We hear about projects that don’t meet the requirements set up for them. Sometimes the budget is over-run. Sometimes the schedule is blown apart. Other times it’s the scope - exactly what the project is expected to produce.
Projects can be troubled in any area - project team dynamics, stakeholder problems, risks that weren’t identified, procurement of items or services vital to the project product, etc.
Where have you experienced project troubles?
A new book for executives, and project managers, has recently been published. It’s called Coming UnScrooged, written by A. Drayton Boylston, a well-known executive coach.
Based on the classic Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, Boylston gives us the story of a modern CEO. This executive has lost his bearings in a world of wealth and success. He’s also about to lose his family and his job. Cutting corners is taking a toll on his life - one that he doesn’t even recognize.
Boylston calls himself a “Rescued Executive,” so he knows what he’s talking about. His vision is to rescue one million executives from the lives that they have created for themselves. Lives that are frantic and filled with anxiety. Lives where the money is good, but the living ain’t easy.
Want to help an executive rescue him/herself? Give them this book. It not only shows the problems, but also the solutions.
This book is easy to read, so get a copy soon. You might recognize someone you know, work for, or - maybe - even yourself.
I know, we’ve all read the Pareto Rule, nodded our heads in agreement, and then put our noses on the grindstone and continued to do what we’ve always been doing. <shakes head sadly>
As executives and project managers, our jobs are to get work done through other people. If you’re really good at that, you spend a lot of your time talking with people. Motivating, learning, begging, pleading, etc. You find that the only time you have left to actually manage the project, or the department, is after everyone else leaves work for the day.
Would you like to find out how to change the way that you work in order to get more done and have more time for yourself? Then revisit the Pareto Rule. Eighty percent of your success comes from twenty percent of your work. If you can identify that twenty percent, how much more successful could you be by spending all of your time on it?
A copywriter named Gary Bencivenga - one of the most successful in the world - has an article about this very thing. As usual, I can’t think of a better way to put it than Gary does.
There are two things that he mentions in his article that are near and dear to my heart - having a NOT-TO-DO list and managing your time by prioritizing your activities.
Here’s the link to Gary’s article: http://www.bencivengabullets.com/bullets.asp?id=26
He’s planning a follow-up article on this subject and I’ll let you know when it’s published.
Enjoy!
If you are, you know how hard it can be to reach other Project Managers. PM Hut has started an new offering called the Trainer’s Area. People who offer training to PMs can list their services here - for free.
That’s right - for free.
The other great thing about it is that it uses geo-targeting. That means that a visitor based in the US will see trainers who offer their services in the US. As the listing increase, this will be true for other countries as well.
Take a look at it here: http://www.pmhut.com/trainers/index.php
One of my colleagues, and friends, Alex S. Brown, PMP, asked me to publicize this survey for project managers. I’m happy to do so.
If you’ve ever considered yourself in an executive management position at your company - or any company - then this survey is for you. It is a comprehensive survye, so please allow about one hour to complete it. Here is the official invitation.
Subject: Invitation to Program and Project Managers to Participate in an Important PM Research Project
All Program and Project Managers around the world are urged to contribute to an important research project co-sponsored by PMI and the ESC-Lille Business School (France.) The project is titled “Project Managers as Senior Executives?” and focuses on these questions:
Does experience as a program or project manager lead to senior executive positions? Are there differences in this regard within project-driven versus project dependent organizations in business, industry, and government?
The research will attempt to prove or disprove these three hypotheses:
In competing for CEO & other top jobs, Project Managers:
1. Have disadvantages compared with traditional “functional” managers
2. Need to become Program Managers and PMO directors to achieve top positions
3. Have experience similar to that required by successful CEOs and other senior executives; if so, this should be recognized more that it is at present.
For a more complete description of this research project please go to http://www.pmforum.org/library/research/PMI_ESC_Research_Project.pdf
This research is being conducted with a three-pronged approach:
1. Interviews with CEOs and other Senior Executives in 10 countries.
2. On-line interview/surveys of Program and Project Managers in many countries and business, industrial, and governmental sectors.
3. Literature search and analysis.
To participate by completing the on-line interview/survey: Program and Project Managers in any country of the world are invited to go to http://executive-pm.com/]http://executive-pm.com/ to complete the interview/survey, which will take most people about 1 hour to finish. If you wish to see the complete interview/survey prior to completing it on-line you can download it here:
http://www.pmforum.org/library/research/PMI-ESC-ResearchSurvey.pdf
Benefits to You: Participants will gain these benefits from completing the on-line interview/survey:
• Insight into the pros and cons of this research project
• Ideas for further investigation by you
• Credit for you and your PM organizations in the final report
• Networking with our Project Team members
• PMI PDU credit for the time spent
Interviews with CEOs and Other Senior Executives: You are also invited to participate further in this research effort by arranging and conducting one or more interviews with CEOs or other Senior Executives. To download the project Guidelines for Interviewing CEOs and Other Senior Executives please go to:
http://www.pmforum/library/research/PMI-ESC-CEO-SrExInterviewGuidelines.pdf
Persons conducting these important interviews will gain the benefits listed above PLUS the important personal exposure that they will experience from the face-to-face time spent with the CEOs or Senior Executives whom they interview.
The cut-off date for the on-line survey and the face-to-face CEO/Senior Executive interviews is December 15, 2007. For further information on this research project please contact Prof. Jean-Pierre Debourse at <jp.debourse@esc-lille.fr> or Russ Archibald at <russell_archibald@yahoo.com>.
Please feel free to forward this invitation to all of your colleagues whom you believe will be interested in participating in this PM research project.
Best regards,
The PMI-ESC Lille Research Project Team
There’s a new hut in town, called the PM Hut at http://www.pmhut.com.
Recently created by a project manager who works for an IT company in Canada, the PM Hut is addressing the chaotic world of project management information. I think it’s an admirable goal.
Just to let you know, some of my articles and posts are showing up there. Yes, indeed, a little flattery will get you lots of words.
I added PM Hut to my blog roll - see the links at the left side of the window. Please take a look at it. There’s already great information there.
I’m leaving the mountains and valleys of Microsoft Land for the beautiful beaches of Mac Land.
It’s been a more gradual switch than I’ve let anyone see. First, I switched to Firefox as my internet browser. Then I made the move to Thunderbird as my email client. Both of these programs are open source and free. http://www.mozilla.com
That’s when I really got fired up about open source. If a volunteer community can develop - and continuously improve - complicated software like this, what else could they do?
Quite simply, everything!
OpenOffice is an open source suite of programs that out performs Microsoft Office. http://openoffice.org
The GIMP is a program that does everything PhotoShop can do. http://gimp.org
Audacity is an audio recording and editing program that took me one hour to begin using productively. (Of course, I’m an electrical engineer, so wave forms are part of my professional training and experience.) http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
There are so many more open source programs that I can’t list them all here. However, if you’re a project manager who’s sick and tired of MS Project or Primavera, take a look at Open Workbench. http://www.openworkbench.org/
Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with any of these products, except as a user.
All of these open source programs work on Mac OSX, too. By switching to a more stable operating system, with so many tools already built in, I’m also able to continue using the programs that I already know.
Now go and discover new lands for yourself.
Technorati Tags: Mac, Microsoft, OSX, open source, Firefox, Thunderbird, OpenOffice, GIMP, Audacity, Open Workbench, computers, software, programs
I’m so excited! I’m the guest author on a wonderful blog, Life by Design, http://www.officiallifebydesign.com/. Please feel free to visit the blog.
The blog title is How do You SPEND Your Time? And the article title is Spending Time.
If you like the article, please let your friends and colleagues know about it.
or
What do the Dumb-dumbs in the executive offices know?
In the first two parts of this series, we learned how to decide which executive to start building a relationship with, and what we need to do in order to advocate project management processes in our company. In this final part of the series, we’ll talk about a very important, but often overlooked, part of the advocacy process - when to advocate.
Part 3: When
After you’ve done all your homework and learned about selling, it’s time to start working.
As with any communication between people, timing is important.
Choose a time to talk with your executive when a project has succeeded in a way that the executive can appreciate.
The worst time to talk with an executive is when a project has failed, or is on the road to failure.
Even when a project is proceeding well, there’s no proof for your pudding.
Be careful to understand the executive’s timing as well. Just after layoffs are announced is probably not a good time. Wait for a few days - or until the assistant lets you know that it’s okay.
Choose a time to talk when you won’t be interrupted. It’s often a good idea to get out of the office - lunch, coffee, dinner, or some other place where the two of you can talk openly.
Because you’ve gotten to know a bit about this executive, you’ll know how much small talk he/she wants. Many executives want to get to the point quickly - even at dinner.
Summary
We’ve talked about the who, what, and when of talking with executives about the value of project management practices.
Be picky about who you talk with. Choose with care.
Build a relationship with that executive. Base your talks on the benefits that project management practices will bring to the strategy that the executive has.
Choose your times to talk very carefully. Make sure you’re both ready to talk, and go somewhere that limits interruptions.
This is only the starting point. There’s so much involved - people skills, communication skills, strategic thinking - that it takes time.
There are two main points:
1. Build a one-to-one relationship with the executive
2. Talk with one executive at a time
Until next time . . .
or
What do the Dumb-dumbs in the executive offices know?
In part 1 we learned how to decide which executive to start building a relationship with. In this part of the three-part series, we’ll learn the beginning steps about what to do next.
Part 2: What
Selling is NOT evil.
Here are a couple of definitions that I prefer.
Sell - to persuade another to recognize the worth or desirability of something
Sell - to cause to be accepted; advocate successfullyAmerican Heritage Dictionary
Besides thinking of ourselves as advocates, we’re also teachers. Whether we want to or not, as project managers we teach people about project expectations every day. They come to expect success, or failure, based on what we deliver.
When we consistently deliver successful projects, it’s much easier to advocate the process.
Learn how to sell. Read books, take classes, talk with salespeople. There are many sales techniques - and some are not relevant to what we do. I’ve found that techniques that use relationship building work best for this type of sale.
Then translate the word “sell” to “teach” or “advocate.”
We don’t convince other people of anything - they convince themselves. We supply the information for them to do that.
The best information to give them is the benefits of project practices. Answer this question: What will they get?
Be careful here and really study this point. Benefits are not features. A feature would be the project schedule. A benefit would be opening a new market.
Next time, we’ll talk about when to sell project management practices.
Until then . . .
