Category Archives: Timespan

One Simple Discipline

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“Purpose?”

“Purpose. The first step to having important meetings is to be crystal clear on the purpose for the meeting.” Phillip and I had been talking about meetings. Phillip was concerned that his Project Managers were having difficulty in what seemed basic stuff to him.

“We tell Project Managers that they need to have meetings, and then we wonder why their meetings fall apart. Bottom line is that most companies don’t train their supervisors and managers on how to conduct an effective meeting. They just expect it to happen, like magic.”

“So we need to start with purpose?” asked Phillip.

“Everything starts with purpose. Meetings run amuck when there is no purpose, or where people attending have different purposes. Until we get those purposes out on the table, our meeting is going to meander aimlessly.”

“How do we do that? Send an email out before the meeting?” pondered Phillip.

“Yes, it’s as simple as that. But think about it. How many meetings did you attend during the past month where there was no stated purpose and no agenda?”

Phillip didn’t have to think long. “You know, I don’t think I went to a single meeting last month where there was an agenda, much less, a stated purpose.”

“Now, I know some things managed to get done in those meetings, but they could have been much more effective. Do that one simple thing, and teach your PMs to do the same and you will see an improvement.” -TF

Running the Job

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“There is more?” Phillip asked. He was gaining a new appreciation for the role of the Project Manager. “This is more complex than I thought.”

“Phillip, one of the biggest mistakes a company makes when it hires people, is underestimating the Time Horizon required for the person to be effective in the position. The role of a Project Manager requires a brand new skill set, a skill set that most companies never train.”

“We talked about schedules and checklists, but you said there was another tool.”

I nodded. “Perhaps the most important tool. Meetings. Most PMs know they need to have meetings, but they just gut their way through. Nobody likes their meetings. They skip them if they can. Participation by team members hardly exists.

“Yet, if you think about it, running an effective meeting is an important management skill. It makes communication consistent because everyone hears the same thing. It provides the opportunity for interactive participation and questions. It encourages participation and promotes buy-in. It can be used as an accountability tool.

“But that rarely happens, because most managers don’t know how to hold an effective meeting.” Phillip was listening intently. It was beginning to sink in. Running the job is completely different than doing the job. -TF

The Next Tool

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Phillip was all ears. We had been talking about the core skills for a Project Manager. During the past four years, Phillip had been involved in hiring this level of project supervisor. In his mind, the most important skills were the technical construction skills.

He slowly understood that the role of Project Management was different. While the role of the crew member was to do the work, the role of the supervisor was to make sure the work got done. It required a completely different set of skills. It had nothing to do with hammers, saws or heavy equipment. It had to do with scheduling people and materials. It had to do with making sure the work was complete and finished on time.

“You said we need to teach our PMs how to put a schedule together?” Phillip asked.

“Yes, and a schedule is only one of the tools of the supervisor. Another important tool is a checklist.”

“You mean, like the punch list we use at the end of the job to wrap up all the unfinished details?”

“You got it,” I prompted. “Why use a checklist only at the end of the job. Checklists can be very useful through the entire project. There are a hundred things that need follow-up and no one can keep all that in their head. In fact, after a few jobs, a master checklist can be created for different parts of the project, like a template that can be used over and over.”

“And we should teach this to our supervisors?” Phillip was slowly getting on board.

“Yep. I know it comes second nature to you, but not to your junior Project Managers.” I stopped. Phillip had enough for today. “Tomorrow, I will come by and we can pick up the next Project Management tool.” -TF

What Does the Schedule Say?

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Phillip stared at me. His blood pressure was up, though he appeared calm, but not like a deer in the headlights.

“So, we should teach our Project Managers to schedule?” he asked, knowing the answer was yes.

“Look. Phillip. Think about this. What is the most frequent problem a Project Manager has to deal with?”

Phillip didn’t hesitate. “The contractor calls up and wants to know how come something on the job site isn’t happening the way he expected it to.”

“And what happens then?”

“Well, the PM starts scrambling. He jumps on his radio to find out what happened to the crew or the materials or the equipment. It can get a little chaotic.”

“Why doesn’t the PM immediately go to his schedule to find out what is happening?”

“His schedule?” Phillip almost started laughing. “His schedule won’t tell him anything.”

I stopped, waited for ten long seconds. “And why won’t his schedule tell him what he needs to know.”

It was Phillip’s turn to wait. He was trying to craft a response, but the only thing that came out was the truth. “I guess we don’t take schedules seriously enough to train our PMs on how to create them and use them.”

“So, Phillip. Yes, you need to train them on how to put a schedule together.” Phillip nodded slowly in agreement. “And that’s not all. There’s more.” -TF

It’s a Different Skill Set

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As Phillip simmered, he finally blurted out, “But they should know how to schedule. How hard is that?”

“I don’t know, Phillip. How complicated are your scheduling logistics?” I asked. We had been talking about his Project Managers. Though technically proficient, they seemed to have difficulty creating and maintaining current schedules.

“It’s just getting the materials and the people scheduled. It’s not that difficult.” Phillip was firm.

“What is the biggest problem they face in scheduling?”

Phillip thought for a minute, hoping to tell me there were never problems, but he knew better. “I guess the biggest problem is coordinating with the other subs on the job, to make sure their work is finished and the project is ready for the work we do. Since the subs don’t work for us, coordinating with them is sometimes difficult.”

“So, how do you train your PMs to deal with that?”

“Train ’em. They’re just supposed to know that they have to go check.” It was not a good answer and Phillip was beginning to backpedal.

I pressed. “On the job, do materials ever get backordered? Does a crew member ever call in sick or a whole crew get reassigned to an emergency? Does the contractor ever change something without a change order? Does a piece of heavy equipment get delayed on another project and not show up? Does a dumpster load sometimes not get switched out in time. Does a code inspector sometimes not show up?

“Tell me, Phillip. How do you train your Project Managers to create and maintain schedules?”

Phillip hesitated. He knew any response would just sound like an excuse.

“Phillip, here is the critical factor. Actually doing the work is completely different from making sure the work gets done. It’s a different role in the company. It has its own skill set. You don’t hire for it, you don’t train for it, but right now, it’s killing you.” -TF

Didn’t Interview for That

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Phillip was perplexed. “I explained it to them three times. They still don’t get it.” His emotion was a mixture of anger and bewilderment. This discussion was about his Project Managers.

“What do you think the problem is?” I asked.

“I don’t think they have the capability to understand. They all have 4 or 5 years in the business. They know how to do the work. They just can’t seem to be able to get other people to perform, at least not on time and most of the time, not on budget.” As Phillip was talking, he was calming down.

“Technically, they understand what needs to be done?” I confirm.

“Yes, but the technical skills almost seem unimportant, now.” Phillip was shaking his head.

“If it’s not technical skills, what are the skills?”

“It’s like, they can’t even fill out a schedule. Ryan is one of my PMs. I asked to see his weekly schedule. He was so proud, he had it right in his clipboard. It was dated three months ago, all scribbled up. Three guys on the schedule don’t even work for us anymore.”

“So, one of the skills is the ability to put together a weekly schedule contemplating the project workload, targets, people, materials and equipment?”

Phillip had a look on his face somewhere between an epiphany and a nervous breakdown. I continued, “So, when you interview for new project managers, do you interview for their ability to schedule?”

He shook his face from side to side, “No, we usually interview for technical skills.”

“Do you think you might start interviewing for scheduling skills?” -TF

Typical Time Horizons

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I am going to pick on the accounting department. For the past couple of days, we have talked about time span related to roles in the organization. Following are typical time spans for roles inside the accounting department.

Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable roles typically have time spans around one month. As they work through their daily routine, A/P and A/R must look forward to check or billing runs with a monthly reconciliation. All during the month, these roles must look forward to things which will impact that monthly reconciliation.

Payroll may require a slightly longer time span. I usually look for a time span of three months, which coincides with quarterly payroll reporting and reconciliations. There are also annual responsibilities related to W-2 filings and reconciliations, but I often expect the payroll clerk has additional support from a full-charge bookkeeper, an outsourced payroll service or even just a great piece of computer software.

Full-charge bookkeepers are responsible for the production of in-house monthly financial statements but also must look forward to the end of year. The annual task of organizing the records for the firm’s CPA (tax returns and audits) stretches the time span of a full-charge bookkeeper to 13 months.

A controller’s responsibilities go beyond the compilation of financial statements to controlling all financial and management control systems. This would extend to the selection of computer accounting software to the design of all administrative systems that surround that software. Companies requiring departmental financial reporting or job costing also come under the purview of the controller stretching the time span from 12 months to 24 months.

CFO responsibilities extend out beyond 24 months. From my CFO, I expect trend analysis, capacity utilization, return on capital assets, indexing to economic indicators. I expect my CFO to look at the coming recession of 2009 and tell me when we need to renegotiate our lines of credit, when we need to be stockpiling cash (in case we want to buy a troubled competitor) looking at our leases and our owned properties. Time span associated with these responsibilities goes from 24 months to 48 months.

When you begin to measure the task in relation to time span, you become extremely precise about the level of person you need to fill that role. Next week, we will take a look at how to make that judgment about members of your team and prospective candidates in your hiring process. -TF

BTW. I have a white paper I would be happy to send you listing typical time horizons for a number of disciplines. Just drop me an email, be happy to send it to you.

Maximum Time Horizon

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From the Ask Tom mailbag:

Question: Related to our discussion of Time Horizon. Submitted by David.

But, doesn’t the individual’s ability or skill level play a role in measuring the complexity of a task? If I give the same task to two different people, inevitably they will complete it at different rates based on their skill level and/or familiarity of the task. Doesn’t that skew the measurement?

Response:
There are indeed the additional elements of skill level and experience, but the complexity of the task itself does not change. A person’s experience and skill level does have a bearing on their ability to be successful, but the complexity of the task does not change whether the person is successful or not.

A person’s skill level and experience will have a bearing on a person’s current time horizon, but the important observation is of a person’s maximum time horizon. As a person’s skill level and experience increases, their current time horizon will increase, but never beyond the person’s maximum time horizon.

Tomorrow, we will look at typical time horizons to get a clear understanding of how this works and why it is an important concept for managers. -TF

Special thanks to David for the question.

Complexity and Uncertainty

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“My gut tells me that you are right, but I am not sure if I could explain it to someone else,” Marge said. “The longer the time span of a task, the more complex it is?”

“Yes,” I replied. “Remember we were talking about your freight supervisor working out two weeks into the future using the shipping calendar?” Marge nodded. “You said that the first week was pretty solid, but the second week was not as certain.”

“Yes, this week, we know exactly what orders are due, but there are always some unanticipated problems for next week. We just don’t know. It’s okay, we just don’t know.”

“Exactly, the further into the future, the more things are uncertain. That uncertainty into the future is what creates the complexity. The further into the future that you expect someone to work, the longer the time span that person needs to have.” You could see the wheels churning in Marge’s head.

“So, that’s why Martin has difficulty for anything beyond today. He doesn’t have the time span for it?” Marge finally surmised.

I nodded my head. “Time Span becomes an accurate measurement of complexity.” -TF

Time Span and Complexity

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“I never thought of it that way,” said Marge. “But I am not sure exactly what you mean.” We had been talking about how measuring time span was a valuable indicator of the complexity of a job.

“Time span is the length of time that a person can work into the future, without direction, using their own independent discretionary judgment,” I explained. Marge turned her head with a quizzical look.

“Let’s take a task. Let’s say I want to delegate a task to you. So we have a delegation meeting and I explain all about it. You get some questions answered and we adjourn the meeting. From that moment, you begin to work without further direction from me, using your own discretionary judgment.

“When you complete the task, you come back to me and say, -that’s it, I am finished, what’s next?

“The time that you were working independently, measures the time span for that task. On the shipping dock, you have people doing things with different time spans. Packing a box may only have a time span of 15 minutes. Working a rolling freight schedule, checking inventories, supplies and personnel on the loading dock may have a time span of two weeks. Two totally different roles, each with its own time span.

“Time span becomes an accurate measurement for the complexity of any given task.” -TF