Project Management Made Easy

It seems everyone I know these days is a project manager of some stripe. May be they have their PMP (Project Management Professional certification) and maybe they don't. Sometimes they use excel to keep track of things and other times it's a FileMaker or Access database. The pros run straight to Microsoft Project and get their Gantt chart on.

It all comes down to simple moves really:

1. Have a plan.
2. Confirm the details & document.
3. Build a realistic time line of activities.
4. Kick off your project with all stakeholders involved.
   

Then:

1. Hold people accountable for their part(s).
2. Report on status regularly.
3. Make sure what is being done are the right things. Do that by asking a lot of questions.
4. Ask more questions. Make sure you understand all of the "whys".
   
5. Use problem solving & facilitation skills to ensure progress.
6. Celebrate when finished.
7. Thank everyone involved personally & specifically.

That's it. Sure, we could discuss scope expansion and other things that might blow up the project, but really it's all handled the same way - communicate. Get the details, assess the impact, get approval (or not) and add the new information into your plan (or not).

And for me, when all else fails, I remind myself of the right moves by going to the men and women with the "Right Stuff," NASA because let's face it, I don't need to reinvent the wheel - I got projects to do!

News & Information

Whenever I find an interesting piece of information, like a PDF that I'll want to refer to later, or a news article I think a colleague will find useful I stick it into a draft email called, "News & Information." There is no frequency of delivery, or mandate on subject matter, it's just things I believe will be useful and I'll want to retain and share. Once the email fills up, I shoot it off to folks who have expressed interest. And yes, they always can opt out!

I find this is a great way to share information among colleagues and is also an easy way to file away those tid-bits I have curated into my sent email!

How do you share information? Would you find something like this annoying? Drop a line and let me know!

2 Bucks to Change Your Life

Want to change you life forever? Do you want to get rid of negativity or drop an annoying habit?

It's easy. Go to your local bank, and get $100 in $2 bills. I like these bills because not only are they well, money, but they are so rarely used that they are unique and leave an impression. Now go ahead and tell your co-workers and family that every time you are negative you 'll give them two bucks.

Your problem will be solved quickly, trust me.

Of course, people may bait you to trick you into being negative, but that's part of the lesson.

Let's hope for your sake it's not a long one!

Trust Your Gut

Today an opportunity came my way. The downside is that it went too. The story goes like this, I was taking lunch at my favorite independent bookseller - they have a really great Cajun cafe I wanted to try, so I sat solo and ordered some grub.

I was seated at a narrow two-top, filled with all sorts of condiments which, being a bookstore, was a bit cluttered and left me without the ability to have my usual "lunch read." Behind me sat a few men discussing their business, the troubles they were having, and what they could possibly do about it. The startling bit was that it was EXACTLY my domain of expertise and EXACTLY the type of environment I have historically produced big results in. I wondered how I could break into the conversation and offer my services - I do consulting projects after all and often I'm willing to share information just to help. But, "How do I do this and not seem like a creepy interloper?" I thought. I checked my pockets and, sure enough, I had business cards on me. I should just say something I thought. I decided I would after I finished my lunch. Then I decided I would after they finished lunch. And again when we were in line together to pay the bill.

In the end, I couldn't get over appearing nosy that I didn't say anything. Even though I knew I could help. As I drove back to work I called a confidante and gave him an explanation. "You blew it," was all he said. The thing is, I knew I did. The tightness in my chest told me. The nausea in my gut was telling me. I had missed an opportunity.

The lesson here is to put myself into time out until I realize nothing awful could have happened. Who cares if they thought I was a creep, the upshot would have been that at least I tried. When I weigh the upside versus the downside, the former far outweighs the latter. I missed an opportunity and that pains me.

I'm grateful that this has happened. For all of the speaking that I do, the mentoring, consulting, and presenting; for all of the talking to random strangers I am regularly a party to, apparently I have trouble when "selling" is on the line.

Now that I know this happens, I'll make sure it never happens again.

Am I alone? Have you ever missed an opportunity? What have you done about it?

Magic Tricks and Cooking

Since I was a child, I have always enjoyed magic tricks. The mystery, showmanship and, sometimes, the danger intrigues me. Even when tricks went wrong, the performers had a sense of humor and kept the show going. The same can be said of great chefs. They put on a show, bring delight and wonder and, once the order has been placed, failure is not an option.

My First Magic Trick
The first time I attempted magic I was 8 years old and attempting to change a penny into a dime using sleight of hand. The trick required that I palm the coins in just the right way all the while distracting my audience with my, “patter” (fancy-stage term for talking) and making all of my sneaky gestures seem normal. Fast forward a few decades and guess what, I’m still doing tricks. The difference now is that I can levitate, make coins disappear into unopened soda cans, pick cards out of thin air, and a number of other things that confuse and delight. And along the way I figured out how this can help me at work.

Not Only On Bring Your Kid To Work Day
One of the great things about performing tricks is sometimes they go wrong. It forces you to adjust on the fly, move forward as if things were normal, or otherwise break the tension to get back to the show. Very valuable skills if ever you are called upon to present. Kids are a great audience for one’s ego, because of their appreciation when things go right. But when things go wrong, they can be downright brutal! And that makes for an indelible learning experience! Another great thing is magic puts you in front of lots of strangers. Trust me, when folks see you doing a trick it’s pretty likely they’ll ask to see it too. These performance lessons are great skills to have when meeting new people, networking, giving presentations, or talking to the big boss about your plans.

And If You Can’t Stand The Heat…
I’ll self-identify now as a super fan of the kitchen. Having working in kitchens of one sort or another since my single-digit years, I devour any material on the subject of cooking as an industry, an art and a science. Only in recent years though, did I begin to notice the parallels between how a kitchen is organized and how business can be organized. In many kitchens the French brigade system is used to establish hierarchy, discipline and order and to maximize efficiency in the kitchen environment. Since much of my work involves streamlining workflows, this is a helpful structure to emulate. Increasingly, chefs are called upon to address the varied needs of the dining public. It’s not unusual for a steakhouse chef to be asked to cook a vegetarian entrée, or to have a seafood chef provide an alternative to a cream base for a lactose intolerant client. Flexibility, creativity and the ability to improvise are core skills drawn upon to make these efforts appear effortless. It just so happens these are darn good qualities to take into work as well.

Maybe magic isn’t your thing. Could be that cooking is just not that interesting to you. If they are that's great, let's trade secrets! If not, I bet that something you do for fun has benefits in the workplace. So what are they? What do you do outside of work that makes your working day easier? Drop a line – I’d like to know.

A Weekend With Ted Nugent

This weekend I'll be working through my chores while listening to the audiobook, "Ted, White and Blue" by rock star and activist Ted Nugent. I was taken recently by a quote from Nugent, "Quality control is always much easier and immeasurably less painful than damage control." Interested, I decided to find out where the quote came from, and thus my attention to his book.

I can't say whether I am a fan of Ted's ideas or not. Without investigation, I just can't know. And that's the point. Without investigation and a, "trying on" of ideas, one will never get closer to having beliefs of our own, or developing the knowledge base to become passionate about those ideas.

Like a healthy diet, and to develop your passion and style, you need to consume ideas from a variety of sources no matter how disparate or unlikely. According to a 2007 study:

• One-third of high school graduates never read another book for the rest of their lives. …
• 58% of the US adult population never reads another book after high school.
• 42% of college graduates never read another book.
• 80% of US families did not buy or read a book last year.
• 70% of US adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years.
• 57% of new books are not read to completion.
• Most readers do not get past page 18 in a book they have purchased.Customers 55 and older account for more than one-third of all books bought.

One might point out that this excludes newspaper and magazine data but, for me, periodicals go through a distillation process that edits out data and varies in interpretation based on the leanings of the editorial staff. Books on the other hand, provide a singular voice and focus. It is that clarity of vision which allows the reader to form clear opinions of their own. When coupled with the habit of "grazing" for information, that is, gathering subject information from a variety of sources, a richer experience is created than if only a single source or bias is pursued.

As Homer Simpson once said, "I enjoy all the meats of the cultural stew, " and I encourage you to get information from a variety of sources, gather the tidbits that move you, and develop your own ideas. For now, I've got a date with the Motor City Madman, Ted Nugent. Cheers!

For an up to date view of the books I am reading, check out my profile on LinkedIn. If we're not linked yet, send me an invite mentioning this blog and I will accept your invitation.

Pick a side!

Leaders for better or for worse, elect a direction and move forward. Or that's the theory at least. Too often communications can become fraught with loop-holes, wiggle room and contextual back doors that weaken both the communication and the communicator. Worse, words that are so specific and leave no room to maneuver can cause problems as well. These weak words undermine success. Are these folks afraid that someone might hold them accountable for their words? That somehow they will be looked at differently for prognostications that don't go to plan? They should. That's part of leading. Making choices. Getting results. Learning and moving forward still. Declarations don't work and neither do fuzzy notions. And despite what you may have been told in grade school there is no, "permanent record." So dig in and get ready to make some decisions!

To build your credibility in your organization, start with these ideas.

#1 - No More Absolute Statements
Absolute statements are ones which are all encompassing. They are black and white or polar opposites. Words such as "always", "never", "everything" and "nothing" are key indications of absolute statements. Using language like this ensure one thing only - you have a 50% chance of being wrong. Which is to say you have a 50% chance of looking stupid. Or a 50% chance of loosing credibility. You choose. Unless you are 100% sure, stay away use absolute statements.

#2 - No More Non-Committal Responses
Worse than over committing to an answer is making no commitment at all. Using terms like, "maybe", "probably" or "I'll try" really say only one thing; you are unable to make decisions. People in charge make sure everyone knows how the feel about matters by making declarative statements. There is no ambiguity. For example, while I like the quote from Master Yoda, "There is No try, Only Do" I think it is used far too often by motivational types. But it fits here. I have declared my feelings, used the phrase, and moved forward. And wasn't that pretty clear?

If you have other tips to share, I'd love to hear them!

REDUX: A Review of BusinessWeek’s Best Companies For Leadership

Full disclosure - for a number of years I was engaged in a consulting relationship with BusinessWeek in their creative organization.

As I was writing my notes for this article, one song resonated in my head, James Brown’s, “Talkin’ Loud & Sayin’ Nothing.” While long in length, I found the article was short on substance. That said, here's my main points of contention with this article.

What’s In A Sample Size?
Respondents to this survey numbered 1,869 individuals from 1,109 organizations. With 740 organizations in the final ranking, the size of the data set is small and included some results being combined when respondents represented the same company. No mention was made of how many companies were “invited” to participate or what the criteria for participation consisted of.

All Big, No Small
Every company listed is a juggernaut in its’ category. Is one to assume that true leadership exists only in the very largest of global companies? Or, is it as the article suggests, that leadership can only be found where significant investment of time and money are made? For my money, one of the best guides to customer service and leadership is found at a small deli in Ann Arbor that made it very big by making the connection that great leadership is about great service.

Enter James Brown...
The article then asserts the need for Leadership is ever-present, in bad times and good times stating, “While the data suggest there is no one best way to grow leaders, the companies that do it best share certain key characteristics. The top 20 companies address leadership development on multiple fronts, from articulating how leadership behavior needs to change to meet the challenges of the future to managing their pools of successors for mission-critical roles. And, despite the chaotic, crisis-strewn atmosphere of the past year, they've continued to make leadership a top priority.”

Well, duh....

I Think We Can All Agree, Leadership Is A Good Thing
After finishing the article, I went back and read it again to make sure I didn’t miss anything. I didn’t. Though it whet my appetite and, “While the data suggest there is no one best way to grow leaders, the companies that do it best share certain key characteristics.” The article never goes on to unveil those characteristics or how to cultivate them. On this point, I have to say the article was a failure for me. I was expecting tips on how to find, cultivate and sustain leadership. Instead what BusinessWeek has proffered is a narrowly focused survey, insights culled from that dubious source, and sprinkled it with soundbites that hearken those awful motivational posters.

So, how do you develop leaders and leadership? Stick around to find out or better still, drop me a comment with your tips!

BusinessWeek Posts Special Report On Best Companies For Leadership

BusinessWeek recently published it's, "Best Companies For Leadership: The Top 20" check it out here.

At first glance it's about what one would expect, tales from the trenches of global companies efforts to develop and maintain leaders. But what about the rest of us?

I'll be back in the next post with the redux. In the meantime, let me know what you think.

Cheers,
John

You Want Fries With That? Lessons In Service.

Lately I have been thinking a lot about service. Since the economic downturn folks have been laid off, and the remaining staff left to deal not only with the stress of an increased workload, but with the demands of maintaining service as well. In places large and small, service - if it was in place to begin with - has been dropping at an alarming pace. Bad attitudes and poor follow-through are becoming the new normal. Bad service isn’t good for business, your health or for anyone’s sanity. Now, more than ever, great service is needed to turn things around. Great service increases business that can keep or create jobs. It can reduce stress, since being of service feels good. And best of all, it costs nothing to implement. Notice though, I said “great service” as opposed to anything less, because anything less is mediocre and unacceptable.

Why bother?
The first thing one inevitably hears is, “why bother” usually in close proximity to raised eyebrows and a sinking feeling that someone thinks that you might be a tree-hugging hippy. Thankfully I have had the good fortune to ignore the eyebrows, though I have to admit I once did have to hug a tree when teaching a survival class. You should ignore the naysayers too. And here’s why you should bother. Great service makes the experience special. It makes things easier. It attracts better people to work for you. A great service experience makes you better too. Believe it.

Great Service Is So Hard To Find
What makes creating a great service experience so hard? Easy. We don’t know any better since our expectations for service are generally pretty low. In many ways great service is looked down upon. It takes extra effort. It takes novel thinking or coloring outside the lines. Great service is a lot of work, requiring you to stand up, be noticed, talk the talk and be accountable for the outcome. It requires you to set aside personal feelings and make it about the service itself. And there are few rewards.

Provide Great Service
Great service is an opportunity to make a difference. I’m not going to toss around sunshine and say that it’s easy. It’s not. Sometimes, it just plain sucks. But there’s the moment when it all clicks. When you recognize that just because someone is screaming at you and acting completely unprofessional, that you don’t have to respond in kind. That the pain they are trying to inflict on you is pain they are trying to rid themselves of. That they need help and only you can give it. So deliver. At least that’s the way it first happened for me. I hope your first forays are better!

A Not-So-Secret Formula
Fast forward to today. I work to go above and beyond what is expected right from start. Arrive ahead of schedule. Do more than is expected. Leave a little something extra behind. Listen more than talk. Act pleasant, be respectful and mind the details. It sounds simple, but I challenge you to adopt these habits and consistently apply them.

Let me know how it goes!

Storytime with KISS and GIGO

My first experience with design requirements came in the third grade when a classmate brought her Dad into work to speak to the class. He was an engineer who worked at the nearby IBM campus and he delighted us with news about the future – in this case computers – that were just beginning their march into the desktop revolution. He tossed out a lot of phrases, and told us the many ways IBM would change lives with computers. All of this thrilled me in a Star Wars kind of way, but what I loved best was the lingo, the buzzwords and compressed phrases. And the ones that stuck with me all these years later? KISS and GIGO.


KISS – Keep It Simple Stupid
Hearing from an adult that you could call someone else stupid at work, was of great delight to my young self. I’m pretty sure this is why I paid attention, though in later years I learned through experience that this is never a good idea. Everyone can contribute and it’s up to the leader to determine how to align folks to their greatest effect. But the core idea here is solid. Solutions, to be most effective, must be simple and elegant. The more complex a solution, the more likely one aspect will fail. Later in life, I began to apply this idea to all manner of problems from people to programming, with much success. When things get difficult take a step back and assess the current state. Simplification is likely in order. Make progress by simplifying.

GIGO – Garbage In, Garbage Out
In my boyhood mind, there were few things better than talking about garbage. Oscar the Grouch may have gotten to sing about it, but I got to talk about it without getting in trouble. Hooked again. Though his premise was a bit different, our friendly neighborhood IBM engineer explained that computers will only work based on the quality of instruction that the programs were given. Computers were not omnipotent, and could neither reason nor infer in order to derive a response. In order to execute properly, information had to be complete. So too, goes work life. How many times have you found information incomplete in forms, on databases, or on schedules where having that information is vital to the efficient execution of work? How many times has the job been sent back until complete data is provided? Probably not too many! At a minimum, there is a delay while the information is gathered. Though, in cases where work continues without the information, sub-standard or wrong outcomes are created. The lesson here is a simple one, if the desire is for an “uneventful” workflow, then all requested data must be provided. Not knowing, having a compressed schedule, or not enough time to complete the request are just not good enough excuses for wasting others time and producing flawed work.

From then to now
Shortly after that day in class, I began to learn programming, albeit simple BASIC coding. I learned to make requests of the machine and have it return expected results. I learned how to take my very long strings of code and shorten them to concise sets of instruction using improved, elegant, instructions which provided faster responses and was far easier to spot any coding errors. Later, I applied this technique to improve my writing and presentations from long form, to concise idea sharing which continues today.

Later I worked with a number of creative groups and learned about Design Briefs from DMI’s Peter Phillips. His excellent book, “Creating the Perfect Design Brief” should be mandatory reading for anyone working in a creative environment, as it cogently details the process of developing a deign brief that captures all of the necessary criteria for design projects. Find out more at: http://tinyurl.com/yj6gr8y

Elegance, I have learned, only comes with awareness and education. The more I learn about my varied interests, the more I seem to be able to apply bits and pieces to other interests which have very little similarity. In, “In Pursuit of Elegance,” Matthew E. May tackles the challenge of defining elegance and provides approaches to capturing and sustaining it. See http://inpursuitofelegance.com for more.


I hope you enjoyed the tale of KISS and GIGO and would love to hear about your thoughts or experiences. Cheers!

Lose your "But" in the New Year

Happy New Year! I'm back from my mini-sabbatical with plenty of new thoughts, articles and ideas to help you build your leadership skills.

So let's get started - have you ever noticed that the word "but" tends to negate just about anything that comes before it?

"We should attend CES but the Johnson report needs to be completed."

A sentence like this can only cause bad feelings. When writing or speaking, "but" serves to put ideas in opposition, that is to say, conflict, with one another. Great leaders build consensus and incorporate ideas from a host of sources. for the best possible outcome. The only way to do so is to get everyone rowing in the same direction. This can't be done by placing them at odds, however it can be done by incorporating the ideas in a constructive manner.

Instead of "bu-ting" in, try this; use "and" to link your ideas. Now, instead of the ideas being at odds, they work in concert with one another. Let's take another run at our example.

"We should attend CES and the Johnson can be completed during the trip, incorporating new information from the show."

Give it a try, and good luck losing your "but" in the New Year - let me know how it goes!