MSU, Learning, and Skill Development

I just completed a very fun PMP exam prep course (Project Management Professional certification for those outside of the project management realm) here in the Chicago suburbs. Aside from the PM discussions, we had some great discussions concerning education and training.

One of the acronyms I learned was MSU. While I can’t give you every word it represents, the M stands for Make and the U stands for Up. I hope you can figure out the middle word. The other one I learned was GTS. The S represents the same word as it does in MSU. The G stands for Google and the T stand for The. As I heard these (enjoyed with appropriate humor), I couldn’t help but think of the many students who tell me they don’t need skills, they can just Google whatever information they need to solve whatever problem they face.

My mind went and combined all these discussion (as it usually does) to an interesting, but not surprising conclusion.

When I first entered this business (seminar training and consulting), basic PM courses were 4-days long. In that time, we had the opportunity to challenge students to evaluate situations and attempt to apply the material they just learned. Now, it seems that they can’t “afford” to be out of the office that long, so we’ve whittled courses down to 3 and even 2 days. Because of this change, we only have time to shovel information down their throats but we don’t have the time to challenge them to apply the material in the classroom Rather, we hope they can apply it at work under even more challenging situations with people who didn’t attend the class. While I’m delighted at the e-mails I receive from students indicating they’re applying some of the tools, I can’t help but think we could improve things with a bit more critical thinking.

For example, ask yourself what the best tool is for negotiating with senior management to get resource in a project? What’s the best tool for gaining acceptance of a deliverable with a client or customer? What’s the best way to build a strong project team in a matrix environment? How can I make sure functional managers give me the resources I need for my project? We throw a ton of tools at you but don’t allow you to work these out in your head so you can pick the best one on the fly in the middle of a difficult project. The result, I frequently get students (usually from other classes) that tell me they create Gantt charts and issues logs but their projects are still challenging and frequently late.

It’s glibness! I’m continually amazed at the people with PMPs that can’t manage projects. Having a large tool chest is absolutely a benefit, but knowing how and when to apply the right tool is what makes projects work. For example, I (almost) never negotiate for resources with a Gantt chart if I have a large issue log, I would know my communication strategy was at fault.

Project management is a vast topic covering a substantial range of topics. Knowing how all the pieces interact, knowing which tool to use when, and knowing how to apply the tool is the key to project (or any other management discipline’s) success.

Go ahead and GTS and MSU when you must, but don’t just leave it at that. Keep a log of what works and what doesn’t. Watch how decisions affect peripheral issues, not just the immediate issue. Keep your own lessons learned and eliminate the glibness.

Honesty

If you think honesty, integrity and fairness are really nice but there’s little place for them in business, then we’re not the company for you. Let’s start with honesty. What’s honesty? Honesty is telling the truth. It’s not padding estimates. It’s not hiding real problems. Certainly, no one should broadcast every problem they have to everyone; but deliberately hiding problems, padding estimates, forcing a bad decision onto a subordinate or simply disguising issues and concerns to make yourself look good doesn’t do anyone any good.

As a manager, I need to make decisions. What do I use to make those decision? Information! So we set up a culture where people have to pad estimates to protect the constant multi-tasking, we hide problems to make yourself look good in front of bosses who control our salaries and we cover it up with 70-hour weeks, constant fire-fighting and a feeling like we didn’t accomplish anything.

Not in my company. Here, we tell the truth. I need to make decisions and if the only information I have is lies, then I can’t make the right decisions. If you screwed up an estimate, tell me; we fix it. If the technology you selected didn’t work; tell me, we’ll fix it. And DON’T PAD ESTIMATES. That means you’ll be late sometimes. That’s okay, it also means you’ll be early sometimes. The aggregation of all those late and early finishes balance out and we get stuff one faster!

I don’t embrace honesty because it’s nice. I embrace it for pure greed! It makes me richer!

Lean Project Management?

A colleague of mine recently told me she was approached to help with lean project management. Seriously? I’m challenged to think of anything more redundant.

The whole lean movement is based on reducing or eliminating non-value-added steps and reducing the costs of the value-added steps. But isn’t that what project managers do every day? Recall the role of the work breakdown structure (WBS): to identify ALL the work required and ONLY the work required to make the project successful. Don’t we constantly balance resources, sequence activities and handle risks to bring the project in as fast and inexpensively as possible?

Hmmmm, maybe I should sell “Lean Project Management”. I don’t have to change a thing except my marketing strategy.  We’ll promote that we eliminate any activity that doesn’t help the project. We’ll promote that we find the best resources to do the activities as inexpensively as possible. Yes, I can do this!

Cheers, all

The Mind of the Project Manager, Part II

In my seminars, I frequently ask people what aspects of the project the project manager owns. The concept of ownership is one of the critical tools I use to run a successful project. Remember: we are not necessarily subject matter experts (SME’s) in the discipline of the project, we are SME’s in project management.

So, I’m curious what aspects of the project you think project managers own. If you don’t mind, let’s do a short poll. I’ve randomized the answers to avoid any prejudice.

I’ll post my choices in a few weeks.

The Mind of the Project Manager – Part 1

One of the difficulties with learning project management is understanding the project manager’s mindset. Many people think project managers should be savvy in the field involving the project. Others disagree. Some even believe the PM should be a subject matter expert (SME).

The truth is, we are SME’s, but not necessarily in the field involving the project. We are SM’s in getting things done! We understand how to write goals. We understand how to develop a plan to achieve those goals. We are skilled in developing work plans. We know how to develop accurate estimates for work, create deliverables and manage stakeholders. We know how to build strong, reliable teams. Those are our skills sets.

Does a PM need to be a skilled IT professional or marketer? The pure answer is no, as long as the team has sufficient expertise and loyalty. Personally, I prefer not having any expertise. It forces me to rely on my team… which is the right way to do it. It forces me to rely on project management skills and that’s what gets things done.

No Excuses (well, maybe one).

So, a student of one of my seminars appropriately scolded me recently that I hadn’t written in my blog. As I tried to explain the series of events leading to this hiatus, he (again appropriately) chastised me about excuses.

He was right. So, I promised I’d get back to it that weekend. Of course, on Sunday morning as I laid in bed thinking about what to write, I noticed I had a message on my phone I’d missed the night before from one of my schedulers. Another instructor had injured himself and they were desperate for a seminar leader for a class on Monday. Less than 12 hours later, I landed in Baltimore.

Okay, that one was legitimate, but the previous hiatus was not. Not communicating is not an option. And while I will be the first to tell you that silence can be a very effective form of communication, it is not in this case.

I apologize. I pride myself on my communication abilities and I have not followed up. So, it’s back to work!

Leadership W/O Management

Again, this country has too many leaders and not enough managers. Leadership without understanding cause-and-effect is, at best, dangerous. Managers understand cause-and-effect. Good managers understand it well.

Whether you’re for the “Affordable Care Act” (ACA) or against it, the results are clear. Incompetent management put the web site together.

Now, think back to when you were 22. You were invincible and spending hundreds on health care just didn’t seem to make sense to many. Others would still like the security so under normal circumstances, I’d expect a reasonable number of young, healthy people to sign up.

However, now let’s consider a badly-managed system. The web site was clearly mismanaged. What would I assume about the health care system? A web site is well-proven basic technology. They’ve been around for about 20 years and there are hundreds of companies that can successfully build a site even of this magnitude. The health care system is new and complex. Every experienced project manager can tell you how difficult this will be to manage.

Assume you’re 22 and healthy. Do you spend under $100/year for no health care or many times that amount spend in a badly-managed system? Now, what happens to the system if few healthy individuals sign up? Premiums increase and a greater number of healthier people opt out. Note that my maximum 1st year penalty will be less than 1/2 of my MONTHLY health care premium. There’s a lot of incentive to opt-out.

Had the web site rolled out smoothly, that would have developed more confidence in the system, encouraging more people to participate.   Cause-and-effect!

We need more managers!

Rutgers students impress recruiters

BAs many of you know,  I’m working with Rutgers University to deliver training programs to companies.  I Just attended the Rutgers University Meet and Greet, there students meet corporate recruiters for both full-time jobs as well as internships.
Results were excellent.  We had over 500 students and 60+ companies.
The best news was how impressed the recruiters were regarding the students.  Comments indicated that the students were prepared,  professional and confident. They asked excellent questions and responded well to challenges.
I personally met many students and was likewise impressed.
Good job, Rutgers!