Do We Have to Own Projects Start to Finish?

I know what I am about to suggest is controversial.  I will state up front that it is not the most ideal situation.  In my experience, over 90% of the companies that I work with have more projects than project managers.  This is a problem that plagues the industry.  Companies should recognize this as an issue and address it by either hiring or reducing the project load.  Instead, they give projects to other people who are not project managers, nor do they want to be.  In these environments, I have a new theory.  Do project managers have to own the project start to finish?

I know that is what we have been taught and what we believe.  However, if a company will not commit to the resources necessary, the answer can't be to wallow in self pity.  I recently worked with an organization on the maturity of their project management practice.  Using the capacity model that I explained in an earlier blog post, I found that the company needed 35 project managers and they had five on staff.  When we presented this to the CIO, he stated that he would just tap 30 of his resource managers to become project leads.  This is just as ludicrous as asking 30 people who finished high school math to help with the backlog in accounting.  It would never happen!  Yet it does on a daily basis in the industry of project management.  When we countered that the 30 people were not trained project managers, he stated that the 30 should be mentored by the existing project managers.  This would further reduce the time that the project managers had on their projects.

The decision was devastating.  We were all at a loss on how to proceed.  To further complicate the issue, the client was on Clarity.  This would mean the training of 30 people who are not project managers how to perform project management functions and try to protect the normalized data that was within Clarity.  It was definitely an uphill battle.  This is where the theory was born.  I held a meeting with the project managers.  Although we want to, the real question is do we have to own a project from start to finish?  We began to analyze the activities  that were required to run the project.  We came up with the average time it took to do the normal project management activities and the value that each activity played in the overall success of the project.  The high value activities were creating the WBS, project plan, risk analysis, and high level monitoring.  The lower value activities were scheduling meetings, writing meeting minutes, filling out the various reports.  There are some of you out there that may disagree with these value rankings, but this was the case at this company.

What we began to see is that if we split the duties on each project, there was a way to improve the quality of projects without the hiring of 30 more project managers.  What we decided was that all projects would be planned by project managers and they would be responsible for creating the initial schedule and loading that into Clarity.  They would also monitor the status logs, issues and risks, and monitor variances.  The project leads would schedule and conduct the status meetings, be responsible for the meeting minutes and status reports, and handle the day to day monitoring of the tasks.  This worked especially well since most of the project leads were resource managers and the tasks that they were monitoring came from staff that reported to them.  This approach allowed the project managers to focus on planning, risk, corrective, and preventative actions.  The project leads were responsible for day to day execution.  If projects were going well, then the project manager was free to monitor the other projects.  If the project wasn't going well, the project manager could re-engage and put the project back on track.

This model has been in place for over a year now and has been quite successful.  The overall quality if the projects rose because every project was being planned by a certified project manager.  Since then, the company has hired 5 more project managers to bring them up to 10.  They are beginning to realize the value that the certification brings and that there is a method to the madness. 

Again, I know this is not the ideal setup.  It is an effective one for a company that has a low maturity, questions the value of project management, and will not make the investments required to be successful.  This is a nice bridging technique that can be measured and prove the need for properly trained resources.  So I will answer my own question.  Do we need to own the project start to finish?  Ideally, yes.  However, with the current state of project management, it is time we start challenging some of the older principles and come up with innovative new ways to solve old problems.  So the answer is:  not always!

That is my story and I am sticking to it! 

Rick

But It's The Way It Has Always Been Done Here! - Part 2

After posting my last blog post, a friend of mine told me about this story. I researched the story and found what I believe to be the originating post. The link to the original blog can be found here: Original Blog


Here is the story written by Ron Beasley:

As a Psychologist I have studied human behavior. While I am not a veterinarian, I can make several applications and lessons learned from the following story about monkeys, especially as it applies to life and business. Can you?

Start with a cage containing five monkeys. Inside the cage, you'll see a banana hanging on a string with a set of stairs placed under it. Before long, a monkey will go to the stairs and start to climb towards the banana. As soon as he touches the stairs, all of the other monkeys are sprayed with cold water.


After a while, another monkey makes an attempt to obtain the banana. As soon as his foot touches the stairs, all of the other monkeys are sprayed with cold water. It's not long before all of the other monkeys try to prevent any monkey from climbing the stairs.


Now, put away the cold water, remove one monkey from the cage and replace it with a new one. The new monkey sees the banana and wants to climb the stairs. To his surprise and horror, all of the other monkeys attack him as he makes his way toward the stairs. After another attempt and attack, he knows that if he tries to climb the stairs, he will be assaulted.


Next, remove another of the original five monkeys and replace it with a new one. The newcomer goes to the stairs and is attacked. The previous newcomer takes part in the punishment with enthusiasm! Likewise, replace a third original monkey with a new one, then a fourth, then the fifth. Every time the newest monkey takes to the stairs, he is attacked.


Most of the monkeys that are beating him have no idea why they were not permitted to climb the stairs or why they are participating in the beating of the newest monkey.


After replacing all the original monkeys, none of the remaining monkeys have ever been sprayed with cold water. Nevertheless, no monkey ever again approaches the stairs to try for the banana.


Why not?

The Answer is: That's the way it has always been done here!

Interesting story!
 
Rick

But It's The Way It Has Always Been Done Here!

How many times have you heard that? Other familiar change barriers are "That's not the way we do it here," or "that will never work!" With that type of attitude, most likely they are right! I deal with change on a daily basis. As project managers, we enact change. We are the change agents and the front lines for change. I have brought in over 200 projects in my career and they all deal with change. I have heard many statements that try to stop the change from occurring in the first place. I have developed a technique on helping start the change discussion or even defend the change barriers that are typically thrown my way. That is the topic of this post.

I will find the ways that things "used to be done" in various industries and professions and use that to start the discussion for change. I usually like to make a game of it. For example, I was working on a project for a hospital and we were streamlining a process for the patients. The process would require the nursing staff to change a system that they were all comfortable with, but quite antiquated. The rumor mill had been quite active and many opinions had been formed about the project and it hadn't even been kicked off yet. At the initial kickoff meeting, you could feel the tension. I had done some research on the web and found a Top 10 list of insane medical practices published on a comedy site called Cracked. Click here for the article. Some of my favorites were: 

• Children's Soothing Syrups were made to help calm children down. They were often pumped full of narcotics.
• Mercury was used to treat wounds and a litany of other ailments.
• Heroin was used to suppress coughs.
• Bloodletting was used to cure just about everything.

I kicked off the presentation by showing some of these old medical practices. Then I followed up with, "Aren't you glad some things change?" There was quite a bit of laughter and surprise, but the point was made. Sometimes change isn't all bad! We moved right into the scope of the project and the tension was drained from the room. It was a fantastic lead in and the team really became engaged in the project.

Riding the success of this meeting, I began utilizing the technique for many other industries. For each project, I research practices that have changed or ideas that revolutionized the industry. I then have those on the ready when I am talking to someone and I hear a change barrier. I was working with a financial services firm when the CFO challenged one of the changes that the requested project was bringing. I answered back that all of his data entry people used to have to be trained on a 10-key by feel and processed manually as well. He said, "Good point."

Change is really just an idea coming to fruition. Someone has an idea, thought, product, or goal and change is what brings that to light. Some of these ideas are astounding such as CNN's article or Tim Crane's article of ideas that have changed the world. Some of the ideas are not so good, like the ones found in the Time article about the 100 worst ideas of the century. This technique has been very successful in preparing an organization for change. While it can be funny, it also sets the tone that things do change for a reason (most of the time). It is a good way to open the minds of the team and get them prepared. I will leave you with some of my favorite change resistance quotes of all time.

• "I think there is a world market for maybe five computers." -- Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943.
• "I have traveled the length and breadth of this country and talked with the best people, and I can assure you that data processing is a fad that won't last out the year." -- The editor in charge of business books for Prentice Hall, 1957.
• "But what...is it good for?" -- Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip.
• "There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home." -- Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977.
• "This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us." -- Western Union internal memo, 1876.
• "The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?" -- David Sarnoff's associates in response to his urgings for investment in the radio in the 1920s.
• "While theoretically and technically television may be feasible, commercially and financially it is an impossibility." -- Lee DeForest, inventor.
• "The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better than a 'C', the idea must be feasible." -- A Yale University management professor in response to Fred Smith's paper proposing reliable overnight delivery service. (Smith went on to found Federal Express Corp.)
• "Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?" -- H. M. Warner, Warner Brothers, 1927.
• "I'm just glad it'll be Clark Gable who's falling on his face and not Gary Cooper." -- Gary Cooper on his decision not to take the leading role in "Gone With the Wind."
• "A cookie store is a bad idea. Besides, the market research reports say America likes crispy cookies, not soft and chewy cookies like you make." -- Response to Debbi Fields' idea of starting Mrs. Fields' Cookies.
• "We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out." -- Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962.
• "Radio has no future. Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible. X-rays will prove to be a hoax." -- William Thomson, Lord Kelvin, British scientist, 1899.
• "It will be years -- not in my time -- before a woman will become Prime Minister." -- Margaret Thatcher, 1974.
• "With over 50 foreign cars already on sale here, the Japanese auto industry isn't likely to carve out a big slice of the U.S. market." -- Business Week, August 2, 1968.
• "Everything that can be invented has been invented." -- Attributed to Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. Office of Patents, 1899, but known to be an urban legend.

Make sure you are ready for the next change headed your way!

Rick

Want Success? Kill the Ambiguity!

I was talking with a friend recently and an old story popped into my head. I was working for a large organization and was the project manager for a notoriously tough client. The client, we will call Barbara, was known for constantly complaining, never being pleased, and generally difficult to deal with. At the time, my incentive package included a customer survey. I met the category of my incentive if I received an overall rating of 4 or 5. Barbara was widely known for distributing a 1 or 2 overall score. There is a large percentage of survey respondents who would rarely give a 4 or 5 based on the feeling that nobody is ever perfect!

In the first meeting, I openly told Barbara that I would be distributing a survey at the completion of the project. The survey would ask for ratings in several categories including an overall rating. I asked Barbara directly, "My goal is to have you be satisfied to the point that you feel compelled to select a 5 on the survey. Can I ask you, what constitutes a 5 in your mind?" She was perplexed. She asked me what I meant. I continued, "Given this project and what we are trying to accomplish, imagine you and I are now meeting for the final review and I have just given you the survey. In order for you to select a 5, what would the end look like?" She thought further and started to name things that she felt would be important. The first thing she said is that she wanted to be completely satisfied. I dove in deeper. "Barbara, while I want you to be completely satisfied, we need to define that into terms that can be measured. Such as stating we need to be on budget. If we were to come in over budget by 5%, would that be a 5?" She said no. I asked her what would be a 5? She thought further. At the end of the meeting, we had a list of defined objectives that could be measured. We both agreed that if the objectives were met, then I could receive a 5 on the survey. A couple of examples were:

- Budget: To achieve a 5, the budget must come in under the amount documented. If it goes over at all, it is a 4 and every 10% over will reduce the score further.
- Time: All tasks within the scope of control would be completed within the timeframe documented. If more that 10% of tasks run late, the score will be a 4. For every 10%, the score will reduce further.

There was a definition applied to each score on the survey. During the project, the software that was purchased and installed did not function as it had advertised. We were installing the hardware and then rolling out the package after the software had been delivered. Many tasks were late, but those that ran behind were outside of the scope of my control. There were also some new things, just like in every project, that the client had discovered, changed, or decided they wanted during the project. We completed the work, but due to the multiple software errors, the project felt clunky. It didn't flow very well. There were many issue resolution calls and late nights. At the closing meeting, I presented the survey to Barbara. She proceeded to state that she would follow her pattern of circling 1's and 2's. I then went back to the definitions that we had agreed upon and showed the facts of the project. According to our definitions, I deserved a 5 on all categories. We discussed why she was thinking the 1's and 2's and each reason was something that came up well after she had defined success. While these items were items that we could address on the next project, it would be unfair to rate us against criteria she hadn't thought of until later. She agreed and circled all fives. She listed in her comments that she was unhappy about a few things but realized that they were not things that were directly attributable to me or my organization.

When the survey was turned in, I immediately received calls from many levels of management inquiring how I could have gotten her to turn in a survey saying that she was completely satisfied. I told them that it was simple. I asked her to define what a 5 was and then held up my end of the bargain. In the end, she held up hers. The next time I worked with her, she had new and tougher definitions of what constituted a 5, but we both were clear on what had to be done to achieve the rating. To this day, she is still a reference for me.

The reason I wanted to share this story is that we often list project success and failure in ambiguous terms: on time, on budget, within scope. I have taken the technique that I learned and now apply it to projects. I ask the sponsor to define what a 5 would mean. There are always issues and things outside of our control. This technique is a good one to start talking in more realistic terms as to what success really means.

Keep marching forward!

Rick

A Positive Mindset

It is what it is. This is one of my favorite statements. I teach project managers that they should always reveal the truth and believe in the concept of "it is what it is." No amount of sugar-coating or truth bending can shade the fact that the project is where it is. It may be behind budget, it may be late or doing very well. No matter what, the project manager should always tell the truth. This statement seems to get questioned the most. In a recent seminar, I received the question "Telling the truth is often considered 'being negative' or 'not a team player' even with data. How do you get past that?" Fantastic question! I get past that with my mindset.

I truly believe that with the right time and resources, a project manager can accomplish anything. In the 1960's, John F. Kennedy stated that we would put a man on the moon, which at the time was only accomplished in science fiction. We have accomplished that feat. There were many failures before success, but we did it. Computers today are more robust and cheaper than they ever have been. We would have never dreamed that 25 years ago. That being said, I have the mindset that we can accomplish anything, given that we have enough time and resources. If I have the proper mindset, then the message that I am delivering to my sponsors or stakeholders takes a different spin. If I say, "That date is impossible unless I get three more resources," then likely that is perceived as negative. However, if I state it as "We have analyzed what you want and found a way to deliver it successfully. I need three more resources, but we can deliver," it takes on a different connotation. I try to never say no. Instead, I try to say yes with conditions. It is the same statement. One is negative and one is more positive.

Being a stakeholder on many projects, more often the project manager approaches me with why something can't be done versus the data of what is necessary to accomplish the task. Remember that in your next negotiation. Instead of telling a sponsor why it is unlikely to achieve success, tell them how to achieve it. I often hear "we can't, we don't, it is unlikely" instead of "here is what I need for success." It is all about mindset and approach. If you establish the proper mindset, it can be very freeing. In fact, you are more likely to achieve success by asking the question of "how can we meet this objective" instead of "why will this objective fail?" It is human nature to grab the negative and roll with it. It takes practice and optimism to grab the positive and enable it.

I know that most project managers have been taught that they own a project from start to finish. Ownership and accountability are two different things. The reality is that project managers do not own the budget, timeframe, or scope. They enable them. Therefore, a project manager should never say no. They should say, "absolutely we can get that done, here is what we need." Try it. You might like it!

Sincerely,
Rick

My Bruce Pearl Story

For my project management followers, I apologize for the off topic post.

The news abounds today about the firing of Bruce Pearl, Head Basketball Coach, University of Tennessee. I believe that more and more stories will come out as to what happened and different allegations. While I don't condone the NCAA infractions and the misleading that Bruce has already admitted to, I definitely do not condone bringing this story out before our first game in the NCAA tournament. That is too much pressure to put on college kids already under tremendous pressure. I do not know all of the facts about the case, but I do think that Bruce leaving hurts the University of Tennessee. There are many critics, but what he has done to bring energy to the program is without question or equal. I think Tennessee basketball will be setback several years as a result. With all of that said, I wanted to share what type of person that I think Bruce was and it is illustrated with a simple picture.

I had just finished doing some consulting for UT and taken my family to the Tennessee vs. UCLA game. On Sunday, as we were leaving the hotel, I saw Bruce outside. I had asked my wife Stephanie to get the camera. She couldn't find it. She searched and searched the bags. When she told me she had found the camera, I turned to ask Coach for a picture. By that time, he had gotten into his car, started it, and was about to leave. I said, "Hey Coach" and turned to see him in his car. I quickly turned back around thinking that we had missed the opportunity. Coach Pearl turned off his car and opened the door and shouted, "Did you want a picture?" I said that I did. He got out of the car and then graciously took a picture with me and my children.

For me, that told me all that I needed to know about Coach Pearl. He was a man of the fans. He understood that his role was more than coach, it was also ambassador. Painting his chest, rapping at a concert, and the genuine excitement that he had for Tennessee Basketball will be hard to match. Most coaches that come in already have to coach under the shadow of the great Pat Summitt. Now, they have to work under the shadow of Coach Pearl as well. Coach Pearl has such a large heart and passion and it shows. His team loves him and it shows. He loved the University of Tennessee and it shows.


I am sure that Tennessee had cause. Coach Pearl has already admitted that he had done wrong. I wish that both sides could have worked it out. Some of our greatest icons in sports had to overcome being human. Could we not have embraced and nurtured to overcome this one? Coach Pearl has done wrong and should shoulder the consequences. Being suspended 8 games, docked $1.5 million, and publicly humiliated out to be enough.


To Coach Pearl, good luck to you and you will be sorely missed by the Vol Nation.


A Sad Vol Fan,
Rick

The Resource WAR

Project managers are often faced with limited resources and tight time frames. They are also on the hook for the project success or failure. This often means the covertly degrading of quality to slam in the project just to satisfy the deadlines. However, it is difficult for most project managers to articulate their needs for resources. Therefore, I have come up with an anagram for you to remember how to phrase the discussion to your sponsors to give them options for project deadlines.

If you have ever heard me speak, I often state that the best mindset for a project manager is the one that never says no. I say, "I can absolutely do that, here is what I need." I also teach to ask either/or questions instead of yes/no. So this brings me to the resource WAR:

W - WAIT - We can wait for the resources to become available.
A - AUGMENT or ACQUIRE - We can go hire consultants, a vendor, or get some contractors to do the work
R - REDIRECT - We can redirect the resources from another project to this one.

For every project that is resource constrained, those are your options. The key is to get the data for each of the options so that you can present it to the sponsor appropriately. For example:

W - Find out when the resources will be available. For this example, we will assume October of this year.
A - Find out the cost of the consultant or contractor.
R - Find out which projects the resources are working on.

Once you have the data, it is time to present what you have learned to the sponsor:

PM: Mr. or Ms. Sponsor, in order to deliver the timeframe that you have requested, I will need three more resources or the date could slide to December of this year.
Sponsor: December? We need this to be done by July!
PM: The resources that we need are not available until October. I did find out that we could bring in a consultant for $XX.
Sponsor: We do not have additional budget.
PM: What about diverting the resources from project XX to this one?
Sponsor: We can't stop that project.
PM: It seems our options are to wait until December, hire the consultant, or redirect the resources. What would you like to do?

That may seem over-simplistic, but in reality, what are the other options? Get ready for the resource WAR. Get the data and present it to your sponsors. Good luck out there!

Rick