Author Archive

Right. You don’t hear that very often. In fact, you probably don’t even think it! In fact, the reverse is usually what we hear – in stories, from our friends, from our colleagues and pretty much every where from customers.

“Please don’t take my money”

“It was not worth it”

“It’s too expensive”

… and many variants of the above.

But, this post is about great customer service. No, wait! It’s about excellent customer service.

I was recently in Peru with my better half and it was the first time I had set foot in the continent of South America – different people, different language, different food – everything was different and yes, being that it was a self planned trip, the “different” was expected. We had planned to be in Lima for a couple of days and like typical tourists, were looking to do the touristy things – experience the food, the people, visit the historical landmarks ‘et al. Yet, at the same time, we wanted to do something that would give us a taste of Peru; something the locals would do. And that happened on our 2nd day when we met a local couple – Sam & Lucas. OK, it was no accident that we met them; they run a culinary tour company, called Capital Culinaria Lima Gourmet Tours and I found them from their almost perfect TripAdvisor reviews.

It’s true that there are many lessons in business one can learn from others, only if we observe them. And observe I did  and here is what I learnt about great customer service:

• Make a promise… and then keep It. They promised on the experience (which, I believe is what the adventurous traveler seeks the most) and then delivered on it… multiple times over in the tour.
• Listen. And get to know your customer. Their tours are designed to listen to the customer. For instance, they do not take more than 6 people at one time so that they can create the space to listen to the customer.
• Give Personal Attention. Lots of it. Well, there is no dearth of that given that they run quite a few tours themselves and I am sure the ones they are not able to, are no less personal!
• Run Smooth Operations. Given that it’s a 5-6 hour culinary tour, it can be a bit of a tricky proposition to time 3-6 touristy stomachs for that time! Also, since they visit quite a few establishments in the tour – the timing needs to be exquisite with the local providers, too.
• Be Nimble. They are immensely flexible. Even though they hit an issue in the morning and had to quickly readjust plans – Lucas was right on time to pick us up.
• Win the Customer. Yes, with the great stories (they have a fantastic entrepreneurial story on how they started off), the mouth watering cuisine, and (ahem) the fabulous Pisco – it is a sure shot recipe to win the customer.

To be brutally honest, they had won me over as a customer half way through the tour. The rest of the time, they were just winning a friend! Now, how do you put a price on something like that…

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Tagged as: active garage, adventure, business, Capital Culinaria Lima Gourmet Tours, commitment, customer, Customer Service, Entrepreneurship, Gastronomical tours, himanshu jhamb, Lima Culinary Tours, Lima Tours, Peru tours, promise, travel

We, at Active Garage had run this promotion for the free eBook earlier in the year and we are running this again, now. If you find yourself wondering that if the eBook has been available for free download since then, why are we saying we are “running the promotion again”? Valid point.

Here’s why.

The author of the eBook, Mark McGuinness, is opening doors to folks interested in Creative Success, once again, for his amazingly valuable course “The Creative Entrepreneur Roadmap”, for a limited period and seats are limited.

Before you go ahead with making a decision of if this course if for you or not, I would suggest reviewing the blog I had written in January about what being Creative means and who this book (and subsequently, the course) is for (yes, it is not for everyone… ).

There are some great success stories form real folks who have taken this course and produced magical results by directly applying what they have learnt from the course. For instance, there is:

• An interview with Amy Harrison (Mark is the interviewer) about how she transformed her business successfully.
• An interview with CJ Lyons who turned her book into a NY Times bestseller (ok, it was #2 on the NY Times bestseller list).

Since the course is now open for only a limited time, you could also directly go to the opt-in page to check it out and register.

To your Continued Success…

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Tagged as: active garage, Amy Harrison, CJ Lyons, Course, creativity, Freedom, independence, Leadership, management, Mark McGuinness, Money, The Creative Entrepreneurs Roadmap, time, training

Leadership is everywhere. It shows up in organizations, within families and in sports. The places where leadership is tested the post is when there are teams, high expectations and high risk situations. The victory of the Indian cricket team, in the recently concluded Cricket World Cup 2011, had all three ingredients and that’s what inspired me to write this post.

The grand finale was on Saturday, April 2, 2011, at the Wankhede Stadium, in Mumbai, India where India played a very strong Sri Lanka side.

The Team

For the uninitiated, Cricket is a game of 11 players on each side and then there is the captain who takes on-field decisions that make or break the game.

High Expectations

Playing in front of 35,000 Cricket crazy fans making deafening noise is never easy. Oh! And not to forget the other 1.2 billion Indians who were glued to the TV. And if that’s not enough, there are probably another few million non-Indians who were watching it all unravel, too.

High Risk Situation

At stake was the most coveted trophy that one can lay his hands on, once every 4 years. It’s akin to something like the Soccer World Cup – the Cricket World cup had 49 matches played over the past 1 ½ month or so. In the history of the cricket world cups, few captains have survived a poor showing by their team… and sometimes, more than half of the teams have been replaced as well.

The Situation

India were in a high-pressure run chase in front of a capacity home crowd & in a bit of a soup, with more than half runs to get with the game very much in balance. It was then that the Indian captain, MS Dhoni, took a bold decision to take the matters in his own hands by coming out to bat ahead of the regular player (an in-form Yuvraj Singh) and batted through the innings (almost 2 hours) and took his team to victory. So, what’s the big deal? Many players in many sports have done similar things… well! The big deal is not how he played but how he LED:

1. Lead from the Front. It takes a special kind of a person to take matters in his own hands, especially when he knows that he is not at his best. And a special kind of courage to walk in before someone on his team who is at his best. That shows Intent. That shows Confidence. That gives a message to the entire team (including the opposition!). Leaders do that – they lead from the front!
2. Belief in his abilities. Right from the moment he came out to bat, his body language was that of someone who is simply going to do it. He had an aura of positivity & self-belief around him. You could tell. Yes, things could have gone wrong for him at any instant but there was no space for self-doubt. That message was clear from the moment came into bat. Leaders do that – They believe in themselves and back themselves up, when their team needs it the most.
3. Captain “Cool”. We are all humans and it’s natural to feel pressure and let things get out of hands in the land of Panic. And we all know what happens, when we enter the land of Panic. Not with MS Dhoni. He has this unique ability to absorb pressure & seems to keep things simple. He maintained a straight face (I have no idea, how!) and kept at it, chipping away, until he took his team to victory. No wonder he is also known as “Captain Cool”. Which brings us to Leadership lesson #3 – Leaders know there is no place for Panic! You’ve got to keep your cool!
4. Astute thinker & strategist. Not for one moment during his team’s batting, he took off his thinking cap. He made sure there was a Left handed batsman and a Right handed batsman batting together at all times, Why? Because it is fundamental knowledge that the bowlers and the fielders of the opposition get a bit unsettled when a Left-Right combination is there, on the field. Yes, leaders are astute strategists. The play with their minds (and the opposition’s) as much as with their bodies, in sports!
5. Risk Taking. MS Dhoni admitted in the post-match conference that had the result gone the other way, he would be deeply criticized for some of his decisions – like he made an unpopular choice with the team selection and also coming to bat before the in-form batsman, Yuvraj Singh. He knew he would have been crucified by the media and then whatever would have been left of him, would have been handed to the general public. Yet, he took those gutsy decisions and went with it. Leaders know – Glory & Risk are simply two sides of the same coin.
6. Reading the Situation. In his post match conference, MS Dhoni also referred to the fact that he was very familiar with how to play the star bowler, Mutthiah Muralitharan, of the opposition because both of them have played from the same team in another tournament (The Indian Premier League). How awesome is that! Knowing that you can read the star performer of the other team you shield your team by playing him our – masterful, indeed!
7. Read the Opposition Tactics – The opposition team had selected 2 masterful off-spinners because there were quite a few left handers in the Indian batting line-up (It is a well known technical fact of the cricket game that left handers are a bit more susceptible to off-spinners than Right handed batsmen are). When Captain Cool decided to walk out, he knew that the remaining regular batsmen in his team were 2 Left handers  – and hence, negated the opposition tactics with this move. That’s leadership!
8. Know your Team’s strengths. Another reason (MS Dhoni shared in his post match conference) why he came out to bat when he did was because he knew that the other batsman at the crease (Gautam Gambhir) was a great runner and  both of them can run really fast and get more runs if they bat together. Great leaders play and strategize around their team’s strengths.
9. Giving, and not Taking CREDIT. Quote from his post match conference – “I’m lucky because I have got good players.” True leaders do that – The stand in the front and take bullets for their team but step aside when being showered with flowers!
10. PLAYING for the TEAM: This one takes the cake! In his post match conference (and I quote him)- “We wanted to win the trophy for each other first. The first thing you want to do is give them (team-mates and support staff) happiness; to see it in their eyes.” Remarkable leaders do it for others. It’s never about them, alone…

Yes, some call him Lucky (incidentally, the humble being he is, he refers to himself as that, too!), or the man with the Golden touch as he has been on an unprecedented winning streak since he came at the helm of the Indian cricket team, since 2007. I prefer “Captain Cool”, who takes you through the “Leadership School” whenever he takes on the field!

PS> As a bonus, here’s a “story” from the Cricket On Air radio show (co-hosted by Deepika Bajaj, Shrinand Javadekar & yours truly) on our World Champion, MS Dhoni… Enjoy the Cricketainment!

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Tagged as: active garage, cricket, cricket on air, Cricket World Cup 2011, Gautam Gambhir, Indian Cricket Team, left handed batsmen, MS Dhoni, muralitharan, muthiah muralidaran, off spinners, right handed batsmen, Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh

Enchantment, as defined by dictionary.com.

“to delight to a high degree”

We all have felt enchantment at some point of our lives. Be it the moment when we were the recipient of fantastic customer service, or perhaps the moment when we did something that changed someone’s life forever or it be as simple as an impromptu shoe-shine that the founder of a fortune 500 company gave, that won Guy Kawasaki as his customer for life, from his competition.

Yes, Enchantment is the new upcoming book by Guy Kawasaki. Guy does not need any introductions, in general, let alone in the entrepreneurial circles so I won’t get into that. If you’d like to read about him, he has an official bio published on his own website.

Enchantment is Guy’s 10^th book and according to him,

“Enchantment is about transforming situations and relationships to invent new possibilities; ones that you probably did not think were possible.”

After reading it cover to cover, I can testify that until I had read the book, I could only understand the dictionary definition of enchantment (To delight to a high degree), but after having read & reflected upon it, I “Get” Guy’s definition as well.

Here are 5 things that Enchanted me in the book:

• Something for everyone.  Being an entrepreneur, writer and an editor, I could see where I could infuse some enchantment for my customers by simply following some of the insightful recommendations by Guy. If I put my project management hat, I could see how I could enchant my customers on the projects I manage… and that’s not all. I could also see how I could enchant my primary customer – my spouse! Remember, it’s all about “delighting to a high degree” and no one can do with or have enough of it!
• How To’s. The book is full of practical advice that can be applied “painlessly”.  Each chapter is titled with “How to… (do something)”. That, to me, is a direct call-to-action; action being the space where all possibilities are eventually manifested!
• Personalization. The book ends each chapter with a personal (true) story of a real person on how he/she has achieved or experienced enchantment. That helps the reader establish a strong connection with the content (I was personally touched, moved and inspired by a personal story at the end of Chapter 1).
• Edgy & Engaging. The book was edgy at times… with a somewhat “WYSIWYG” (sorry, couldn’t hold back the techie in me!) attitude… and was Engaging, pretty much all the time!
• Fun & inspiration. It was clear to me that Guy had a lot of fun while writing the book. The fun rubbed off of me as the reader as he relates certain incidents (again, real incidents) with a pinch of humor and a generous dose of inspiration!

I could go on, but I’ll defer for now, as an actual review of the book will be coming out on Active Garage, on March 08, 2011 – the official release date of Enchantment.

Needless to say, if you are ready for Enchantment or simply cannot wait another week to know who the founder was who Enchanted Guy with an impromptu shoe-shine and won him (as his customer for life) from his competition, go right ahead and pre-order your copy right away!

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Tagged as: active garage, Alltop, Art of the Start, Customer Service, Enchantment, Entrepreneurship, guy kawasaki, Innovation, inspiration, Leadership, Potential

Before I talk you into shelling out $1,000 for this e-book (just kidding – it is Free to download!), a little bit on what this book is about:

• Creative Success and
• More Freedom, Money and Time for you.

Being Creative

Are you a creative person? Well, before you answer that question, it stands to reason we first define what being a “creative person” means. In the author’s (Mark McGuinness) own words:

“By creative people, I mean people who take creative approach to work and life. People who work hard, but because they love what they do, it doesn’t feel like work.

They may be artists, writers, musicians, actors, filmmakers, coaches, scientists, cooks, entrepreneurs, healthcare professionals – or tackling complex, meaningful, inspiring challenges in other fields.“

If this sounds like you, read on.

Why do creative people need Freedom, Money and time?

Creative people need three things to be happy.

1. Freedom – to do what you want, when you want and how you want it. Not just in holidays and spare time – but also doing meaningful work, in your own way.
2. Money – to maintain your independence and fund your creative projects. Of course you want a nice place to live, but you’re not so worried about a bigger car than the guy next door. You’d rather spend money on experiences than status symbols.
3. Time – to spend as you please, exploring the world and allowing your mind to wander in search of new ideas.

Usually, you’re lucky if you get two out of the three. But if one of them is missing, it compromises the other two.

Without money, you don’t have much freedom, because you have to spend your time chasing cash.

Without time off, money doesn’t buy you a lot of freedom.

And if you’re doing something you hate for a living, it doesn’t matter how big your salary is, or how much holiday you get. You still feel trapped.

Surely there must be a more creative solution?

If this still sounds like you and you’d like a little more freedom, money and time in your life, read on.

What I got from this book?

In one word, Plenty! Here’s a list of the top 10 things I learned:

1. Am I creative?: Creativity is not just a fancy label that only artists with long hair and thoughtful expressions carry – even though you might think you are not creative (or not creative enough), after reading the book, you might change your mind.
2. It’s about Quality of Life: I want Freedom, Money and Time. Why? Simply to improve my quality of life.
3. Don’t Compromise: It is OK to be Unreasonable about having all three – Freedom, Money and Time. Just one or two out of the three will just not do!
4. Being skillful does not guarantee you money – Yes, you need to be skillful to make money, but, as Mark found out in his 2^nd business, it’s not guaranteed.
5. Your first love and the Market: In Mark’s own words – “Your market may be next door to your first love”. With poetry being his true love, he found “market-love” when he looked next door!
6. Sharing adds; not subtracts: In today’s “knowledge based” marketplace, the more you share, the more you increase your chances of success. Why? Because it depicts your knowledge and people trust knowledge sources.
7. Sales without Marketing is like surgery without an anesthetic:  Mark’s suggestion. Don’t try either. It’s way too painful.
8. Your biggest enemy. Is sometimes (ok, most of the times), Ready?… YOU! Let go of your prejudices that limit your capacity. These usually start with thoughts like “I don’t think I can do that” OR thoughts that contain sentences that have the words “never” or “always”, in them.
9. The wrong business model can crush you. Yeah, I know you knew this already. But, it’s these simple things that we neglect and overlook… until it’s too late. Mark shares his story about how this one got him!
10. Never Give Up! – Well, before you take this too literally and rush to make some 2011 resolutions (you’re 17 days late!), there are some things that you should give up (like smoking?) … and then there are some that you should Never give up. I am talking about the latter – like pursuing your dreams. Persistence does pay! Keep creating and innovating!

About the e-Book

A few quick points about the e-book:

• It’s FREE!
• It’s a light read – 34 pages in all.
• Describes Mark’s unconventional career journey, as a poet and creative coach, and the lessons he’s learned the hard way about finding the right combination of freedom, money and time.
• It’s full of practical advice you can apply to your own situation, if you want to earn a living from your creative talent, or if you’re a freelancer or small business owner and want to make your business less stressful and more profitable.
• Mark and his partners have also prepared an in-depth training program to accompany the e-book, and I’m pleased to be an affiliate partner for the launch. But the e-book itself is free to download, with no need to even give your email address.

Get your copy of Freedom, Money, Time and the Key to Creative Success by clicking here OR by going directly to the download page.

Also, please feel free to share the e-book with anyone who you think would find it helpful.

Tagged as: Business Strategy, Creative success, creativity, ebook, Entrepreneurship, free ebook, Freedom, Innovation, Lateral Action, Leadership, Mark McGuinness, marketing, Money, persistence, sales, skill, time

There have been many a books written about TRUST. It is, without doubt, one of the most important assessments that we, as humans, make, usually internally and act on the basis of that. In the project management world, there are a number of levels at which the PM needs to establish trust, before s/he can make anything happen. A few key ones that are encountered day to day:

• Trust with the Client
• Trust with your Management
• Trust with the Team

Now, trust is a funny thing. It has a way of following the age old adage – “What goes around, usually, comes around”. In other words, it is bidirectional. The tricky part about trust is that you cannot control when and how you’ll get it, no matter how hard you try. In fact, it is one of those unique things that you get, only by giving first!

Coming back to my three categories above:

TRUST with your CLIENT

Establishing trust with the CLIENT is to provide them with stellar service that sends a clear message that you CARE for them. It is not about appeasing them, but guiding them. Amateur Project Managers might shy away from guiding the client thinking “The client is always right”, Project leaders know that clients are humans, too, and that humans have this strange knack of “Not always being right”. In this knowing, Project Leaders are compassionate to their clients’ needs and also, their ignorance (Yes, clients can be ignorant – not a bad thing, if you are compassionate to their needs). Once the clients learn to observe and value this CARE, the ground is fertile for trust to bloom. Trust can be a beautiful thing. It lowers the cost of transacting with the client(s) manifolds. Project leaders who have experienced this know what I am talking about.

TRUST with your Management

Assuming that you work for someone, there is a set of folks who are as important to your career well-being as the client. Your Management team, that is, the people that you report to. Your Management team is your primary client – You could do a fabulous job for your company’s clients but not take care of the concerns of your own company; that’s when this distinction shows up in not so pleasant ways. You need to establish trust with your management so that you keep the cost of transacting with them low, as well. Here are a few ways of doing that:

• Reporting status to them before asked for.
• Making sure there are no to very little escalations in your project(s).
• Running your project on time and within budget.
• Being a hawk with scope on your projects.

These are all ways of taking care of the concerns of your management – and hence, the building blocks of trust with them. By now, I am sure you are getting the gist of this post: These actions are all about giving first… and in turn, you are rewarded with their TRUST.

TRUST with your Team

One of the most important and commonly overlooked aspects by project managers is establishing trust within your team. Again, it all starts with a declaration of CARE for your team. Project Leaders show this in a number of ways. My favorite is to make sure that when you make commitments to the client and put a plan together to deliver those commitments, you DO NOT plan on having your team work more than the regular workday. I have seen many a project plans where the team is slated to work 12-14 hours in a day for over 2 months at a stretch. Heck! I saw one in which the PM had the team working for 36 hours in a day! It is not surprising that morale is low in an overworked and underappreciated team. Another way is to be result-focused and not overly rules-focused. Unless you are working with a bunch of monkeys (highly unlikely – though, I have heard some folks call their teams that!), you need to take care of the human concerns of people. As long as you keep your head wrapped around results, and be flexible with everything else – you will be rewarded with TRUST. I have personally been bailed out of sticky situations by my team many a times, and have even had the team putting in extra hours to get stuff done on their personal time – WITHOUT being ASKED! It’s a wonderful thing when you see this on your projects… when things follow the path of least resistance and simply flow… bidirectional, like TRUST!

Have any stories that made your life really easy as a Project Manager, once you established TRUST? Do share!

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Tagged as: active garage, budget, flow, giving, giving first, himanshu jhamb, project leadership, Project Management, projects, scope, Trust, trust is bidirectional

Contrary to the first impression you might have got looking at the title, I am not going to spell out courageous actions and Stupid actions on projects.  That would be too common. My mission is to reflect on my Project Management journey and share valuable insights I have gained from my mistakes (admittedly, more so) & successes in my journey.

In this article, I am going to talk about how being stupid is actually the first step in being courageous.

There are times when you come to a point where you simply have to act out of courage. Any amount of planning, foresight, anticipation or execution skills simply just don’t cut it. You find yourself in a zone where you go on your gut, just because… well! There is no because. You just do it. That is not to say that you (as the picture suggests) start playing Russian roulette with your projects (well, that would be a bit stupid!). Though, if you think about it, you really cannot be courageous and have zero risk of looking stupid, at the same time.

Here are a few circumstances that might sound familiar in the context of this article:

• You ask what others might term as a “Dumb question”. Yes, it takes courage to ask dumb questions… you are always at risk of looking “Dumb” in front of someone who thinks you should have known the answer.
• You take a stand for your team in front of your boss… or your boss’s boss, which might mean you disagree with him/her. Yep, very thin line indeed. Cross it and your head might be handed to you on a platter OR you might end up saving your project by being courageous.
• It might appear stupid to bend the rules a little when it comes to being a little flexible with your team. Think ROI. What seems stupid at first glance, quickly becomes courageous once you think of the trust and loyalty you might end up earning from your team, in return. Sure, you might end up being admonished by the “Powers-to-be”… but sending a bold message that you’ll stand for your team & get their trust in return. You do the math!
• Asking a lot of questions can occasionally be seen as (and usually is) being stupid. And that is usually a good thing. That’s the first step in being courageous enough to get the answers you need to manage the project.
• Over-communicating is sometimes termed as being stupid by your own team members. I get that all the time, though, the very next thought that crosses my mind is “Aah! That means at least I have communicated!”  A Zen moment follows.
• Micro-managing. My personal favorite. Let’s face it – Sometimes, in order to get the project back on track, you have to get into the trenches and steer the way. That’s “Courageous” indeed. Though, you do have to cross the chasm of appearing like you are micro-managing before you can show the doubters and non-believers the other side.

The last one reminds me of the time when I was handed off this project in distress – midway through the project. The customer was feeling just one emotion at that time. Livid. Is that an emotion? Maybe not. But, I digress.Point is, I had an unhappy customer and the reason they cited was that “Nothing was getting done”.

After a bit of digging I realized that because my team member was at the client site (The business world lovingly terms this arrangement as “Staff-Augmentation” or more intimately “Staff-Aug”), he was a victim of poor project management – primarily emanating from the fact that he would be getting his weekly goals from pretty much everyone on the client team while he was eating lunch, walking down the halls or perhaps even in the restroom. No wonder “nothing was getting done”. Once I saddled in, I took care of it by making sure that all traffic to him was routed through me. My involvement obviously meant that my colleague had one more level of indirection added to his work that he had to deal with – ME! His reaction – “Himanshu, you are micro-managing”. We sorted the matter out immediately… fast forward one year – The customer went from “Nothing is getting done” to being a cheery one and investing >$1M over the course of the project.

So, yes, while you are running the project, there will be hurdles along the way that will have “STUPID” written in big bold red letters, on them. You need to have the courage to see them in the eye, acknowledge them and then take that leap of faith to scale them to complete the race you are in.

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Tagged as: active garage, anticipation, being courageous, being stupid, Change Management, himanshu jhamb, planning, project execution, project leadership, Project Management, russian roulette, staff aug, staff augmentation, stupidity

No prizes for guessing what this post is about! Yes, it’s about Planning … relentlessly. One of the most common mistakes that I have made in my past projects (and thankfully! learnt from them) is to mistake planning as a one-time activity. If that isn’t scary enough, here’s something else – I have seen many a projects actually not having a project plan. Now, I am not a subscriber of having a pretty Microsoft Project Plan for a 2 day engagement, but would you really want to build a bridge or a building that’s probably going to take more than a year & millions of dollars to build, without a plan? No, really, would you? That is not to say that it does not happen. I have seen projects whose estimated costs could easily be more than $1M, not having a project plan because of one or more of the following reasons:

1. We are not ready to put a plan together.
2. Why do I need a plan?
3. I have my tasks list in the excel spreadsheet and everything’s fine.
4. Sure. I’ve got the plan done – look at my task list.
5. Putting a plan together is a waste of time.
6. It’s fairly straightforward. We don’t need a plan.

Then, there is the mythical plan that contains just a list of tasks with no indication of who is doing the task (Resources – in Project Management speak) or for that matter how much work is involved (Effort – in Project Management speak) in getting the task done.

Why Plan at all?

Unless it’s a 2 day engagement where before you create a plan, the work is done – Create a plan. Here’s why:

1. Clearly set Expectations: More likely (than not), the customer and the stakeholders would be interested in knowing what, when and how things will be delivered. The plan is the source of this information.
2. Clearly measure Progress: What doesn’t get measured, doesn’t get improved – is very true. A plan is what you use to measure progress against and chart alternate paths to ensure/restore productivity.
3. Clear Recovery planning: Things usually seem to start off well. There’s plenty of excitement about the new project, lots of positivity and a lot of time to do what you got to do. Then you hit a snag and things start to fall apart… it’s hard to predict by how much and what it will take to recover, without a plan.
4. Clearly specify Effort: Everyone is working too hard. Things seem to be getting done. But wait! Even with all the work and effort, we don’t see any results. What’s going on? Well, sure you’re going at a 100 miles/hour, the problem is … in the wrong direction.
5. Clearly specify Roles & Responsibilities: “What do you mean I have not done it? No one told me I was going to do it. I thought s/he was going to do that.” There are no clear roles and responsibilities.
6. Clear Schedules: This one’s my favorite. “I will get it done ASAP”. What the heck does ASAP mean, anyway? The beauty about the “ASAP” conversation is this. You talk to the folks who’ve had this conversation AFTER the fact, and ask them “So, when will this get done?”. The answer is each person’s interpretation of ASAP… which is usually, never one date. A plan helps take out the ASAP out of your plan.

Remember the first post about Kickass Kickoffs? The central theme was CLARITY. A plan does that. It gives clarity – to setting expectations (Once things are clear, you don’t get asked the same questions again, and again, and again – huge time saver and one of the tricks for PMs to avoid working overtime), measuring progress, ensuring fast recoveries (when things go wrong – and they do, all the time), avoiding “I didn’t know I was going to do it” type of questions.

Why Plan Relentlessly?

Let’s move on to the RPG part.

Planning, like measuring progress, is a relentless activity, until work gets done. Why? Because of our friend, “Change”!  which is the biggest constant. Yep, Mr. Change keeps messing with the plan, every month, every week, sometimes every day.

The Project Manager rues this. The Project Leader anticipates this.

The Project Manager wastes time thinking of the “Why it happened”? The Project Leader accepts it “As-is” quickly and goes “What next”?

The Project Manager goes in his shell. The Project Leader gets on with his RPG!

The Project Manager runs to the sidelines. The Project Leader grounds himself in the Baselines.

Get the drift? Well, either you do OR the drift gets you!

Next one up in the series – Courage and Stupidity!

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Tagged as: 99tribes, active garage, himanshu jhamb, project leadership, Project Management, project planning, project risk, relentless planning

“I promise that I will produce a kickass kickoff for the client”.

Repeat this to yourself at least a hundred times before you go for the next project kickoff meeting.

I have been through many projects – some of them as a team member and some as a project manager (please picture me as ashamed and trying to hide behind my chair at this very moment) – where the kickoffs were either for namesake or worse, were non-existent. The projects just started automatically – no memo, that’s it. I just found myself in the midst of a project already underway. PS> These projects did not do well.

For a long time I tried to demystify why my projects got delayed, got derailed (had enough of the de’s?). I would lock myself in my office (it was a cubicle, really) and try to figure out what was going on – why I could not control my schedules and how come I found myself struggling with just organizing the project in manageable chunks of work.

This post is my humble attempt at sharing what I found I was doing wrong (or not doing) to find myself in this position time and again.

The problem, it turned out, was that I was trying very hard to be a good project manager. In doing so, I was missing out on the fact that what the project really needed was a leader to guide everyone through the project with CLARITY. This last word is perhaps the most important… It is the project leaders’ job to continuously be in the quest for CLARITY on the project. Clarity comes when everyone involved in doing a particular task as well as everyone impacted by the task are in agreement over a number of attributes. The project kickoff meeting is a golden opportunity to get this CLARITY and champion the project. A well organized, planned and delivered kickoff meeting gives huge returns whereas a poor one (or none) haunts the project right till the end of the project (and beyond).

Here are a few tips on how to have kickass kickoffs!

1. Say No to Remote kickoffs: There is yet to be a technology that replaces the handshake. Put yourself in front of the client – it is a future declaration that you are approachable and reachable and goes a long way in building a relationship with the client, and it will come handy when things are not going as planned on the project (and they won’t!).
2. Prepare relentlessly for the kickoff: Know your audience. Know the material and make sure it speaks to their concerns, not only to what you are offering. You might be ready to promise them the stars and the moon whilst they might just be looking for a way to look at the stars and the moon.
3. Declare (through a presentation or whatever suits your purpose) what you stand for in the project & how you will run the project: This is not for the weak of heart. You need to state what you stand for, what you expect from them as much as what you commit to. The presentation is not fluff for killing time & checking off a task in the kickoff meeting with pretty bulleted slides; it should set you up for delivering very important messages, in your meetings after the presentation.
4. Meet with the stakeholders: The fun part begins here! Make sure all stakeholders are there. This includes people who will lead the team from the client side as well as the people who are impacted by the project.
5. Ask lots of questions & listen for agreements: Firstly, you don’t have to know the answers. This is really important (It took me about 2-3 years to learn this one). You just have to ask the right questions & listen the people in the room arrive at agreements on stuff like goals, roles, responsibilities, success criteria, processes (and many other things that I cannot put here lest I will be writing a book instead of an article!).
6. Jot down agreements and follow-up with confirmations by exchanging notes.
7. Clearly communicate next steps to keep things moving forward and in the direction of the project goals.

How do you know if you have had a kickass kickoff meeting? Don’t worry about that part… your project will tell you that!

Have fun!

PS> Both Guy & I were recently interviewed for our book, #PROJECT MANAGEMENT Tweet on Blog Business World by Wayne Hurlbert. Wayne asked a number of thought provoking questions on Project Management that both Guy & I did our best to answer… for those interested, you can find the interview here. Disclaimer – it is a 1 hour interview… you have been forewarned.

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Tagged as: active garage, agreements, clients, customers, effective project meentings, himanshu jhamb, kickass kickoffs, kickass meetings, presentations, project leadership, Project Management, project meetings, projects, Tasks

I equate managing to something that is not fully expressed. It leaves out that something, that edge that is needed for getting you across the finish line. The difference in what you do is simple, the result is transformational.

There is a difference between managing the project versus leading the project. Leadership is out there… it screams responsibility and accountability. It is about reaching out and getting what you need to get the job done, fearlessly. Management usually turns out to be working with what you have and making the best out of it (whatever that means!). Leadership is about creating solutions, management is about figuring out solutions. The difference is simple, the result is transformational.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I am not going all critical on project management. After all, it wouldn’t do me much good if I criticize my own bread and butter, now would it! My point is simply that project managers need to essentially become project leaders. Once you get that distinction, the landscape of what needs to be done suddenly transforms (and so do the results). From personal experience, I spent the first few years of my project management….errr… managing projects. Then, I realized that what I was doing was not doing full justice to me or my client(s)… that realization was the starting point for me to take action so that I lead my projects and not only manage them.

That introduction brings us to the purpose and genesis of this series. Over the subsequent posts, I will share my journey of how I transformed the way I did things in various areas… and I will share the challenges, the fears & the situations I had to face and how I overcame them (some successfully, some not so successfully) with personal examples. Like any other sharing, the real fun and value lies in engagement. The real learning will BEGIN only when you participate in this conversation. So, if you like (or for that matter, dislike) what I write, I invite you to participate, regardless.

To give you a little preview, here are the topics I plan on touching in this series. I will keep adding more depending on what comes to my mind and the level of engagement we reach.

1. Unforgettable Kickoffs
2. Relentless Planning
3. Courage vs. Stupidity: The thin line
4. Bidirectional trust
5. Community of Help
6. Anticipating Change
7. Kick Panic
8. Fearless Negotiating
9. Improve your Improvisation skills
10. Navigate like the conductor

Enjoy the posts!

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Tagged as: 99tribes, active garage, anticipate change, conductor, courage, himanshu jhamb, improvise, kickoffs, leadership vs management, negotiate, planning, pmtweet, project leadership, Project Management, project management tweet, Trust