to make a deadline will usually do nothing but increase your budget. Adding overtime rarely results in getting a late project back on track.
Executive – Executive apathy can kill your project. People are usually not going to make your project a priority if their boss isn't willing to tell them it is important.
Plan for the above "risks" and you will start to bring your projects in faster, cheaper, with higher quality.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Leadership Principles That Transform
The organization I work for came up with a set of principles to guide the organization in the area of leadership. We all know that successful project managers are effective leaders.
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Leaders are charged with transforming our organization into a more flexible, responsive and efficient high performing organization by fostering a climate which will encourage active involvement by all:
a. Instill the culture of high performance through all in our community. (Accountability)
b. Share my understanding and assist others to elevate their understanding of our commonly held leadership philosophy. (Cooperation and Teamwork)
c. Continually seek and remain open to new possibilities (Innovation)
d. Work to improve the quality of life of our community through collaboration. (Trust and Integrity)
e. Actively pursue the realization of our collective vision and be held accountable for our actions and leadership in shaping our future. (Clarity of Direction)
f. Embrace confronting the unsaid in our conversations. While maintaining a bias for action, we acknowledge the need for patience as we work to improve our performance (Honesty and Integrity)
g. Value a sense of urgency and maintain a focus on achieving results at the pace possible rather than the pace expected. (Effectiveness)
h. Encourage the celebration of our results. (Rewards and Recognition)
i. Support and create talent networks that value and celebrate diversity with a holistic view that leads us to results. (Cooperation and Teamwork)
j. Empower and mentor all to be innovative and take risks. (Inspiration and Empowerment)
k. Be fearless in the pursuit of our vision. (Clarity of Direction)
Teamwork, Common Goals, and Leadership at all levels will result in success.
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Leaders are charged with transforming our organization into a more flexible, responsive and efficient high performing organization by fostering a climate which will encourage active involvement by all:
a. Instill the culture of high performance through all in our community. (Accountability)
b. Share my understanding and assist others to elevate their understanding of our commonly held leadership philosophy. (Cooperation and Teamwork)
c. Continually seek and remain open to new possibilities (Innovation)
d. Work to improve the quality of life of our community through collaboration. (Trust and Integrity)
e. Actively pursue the realization of our collective vision and be held accountable for our actions and leadership in shaping our future. (Clarity of Direction)
f. Embrace confronting the unsaid in our conversations. While maintaining a bias for action, we acknowledge the need for patience as we work to improve our performance (Honesty and Integrity)
g. Value a sense of urgency and maintain a focus on achieving results at the pace possible rather than the pace expected. (Effectiveness)
h. Encourage the celebration of our results. (Rewards and Recognition)
i. Support and create talent networks that value and celebrate diversity with a holistic view that leads us to results. (Cooperation and Teamwork)
j. Empower and mentor all to be innovative and take risks. (Inspiration and Empowerment)
k. Be fearless in the pursuit of our vision. (Clarity of Direction)
Teamwork, Common Goals, and Leadership at all levels will result in success.
Monday, April 09, 2007
What Skills Does a Project Manager Need to Master?
Project Managers need to master the following skills and traits in order to be successful:
Have Recognized Leadership Skills
Posses Good Decision Making Skills
Posses Good Communication Skills
Have a Sense of Humor
Have Integrity
Possess a Driven Desire to Succeed
Have Demonstrated Project Management Skills
Have Self-Discipline
Have Vision
Posses Active Listening Skills
Be Compassionate
Utilize a Proven yet Flexible Project Management Methodology
The question we need to ask ourselves is how we master the above skills? My quick answer is a blend of education, experience, on-the-job training, mentoring, and a continuous feedback loop.
I'm grateful that in my career I've had mentors to help me improve my skills while helping me learn to drop bad habits. In order to move from good to great we must work to improve our skills and focus on our strengths; however, we must also identify and minimize or eliminate our weaknesses.
Finally, great project managers like working with people. They like challenges, they have an even temperament, and they are a motivating influence to those around them. They don’t just plan and delegate, they get involved and become part of the team. They have to respect others and be shown respect in return. They are congenial, they are approachable, and they have integrity. A project manager that is lacking in any of the above areas won't be successful over the long haul.
Have Recognized Leadership Skills
Posses Good Decision Making Skills
Posses Good Communication Skills
Have a Sense of Humor
Have Integrity
Possess a Driven Desire to Succeed
Have Demonstrated Project Management Skills
Have Self-Discipline
Have Vision
Posses Active Listening Skills
Be Compassionate
Utilize a Proven yet Flexible Project Management Methodology
The question we need to ask ourselves is how we master the above skills? My quick answer is a blend of education, experience, on-the-job training, mentoring, and a continuous feedback loop.
I'm grateful that in my career I've had mentors to help me improve my skills while helping me learn to drop bad habits. In order to move from good to great we must work to improve our skills and focus on our strengths; however, we must also identify and minimize or eliminate our weaknesses.
Finally, great project managers like working with people. They like challenges, they have an even temperament, and they are a motivating influence to those around them. They don’t just plan and delegate, they get involved and become part of the team. They have to respect others and be shown respect in return. They are congenial, they are approachable, and they have integrity. A project manager that is lacking in any of the above areas won't be successful over the long haul.