Gary M. Nelson's Blog, page 3

Guest Post: Five Essential Presentation Tips

By Peter Taylor, The Lazy Project Manager

You are already an expert on Presentation Skills – I mean, how many presentations have you suffered in your time at work? Clearly you can recognise a ‘good’ presentation and a ‘bad’ presentation. You have so much experience!

Here are my top 5 tips to improve your own Presenting Skills.
 
1. To Begin: Open on a high and finish on an equal high– start and finish your presentation with a story or example or key point, something that will both relax you and get the audience engaged, and leave them wanting to find out more at the end.

Getting the audience's attention right from the beginning is essential - remember the first 10 minutes window is the first point of opportunity to lose your audience, and having lost them they are very hard to get back.

2. The Content: If you talk about something you know well then rehearse to control your time and avoid getting ‘carried away’. If you don’t know the subject well then still rehearse and possibly invite people who know more than you do on the subject to be there to support you if needed.

Don’t try and deliver 100% in the presentation – takeaways/hand-outs/follow-ups etc are all acceptable (after the event)
3. Time: It’s not the volume but the message that counts. Don’t waste people’s time.

The average presentation is 60 mins – say an average audience is 100 people so this may be just 1 hour of your time but it is 100 hours of your audiences’ time. Wasted if I you are not ‘good’ – and this is equal to 4.2 days!

Last year I presented to around 7,000 people which is a potential of 292 days of wasted time if I got it wrong.

Better to prepare and deliver a great 30 minutes rather than a mediocre 60 minutes.
Hands up anyone who has ever complained about a presentation finishing early?
And be prepared to adapt to time constraints – time of day – organisers demands etc – be flexible

4. The Practicalities: Or the three Ps: 
Prepare, a well-rehearsed presentation will keep your audiences’ attentionPresent, the smallest part time wiseProfit, Your audience should gain something from the experience
5. Break the Rules: There are a number of ‘rules’ that you may have been taught over the years.
6:6:1 rule (6 bullets /6 words/1 idea on one slide) – not a bad rule but try and avoid it – use pictures instead of words, the slides (if you have slides) are for your audience and not for you!Agenda - tell what are you going to tell, then tell and then tell what you have told them … absolutely not, entertain them, educate them and leave them wanting more and open to talking after the presentationThank the audience – well yes but to close this way is a very flat ending to a presentation, better to close out with a call to action or simple ‘next step’.
Break the rules and have fun with your next presentation!
 
You can learn a whole lot more about Presentation Skills on my Webinar that runs on 28th November 2013 - CHECK IT OUT HERE
ABOUT PETER TAYLOR
SPEAKER: AUTHOR: TRAINER: COACH: CONSULTANT
Peter Taylor is the author of two best-selling books on ‘Productive Laziness’ – ‘ The Lazy Winner ’ and ‘ The Lazy Project Manager ’.

In the last 3 years he has focused on writing and lecturing with over 200 presentations around the world in over 20 countries and with new books out including ‘ The Lazy Project Manager and the Project from Hell ’, ‘ Strategies for Project Sponsorship ’, ‘ Leading Successful PMOs ’, and ‘ The Thirty-Six Stratagems: A Modern Interpretation of a Strategy Classic ’ - with a number of other book projects currently underway.

He has been described as ‘perhaps the most entertaining and inspiring speaker in the project management world today’ and he also acts as an independent consultant working with some of the major organizations in the world coaching executive sponsors, PMO leaders and project managers.

His mission is to teach as many people as possible that it is achievable to ‘work smarter and not harder’ and to still gain success in the battle of the work/life balance.

More information can be found at www.thelazyprojectmanager.com and www.thelazywinner.com  – and through his free podcasts in iTunes.

•    Keynote Presentations and Lectures
•    Master of Ceremonies
•    Inspirational Workshops
•    Coaching
•    Authoring

Guest Post: Is Your Voice Being Heard?

Our world is clogged with promiscuous noise offering everything from eternal youth to creating your own avatar on Facebook. We are bombarded  relentlessly with information through more channels than we could ever have imagined.

At work.  How many emails come into your inbox each day? How many unnecessary meetings do you attend?

Walking to get your lunch. Billboards, shopfronts, audio, people with flyers.

At play. Advertising on every website, on social media, in every game.

Well intentioned information that’s shared by others to help you with your work.

The point is, we are all so submerged in information that it’s becoming increasingly difficult to be heard.

Ever been presenting an idea in a meeting to see people texting or checking emails? It’s ok, go ahead, I’m listening. Ever been giving a presentation to see glazed looks in eyes or worse, people nodding off.

To cut through the clutter we need 3 things.

To have a sense of purpose for each piece of communication.To understand what information is relevant to your audience.The ability to structure the information in a way that is easily followed.
You don’t set off on a holiday without a destination do you? Even our most carefree travellers who may say, I’m off to Europe, still have a destination in mind. Where do you want your audience to be at the end of your presentation? Having a clear purpose in your mind allows us to filter irrelevant information as well as keeping ourselves on track.

Let me show you what I mean. Say I am the headmaster of a school and my purpose is to motivate my audience of Year 11 & 12 boys to eat healthier food. 

So when I’m planning my presentation do I include:
a) information on how eating well can help you live longer
b) information on how eating well gives you guns
c) information on how eating well reduces pimples, makes you look better and helps you get girls
 
Get it?  Purpose acts as a filter when you plan your presentation or any other important conversation.

How do you know what is relevant to your audience? Do your research. And this can be as deep as you need. Who are they? Age? Gender? Salary? Interests? What do they know about your topic? What do they need to know? What motivates them? Where do they live? What do you imagine their lives are like? Walk in their shoes. Get in their heads. When you do, you will create content that nails your target every time. And that means you’re cutting through the clutter.

So thanks to your purpose you’ve got a whole heap of relevant information.

But if you throw it out randomly you will lose your audience.  The way you structure your information is critical. Your listeners need to be taken on a clear cut journey. There are several ways to create this structure but it will always need a logical flow. Let’s go back to our teenage boys.

Not so Great Structure

 
Better Structure
 
 



 
Simply by placing the benefit up front (in this case) you have the audience’s attention.

Do not confuse being an extrovert and being able to wing it casually in front of 10 or 1000 as being a great communicator. The fact that you’re the one asked to speak at weddings and funerals may just mean you are less scared of public speaking than anyone else.

To be a great communicator you need purpose, you need relevance and you need structure BEFORE anything else. But when you can rise above the noise and articulate well in a boardroom or a ballroom you are noticed and promoted. You are seen as confident and knowledgeable. You are heard and that means you can influence, getting more of what you want.


Lynne Schinella is a professional business speaker, corporate trainer and CEO of Ripe Learning. She can be contacted on 612 9929 8989 or emailed at lynne@ripestuff.com

Life Skills through Project Management - Projects for Kids

This article celebrates International Project Management Day - November 7, 2013. One key theme this year is Life skills through project management – Teaching project management skills such as planning, organizing and leading to young people in grammar schools and high school. 


Managing Projects is tough, right? You need a lot of training, experience, an iron will and a cast-iron stomach in order to be able to deal with all of the challenges and complexities that your sponsor, stakeholders, vendors and customers can throw at you. And yet somehow, you manage to survive the experience, and take those battle scars with you as you strive to improve on the next project. Sometimes it seems that if you are not some sort of Superman, you won't survive.

Hardly sounds like fun - who would want to ever manage a project with a bleak future like that ahead of you, with all of your projects viewed as uphill battles?

Not all projects are like that - and in fact, many activities that happen in our everyday lives are, in reality, projects. The problem is that most people don't realize that fact - and yes, I even include the experienced Project Managers.

I also submit to you that managing projects does not have to be tough. It can be fun!

Not only can they be fun, but managing projects is so simple that a child could do it. They may not be quite ready to tackle your multi-million dollar project, but I assure you that children can - and do - manage projects every day. The big difference between their projects and yours is scale and language. But even at that, you may find yourself surprised at what 10-12 year old children (and even younger) can actually do.

Learning to manage projects successfully is an essential life skill - and you are never too young (or too old) to learn how to do it.

Even a Child can do it
Project Management concepts are actually not that hard to understand, but you do need to consider the language you use when teaching children. Let's take a look at how one Project Manager tries to explain things to his 11 year old daughter, and ends up adapting his teaching so she can better understand and use some simple project management techniques to solve a big problem.


Extract from The Ultimate Tree House Project 6. This Means War!

When Amanda got home, she went into the kitchen to talk to her Mom. Instead, she found her father getting a drink of water from the tap. 

“Where’s Mom?” asked Amanda.

“She just went to the store to pick up some spices for dinner. We ran out.” Her father said. 
“What’s up, kiddo? You look upset.”

“Boys are stupid.” she said.

Her father raised his eyebrows. “All boys? Including me?”

Amanda looked at her father. Oops! “No, of course not YOU, Dad. You know, BOYS. Especially Ben.”

“Oooh, Boys. What seems to be the problem?” asked her father in a gentle tone.

“They just, they just….ooooo! They are so annoying sometimes!” she exclaimed. “I know how to do what they need to do and they won’t let me help them because I’m a GIRL.”

“And what do they need to do?” he inquired.

“Build a tree house. I mean, the rope ladder for it. I know how to make one, I learned it in Girl Guides. But they won’t listen. They are just dumb boys. They said that No Girls were Allowed, and that’s not fair!” she pouted.

“Well, what’s stopping you from building your own tree house?” asked her father, looking at her closely.

“I….what?” she stopped and looked at her father. “What do you mean?”

“Well, you seem to know how to do some of the things that these silly boys don’t know how to do, so why don’t you build your own tree house?” He looked at her with a sly smile on his face. “We have lots of wood left in the yard from the old fence, and you are welcome to use it to build your own tree house too.”

Realization of what her father was saying crept across her face like a sunrise. “Really? Can I? I mean us Girls? Can we?” she blurted out.

“Of course. Girls are just as capable as boys. Plus you will have a secret weapon!” he announced.

“What secret weapon?” she asked.

“Me!” said her Dad.

“Huh?” she looked at her father closely. “What do you mean?”

“Do you want to make a tree house like your brother?” asked her father.

“Yes! I mean no, the boys’ one looks silly. I want to build a better tree house than them.” She crossed her arms and raised her head defiantly. “I want to build a much better tree house than Ben and his gang.”

“Oh really?” smiled her Dad. “Are you willing to pay the price?”
Amanda suddenly looked uncertain. “What price? I don’t have much of my allowance left. It’s not Saturday yet.”

Her Dad smiled. “Not your money, Amanda. You keep that. The price I am talking about is taking the time to learn how to build your tree house the right way.”

“And what is the right way?” asked Amanda, now puzzled.

“As a PROJECT.” declared her Dad.

“Awww Dad, not workstuff!” groaned Amanda. Her father was a Project Manager for a local construction company. “Work stuff is boring!”

“Just wait and listen,” continued her father. “You need a bit of this work stuff in order to make your tree house better than Ben’s.”

He paused, noting his daughter’s scowl. “Not only am I going to tell you how to make a better tree house than Ben, I am going to show you that you can do it easier than him. Are you interested?”

Better? Easier?she thought. She liked the idea of that. “Okay Dad, tell me how to do it!”

“Well first, Mandy, I need to draw you some pictures.” her father replied. “Please go into my office and grab some blank pieces of paper and a ruler and meet me at the kitchen table.”
Amanda went down the hallway and entered her father’s “home office”. She opened the printer tray and pulled out five pieces of blank paper. She closed the printer tray and walked back to the kitchen where her father was waiting at the table.

“Have a seat, Amanda.” said her father. “No, not in your normal seat. Sit beside me so you can see what I am drawing.”

Amanda moved around the table to sit beside her father.

He pulled a mechanical pencil from his shirt pocket and drew some lines using the ruler and wrote some notes.



“There are four steps to every project,” her father spoke in a formal voice. “ Initiation , Planning , Execution and Closeout . Well, five if you count Control , which kind of happens for the whole project.”

Amanda looked at the words. “ Initiation ? What’s that? And Execution – people don’t get killedon your projects, do they Dad?”

He father looked at the paper thoughtfully for a moment. “Initiation is getting things started. And no, honey, we don’t kill people. I think I might need to use some better words for you. Let’s try something else.”

He flipped the paper over, lined up the ruler and drew another diagram.

“Okay, how about this. Idea, Plan, Do and Finish Up. Sound better?” he asked.

“Much better, thanks Dad.” smiled Amanda.

“And then instead of ‘Control’ we have ‘Lead, Check and Correct’.” Her father suggested.

“Ok, I guess…” Amanda wiggled in her seat. “You explain it first and I’ll tell you if we need different words.”

“Ok honey, that’s fine. So you know what an Idea is, right?” asked her father, with a wink.

Amanda sat up straight and stuck out her tongue. “Of course I know what an Idea is. C’mon, Dad!”


“Okay, just checking.” He smiled. “And you understand what Plan is, right?”

“Like when you want to do something but you are not sure how, so you have to think about how you are going to do it?” Amanda suggested.

“Right, that’s pretty close. Though at work, even when we pretty much know what we are going to do, we still take time to discuss it and see if we want to do it the same way, or if we want to try to do it a different way.” Her father replied.

“And ‘Do’?” her father asked, “That’s an easy one too. Not too hard yet, right?”

“Not too hard, Dad. I amEleven you know…” she squinted up at him.

“Right, of course, you’re Eleven.” Her father drew out the last word.

“So ‘Finish Up’ is pretty obvious too, huh?” asked her father.

“Yeah Dad, our teacher keeps telling us to hurry and finish up our work.” She yawned. “Sorry, Dad, it’s kind of boring so far. I’m not a little kid. So where is the secret weapon part?”

“Almost there, I will speed it up a little. The bottom part is important. Well, all parts are, but that part is kind of a big part of my job at work, so at least I think it is important, anyway.” Her father paused and rubbed his eyes.

“Ok Dad, tell me…” she started.

“Ok, well the ‘Control’ part, or ‘Lead, Check and Correct’ as I wrote it for you, is important because it is how you make sure you are still doing what you are supposed to do – and will end up with what you wanted in the first place.” 

“Like when we do a quiz at school and the teacher tells us to check over our answers before we hand it in?” asked Amanda.

“Kind of like that, yes.” said her father.

“Ok Dad, that’s great. Thanks!” Amanda started to get up from the table.

“Hold on honey, there is a little bit more for tonight. I need to explain some more before we have dinner.” Her father motioned for Amanda to sit.

Amanda sat down.

“Now what did you see when you were watching your brother and his friends today at the tree?” asked her father.

“They were arguing and fighting over things. They didn’t seem to know what they were doing,” she said. “Each one of them had ideas they were saying but the others did not seem to be listening.”

“Hmmmmm,” said her father. “I think this might be what is going on then.”

He pulled out a fresh piece of paper and drew another picture.



“I think they went straight from ‘Idea’ to ‘Do’” mused her father. “That’s usually a recipe for disaster.”

“They weren’t cooking, Dad. They were trying to build a tree house.” corrected Amanda.

“Yes, dear, you are right. What I mean is, it sounds like they skipped Planning and jumped right into Doing. I see people try to do that a lot, and it rarely works out well. They usually fail.” Her father rubbed his temples.

“Fail? Like on a test at school?” asked Amanda, with a curious look.

“Different. Fail in a way that if a person does not do their job right, people can get hurt,” sighed her father. “Either that, or they waste a lot of time and money trying to do something that does not work like it is supposed to, and they have to redo things to make it work right.”

“Ok Dad, you said we were almost to the ‘secret weapon’ part…” urged Amanda, fidgeting in her seat.

“Well if you look at the drawing of what your brother and his friends seem to be doing, there is a part we said was missing, right?” he asked.

“The Planning part, right Dad?” said Amanda.

“Right. The Planning part is the secret weapon. All of the parts are important, but by far that is the most important of all.” Her father coughed, took a sip of water and then continued. “I am going to draw you one more picture, and that will be it for tonight. You have been studying hard.”

Studying? thought Amanda, She wasn’t studying – was she?

Her father pulled out his ruler and flipped over the paper. He set the ruler and drew another drawing:


“See the curve? That shows how much time and effort you should spend in each phase of your project. The curve can be a bit different depending on your project, but notice how there is a big part of it in the Planning section?” asked her father.

“Ummm...yeah?” yawned Amanda.

“Well, that is where you need to spend a lot of your effort, before you start really doing things on your project.” Her father watched her eyes closely. They were beginning to wander. He heard the front door open and then close. His wife was home; dinner would be ready soon.

“That’s enough for today, honey. You take these drawings with you, and go work on your homework for a few minutes. Then please wash up and help your Mom, okay?” Her father smiled at her.

“Yes Dad.” said Amanda. She stood up and then stretched as she walked down the hallway to her bedroom.
She has a lot to learn, he thought. This is going to be an interesting challenge. Boys against the Girls (…and Dad!)  

You can read more of the story in The Ultimate Tree House Project, including additional lessons taught to the young PM by her father - and of course, what happens to the children and the Tree House!

*International Project Management Day 2013 Special*For a limited time (through November 8, 2013) you can download the eBook version for FREE. See the International Project Management Day website discounts page for more details:  http://internationalpmday.org/ipm-day-discounts/


The Ultimate Tree House Project - Project Kids Adventures #1
ISBN 978-1482558135 (220 pages)


Synopsis:
10 year old best friends Ben, James, Tim & Tom find the perfect tree in a forest near their school and begin to build the Ultimate Tree House. Things start with a bang, and get even worse when Ben's sister Amanda discovers them working on their secret tree house. Next thing they know, the girls are building their own - in the same tree - and it looks even better than the boy's! How are they doing it? What is their secret weapon? After the accident, everything changes and the boys are forced to team up with the girls - as if that would ever work! 
This book introduces basic Project Management concepts to children through an entertaining, funny story and simple lessons taught to one of the children by her father who is (of course) a Project Manager. She applies what she has learned and suddenly the girls are leaping ahead of the boys who had just "started building" - without a plan. 
Come join this unlikely band of tree house builders - four girls, four boys - as they end up working together to try and complete the Ultimate Tree House Project! This book is targeted at children ages 8-12.



You can also visit the Project Kids Adventures series companion website for free resources and fun activities for children, parents and teachers.




This series has been designed to support classroom programs, but is also suitable for independent reading and as fun bedtime stories.


Click here for Parent/Teacher Notes and School Curriculum Applicability


Note: Discounts are available for bulk orders and classroom programs. If you would like to run a pilot program in your school, please contact me at school-programs@gazzasguides.com.

Coming soon: The Scariest Haunted House Project - Ever! Project Kids Adventures #2 (Read the free preview here) 

I hope you enjoy the book.

Good luck with your projects (no matter how old or young you are), and remember to have fun doing it!


Gary Nelson, PMP

Have YOU Exploited your Project Team Today?

Let me ask you an important question:

Have you Exploited your Project Team Today?

Wait a minute, Exploit your Project Team? You are probably thinking - He can't be serious. That's a horrible, evil thing to do, right?

You probably also have visions of unfair wages, an evil boss, overworked and under-appreciated staff, things like that. Unfortunately, that does happen - but it is not what I am talking about.

You really should exploit your team - and a trip to the toy store made me come to view this as a viable management approach. 

Wisdom from the Toy Store
While shopping for a birthday present for one of my children, I came across the following toy that you first assemble, and then play with:



"Exploiter"? My initial reaction was to take offense at the words on the box. My second reaction was to take a photo. Translated instructions from a foreign country are often quite humorous, but it is less common to have the label or name of a product be so obviously "wrong". It was one of those you-have-to-see-it-to-believe-it moments.

I paced around the store, agitated, thinking about what a poor message this was giving to our children - nobody wants to be exploited, and if you exploit someone, you are obviously a bad person - right?


When I came back around to that shelf, I saw that there was more wording on the box, so I pulled out my phone and took another photo:




Well, now wait a minute - "As a Team, We Can Accomplish Anything"? That does not sound particularly evil. In fact, it sounds like a good Leadership message. Maybe I wouldn't complain to the store manager just yet.

I left the store empty-handed but with my head full of questions. How could there be such a disconnect on the product packaging? What was going on? How could we reconcile the negative and positive messages?


I looked up the definition for this troublesome word, one that is most often used in a particularly negative light.

exploit
verb
Pronunciation: /ɪkˈsplɔɪt, ɛk-/
[with object]

    1 make full use of and derive benefit from (a resource):500 companies sprang up to exploit this new technology

    2 make use of (a situation) in a way considered unfair or underhand:the company was exploiting a legal loophole
    benefit unfairly from the work of (someone), typically by overworking or underpaying them:women are exploited in the workplace


This was not a problem of definition or even interpretation - the manufacturer most likely looked up the word in the dictionary, saw the positive English definition (Make full use of and derive benefit from a resource), and decided it was a great name to use for their product. Maximize benefits ? Make full use of resources ? Great lessons to teach our children, without a doubt.

Did they miss the mark on appreciating the common (negative) usage of the word in English-speaking countries? Absolutely.

Some words just get a bad rap - they are neither good, nor bad, and they can sometimes be both. What is important is how they are used. 

So - not really an evil toy, then.

But how does this apply to projects and managing teams? Should we exploit our teams?

The answer is yes - not only should we, but we must, in order to have successful project outcomes. We just need to stick to the positive definitions.

On your projects, you should definitely make full use of and derive benefit from your resources, starting with your Project Team. Your project team is critical to your project success; they have the skills and expertise to get the job done. 

However, you should steer well clear of the negative definitions - make use of (a situation) in a way considered unfair or underhand, or benefit unfairly from the work of (someone), typically by overworking or underpaying them. You should, instead, always treat people fairly and respectfully, and show them they are valued.

Remember also that your project team actually extends out beyond the dedicated core group you have assigned to your project; your extended project team includes your stakeholders, customers, and other subject matter experts - essentially, anyone that has some involvement with your project can be considered part of the project team, and someone you can look to for help, decisions or advice.

If you are scratching your head on a problem that you and your immediate project team do not know the answer to, make sure to exploit the extended project team to get your questions answered so that you can move on to the next challenge. Make effective use of your available resources to help you reach the goals of the project.

"Big deal", you say - "I am already using my project team to get the work done".

True, you are certainly using your team to deliver your project deliverables, and work with vendors or customers. But you may not actually be exploiting them fully, in order to achieve the maximum benefit from their efforts and abilities.

There is nothing draconian about this; in the end it comes down to good leadership, and getting to know your team - their behaviours, strengths, skills - and desires.


How to EXPLOIT Your Team
How will you know if you are properly exploiting your team (and yourself)? Here are some key tips to make sure you are doing it properly - i.e. with the positive usage of the word EXPLOIT:
(E)nergy: Do your team members have passion for what they are doing? It is a good idea to understand what tasks they are really interested in and care about. They may not yet have the full set of skills, but if they have the drive they can learn those fairly quickly. In addition, they will often produce a better outcome than a dis-interested person who has the required skills out-of-the-box.

Tip> Assign people to tasks that they have energy and passion for, and they will usually exceed your expectations.E(X)perience:  Do your team members have the necessary experience to understand all the ins-and-outs of that particular area? If no-one has much experience in that particular area, does their other experience or skills make them the best fit for their particular role on the project? Can you bring someone (even on a short term basis) to help fill in that experience gap as your team ramps up? Remember that projects generally introduce new ideas to an organization, so you can't expect to start your project with a full set of experts in all areas.

Tip> Try to ensure you have the necessary experience within your team in order to competently approach the project tasks; if there are gaps, work to fill them as best you can.(P)lanning: Are you scheduling and coordinating  their assignments effectively - i.e. are you, as the Project Manager, doing your best to optimize the planning of the project, including maintaining full awareness of dependencies as you sequence activities for the short and long term? Are your team members following the plan?

Tip> While you are planning, engage all available members of the team for their input. You need their expertise and wisdom to create a realistic, effective plan - and you also need their buy-in to the plan. Building it together with them helps accomplish that.(L)everaging Resources: Are you and your team appropriately utilizing the other "experts" on the project (i.e. the extended project team)? This includes involving your Stakeholders and other key groups as needed in order to support the project. 

Tip> Look to the wider team to help you solve some of the bigger problems. You may not be able to get much of their time, but they can often help you by providing guidance, sharing wisdom and helping you make decisions.(O)pen to Change: Are you adapting to changing conditions, or are you "sticking to the original plan, no matter what?" At the beginning of your project, your planning would have been primarily high-level, and based on a number of assumptions. Along the way, additional details and complexity emerge that will need to be dealt with - either by adapting the plan, or figuring out how to work around them. Some changes may end up altering your project significantly, while others may take you on a different path to the same destination. However, if your map is no longer current, you may no longer know how to get "there" from where you are now.

Tip> Check your plan on a regular basis, and update the details for the next stage (or the next several months) as you go along. Detail day-to-day and week-to-week planning will of course be more tactically focused, but always keep the strategic goals of the overall plan in mind.(I)nform: Keep your team up to date and in the loop of what is happening on in the wider project and when things come up that will affect their area. Of course, you need to keep your stakeholders and Sponsor regularly informed as well. One of the most important aspects of every successful project is  open, honest communication. A well-informed team is more confident, has higher levels of trust, and produces better results.

Tip> Communicate widely, and communicate often. You will need to tailor  communication to be appropriate for your audience, of course - but communicate you must, for the full duration of your project. Failure to communicate can attract unwanted dragons to your project.(T)rust: Do you trust your team members to do their best, with the interests of the project at heart? Do you have the trust of your team? Do your stakeholders and the sponsor trust your ability to get the job done, and complete the project successfully? If the answer to any of the above is "no", you have a long, steep road ahead of you. Trust is an essential element of working together effectively. Without it, your team may feel you are exploiting them - with all of the full negative implications of the word.

Tip> Do everything you can to build trust within your team, as early as possible within the project. Of course, you will need to earn (and continue to earn) their trust, which starts by being authentic (do as you say you will do), and communicating openly and honestly. You also need to show that you trust them by letting them do the tasks you assign them - without second-guessing or micro-managing them. They will make mistakes, yes - but provide guidance and support instead of judgement, and you will earn their respect and begin to develop a good team with healthy levels of trust.
Summary Exploiting the project team and other resources in a positive way is what most successful Project Managers already do. We usually call it by other names - good leadership, good planning, and good project management.  

Don't be afraid to use the word, and educate the masses about its other use. Exploitation is neither good, nor bad - it is the intention behind it that makes the difference.

One final definition: 
 
exploit
noun
Pronunciation: /ˈɛksplɔɪt/

    1 a striking or notable deed; feat; spirited or heroic act: Against all odds, the project team delivered the project successfully, on time and within budget. The Project Sponsor shared stories of the team's exploits, and they became famous throughout the land.


Well, we can all dream, right? :-)

Good luck with your projects, and remember to fully exploit your project teams (to everyone's benefit) each and every day.


Gary Nelson, PMP

Guest Post: A Brief, Yet Concise Explanation of all those Project Management Standards, Frameworks and Methodologies

Maybe you are a little confused by all these project management documents and credentials you keep stumbling across in your quest to understand the profession and further develop yourself as a project manager. Well I’m going to try and explain the situation to you so you understand exactly what a standard, framework and methodology is and how they are different from each other. This will be a brief explanation and if you want more detail just do a search on the internet.

Let’s start the explanation with a diagram. The diagram shows standards, frameworks and methodologies in descending order of influence and importance.



At the top you have ISO21500 which is the newly introduced international standard for project management. It took 7 years to develop and involved all the project management organizations around the globe and as such represents a truly comprehensive, standardising and unifying approach to project management. It is still early days for this standard as it was only released in 2012 and as such it is a guiding standard only and not a normative one. We expect it to become a normative standard sometime in the next 5 years and when it does you can start certifying your organisation as ISO21500 compliant. Until then it represents a fantastic guide for professional project management and you should probably make yourself very familiar with it as it will probably become standard you need to comply with sooner or later.

The next layer down is made up of framework documents and their associated credentials. Here you have project management body of knowledge’s’ which capture what is considered good professional project management practice across the entire project management profession. The largest example of this is the PMBOK® Guide from the Project Management Institute (PMI) which is a global organization. Frameworks contain much more detailed information about project management processes, tools and techniques than standards such as ISO21500. The Association for Project Management (APM), which is largely based in Europe, also has its own Body of Knowledge as well. Despite this extra information they do not present specifics ways of completing projects - that’s a job for methodologies which we cover soon. There are many similarities between the PMBOK® Guide, APM BoK, and ISO21500, but also a few differences mainly around slight naming and content differences of some processes and process groups. We would expect these differences to be ironed out over the next few years. PMI offers the Project Management Professional (PMP®) and Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM®) credential, and APM offers its own 4 stage certification for project managers. All of these credentials are framework credentials and are at a much more senior and detailed level than methodology credentials which we cover next. I recommend all project managers plan on gaining a framework credential at some point in their career - the sooner the better.

At the bottom of the hierarchy are specific project management methodologies developed from frameworks which in turn align with standards. Each methodology can be traced back to a particular framework document, and its ancillary documents such as extensions to the PMI PMBOK® Guide. Each methodology is particularly suitable for different projects based on industry, size, value, complexity and risk. For example Scrum is great for fast moving iterative IT projects, Prince2 for low complexity IT projects, and Method123 for defined complex projects from a range of industries. There are usually no, or very little, prerequisites needed to gain a methodology certification so they are generally not any guide to a project managers experience, ability or seniority. My opinion is that you should only look at becoming a certified in a particular project management methodology if your organization is actually going to use that methodology appropriately. Otherwise I strongly suggest getting a framework credential such as PMP® and gain the skills needed to develop your own project management methodology.

Anyway, that’s the explanation over. I hope you found it useful and you now feel more informed about standards, frameworks and methodologies.

Sean Whitaker, PMP, PMINZ Fellow


Reprinted with permission - original article at seanwhitaker.com

Your Fifteen Minutes of ... Productivity?

Fifteen minutes of Fame - we all seem to want it, and according to some we are all due our fifteen minutes in the limelight. Well, maybe, or maybe not. I am sure that the law of averages says has something to say about that, and more likely some celebrity out there is using up a whole lot of other people's 15 minutes. I am sure mine has already been used up somewhere, maybe yours too. Who knows?


We all day-dream about what might be. However, instead of making the dreams a reality, we often squander countless minutes musing about a possible future - while instead we could have been doing something more productive towards that (or any other) goal. 

Other times, we are either delaying work on an unpleasant task, trying to put off the inevitable, or simply waiting until we "have enough time" to get the task done.

The truth is that it is far more rewarding (and practical) to apply those extra minutes towards the things that you need to get done. Even better, apply the time towards the things you need to get done, and you will find you have more time to do the things you want to do.

For some, this seems hard to do, particularly if the task is difficult or unpleasant, or you are simply procrastinating. We all procrastinate - some more than others, and I will admit I have had my fair share over the years. Usually, it just takes some butt-in-seat glue to stay and get focused on the task, and it gradually starts to take shape - and soon enough you find the task completed.

FocusPerhaps the problem is focus. There is so much to do at any one time, how can we get anything done, or know which thing to get done? We can easily become deadlocked trying to figure out what we should do - and the clock keeps ticking. 

tick...tick...tick

What to do....what to do...which task to work on...? 

tick...tick

Then suddenly, your problem is solved for you.

...tick

You have now run out of time - because you now have to go to the 2pm meeting. Saved by the bell! You won't have to worry about which thing to do first until after this 2-hour meeting, and then, well, it's getting close enough to 5pm, so after the 5 minutes getting back to your desk, why bother starting on that task if you have less than an hour left in your day...and there's always tomorrow, right?


...yeah, right! Another day lost with tasks incomplete. You may not even enjoy your evening at home or time out with friends, because in the back of your mind you are still worrying about the many little things you have left unfinished at work.

Not a pleasant place to be...but perhaps some numbers will bring some perspective that will help us better focus on the tasks at hand.


44,676,000If you live to the ripe old age of 85, this is the number of minutes you will have on this earth. No matter how many long weekends you take, how many "extra" hours you work at the office, the amount of time is the same. If you over-work yourself, however, the actual number may be lower - so take care of yourself, OK? We don't want to see a premature exit. It's not like you can transfer your "unused minutes" to another person's plan. Those minutes are yours and yours alone, non-transferable and no refunds.

10,512,000By the age of 20, having spent a carefree childhood followed by school, University/College and the first year or so of your new career, you suddenly wake up to find you only have about 3/4 of your minutes left. Here you are, just getting warmed up with your first real job, and you are already behind the eight-ball.


34,164,000If you retire at age 65, you have roughly 10,512,000 minutes left, assuming you live to age 85. This is the same amount of time you took to get all grown up and start out in the workforce. Enjoy these remaining minutes - you have definitely earned them. Make sure to do something fun with them!

(34,164,000 - 10,512,000) = 23,652,000
These are all the minutes you have to "get stuff done" during your working career.

Well, not quite. We need to deduct sleep, roughly 8hr/day...so you have, say, 15,768,000 minutes while wide awake to focus on activities.

Oops, sorry, we forgot weekends; we need to deduct those too. (And you had better, if you work yourself like a dog, your upper limit on minutes may be suddenly shortened, so use weekends for other things like relaxing, mowing the lawn, golfing and cleaning out the garage).

So, if we take off the weekends, that makes it...11,262,857 minutes left.

Ah, best take off the non-working holiday days each year, roughly 12 or so of those depending on the country you live in, and say, 4 weeks of vacation a year if you can stay working in one place for a while...so 46,080 minutes of "holiday" per year, or 2,073,600 minutes in your working years.

We'll leave out sick days for now, as they are more variable, and some do try to work when they are sick anyway. That leaves us...


9,189,257These are the minutes left, Monday-Friday to get stuff done. Work, sports, school, dinner, kids, friends, social activities, all that stuff between waking up and collapsing back into bed.

Better just focus on work, I suppose...and optimistically say only 8 hours of work per day, though many of you will do more...that leaves us:


4,594,629  These are all the minutes we have left to be in the office, Monday-Friday, 8-5, allowing an hour for lunch.

Where did all the time go? This is only 10.3% of your average total time on the planet to get your "work" stuff done.

Feeling any pressure yet? Well, hopefully you are still reading this and not lying down with a blood pressure cuff on your arm. If you are taking a short break, rest up - we will still be here when you get back.

But do come back, because we have a lot of work to do, and there is some exciting news coming up next...!


The Meeting Hour MythA long time ago, there was no accurate division of time. Days were longer or shorter depending on the season, and many people worked by the sun, getting up when the sun rose and going to bed when it got dark. People started work, stopped when they were hungry or thirsty (or when a neighbor dropped by), and then they would start working again while they had daylight. Eventually, however, some clever folk came along and decided to invent light bulbs and divide up the day into 24 hours (why not 10 or 20, we may never know).

The problem with all this division of time is that once you actually start to measure something, people will start to use that system for everything. 

The other problem is that people usually use the system of time measurement badly .

How long are your average meetings? What is the default meeting duration in your calendar program? I am willing to guess that the answer is almost universally the same - one hour. Sometimes multiples, like 2, 3 or 4 hours. 60 whole minutes eaten up, or 120, 180 - even 240 minutes at a stretch.

Less commonly will you see 30 minute meetings in people's calendars.

But why one hour for a meeting? Why does a 30 minute meeting seem "incomplete", like it is not really worthwhile, and not a "whole" thing? What about a nice, short 15 minute meeting?

I think the problem here is granularity - people are looking at the "big" picture, but losing sight of the trees for the forest.

An hour is actually a very long time - just try talking in front of a group for that long on one topic and you will see what I mean. (I don't mean training, where you may spend the whole day or weeks on end in front of a class teaching on a topic. That's different.) Imagine yourself having to engage hundreds of your peers on a technical topic, or explain why a project is delayed in front of the senior executive and CEO of your organization - for 60 (or 120) whole minutes.

Suddenly that little old hour seems a lot bigger, doesn't it?

It really comes down to a matter of perspective and mental conditioning.


Fifteen Minutes of ProductivityYou can get a lot done in fifteen minutes (900 seconds). 900 heart-beats, 450 breaths...
I am not kidding- you really can get a lot done when you get into the practice of using up those small chunks of "leftover" time.

In Agile methodology, the daily morning stand-up Scrum meeting is typically 15 minutes long, and a lot can (and does) get done in that time. Plenty of quick discussion, key decisions made - and then off the teams go to get the work done during the remaining 7 hours 45 minutes of the work day.

If we wait for a big enough chunk of time to concentrate on getting a particular task done, most of us will be waiting a very long time. Sure, you can schedule your week so your calendar shows nice blocks of time for you to sit down for 2-3 hours at a time to concentrate.

However, this is the real world, and phone calls, drop-ins from colleagues and urgent tasks from your boss can shoot holes all through your schedule. Suddenly all those carefully planned blocks of time are gone. All you have left is 20 minutes here, 15 minutes there...45 minutes at a stretch if you are lucky. <Sigh> What's the point? Might as well get started on it next week because you don't have enough time left today or later this week...right?

...Not so fast. You have a mountain of work still to get done this week - and it simply has to get done - but how?

The same way you eat an Elephant: a bite at a time.

When you start to sit down and focus on your tasks in the time you have left before your next meeting, maybe only 10 or 15 minutes, you can get quite a lot done. Three or maybe even five short phone calls. A page or two of the report for your boss. Review part of a document. Check the numbers on a spreadsheet. Write a page and a half of code. The list goes on. 

With practice, you will find that you will be better able to focus in small bursts of time, and get more done. Need a couple hours to work on a report? With 15 minutes after coffee, 30 minutes gained after a shorter-than-planned meeting, 45 minutes after lunch and another 15 minutes at the end of the day, you may find it is all done and dusted before you head home on time. If you had waited for that precious block of 2 hours, you would still be waiting...and waiting... as your schedule filled up with interruptions and shards of "leftover" time.

Sure, there are definitely times where you must block out larger blocks of time to really dig into complex tasks - but for many things, you will find that you can easily work on them in small chunks. You will often find that the results will be just as good, or sometimes even better than if you had a single larger block of time. Allowing time to reflect between bursts of activity can let your subconscious work away on those "in progress" tasks while you are focused on your current meeting.

Food for thought!

However, let's check the numbers to see what we gained. 
In your 40 hour week, you may be lucky to allocate 20 hours of "non-meeting" desk time to get your work done. For some this may be only 10 hours. However, let's go with 20 nicely carved out hours in big long chunks.

Then you get started on your tasks, but you get phone calls, emails to respond to...and your 2 hour block of time is nearly used up. 30 minutes left before a meeting. Your manager assigns you an urgent task during another block - 15 minutes left. Say this is a common pattern, and out of your nice hour or multi-hour blocks of time, you only have 15 minutes left from each reserved hour. The rest was all "work stuff" (of course) - on your tasks or helping others. On the plus side, a meeting may finish early, so you may gain some extra time.

Say on average you have 4-5 small chunks of time left per day between meetings, or from completing one task a few minutes early. Even if it adds up to 60 minutes a day, it makes a big difference what you do with those minutes. Maybe you won't have nice long 15 minute chunks, but 5 minutes is enough to catch up on some emails or make that important call.


574,329If you manage to productively use the leftover chunks and slivers of time, even an hour a day, this is how many minutes you will add to your productivity during your working life, vs doing nothing in particular with those small bits of leftover time (12.5% of your work day)


1,196Days of productivity can be "recovered" by using those bits of "leftover" time effectively, or 239 weeks of productivity gained instead of lost - nearly 6 years regained out of your average 45 working years.

With that much increased productivity, you must be in line for a raise - or at least some bonus time off!

If you are not feeling that you you have to "finish up" some bits of work at home after the kids go to bed because you managed to complete it at the office, you will find you have more relaxed time to spend with family. 

You may also find you have some "extra" time to start a new hobby, spend more time on one you enjoy, or volunteer for a worthy cause.

Six years is a lot of time!

One thing you can be sure of is those 6 years of "non-work" time slivers will be somewhat less than restful if you are spending them at the office worrying about getting your To-Do list done - and not doing it.


Summary
OK, OK, maybe you aren't so excited about being more productive. Everyone needs a break, right? Yes - that is true, we do need our regular, small breaks.However, this is about better using those small chunks of time - 5, 10, 15, 20 minutes - when we could get something done, and we already had our coffee break. Often, people choose not to use those minutes to get started on a task or make it progress - and that's a waste.

Unconvinced? well, how about this number:


16,425This is the number of nights you could have better sleep, knowing you had used your working time more effectively to get the small tasks done - and made forward progress on larger tasks - with those small bits of "leftover" time. In the grand scheme of things, this means that you may have less work following you home, or nagging you during your "off-work" hours. Barring babies, sick kids and the occasional (major) project worry, that is nearly every night of your working life that you could be resting better, knowing you did the best you could with your available time.


Now, that's time well spent.

As for my own "15 minutes of fame" - it may still be out there waiting. But when I really think hard about it, Fame is fleeting, and I would rather use that "extra" time for fun stuff - like writing.

Good luck with your projects, and use your time wisely (and effectively) in whatever you do.

Gary Nelson, PMP

Guest Post: Moving from Crunch to Control – A Novel PM Canon

Every experienced project manager knows that seldom a project goes as per your plan. Crisis always strikes when it is least expected. Such a crunch provides you with an opportunity to prove yourself as a competent project manager and excel in your services. Crisis offers you that much-awaited break, which assists you in demonstrating your leadership qualities. Managing and leading high-risk projects towards success boosts your career. A project manager can never sharpen and build his skills if a project runs according to the plan. Right from technical problems to bankruptcies and from in-house corporate issues to natural calamities, crisis can occur in several forms, degrees and sizes. 

A significant factor that is generally unheeded by the managers is appropriate alignment of the project goals with the goal of the organization. This mismatch can be risky and land the project in trouble.



Often a huge percentage of the projects fail due to over budget, late delivery, standard-less delivery, termination of the project before completion and other factors. Due to this, only a handful of the initiated projects become successful. We have also seen that many organizations set up a Project Management Office (PMO), which rarely succeeds. These PMOs shut down within a span of few months or maximum within a year. Although PMOs require huge investments, they do not show positive return on investment. Hence, it is important for the organizations to develop management strategies that make room for successful project management practices.

Let us now discuss few fruitful strategies that can move a project in crunch towards control.

Strategic Project Alignment Ensuring project alignment with the core strategies of your organization can save project failures. This can be done by taking lessons from the projects that have been successfully completed in your organization, as it gives you an opportunity to determine the viability of your project. The next step is to develop criteria for prioritizing the projects. The criteria should entail its impact on the organizational departments, customers as well as the corporate strategy. Such quantitative ranking of the projects can help you in prioritizing them. Now eliminate low-priority projects, which do not align with the organizational goal.


Creating a Promising Project Management EnvironmentThis is as good as setting up your own PMO without that extra expense.  The key reasons behind having a PMO is to ensure successful project implementation, reusable project management techniques, processes and tools, corporate upgrading and enhanced professionalism. Thereby, establish a culture that facilitates well-managed projects.

All these and more can be achieved by developing a Project Culture Initiative (PCI). This involves identifying unique approaches to execute the project, which actually benefit the organization. Plan your project in advance and manage it. Critical Chain Project Management is one of the best approaches in defying crisis. Once the planning is complete, follow it up and ensure that these methodologies are implemented right from project commencement.

Design a Project Evaluation SystemEvaluate whether your project is being accomplished appropriately during every single step. This can be done by keeping a check on the following:
•    has the project met the quality standards
•    have the regulatory requirements been met
•    whether the number of resources hired is exceeding the number of estimated resources
•    will the project meet the deliverables and the target
•    effective risk management
•    slip-free launch
•    huge returns on investment
 
There are several other factors that contribute to successful risk management. Some of the paramount elements include the following:


Analyzing a Looming ProblemBe proactive and read the early warnings that come as small complaints and issues. Address that right in the beginning and minimize the impact it can have on your project. 

Planning Ahead of TimeDo not wait for the crisis to hit. Instead, design a step-by-step plan and keep it ready to be followed when the crisis breaks. Crisis contingency strategies and plans are of great use. Design and document them. Explain the roles and responsibilities of each of the team members so that they can function accordingly when the crisis hits.

Evading SpeculationOne of the most terrible mistakes committed during a crisis is getting too curious to know the root cause of the crunch. In an attempt to discover the root cause rapidly one might overlook the actual source that lead to the crisis. It is always sensible to consult everyone in responsible positions while making a Root Cause Analysis (RCA) in order to determine the source. This is because, often, it is not just one event but a series of events that lead to crisis. Concluding too early can put the project in danger. 

Visualize the Big PictureThe zillion trivial details, which you happen to come across during a crisis, can actually prevent you from visualizing the big picture. As a project manager, maintaining focus during the crisis is essential. This is the time for you to utilize your skill sets and implement all the right strategies to solve the complications and reduce the damage.

Showcasing Communication Skills & Leadership AbilitiesCommunicating the right project status to your stakeholders is another important aspect and should never be ignored. Articulate and update the stakeholders with the necessary details regarding the progress and plans made in the project.  At the same time it is your duty to get everyone in the project back on track without affecting the work. Set the goals for the team members and provide detailed directions. Staying optimistic and being positive is also very important.   Never let your project team members feel defeated or lost. As this can have a negative impact on the growth of the project. Ensure that there is no blame game across the team and completely avoid negative conversations.

Have an Instant Backup ReadyBeing a project manager, you should have a stable reserve to access help in case of emergency. Although you are not expected to have a steady solution for every issue, it is advisable to know where to look for help during crisis. Being resourceful and knowing when to seek help is essential.

It is better to be prepared and get the team onboard with an effective communication and have a contingency plan in place.

Responding to Media
Handling the media is also important. When carelessly handled, this can ruin the organizational image in the market causing irreparable loss of the brand name. The situation should be explained in detail to the PR specialists. Refraining from responding to groundless stories is also crucial.

ConclusionFailed projects are synonymous with wasted dollars. This denotes the decline in the profit of the investor and a negative impact on the bottom line of the company. Business performance is directly proportional to pertinently managed projects. Hence, projects aligned with corporate goals of the organization will always turn out to be lucrative.



Avyakta Rao

Roadside Checkup: How Clear is your Project Vision?

When I was fifteen, I spent the summer visiting my relatives in Alberta. Nothing unusual about that, as we did that most summers. We would usually drive the nearly 14 hours to Calgary and then spend a few very enjoyable weeks visiting the grandparents, exploring the farmyard and visiting our many aunts, uncles, cousins and other relatives in the area.

What was different about that summer is that our family divided up the visits, allowing us kids to each spend more time with our relatives, one-on-one. I spent a few days with my grandparents, and then one of my Aunts came to pick me up and drive me up to their farm an hour and a half to the north. My parents were going to pick me up later in the week to take me to the next relative.

It was a hot, dry summer, which was not uncommon in the prairies. Her car was brown. Actually, it might not have been brown, it was just coated in so much dust you couldn't see the colour underneath. My grandparents waved from the front steps of the farmhouse as we rumbled away down the gravel driveway, dust rising high behind the car. It was a little hard to see, but I didn't think too much of it. Everything was dusty that summer.

As we drove down the main gravel road and onto the stretch of pavement before we reached the main highway, my Aunt said she needed to stop and get some gas. We pulled into a little gas station and the attendant started to pump the fuel. 

"Just need to clean the windshield," she said as she hopped out of the car and grabbed a squeegee from the bucket beside the gas pump. I remained seated in the car.

She dragged the wet spongy side across the top of the window, and rivulets of mud tracked down the glass. She re-wet the squeegee several times as she progressively sponged and cleared the dust and mud off the outside of the window. 


She looked at the window, frowned, and then leaned into the car to have a look out of the windshield. "You might want to get out," she said as she walked back around the car towards the squeegee bucket. 

I unbuckled myself and got out of the car just as she stepped forward and proceeded to drag the wet squeegee across the inside of the windshield. It, too was covered in dust, and trickles of mud ran down the glass and dripped onto the dashboard. Slightly flustered, she quickly cleaned the inside of the window, paid the attendant and then we got back into the car.

As we drove down the dust-free highway, windows still down but now able to see ahead of us more clearly, I asked her why the car was so dusty on the inside. She replied that the car did not have air conditioning, so naturally driving with the windows down was a good substitute.

However, living on a farm (with no air conditioning), you had to keep the windows down to cool off, but of course that let the dust in. With the manual window winders and only one person in the car, it was hard to put the windows up and down as you regularly went from asphalt to dirt or gravel - so she mostly left them down.


Thus the coating of dust throughout the car, inside and out.


Driving with clear visibility in front of you is obviously important - that is why my Aunt cleaned the window once we were off the dusty road. But ask yourself this - how many of us truck on ahead with our projects, "just getting the work done", but with no clear vision of where we are going or what is up ahead?


It might just be time to pull off the road and check those windows.


Project VisionEverybody loves vision statements, right? Of course we do! Countless hours are spent on corporate vision statements, coming up with either something short and catchy, or something long and hard to understand. Too pithy - or too boring - and the value of the Vision statement is lost. It may be relegated to a poster on the back wall, a sheet in your filing cabinet, and only dusted off every now an then. Not a productive result.

I am not mocking vision statements (OK, maybe a few of them that I have seen), but the value of a strong collective vision cannot be overstated. The difficulty with some corporate vision statements is that they try to cover too much - or use vague, meaningless gobbledygook.

You need to have a clear vision for your team - for your project, in order to get things done effectively. Fortunately, the smaller scope of your project (vs the company's overarching objectives) makes it much more likely that you can create a clear, compelling vision without trying to take on the world.

And practically speaking, you don't have to be pithy, or overly clever. You just need to paint a clear picture of where you are going and why, and you will start to develop team buy-in.


Paint the LandscapeEven though I could not initially see out of the front window, I already was picturing the fun I would be having on the farm, visiting my Aunt, Uncle and Cousin, playing with the dog and exploring the farmyard, and seeing the deer and the cows in the fields. Then - playing Canasta in the afternoon - and hopefully Cribbage. I loved playing crib - my grandfather taught us kids and I played it with all of my relatives. It was a quintessential part of summer holidays and every visit I have had with them since.


I had a clear vision of what would happen during my visit, and it excited me. I couldn't wait, and now that I could see out of the window, I watched for familiar landmarks along the way that marked us getting closer and closer. When we passed "Loch Nessy" in a slough, and the gum-booted scarecrow on the ladder, I knew we were but minutes away from my destination.


As your project begins, you need to paint a clear vision of where you are going and what you are trying to achieve. They need understand the purpose for what they are doing - how they are going to make a difference - and what will be better because of our project. Make it compelling, but be truthful about challenges you may face - as there are always challenges and you will need to face them together.


What is it about your project that makes it worthwhile? Why should people be excited about it? If you can't think of any answers, you will have trouble communicating the vision to your team - so be clear in your own vision and make sure to communicate that passion.

Just be mindful that there are many things that can arise that will obscure the Vision for the project team.
 

Clear the OutsideJust like the layers of dust and grime on the outside of your windscreen, there are many external factors that can serve to blur the project Vision. The external factors may be truly from outside sources, or they may take the form of constant stakeholder requests for changes to the project scope. You may have a change in regulations that impacts what you have to deliver, and you may have to backtrack and re-factor those changes into your project plan and requirements.

Whether these are controlled changes (with a change request) or scope creep, sometimes the result can still be the same - the repeated change of focus can divert you onto the side roads until you suddenly look up, and find you are heading in a different direction and you have lost track of the highway.

Other times, you may be overly focused on making all of your stakeholders "happy", forgetting the big picture while trivial details accumulate on the windscreen until you can't see forward. You may give the wipers a flick, but it may be too late - that dark shape ahead may not be the next vehicle in front of you - it may be a tree.

Cleaning the outside of the windscreen on a regular car is needed often enough that they built specific systems into your car to handle it. Press a button, and you get a squirt of cleaner from a hidden reservoir, along with a few flicks of the wipers. As long as you check your wiper fluid levels and change the blades regularly, the risks of poor external visibility are easily avoided.

While you may not be able to solve your external project vision issues at the press of a button, there are many systems, tools and approaches that are designed to help you reduce external blurring of your vision.

Clearing the inside, however, is a different matter.


Clear the InsideYour typical car is designed to handle only one type of visual obscurity on the inside of your windscreen - fog. Specifically, condensed moisture on the cold glass. A special setting on your heater system defogs the front window by blowing air directly on it so you can soon see to drive safely.

Unfortunately, this does not help much if the inside of your window is actually dirty. From accumulated films to actual dust and dirt, these all have to be removed by hand. None of the vehicle systems will do this for you automatically.

And just like your car - the hardest thing to notice is often the blurring caused from within the project team itself. It can also be the most challenging to fix, and sometimes requires more effort from the project manager than dealing with the external threats to clear project vision.

Some of the problems that can afflict your team are:
DistractionConfusion Poor attitudes High occurrences of rework Poor quality Zombies* These issues may not all be immediately visible to the project manager, but they can be caused by lack of focus on the big picture. It is easy to lose track of the project Vision in the day to day tasks and scramble to solve this problem, review that document and get that urgent report done before the next project team meeting.

Don't just communicate the Vision once at the start of the project - the Project Vision is something you need to keep repeating and promoting throughout the project, especially when times are tough.

It may seem silly, obvious or repetitive to you, but re-affirming the vision and having the team keep one eye on the big picture will help them get past their current difficulties and re-energize their efforts. It will also help them keep on track.

Check the Rear View MirrorWhile we are talking about windows and vision, don't forget that back window and the rear view mirror. You may not look through those as often, but keep them clear anyway.

Sometimes, you just need to see where you came from to know how far you've come. Your destination may be closer than you think.

This may take the form of reviewing project deliverable completion status, major milestones achieved, tough challenges you survived, and many other elements of the project that can all too easily become a blur of "what came before". 


People are strange creatures - everything is relative. Most of today's problems are perceived as "big". As you work through the major problems, yesterday's minor ones become today's "major" problems. We seem to need to have problems to solve, some challenge to keep us busy and worked up. However, this can seem like an endless cycle for those working through problem after problem, challenge after challenge, and it can wear you down.


So let's adjust the rear view mirror for everyone in the car to see what is reflected in it.

Let everyone take a long, long look in the rear view mirror as you turn eastward onto the final leg of your journey. Those Rocky Mountains you see in the mirror are all of the major challenges you have already faced together - as a team. The foothills in front of them are the smaller challenges you tackled after that, shrinking progressively to the hills and bumps of the recent, smaller challenges closer behind you. They may have all felt like mountains, but looking back it becomes apparent that not all of them were as big as the Rockies. The remaining road of your project may not be perfectly flat - but the smaller hills and valleys in front of you should hopefully be put back into a better perspective.

Although we cannot run our projects by looking backward all of the time, it is good to have the small rear view mirror as part of our overall perspective. It can help to balance our vision, keeping us mindful of how far we have progressed, while allowing most of our attention to remain focused on the road ahead.

SummaryNot being a driver at the time, the lack of clear vision from inside the car when we left my grandparents did not concern me - I trusted my Aunt, and she was a good driver. Cleaning the front window made a striking difference in our ability to see; I had not realized just how dirty the window was until she cleaned it. 

On our projects, it is easy to lose sight of the big picture - the Vision - when we are working away inside the vehicle on the detail of the project delivery. While we are trudging on, day by day, dust may be slowly collecting on our windscreen, unnoticed. Looking regularly through the window, we may not notice the gradual loss of vision - until we are suddenly in the ditch and calling for a tow truck.

You need to periodically pull over and do a visibility check. You might even need an "external" person to help point out the smears on the window, or simply step out of the car yourself (safely on the side of the road) to look at it from a different perspective.

However, we are reminded that it is not just the outside of the window you need to keep clear. You also need to clear the dust and clutter that keep you from seeing the glass in the first place - from the inside. 


Good luck with your projects, have a good squeegee handy, and keep your eyes on the road ahead.

Gary Nelson, PMP

Guest Post: Lack of Coordination is a Risk Hazard

One of the most critical challenges faced by any project manager during a major solution delivery is to mitigate risk. Risk is of two kinds. One is called “known risk”. Known risk is a risk that can be caused by something that you can plan and even mitigate. For example, lack of electricity. You can purchase a generator as a backup. The other kind of risk is the “unknown risk”. Unknown risk is defined as risk that was not factored in and did not have a plan in place to minimize it.

Even with the most successful team of executives and leaders, risk can only be calculated with the knowledge within the team. Hence, many times, risks do pop up since they were not discussed or even fathomed during the discussions. A good example is of a viral flu that swept in and majority of the main key players are all sick. Interestingly, another very critical risk that surfaces is poor communication between key stakeholders.

Let me share with you a very recent experience of “unknown risk” that was caused by lack of coordination. Our organization was working in England as a consultant for a major telecom company. The project comprised of 26 specialists from all over the world. While doing the risk management plan, the entire team spent weeks understanding and comprehending the type of risks that could surface into the project. The entire team was able to garner an exhaustive list of risks that could be caused by a variety of different factors. In fact, the risk management plan was wonderful. It had all the risks reported and tagged as per best practices.

Ample time was given to the respective teams to list the risks and develop the action plan for the project. If the risk ever took place, there was an action plan that was to kick in. Interestingly, the main objective was to proactively mitigate the risk from occurring. The entire team came up with 50 risk environmental factors.  Out of the 50 risk environmental factors, 31 were high risk factors.

The risk management plan encompassed the risk cost, risk event, risk impact and even the risk plan. One aspect that was missed was that the team coordination among the international community of partners could also delay the project and could be counted as a major risk factor. Lack of team coordination is also risk to any project and was also to be proven true in this case as well. 


Root Cause of Risk
We were brought into the equation when the project was already late and above the cost threshold. When we held meetings with the various stakeholders, all of them believed that the main reason of the delay was external environmental factors. Some of the examples they gave were time difference between the countries and even the language barrier.

After going through extensive meetings with the teams, we realized that the main problem was the team itself. When we dug into the anomalies, we realized that though the team comprised of talented individuals, all the team members wanted to be the leaders of the group. No one was ready to be a follower. 

SolutionTeam building and team coordination is critical. In fact, in many organizations, the teams going to be working on a project go through an extensive orientation program. During the project management orientation, risk affects and stakeholders communication are all discussed. For remote teams, a project management online course is aired through the internet. Objective of the team orientation meetings is to have a clearly amalgamated team in terms of vision, purpose, and deliverables.

Our recommendation to any project manager that goes through project delivery is to sustain and maintain quality communication. Quality communication is one of the fundamental flaws and root causes of risks coming into the project. Here are three project management risk aversion tips:
Be consistent in the communication. Keep the message in emails, sms and other tools.Be prepared to have a fire drill of activities and project schemes before going into execution. Similar to a rehearsal.Have people that can build teams. Assign team leaders. People need to know who is the leader.
The project management steps outlined above will go a long way in building and diverting risks. Proven solution.

   Zyma Arsalan
Director Media, ThinkFaculty Company
http://www.thinkfaculty.com


Zyma Arsalan is currently the Director Media for ThinkFaculty Company – a leader in project management training, customer service training and leadership and development. She has a versatile experience in working for the top leading companies in USA and now focuses on building the intellectual network in Asia. She can be reached at www.thinkfaculty.com

Protect your project from Zombie Outbreaks

zom·bie \ˈzäm-bē\ noun 1. Formal.
   a. the body of a dead person given the semblance of life, but mute and will-less, by a supernatural force, usually for some evil purpose.
   b. the supernatural force itself 

2. Informal.
   a. a person whose behavior or responses are wooden, listless, or seemingly rote; automaton.
   b. a person who is or appears lifeless, apathetic, or completely unresponsive to their surroundings.     c. an eccentric or peculiar person, markedly strange in appearance or behavior (sometimes confused with Teenagers). 
3. Project Zombie.    a. a member of the project team whose behavior or responses towards the project are wooden, listless, or seemingly rote; automaton.   b. a member of the project team who appears directionless or wandering but is attracted by noise and activity.


Zombies Today
Zombies are currently very popular in the media; in the past 18 months alone there have been 32 zombie films created (many of them B films, but a notable number featured in the mainstream theater circuit, and over 160 have been released since the start of 2009). I will admit, I have only seen a half dozen or so in the last few years but my favorites have to be Zombieland (2009) and Sean of the Dead (2004). Soulless re-animated bodies wanting to eat your brains? Sure. Running for your lives to reach a goal or sanctuary, keeping just ahead of the armies of the undead? You bet. However, both films introduce a quirky sense of humour that keeps them from being strictly hide-under-the-covers horror movies. 

Yearning for some piece of normality while you reload your shotgun? That overturned delivery truck just might contain a box of Twinkies.

What about Warm Bodies (2013), you ask? Well, certainly it was an enjoyable film and it had decent humour, but as most of the 'zombies' recovered simply from looking at a pretty girl, you have to wonder if they were true zombies, or if they were just temporarily heartbeat-challenged. On the other hand, the explanation they offered for eating brains was unique and somewhat enlightening. OK, so maybe we will add it to the list.

However, the cinematic undead aside, we have a much more serious problem in real life. Many of our projects suffer zombie outbreaks. They may not actually be undead or want to eat your brains, but they are zombies nonetheless. And even worse, they may be your fault.


Project ZombiesLet's be fair, not all projects have zombies. I would argue that some of the most successful projects have managed to run from Project Initiation through to Closeout with nary a zombie in sight. On the other end of the scale, some projects are constantly plagued by zombies, and just like the movies, these zombies tend to multiply at a frightening pace.

What does it mean to be a Project Zombie? Well, there are some common attributes shared by all zombies, undead or otherwise.
Lack of Motivation: Aimless, listless, wandering or generally apathetic behaviourEasily Distracted: Attracted to noise or activity, angered by the 'living'Spread the Dis-ease: Affliction spreads through close or regular contactHunger for 'Brains': Seeking something they are lacking However, one key difference between a regular everyday Zombie and your Project Zombies is how they are created.

Creating a ZombieIn the movies, some unlucky person is usually 'patient zero', afflicted by some mutant virus, or perhaps bitten by an animal with some hitherto-unknown variant of rabies. Once bitten, the afflicted turns into a zombie (right away in some films, or as soon as they die a horrible death in others), and spread the affliction by biting as many people as they can, while snacking their way around the populace and munching on a brain or two.


On your project, if there are Zombies, there will always be a 'patient zero'. If you are really, really unlucky, this is you - the Project Manager. No biting is involved, but the contagion spreads just the same, from one disaffected person to the next. 


Recognizing a Project ZombieIn order to protect yourself (and your project) from the Project Zombies, you need to be able to identify them. As your zombies will likely have a healthy skin tone and otherwise look 'normal', it may be hard to spot them, but there are some behavioural cues that are a dead (or maybe undead) giveaway.
 
Lack of MotivationZombies of all types tend to appear aimless, listless, or have generally apathetic behaviour to what is going on around them (i.e. the project). They may also be found wandering around the office with an appearance of busy-ness, but they are far from productive and engaged in your project. Some of the more clever ones may carry a notepad and a writing device, or perhaps an electronic tablet as part of their disguise. 

If you look closer, though, they are often busy with anything but your project - they lack motivation to get things done. When you do drag them along to meetings, they tend not to participate or contribute much to the meetings. If you do get anything out of them, it may be a moan, groan or other gutteral complaint. They would really rather be somewhere else - anywhere else, really - just not with you, or working on your project.

They have become disengaged, disaffected and are possibly infected with the 'SEP' virus (Somebody Else's Problem).

Easily DistractedWhen things are going well on your project, it is common to see your team members engaged in animated discussions on relevant topics, and then see them fully absorbed in solving some project problem at their desks - or, simply put, getting the job done. They may even seem to be enjoying it. Although they will likely be quite social with the other project team members, this will not tend to keep them from the business of your project - they feel good about a job well done.

On the other hand, Project Zombies are easily distracted from whatever they are doing at the moment (be it reviewing a document, producing some deliverable or chewing on a co-workers arm...Hey, stop that!). They are not very interested in what they are doing most of the time, and are easily distracted by the next activity or novelty that comes along. Any type of interesting noise or conversation will draw them in, and they may become frustrated when the makers-of-noise ('the living') return to a working state. Those people are not yet afflicted, which annoys and angers the Zombie. Something must be done, so the Zombie makes plans to isolate the others, one by one, and turn them into Project Zombies so they can join the horde.


Spreading Dis-easeJust as with normal zombies, the affliction spreads through close contact. The undead may need to bite you to spread the dis-ease, but for the living Project Zombies, all it takes is a whisper in the ear and the damage is done. Rumor, innuendo, false information and negative opinions fill any gaps in project communications, and this can spread rapidly throughout the team. 

Your zombies spread a mental virus, based on misinformation, negative opinions and dissatisfaction, which leads to erosion of trust; it also results in reduced motivation for the newly afflicted.


And thus the cycle begins anew.


Hunger for 'Brains'Not all is lost, however - one of the more positive behaviours of a Zombie is their strong hunger for Brains. Well, maybe it is not so positive for the donor, but if you look at it from the zombie's point of view, with a bit of a metaphorical optimistic twist, all they are really looking for is some direction .

Yes - those listless, aimless, easily distracted, dis-ease spreading, wandering zombies are seeking leadership. The problem in the movies is that most of the zombies never find the right leader, so they keep on snacking away, looking for the perfect brain.


The good news for us, of course (other than that your Project Zombies are not likely to actually eat your brain), is that you have the perfect opportunity to fix all this.

Not by just being the Project Manager - but by being their Leader.

Say what? Who would want to lead a horde of Project Zombies and be responsible for project failure?


That is not what actually happens - or at least, it doesn't have to be.


Curing Project ZombiesYes, Zombies can be cured. Well, in most movies this involves separation of the head from the body, but Warm Bodies gives us some hope that it does not always have to be this way.


And certainly on your projects, if you ever hope to pull your team back together and complete your project successfully, you have to be optimistic that you can cure the zombies. Otherwise, you might as well give up, grab someone's arm or leg, and join the horde.


There are four things you can do to cure your Project Zombies - and they tie into the four main behaviours that your Zombies may exhibit.
Lack of Motivation: This can be cured by giving your team members a sense of purpose. Explain the project objectives clearly, communicate what impact your project will have on the business, and the importance of project success. Even more importantly, show your team how their contributions will make a difference - and that they are valued as people. Very few people come to work every day to try and do a bad job; if you give them something to be positive and excited about, you may just be surprised at how quickly your Zombies can regain more human behaviours. Keep a close eye out for any relapses though - you may need to encourage and reinforce the message on a regular basis.Easily Distracted: Quite often, if you solve the Motivation problem this will be solved on its own. However, habits are slow to form, so you may need to keep an eye on team dynamics, allow some social time because it is important for team building and morale, but kindly but firmly remind them to get back to work if you need to. Giving them something challenging (but achievable) and meaningful to do will also help reduce distractions affecting your team.Spread the Dis-ease: The primary vector of the dis-ease is communication, so you fight fire with fire (or words for words). Make sure to communicate regularly and clearly with your team. Don't allow long periods to happen between communication; keep your comms regular and be consistent. If you don't have anything new to add this week, it is better to report "nothing new" rather than to say nothing at all. Rumours love dark, silent places - so shed some light on what is going on, and keep your project team well-informed.Hunger for 'Brains': Lack of direction is the primary problem here - we all look for leadership. Solve this problem for your team by being a good, strong leader; if you can, be a great leader. An important thing to remember is that your team has different needs throughout the project - so be the Leader they need you to be for this stage of the project. Your team can 'smell' if you are not being the leader they need you to be - if you let them down, they will likely move on, seeking a more suitable brain - leaving yours alone as 'not interesting' enough.

Give them something to really chew on, a satisfying leadership experience - so they don't look for other brains. 
SummaryZombies can be found in most projects. They may be the people on your team, or simply mistaken ideas or attitudes around project controls (Read The Zombies of Project Management1 by Youssef Mourra). Fortunately, with open communication, clear setting of expectations and solid leadership, we can dispel the zombies, cure those afflicted, and prevent further outbreaks in our projects. Use those Project Manager brains of yours - lest they be 'eaten' out of desperation.

Good luck with your projects, hold onto your head, and take appropriate actions to prevent or recover from zombie outbreaks on your projects.

...and if you fail in that, look long and hard while trying to survive the Zombie Apocalypse, and you just might find the last Twinkie on earth.


Gary Nelson, PMP


References:
1. Mourra, Y. (2012, September). The Zombies of project management. Paper presented at the PMI New Zealand Chapter 18th Annual Conference: Faces and Facets of Project Management, Wellington, New Zealand. Retrieved from http://www.pmi.org.nz/pmi/conferences...