Saturday, October 30, 2010

The Project Management Circus: The Final Act - The Escape Artist

The show has reserved its best act for the last and entering the stage right now is the escape artist - who also goes by the name project manager on his non-circus performing days.

The escape artist thrills everyone and brings out that gasp in the audience as he always puts himself in situations that will kill a regular human being..but he is no ordinary person - he is the escape artist.

So what does the escape artist have in common with the project managers of the world? It is his ability to know his environment, use his knowledge and training to get out of tangled up situations and still come out victorious, alive ..and the to roaring applause of his audiences.

A project manager must always know his tools, his equipment to be able to manage his projects. A project manager must also train himself constantly on not only knowing the tools but also on how to use them and when. He must practice. Constantly.

If a project manager does not know his tools well enough and does not have experience in managing complex projects - he might just be one of the casualties waiting to happen in this great art of being an - escape artist.

Friday, October 22, 2010

The Project Management Circus: Act 3 - The Juggler

The juggler is one of the most common acts in the circus as it is in project management.

How many times has a project manager been thrown into a situation that he only does not need to balance between scope, cost and schedule but balance as well his emotions vs leadership, balance between his team's productivity vs team morale  - even balance between himself vs his project? Somehow the idea of juggling a chainsaw, a bowling ball, a torch, a 60 lb jug and an axe while blindfolded and riding a unicycle - on a tightrope seems simpler to do right?

The key to success in this act is to always know what are the things up in the air (the tasks), what is the first thing you need to catch(what is the priority), when do you need to catch it (the schedule), how will you catch each one without hurting yourself(the process) and should you be the one to catch it in the first place (the skill of working the matris).Most importantly - always trust that your knowledge will carry you through and this is where experience comes in. The more experience you have in balancing all the aspects of a project - the more the act becomes second nature to you - so much so that you can manage to wow the crowd even when you are blindfolded.

Lesson learned - don't shy away from project tasks that seem bigger than you think you can do now - always believe in your ability to stretch your comfort zone and you will soon find yourself juggling not only tasks - but juggling several million dollar projects all at the same time.

Saturday, October 9, 2010

The Project Management Circus: Act 2 - The Lion Tamer (Project Sponsor Management)

The lights go out for a few second and there is a booming voice that announces Act 2.

A spotlight shines on the person coming into the cage and inside the cage were several lions.

The person has a whip on one hand a chair on the other and he has treats in his pocket. He has been here before and he knows the lions well - each one of them. He knows not only their names but their personalities as well. He knows what makes them tick. He knows he needs them to succeed. He knows they need him to control the chaos that can happen without him. He waves his hands to his spectators as if in victory even before the show begins.

The booming voice announces him as....The Project Manager.

Each project manager deals with this situation for every new project - facing the project sponsors and working with or through them to ensure project success. What does he need to succeed in this initiative?

1. Sufficient knowledge of who the sponsors are and where they belong in the hierarchy of the organization - the pack order.

2. True knowledge of what is their stake in the project - not just what they publicly say - but what their internal agenda is.

3. Knowledge of their comfort levels, risk tolerances and when thrown into a corner - which would they primarily protect if they can only choose one - scope, cost, schedule or quality?

4. Knowledge of their pain and pleasure points which may include what information does each one want to hear, when and how and what motivational triggers can be pulled if the project manager wants the sponsors to "jump through hoops'.

5. Understanding the defense mechanism of each one. When provoked - will Lion A run away and will Lion B attack? If the project manager knows who will go into the offensive as a defensive - he needs to make sure he knows how best to defend himself.

Balancing between sponsor motivation (the treats), punishment(the whip) and defense(the chair) is a key skill that each project manager should develop. It is so much better to know how to manage them that to find your head trapped between their jaws.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

The Project Management Circus: Act 1 - The Tightrope Walker

I have heard several people in my career say that project management is easy - just give someone a project, resources and a goal and all he has to do is create a plan and monitor it to completion.

This is similar to what I hear from my co-spectators when I see a circus.

Truly, Project Management can be like a circus - in more ways than one and the performers are the project managers.

Take the tightrope walker as an example. What does he need to do anyway? He only needs to walk from end to end - how difficult could that be? Let see...

A tightrope walker, like a project manager, to succeed in his endeavor, would need to

a)know first where is his starting point - including information about how high he is from the ground, is there a net below him, how strong is the post he will stand on before he begis the walk, what is the length of his balancing pole,  how hot the spotlights can be, etc... - much like project initiation

b) know where his end point is and what is the definition of success (eg making it to the other side alive maybe in 5 minutes), what resources does he has to reach the other point (eg does he have a pole to hold on to and use as a balance), how many steps would he most likely need to take and how much can he trust his resources(eg his rope quality, his pole quality or the net quality if he falls). At the same time, he must know the pace he needs to take and how to take the steps - much like planning, contingency allocation and resourcing

c) know how to traverse the rope and keep his balance ensuring that he checks at each step whether he is on the right track or not. He must also know what to do when something goes wrong along the way(eg an ant is biting his armpit - sometimes called management pressure - or when his rope starts to shake because of a sudden wind gust - sometimes called sponsor wind) - much like project monitoring and control

d) know what to do when he gets to the end - if he gets to the end - including putting the pole down first (let go of resources), ensuring both his feet are really on the other end and raising his arms and waving to his adoring crowd - much like project closure and team celebrations.

Easy you say? Maybe...up until you are truly the one walking the rope.