Ward Wired

I’d like to wish you only the best for this coming Holiday Season. Take time to enjoy family and friends and count your blessings. In New York City, everyone loves going to Rockefeller Center to see the beautiful Christmas Tree. This year though, I’ve included a small tree at the end of one of the streets not too far from where we live. I’ve also included a picture of the Menorah they have in the lobby of my apartment building. Sometimes, small is better!

And, of course, I have to include a pic of Times Square when the ball drops and brings us into the New Year.

I’m dedicating this post and well wishes of the season to my sister, Rebecca, who passed away in November after waging a war with cancer. She was only 66 and by all estimates should have lived well in to her eighties in the U.S. While she had a very full and accomplished life, and ten years of great retirement, her life, nonetheless, was cut short. She was a kind and gentle soul. She was special, and I, along with her family and many friends, will miss her terribly.

One of my former bosses once remarked that if project checklists were so great, anyone could be a project manager and no one would ever need any training. He’s right, and wrong.

He’s right in that it certainly takes more than checklists to be a good project manager. He’s wrong in that checklists can help us be better project managers.

In his very popular book The Checklist Manifesto, Atul Gawande discusses how valuable checklists are for a wide range of tasks, from disaster response to investment banking. As a frequent flyer, which I bet you are too, I always hope the pilot and the co-pilot are going down through their checklists before taking off just so they won’t forget anything rather than sitting there shooting the breeze about the latest sports event. If you have a lot of things to consider before making a decision, checklists can help us to remember everything we need to do.

Gawande, in a recent Harvard Business Review podcast, mentioned a study of venture capitalists by psychologist Geoggrey Smart, who analyzed how folks in that field made decisions. What Smart found was very interesting. “The ones who took a more checklist-driven approach had a far higher success rate” Gawande says. Their return on investment was also higher. But what’s amazing is that Smart found that only 13% of the VCers took a checklist approach. Think of it this way, if you’re an investor in a VC fund wouldn’t you want your firm using checklists? Based on these findings, you definitely would.

The fact that checklists can be helpful is not altogether new. What’s revealing here is if you use the right one at the right time, it can be a major boost to overall performance.

By the way, in his book, Gawande has created a “checklists of checklists” just in case you don’t know how to create the best kind. This might be carrying things a bit far; then again, it might not. Maybe I need a checklist to see if my checklist is o.k.!

What’s the best project management checklist you use?

Do you often find yourself in meetings trying to convey a critical message about the project and people are looking at  you like you’re from Mars? If so, you may be suffering from “The Curse of Knowledge.” In other words, you know so much about what’s going on that you’re forgetting that your audience doesn’t have the same baseline knowledge you have. Accordingly, you’re speaking way over their heads and they really don’t understand what you’re saying.

This happens a lot with technically-oriented folks.  Such professionals, forgetting they’re conversing with “lay persons,” often speak in “tongues” throwing various techincal terms around like everyone around them knows what they’re talking about. Well, the same holds true for project managers.

We might be in a meeting spouting off about the CPI, SPI, or scheduling “buffers,” or how we’re going to use more start-to-start relationships to get the job done quicker. All our colleagues around the table hear is “bla bla bla, this that and the other, so on and so forth, and yadi yada yada.” Your message is lost. They would rather we speak in clear, simple, short sentences.

The Heath brothers (Chip and Dan), two successful business-book writers, in their work Made to Stick write “Once we know something, we find it hard to imagine what it was like not to know it…and it becomes difficult for us to share our knowledge with others, because we can’t readily re-create our listeners’ state of mind.” They go on to say that the expert “wants to talk about chess strategies, not about bishops moving diagonally.”

Their lesson is that we should try very hard to forget what we know; rather, we should think about what our stakeholders don’t know.  Makes a lot of sense to me.

So the next time you’re in a meeting and your stakeholders are looking at you like a dog that just heard a whistle, drop the project-management speak, and talk to them as if they knew absolutely nothing at all. Chances are, you’ll be right!

Multitasking: Good, Bad, or Necessary??

LeRoy Ward and I have been writing test question books together so I decided I would ask him if I could be a ‘guest blogger’ and try not to write in multiple choice! Also this week, on November 27th, the Wall Street Journal had an interesting article titled: “What Makes Dickens a Lousy Running Buddy”?

This article talks about people who are long-distance runners (I was a short distance runner once!) who tend to not read books in hard or soft cover but instead, listen to audio books. A lot of people are doing it because the sales of audio books have increased 13% from 2011 to 2012, to about $1.2 billion, according to the Audio Publishing Association .

However, the article also said reading while running was more fun, but that combining the two led in many cases to decreasing physical performance and mental comprehension. Nice to know, but what is the link to our work as program or project professionals?

It is rare today to have the luxury of only working on one task or even a single project, and we tend to have multiple assignments. We are constantly multitasking – is this a best practice or something that can be avoided or at least minimized?

Do you ever get to the end of a terribly busy day and wonder what you have accomplished given all the e-mails, text messages, meetings, and web ex conferences? Do you find you are often doing two things at once especially in a meeting where you might be sending a text message, or on a conference call where no one can see you so it is easy to do other things and then someone says, “Ginger what do you think about Farkas’ idea?” and you have not paid much attention?

Many believe that effective multitasking is the key to success in our fast-paced environment, but we know when we switch from one task to the next or one project to another, our productivity does decrease. We have to stop and think about the new task and where we were and then figure out what we should do.

One study by researchers at the University of California at Irvine showed we spend an average of 10.5 minutes before we switch to doing something else, resulting in greater stress, frustration, more time pressure, and mental overload. Is there an answer to all this multitasking or is it our way of life? It is certainly hard to avoid it, but here are some guidelines that have helped me. Maybe they’ll help you too.

First, I try to log my time each hour as to what I am doing, so that at the end of the day I can see how much I actually accomplished. Next I try to see what I could have avoided or postponed. I try to prioritize and strive to accomplish a certain amount of ‘real work’ each day. I set time aside to focus only on e-mails or to make phone calls.

Has it worked? I think so, but I also know I can improve. And, this blog now must end as LeRoy is calling – I know it is him because of caller ID!

Ginger Levin, DPA, PMP, PgMP, OPM3 Assessor and Consultant is a good friend and colleague of many of us at ESI.

As Project Managers we’re used to preparing project reports (sometimes more than we care to). Such reports have varying levels of detail; some include historic information (where we’ve been), current information, as well as a healthy dose of predictive information.

If you use EVM to any great degree and include CPI and SPI metrics then you are attempting to determine the future based on past results to one degree or another. In other words, you’re trying to predict what’s going to happen based on what already has happened. It’s imperfect, but it can help.

We send these reports to a lot of different people. Some people read them in detail, others simply scan them, and a handful of other folks probably just pick up a phone and ask “when is the project going to be done?” After all, that’s what’s most people really want to know isn’t it?

But if, as a project manager, you report to a Project Governance Board, one whose members are experienced business professionals or technical experts, or both, they’re going to dig deeper than just what’s on your project status reports.

How deeper? Well, they’re going to want to know such information as what your process and approach is to staffing your project with the right folks. They’ll also be looking for evidence that you are collaborating with your peers, as well as such key stakeholders as the head of sales or product development. They may even see if you’re willing to attribute the success your having to those colleagues to see if you are really someone who can collaborate.

And, they will probably be interested in knowing who could run the project if you become ill, or a family illness requires you to take extended leave to care for a loved one. These events happen all the time. As Project Managers we need to be thinking, “how will I replace myself?” After all, we can’t leave these important matters to our managers or HR.

In short, they’re going to want to see that they have a person running the show with some real business acumen. One who sees the big picture and who has thought of a variety of contingencies, because as the old saying goes, “contingencies happen.”

And if, by any chance, your Project Governance Board doesn’t ask any of these questions or probe in these areas, give them the information anyway. Make them aware that as a Board they should be asking these questions and that you have the foresight to provide them with what they need to know to be good Board members. This will go a long way toward establishing yourself as a real leader in the organization. After all, isn’t that what we are as Project Managers?

Could you do this without training and practice? Ouch!!

I attended ScrumMaster training a few months ago. In talking to some of the other participants from a large global bank, I was informed that their CIO mandated that they were going Agile. Therefore, certain folks were going to be trained as ScrumMasters and then return to work to lead teams in implementing it.

I predict their approach will lead to disillusionment and frustration for one simple reason: Agile is a team sport. If you only train one person and then expect the other team members to just “get it,” you’re well on the road to disappointment.

Now that we’re in the middle of the NFL season in the U.S. let me use a football analogy. A football team doesn’t just train the quarterback does it? Of course not.  Football teams train individually, in small groups, and then as an entire team. And, they are taught to work from the same playbook so everyone knows what to do. Agile is a team sport just like football is a team sport.

In Projects@Work Agile Maturity Report, 58% of the respondents reported that “insufficient training/education in Agile practices” was the most significant challenge to adopting Agile in their organization. Some managers reading this will scratch their heads and reason that they’ve sent plenty of folks to Scrum training so the problem must be Agile itself and that there must be something else going on. Well, they’re right, and wrong.

You see, closely following lack of training as an obstacle to adoption are these: the “organization has a rigid culture,” “there’s a lack of management support,” and “Agile team members are not assigned full time.” We can see that their difficulty in benefiting from Agile is that they haven’t really adopted everything they need to make it work. While training is certainly important there are multiple other success factors involved as well.

Look, I’ll be the first to admit that I’m an executive at ESI, a project-focused training company that has a comprehensive set of courses in Agile practices, so my post sounds very self-serving. However, ESI didn’t participate in this survey or sponsor it; in fact, we had nothing to do with it. This is what the practitioners are saying and this is what we are hearing in the industry.

We need to support our teams!

That said, we can also see that success in Agile demands not just that people are trained in its use, it also requires that the organization be ready for the approach, that everyone is aware what it takes to make work, and that there’s plenty of support up and down the chain of command to support a new and different way of getting work done.

To practice Agile well, and by that I mean in accordance with the principles enunciated in the Manifesto, is an entirely different way to get a job done. We don’t just train quarterbacks in the NFL, we train the team, we have a playbook, we have coaches to help make it work, and we have a team ownership structure that supports the team through words and the right investment strategy. In short, we build an “environment of success” to support what we’re doing.

If all we’re doing is concentrating on the quarterback it doesn’t take a Jim Highsmith, or Alistair Coburn, or Jeff Sutherland, or any of the other “high priests” of the Agile movement to know that failure is just around the corner.

Hurricane Sandy roars into New York City

Electricity and water don’t mix. Never did. Never will. Yet, we do it all the time in project design and with predictable and disastrous results. Let me give you two examples here in New York City, where I live, of two hospitals who felt the utter ravage of Hurricane Sandy because they thought they had a “water tight” disaster plan.

NYU Langone Medical Center is a large, sprawling complex of hospitals located between First Ave and the East River. When Hurricane Sandy hit, the East River flooded its banks (as we were informed it was going to do) spilling water into the basement of the facility flooding the electrical equipment. The lights went out. They immediately went to Plan B which was to turn on the emergency generators for power. But it was to no avail. Their Plan B didn’t work. Seems like they hadn’t conducted an emergency test for months. Read more here.

NYU Hospital along the East River

Adjacent to NYU Langone  is the largest public hospital in the United States: Bellevue. Its basement was also flooded, but at Bellevue they had the forsight to locate their emergency generators on the 9th floor. Thankfully, they kicked in and started doing their job. Problem was, the generator’s fuel tank had to be located in the basement because, as a Bellevue spokesperson said, the NYC building code did not allow for fuel tanks to be stored on higher floors.

Consequently, National Guardsmen formed a human brigade up nine flights of stairs passing cans of fuel person-to-person from the tanks in the basement to the generator on the 9th floor. It was, however, a losing battle. They just couldn’t keep up with the demand for fuel from the generator. They had no choice but to evacuate 500+ patients from Bellevue in the dead of night and into the next day. I saw the line of ambulances outside the hospital the next day. It stretched for what seemed to be a mile. Read more here.

Ambulances evacuating patients from Bellevue Hospital

Disaster preparedness is tough business. To do it well requires much focus, forethought, and foresight. It also takes practice under conditions that can be made as real as possible. But, it also takes thought in a building’s design to make it easier to withstand the tremendous damage that Mother Nature can cause.

Our weather is changing. There are Luddites who don’t believe it, but the evidence is clear that things just aren’t the same. Given the nature of the change, namely, more extreme weather, should cause us to focus more on continuity of operations, and better building design,  than ever before.

By the way, I’m writing this from home. You see, my building, located at 100 Wall Street (below), and just a few yards from the East River, also experienced severe flooding. I went there yesterday to pick up some files. The whole stretch of lower Wall Street and around the corner in both directions on Water Street, is a war zone. There’s an emergency generator the size of a tractor trailer in front of every building. We were informed by building management last week we won’t be able to move back in until early December. Then, yesterday we were told January. As I said, electricity and water don’t mix.

Cleaning up 100 Wall St

Here’s a very short video clip of what I saw the other day at my building. (It’s a Quicktime video so make sure you have the latest version to view)

Wall Movie

A few weeks ago I wrote a post asking folks their thoughts on when their project is at risk based on their schedule and cost performance. I received some very interesting and thoughtful responses. I wanted to share these with you so you could see what others think as their thoughts might be helpful in your work. Thanks to everyone for commenting. Good stuff indeed!

I include them verbatim below and note the LinkedIn Group on which they were posted so that you can see the other Groups that you might want to join if you’re not a member already.

Comments from the Group PMI Credentialed PMPs
Like the article, and yes, 5-10% cost variance is a good number to shoot for–if you do your homework conscientiously and regularly perform periodic ETCs. That’s the problem I’ve seen with most variances (schedule and cost)–without re-estimation of the work left to do, you’re really getting only half of the story because the scope you have at the beginning of the project may have changed or shifted, new constraints may have appeared, old assumptions debunked, etc. The most accurate projects I’ve ever seen or run were managed by bottom-up ETCs.
Posted by Sonja Streuber, PMP®, SSBB

Like Sonja I think staying within 5-10% of the budget is ok. 10-20% is yellow and over 20% is red for me.
Posted by NK Shrivastava, PMP, RMP, ACP

Like Sonja and NK, I agree with the 5% – 10%, but only after the project design has been completed. Prior to the completion of the requirements and design, a 20% metric is a good guideline. As we know, the more time spent in the planning and realization phase, the more accuracy is provided for the realization and implementation phases.
Posted by Matt Oates, PMP

Comments from the Group PMO-Project Management Office
As project progress, schedule / budget sometimes is over or under budget; proactively monitoring numbers gives enough indication where it is heading, when one looks back 3 to 4 weeks of snapshot.
I have used 10% (plus or minus for schedule and 5% with budget) to determine next course of action. However these numbers do change depending on size, environment and complexity.
Posted by Naresh Palan

On the one hand 10% represents a good default value for all projects and is one that is almost universally used. However, as per the opening statement…it depends. One of the first steps in taking on a project management role is to sit down with the client a gauge their sensitivity around such things as cost, schedule, scope/quality and benefits. This sensitivity analysis will drive a project specific measurement for key project metrics.
Posted by Guy Wilmington, P3 Management Services, Australia

Good stuff so far by Naresh and Guy. As is pointed out, it really depends on a number of variables, which would also include the stage of the project (20% over in an early phase can be far different than 5% over at a late phase). Guy nails it when he says you need to know the tolerances of your stakeholders, and you also need a good process to track your project closely so that you know timely when you hit those thresholds.
Posted by Bob Light

Comment from Group ESI International Alumni Program
Being “under budget and timing” is generally not the biggest problem most project/program managers and business enterprises are dealing with on large-scale complex efforts. For a project to be over budget or running off schedule at all is a risk, and indicates that the initial estimation was not either done appropriately or was not properly reviewed for accuracy including contingency for time and financial overruns, which are generally to be expected due to unknown constraints.

Constraints may include changes such as industry or federal regulations which might occur mid-stream and even changes in company policies, processes, budget or priorities. Changes may result in no longer requiring the project effort to be completed and brought to a halt. So having fore-knowledge as to what the cost and timing are by project phase or iteration is important if such actions should occur. If monies are left over from halting the effort, this portion of the former project budget can more easily be allotted to other priorities.

Anticipating risk is part of the project management job and should always be accounted for in the project estimation, budget forecasting process, schedule and contingency. Risks can lead to an entire project failure, but do not have to if dealt with appropriately and a risk mitigation strategy is developed based on at least the risks identified in the project scoping exercise at the onset. Cost and timing are not the only project factors that can lead to failure of the effort or rework to reengineer if the project must be re-evaluated mid-stream to account for unidentified or anticipated risks.
Posted by Lisa R. King, Certified Business Analyst

Comment from Group PMI Consulting Community
I always enjoy your topics; indeed you are one source that is genuinely interested in real Project Management real life dialog and exchanges in experience information between us all. Thanks for your time!

First, and most importantly and applies to any business segment, what is the appetite for RISK from your client, customer, or primary stakeholders? A directly proportionate value to the “How Far” question that must be considered first.
What is the skills and experience of your core Project Management Team to plan and execute a recovery plan? Are you a functional, matrixed or projectized team so we know the control the Project Manager has (assuming you’re a very experienced PM and not a risk yourself) and your team time share or dedication to just your project? Is this waterfall or a flavor if iterative methodology such as Agile or SCRUM? Let’s assume Waterfall for this discussion as it is arguably more popular today. But losing market share quickly in my view.

Rule of thumb? There isn’t any in my view. However, considering the above (among other critical elements I have not called out)…. What does your Project Management Plan with respect to the Risk Management Plan it contains say your trigger points are (control points if you will) for Cost or Schedule should be before certain action is taken to correct your CPI or SPI? These concerns are all over budget examples of “How Far over”, under budget or schedule are process issues in the estimating/planning process and can be managed through lessons learned if available, or Monte Carlo analysis if not.
Posted by Michael Kelly

Comment from Group Project Management Central-Best Networking Group for Project Managers
I think the author got it right…and wrong. First he invoked the GAO guideline of 10% over is a problem. Then, he says that many projects go over budget by more than 10% because they costs were not well estimated to begin with. Again, he is pretty much right there. But, even if you initially don’t have enough data to come up with an accurate estimate, you should be able to state the range of accuracy within some framework. This, then, gives you another kind of information to use as you monitor the budget.

The part that I think he gets most wrong is that “fixing a problem is just a matter of changing the numbers” (then enjoying a quick hot tub and hitting the slopes). And, he might be right that that is how it is done a lot of times in the real world.We owe it to our sponsors and clients to know when it is time to re-estimate with new data acquired so far in the project. Then, after proper review, we can proceed with “fixing a problem” by “changing the numbers”.
Posted by Wayne Holley, PMP

Comments from Group PM Community – Product/Portfolio/Program/Project Manager
I”m a “depends” fan, too. The initial project discussions should include agreement on the critical factors in the project, and risk management planning should include the tracking of the factors and identification of the trigger points for prevention or mitigation actions.

Another huge issue is the political one. Who are the big stakeholders in the project, and which parts of it are the most sensitive to them? It’s not just a scientific equation. It’s also a very human one.

So it depends. Not on some cloudy indecision, but on a precise evaluation of the moving parts and a clear agreement as to the management of each one.
Posted by Jim Milliken, PMP

We use a standard of 15% to put a project in red and 7% to put the project in yellow (metrics based on effort & duration variance). Anything under that is green, with the exception that the project manager has the ability to escalate the status at their discretion.
Posted by Val Lines, PMP

The 800 pound gorilla..team dysfunction

Being in the workforce for 38 years it’s pretty clear to me that not every project team gets along, gets along all the time, or gets along as well as one would like. That’s life and we learn to live with it. But sometimes teams are just crazy in a very dysfunctional sort of way and we have to intervene to turn things around. It’s sort of like a bad tooth, or a problem with your car; these things never get better.

So, what do you do? Well here’s one thing you shouldn’t do, and it’s probably the worst thing you could do. What you are about to read is a quote from a person I stumbled upon in a favorite trade rag of mine: Build.

“I [once] worked in a team that was having trouble getting along, so they brought in [a consultant]. First activity? We had to go around the room and say what we didn’t like about each other. We might have also had to add what we did like, but I only remember the criticisms and people bursting into tears.We went from simply not being able to work together to actively disliking each other in about 30 minutes. Then we ate a boxed lunch and ended the day by filling out personality tests.”

Gee, who’s bright idea was that? Is it any wonder that this failed? We all know that public humiliation, combined with boxed lunches, is certainly a toxic combination!

I also came across a LinkedIn forum for the Sales Management Association where people offer up ideas for exercises to help build team camaraderie. Turns out activities such as simple games, community service such as cleaning up parks, and getting “down and dirty” with Lego blocks, actually work a lot better than being herded into a room with some egg-head consultant spewing psychobabble and practicing sidewalk psychoanalysis.

Next time your team hits the skids, go bowling. Then everyone can say “they’re cheering for me.”

Even the President hits the lanes to let off steam

By the way, what’s your favorite thing to do to boost a team that’s just not clicking?

Don’t forget to visit us at ESI where we have plenty of free resources.

Seth Glickenhaus

Who on earth are these guys? Well, the other day I was reading the business section of the New York Times and ran across a story about Seth Glickenhaus a financial planner in New York City. This guy has been around a long time. How long? Well, he was hired by Herbert Salomon, one of the original brothers for his first job.

 So how old is Seth? Well, he’s 98 and he just decided, yes JUST decided to retire. He says his eye sight is failing and he doesn’t have the “step” he once had. But that notwithstanding he was still working 12-15 hours a day, including weekends sometimes because he finds his work nothing short of exciting.

He says “I love being a money manager. If I didnt’ have certain obvious handicaps, I’d still be working at it. But I don’t think it’s fair to manage outher people’s money when you think your handicaps could impair your ability.” Kind of makes all those other sheisters in that business look like, well, sheisters.  Here’s a guy who, at 98, still can’t wait to throw himself into the challenges and fascinations of his day. Wow, that’s inspiring.

I don’t know Mr. Glickenhaus but I’d love to meet him. I’d love to take him to lunch to get to know him and understand his love for his work and how that could rub off on me. I do thoroughly enjoy my work,  but to be honest, sometimes I just wish it’d go away! He obvisously doesn’t feel that way at all.

I did know Pete (Pierre) D’Elia. He was my uncle and he died 11 years ago at 95. He earned a  BS in Civil Engineering from Columbia University and a BS in Business from New York University at night (with a wife, a mortgage, and four young kids running around). Everday, he’d get up and his wife, my Aunt Elaine (and my father’s sister) would drive him to the train station in Port Chester, NY for the 45 minute train ride to Grand Central. From there he’d hop on the 4 train for another 45 minute ride down to his offices in the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey offices in lower Manhattan. And he did this day in and day out for 40 years  where he worked on some of the most monumental civil transportation projects in America such as The George Washington Bridge, the Lincoln Tunnel,  and the New York Airports.

 When he retired he didn’t stop working; he became a consulting engineer for an engineering firm in Greenwich, Connecticut. He’d get up early and open the office every day, read his reports, offer his advice and was part of the team. Who wouldn’t want a guy with that deep experience on the team? If it was summer, he’d bail out in the early afternoon and hop on his small boat on the Mianus River and float out to Long Island sound to catch a few fish which became his next morning’s breakfast! (For all those health food nuts out there: eating pan-grilled fish soaked in olive oil can really extend your life!) I can tell you the smell of fish frying in the morning is nauseating but he ate every bite and loved every minute of it.

I often said of my Uncle Pete, and I reminded my cousins of this when I went to his funeral services, that here was a man for whom his vocation was his avocation. In other words, there was absolutely no difference between his “work” and his “hobby.” They are one in the same. Although in completely different fields, Seth and Pete were cut out of the same cloth.

How about you? If you can say your vocation is your avocation then you are one of the luckiest people on earth. Are there any tips you can share to the rest of us to share some of that feeling? What do you do everyday to remain as excited as possible?

When thinking about these guys I can tell you I’m really glad I got to know one, and pleased I could read about another.