PM Blog: Carl Pritchard

Counting to Ten

2010-08-31T14:32:34-07:00

Ten Techniques to Appear Less Frustrated with Your Project

by Carl Pritchard, PMP, PMI-RMP, EVP

Coming back from vacation, you would think that we'd suddenly all be far more accommodating, understanding and relaxed. Strangely enough, I seem to note that the folks that I'm dealing with seem more pressured and stressed than they did before they took off on holiday. Here are ten simple suggestions on how to either be or appear less frustrated the next time someone pushes you near the edge of frustration.

Count to ten. It's the title of the article, so you knew it had to be here. But it's also effective in buying you just a few seconds to ensure you don't say things that you really didn't intend to say.
Think "Management by Objective." Rather than launching in on the offender's attitude, approach, or sheer idiocy, take a moment to think about where you want them to be when the conversation is done. Move ahead to that moment and identify the outcomes you're looking for, rather than the annoyance you're facing now. And then push backward and ask yourself, "Is this getting us to that objective?" If not, what can you do to point it in that direction?
Walk away. I actually have about a half-dozen excuses to walk away. No one is going to challenge you if you duck into the bathroom. Physical needs always take precedence (just ask Maslow), and it gives you a chance to wash your face and hands and think through a more rational response. (Walking away does not include inflating the emergency ramp on an aircraft and jumping to the tarmac.)
Let them solve it. If you're dealing with someone who is frustrating you no end, keep turning it back to them for solutions that fit your paradigm. If they can't solve it, at least they'll get as frustrated as you are.
Change media. Some people are just more frustrating over the phone. Go see them face-to-face. Some people are just more frustrating face-to-face. Break off and call them later. Switch to e-mail! Try smoke signals! Tone and approach can matter.
Echo. Sometimes folks don't realize just how annoying they are! They can discover it if you echo what they're saying to you, and then push them further down the road. "You should just tell the customer off," they say. "I should just tell the customer off," you say. "How would you suggest I tell the customer off? What approach should I use?" If you let them see the inanity of their suggestions, they may back off.
Acknowledge the frustration and guide the discussion elsewhere temporarily. "You may have detected that I'm growing a little frustrated. I'd like to work on another aspect of the project for a while and come back to this so that we can make our time more productive." It's not insulting in any way, shape or form. It's acknowledging reality and taking the time to make progress in other areas, rather than wasting energy in frustration.
Invite a third party. If you don't seem to be able to handle the discussion well, someone else might be able to enter the conversation more objectively. One of two outcomes will ensue: They can get to the heart of the problem, allowing you all to move forward, OR, they'll realize that the person on the other end of the conversation is the problem and make you feel a whole lot better about your frustrations.
Have a moment of gratitude. You don't have to say a word, but if you can, all the better. Be thankful. Be thankful that you don't always have to deal with this individual. Be thankful for any progress that has been made. Be thankful for being free from pain. Turn Buddhist for a second, and try a version of their common prayer: "May you be happy, may you be well, may you be free from suffering." If you have those three characteristics in your life, you have a lot to be grateful for. The fact that the help desk doesn't know how to stop the blue screen of death on your computer suddenly seems a lot less consequential.
Lower the tone. Most individuals only use the middle range (about 40%) of their vocal range. We don't tend to talk in the lower range, because it takes more air, and it's less familiar. But try it. Try saying: "I'm very concerned right now" in your normal voice and again in the lower range. It takes on a completely different tone. And it sounds like you are completely in control. And oddly enough, when you sound that way, you often move into a world where you are that way.

No one of these suggestions will work in every situation, and some of them may feel awkward or silly to some people. But as everyone returns from their summer holiday, it's important to try to keep the vacation attitude alive as long as possible, whether it be the Jimmy Buffett "Five-o'Clock Somewhere" kind of attitude or the Buddhist prayer. The longer we can keep our frustrations to a minimum, the higher the probability we'll have productive conversations while getting back into the grind.

May you be happy, may you be well, may you be free from suffering.

Carl Pritchard, PMP, PMI-RMP, EVP lives (gratefully) as the principal of Pritchard Management Associates and is a member of the Board of Directors for ProjectConnections.com. He welcomes your comments and insights at carl@carlpritchard.com
©2010, Pritchard Management Associates

A Time to Be Project Positive!

2010-06-18T13:28:17-07:00

by Carl Pritchard, PMP, PMI-RMP, EVP

Let's get the negatives out of the way now. Joblessness. The spill in the Gulf. Foreclosures. That annoying pest in the next cube.

There. We all have negatives. But if ever there was a time to be "project positive," this is it! There is so much to be positive about. If you—

have a project that still has a sponsor,
have a contract that extends more than the next few weeks,
have a project team capable of doing the work,
have people at work who know what you do for a living, and/or
can, at least sometimes, say that you like what you do for a living,

—it is definitely time to celebrate.

My lovely wife, Nancy, and I had the special opportunity a few weeks ago to attend a lecture by His Holiness the Dalai Lama at Radio City Music Hall (sans Rockettes) in New York City. You want positive in the face of adversity? Think about it. Here's a guy who was dubbed the next incarnation of the Buddha when he was an infant, lost his homeland before he could drive, and has been vilified by the Chinese government as an insurrectionist. And when he stepped out on that stage, he was one of the happiest, most positive folks that I had ever seen. He slipped off his shoes, adjusted his robe, settled into a big comfy chair, pulled on an Indiana University visor (the lights were apparently bothering his eyes), and settled in to talk about how wonderful the opportunities we all have are.

In his shoes, I'd still be grousing about having to go live in a monastery before my first date!

What I also found compelling was his ability to tell stories that worked for everyone in the hall on wildly different levels. He spoke of how butterfly larvae stick together after they hatch, and how it's the only way any will survive the impending bird attacks to eventually become butterflies. To some, it was a story of national unity. To me? I could only think of project teams being picked apart by the invisible hand of management.

But to a fault, the Dalai Lama's single most appealing trait was his unbridled optimism. He spoke of the amazing capacity of the individual, but stressed the need to couple that with compassion for those around us. This single, phenomenally peace-loving human being answered an audience question about anger by saying that the only time he finds himself angry is when he sees injustice against individuals. He spoke of the wonder of the United States and its freedoms, which he contends continue to make us the envy of the world.

And when several audience members asked questions which seemed designed to drag him down into the disheartening, the depressing and the malevolent, he made a concerted effort to focus on the positive, the advantages and the promise of tomorrow.

How does all this tie back to our project worlds? As project managers we have amazing opportunities to create something new, to experience the capabilities of others and to construct legacies both personal and organizational. We create artifacts. We engage others. And it's very easy to drop into a mode where we focus on the challenges, the adversity, and the hills yet to climb, without looking back on the landscape that we have already altered. The amount of opportunity and power that affords us in our profession is staggering. And the ways in which we exert influence can be staggering, as well.

The Dalai Lama was asked why the Chinese government fears him. He shared a story of calling for the discontinuation of the collection of animal pelts, particularly those of endangered species. When he asked a friend in India why he traded in tiger pelts, his friend replied that they were too lucrative to pass up. Shortly thereafter, His Holiness called for such practices to stop. He said he received word through "backdoor" channels that a family he knew back in Tibet had heard what he had said, and burned a pile of pelts that had been handed down for generations. The Chinese government had long ago outlawed the ownership of the pelts. But people kept them. But a single word from the Dalai Lama, and they burned them without question. That, he said, is why the government fears him—because people listen to and act on what he says.

I firmly believe the reason people respond that way to him is something we can leverage as managers and project managers. He searches for, and finds, the good in the world around him. We can do that. He sees the long-term view. We can do that. He doesn't waste time bemoaning what he doesn't have. He doesn't waste time bemoaning the injustices of those who would work against him. Instead, like the butterfly larvae, he sticks close to those who share a vision. He looks to the promising aspects of the environment around him. And when he speaks, others want to listen (the hall was completely sold out) because they believe his message is for and about them. Would that we can do likewise.

Carl Pritchard welcomes your insights at carl@carlpritchard.com He is the U.S. Correspondent to the British project management magazine, "Project Manager Today" and has written six texts in project management, including a compendium of his articles from Projectconnections.com titled "Project Management: Lessons from the Field."

The Creative Advantages of Hats!

2010-04-10T10:52:26-07:00

(for stakeholders, risks, the WBS and just about everything else in project management)

by Carl Pritchard, PMP, PMI-RMP, EVP

I confess to being a hat fan. I love them. My first real hat (beyond baseball caps and other sports caps) was a leather Stetson fedora (a la Indiana Jones) from Meyer the Hatter in New Orleans. Before I walked into Meyer's, I was just another guy. When I walked out, I was Carl Pritchard, A Man With a Hat. It's a different persona, and it comes with different insight.

I'm not the only person who thinks this way. Edward DeBono wrote a landmark book on developing creative energy in a group. His book, Six Thinking Hats, focuses on the difference in creativity that can be achieved when you get people to take on different roles.

While DeBono specifies the roles that people need to take on, I just believe that if you adopt a variety of perspectives, you achieve many of the same benefits. And I think there are side benefits beyond creativity as well. Specifically, if you're trying to generate a list of risks, tasks, stakeholders, issues, milestones or almost anything else from a creative team, hats work wonders. They work their magic in terms of data volume, candor and degrees of participation.

Hats and Data Volume

The next time you need to identify a list of risks, try brainstorming with your team. In a reasonable time, they'll start to run out of ideas. When you see the energy begin to drain from the room, get them to try on another hat. Instead of asking, "What are the risks on the project?" try reframing the inquiry. "If you were the customer, what would you see as the risks?" That's right. Have them put on a "customer hat." Think about the range of possibilities here:

the worker bee hat
the executive hat
the admin hat
the procurement hat
the maintenance hat

You can see how the list could go on and on. With each new hat, different ideas will come to the fore. And with each new hat, team members will find energy in the discussion that was otherwise being lost.

Hats and Group Participation

Anyone who owns a nice hat knows the shift in personality that goes with it. When I'm wearing my straw panama, I'm a different person than when I'm hatless. I know if I were to be spotted by someone trying to describe me walking down the street, they'd say, He was the guy wearing the straw-colored panama hat. The hat becomes the persona. Oddly enough, the same thing happens when we're using "hats" for idea generation.

This is extremely useful information in dealing with environments with a disproportionate number of introverts. For those of you who have ever taken the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), you were labeled either an "E" (extrovert) or an "I" (introvert). The American population is loaded with "E"s. There are far many more Americans who tip the scale toward E than I. That actually leads to a problem. The extroverts have a nasty habit of believing that the introverts need to be fixed. If we can just get them past their introversion, they theorize, they'll be better people for it.

First, the I people do NOT need fixing. They're fine, just the way they are. The challenge in the group setting, however, is drawing them out for participation. And again, I think the hats help us there.

Be they introvert or extrovert, if we can get those around us to put on different hats, in many cases, their individual personae are washed away. When we ask, What do you see as the risks?, they may become uncomfortable about sharing their perspectives. But when we ask, If you were in Marketing, what would you see as the risks?, the tone and tenor of the discussion changes entirely. Anyone in this position is now free to say, Well, I don't see any particular risks, but if I were in MARKETING, I'd be freaked out about this, that and the other thing. Suddenly, there is license to share, but the sharing happens in the persona of someone else. As a result, the potential backwash in a creative setting about dumb ideas is gone. If there is a dumb idea, it wasn't the individual's dumb idea. It was the dumb idea of the persona in question.

Hats and Candor

I'm flying out to Florida tomorrow morning. In class this week, I asked my students what risks I face on the flight down. They offered a half-dozen answers, but no-one brought up the possibility of a plane crash. I kept prodding until one woman (Jami) finally coughed up, You could be in a crash and die.

The reaction among her peers was immediate and dramatic. One of her teammates in class quickly shushed her. Another chided her by saying, Jami! Don't say that!

I asked why everyone was so concerned. I said it was a legitimate risk, given the scenario. Jami then voiced their fears, It's just if you say it, it could happen.

Did Jami's revelation in any way increase the probability that my flight would crash? No. But she was wrestling with an age-old concern about self-fulfilling prophecies. If we say it, it may happen.

Back to the hats! If we use hats as a deflection in tough group settings, we give people license to bring up the potential bad news they might otherwise be loathe to identify. They may be far more comfortable saying that Finance or Management might see X as a concern than attesting to it themselves. It's much easier to say that someone else may perceive bad news than putting it on our own shoulders.

As I slip on a series of different hats (to protect the pate under my thinning hair from the Florida sun), and prepare for tomorrow's flight, I find new energy with each option. Gray straw? Panama? Fedora? Brown felt outback hat? It's a tough call. Each hat represents a new personality with different perspectives, attitudes and receptions. The nice thing is that if I decide I don't like the hat, I can always take it off again.

Related Links
Our Brainstorming Meeting Techniques can help keep things moving in a meeting desperate for ideas (or drowning in them). Learn more about how personality types can affect team interactions in our guideline. Risk-shy teams may benefit from using a risk checklist to prompt ideas.

Carl Pritchard welcomes your communications at carl@carlpritchard.com. He can also be found on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. He is the author of The Project Management Communications Tool Kit and was the former speaker's coach at the National Leadership Conference.

Falling in Love with GREAT Communications

2010-01-19T11:04:16-08:00

by Carl Pritchard, PMP, PMI-RMP, EVP

We all acknowledge that a significant amount of our success or failure is rooted in our abilities to communicate. Great communicators are more likely to have great project success. Poor communicators are more likely to find themselves struggling to get their project messages across. And yet we don't invest a lot of time thinking about how to turn our mundane communications into opportunities for others to fall in love with us and our message.

I raised this specter in a recent class and got an interesting array of responses from my students. They suggested a host of fundamental rules and protocols that would simplify, clarify and render messages more powerful and effective. Rather than simply share my insights, I offer theirs here with a simple suggestion. Pick two. Steel yourself to try them consistently. Make them a personal mission. You'll be surprised by the shift.

E-Mail

E-mail is one of the most dangerous media we can choose for communications, and yet, for many professionals it is now the default setting. We use e-mail almost exclusively in some relationships, and as such, we should seriously consider ways to show the respect we want to offer others through our communications experiences.

Student Suggestions:

Be consistent about the use of the To:, CC:, and BCC: lines. To: people are those who have to take direct action related to the e-mail. CC: folks? They're the ones who are being informed, but we want others to know who they are and that they have visibility on the information. Still, if you're on the CC:, there's no need to make a direct response. And BCC: folks should be those who have a need to be informed, but should not be included on the inevitable parade of responses that may follow.
For the Subject line, if the topic has changed, then change it. If there are multiple RE:s, winnow a few out. But no matter what, ensure it has meaning.
And in the content? Keep it down to a single page, printed. If it looks longer, seriously consider formatting it as a document, memo, or more formal communication and attaching it. That much information generally cries out for more extensive formatting.

Voicemail

Both sides of the voicemail experience are challenging. Whether you are leaving the message or sending it, as a manager, you need to seriously consider what's being said and how.

Student Suggestions:

As the person leaving the message, keep it succinct. If you hit voicemail and don't know what you're going to say, hang up. Think it through. Come back. Then leave the message.
Keep it under 60 seconds.
State your phone number and name twice. Once at the beginning and once at the end.
As the person receiving the messages, keep your message brief. If you must leave a long message, start by explaining how to skip your message.
If you want specific information, ask for it. If time zones matter to you, ask for them.

Conference Calls

Conference calls are little more than small (or not-so-small) meetings in disguise. That means that all of the standard meeting rules and practices have to apply here, as well.

Student Suggestions:

Have an agenda, with times, names and objectives
Have each participant identify him/herself each time they speak
Send a pre-call picture sheet with small head-shot snapshots of each participant
Serve as a facilitator, controlling the discussion throughout, limiting interruptions
Encourage the use of the "mute" function
Find out how to kick someone off the call, if necessary, if they abuse the "hold" function (Nothing like listening to Girl from Ipanema in the background while you're trying to settle on a new technology)
If there are any handouts or materials that were sent out in advance, have them on a website as well, so that latecomers came pick them up

Face-to-Face

While you might not think that "hall chat" requires any specific rules or steps, while it's the richest form of communication, it's also one where we have a great potential to expend, rather than build, political capital.

Student Suggestions:

Schedule interactions. Give the person you just bumped into the opportunity to walk away. If they don't have the time to spend with you, they won't be focused on your message. Give them an "out" in case they aren't ready for the face-to-face experience.
Apprise others how long the interaction will likely take. If you say, "Hey, this will only take a minute..." don't take ten. And if you apprise others that you need about 20 minutes of their time, you're affording them the ability to steel themselves for that experience.
Consider personal hygiene. It's easy to forget that you had the hoagie with garlic dressing for lunch, but others won't. Even if they're down the hall, this may be the perfect situation for a phone call.

While many of these may seem like common sense, the odds are significant that there are at least two of them that you tend to forget, let slip, or hadn't considered. This is a wonderful opportunity to see just how pronounced a change you can make in the efficacy of your communications with a very minor level of effort.

Related Links
Setting some ground rules for meetings can help keep them productive during the most frustrating conversations. If you're going to speak up about something, make the best case you can. When leading a project, make sure you know who to communicate with, and why.

Context in Communication

2009-11-18T09:00:36-08:00

by Carl Pritchard

In discussing risk, I often make reference to an episode early in my career when I was driving down the GW Parkway outside Washington, DC in the early morning hours. It was just before dawn as I whipped around the long curve near the CIA. There she was . . . in the middle of the road:

Bambi.

That's right. Morning rush hour in a major metropolitan city, and I'm whacking a deer and becoming the clog in the morning rush hour. This was far from the highlight of my driving career, but it did make a powerful point. When folks ask me about the risks of driving in Washington, I immediately respond: "DEER!"

What's compelling is that I have shared that story so many times, that I begin to believe that everyone has heard it. They haven't. But I often use the term "deer" in my conversations with others about risk to refer to some risk we have "hit" in our careers. I know what I mean. Those who have been in my classes or keynotes know what I mean. But the term "deer" is far from synonymous with "things that you have hit one time in your whole life, but which loom so large that you continually cite them as significant, even though it's a remote chance you will ever hit them again."

Without context, communications among team members is challenging at best. And as we venture through the holiday seasons, we assume that others around us share the same context. Think of the context you have for this time of year. For some, it's snow, sleds, bayberry, and presents. For others, it's church, family, friends, cards, and reverence. For others still, it's a menorah, dreidel, and the history of the Maccabees.

As we manage, we have a habit of invoking terms and terminology, assuming that others share our communications context. We believe they have enough background to know who Yukon Cornelius and the Bumble are. We believe that if we tell someone they're a regular Mr. Potter or Grinch, they'll catch the references. We suspect that if we invite someone over for a steaming bowl of Christmas bishop, they won't think we've gone cannibal on them.

(All of these references are explained at the bottom of this article, by the way).

What's noteworthy is that many of you scrolled down to the bottom of the article to find the one reference that you didn't catch or understand. Context is everything in communications. We squander that little bit of insight far too often. By respecting and appreciating context, we have the ability to build better communications relationships. And we can do it with affirmations that we're members of the same communicating family as those around us. Take this simple holiday test. See how many of these holiday references you recognize:

Jelly-of-the-month-club

God bless us, everyone

I wouldn't touch you with a 39-and-a-half-foot pole

We're the wet bandits!

The Feast of Stephen

My lip's bleedin', Bert!

Brings health to the body and wealth to the pocket

Again, the answers are down at the bottom of the article, but notice how you felt about any of the obscure ones you recognized. There was a moment of self-satisfaction that you knew some arcane reference. And yet, those arcane references can become touchstones for effective communication. For anyone who saw the movie Christmas Vacation, the moment Chevy Chase discovers he's not getting the five-figure bonus he was expected, but instead gets the Jelly-of-the-Month Club, he goes ballistic. He loses it. And his employer is excoriated (and more) for sheer idiocy in thinking that was an appropriate gift. If your whole team has that as a reference, and someone labels an idea as a "jelly-of-the-month-club-class" idea, there's richness to the communication that is captured in that one-line phrase. It's an insider's insight. It's both an inside joke and a clarifying notion.

The ability to use context stems from the natural human proclivity for sharing and accepting information most effectively in stories. We are deeply story-bound. And if we can get others to share their stories, we create a much tighter communications bond. And we can also leverage that bond when we're trying to integrate new parties into our tightly knit communications circles. By letting them in on the lore, stories, and inside jokes of the organization, we make them insiders.

Some communications theorists suggest that the more we can do to expunge context from our communications, the further ahead we are. I believe that's actually counter to effective communications. The real victories are won when we draw others in. And we do that by telling them what we want to share in richer detail . . . not less.

You have a wonderful opportunity at this time of year. With holiday feasting, cousins, and decor, it's a time rich with fresh stories both at work and at home. And if we can get others to share the context that those stories offer, we all win. So try it. Find some analogy that is a perfect fit when someone on your team accomplishes great things unexpectedly. From analogies of Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer to George Bailey, context abounds. Give the gift of higher context. It's a gift that keeps on giving.

CONTEXT REFERENCES FOR THIS ARTICLE

Snow, sleds, bayberry and presents are references to the classic secular Christmas.
Church, family, friends, cards and reverence are often associated with the birth of Christ.
The menorah, dreidel and Maccabees are all references to Channukah, the Jewish Festival of Lights.
Yukon Cornelius and the Bumble are characters in the holiday classic TV special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
Mr. Potter was the evil banker trying to ruin the lovable but hapless George Bailey in the Christmas movie It's a Wonderful Life.
The Grinch is the creature attempting to ruin Christmas in the classic children's book, How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss.
Ebenezer Scrooge offers to take Bob Cratchit out to discuss his future over a steaming bowl of Christmas bishop (a special holiday soup) after his reformation in the Dickens holiday tale, A Christmas Carol.

(DON'T GO FURTHER IF YOU HAVEN'T TAKEN THE QUICK QUIZ IN THE ARTICLE YET!)

God bless us, everyone

Tiny Tim's valediction at the end of the holiday classic, Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol
I wouldn't touch you with a 39-and-a-half-foot pole

What the narrator sings (in a rich baritone) regarding the Grinch in the TV special, How the Grinch Stole Christmas
We're the wet bandits!

The acclamation of the antagonists in the movie Home Alone, screamed as they're being hauled off by the authorities
The Feast of Stephen

The Christmastime Catholic feast prominently featured in the carol "Good King Wenceslas"
My lip's bleedin', Bert!

The moment of revelation for George Bailey that he's back in his own world in the Frank Capra classic, It's a Wonderful Life
Brings health to the body and wealth to the pocket

The last line of the New Years' tradition regarding the superstition that on New Years' Eve, "A bayberry candle burned to the socket, brings health to the body and wealth to the pocket."

Related Links
Previous holiday articles from Carl have highlighted how to layout a hierarchy of stakeholders and the project management lessons taught by A Baker's Dozen of Holiday Classics. Geof Lory believes that, in addition to context, Goal-Driven Communication is critical to team success. If you're searching for context on your technical projects, try diagramming your way to clarity.

Carl Pritchard is working on his holiday season context from Frederick, MD, where he and his elves run Pritchard Management Associates. He welcomes your insights, comments and stories at carl@carlpritchard.com, and encourages you to visit his website at www.carlpritchard.com. ©2009, Pritchard Management Associates

A Project Manager’s Facebook Feed

2009-09-14T10:31:24-07:00

Karl Richard posted a note: HEY!! I Finally PASSED THE PMP EXAM!!

PDU4P
Congratulations, Hey, you only have three years to rack up those PDU's. Better get started now.

PM Fellow
Excuse me, but you seem to have forgotten that it's PMP®, not PMP. You'll need to correct that.

Loving Wife
Does that mean we finally get you back home to do some chores?

PMI Watchdog
Remember that you cannot divulge ANYTHING about the exam, per the PMI® Code of Ethics. Don't foul this up. Your certification could be the shortest-lived in history.

The group Clients Wanting Real Work Done posted a note: Congratulations, on the pimp. Now, will you come back into the office and get some real work done?

Karl Richard
Sorry I've been neglecting you during the time I've been studying. I'm ready to install that DOS interface you've waited so long for!

TechGuru Dave
Actually, Karl, we've moved on to Version 19.7 since then.

Government Client
There's a 19.7? We're still in 2.4. Maybe we should consider updating. Is the Vaporware Software system on GSA Schedule?

TechGuru Dave
Vaporware is EVERYWHERE!!

Commercial Client
We were promised major updates and improvements in Version 19.8. I think that's supposed to be out next week, according to our sales rep. You might want to wait until it's released to update.

1,000 people have joined the network PMI-RMP® Wannabes

100 people have left the network I Believe in Project Management Authority

PMEinstein found a GREAT database. Just click on "Class" and select "Human Systems Failure" from the drop-down. It's an epic evaluation of the history of things we get blamed for!

Karl's Assistant posted a note on Karl Richard's wall:

  ___  _  ____  _____        __  _____ __  __   _____ _____ ____  
 | \ \| |/ _  |/ _ \ \      / / |____ |  \/  | |_   _|____ |___ \ 
 | |\ ` | (_| | | | \ \ /\ / /    |_  | |\/| |   | |   |_  |_  | |
 |_|/ . |> _  | |_| |\ V  V /    ___| | |  | |   | |  ___| | |_| |
 (_)_/|_/_/ |_|\___/  \_/\_/    |_____|_|  |_|   |_| |_____|____/

Karl Richard posted a note on Karl's Assistant's wall: There are consequences to this kind of comment

Karl's Assistant posted a note on Karl Richard's wall: True, but…

 _  _  _____  __  __     ___    __    _  _  ____ 
( \/ )(  _  )(  )(  )   / __)  /__\  ( \( )(_  _)
 \  /  )(_)(  )(__)(   ( (__  /(__)\  )  (   )(  
 (__) (_____)(______)   \___)(__)(__)(_)\_) (__) 
 ____  ____  ____  ____    __  __  ____ /\/\
( ___)(_  _)(  _ \( ___)  (  \/  )( ___))()(
 )__)  _)(_  )   / )__)    )    (  )__) \/\/
(__)  (____)(_)\_)(____)  (_/\/\_)(____)()()

Karl Richard is going home.

Loving Wife
I'll believe that when I see it.

Impatient Client
I presume this means that all of my deliverables are done and you've sent them in to me for review.

Karl Richard is settling back in behind his desk for an evening of work.

Government Client
Excellent! We were hoping to have a 3-hour teleconference with the Sydney office tonight at 9:00 your time. I'll e-mail the dial-in # and passcode.

Impatient Client
I'm hoping this won't stand in the way of our midnight deadline.

Daughter Richard posted a note on Karl Richard's wall: I was going to tell you when you got home, but since you're not coming home, I thought you should know that mom and I are joining the Motley Crue "Cruefest" tour. They said we'll be highlighted on their in-concert "cams"! We'll be back in July. Enjoy your work!

Impatient Client posted a note on Karl Richard's wall: I just checked my e-mail and there's nothing there.

Native Shaman posted a note on Karl Richard's wall: Your request for admission to our meditative community has been approved. Please dispose of all of your earthly goods, including your Blackberry® before arriving.

Karl Richard posted a note: I'm going on a Vision Quest. I'll be back either when I'm done or when the meds wear off and I'm released from observation, whichever comes last.

Karl Richard is offline.

Handicapping Risk: Multi-Factor Considerations

2009-07-08T08:33:46-07:00

That hardly sounds like a title for one of my light summertime columns, but I'm afraid it's all too appropriate for vacations. For high school graduation, we've taken my son, James, on the trip of his dreams. As I write this, we're heading for Oban, Scotland.

In planning the trip, like any good project, we assessed options, evaluated possibilities, and determined that when we got to Scotland, we would ultimately rent a car and drive into the Highlands. It would be my first time driving on the left side of the road.

When I picked up the car, I quickly realized a few things. For one, the driver's side is on the right-hand side. I had been braced for that and the implications of that risk. Second, it was a manual shift. While I learned to drive on a stick, it had been over twenty years since I had experienced that joy. Third, it was a diesel. That didn't seem like a risk consideration, until we hit the road.

For the first ten minutes, I didn't have any major problems, although the on-board navigation left something to be desired. It had a wee bit of a Scottish accent, which did nothing to make me more comfortable. Then, at a light, I slipped the clutch, stalling the car.

Note to non-diesel stick-shift drivers: You can't just pop the clutch for a restart on a diesel. You have to stop. Shut down the key. Restart. Listen to the cacophony of the honking behind you.

When we set out from Glasgow Airport, I had every confidence that I could do the "drive on the left side" thing. And when a couple of small curves were thrown my way on top of that, I really didn't doubt myself. Sure, I could drive a stick! Who cares if it's diesel? I really hadn't thought through the combined effect of all three at once.

On projects, we need to be realistic about the challenges we're facing. All too often, we are given projects that are daunting to begin with, and the customers introduce just one more set of challenges or one more set of considerations that weren't part of the original planning and/or pricing.

If I had it to do all over again, I'd go back to the rental counter and ask for an automatic, or a petrol-powered vehicle.

The PMBOK Guide 4th Edition makes the distinction from the previous edition that there are a host of constraints, not just the triple constraint of old. And as of this week, I'm a believer. We need to re-examine the prospects of our projects thoroughly before we "hit the road." How?

Document the Reality You Believe You'll Be Dealing With

It gets down to assumptions. These are not the assumptions like I assume the sun will come up tomorrow. These are assumptions like: I believe there will be a customer response within a week when I ask questions.

Obviously, we can't predict each and every one of the assumptions that will impact our projects, but we can recognize them when they come to pass, like my diesel, standard-transmission, right-handed car. Assumptions drive risk. So we need to stop, pause, go back to the customer and explain the implications, and then get affirmation that the environment will be as we thought, OR that we will get some special dispensation to deal with it.

Our problems don't surface when just one of those little things occurs during our projects, but when they're compounded. And if we can simply remember to be willing to acknowledge the "little things" one by one, we can preclude them from collectively turning into big things.

Of course, I still have to drive out of Glasgow today. I'll let you know how THAT goes.

Author's note: Made it to Oban alive and in one piece, despite the narrow roads along Loch Lomond. One more stretch (back to the airport), and all of my paranoia will have been in vain—God willing.

[Editor's note: At the time of publication, we had received word that Carl and family arrived at Heathrow in one piece. We hope they remembered which side of the road to use after landing.]

Related Links
Kent McDonald has some very specific advice on recording and verifying assumptions, and how they can change a project. Make sure you know what various risks will be worth to you, or rather what they'll be worth to your project. When things don't go as expected, it's a good idea to have an escalation process in place.

The Case of the Perfect Project Post

2009-04-28T16:11:47-07:00

Perry Mason – Project Management Hero?

by Carl Pritchard, PMP, EVP

Congratulations! You are living in heroic times. Really! Time and time again, we see project managers, team members, and even entire organizations being asked to do significantly more with significantly less. And (for the most part) we rise to that challenge. We make ourselves capable of what might otherwise seem impossible. And still, management asks for more.

At a time when it might seem like a lesson in frustration and fruitlessness to continue to contribute more and more to the cause, we have the opportunity to genuinely shine with some classic approaches, novel attitudes, and a spirit of thanksgiving. And who should we look to for guidance on attitude and spirit? My partner and I are turning to Perry Mason.

Perry Mason, for those too young to remember, was a Los Angeles lawyer (created by Erle Stanley Gardner and immortalized by CBS) who always came out on top, whose clients were always vindicated, and (this is the part I really hadn't remembered, either) who often pushed the envelope of his professional practice. Perry Mason had the amazing gift of being capable of remembering small factoids and leveraging them into significant elements of his case. While his always-surly opponents would object time and again, Perry would convince the judge to allow him just enough latitude to identify the real problem and point the finger at the true villain.

In project management, we often feel shackled by the constraints that are put on us by customers, management, and the project culture. But if we take a lesson from Perry, we may be able to loosen those bonds just enough to set our projects free. There are three basic lessons that we can take to heart:

Watch the little stuff.
If it's legitimate, do it.
Keep your eyes on the true outcome.

Watching the Little Stuff

Perry Mason was the master of nuance. He was always attuned to what people were saying and how and why they were saying it. His ability to zero in on important elements of a case was uncanny, as was his ability to listen. As project managers, we need to nurture those abilities. One simple way is to adopt one of Perry's cross-examination techniques.

Is that everything that you wanted to tell us, Mr. Wimpole?

Perry would then wait. And so should we. We should leverage the natural cultural inclination for folks to want to fill the void of silence with answers. Listening is overlooked as a critical skill and it's one that affords us the ability to build better understanding of what's going on in our projects, our teams, and our lives.

Keeping track of the details we're given is equally important. Della Street (Perry's administrative assistant) is often his memory in those stories. She documents and captures myriad details. While most of us don't have the luxury of a recording secretary at our sides, we do need to find the means to capture the little stuff that we learn through good listening.

For me, the vehicle is e-mail. I am a network administrator's nightmare. I preserve e-mail. LOTS of e-mail. I'm an e-mail zealot. And when I pick up some new insight or factoid? I send myself an e-mail. That way I can find the nugget that might otherwise be lost.

Your mileage will vary. You might use files, spreadsheets, archives, databases . . . FINE! But find somewhere to document and have access to the information you garner through your new zeal for "the little stuff."

If it's Legitimate, Do IT!

This is the second aspect of Perry Mason I've found amazing. He doesn't take pause to overanalyze things before jumping in. If it pushes the case forward, he takes advantage, and does it. In one episode, he buys a Matisse painting to prove his client's innocence. In another, he purchases an apartment building. In each, the prosecutor accuses him of questionable behavior, to whit Perry pushes back with the point that what he's done is perfectly within the bounds of ethics.

I'm not suggesting we go around buying buildings, but we shouldn't be shackled by small stuff. I have a new client who is planning on a total of 20 days of work a year in a 3-year contract. That's 60 days of fully paid consulting work. Only one problem. They insist on a particular type of insurance that's about $300/year. At first, I started working with them to ask how I could avoid that expenditure and whether it was truly necessary, given the nature of the work we're doing. The more I thought about it, however, the investment was a very small contribution in order to win a much, much larger stream of work. And it would do no harm to any of my other engagements. I could have dragged out the discussions and probably won my point, but do I really want to do that with a major new client? No!! I needed to think like Perry. If I need to spend $300 to make the relationship with the client seamless, I'll do it!

While this can get out of hand, it usually doesn't. We're normally very hesitant to "jump in" on these kinds of moments for fear of making a financial mistake or a business error. But one major win quickly erases two or three mistakes. And the time saved through avoiding indecision is equally invaluable.

Keep Your Eyes on the True Outcome

Do you want to deliver a software system, or a happy customer? One thing I've thoroughly enjoyed about Perry is that he doesn't simply want his client acquitted. He wants his clients proven innocent! That's a huge difference. And it goes to the ultimate outcomes.

Take some time at your next team meeting to ask your team members what they believe the customer truly wants out of the work you're doing. Do they really want a new system, or does the customer want efficiency? Do they want a new box on the second floor, or do they want faster systems? Reaffirming the true goals is a critical part of our success. We need to make sure that we know what our customers truly hope for, and we need to be a party to that aspect of success. At one moment in the series, a judge states that he believes Perry has made a sufficient case for acquittal. Perry thanks him, but asks the court's indulgence to present one more piece of information that may clarify some of the lingering confusion in the case.

Within three minutes, the true killer is confessing from the gallery.

Perry's client walks away with both an acquittal and her innocence.

It's easy to lose sight of the vital importance of the end game when we're tasked with producing a product or service. But we can reaffirm this at every client meeting and at every team meeting by asking the simple question, "How will the world have changed when we're done here?" If we answer with, "A widget will be properly installed and running," we may have seriously missed the point. If we answer with, "The client's operations will be improved and those around us will be more comfortable in their work environment," we're probably acting a little more like Perry.

May we all be found guilty of that!

When not watching the Case of the Perjured PM, Carl Pritchard serves on the board of directors of ProjectConnections.com and served as the lead chapter author for the risk management chapter of the Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, 4th Edition. He is a principal with Pritchard Management Associates, author and internationally recognized speaker. He welcomes comments on his articles at carl@carlpritchard.com.

Related Links
Keep track of little things like unexpected action items with one of our list formats. Get your customer's goals and expectations down on paper before you start by capturing the requirements. (Here's how one software exec does it.) If you've spotted a project killer, use these guidelines to speak up before things get out of hand.

A Few Lessons in Blatant Self-Promotion

2009-02-17T14:08:57-08:00

by Carl Pritchard, PMP, EVP

You were great! That was inspired! You’re the best! No one else could have pulled that off! Everyone was impressed!

Those kinds of accolades are hard to come by. And yet, when we receive them, we often take pause and find ourselves saying, sometimes in faux humility, "Oh, no. Really. It was nothing."

Forget THAT! It was something. It was a moment of high accomplishment. It was an achievement. And we need to learn how to leverage those achievements if we’re going to be able to advance our own careers and our goals. A team member at one of my most prized clients recently asked how she might be able to better promote herself and get some of the recognition that she merits in an environment where recognition is hard to come by. This article is largely my response. I told her she needs to invest some time in ensuring that she knows where she notices others and how she can put herself in those positions.

First – Find the Channels

The first step is to ask yourself where others in your field are recognized. Do they appear at international conferences or at the local community college? Do they write blogs or publish formal articles? Do they invest themselves in free public forums or paid symposia? Do they lead meetings or document the minutes? Are they stars or supporting cast? While any of these venues have the possibility of increasing our visibility, we would first identify the channels that are at our disposal for enhancing our professional visibility. If we know what they are, we can then clearly explore how to become part of the circle around them.

Second – Find the Criteria

For the channels identified, it’s important to ensure that we have a common understanding of what the criteria are to exploit the channels. I always find it interesting that folks don’t realize that PMI®’s selection process for their annual SeminarsWorld series begins almost a full nine months prior to the first seminar. Miss that deadline, and you cannot participate. And in order to meet that deadline, it’s essential that you’ve performed certain tasks in preparation. In all, getting a complete entry may begin more than a full year prior to the first offering. For some, that kind of timing is a showstopper. The reality is that it winnows the wheat from the chaff. It ensures that only the serious ultimately participate.

As such, it also creates an opportunity. Knowing the criteria to participate means that there will be individuals not willing to set the schedule and take the time to serve the criteria, and that narrows the field of competition.

Third – Identify “Best Fit” and “Long-Term” Criteria

“Best Fit” criteria are those that most closely align with our capabilities, our goals, and our vision of the outcome. These may be the criteria that are closest to what we’ve already done because we already know how to do them and do them well. These can also be those criteria that engender precisely what we want to do. They may be the criteria that will be the easiest to serve. These are the low-hanging fruit, ripe for quick return.

At the same time, we need to identify those criteria for which there’s a long lead time. If we have that information, we can begin building a case to serve those criteria early enough that we end up among the early adopters.

Fourth – Create the Master List and Master Schedule

Every promotional element or event—from article to coaching session—becomes a critical component of your master list of knowledge, skills, and abilities, and becomes the evidence demonstrating that those skills exist. Where there are gaps, it’s also possible to identify how soon you might be able to fill those gaps and how soon you can construct the evidence that renders you promotable. As for the schedule, remember that it opens the door for you to set loftier goals without making them seem unachievable. Set down the schedule, and even the most challenging promotional aspects of our careers seem more tangible and real.

Fifth – Start Building

The best fit and long term criteria need the first service. If there’s an opportunity to build relationships, articles, presentations or any promotional element, it’s important to start early. This also has the added benefit of creating a sense of forward motion and progress toward one’s personal promotional goals.

Even if the promotional aspects are all internal in nature, we need to pursue these steps. Why? Because no one else will readily step up to be our cheering section. We’re our own best fan club . . . or can be, if we’re willing to act like we merit a fan club. We need to make ourselves proactive and visible if we’re going to be able to have others promote us at some later date.

And oddly enough, the sooner we start promoting ourselves, the sooner we’re able to give others a reason to promote us.

Related Links
Make sure your priorities, goals, and actions are all heading the same direction with this worksheet. If you're uncomfortable with self promotion, try recasting career management as personal marketing. There are many ways to gain skills and experience without spending years living through it.

… and a Partridge in a Pear Tree

2008-12-18T16:08:16-08:00

by Carl Pritchard, PMP, EVP

To: Santa Claus
From: Senior Elf project manager
Subject: Holiday Wish List
Date: ANYTIME

Dear Santa,

I have been a very good project manager this year, so I'd like to ask for the following in the year ahead:

Priorities. I've tried very hard to figure out which toy projects are more important than other toy projects and which come first. Unfortunately, I keep picking the wrong ones, or the ones I pick get superseded by others. Just let me know which one is most important to our success, and I'm on it.
Einstein. (Or the Cabbage Patch Kid, for that matter). I really don't care who I get, as long as I get who I planned for in the first place. I seem to plan for Einstein and get Beavis a lot, and it would be awfully nice to be able to plan to the right resource.
Contingency. I have to admit that I have not been a good project manager on this one. I did tell a lie. I call it "padding." I've been padding only because I don't have a sense that the money or schedule will be there if something goes wrong, and something always seems to go wrong. Even if it's small, I'd love some contingency this year. I promise I'll tell you how I use it.
Transparency. I'd like to be able to see what the contracts elves and the accountants are doing. The more I understand what constitutes "success" in their eyes, the more I'll be able to give of the gifts I'm given!
A Shield for Planning Time. I know asking you to run defense for me is asking a lot. But if you can tell others that "Forget-the-requirements-and-start-working" is not a success strategy, it would help a lot. If you give me more planning time up front, I promise I'll give you the gift of more on-time, on-budget deliveries. It's a fair swap.
A Shiny Red Wagon. Or an Amex Gift Check. Or a box of chocolates. Or a letter of recognition. This one's not for me, it's for my elves. I'd like to be able to give back (in your name) for all they've given through the year.
Some new toys! Microsoft Project is actually in its 2007 edition. Not that I don't like Project98, mind you. Or one of the fancy risk tools like Risk+ or PertMaster. I know they're expensive, but you can hang the neat charts I make on the office refrigerator. Or, I can just use them in my client presentations.
Knowledge. This has always been one of the nicest presents I get from you (even though it always feels like I'm getting underwear or SOX). I just want you to know that training and learning new stuff is still on my wish list, even though it seems like I already must know everything.
Affirmation. Ongoing support is important. Do you remember the time you came into the workshop and told everyone I was on the right track? I milked that for six solid months. A little public affirmation goes a long way.
Honesty. This is what I'm getting you for Christmas, sir. I plan to tell you when projects go awry and when they're on target. You've always been the expert on that "naughty or nice" stuff, so this comes naturally to you. But if you can tolerate a little more news—good or bad—I think it works in everyone's favor.

That's it for this year, Santa. It's all any project manager could want. Unless you want to throw in a GPS like the one you got for the sleigh.

All the best,

Elf Ryschus, EMP (Elf Management Professional)
Senior Elf PM
North Pole Division

Carl Pritchard is the senior elf at Pritchard Management Associates. He is compiling a collection of his ProjectConnections columns to be released next year. He welcomes your holiday well-wishes at carl@carlpritchard.com

PMI® and PMP® are all registered trademarks of the Project Management Institute of Newtown Square, Pennsylvania.