Rank Your Team

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Brent pondered. “So, it’s up to me to determine the Time Span of the project. How do I match that with the Time Span capability of the team member that I select for the project? I have several people to pick from. How do I make that decision?”

“How many people on your team?” I asked.

“Seven,” Brent replied.

“Make a quick list,” I instructed. “Just of quick list, first names are fine.”

Brent hesitated, but followed the instruction. “Okay, now what?”

“Now, rank them. Make another list, but in Time Span order. The person at the top of the list should be the person with the longest Time Span. Then the next longest Time Span, all the way to the bottom of the list. A question I ask myself is, ‘How long can I leave this person alone with a task assignment, and when I come back, they are still engaged on the assignment?’ You know some people, you can assign a six month project and they will complete it, without your assistance, using their own best judgment to solve problems and make decisions. Others can work for a while, but break down, require direction, get distracted, don’t finish, miss deadlines. And for some, you have to check every ten minutes, just to see if they are still working. Make the list, rank your team. Longest Time Span to shortest Time Span.”

Relying on a Manager’s Judgment

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“So, if I am looking for a match, to match the Time Span of the project with the Time Span of the team member, I get to decide the Time Span of the project?” Brent asked.

“It’s not that you get to decide. It’s that, as a manager, you have discretionary judgment to determine the Time Span of the project. You will rely on your judgment, based on your experience, based on the target completion time specified by the customer, based on your understanding of risk elements, failure elements, prototyping, testing, contingencies, availability of talent, availability of resources, priority of this project among other projects. It’s not that you get to decide. Part of your role, as a manager, is to determine the Time Span of the project, using your discretionary judgment.”

How Long is a Three Month Project?

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“How do you measure the Time Span of a task?” asked Brent. “You say it’s important to match the Time Span of the task with the Time Span capability of the person. So, how do you measure the Time Span of the task?”

“Here’s a trick question for you,” I replied. “How long is a three month project?”

Brent looked puzzled, looking for the trick. “I’ll bite. Three months.”

“Exactly, how did you know?”

“Because it takes three months to complete a three month project?” Brent tested.

“You are correct. And who decided that the project would take three months?”

Brent shrugged his shoulders. He was having trouble playing the game. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s just arbitrary. Maybe the project time frame just got pulled out of a hat.”

“I hardly think so. Think about the Phoenix project that your team is working on. How long will it take to complete that project?”

Brent chortled. “Well, three months. It’s complicated, lots of things could go wrong, but we should complete it in three months.”

“Who decided that?” I pressed.

“I did. I have been doing this kind of work for ten years, now. Based on the scope of the project, it should take three months.”

“So, in your discretionary judgment, as a manager, you have determined that the Time Span of the Phoenix project is three months?”

Brent nodded.

“Your question was, how do you measure the Time Span of the task? The Time Span of the task is largely determined by the best judgment of the manager. For every goal set by a manager, there is a ‘by when.’ It is the ‘by when’ that best describes the Time Span of the goal.”

Discretionary Judgment

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From a Comment posted last week on Time Span Shoes, GH writes:

Question:
That post was completely opaque. What did you mean by “the time span of the team member”? Experience, availability, something else?

If you don’t mind a piece of advice, when you’re blogging in the middle of the night, don’t post right away. Wait until the next morning so that you can reread and correct your post with a clear head. -GH

Response:
Time Span is a recurring theme in this blog. For those unfamiliar with the concept, you can access the Time Span Category on our site where we have 190 other posts about Time Span.

Time Span isn’t experience or availability. Time Span refers to a team member’s capability and is based on the research of Elliott Jaques. Elliott discovered that each person is born with an ability to handle a certain amount of complexity in their world. This ability (capability) is measurable. The metric is Time Span.

Time Span is the length of time that a person can work into the future, without direction, using their own discretionary judgment to achieve a specific goal. It is an objective measure of capability and a cornerstone for delegation.

Watching for Years

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“So, when I have to delegate a project to one of my technicians, I might really have to change the way I look at the Time Span of the tasks?” Marcus observed.

“How will you make those changes?” I asked.

“I am always looking at things in terms of the system, the whole system. I guess I will have to break those systems down into segments, individual processes and methods.”

“How will you know you have segmented the system into appropriate project assignments, task assignments that match the capability of your team members?”

“Time Span,” Marcus nodded. “Time Span is the key. The key to measuring the complexity of the tasks and the key to measuring the capability of the person. The hat trick is to get a match.”

“How will you know?” I pushed. “How will you know you have a match between the person and the task?”

“Actually pretty easy when you think about it. As a manager, I know how long a task should take. And I know the capability of the person.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because I am their manager. I have been watching their problem solving and decision making for years. As their manager, I can make that judgment.”

Time Span Shoes

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“If you can measure the Time Span of the project and you can measure the Time Span of the team member, how is that helpful to you, as a manager?” I asked.

Marcus laughed. “Obvious isn’t it? If I know the Time Span of the project, why would I want to assign it to someone without the capability?”

“But you just described the difficulty of assigning a project. What criteria did you use before you selected the person?”

“You mean the person with the deer-in-the-headlights look?”

“Yes,” I nodded.

“I guess I didn’t think. Seemed simple to me, but I guess not so simple for someone else.”

“What will you change as you think about projects you are handing out?”

“My problem, I was thinking about myself, my own Time Span orientation. That’s why the project looked simple. I have to really put myself in the Time Span shoes of the person I selected.”

How Big is the Project?

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“Sometimes, I get push-back from my team when I try to delegate a task,” Marcus complained. “I mean, I can tell when someone is just lazy, they don’t last on my team anyway. But sometimes I get push-back that seems like a lack of confidence, especially when it’s more of a project than a simple task.”

“Why do you think that happens?” I asked.

“Sometimes, it’s the deer-in-the-headlights look. It’s not fear that I see, more like an immediate wave of being overwhelmed. And to me, the task sounds simple.”

“So, it doesn’t sound simple to the team member?”

“I guess not,” Marcus continued. “But I can’t figure it out.”

“Could it have something to do with Time Span?”

Marcus had to stop. We had talked about Time Span before. “So, when I give someone a big project to do, that’s why I get push-back?”

“How do you measure the size of the project?” I pressed.

“You’re right. A big project can be measured by its Time Span,” Marcus concluded.

“And the capability of a person can be measured in the same way.”

I Never Checked On It

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Glen was working late. “What’s happening?” I asked.

He was staring at a project book. I realized he was not in a jovial mood. He took in a long breath and a measured exhale. I could see the blood boiling behind his eyes, betraying his exterior composure.

Finally he spoke, “I thought this project would be done by now, but it’s not. It is due at the client tomorrow morning at 8:00, and it is only half finished. My team let me down.”

“Who was the project leader?”

“Andre,” he replied.

“And what did Andre say?”

“It’s the funniest thing. He said he knew the deadline was tomorrow, but since I never came around to check on the project, he didn’t think it was important anymore, so he didn’t start on it.”

“So, where is he now?”

“He is actually finishing a different project from another Project Manager, in Kansas City. So it looks like I will be here until midnight.”

“So, tell me, Glen. What happens to the importance of any project when the manager fails to follow its progress?”

“I know. At first I was mad at Andre, but it’s my own fault. I had set some follow-up meetings and just blew them off. Now I have to pay.”

“And next time?”

“Next time, I will make the follow-up meetings, instead of having to finish the project on my own.”

Fixing Accountability

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“Who creates the Action Plan?” I asked.

“Well, I do! I’m the Manager. I know what needs to be done. I create the Action Plan,” Ellen shouted from the back of the room.

We were talking about delegation.

“So, you are working with Brian. You describe the Vision, the Goals for the project and the Guidelines?” Now I was looking straight at Ellen.

“Yes!” she replied.

“Then, you tell Brian, here are the steps, 1-2-3-4-5?”

“Yes!” she repeated.

“And Brian goes out and he completes steps 1-2-3-4-5. And the project fails.” I stopped and peered over at Ellen. She was a little surprised. She didn’t like the idea that her project could fail.

“So, Brian completes steps 1-2-3-4-5, the project fails. Who is accountable for the failure? After all, he followed your Action Plan step by step.”

All eyes turned to Ellen. “Yeah, but.” Then she stopped. “I guess if it was my plan, Brian is going to say it was my fault.”

“Yes, he will. The accountability will fall to you. And where do you want the accountability?”

“Well, I want Brian to be accountable.”

“So, who creates the Action Plan? You describe the Vision, the Goals and the Guidelines, but who creates the Action Plan?”

“I guess, Brian,” Ellen said quietly.

“Exactly, if you want to fix accountability on Brian, then Brian has to create the Action Plan.”

What is the Purpose for Delegation

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Emily was already in the conference room when I arrived.

“So, what’s the purpose for delegation?” I asked.

“That’s easy,” Emily replied. “To save me time. I have a lot of stuff going on.”

“And if you are able to effectively delegate, what does the team member get out of it?”

Emily looked puzzled. “Well, I guess.” She stopped. “I guess, maybe, that they learn something new.”

“Good, learning is good. What else?” I probed.

“Well, new. Something new would be more interesting. Maybe learn a new skill. Maybe a sense of accomplishment, pride?”

“Good. Now tell me, Emily, do any of those things have anything to do with time?”

“Well, no.”

“So, what do they have to do with?”

Emily was tracing the conversation. “Learning, interest, new skill, accomplishment, pride. Sounds like learning and development,” she finally concluded.

“So one purpose for delegation is to save you time. Delegation is your most powerful time management tool, and it is also your most powerful learning and development tool.”