good pm leadership

8/6/2019 GOOD PM Leadership

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For example, in inventory projects, there can be 4-12 weeks prior to tangible progress. So, how do you know whether you¶re on track? Typically, I¶vefound that asking the folks involved in the day-to-day process and/or tracking of the project outcome yields milestone metrics. They might not realizethey have the answer but they do! And, if they still are unsure, provide guidelines and/or categories based on best practices related to the project topic,and it will spur ideas. Milestone metrics will emerge.

3. Ask questions ± If you manage the critical path with rigor and develop milestone metrics, you¶ll almost ensure success. The only missing link is to

ask questions of the subject matter experts.

For example, half way between milestone metrics, ask the subject matter experts about progress. It is amazing how accurate their perceptions can beabout progress. If a subject matter expert is uncomfortable with progress or thinks there might be a better path, listen! Even if they are not correct100% of the time, the worst case scenario is that you¶ve minimized risk by taking notice. I¶ve found that once they see that you value their opinion andare listening to their concerns, you¶ll not only get more feedback but you¶ll also make quicker and smoother progress.

Too many projects fail to deliver the intended results. For example, merger and acquisition integration projects typically succeed 20% of the time. Thus,it makes sense for us to not only become a metric fanatic but to also be smart in tracking the ³right´ metrics to ensure we¶re part of the 20%!

Using Shar ePoint to Improve Project Deliver y - Project Management Best Pr actices & Your

Project Environment

As I work with different clients, I usually run across the same project management related theme. Project Management is a very mature competencywith very well-defined concepts, processes, and tools. There are a lot of resources available to help organizations improve the PM competency,including one of the best profess ional organizations I have worked with, the Project Management Institute (PMI). However, clients still have projectsthat fail, or are significantly challenged (e.g. bad quality, scope creep, late delivery, over budget). Clients are frustrated with inconsistent delivery resultsfrom project to project. The root cause of project related problems are often linked to shortfalls from a project management competency perspective.

Project Management Best Pr actices

To address this shortfall, I generally start the conversation with clients about establishing Project Management best practices. Best practices representthe practical application of the knowledge contained in the PMBOK and other sources of knowledge (concepts, processes, tools). The critical fewprocesses that are integral to the success of the project are listed under each of the phases of the project lif e cycle in the graphic below. Practicalapplication of these best practices drives a consistent project management approach, and tangible business results:

y Quicker ramp-up of project managers

y Easier integration of projects in a multi-project environment

y More productive project managers (not inventing processes & tools on the fly)

y Better overall team performance (including measurement of performance)

The Project Environment

The other element associated with driving improved project results is the project environment in which we work. Enterprise Environmental Factors andOrganization Process Assets are the most commonly referenced process inputs within the PMBOK. They are the things that your team inherits as i tlaunches a project:

y Existing systems (finance, timekeeping, project management)

y Knowledge bases (repository of information about processes, previous projects, organization)

y Standards / Guidelines (particularly important in a regulated environment)



y Process, Policies, and Procedures (commonly describe Project Management and SDLC related information)

y Historical information (artifacts from previous projects)

y Culture (organization channels, communication vehicles, teamwork)

As I work with clients it is important to understand whether their project environment enables improved project performance, or represents a projectconstraint. Does the environment enable you to launch and execute the project effectively, or constrain you (weighing you down with baggage androadblocks)? Some of the questions I ask to determine the answer to this question are:

y Are the systems tied to the PM best practices, or create ³incremental steps´?

y Are policies, processes, and procedures fully integrated into the project work to be performed?

y Is information about other projects accessible?

y How do people work together? How is information shared?

Using a Collabor ation Platf or m to Dr ive Improved Project Per f or mance

SharePoint 2010 is an enabling tool utilized to dramatically change the project environment (within both single and multi-project environments).Creating a more productive project environment helps you launch the continuous improvement phase of your Project Management ³Best Practices´program from a more efficient and effective starting point.



Key elements of a more productive environment include:

y Collabor ation ± Enhancing your project environment to create more effective interaction between team members.

o Providing a single source for the truth

o Upgrading version control for key project artifacts

o Establishing closed loop communications

y Str eamlining Processes ± Utilizing a tool to establish or enhance project management related processes.

o Establish structure via lists and libraries

o Use workflow and alerts to reduce c ycle time associated with reviews/approvals

y Measur ing Per f or mance ± Capturing the data required to measure project performance, and make the appropriate ³course corrections´.

o Measurements are a by-product of the work performed

o SharePoint provides a platform to communicate ³real-time´ project performance metrics

Best Pr actices Associated with the Collabor ation Platf or m:

The following are the key best practice associated with implementing and maintaining collaboration tools / processes to improve your projectenvironment:

y Owner ship ± If team sees the value in the collaboration tools and processes, they will take ownership for updating and maintaining the project site. Thevalue of collaboration is significantly diminished if the project manager is the only person providing updates to the project site.

y Centr al sour ce ± The collaboration tool must represent the single source for current project information. As the project manager, you need to make sureteam members use the tool in this manner (e.g., discourage people from maintaining work in progress offline on their own laptop).

y Ver sion control ± This best practice ties to the central source of information. If utilized correctly, the collaboration tool helps solve the version controlrelated issues across the project team.

y On-boar ding team member s ± The project team site represents an excellent source of information to on-board new team members. The team needs tomake sure the project site is set-up and maintained in a straightforward manner. You do not want new team members to get lost in the information that isavailable within the team site.

y Project closeout ± With a little luck, your projects have a beginning and an end. Decisions need to be made at the end of the project in terms of whathappens to the project site.

1. There may be a next version of the product in which case the site would be ³rolled forward´ to a new project site.

2. The production information may need to be available on a support site.

3. At a minimum, key project information is captured on a historical project file site.

4. There needs to be purposeful action related to the disposition of project site at the end of the project or you will end up losing valuable project

and/or product related information at the end of the project.

Recommended Next Steps:



Depending upon the current maturity of the people, processes, and tools around SharePoint in the project environment, your next steps may vary.

The standard approach related to implementing a collaboration platform to upgrade your project environment includes the following:

y Identify (or confirm) the ³critical few´ best practices that should be emphasized and integrated into the collaboration platform.

y Establish some standards / guidelines that would be used by each of the teams (and a place where these standards are accessible). Some examplesinclude:

y

o When to create project site

o What are the standard elements of the project site

o What meta-data is important for s tandard reporting or site organization

o Create templates for key lists and libraries (risks/issues, change requests, status reports document libraries)

y Depending on the experience of your project team, you may need to provide training for the team on SharePoint. At a minimum you need to get your upto speed on the specifics associated with the implementation of SharePoint within your project environment.

y Get started => don¶t wait until everything is perfect before you launch your new project environment. You will never get complete consensus on thestandards/guidelines, and there is opportunity costs associated with ³do nothing´.

y Establish processes to identify and capture best practices in the context of your new project environment. As these ideas are incorporated into thestandard best practices they will be reflected as tangible continuous improvements.

Project Management Kung Fu Theater

Growing up in New York during the 1980s, I enjoyed watching what was called ³The Sunday Afternoon Kung Fu Theater´ on television. This meant four hours straight of Kung Fu movies, dueling techniques, avenging deaths, dubbed voice-overs, and wonderful noises for punches and kicks. There wasalso the additional two hours after the movies ended when my brother and I would re-enact the movies on each other (and destroy our house in theprocess). This article ponders these similarities of these movies to project management to see if it can help Project Managers attain their ³black belt´ inmanaging projects.

For those people reading this article who are not familiar with this genre of movies, I will give a brief overview. Each movie was about two hours longand they all had very distinct characteristics:

Each had a similar story in that a martial arts student has some wrong done to them (e.g. the killing of a master/brother/father, ransacking of thetown/temple by thugs, etc.), then they go away to the mountains to train in some particular technique and would come back and avenge the wrongdone to them.

The techniques that each student practiced made them super-human by having the ability to fly, smash walls with their fists, take arrows without beinghurt, climb trees without using their hands, etc. (Do you begin to see the similarities with Project Managers yet?).

The styles of Kung Fu practiced were unique in that they mirrored specific movements and strengths of different animals (e.g. Tiger, Dragon, andSnake) and elements (e.g. Water, Fire, and Earth).



They were all filmed in Chinese and then translated with English voice-overs. This resulted in the actors¶ lips moving (in Chinese) but the words beingsaid in English did not match.

The Differ ent Styles

A common occurrence in the Kung Fu movies was when the combatants would yell out the next µstyle¶ that they were going to use against one another during a fight sequence. These were usually based on animals (e.g. Tiger, Crane, Dragon, and Monkey) and had distinct movements to them. While(most) Project Managers don¶t shout out their styles or techniques during action in the project, I have noticed that some of the Project Managementstyles mirror the styles used by the Kung Fu warriors. That is, there are several distinct ways that PMs manage their projects and resources:

Dr agon Style

The Dragon style is an aggressive style and is used by a PM who manages by shouting out orders (like breathing out fire). They often use the ³just doit and don¶t complain´ approach. Fear may be used as a motivator for the Dragon because they believe that people should obey them because of their power or title. I rarely see the Dragon µon the floor¶ interacting with the team members but rather in the tower looking down and ready to attack. Myexperience is that Dragons may get the work done in the short term, but they rarely have the motivation or dedication of their team members if thisstyle is over-used. People start resenting the approach and see it as a lack of support and will not be as motivated or productive after some time.

Cr ane Style

The Crane style requires Project Managers to stick out their necks. Cranes are risk takers who say that anything is possible (often before consideringany consequences). These people tend to be more academic and enjoy the challenge of doing something that has not been done before (even if that isnot what the project is asking for). I get nervous around Cranes because their ability to deliver on time is often diminished by their unrealisticexpectations of what they want to deliver. However, there is value in being a Crane on projects where new thinking is required.

Snake Style

The Snake style of Project Management involves being sneaky around the way in which the project is managed. These are the Project Managers who

have major issues but always report their status upwards as green. They sneak their way around dates or deliverables by talking their way out of them.These people are very good talkers so they tend to look good in front of Senior Management. I have seen the Snakes have trouble because by thetime they admit real problems the problems are usually enormous. They also lose credibility with their team members if the team does not feel that their problems are being heard or addressed.

Monkey Style

The Monkey style entails being everyone¶s friend. These are the social managers who make it a point to have a relationship which each team member.This results in great camaraderie on the team but it also has its faults. For one, the work may not get done because the PM doesn¶t want to ruin anyfriendships by being too tough. There is another level to this style ± the ³Drunken monkey´, which speaks for itself and usually causes the water cooler talk the following day and results in what may be known as a CLM (Career Limiting Move). Monkeys are fun to be around but may not have the respectfrom the team when it comes to crunch time.

Cat Style

The Cat is cautious and reluctant to act quickly. They like knowing all the available (and sometimes unavailable) information before making a decision.They take their time in analyzing all of the information. This style can work well for PMs provided that they are careful to make decisions in a timelymanner.

When to Use Each Style

There were always two types of Kung Fu Masters ± those that were experts in one specific style or technique and those who had a fundamentalunderstanding of several techniques. I think the Project Management master must be an expert in all techniques and know when to use them. All of these styles can work, if used in the appropriate way. Some techniques work better in certain situations than others. The PM must be nimble enough tochange their style based on the project team and environment.

Pr actice

Like Kung Fu students, Project Managers must practice their skills in order to attain mastery. Understanding the technical aspects of projectmanagement (e.g., issues logs, project plans) will not alone make a good project manager. It is the experience that a PM attains over many years of working on projects that lets them know what works and what doesn¶t work. None of the movies I watched on those Sunday afternoons ever showed astudent just reading a book of Kung Fu and then becoming an expert. They all took a few punches before learning how to block. It is the taking of thesepunches and kicks that make a Project Manager experienced to know when to punch, when to block and when to duck! It is the difficult project thatinstructs the most. You can¶t learn martial arts very well by sparring with a wooden dummy ± you want it to strike back at you.

Discipline

One of the most memorable movies was the one where the students had to perform several difficult activities within different chambers to attainmastery. They could only move on to the next chamber once the current one was completed. One of these activities required students to hold ascalding hot cauldron filled with boiling water between their forearms for a period of time to test their disc ipline and skill. Another activity requiredholding plates of water on their body as they stood in a particular position and not moving for hours. While I would hope that PMI doesn¶t require any of these activities to get the PMP certification, the metaphor can be used here as well. Because projects usually involve a lot of moving and inter-relatedparts, Project Managers need a lot of discipline to be successful. There are several frameworks and methodologies for managing projects but it is thePM who must apply the appropriate rigor to using these. It is very easy to skip steps in a process or push things off until later. These are oftenshortsighted decisions that result in pain later (maybe not as much as the burning cauldron, but it does sometimes feels that way). For example, nothaving the discipline to plan for all activities on a project will result in rework or missed steps later.

Unexpected Punches

In Kung Fu Theater, no matter how good the master was they always took a few beatings during the big fights before they would make the comebackand eventually win the battle. Having discipline and practice helps to refine the Project Manager¶s skills, but there are always those unexpected



punches and kicks that they must absorb along the way to success. This is where your training will come in handy. Hopefully, you have learned how totake the punches and keep standing. It doesn¶t make any sense just to train to avoid punches since it is inevitable that a few will be landed on you.Therefore, you should train yourself to take them and keep moving. PMs call this technique risk management.

Br eaking Walls

Another favorite episode of mine features a Kung Fu master who had the ability to punch through brick walls. Today¶s Kung Fu students use woodenboards. The technique for breaking anything is to strike through it and not at i t. A martial arts student myself, I was taught to look six inches beyond thetarget and aim for that point. This metaphor can be extended to project management. The PM must µlook beyond¶ the problems of the day to be alert of

what is to come rather than just str iking at each problem. Once they make the plan, they should execute it with all of their focus, striking through thelittle problems that may stand between them and a successful project outcome. I have found in my experience that a lot of Managers tend to spendtheir days ³putting out the fires´ and not looking beyond them at the end goal. This is short-sighted and usually results in more fires and the endlesscycle of firefighting.

Project Management Voice-Over s

For anyone who watched these moves, they know that the most entertaining part of Kung Fu Theater was the voice-overs. Since all of these movieswere made in Hong Kong or China, they were in native Chinese. When shown in the U.S., English was dubbed over the dialogue. The result was lipsmoving in Chinese but words being played in English.

Oftentimes, a team member will report a major problem on the team. When this gets µdubbed¶ for Management, there is usually a voice-over thatchanges the meaning of what the team member said. Here are some examples:

Native Statement Voice-Over Statement

The work is half done The work is complete for all intents

We pray that we can meet the date We have a plan

The project is going well The project is going great

The project is having problems The project is going great

The project is really having problems The project is going great

The project is now in real trouble The project has some risks, but will come inon time

The project will never succeed We need more time than usual to completeit

The team is posting their resumes onMonster.com

We have some potential show stoppers

It is very important to state information accurately so that expectations can be managed. I have found that it is better to state problems early (withproposed solutions) than to try to put off the information until later. Usually what happens is that the problem then snowballs into something giganticand then no one understands how it got to be so big and unmanageable.

Conclusion

Project Managers resemble the Kung Fu masters of those golden days of Sunday afternoon television. They are super-human warriors who need tounderstand the different styles of Project Management and when it is appropriate to use each one. They need to practice their skills and focus onproper discipline. Even so, there will always be a kick or two that gets through and they need to have the stamina to absorb it. They also need to makesure that when their lips move their words match them.

One of my martial arts instructors once told me ³To be the best that one can be, one must always dream of being better.´ This means that the journeyto mastery will never end and that there will always be battles to fight, new styles to learn, and punches to take.

Don¶t forget to keep the cauldrons hot!

Don't forget to leave your comments below.



Kerr y Wills has worked as a Consultant and a Project Manager for Fortune 500 companies on multi-million dollar technology projects since 1995.During that time, he has gained experience in several capacities; as a Program Manager, Project Manager, Architect, Developer, Business Analyst,and Tester. Having worked in each of these areas gives Kerry a deep understanding of all facets of an Information Technology project. Kerry hasplanned and executed several large projects as well as remediated several troubled projects.

Kerry is a member of Mensa and has a unique perspective on project work, resulting in ten patents, published work in project management journalsand books, and speaking engagements at over twenty Project Management conferences and corporations around the world. Kerry is a passionatespeaker who has a reputation for delivering entertaining presentations combined with vivid examples from his experiences. Kerry recently published abook called "Essential Project Management Skills" which can be found at all major on-line book retailers. Kerry runs a Project Management blog onhttp://kerrywills.wordpress.com

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