Posts Tagged ‘project leadership’

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

“Rainmaker” is a title that fits with a lot of project managers. It sets the bar high requiring a great deal of skill and political savvy to bring about the deliverable as if almost by magic. The reality is quite different. In fact, there are several realities that must be juggled to be a successful rainmaker ranging from the very concrete to the intangible. This can be seen when looked at through the nine areas of project management: scope, time, budget, human resources, procurement, quality management, risk management, communications, and integration.

Nested Easter Eggs, Projects, and the Truth

Imagine a project as a nested Russian Easter egg. At the core is the candy, the measurable deliverable – the client’s main focus. Surrounding it is the smallest Easter egg – the triple constraint. The painting on this egg is an orthogonal latticework of scope, time, and budget with one axis just a little wavy. Time and money can be measured, as can portions of the scope. The scope, however, starts bringing in the intangible because it is driven by client needs, each one of which can be multilayered itself. This is why the one axis is a little wavy.

The language of the triple constraint reflects the deliverable but is different since it includes the time and money aspect. It also is more complicated because there are three dialects; one each for scope, time, and budget.  The language gets more complicated because there is a change in the truth system being used. That is how different languages develop, i.e., attempts to describe different realities.

In other words, when we talk “deliverable” one language is used which is different from when we talk “scope, time, and budget.” For example, imagine a soccer player who can put an amazing curve on a kick. Talking about the beauty of the kick is one thing. Talking about everything that went into that player to get to the point where the kick could be made is another. (Many a beer or other beverage has been drunk enjoying going back and forth between these two languages. It’s all very human and very much a part of any project.)

The next egg (layer) has a supply chain network drawn upon it. It comprises procurement and human resources. People, equipment, facilities, etc., are needed so the project can be completed. The intangibility increases. There are more, varied conversations occurring all of which need orchestrated and harmonized. The discussion around this orchestration and harmonization creates another language with two dialects.

This brings us to the next larger egg, which has a swirling pattern of two distinct colors representing quality- and risk management. Imagine it being drawn by a pointillist. Each dot represents a specific test of a component or system (quality) or a specific threat or opportunity (risk) that must be addressed. Holding the egg at a distance the swirls can be seen representing the interaction between quality and risk and how together they influence the inner components of project management and the creation of an acceptable deliverable. And, you may have guessed it, yet another language with two dialects is created.

And what about the conversation itself? This is where communications comes into play. This egg has a nervous system painted on it. Actually it is more like an LCD display where the flow of information through the nerves can be seen. This flow represents the even greater level of intangibility. Why? The message is in the flow between the various parts of the project.

Finally, the largest most intangible egg of them all – project integration. It is invisible. This egg can be felt but can’t be seen. Imagine a magnetic bottle. There is a very real force field present containing the other eight areas of the project along with the specific project components, stakeholders, and the energy that flows between them. This egg can be experienced, it can be discussed, it can be influenced but it remains invisible. Its language is one of connection and interdependence.  It reflects the achievement of acceptable balance among all stakeholders, components, and their performance. The integration exists in that balance rather than inside any one thing or person.

The deliverable only comes alive and is acceptable when integration has occurred and is sustainable.

What does this mean? An intuitive example of connection and interdependence is the relationship between an aircraft wing, the engine, and the payload. The engine must generate sufficient thrust to propel the wing forward and generate lift. However, if a large enough engine is too heavy then the design is pointless because there is insufficient lift left for the payload.

What makes a project manager a rainmaker is the ability to achieve that integration. It is reflected in commitments within the stakeholder community. Those commitments are then mapped into the design and creation of the deliverable through the project plan and execution of the schedule. Oh, did I mention there might be some magic involved?

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Tagged as: active garage, center for change mangement, cost, project leadership, Project Management, resources, schedules, scope, time, triple constraints

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