Lonnie Pacelli's Blog, page 11

The Plate-Spinning PM: 7 Tips to Manage Multiple Projects

I remember as a kid being entertained by plate spinners. The performer would spin bowls, plates or other flat objects on poles and keep them all spinning without falling off.

I watched each plate spinner run from pole to pole, jiggling the pole to keep a plate from wobbling and falling off. The spinner had to prioritize those plates most likely to fall off the pole first, get them spinning again, them move on to the next teetering plate.

Sometimes, the spinner was able to keep everything spinning; sometimes, a plate crashed to the ground, to the “oohs” and “aahs” of the crowd.

Welcome to the world of managing multiple projects.

As a young PM, I was managing three large engagements. I was bound and determined to show everyone I could do it. Long story short, I ended up tanking not one, not two, but all three projects. All three plates came crashing down. It was one of the most painful experiences I ever went through as a PM…one that I was determined not to repeat.

I’ve been asked how many projects is reasonable for a PM to manage. Honestly, it depends on several key factors:

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Ten Differences Between an Insecure Leader and a Secure Leader

Some time back I was talking with a fellow project manager about a difficult issue he was having with his new boss.  The thumbnail summary of the discussion was that the project manager was feeling overly scrutinized and micro-managed.  Now I knew the project manager to be a capable professional who could confidently handle the work assigned to him.  Yet his boss insisted on managing every detailed aspect of his work.  More so, his boss was very critical of the work being done even though it was performed to professionally acceptable standard.  The situation became unbearable for the project manager; he ultimately left the organization. As I thought about this situation, I noticed an interesting parallel to other leadership situations I have seen and been part of.  Both the project manager and his boss had similar backgrounds and similar years of experience.  Although the boss had been a manager for years, he tended to surround himself with younger, more inexperienced managers. Having a more senior and experienced project manager reporting to him was clearly something that took him out of his comfort zone.  Rather than embracing the experience, the boss felt threatened by the project manager and worked to "keep him in his place".   As I added things up in my mind about the situation one thing came clear; the boss' own insecurity was a key problem driver and was hampering the group's potential. 

This situation caused me to start thinking more about the attributes of secure and insecure leaders.  After noodling through I settled on ten key differences between an insecure and a secure leader. Give these a look and see if any resonate with you:Insecure leaders selectively divulge and withhold information.  Secure leaders freely share information.Insecure leaders teach employees what they need to know.  Secure  leaders nurture employees to help them figure out what they need to know. Insecure leaders discourage risk taking.  Secure leaders encourage calculated risk taking.Insecure leaders give instructions and expect them to be followed.  Secure leaders give guidance and expect results.Insecure leaders demand respect.  Secure leaders earn respect.Insecure leaders may acknowledge great performance but ensure they also get credit.  Secure leaders spotlight great performance and don't worry about getting credit.Insecure leaders hire and promote others who think like they do.  Secure leaders hire and promote others who think differently than they do.Insecure leaders deflect failure.  Secure leaders accept responsibility for failure.Insecure leaders promote those they can control.  Secure leaders promote those they don't have to control.Insecure leaders grow good doers.  Secure leaders grow great leaders.
The one nugget here is this: honestly think through whether or not you are an insecure leader or a secure leader.  If you fall on the insecure end of the spectrum, do some deep soul-searching as to what is causing you to feel insecure about your leadership abilities.  Find a trusted mentor or colleague to help you dig into things and to shore up the areas which you need to address.  Recognition and acknowledgement of your improvement areas is the most important step to growth.  Don't kid yourself into thinking you're something that you're not.  

I'd love to hear your opinions on the  list.  Tell me what you think.

Read Part 2 - How to Succeed Under an Insecure Leader.
Lonnie Pacelli
Keynote Speaker | Board Director | Autism Advocate | Author | Project Management Expert | Microsoft/Accenture Veteran 
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Love, Tolerate or Dislike: Evaluating Your Work/Life Balance

Recently I was having a discussion with a colleague. During the chat he made a comment that really resonated with me:

“I love my career—not just because of what I do, but also what it enables me to do.”

That one sentence seemed so simple, but so impactful. He was saying that his career was fulfilling, provided financially, and afforded him the flexibility to do non-work things that were really important to him. It was about both a great career and the benefits his career brought to the other aspects of his life.

As I ruminated over the concept, it occurred to me that it might be helpful to put a bit of definition around the “enabling me to do” phrase. I’ve written in the past about finding contentment in nine different life areas and thought that to be a reasonable starting point, as follows:

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7 Ways to Increase Your Value Per Word

E.F. Hutton was a financial brokerage firm founded in 1904 by brothers Edward Francis and Frankly Laws Hutton. In the 1970s, E.F. Hutton created an advertising campaign with the slogan, “When E.F. Hutton talks, people listen.” The slogan implied that E.F. Hutton didn’t mince words, and that any advice given was valuable.

For me, it ranks right up there with “Two all-beef patties…” and “Plop plop, fizz fizz…” Now that I’ve planted a couple of commercial jingles in your head that you may be singing the rest of the day, let’s get into how this is relevant to being a great project manager.

In my early days as a consultant, I mistakenly believed that my job was to tell, that the client was expecting me to talk on any topic and espouse my wisdom. As a result, I tended to use a lot of words to communicate what I thought needed to be communicated.

As I grew, I noticed those who were particularly impactful at getting their point across. They didn’t simply fill the air with words; it was quite the opposite. They sat back and listened while others did the talking, then, when ready to speak, came into the conversation with a profound question or statement that caused others to think. What they said was concise, relevant and thought-provoking.

I also noticed something else--whenever that person spoke, others generally stopped talking to yield the floor. People like that make their words count. They have what I call a high value per word.

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How to Recognize and Deal with Change Saturation

Mr. Creosote.

Some of you may know the name. He was a character in Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life. Portrayed by Terry Jones, Mr. Creosote ate and drank massive quantities in a French restaurant. At the end of the meal, the server (played by John Cleese) offered Mr. Creosote a wafer-thin mint. After some objection, Mr. Creosote agreed to eat the mint, which caused an unfortunate reaction.

Those of you who know the skit (or just searched for it) know my description cleaned things up quite a bit. While most could have easily eaten the small mint without any adverse consequence, for Mr. Creosote it was just too much to handle. He had hit a saturation point.

This analogy applies directly to how much newness an organization can absorb before things start breaking. It’s the organization’s saturation point.

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Secure the Win: 6 Must-Ask Change Request Questions

Recently, my wife and I were watching a college football game between two highly ranked teams. Deep into the third quarter, only a few points separated the two teams. The quarterback took the snap, scrambled while looking for someone to pass to, and let the ball fly. The ball was intercepted by a linebacker and, with three teammates as an escort to block opposing players, made his way to the end zone.

The linebacker, thinking he was in the end zone, dropped the ball to celebrate with his teammates. Upon replay, the linebacker dropped the ball at the 1-yard line—and a quick-thinking opposing team player pounced on the ball while the linebacker and his teammates reveled in what they thought was a touchdown.

Then the referee signaled “fumble with recovery by the defense” at the 1-yard line. The look on the linebacker’s face was one of “Oh, $*&$!” after he learned his all-but-guaranteed touchdown would now go down as a fumble with a recovery by the opposing team. Even worse was the fact that two of the linebacker’s teammates ran by the ball bouncing at the 1-yard line, more focused on the celebration than the ball. Fortunately for the linebacker, his team still went on to win the game.

Afterward, the head coach was being interviewed. He stressed the importance of doing the little things right—including not dropping the ball before hitting the end zone. I can only imagine the conversations that the linebacker had with his coaches after the game.

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9 Reasons to Stop Telling People How Busy You Are

Years back, I hired a person I’ll call Del who came highly regarded with a strong resume. Del went through an interview loop that included one of my peer directors. I got my peer’s feedback—along with a “no hire” recommendation. After talking with my peer, I decided to hire Del anyway.

Del made an almost immediate positive impact with the client organization he serviced. Shortly thereafter, though, I started hearing rumblings from Del’s peers within my organization about how he constantly said how busy he was and that he should not have to do some of the things his peers were expected to do. Worse still, Del claimed that he should have special treatment because he was more experienced than his peers.

Needless to say, this did not sit well at all with the rest of my organization. Del was very competent in his skills, but the negative impact he had on the rest of the team far outweighed the benefit he provided. I thought back to the discussion with my peer and her no-hire recommendation. She warned me that Del might be disruptive to my organization, which was the basis for her recommendation. The bottom line was that I should have listened to my peer and not hired Del. It wasn’t worth the upheaval in my org.

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12 Guidelines to Build a Sustainable Sponsor/PM Partnership

“He wants us to do what?”

Jana, the project manager, just finished her one-on-one with Dean, the executive project sponsor on her project. Jana is debriefing Anil, the engineering lead, on their conversation.

“Here’s the list of change requests he wants.” Jana handed the list to Anil.

“Does he realize we’re almost done with development?” Anil asked.

“I tried to explain that to him; he wasn’t having any of it.”

Anil rubbed his forehead. “This is going to set us back at least a month. Does he know that?”

“I told him. He gave me the ‘Give it the college try’ line. No schedule relief, no additional money.”

“I’m already pushing the team to their max,” Anil said. “We can’t take this on and keep things on schedule. On another topic, do you have a decision on the blocking issue yet?”

“I brought it up again with him; he told me he’d have a decision on Friday. I’m frustrated because I’ve heard that same line for the last three weeks.”

“I’ll see what we can do, but no guarantees,” Anil said as he went to talk with his engineering team.

“Dean is killing me,” Jana said to herself as she sat at her desk.

Read more at ProjectManagement.com.