Tag Archives: project-management

Skip the Detail

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“We understand handoffs,” Max agreed. “That handoff between estimating and project management is so critical that we have a hard agenda, 150 boxes to check. Now, most projects only have, maybe, 50 critical items, but we go through the checklist just the same.”

“And why do you use the checklist?” I asked.

“What we found was that the output from estimating, I mean, it was a great estimate, but sometimes it wasn’t what the project manager needed. Sometimes, we estimate in one unit of measure, but install in a different unit of measure. So we mapped a checklist to make sure that the output of estimating matched the input requirements for project management. It’s all about outputs and inputs.”

“So what went wrong? You identified a problem with the handoff meeting that didn’t get discovered until you were in the field. What happened with the checklist?” I wanted to know.

“I looked at the paperwork. Both the estimator and the project manager just got lazy. Instead of checking all the items, there was just a big checkmark that covered the page. They got busy and skipped the detail. They were trying to save time.”

“And saving time turned out to cost time,” I nodded. “Why didn’t they slow down and take the time?”

“That’s the $64,000 question,” Max replied.

“No, it’s a really simple question. They didn’t examine the detail because you didn’t make it necessary to examine the detail. Often, things don’t get done, because we don’t make them necessary.”

Before Someone Finds Out

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Saul was reluctant.  “Okay, you want to know what the work is for a project manager?  I’ll tell you.  You show up early, before everyone else, so it’s quiet and you can think.”

“That’s a good start,” I replied.  “What do you think about?”

“You get out the first project folder.  You don’t even have to open it,” Saul chuckled. 

I looked at him sideways.  “You don’t have to open it?”

“Of course not.  You already know what’s inside.  You better know what’s inside.  You sit there, in the quiet and think about what is going to happen today.  It’s a rehearsal.  What is going to happen, step by step?  Until you hit that ‘Oh, shit’ moment.  You imagine what you forgot yesterday that is going to settle out today.”

It was my turn to smile.  “It’s early in the morning, so you still have time to fix it.”

“Well, yes, fix it, of course,” Saul was deep in imagination.  “But, more importantly, fix it so no one finds out that you forgot something important.”

“So, that’s what you want your project managers to do?  Show up early and fix things so no one finds out?” I asked.

“Oh, hell no,”  Saul replied.

Hard to Find Good People

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“I hear you finally extended an offer today for a Project Manager,” I said.

“Yes,” Colleen replied. “This has been one of the toughest searches ever. It was difficult to find anyone who wanted to apply. And, their first question was about working from home.”

“How did you make the decision, that this was the candidate to pick?”

“First, he actually agreed that he would work in the office. And, he seemed really enthusiastic. Said his last job was a dead end, that he was looking for more challenge. I liked his attitude.”

“And, his experience,” I pressed.

Colleen hesitated. “Well, he said he had been a project manager before, so we will see.”

“And, the length of projects he has under his belt?”

“Most of his projects were about three weeks in length. I know it’s not the same as our projects, which last nine or ten months, but he knows how to use Excel, so he should pick up our project management software pretty easily. I mean, project management is project management.”

“You didn’t see a mis-match on the length of projects?” I asked.

“Well, yes, I knew that might be a problem, but he was still the best candidate, and he didn’t ask to work from home.”

“So, tell me, Colleen, what could go wrong on a three week project, and what could go wrong on a ten month project?”

Complexity of Similar Projects

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“Jason is our best project manager,” Elisa described. “But, I gave him just a little bit more responsibility and he is failing. Not only that, it’s impacting the rest of our project management team.”

“How so?” I asked.

“When Jason started here, he did so well on his first project that I gave him another project at the same time, two projects. And, he did that so well, I gave him a third project.”

“And?”

“After a year and a half, I asked him to look over the shoulder of another junior project manager, who was struggling with two projects.”

“So, that’s three projects plus two projects,” I confirmed.

“By then, he already had two more projects himself, so that would be five projects plus two projects,” Elisa replied.

“I see where this is going. He is failing. How many projects does he have on his plate, now?”

“Well, we have five project managers on the team. Everyone is handling two to three projects. I just asked Jason to look over everyone’s shoulder and make sure all the projects are running smoothly.”

“I have ten fingers and ten toes, how many total projects?”

Elisa stopped to compute the number. “Okay, let’s use all your fingers and toes, let’s say twenty projects.”

“Twenty projects is different from his original five projects,” I started. “Let’s talk about the complexity of twenty projects, Jason’s natural capability, and where the mismatch may be. Looking at your project management software, how many variables on a single project? Are the projects all the same, with the same variables? How are the variables grouped into phases, related to time? Can some variables be accomplished simultaneously, while other variables depend on each other and have to be done is a specific sequence? Now, multiply all that by twenty. Handling five projects is one level of work. Handling twenty projects is a different level of work.”

Pay You Tuesday for a Hamburger Today

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From the Ask Tom mailbag –

Question:
In your last post, Easy Now, Hard Later, you talked about the addiction curve, the procrastination curve and the busy curve. More, in depth, please.

Response:
The addiction curve, easy now, hard later works in several scenarios. It’s a simple principle to understand addiction recovery, but applicable to any situation where you need to kick the habit, replace a habit, or kick-start a new habit. The first step is hard, but what is hard now, is easy (easier) later.

The procrastination curve is identical. It’s easy now, to put off something difficult. Wimpy used to say he would gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today. Easy now is the first step to procrastination.

But the busy curve is harder to get our arms around. Easy to spend our time responding to email (looking busy), checking off random items on the to-do list (thinking we are busy), when we are stalling on the most important projects that are hard now. Projects that require thinking, sharpening a skill, acquiring rare materials, enlisting the aid of others. A project is any task with more than one step. Get started. Next Tuesday, the hamburger will be gone, but the bill comes due.

A Strong Excuse to Procrastinate

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“That was the missing link,” said Jeremy. He explained his meeting with Sylvia. As suggested, he went back to outline the list of next steps for the project he had assigned to her.

“Even Sylvia was relieved,” Jeremy explained. “She agreed. The reason she did not start the project was that she was never clear on what to do first, so she procrastinated. The simple process, to clarify the next steps made all the difference.”

“And how many steps in this project?” I asked.

“Five simple little steps. But until we laid them out, the project was going to sit until it was too late.”

“When will you follow-up on the five steps?”

“Friday, at 3:00pm. At least I learned that lesson, to calendar my follow-up meetings. We will see how she does.”

All in all, it was a good week.

Next Step

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Jeremy was not excited after his first project follow-up meeting.

“Why the long face?” I asked.

“Well, I thought by scheduling follow-up meetings, the project would start happening and show some progress. I just finished the first follow-up meeting and found out the project hasn’t started yet. I am still in the same boat as last week.”

“What do you think the problem is?”

Jeremy’s mind was searching for a directional clue. “I don’t know. Sylvia said she was having trouble getting started, but was sure that by Friday, we would see some progress.”

“What does progress mean?” I continued to probe.

Jeremy was puzzled by the question. “Well, you know, she will have started.”

“What is her first step to getting started?”

Jeremy hesitated. His response was only going to be a guess. I stopped him.

“Jeremy, don’t feel bad. This is typical of projects not laid out clearly. She hasn’t started the project because she doesn’t know what the next step is. Heck, you don’t know what the next step is.

“Have you ever had a project that you found difficult to get started. But once you got rolling everything was fine. What caused you to stutter is that you had not defined the next step. Understanding the power of the next step will give you a clue on how to get project rolling. For now, you need to have an interim emergency meeting with Sylvia to lay out the next step. And remember, since she will be doing the work, she needs to participate heavily in the design of this next step.”

Predictability of Unfinished Work

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Jeremy pulled me aside as I walked down the hall. “I have the same situation,” he said.

“What situation?” I asked.

“My boss hands all the stuff to me to make sure it gets done, but he never makes it clear that I have to delegate most of the work to other team members. Worse still, he doesn’t support me when I get push-back on some of the assignments. He lets these people off the hook as soon as there is a whimper. I was here until 10:00p last night working on a project that I assigned to Sylvia two weeks ago. I found it on the corner of my desk yesterday with a note.

I didn’t have time to get this done. It is due tomorrow. I talked to the boss and he said just give it back to you. He said you would take care of it.

“I am not the manager, but the boss expects me to make sure everything gets done.” Jeremy was clear eyed, but you could tell he felt pretty beat up.

“Sounds to me like the boss expects you to take care of it. Tell me, how do you like working until 10:00?”

“I don’t. I was so mad, I could have strangled Sylvia.” Jeremy fidgeted.

“So, what are you going to do differently next time?” I asked. “Because this will happen again unless you do something different.”

“What else could I do?” Jeremy sat straight in his chair. “I saw the package at 4:30 and there was five hours of work that had to get done. I had to stay.”

“That wasn’t the question. The question is how are you going to prevent that from happening next time?” Jeremy was stymied. “Let’s take a break,” I continued. “Get some fresh air. I will meet you out in the company courtyard in about ten minutes. I have to check on something. Then we can talk some more. Until then, here is a clue about where I want to focus. What day next week is the next unfinished report going to land on your desk?”

The Glory of Chaos

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[Our online program – Hiring Talent 2018 kicks off April 16. More information here. Only two spots left.]

From the Ask Tom mailbag-

Question:
You said a growing company has to slow down and describe the work. You nailed our company – we miss deadlines, too much rework, a warranty claim, turnover, morale is tense, managers are nervous. Yet, we have more incoming work than we can handle. And all you can say is – we need to slow down and describe the work?

Response:
Or you can stay in the chaos. Somehow, you will manage to get through the day. You will settle your warranty claim, but the tension will remain.

You cannot work faster, harder or longer to solve this problem. You have to re-trench. This is fundamental blocking and tackling. It starts with describing the work in the role, documented in a role description (fundamental blocking and tackling).

A project manager with three projects is level (II) work. The work is coordinating and scheduling all the elements of the project. There is level (II) decision making and problem solving.

A project manager with 50 projects is level (III) work. It requires a system and a team. The decision making is not about project management. There are too many projects. The decision making is about the system of project management. The problem-solving is not about project management. The problem-solving is about the system of project management.

Or, you can stay in the chaos.

Key Areas for a Project Manager

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From the Ask Tom mailbag –

Question:
I was in your workshop last week. When you look at qualified candidates for a role, you say “It’s all about the work.” We are looking at a project management role. What do you consider the three most important parts of project management?

Response:
Project Management is a classic Strata II role. From a macro level, it involves the coordination of people, materials, equipment and project sequence. Three core Key Result Areas (KRAs) drive the project forward.

  1. Project Planning (creating a comprehensive project plan including milestones and accountabilities).
  2. Task Checklist (documenting and tracking all the details for completion and quality).
  3. Project Schedule (creating and monitoring the project schedule, prioritizing and sequencing time frames associated with changing elements of a project).

The value adds for Project Management are project control, accuracy to project specifications, timeliness and completeness.

Other KRAs would include –

  • Pre-con Hand-off Meeting (critical meeting where pre-construction hands the project over to project management).
  • Punch List (audit of the project checklist, when everyone else thinks the project is complete).
  • Buy Out (assembling the list of material suppliers and subcontractors, with competitive cost information).
  • Customer Relations (creating the necessary customer relationship that addresses project discrepancies, project change orders and avoids litigation)

All of these would make the basis for a comprehensive role description for your Project Manager. -Tom