Teachable

Moments
Lessons Learned and
Game-Changing Experiences
Shared by Practitioners
Published by Project Management Institute
14 Campus Boulevard
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 CONTENTS
Foreword ..................................................................................................... 5
The Necessity of Socializing BPI Projects ..................................................... 6
Make Use of Organizational Process Assets ............................................... 10
Find the Disconnect .................................................................................. 13
A Graph is Worth a Thousand Words ........................................................ 17
Learn to Delegate ...................................................................................... 20
My Teachable Moment .............................................................................24
The Project Sponsor .................................................................................. 29
Understand Expectations ........................................................................... 32
Single Project, Multiple Project Managers ................................................. 35
Understand Your Stakeholders ................................................................... 39
Sort Through the Clutter to Identify the Key Issue .................................... 42
Stay Ahead of the Curve ............................................................................ 47
The Importance of Being Earnest .............................................................. 50
Life Lessons from a Park Bench ................................................................. 55
How to Avoid Screwing Up a Perfectly Good Decision ............................. 59
How One Conversation Changed the Way I Thought About Project Staffing ... 64
Team Work ............................................................................................... 69
Take Me Out to the Ball Game ................................................................. 73
Time and Planning .................................................................................... 77
Change is My Life! .................................................................................... 81
Let Them See the Progress ......................................................................... 86
Who is a Stakeholder? ............................................................................... 90
Frustrations are Opportunities ................................................................. 93
Managing Your Workload ......................................................................... 97
The View from the Top Can be Clouded ................................................. 100
“But I’m Not Ready…” The Reluctant BA/PM ....................................... 104
Final Thoughts ........................................................................................ 109
 FOREWORD
We’ve all had those moments in our career as project managers — the
“Teachable Moments” where a light bulb went off and we learned a valuable
lesson. Occasionally, when we are exposed to honest, real world experiences
others have had, we can learn from those as well. It’s these experiences that
shape us as professionals and offer the most opportunity to learn and grow.
How much we grow depends on how open we are to that learning experience
– how much we let each moment “teach” us.

This book is the result of contributions from a group of your peers on

[Link], all of whom want to help you get better at what you
do. I hope you enjoy this gift from our community and that you are inspired
to share your own “Teachable Moment” with us on the site.

— Dave Garrett, CEO, [Link]

 THE NECESSITY OF
SOCIALIZING BPI PROJECTS

by Gina Abudi, MBA

Many years ago, while managing my very first business process improvement
project, I learned the absolute need to socialize such projects long before they
are launched within the organization.

The objective of the BPI project was to evaluate processes for two
departments that were going to be merging. It was likely that organizational
restructuring would occur as part of the project’s end result. Approximately 60
individuals were directly involved and would be impacted by this initiative.
These were the key stakeholders. In my initial conversation with the sponsor,
I asked about taking a few days to share information about the project and get
to know the key stakeholders. I was told “no.” I did not push back (first lesson
learned). There was definitely significant pressure from the sponsor to get the
project moving sooner rather than later. This was due to a number of reasons
— the most important being that the company was merging with another
organization and this project had to be completed prior to the merger. The
team consisted of myself as the project manager and six team members. None of
these individuals were from the impacted departments (second lesson learned).

A number of meetings were held to document the processes used by the two
departments. Only a handful of key stakeholders showed up — and those who
did were not forthcoming. The sponsor intervened and asked the department
heads to “force their employees” to show up for meetings. Additional meetings
were scheduled. More stakeholders showed up and some information was
shared, but still not quite what was needed by the project team.

I finally decided I needed to do something before this project completely

failed. It was clearly heading in the wrong direction. So, I met with the the head
of each department. They told me that the key stakeholders – their employees
— were angry because no one on the team, nor the sponsor, bothered to
provide information about the project nor talked to them about it beforehand.
I decided that, rather than talking my findings over with the sponsor, I was
just going to go ahead and talk with the key stakeholders and try to fix the
situation with them. I was invited to attend the department meetings and
and brought a couple of my team members along. I started the conversation
with the following statement, “I am sorry that I did not communicate more
with you upfront regarding this project.” I then proceeded to talk more about
the project, acknowledged the impact on the departments and asked for their
support in accomplishing the goals. I got the support the team needed.

It took a simply apology and letting the stakeholders vent for a few minutes.
It was worth it.

At the end of the project, the processes in both departments were documented
and new, effective processes were created for the merged departments. During
the team’s lessons learned meeting, we highlighted the need for socializing and
engaging stakeholders before attempting to do any work on the project. We saw
that without that engagement, we just didn’t get the cooperation we needed.

In a wrap up meeting with the sponsor, I shared our lessons learned and
that we were able to complete the project only because we reached out and
engaged stakeholders.

I have learned that every business process improvement project, regardless

of how simple or complex, no matter how “urgent” it is to the sponsor, must
be socialized prior to undertaking the work of the project. Doing so helps to
engage stakeholders(and keep them engaged) in the BPI project.

Every BPI project I had led since that first one has been a successful. I
attribute much of those successes on BPI projects to spending time engaging
stakeholders and understanding their concerns. Socializing the BPI project
prior to beginning the actual work on the tasks associated with the project
enables the BPI project team to more effectively manage the project, the
stakeholders and therefore drive the project to a successful conclusion.
Socializing the project is not once and done, however! Start just before the
project work begins, and continue to socialize and engage stakeholders through
to BPI project implementation. Believe me – you will be glad you did so!

TIPS AND OTHER LITTLE LESSONS

1. Use any number of ways to engage stakeholders early on — small group
meetings, one-on-one meetings, lunch and learn sessions.

2. Share information about the project – why it is happening, the value of the
project to the organizations as well as the individuals within the organization
and what support the team needs from the stakeholders.

3. Continue to socialize and engage your stakeholders in a way that they

prefer — either through email, quick updates, lunch and learns, etc.

RELATED CONTENT

How to be Better at Stakeholder Management

The Intangibles of Trust
Are You Anti-Social?
 Gina Abudi is the President of Abudi Consulting Group and a blogger at
[Link]. She works with Fortune 500 and Fortune 1000 organizations
in the areas of leadership, project management and process improvement.
Gina’s book, Best Practices for Managing BPI Projects: Six Steps to Success, will be
published by J Ross Publishing on March 15, 2015. Gina is also a contributing
author to Project Pain Reliever, J Ross Publishing 2011. Gina is a professional
speaker and member of the Global Speaker’s Federation. She speaks on the
same topics in which she consults and offers training workshops. Gina received
her MBA from Simmons Graduate School of Management. She is the current
President of the PMI Mass Bay Chapter. Gina is an adjunct faculty member at
Granite State College (NH) teaching in both the Master of Project Management
and Master of Leadership graduate degree programs.
 MAKE USE OF
ORGANIZATIONAL
PROCESS ASSETS

by Mike Adams, PMP

President Elect – PMI Otowi Bridge

My first IT project was to implement a major upgrade in our organization’s

HRIS software. This required new contract negotiations, sole source
justification, meetings with procurement and legal.

At the time, I wanted to get this done fast and right. I would circumnavigate
our red-tape and ensure that everything went exactly right.

We received a contract from our vendor, which I reviewed, highlighted,

stuck sticky notes to, and altered so that it was consistent with our technology
standards and support expectations.

After six weeks of back and forth via emails, phone calls, and Web-Ex
sessions, I finally had a contract that met everyone’s needs. I forwarded the
contract to our legal department for their approval, and prepared to send it to
County Council for a green light.

BAM…POW! Legal sent it back, accompanied by our boiler plate contract,

and told me that I needed to fit this contract into the County’s template. In the
end, this added weeks of negotiations with our vendor, I lost credibility, and
some of the support requirements were lost in the mix.

I wanted to blame our legal and procurement departments, but I had to

admit that it was I who had failed to contact them in advance and get their
input into what would be needed. I had completely ignored our Organizational
Process Assets, a mistake I will never make again. Ouch!

TIPS AND OTHER LITTLE LESSONS

1 Read the instructions first. Always.

2. If you still want to circumvent an established process, ask someone in

legal how (and if ) you might expedite the process or suggest a way to improve
efficiency to see if it will be acceptable — before you do all of the work.

3. Try asking colleagues for advice on how they’ve handled organizational

processes in the past — and any pitfalls they may have encountered.

RELATED CONTENT

PMO Responsibility for Process Improvement

Achieving Organizational Alignment
Should Process and Technology Co-Exist?
 Michael Adams is a husband, and father to three boys. He currently works
for Los Alamos County as an IT Business Analyst and Project Manager. He also
operates a small business performing computer maintenance. Professionally,
Michael has led a construction crew, worked as a caregiver for disabled adults,
operated the wire for a brokerage firm on Wall Street, and run the night audit
at a hotel.

After failing at his first attempt to pass the PMP Certification Exam in July
of 2012, Michael was elected to serve as VP of Education for his local PMI
board in 2013. Through hard study and an application of PMI methodology
to his volunteer position, Michael produced a very successful PMP Preparation
course, and successfully passed the PMP certification exam on his second
attempt. Michael now serves as President Elect for his chapter. Check out his
blog, PM-Interface, on [Link].
 FIND THE DISCONNECT

by Nicolle Bourget, PMP

There is an expectation that a project manager comes with a specific set of

skills and a basic understanding of the profession, but this is not always the
case. In one particularly memorable program, I was puzzled by the amount
of overtime and stress that a project manager was experiencing. The project
manager was a long term employee and had a great record of delivering projects
on time and within budget — but something was obviously wrong.

In due course, I asked this project manager for a status report. Specifically,
I asked not what had been completed but rather for him to confirm that the
application development was on track according to schedule. His response
surprised me. He informed me that he was too busy to track that information
and that such status checks were not part of a project manager’s role. After a brief
moment of silence, I regrouped and suggested that we meet the next day for coffee.

After considering several approaches, I decided that I wanted to understand

why he had this view of project management. Our next meeting was a
difficult conversation as I tried to understand the root cause while keeping
the tone neutral. What I discovered was that while the project manager had
been managing projects for several years, he had assumed that checking on
deliverables, touch points, and other status gathering activities were not part
of his role. Indeed, he felt that once a commitment had been made by a team
member, no follow up was required. Rather, he had been dealing with missed
dates by having the team work overtime — even though ongoing status checks
could have revealed the issues well ahead of time.

Further discussion identified additional disconnects.

I realized that I had come onto the project with a number of preconceived
notions; specifically, that project managers have consistent education and
experience. In this case, replacing the current project manager was not an option.
So shortly after identifying the disconnects, I arranged for the project manager
to attend his first project management course. Then, I worked with him to
ensure we had consistency in our understanding of roles and responsibilities.

For the project manager, the results were manifold: He learned a new skill
and took an important step in driving project management practices within
his team and other projects. Now that he had a clear understanding of what a
project manager did, he was able to renegotiate his workload and better able to
control his overtime. Clear processes were implemented which benefited both
the current and, I am told, future projects.

Training and mentoring a project manager during a project is not always an

option. In my practice, I now start a program and/or projects by first ensuring
that there is a common understanding of the project manager role within the
team. When there seems to be different levels of expertise or individuals do
not use the same methodology, I do a short review of project management and
organizational change management to ensure we align on expectations, tools,
and terminology.

TIPS AND OTHER LITTLE LESSONS

1. Get to know your team members and understand their strengths
and backgrounds.
2. Set clear roles and responsibilities for each individual on the team. Make
sure you have expectations, tools, and terminology are in alignment.

3. Get to the root of the problem to find a resolution by asking the tough
questions.

RELATED CONTENT:

Is Agile Undermining the Project Manager Role?

Leadership in Projects: Back to High School
Are You Properly Addressing the Sticky Issues?
 Dr. Nicolle Bourget is a certified project management professional with
experience delivering technology and business transformation projects and
programs. Nicolle has over 20 years of experience working on projects within
different industries and continues to be fascinated by how the human element
impacts project results.
 A GRAPH IS WORTH
A THOUSAND WORDS

by Marc Cadden, PMP, PMI-ACP

As the new lead for a technical team, I had a staff member who felt that
management was not listening to warnings of impending danger.

He had produced 25 multi-colored line graphs that showed the health of

the databases within his responsibility. When I took the stack to the director’s
secretary to include with the executive report, it was thrown away because the
executives found the charts uninformative and worthless.

Since the graphs contained so much detail and information, I could

understand their perception, as I couldn’t make heads or tails out of them!

Knowing my team member was hurt and didn’t feel valued by management, I
asked him to reorganize the graphs and only chart our five major lines of business.

The result was shocking. And, after reviewing the re-designed graphs, the
manager and director were equally shocked. By the end of that afternoon,
senior management had approved a $100,000 project to head off the disaster
my team member had been warning about.

He now felt valued and appreciated and a total shutdown of the production
database system was avoided.

Sometimes extremely intelligent technicians have trouble communicating

their points. Taking the time and effort to ask questions and guide the discussion
can be helpful to the person and the enterprise.

TIPS AND OTHER LITTLE LESSONS

1. If you’re having trouble communicating, try explaining the issue to
someone outside of your industry. If you can make them understand, your
communication should be simple enough to resonate with your target audience.

2. Show the connections between your points. Often, we jump to conclusions

without laying the groundwork to explain how we reached those conclusions.

3. Try boiling down your communication to three key factors. If more

information is needed, you can always offer it when asked or needed.

RELATED CONTENT:

Visual Communication Methods for Project Managers

Improve Burndown Charts for Your Projects
The Dangers of Visual Project Management
 Marc Cadden, PMP and PMI-ACP, is a coach who happens to be an IT PM
by trade. Marc began his career as a programmer/analyst and now works with a
team of motivated individuals to achieve a shared objective while watching out
for the company and his team. With over 15 years of experience, Marc’s key
strengths are in communication, mentoring and development.
 LEARN TO DELEGATE

by Mark Crisp, Prince 2 Certified

In my earlier days as a project manager, I was given my first big major IT

project to manage. Up until that point I had worked on small projects with
only a handful of staff working with me. With limited resources, I was used to
chipping in and helping out with some of the work — especially around some
of the requirements and design work. However, with a big project, I had almost
40 staff working for me with specialists in all the areas that I had previously
gotten involved., I also had the luxury of being able to use graduates straight
out of university who didn’t necessarily have all the relevant skills but were
brimming with enthusiasm.

It was always quite difficult to find them things to do and keep them
occupied so that they wouldn’t get bored.

There were a number of quite complex parts to this project and it was
not naturally obvious how they all fitted together. I was keen to get a diagram
of our Work Breakdown Structure on the wall so that everybody would be
able to see how the whole project fitted together. I was about to sit down and
create this picture when one of my colleagues asked me: “Why are you doing
that?” Misunderstanding, what he meant I started to explain how the project
was complex and I wanted people to understand how it all fitted together. He
interrupted me and said “No, why are you doing that? Why don’t you get one
of the graduates to do it for you?”

I must admit, up until that point, I had not even contemplated giving the
task to anybody else. I did not think that any other members of the team had
enough knowledge of how the WBS worked to be able to create the picture I
was looking for. However, my colleague persisted. He told me that my time
would be better spent doing “proper” project management tasks. I reluctantly
agreed to give it to one of the graduates on the team as I was concerned that the
graduate would see it as a menial task and not worthy of his talents.

Two days later the graduate came back with a work of art. He had managed
to take the WBS and create a picture that clearly showed how everything fitted
together. Not only that, he had done it in a way that made it stand out by
colour coding the various strands and including other information about the
teams. He had far surpassed my expectations of what was possible. If I had
done it, I would have rushed it off quickly and the whole thing would not
have had the desired impact. As a result, we were able to blow the picture up
to poster size and pin it on the wall of the office. When the team started using
it whilst talking to people unfamiliar with the project to show how the project
was structured, I knew it had done it’s job.

It turned out that the graduate who had created the WBS had really enjoyed
doing the task as he had been able to learn things about what you could do in
the tool that he had used to create the WBS. And, more importantly, whilst
putting the picture together he had significantly increased his knowledge about
the whole project. He had gained from the experience as much as I had.

From that point on, I have never been concerned about delegating work to other
members of the team — no matter how simple I think the task may be. Clearly, it
is important to get the balance right. If you delegate absolutely everything then
you become redundant. However, trying to do everything by yourself is a recipe
for failure. Most people relish the opportunity to take on additional responsibility
and delegation is a good way of being able to give them that opportunity.
 TIPS AND OTHER LITTLE LESSONS
1. Don’t forget to say “please” when you delegate. Be appreciative.

2. Have faith in your troops. Delegating shows your team that you recognize
their competence and skills, which builds trust.

3. Remember, your team members can’t grow unless you give them the
opportunity.

RELATED CONTENT:

Delegation Checklist Template

Reverse Delegation
The Fine Art of Delegation
 Mark Crisp is a highly skilled and dedicated Prince 2 practitioner with
solid project management and ITIL service delivery management experience.
He has a strong background in leadership and planning, implementing an
ITIL infrastructure, managing a major client account and heading up a range
of infrastructure implementation projects.
 MY TEACHABLE MOMENT

by Dr. Steve Eidson, PMP

My teachable moment came at the beginning of fall semester in 2012

while in the midst of taking care of the challenges of loading new classes into
online course shells, monitoring enrollment for our division, and working
with individual students to facilitate their registration process. This three week
period each semester is always fast paced and stress is the norm.

A young lady in her mid-twenties, a first time student at our school, had
just brought her information to me to complete the registration process for
her. We discussed the number of classes she wanted to take, how many hours
would be involved, and what she could expect from the online environment
which is our program. She was very excited, exuberant, at the possibilities that
she saw in our program, Logistics, for her future capability of providing for her
family as a single parent. She closed out this encounter with a request to use
our computer lab to do her work as her computer was not operational. I asked
her when she would like to use the lab and her response was in the mornings
and that she would be in about 8:00 the next day to get started.
 To be very honest I did not think very much about her request. Over the
course of the last 6 or 7 years I have had several students make similar requests,
most of which do not carry through or only occasionally take advantage of the
opportunity. To my surprise the next morning at 8:10am there was a knock at
my door and the young lady was there, books and materials in hand. I opened
the computer lab for her and did not see her again until noon when she came
by my office to let me know that she was leaving.

Over the course of the next month, on at least four mornings a week and
sometimes five, she was at my door — at 8:10 am and stayed working in the
lab until at least noon. She became a fixture in our building and her grades
reflected the intense effort that she put into her studies.

During one of her study breaks, I questioned her concerning her computer
and whether or not she had been able to have it repaired. She sheepishly
responded that yes, it had been repaired. When I further queried her as to why
she continued to come to the lab every day she provided this response:
“This is my job. I get up every morning get dressed, get my kids off to school
and come here to do my work. I put in at least four hours a day here. Then
I leave, grab a bite of lunch, and then go to my other job. This keeps me
disciplined and on track with my goals. It also then gives me my evenings
free to be with my kids and help them to achieve their dreams.”

In May 2014, after taking a full load of classes every semester, she
graduated (with honor!) with two Associates degrees, one in Business
Logistics Management, and the other in Operations Management. On the
day of graduation, she was offered a full time supervisory position within the
organization for which she had worked part time for two years.

In my work as an instructor and now an Associate Dean, it is very easy to

become somewhat jaded and cynical in my work with students. There are many
who want the shortcut, the easy road, the prize with the least amount of effort
put forth to obtain it. This experience with my student taught me two very
valuable lessons that have, I think, made me a better leader and a better person.

First, it is never a good thing to develop stereotypes. In the majority of

instances the stereotype that we create is largely inaccurate. It may have some
elements of truth based on individual experiences but to categorize each
individual within a group as self-serving, lazy, or looking to get more for less
is extremely derogatory to the person and, in many cases, leads to failure in
the accomplishment of overall goals and objectives. In the arena of project
management this is critical. If resource decisions, stakeholder communications,
and contract evaluations, just to name a few of the critical elements of project
management that involve people, are made on the basis of stereotypical profiling
rather than objective evaluation disaster is being courted.

Second, labelling individuals in our minds limits the level of potential that
we see in them. These limitations cause us to not see the varied ways that
individuals can utilize their existing skills and develop new ones. In the Six
Sigma world, the under-utilization of individuals is a form of waste that should
be eliminated. Each person must be viewed as an individual giving them the
opportunity to show their character, their commitment, their skills, and their
behavior. As managers, we must search for the potential in people and empower
them to maximize that potential for their benefit and the organizations.

The young lady mentioned above helped her local fire department worked
on a project designed to place smoke detectors/fire alarms into the homes of
individuals that could not afford to purchase or have them installed. Within a
week of the project’s completion, an elderly woman was awakened by the alarm
after she had fallen asleep on the couch to a grease fire blazing in her kitchen.
The woman was able to leave the house unharmed as the result.

The role that I played in all of this was minuscule, opening a computer lab
for a student to complete her coursework. The lessons learned, however, were
monumental and have given me the motivation to continue leading projects,
working with individuals to achieve their goals and striving for the success of
the college where I work.

TIPS AND OTHER LITTLE LESSONS

1. Don’t miss out on opportunities by making assumptions. When you make
assumptions about a person or team member, you may be missing out on
an opportunity for a successful outcome.

2. Try testing your assumptions the next time you find yourself making them —
 challenge yourself to answer why you are making the assumption in the
first place.

3. Try checking in with yourself from time to time to see whether your
perceptions are accurate.

RELATED CONTENT:

Making Assumptions... About People

Cultural Lessons from a Controversial Comedian
Generational Issues and the Difficult Employee
 Dr. Steve Eidson, PMP currently is the Associate Dean for Academics
with the Center for Business Solutions at Albany Technical College, Albany
Georgia. Prior to this appointment he was an Instructor for 11 years teaching
in the Business Logistics and Operations Management field. He holds a Master
Certificate in Six Sigma from Villanova University, is a certified PMP by the
Project Management Institute, and also a Certified Economic Developer
Trainer from the Technical College System of Georgia. His doctorate is in the
field of Conflict Management.

In his tenure at Albany Technical College he has led major projects such
as the development of the school’s Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP), the
development and implementation of the Business Logistics Management
degree program and the Operations Management degree program, and the
development, implementation, and instruction of two certificate credit programs
resulting in Six Sigma Green Belt and Black Belt certifications for students.

Dr. Eidson and his wife of 46+ years, Sherri, have three adult children and
six grandchildren. They have lived in Albany, Georgia since 1978.
 THE PROJECT SPONSOR

by Gregory Fabian, PMP

As project managers, we know that our most important stakeholder is the

project sponsor. Having an effective project sponsor can make all the difference
in the world, especially if you are responsible for managing an enterprise scale
IT project. Several years ago, I was responsible for managing the enterprise
content management system for a government agency. The IT Office managed
the system, which supported the program offices and administrative functions
of the agency. The project sponsor was a division manager in the IT Office.
Because he was a first level executive, he didn’t have the “clout” to influence
executives leading the other program offices. As a result, our project, which was
a high priority for the IT Office, wasn’t a priority for the program offices. It was
very difficult to gain any traction in getting the project off the ground.

The project sponsor would have been more effective if the agency had
created a project advisory board staffed by executives from the program offices.
These executives could then assist the project sponsor with transmitting the
importance of the project to the other program offices. If your project sponsor
can’t articulate the business priorities of an IT project to the stakeholders, then
enlist the stakeholder executives to help with your messaging. If the project
isn’t important to the executive stakeholders, then it certainly isn’t important
to the people working for them.

TIPS AND OTHER LITTLE LESSONS

1. When identifying stakeholders, look for the person who is responsible for
the results produced by the project.

2. Try looking for informal sponsor. Who is ultimately impacted by the results
of your project?

3. Find out how your sponsor and informal sponsor are measured and show
them how your project will help.

RELATED CONTENT:

The Dangers oF Executive Commitment

Upward Diplomacy
Headway PM: Enroll Sponsor
 Greg Fabian, PMP has over 30 years experience working on IT projects as a
project manager, PMO project management consultant and technical strategist
with the federal government.
 UNDERSTAND EXPECTATIONS

by Carlos Augusto V. de Freitas, CAPM, PMP

One of the most amazing things that I’ve had opportunity to learn is that
we should listen and understand people’s expectations — whether coming
from a team member or an executive.

In one project that I led a few years ago we did not consider a risk indicated
by the project team. The risk became real and we had to quickly cancel a system
implementation — generating a negative impact on the organization and
IT area.

Years later and while at another company the same situation happened
again. But this time, we responded to the risk and the implementation took
place as planned.

TIPS AND OTHER LITTLE LESSONS

1. Make an effort to really listen by removing distractions. Put away your cell
 phone, close your laptop and focus on what the other individual is trying
to say.

2. To make sure you understand another person’s position, try repeating back,
“If I understand correctly, you are expecting that….”

3. Sometimes the art of conversation can get lost in email. Try picking up
the phone.

RELATED CONTENT

Expectation is Reality
Expectations ‘R’ Us
People Love Change — As Long As They Can Predict and Control It
 Carlos Freitas is a project & portfolio management and pmo specialist
with over eight years of Project Management Education. As the Executive VP
at PMI, Rio de Janeiro Chapter and as a PMI volunteer since 2007, Carlos
has over ten years of in IT(Development Systens, CMMi, Infrastructure,
Telecommunication), Engineering projects (Oil & Gas sector, E&P, Wells
Engineering, Drilling, Basic Engineering), Logistic and Supply Chain, Hospital
& Health Care industry; Production (Chemistry industry).

Iil and Latin America to receive a CAPM(Certified Associate in Project

Management)

Carlos has also taught several courses in strategic management, CMMI,

Executive Communication, Negotiation, Project management.
 SINGLE PROJECT,
MULTIPLE PROJECT MANAGERS

by Clay Fuller

If you are an experienced IT project manager, you’ve probably run into

the scenario of a software implementation project with a third party vendor
that has their own project manager assigned to the effort. The vendor project
manager has more experience and knowledge of the product and how the
project will progress. After all, he implements this product at one company
and then another. I’m sure the challenges change somewhat depending on the
customer but knowing the insides and outs of the product is a big advantage.

As a corporate project manager, This has always been a delicate circumstance

for me because a supervisor always says, “I don’t want the vendor to lead this
project. I want you to manage the project and not let the vendor control
things.” So, you sit back and assess the situation... highly visible software
implementation, big revenue potential, strict due dates... vendor with expertise
in managing the project... while you can barely pronounce the name of the
software. But it’s your project to manage. So, here’s what I’ve learned:
 Get to know the vendor project manager. One of the first meetings I have
scheduled is a project manager “Summit.” I keep the agenda loose. I want to
understand the mentality of my counterpart. I ask how they generally work
projects, what documentation they use, what has and hasn’t worked in the past.
Then I try to give them a feel for the business side. I explain the players involved
in the project and give some detail on their role and history on other projects.
The key is to develop a rapport. Hopefully, we can relate on the challenges that
project management generally presents. I have found is that third party vendors
welcome the aid of the corporate project manager more often than not.

Get aligned on Project Charter. Most third party vendors have project
documents they recycle for each new effort. The key here is to customize
the look and feel to what is common for internal projects. Generally, I don’t
worry about the project charter format. If the vendor has their own charter, it’s
often difficult to change and probably best addresses the effort. I try to ensure
that all project team members are properly defined, along with their roles
and responsibilities and the project goals represent what has been established
internally. I focus on making the project plan as recognizable to our team as
possible. If additional data elements are added that are not common for our
internal projects, I try to work with my counterpart to remove or hide during
reviews with the team. I try to make sure simple things like our company logo,
colors and typeset are used. Generally, I use our standard lessons learned and
closure documents. Vendors may or may not be interested in this part of the
project but I’ve never had any issues with defining the format.

Successfully completing a project, working with a third party vendor and

satisfying management is like walking a tightrope. It takes a very delicate
balance to keep all parties satisfied and the project moving as scheduled.
Vendor relationships are almost always contentious, especially with projects
that have cost the company significant dollars and delivery is key strategic goals
and initiatives. Any setback quickly leads to finger pointing and exasperation.
Sometimes management does have to press vendors that are not fulfilling their
obligations and, as a project manager, you must support this pressure. However,
the project manager is a unique role in that, as most have realized, you must
make everyone happy. To do so, take advantage of the comradery with your
counterpart in project management. Remember that the end goal is to meet
the project objectives and deliverables as defined in your [Link] may need
to refresh your management on these goals throughout the effort and focus
on achieving the key milestones versus complaining about minor [Link]
successful, you create a win-win-win scenario where the project is completed
successfully, your managers are satisfied with the results and the vendor has met
their requirements on time and within budget.

TIPS AND OTHER LITTLE LESSONS

1. Have a breakdown list indicating who is responsible for what and define
the boundaries of their authority. Make sure that your breakdown list is
clearly understood and supported by the critical stakeholders. Once you
have their support, publish the list of accountability and responsibilities.

2. Get to know your project manager counterpart by taking the time to know
him or her as a person rather than as an opponent.

3. Establish clear lines of communication and attempt to understand your

counterpart’s concerns with using a process that is unfamiliar to him/her.

RELATED CONTENT:

Have You Worked with Multiple Project Managers?

Political Skill for Project Managers
External Pressures
 Clay Fuller has more than 20 years experience in project management and
technology innovation consulting. Today his primary focus is leading companies
in business intelligence efforts that take advantage of the big data revolution
by providing unprecedented insight into performance, opportunities and risks.
Follow him on Twitter @realcaf.
 UNDERSTAND YOUR
STAKEHOLDERS

by Debra A. Gagne, PMP

I have a story from my past that illustrates the importance of understanding

who your stakeholders are.

Color printers were new technology at the time and I was tasked with
implementing them. How fun! I procured several — and in the process learned
all about color and printing technologies. I created interfaces and print drivers
so any PC could print to them. Created many pretty documents. But what I
failed to do was to understand that the stakeholders who would be creating
color documents were the folks over in communications and design. They were
the real target users — the “technology outliers.” They were using Macs — a
technology that I knew nothing about and had not figured out how to print
from. My 6 month project turned into a 12 month project due to my lack of
initiating the project properly.
 TIPS AND OTHER LITTLE LESSONS
1. Do you research on your stakeholders, either through direct conversations
or researching online or in the field.

2. Don’t assume that you can think like your customer. To understand your
customer or other stakeholders, speak to them directly. Ask the questions.

3. To learn what resonates with your customer and stakeholders, find out
where they spend their time. Sometimes it can be helpful to see where they
are interacting with one another and how they are using a particular product.

RELATED CONTENT:

Who is My Customer? And What is My Relationship?

It’s Not About You
Customer Facing Ground Rules
 Debra A. Gagne, PMP is a Project Management Professional with the
Office of Information Management and Technology (OIMT). Debra is a
special assistant to the Chief Information Officer and is involved in a variety
of projects including; open government and open data, technology training,
project management, and constituent interaction management.

She is the Past Administrator for the Information and Communication

Services Division for the State of Hawaii. Prior to joining ICSD/OIMT
Debra was with the HR Outsourcing firm, Hewitt Associates, headquartered
in Lincolnshire, Illinois. Debra spent 27 years in Information Systems at
Hewitt. She was instrumental in building the foundation for a world class
IT Enterprise. She led the corporate task force for Business Continuity and
Disaster Recovery. She was instrumental in developing the global printing
strategy and architecting leading edge print, fax and imaging solutions. As
Enterprise Operations manager she was responsible for Data Center Facilities
Management, Service Delivery, Technology Change Management, Incident
recognition, response and resolution and Crisis Management. She also was
intimately involved in the Certification and Accreditation processes necessary
to outsource Federal Information Processing Systems.

The daughter of a retired Marine, Debra grew up in the State of Maine.

Attended the University of Maine at age 16 after graduating high school in
three years. She relocated to Hawaii with her family and as a family they enjoy
biking, fishing, swimming and movies.
 SORT THROUGH THE CLUTTER
TO IDENTIFY THE KEY ISSUE

by Marv Goldstein, PMP

Projects have many moveable pieces with lots of events simultaneously

going on. Some of these events are good, like the emergence of a superstar team
member. Other events may not be as positive, as challenges with technology
issues, budget and schedule constraints, communication problems or team
member conflict. Most of these issues can be addressed by a skilled project
management professional. An experienced project manager would be aware of
the issues and implement a get-well plan.

Every so often an issue arises that is a show-stopper, something that may

threaten the project from continuing. The challenge is to quickly identify any
severe issue amongst the noise of everything else going on. There can be false
positives where an issue seems like it warrants greater attention that it truly
deserves due to the emotions involved. Likewise, there could be a subtle issue
that is persistent, like the constant drip of water from a facet that can be your
project killer.
 Several years ago, at a previous company where I worked, I came across
such a persistently subtle issue, masked by the emotional turmoil of other
events that proved terminal to the project.

POOR TEAM DYNAMICS

I worked on an information technology (IT) project to replace a customized

but antiquated software tool. I joined the team in year two of what was to be a
four year project. The project had high stakeholder visibility.

Most of the focus was on the emotional-charged bitter relationship

between the IT and business groups. In short, there was a very low level of
trust and therefore communications were strained. At weekly meetings, past
“indiscretions” were often recalled by each group as well as claims that the other
was the cause for the project’s delay. The IT group claimed that the business
group wanted to control the coding effort by listing prescriptive rather than
descriptive requirements. Instead of citing what a requirement should do, the
requirement centered on how development should take place.

The business group, on the other hand, had low respect for the IT group’s
technical capabilities and let their feelings be known. Also, the business group
insisted that the software tool NOT be rolled out in phases but all at once. The
feeling was that the IT group would halt development after the first phase. As a
result, this requirement made the project unnecessarily large and cumbersome
to manage.

TECHNOLOGY ISSUES

In addition to problems with team dynamics, there were also technology

issues. First, several requirements went beyond what current technology
could deliver. The business group was betting that the technology would be
commercialized in time to be incorporated into the software. Second, the
technology group could not consult with the company that developed the
software being used as it had been bought by another company several years
before. The purchasing company no longer supported the product that was
being customized. As a result, the IT group had great difficulty customizing the
software to meet the requirements.
 STAKEHOLDER CONCERNS

The software tool was a key component by staff in supporting our top client
and therefore project visibility was high. As can be imagined, the stakeholders
were concerned as the project was already two years behind schedule.

I was involved in negotiating a number of corrective actions. To address

our first issue, which was the dysfunctional team dynamic due to a lack of
trust, we held several workshops with the two groups. In these workshops,
we addressed the points of contention and worked towards creating a positive
working environment. Additionally, a contractor was hired to serve as a neutral
third party to evaluate the project and recommend key decisions.

Our second issue to tackle was having poor requirements. The requirements
were rewritten to be more descriptive rather than prescriptive. Any requirements
that were based on futuristic technological advances were also rewritten to
current technical capabilities. Finally, a consultant, having a knowledge of the
software was hired to address areas when there were coding challenges.

We still had the major issue of addressing all of the stakeholders’ concerns.
Some stakeholders became more active in the project given them a greater sense
of control as well as an in-depth understanding of the ingoing development.
Also, weekly project updates were provided to all stakeholders.

It turned out that the emotionally charged issue around team dynamics
became the central focus of the project. However, the critical issue was that
the software consultant and IT team were having difficulties customizing the
software — but this issue was buried in the weekly reports and was further
masked by the optimistic reports of a “can do” attitude that “they will work on
it until they figure it out.”

Unfortunately, the customization issue stressed the schedule to the point

where the stakeholders shutdown the project.

My lesson learned was to be a better listener and to take an analytical

approach to managing the projects. Be careful not to let emotionally charged
issues mask the true critical lynchpin issue that can kill a project.
 TIPS AND OTHER LITTLE LESSONS
1. Listen more effectively by allowing the speaker to completely finish his or
her thought. Avoid interrupting.

2. Don’t make assumptions — always clarify and make sure you completely
understand what is being said. Ask questions.

3. Don’t get distracted by emotional issues. Try focusing on the root of the
cause rather than getting caught up in the negativity.

RELATED CONTENT:

The Art of Active Listening

Listen Up!
To Lead: What Questions Should You Ask? And When?
 Marv Goldstein, PMP, is a Program Manager with a legislative branch
agency. He previously served as the Director of Research for an international
project management training company. Marv has a Master’s Certificate in
Project Management and has extensively spoken on the subjects of project
management, competitive intelligence and knowledge management.
 STAY AHEAD OF THE CURVE

by Kevan Gray, PMP

My teachable moment came the first time I submitted a major project

update after a highly visible initiative started to get behind. I noted that the
project shifted from green to yellow in the areas where the project was behind.
Unfortunately, the team found out that I was moving the project to yellow
at the same time as those who received the update. There was a backlash. A
number of the participants were upset that they were not told in advance or
given the chance to course correct first. I had been holding meetings and they
knew they were behind but they didn’t know the transparency was going to be
coming that quickly to the rest of the organization.

After listening to the team’s frustrations, I learned to be a bit ahead of

the notification curve. I now let the team know in advance that if course
corrections are not made by the next status update that I will update the
status and notify the organization. I also now make them aware of the
specific items I will highlight as causing our delays. This has been received
much better and the team’s desire to avoid public sharing of a downgrade
in status actually keeps them more productive on the project, leading to
less delays overall.

TIPS AND OTHER LITTLE LESSONS

1. Don’t rely on email as your main form of communication. Many emails
remain unopened or just get deleted. Instead, communicate changes directly
with your team members.

2. Presume positive intent. When a team member criticizes your communication,

presume that their intention is to make things better.

3. Prepare your team for what’s ahead by making a roadmap of delays/changes

available for everyone to view.

RELATED CONTENT:

Does Your Team Spend More Time Fighting Than Working?

Communicating Well With Your Virtual Team
Effective Teaming
 Kevan Gray, PMP is a Technical Project Manager for Buckle in Kearney,
NE. He has earned the PMP from PMI and is a CSM and has over four years of
experience as a project manager and has an MA in Writing Studies from Saint
Joseph’s University and an MBA from the University of Nebraska — Omaha.
His current professional interests are growing in his knowledge of integrating
Agile software development practices within waterfall project frameworks,
developing high performing teams, and continuing to learn and practice
characteristics that are exhibited by great leaders. He is also an avid runner.
 THE IMPORTANCE
OF BEING EARNEST

by Justin Horning, PMP

When I read through old project closure surveys, I can almost pinpoint
the exact moment that the team member formed their submitted response.
Probably because so many of the responses are results of those small teachable
moments we find ourselves with in every project - those small opportunities to
both fix the issue and coach the team member. They’re really wonderful for the
team and can help them grow in so many areas, but who remembers to find
those teachable moments for the project manager?

We often focus so hard on what’s being done around us by our teams that
we neglect to take a step back and look at the things that directly involve us. I
don’t mean the stuff that sits in our project plan, work breakdown structures
or RACI charts. I’m talking about “our work”— our most powerful work (and
I’m still not talking about deliverables). I’m speaking about the bigger, but
more subtle pieces that can impact us all as PM’s — relationships.
 Now, conventionally speaking, I think we all consider ourselves to be
experts and to be perfectly self-aware. You might even find yourself (as I did)
saying that this should be obvious. But trust me, it’s not. I spent the better part
of four months just figuring this part out.

It all happened three months after I had started at a new company. I had
inherited a project that was fairly complex and big in its scope. It had a new
sponsor and a new business lead and both were people whom I had not worked
with before. Everything started off well — we launched and made good on
our first few deliverables, hit our milestones and even recovered from a failed
attempt to bring a new system online. But, for some reason, the business lead
seemed incredibly upset with me. I couldn’t figure out why.

A few short weeks after our last milestone, things finally broke down and
the gloves came off. We spent hours trying to delineate exactly what level of
detail was needed and how it should be relayed to the teams. In these tense
meetings we really got nothing done. It must have shown because I was even
getting calls from my sponsors asking why the business lead was so frustrated.

I was in a downward spiral and getting nowhere fast. So, at the end of my
proverbial rope, I headed out for a drink. Over the course of a few rounds
and explaining the situation to a dear friend, I finally got the message: It was
because even after months of working together, the business lead knew nothing
about me. She had zero insight into how I was as a professional and had no
confidence that I would be there to finish delivering the goods. And, to be fair,
beyond always hijacking my meetings, I knew nothing about her, either.

So, this is where the story starts to change. I set out to give us a chance
to speak to each other more outside of any regular project check-ins. I started
meeting with her early in the morning a few times a week before leaving for the
office. We spoke in earnest about everything — and the results were nothing
short of miraculous. In less than a week, we developed a better working
relationship, a better sense of alignment and an actual bond of trust. The
conversations weren’t always about our work. In fact, most times they had
nothing to do with work — but those lines of communication were now open.
We were, for the first time, talking. Just knowing that I would be there to
communicate honestly provided her with a big boost of reassurance.
 Over time, once there was a feeling of familiarity, the morning calls slowly
tapered off. We both understood our roles and (probably also for the first
time) understood the true tasks at hand — which is exactly where we should
have been at the start of the project. In the end, the project still presented its
challenges but it was made infinitely easier by having a better relationship with
my business lead. Confrontations, escalations, even breaking tough news to
executive stakeholders — I knew I always had her full support.

So, part of all of this is a big teachable moment and cautionary tale to my
peers. Never assume any of your project team knows anything about you. Take
the time you need (from the start) to have those conversations with everyone.
Take the time to form a bond and communicate informally to them (especially
your sponsor and business lead). There is something to be said about building
trust within your professional circle — it creates a sense of consistency and
really helps to bolster your profile with project team members. Not only will
they feel more empowered to do the tasks set out before them, but they’ll also
feel more comfortable with bringing those bad news issues to you before they
really impact your plan. So get to know one another, the chances are, it just
might make a difference.

TIPS AND OTHER LITTLE LESSONS

1. Never assume that any of your project teams knows anything about you.
Assume that you will have to open up a bit.

2. Try taking a few minutes each day to talk to your team members about non-
work related things. Ask open ended questions to give them the opportunity
to share, such as, “How was your weekend?” or ask their opinion on
something that recently appeared in the news.

3. To build the relationship, be genuine and sincerely listen when your team
member shares with you.

RELATED CONTENT:

How Do You Build Trust with Your Project Team?

Creating Trust in a Virtual Environment
What are the Most Challenging Pain Points Amongst Your Team?
 Justin Horning, PMP, is a consultant, mentor, and co-chairs a non-profit
learning group founded to promote Project Management practices across the
many lines of business at Morneau Shepell. Justin is an accomplished project
manager and aspiring leader. His passion and enthusiasm have made him a
sought after lead for complex initiatives.

Justin began his career in global piracy film forensics where he ran
international projects, tracking the distribution of copyrighted content across
the world; his work in this covert unit was featured in WIRED magazine in
April 2011. Justin now works with Canada’s leading EAP/HR consulting firm
and is currently running projects in Children’s Support Solutions to transform
how Canadians get services to support and nurture their children with various
learning and cognitive differences. Justin is currently pursuing Six Sigma Green
Belt certification.
 LIFE LESSONS FROM
A PARK BENCH

by Matthew Jackson, PMP

We all have pivotal moments in our career that stick with us and form the
storyline of who we are. I’m a mash-up of many such stories.

Early in my career while working for a software startup in Seattle, we had

an opportunity to make a sale to a client that would put our tiny business on
the map. The risk was… we didn’t yet have the product features they wanted
to buy, and they were far larger than any prior customer, so my area, software
implementation, would be a real challenge.

Our CEO convened a meeting of all of his direct reports to get input and
weigh the pros and cons of the opportunity. We all gathered around the table.
Each person took their turn discussing how their department might handle the
challenge, then making a go/no-go recommendation about the deal. Everyone
was aware of the challenges, but were in favor… everyone except me.
 Yep – I was the one to rain on the parade. Logical and rational points about
why it was too great a risk, but still the only no vote.

The CEO dismissed the meeting by thanking everyone for the input and
promising to get back to us in a few days about his decision. But he asked me
to stay.

I remember it like it was yesterday. He said, “Matt, I am going to do

something for you that my boss did for me when I was at about the same stage
in my career.”

Okay, gulp, I don’t know what it is, but I can feel it coming.

He invited me over to window of his corner office. It looked down into a

city park that was usually occupied by homeless people having a nap and then
occasional purveyor of recreational pharmaceuticals.

“Do you see that guy down there? The one sleeping on the bench?”

“Yes, I see him.”

“I could hire him to come up here and tell me what I can’t do. I hired you
to tell me what we can do. I am not mad or anything, just take a day or two to
think the opportunity over, and if you are still sure we can’t do it, let me know
what we can do that will get us close.”

Huge life lesson: Challenges at work are about figuring out how to get it
done with what you have, or at least getting close.

Thanks for that one, Tom.

TIPS AND OTHER LITTLE LESSONS

The next time you find yourself in a similar situation, try the following:

1. Take a deep breath and don’t be tempted to say the first thing that comes to
your mind.

2. Ask a question to bide time while you pull your thoughts together.
3. Always lead with the positive and mention potential negatives as something
to consider.

RELATED CONTENT:

Ten Tips to Effectively Communicate with Stakeholders

Hungry for Feedback
Upward Diplomacy
 Matthew Jackson wants to live in a world where people live fearlessly and
technology takes care of the mundane so humans have more time to connect.

As the President of Jackson Consulting, he’s worked with some of the

nation’s best-known software companies and has spoken about, contributed to,
and authored numerous white papers and blog posts on software operations,
leadership, project management and turnarounds on LinkedIn, Seattle Product
Camp, The PMI Innovation and New Product Development Community of
Practice, Portland PMI, The Guide to the Product Management and Marketing
Body of Knowledge (ProdBOK©), and the Jackson Consulting blog.

His latest whitepaper — Task Based Training, Connecting Systems Training

and User Needs — is now available.

When he’s not helping software companies scale, you can find him on the
Cascade mountains skiing with his kids or exploring new places.

Discover how to turnaround trouble and create operational excellence at

[Link].
 HOW TO AVOID SCREWING UP
A PERFECTLY GOOD DECISION

by Andy Kaufman, PMP

“I can’t believe they think that’s a good decision.”

I was leading a team of truly talented software developers. We were good

and we knew it. However, there were some organizational changes decreed
from on high that didn’t make sense to us. In my youthful ignorance, I set up a
meeting with a leader about three levels above me. He accepted the invitation.

I boldly explained how his recent announcements were upsetting people in

the department. I went so far as to say, “Bob, you’re not making the ‘What’s in
it for me’” clear.

Bob was quiet at first. Then he responded with a statement I’ll never forget.
“Andy, sometimes it’s not about you. It’s about ‘what’s in it for us.’”

Check. Mate.
 I walked out of his office — humbled — learning a critical lesson.

Yes, explaining the “WIIFM” (The What’s In It for Me”) is important

when we communicate our plans. When we make project decisions or deliver
announcements to the troops, they are likely filtering our messages through
self-interested lenses. They want to know what this means to them. To their
promotional opportunities. To their mortgage payment.

Too often, we wrestle with options and then render a decision. But when
we communicate it to our teams, we fail to get their buy-in because we neglect
to explain the reason behind the decision.

Author Robert Cialdini explains in his book Influence: The Power of

Persuasion that, “A well-known principle of human behavior says that when we
ask someone to do us a favor we will be more successful if we provide a reason.
People simply like to have reasons for what they do.” So, make the WIIFM
clear when you can.

But sometimes it’s not about what’s in it for one particular person or team.

The announcement about layoffs? That decision to outsource work to

service providers? The reorganization that leaves me with yet another new boss?

Some decisions are more about the What’s In It for Us than What’s In It for
Me. Maybe the decision is about value to our organization as a whole. Or our
customers. Or another part of our company.

One executive told me “this is the first company I’ve worked at where one
department would be willing to give up a dollar of budget if another would
benefit by more than that.” You may not work at such a company, but if that’s
the reason behind a decision, explain it.

But what if you’re not the person communicating the Why. Rather, you’re
on the receiving end, as I was. You’re scratching your head in disbelief, like me.
What’s the lesson for us?

You could schedule a meeting with the leader three levels up. A large
helping of humility might be a good breakfast choice, if you do. Even if you
just ask your boss or project sponsor, it’s worth seeking out the Why behind
their decision.
 Later in my career, I had a boss who previewed an upcoming reorganization
with his direct reports. I asked him, “What would you say are the primary
benefits of this reorg?” Interestingly, he couldn’t answer the question. It
illuminated the fact that before announcing the reorg, we had better sharpened
up the message or reconsider the wisdom of the change.

If the Why isn’t clear, seek it out. My last example notwithstanding, there’s
probably a reason. Remember that it may not satisfy your need to know What’s
In It for You, so be prepared to accept What’s In It for Us.

As I look back on the humbling discussion with the executive years ago,
there’s one last lesson I’d like to share. I left his office that day benefiting from
a teachable moment. But I wonder if he did. What I mean is, he didn’t follow
his own wisdom. The plans they were rolling out had a reasonably compelling
What’s In It for Us. But for all my complaining about the lack of WIIFM and
his wisdom about WIIFU, his earlier announcements didn’t deliver. They did
not even come close to communicating the Why behind the decisions.

When we find ourselves thinking we’ve dispersed highly valuable wisdom

to someone on our team, let’s make sure we don’t miss any leftover lessons for
ourselves.

Don’t screw up a perfectly good decision. Learn from my teachable moment

— and his.

TIPS AND OTHER LITTLE LESSONS

1. Remember to communicate the “why” behind the decision. For example,
after making an announcement, trying following up with “The reason we
are doing this is...” or “We have found that we need/should do this because...”

2. Follow the chain of command by going to your supervisor (and not the
CEO) first.

3. When explaining why, be sure to set the context and tell your team how it
will affect them.
RELATED CONTENT:

When Good Leaders Make Bad Decisions

Real Leadership Communication Planner
The Essential Role of Communications
 Andy Kaufman, PMP helps organizations around the world improve
their ability to deliver projects and lead teams. His keynotes, workshops, and
executive coaching services have reached tens of thousands of people from
hundreds of companies, helping them deliver their projects, become more
confident leaders, and deliver results. Andy is a certified trainer and author of
Navigating the Winds of Change: Staying on Course in Business & in Life, Shining
the Light on The Secret, and an e-book entitled How to Organize Your Inbox &
Get Rid of E-Mail Clutter. He is the host of The People and Projects Podcast,
which provides interviews and insights to help listeners lead people and deliver
projects. You can learn more at [Link].
 HOW ONE CONVERSATION
CHANGED THE WAY I THOUGHT
ABOUT PROJECT STAFFING

by Susan Kennedy, PMP

Years ago, I received a call from a high level manager in another part of our
large IT consulting organization.

“Susan,” he said, “I understand you used to work for ABC Company

before joining us. You know we just won a large consulting project with them.”
I confirmed that I had worked at that company and it had been a wonderful
experience.

“I understand the president of that company is a woman,” he continued.

Yes, I replied, the president was a woman who had been in the position for
several years and I had met with her on multiple occasions.

“What I’d like to know, in your opinion,” he said, “is do you think it would
be better for us to place a woman in charge of her project?”
 Excited that a woman would be given the opportunity to lead such a large
account, I said something like, “I think that would be great! Yes, it would be a
great idea to put a woman in charge of the account. The president is tough and
business savvy and she’s used to dealing with tough guys, so I think a woman in
charge of the project would be something she would really appreciate.”

We discussed the opportunity a bit more and the manager asked me a few
more questions to get a better understanding of the culture. Just before ending
the call, I came back to the question about putting a woman in charge and
asked, “Is this what you were thinking also?”

I will never forget my sense of shame at his answer. In a very few words, he
opened my eyes so that I couldn’t close them again.

“No,” he said. “I’m old fashioned enough to think it would be better to

put the best PERSON for the job in charge of the project.” Before I could even
form a response, he hung up.

I sat for a few minutes re-thinking what I knew about equal rights. Hadn’t I
been taught that women were under-represented in higher level jobs and that we
should do everything possible to promote them? When given the opportunity
(and all options being “somewhat equal”), you should give preference to the
woman or minority over other candidates? Especially when staffing for a client
that was of that same minority class?

I felt my cheeks burning as I sat there mentally re-playing the words, The
best PERSON for the job... best PERSON for the job... best PERSON for the
job.” Ouch. I had just been called out for discrimination, while repeating what
I had been taught to think. I was wrong.

And, as it turned out, I was badly wrong. Over the next year I kept up with
what happened at the account. Our company did end up putting a woman in
charge of the project. It was a miserable failure and she left the company. The
wise staffing manager was right: The best person for the job would have been
by far been the best thing to do.

Most likely, the female project manager wasn’t as well qualified as another
candidate might have been. She was given preference because she was a woman.
Additionally, I realized that the woman president of the company probably had
no preference for a male or female project manager; she just wanted the job
done right.

That one moment of shame forever changed the way I thought about
staffing. I never again recommended someone for a job based on anything
other than “best PERSON for the job.” I’ve since had the opportunity to staff
hundreds of people in projects around the world. I always try to remember
to stay focused on who would be the best PERSON for any job I’m staffing.
I mentally change the sex, race, ethnicity and anything else I might know
about the candidate so I can keep focused on the job qualifications. I remind
myself that the best person for the job will always do better than the best
political fit.

Years have passed and I’ve long forgotten who the wise manager was who
changed my thinking. I have wished many times that I could thank him for
reminding me that discrimination has no place in the workplace, no matter
which direction it goes or what’s in vogue.

We all have a special gift that no one else can duplicate. Try to find out
what that gift is for each person you’re matching to a project. Encourage people
to develop their gifts and do your best to help them on their way — regardless
of the incidentals of their birth. We’re all here for a reason and if you happen
to be fortunate enough to help someone find their reason, be thankful for the
honor and move on to the next one you may be able to help. The world will
be better for it.

TIPS AND OTHER LITTLE LESSONS

1. What are the talents of each of your team members and who is the best fit
for which project?

2. Develop your team members’ talents based on their needs, not their gender
or ethnicity.

3. Focus on an individual’s qualifications and how he or she can best contribute

to your team.
RELATED CONTENT:

Hiring: Getting it Right the First Time

Consultant Checklist Template
Don’t Hire Heroes
 Susan Kennedy, PMP, has over 30 years of experience leading teams. She has
successfully managed information technology and human resources projects
globally. From 2012 to 2014, she served as the Vice President Professional
Development for the PMI Dallas Chapter. She has managed projects across the
US, Canada, Mexico, Europe and Asia. Susan and her husband own Granite
Group International Inc., a consulting services firm, and they manage a real
estate business in the Dallas area.
 TEAM WORK

by Harold Kerzner, Ph.D.

Faculty members who teach project management courses are always

challenged with coming up with ways to stimulate students and get them
to perform as a team. Several years ago, I learned that students can be quite
competitive and that competitiveness can be quite effective when used as a
form of motivation.

One typical method is to assign case studies to the students, break them
into teams, and have each team compete to come up with the best solution.

Several years ago, I came up with a different approach to stimulate in-class

teamwork. I prepared a statement of work (SOW) for a project. The SOW had
some “holes” in it forcing assumptions to be made. I broke the class into teams
and each team was given two weeks to price out the SOW and submit a sealed
bid for the project. At the next class, each team would have to stand up in front
of the class and defend their position.

I told the students that in preparing their defense, they must first justify
their assumptions. If all of their assumptions are correct, then their bid is
probably correct. If the assumptions are wrong, then it probably does not
matter what bid they submitted. This is similar to how people often have to
defend their doctorate dissertation.

This worked very well for several years. Then, in my “teachable moment,”
I added in a new requirement. All of my classes were graduate evening courses
with the average age of the student in the 30s. I told the students that if the
low bidding team can justify their bid, then after class we would all go to the
nearest bar (which was close by) and the rest of the class must buy a round or
two for the low bidding team AND ME. If the low bidding team cannot justify
their bid, then the low bidding team must buy a round or two for the rest of
the class AND ME. (Obviously, you see the benefit to being the instructor and
using this approach.)

With a liquid prize now part of the assignment, the class did an incredible
job dissecting every word in every assumptions. For each presentation, the
team had to begin their presentation with a list of assumptions and justify each
assumptions. Over the years, I have used the same SOW for the course. The
bids as a result of the pricing effort ranged from $2.5 million to $6.5 million
based upon the justification of assumptions. In end-of-course evaluations, the
students always remarked how much they liked this exercise. And, as expected,
so did I.

TIPS AND OTHER LITTLE LESSONS

1. Explain the “why” behind the project — motivate your team by showing
them why this project is important and how it will make a difference.

2. Consider offering a reward based on performance. The opportunity to

win even a small reward can increase competitiveness and serve as a
motivational tool.

3. Express appreciation and recognition for work well done and reminding
the team how their contributions will impact the final outcome.
RELATED CONTENT:

Motivating the Who Cares Resource

Eliminate the Fear Factor
The Most Important Lesson in Motivation
 Harold Kerzner, Ph.D., is the Senior Executive Director for Project
Management for the International Institute for Learning (IIL) [Link].
He has a MS and Ph.D. in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering from
the University of Illinois and an MBA from Utah State University.
 TAKE ME OUT
TO THE BALL GAME

by Terry E. Kuhn, PMP

In my first project management role, I was a leader for a grounds crew at

a baseball and softball athletic complex for a non-profit. It was a $100,000
project and I was an 18 year old college student. The complex had flooded the
year before and we were rebuilding the complex grounds with six fields, new
bleachers, some common areas, and rehabbing the buildings.

We had a tournament scheduled for June that we did not want to reschedule
because it brought in significant money from the concession stand sales. By the
time the week of the tournament arrived, the fields, common grounds and
buildings were in pretty good shape. However, the wooden bleachers on the
largest field closest to the concession stand had been significantly damaged by
the floods. We tried in vain to rehab the bleachers but ultimately we had to
replace the boards.

There were four stanzas of bleachers that consisted of iron frames with
wood steps, floorboards, seats and backs. Each had ten rows that required
40 pretreated boards. This didn’t include the steps so we were also looking at
additional boards for the bleachers that were roughly the same size. So, once
we factored in the steps we estimated 200 boards, which were delivered at
2x12x18, to complete the job. They were $25 each providing a total of $5,000
worth of lumber. For a non-profit, $5,000 was a sizable amount of money.
Since the boards were longer than what we needed, we planned to cut them
to size.

It was about two days from the tournament, and in addition to the normal
preparation we still had to rebuild the bleachers. While it was tight, I thought
we could do two sets one day and two sets the next. I was thinking ahead that
we would do do one stanza on each side of the field the first day and the other
stanza on each side of the field the next day. That way, in case we were unable
to complete them all , at least each side would have one good stanza.

So, I measured the seat and back on the first two rows of bleachers. The
boards came out to 14 ft. 10 in. each time. Knowing that we had a tight
deadline and to save time, I decided that we should cut the boards needed for
the seats, backs, and floorboards for the first day right away. We proceeded
to cut the 80 boards while several on my crew began removing the old boards
from the iron frames.

But when we went to attach the boards to the iron frames, they were two
inches short. When we checked the other stanzas for size, they varied from 14
ft. 10 in. to 15 ft. 3 in. In addition, when the boards were removed from the
iron stanzas, the stanzas bowed out from an inch to a couple inches. None of
the boards we cut could be used for the floors, seats, or backs. Some of the
boards were salvageable for stairs and a couple could be attached as seat backs
using metal brackets.

What I learned from the first day of replacing the bleachers:

• Remove the old seat, back, and floor boards one row at a time to prevent
the frame from bowing outwards

• Take the time to measure the length you need for each new board

By following these practices, day two went smoothly. The end result was
each side of the field had one good stanza and each side had a stanza that
had some seat backs held together by brackets. We didn’t have to purchase
additional lumber but we did spend $100 in hardware that was unplanned.

TIPS AND OTHER LITTLE LESSONS

1. As the saying goes, “Measure twice, cut once.”

2. Remember, everyone makes mistakes. Mistakes happen. It’s how you recover
that counts. If you make a mistake, own it and think of a solution. Then
move on.

3. Try using Risk-related Tools & Templates to be better prepared.

RELATED CONTENT:

Crunch Time Casualties

The Back-Up Plan
Project Failures = Reputation Risk
 Terry Kuhn, PMP has more than 20 years experience in project management
and people leadership. He a is PMP certified with a BA in Communications,
and a BS in Information Systems.

He has spent the past 15 years leading projects, and coaching and developing
project leaders through intranet design, training program development, and
strategic initiatives within the financial services industry.
 TIME AND PLANNING

by Travis McLane, PMP

Our team is working currently working on various features for our web
application. Included in our development backlog was the request to build
a reporting tool. This new feature was something that our organization had
desired for several years. This tool would be similar to functionality already
included in our web application, but different in the complexity that it would
consist of.

The original specifications provided to our team consisted of between

750-1000 new [Link] two main stakeholders were influential members
of a statewide consortium who, because of their expertise, were tasked with
providing the specs. Our team focused on the feedback received during design
sessions with these two stakeholders and developed the new functionality
within a few months.

As we entered into the initial beta test phase, I left it up to one of the two
major stakeholders to identify and form the beta test participants. Needless to
say, the beta test provided little feedback and thus no progress was made and
so I decided to approach our sponsor about beginning a pilot test phase with
offices around the state using the new functionality in production. Initially,
six offices agreed to participate in the pilot. Over the next couple of months, I
conducted conference calls with the pilot teams and received valuable (and real
world use) feedback from the teams that would have made so much positive
difference if applied at the beginning of the development phase.

However, our major statewide production release was postponed just

before the release partly because one of our deliverables (a printable version of
the report) was deemed not fit-for-use. The project was placed on hold until
additional specifications could be provided to our team. Fast forward several
months and we finally received an updated specification document from
our primary stakeholder. The new specs required significant enhancements
to the data entry screens. After a couple of months, our team completed
the enhancements and presented them to management only to have the
primary stakeholder state that they liked the previous versions of many of
the screens better.

In addition, the original project schedule deadlines had longed passed even
with significant buffer built in. The schedule is one area in which I learned the
most during this project.

We are approaching the point for starting another pilot phase with two
offices around the state in which they will use the latest version of the reporting
tool in hopes that we can finally release it statewide to all of our field offices in
early Spring, two years after beginning the original development.

TIPS AND OTHER LITTLE LESSONS

1. Never rush to identify and create a technical solution without first spending
adequate time analyzing current business processes to ensure that a new
technical is appropriately vetted or even needed.

2. Include stakeholders at all levels of your organization, including end

users, in identifying requirements and features early in the development
process, even starting during planning. Ensure that there is adequate and
 regular communication between the project team and management so that
expectations are realistic and that priorities are consistent.

3. In addition to tasking those doing the project work with providing estimates
for their work, compare those estimates to other projects of similar size
both within and outside your organization as well as implementing
techniques such as three-point estimating.

RELATED CONTENT:

Measuring Quality in a Schedule

Capturing Schedule Updates
Practice Area: Scheduling
 Travis McLane, PMP has 21 years of experience with the Florida
Department of Health and has functioned in the role of project manager for
the past three years. With more than 12 years of software testing and business
analysis experience, Travis has a strong background in user software training
and over 18 years of classroom, virtual teaching, and software help desk
management experience.

Travis is certified in software testing, business analysis, and project

management certifications. He obtained CompTIA Project+ in 2014 and
the PMP in 2015. In addition to performing project management duties, he
thoroughly enjoys staying involved in testing and business analysis tasks. His
current development team is small, enabling him to stay more closely involved
in the day-to-day, technical work.

Outside of work, Travis enjoys playing/writing music, hanging out at local

coffee shops, and continuous learning.
 CHANGE IS MY LIFE!

by Heidi P. Martin, PMP

My job currently involves the Change Management side of Project

Management. I have been a Project Manager for over 8 years and doing the
work without the title for longer than that. I recently moved to Houston
to help bring an amazing group of people within the sphere of Project
Management. I have done this kind of work before, moving groups through
change. For those who haven’t done this before, let me share a little about
what I’ve learned.

I start with research. I look at data, documents, laws, regulations, computer

drives, interview people... you get the idea. As unglamorous as it sounds,
information overload is an important piece for the one guiding the change,
especially if you are the new kid on the block. You can’t do much if you don’t
know what is going on; or if you can’t talk about what they are concerned
about. If you haven’t listened first, they may not believe you are the one they
should follow through this change. The most important piece of successful
change management is the people. If you cannot get the people to buy into the
change, it won’t happen. Old habits and practices die very hard and rise again
and again from the ashes of change when you least expect them.

I have worked on change management for maintenance work in

environmentally sensitive areas and for groups moving to new project
management software. I was brought in to implement Project Management
practices for this company. To make a change with people, you must:

1. Incrementally change what they believe – What do they believe Project

Management is?

2. Help them understand how it affects what they do now and how it will
change what they will do. – Documenting, communicating, measuring,
and tracking.

3. Show them it is a good thing — WIIFM (What’s In It For Me) How

will this make my life better?

How? I do some of this through training. In Houston, I started by teaching

some classes on Project Management to the staff. Everyone is welcome,
administrators through owners. If we are all going to do this, we all need to
understand what is happening. To come up with topics, the PMBOK is helpful
for people with experience, but I used that more as a supplemental resource.
Topics come out of where are we now and where do I need to get them. Using
that, I know some general topics I need to touch on but it is important to be
flexible. Crisis’ will arise and need to be discussed. If these aren’t dealt with as
a part of the planned presentation, they might come up in the questions and
answers. It is always better to be proactive and look at the potential lessons
learned based upon real life, not just theory. Those will stick with them longer
than almost any other lesson you can come up with.

If I am giving weekly or bi-weekly classes, they are about 30 minutes of

content and then open up for questions. The first class probably won’t generate
much discussion but listen to what they do talk about. Feel free to ask questions
of the group. At the next class, I teach another topic, usually something easily
digested but begin to introduce more technical terms or concepts almost
as an afterthought, just planting seeds. When I taught a second class on
communication in Houston, we figured out that by the time we got to the
end of a project, we had 231 potential individual discussions going on! At that
point, I began my soapbox about documentation. The next class talked more
about communication and documentation but also began to touch on WBS.

For those of you who have mentioned WBS to non-Project Managers,

you’ve seen the confused looks and vacant stares this causes. It was the same in
Houston. This is probably one of the hardest concepts to have them understand
and then change their behavior correctly and keep it changed. However, since
we actually need to implement this, I mention in briefly early on, define it,
discuss it briefly and move on. In each progressive class, I discuss it more and
touch on a little more detail. By the third touch, I showed them a graphic of a
Gantt chart to help explain in a graphic way what my words were telling them.
Since it can take seven times to get something to sink in, I’ve got a ways to go,
but I just keep laying groundwork as I go.

In order to implement change, remember above everything else to always

keep listening. There is a lot that needs to be communicated to guide people
through changes. But, as these changes begin, the information and people
change. Now, the original assumptions are no longer true. It is important to use
the concept of re-baselining here. One or more of the original conditions have
changed… now what? You will find people that will give you useful insight
into the heartbeat of the company. Tap into them often. But don’t exclude the
others. It is important to have a balanced perspective and for everyone to feel
heard. Change is hard and change when you feel alienated is even harder.

TIPS AND OTHER LITTLE LESSONS

1 Lunch and Learns can be a great way to bring co-workers together. Or, try
a Coffee Break meeting where you provide coffee/tea and small snacks.

2. Change can come in many different forms. Try to be proactive to anticipate

the different forms you may encounter.

3. Change can be hard for some. When dealing with those experiencing
difficulties, take the time to truly listen to their concerns and let them know
that they are heard.
RELATED LINKS:

Practice Area: Change Management

Projects are Easy, Change is Hard!
Critical Success Factors Assessment Template
 Heidi Martin, PMP, DTM, is currently Project Management Director for
a firm in Houston, Texas. She has been a Project Manager for over 8 years and
involved in Project Management since 2000. Ms. Martin is a California Licensed
Landscape Architect, Project Management Professional (PMP), Toastmasters
International Distinguished Toastmaster, and Trained Facilitator, Trainer, and
Training Developer. She has been involved in Project Management with projects
including project delivery, environmental coordination, maintenance issues,
change management, ADA, and software. She helped guide the development
of customizations and training; coordinated the delivery of training; and wrote
guidance for new Project Management software for the California Department
of Transportation in San Diego, California. The delivery of training included
scheduling over 400 students and a pool of trainers and, at times, also teaching
up to 9 separate courses.
 LET THEM SEE THE PROGRESS

by Michael Parry, BA, MS, PMP

A number of years ago I started working for a major consulting organization

as a director of about 60 people who ran a number of projects each year. I
was told that I was to improve the effectiveness of the organization and the
revenue and profitability of our projects. Initially, that seemed reliant on my
traditional management skills and so I took the job, believing that I could
make a difference.

Each employee of the organization was compensated partly through salary

and partly through a bonus. Bonuses were paid in March of the year following
when they were earned. One part of the bonus was calculated based on revenue
of consulting projects versus the goals set for each year. The second part of
the bonus calculation was based on the profitability of the projects that the
individuals were involved with. But in the past few years, due to decreased
revenue and profits, the bonuses had become very small. After getting to know
my fellow employees, it became apparent that many had different projects and
everybody seemed to have different approaches and values. So, it was a bit
challenging to bring the organization to a level of effectiveness that my boss
wanted.I started taking notes about who wanted to do what. Almost everyone
said that the bonuses would be nice if they could happen again at the level they
apparently did in years prior.

So, the challenge for me was: How can we sell more projects and make
them more profitable? What must I do to make that happen?

Most people were just concerned that they weren’t getting the size of bonus
they hoped for. But few understood the likelihood of what the upcoming
bonuses would be.

Then an insight came to me: Make everyone knowledgeable about the

inputs to the bonus calculations (revenue versus goals and the profitability).
Initially, I thought we should have meetings to educate those who didn’t know
what the revenue and profitability of their projects were. But then I had an out-
of-the-box thought. Why not make it apparent, on a daily basis, how we were
doing, in a way they could easily understand?

The initial solution was a computer monitor on the entry corner of our
office that showed a graph of the revenue versus goals and the profitability of
the projects. After a week or so of this, it appeared that a significant amount
of interest was developing. But after a few comments and a realization that
not everyone was working on the same projects, I decided to create an online
version of these charts. The online versions could be tailored to the individual
projects that a person was assigned. They could view the graph online even if
they were at a customer site so long as they had computer access. By adding
a bonus calculation formula, people could then get an estimate of what their
future bonus might be. Bottom line, the lesson I learned from this was: If you
want people to achieve a goal you must give them an opportunity to see their
progress towards achieving that goal. Just telling them about the goal is not
enough — people must have a sense of progress so that they can adjust their
actions to better meet the goal. Of course, another important part is that for
a person to achieve a goal, they have to understand how it will impact them
(positively and/or negatively), so they can adjust their actions and behavior.
Ever since, I have always tried to connect what others are doing with what
outcome, from their perspective, will likely take place.
 So the results were in. In a little under two years, it was the best year in the
history of the organization. Attributable, I think, to the consistent ability of
the people to track their progress and adjust their behavior to better be able to
achieve their own goals.

TIPS AND OTHER LITTLE LESSONS

1. If you want people to achieve a goal you must give them an opportunity to
actually see their progress towards achieving that goal.

2. Use visual aids to demonstrate the impact of reaching the goal (or failing to
reach it).

3. Fight boredom by regularly updating progress.

RELATED CONTENT:

Workforce, Business and Project Objectives Template

Motivating the “Who Cares?” Resource
The PM Finish Line
 Michael Parry has extensive project management, business intelligence and
analysis experience as a consultant, coach, facilitator or executive coach for
difficult projects. He is also significantly engaged as an instructor for public
and private client courses through multiple PMI Registered Educational
Providers. Areas of expertise are focused on making things happen with a solid
understanding of the environment in which they have to happen. He serves as a
key figure in a major consulting organization, directed the sales, conceptualizing,
designing, building and delivering of complex enterprise-wide solutions
and strategies, with emphasis on financial, energy and government clients.
 WHO IS A STAKEHOLDER?

by Sarah Ross, Ph.D.

I was delivering a PRINCE2 course in Brisbane, Australia in 2008 and

asked the delegates how they defined or perceived stakeholders. As a New
Zealander,you can imagine that there was a certain level of friendly jousting
and bantering that went on. One delegate responded “It is the person holder
the meat (steak) at the BBQ.”

For a moment I thought this was taking trans-Tasman micky to a new

level. But then he continued: “The most powerful person at the BBQ is the one
holding the meat, the most influential is the farmer who raised the cow and it is
the neighbour (vegetarian or meat lover) you neglected to invite who smells the
BBQ across the fence. A Stakeholder is anyone who is sniffing your project!”

TIPS AND OTHER LITTLE LESSONS

1. Ask yourself, “Whose work activities will change as a result of this?”
2. Identify the people who are responsible for the results.

3. Don’t forget the customer touchpoints.

RELATED CONTENT

Where Do Stakeholders Come From?

Stakeholder Map
Engaging and Maintaining Stakeholder Interest
 Dr. Sarah Ross (Ph.D.) is a Lecturer and Trainer in Project Management
at RANEPA (Russia) and the following Business Schools in France (SKEMA,
Groupe Sup de Co, KEDGE, and CESI). She has over 25 years experience
in the service sector (health, telecommunications and tertiary education)
primarily in the delivery of transformational projects whilst involved in general
management activities. Sarah has planned, initiated and implemented, through
cross organizational teams a range of service improvement and complex change
initiatives in New Zealand, Australia, UK and France. She is also certified to
trainer level in PMP®, MoV™, Change Management™, MSP™ and PRINCE2®
“down under” in NZ and “up over” in France moving between the two for
teaching and consultancy related activities working with various REPs and ATOs.
 FRUSTRATIONS
ARE OPPORTUNITIES

by Jacqueline Rowland, CPA, PMP, CFE

My office performs audit projects that normally end in long detailed

reports posted to our municipal public website. Since the audit results are
posted publicly they are put through significant vetting within my office and
the area being audited to ensure data is accurate and complete. In my year
end meetings with staff, ‘reports’ were consistently identified as an area for
improvement. They took many hours and quality assurance procedures as well
as back and forth hand offs between stakeholders before they were finalized
and published. We believed we could streamline or improve the processes as a
continuous improvement of our services.

With this in mind I attended a professional education event and had

the opportunity to ask a Google audit peer how they handled reporting.
From the conversation I reevaluated our internal reporting and investigated
options that resulted in a recommendation to my boss and the Audit
Committee to report publicly only the essential information of the audit and
results; changing the report from twenty pages to two. We would continue
to report audit findings in detail with our clients for follow up. This reduced
the hundreds of hours spent preparing a public report that was not being
read or required by any stakeholder. We have enjoyed a significant increase
in productivity as a result.

I also think that constraints get a bad rap. People see them as wholly
negative: they impede progress and diminish potential. Entrepreneurs, in
particular, seem locked in a perpetual grim struggle against scarce resources
and abundant obstacles.

But constraints can also be fertile, enabling — even desirable. They can
make people and businesses more than they were rather than less than they
could be. Constraints force people to reframe problems and get creative. And
from that fresh perspective and creativity emerge new opportunities: superior
alternatives at which smooth, open roads would never have arrived.

No one likes to be audited and that is what we do. We are an internal

audit group. I recently heard a Ted Talk by Simon Sinek titled ‘How Great
Leaders Inspire.’ In the talk Simon makes the point that historically great
leaders are driven and talk more about ‘why’ they do what they do, than
what or how they do something. Where in contrast, too many others talk
most about what they do. For example, Apple’s Steve Jobs did not say we
make great computers; he talked about making beautiful and amazing
things. Martin Luther King did not get famous for saying I have a plan.
He is famous for saying ‘I have a dream’ and that is much more effective in
leading people.

I could not help but measure my office and our communications to this
idea and easily discovered that we talk a lot about ‘what’ we will audit and
‘how’ we go about the audit but very little about ‘why’ we are auditing. I
found a small statement on our website that indicated ‘why’ we audit... to
help our organization be the best they can be. When I begin and focus our
communications and work from this point of view, I bring a common purpose
to the audit for our customers (auditees). While people may always have a
negative perception of being audited, these communications will improve our
relationships, cooperation and effectiveness.
 We have begun to talk more about ‘why’ we audit; ‘to help management;
to work in cooperation with their goals’ and we have seen improved trust with
many of our clients.

TIPS AND OTHER LITTLE LESSONS

1. The primary take away I learned from the experience was when you identify
your biggest frustration, complaint or issue, you have identified your
greatest opportunity for improvement.

2. Be willing to depart from the ‘do it like last year’ mindset and think about
stakeholder value and needs and how best to meet those in the most efficient
and effective way possible.

3. Explain the “why” not just the “what.”

RELATED CONTENT:

Frustration... And Working Through It

The Odds of My Cheese Being Moved
Portfolio Headway: Identify Opportunity
 Jacqueline Rowland, PMP, is the Assistant City Auditor, City of Colorado
Springs. Jacqueline earned her Bachelor of Business Administration from
University of Memphis. Her credentials include Certified Public Accountant
(CPA), Project Management Professional (PMP), and Certified Fraud Examiner
(CFE). Before joining City Council’s Office of the City Auditor in 2006, she
spent nine years with FedEx and two years in public accounting. Jacqueline
is active in the Colorado Springs chapter of PMI. She is also on the Board of
Governors for the Institute of Internal Auditors Colorado Springs Chapter and
Mountain & Plains Intergovernmental Audit Forum.
 MANAGING YOUR WORKLOAD

by Frank P. Saladis, PMP

A project manager came up to me during a break in a 2 day program.

He said he was overwhelmed with work and was struggling to keep up. His
manager approached him with a new project that was relatively important
and somewhat complex. The project manager responded to the manager “I
can’t do this.” The manager interpreted his response as a matter of capability
and inability and reflected that assessment on the project manager’s
performance appraisal.

The way in which you respond to your manager is an important issue to

consider. Instead of responded quickly with “I can’t do this” consider saying:

“I understand this is an important project, but I have a very full workload.

Which project would you like me to set aside so I can take on this project?”

Managers have to assume some responsibility for workload decisions and

assignments. Discuss expectation with your manager. Share work-load issues
and suggest a possible solution.
 TIPS AND OTHER LITTLE LESSONS
Try saying...

1. OK! I can definitely tackle this, but I’d like to review something before
I proceed.

2. Right now my current priorities are: [list them in order]. Would you like
this new assignment to be my top priority? If so, that’s no problem, but it
means that —since we’re pushing several other items down the list — all
of my other projects will get completed slightly later. I can create a timeline
of when everything will be completed, if that’s helpful to you.

3. Something compassionate — remember, the person making this “ridiculous

and unreasonable” request is probably just as swamped and stressed out as
you are.

RELATED CONTENT:

Personal Process Management

The Personal Kaban
Taking Control: Personal Management Strategies for the Effective PM
 Frank P. Saladis, PMP, is a Consultant and Instructor / Facilitator within
the project management profession. He is a senior trainer and consultant
for IIL and has conducted numerous project management training seminars
domestically and internationally. He has been a featured presenter at the
Project Management Institute® Annual Symposiums and World Congresses as
well as many other project management events. Mr. Saladis is a graduate of the
PMI Leadership Institute Masters Class and has held several positions within
the Project Management Institute, including President of the NYC Chapter,
President of the PMI ACP, and Chair of the ED SIG. Mr. Saladis served as editor
of the internationally distributed project management newsletter for allPM.
com and is the author of “Positive Leadership In Project Management,”co-
author of Value Driven Project Management with Dr. Harold Kerzner, and
numerous articles about project leadership. Mr. Saladis is the originator of
International Project Management Day and was recognized as PMI Person
of the Year for 2006. Mr. Saladis was awarded the distinguished title of PMI
Fellow in October 2013.
 THE VIEW
FROM THE TOP
CAN BE CLOUDED

by Eric Stevens, PMP

Its human nature to more easily retain lessons learned from error or poor
judgment than from success. However, the key to applying the lesson to future
projects is to self-reflect on what went wrong and adapt the principle to the
new situation. I have learned the hard way not to blindly agree to the scope,
budget and timelines on a project simply because they came from the C-level
executive. I have assumed in the past that these executives knew their business
and who was I to question? In truth, as an experienced project management
consultant, they needed me to see the situation with a fresh perspective. Their
view was obstructed by poor peer-to-peer communications and no effective
collaboration system. The takeaway from this experience is that the view
from high on the corporate ladder is not necessarily the clearest. My position
provides a closer look at the real problems. Now I trust my instincts and don’t
allow the C title to cloud my vision.
 I applied this lesson recently when C-Level executives at a respected
financial services company could not get a pulse on the organization’s
health. The different offices (COO, CFO and CEO) were not sharing
information on a regular basis and important reports were falling thru the
cracks. Unclear business metrics and laborious monthly report processes
compounded the problem. The executive sponsors then took the initiative
to create a project for this problem and reached out to me to lead and
deliver the solution. Instead of being intimidated by the executives, I did
my due diligence to see if they were on target with the root of the problems.
The deeper I dug I found that the executives themselves were a huge part
of the problem. They were used to delegating instead of communicating.
The organization had unclear and undefined metrics and low adoption of
collaboration software leading to inefficient processes. They were unaware
of this due to the fact that communication only flowed downhill. Even
communication between fellow C-level execs was at a minimum. There was
little to no feedback from employees.

One of the solutions I implemented was a Weekly Executive Forum. This

forced the C-level executives to participate in two way communication both
horizontally with each other and vertically within the organization. Each
department had 10 minutes to give status updates and to ask what they needed
from others. Obstacles for compliance to processes were discussed. It was made
clear this was not a time for debate nor was it an awards ceremony, just a
time for clear communications. Technology, processes and logistics were all
tied together for success.

Additionally, the executive and staff already had a collaboration system in

place. However the processes were too complicated and no one really knew how
to use them. They defaulted back to old school methods of sharing information
including printing out endless copies of reports. Instead of adopting the new
system, staff skipped certain steps, augmented the system with their own
familiar one or just didn’t use it at all. This meant taking a hard look at the
logistics in place and evaluating the technology, processes, people, location,
etc. Ultimately the key to employee buy in of any collaboration system is to
show its value. Employees didn’t understand why the change had been made
to the new system. Once trained, they could see how much time and energy
could be saved.
 In the end the results were spectacular. We were able to transform executive
chaos into organized collaboration and the organization is still using the
solution years later. I personally have learned that it is okay to say no to a
C-level executive. Their position doesn’t always mean they have the whole
picture in view. As a project manager, I will trust my own instincts and let the
years of experience be my guide.

TIPS AND OTHER LITTLE LESSONS

1. Try setting a weekly executive meeting to discuss obstacles. Make sure you
have the right people at the table.

2. Remember to make it clear that this is not a time for debate, placing blame,
nor an awards ceremony, just a time for clear communication.

3. Keep the tone positive and keep the focus on keeping channels open and
movement towards success. Resist the urge to be critical.

RELATED CONTENT:

Making PM Sense in the Boardroom

Upward Diplomacy
Key Success Factors in IT-Business Alignment
 Eric Stevens, PMP is a Sr. Consultant, Project Management Professional, at
QuantumPM, Inc who has over 15 years of experience in Project Management
beginning his career in Oil & Gas as a project controls engineer.

Prior to QuantumPM, Eric has consulted with many organizations in a

wide range of private and public industries, domestically and internationally
delivering enterprise project management solutions and project management
best practices. Eric’s experience includes traveling to Singapore to train PMs
from the APAC region. Living in several locations the past 15 years has broaden
his pm skillsets and matured his situational leadership skills working with
diverse backgrounds.

He received his CIS & Mgmt Science B.S from MSU-Denver and his
PMP in 2005 along with other technical certifications. In addition to Project
Management Consulting, Eric has an entrepreneurial spirit who manages a
family photography business as he is an enthusiastic fan of nature, he also
volunteers on a regular basis at local shelters within Northeast Florida. He
currently resides in Jacksonville, FL with his wife Holly and their two daughters.
 “BUT I’M NOT READY…”
THE RELUCTANT BA/PM

by Ruffin Veal, PMP

During the 1980s, I was a computer programmer for a St. Paul, Minnesota
manufacturing company. I had been in the position for about two months
when our group was assigned a software development and implementation
project.

During an overview meeting of the project it became obvious that gathering

user requirements and heavy user interaction would be involved. However,
I found it curious that, when queried by management, no one volunteered
to be the point person for the project. The group included others who had
more experience in the company’s culture and more professional experience
than I did at the time. Yet, no one stepped up to assume a leadership role. As
the group manager continued to speak about what would be involved those
around the conference table continued to stare at their paperwork, heads
bowed in an obvious effort to avoid eye contact with the speaker.
 The lack of eagerness to step up by those more experienced than me
should have given cause to reconsider my actions. However, being young and
inexperienced in the corporate world I thought of this only in terms of an
opportunity for advancement. So, I volunteered. Heads that had been bowed
immediately sprang to attention followed by audible sighs of relief. For me, it
soon became apparent why the more experienced personnel had shied away
from the challenge.

As I began meeting with our users I became painfully aware that I was
unprepared for my new assignment. These people had no clear idea of what they
wanted and at odds about what they needed. They were ambiguous, indecisive,
petty, self-centered and in my opinion, unprofessional. How had this company
been able to survive? This was going to be Mission Impossible. For someone who
was used to dealing with detailed programming specifications requiring clear
definitions of right and wrong, dealing at this level was a totally different ballgame.

I was frustrated and under considerable stress. Time was passing and I had
not been able to develop a consistent approach in working with the users that
enabled progress. I did not want to admit defeat and was reluctant to discuss
the situation with my boss. But I decided that I had no choice and requested a
meeting. After explaining the situation and my experiences so far, I ended my
monolog with the statement, “I’ve never had a programming assignment that
was so ambiguous.” And his reply was simple yet profound. He said, “That’s
because it’s not a programming assignment.”

As the conversation continued he asked if I had ever heard of business

analysis. I told him I was not familiar with the term and he proceeded to
give me an overview of the newly emerging concept. He concluded by asking
if I would be interested in some training that the company would provide.
Because of my previous experiences I was not sure if I wanted to be involved
with users at that level. But again I saw this as an opportunity for advancement.
So I accepted.

Eventually, I put my days as a programmer behind me and embarked on a

new aspect of my career. One that was more business oriented but still allowed
use of my technical knowledge. The on the job BA training served me well
throughout that aspect of the software implementation project. After about
four months, I had sufficiently gathered the users’ business requirements and
was relieved that my assignment was winding down. I felt good about the whole
situation. I had emerged with some battle scars but with a new set of in demand
skills, increased visibility within the organization and a complementary year-
end review. I was looking forward to new BA assignments on other projects.

Then my boss called me in and informed me that I would remain on the

project but in an additional capacity. That additional capacity being project
lead. I had no previous team leadership experience and felt that I was just
getting a solid footing in my new BA skill set. Self-doubt begin to emerge. I did
not feel that I was ready for such responsibility. Not wanting to wait to express
my misgivings as I had previously done, I told him of my concerns. He told
me that because of my performance and involvement with the project thus far,
I was the best choice available. He offered his assistance along the way when
I felt the need. With that assurance, I accepted the additional responsibility.

It was not long before I became aware that the transition from co-
worker to team leader in my peer group would affect those relationships.
Good-natured bantering and chit-chat ceased almost immediately after the
announcement was made. Where I had previously felt I had co-workers and
friends, I now only sensed co-workers. The attitudes of my peers had changed
toward me. Everyone was still cordial but there was a sense of distance that
was not there before.

I thought back to my first teachable moment.

My approach to my new assignment had been with an incorrect mindset coupled

with inadequate experience and training.

Experience would come later. I needed to reassess my mind set and seek
adequate training for this new level of responsibility. I informed my boss
that I wanted training in management tools and techniques and justified my
request based on my new responsibilities. I then embarked on a self-imposed
learning agenda using management and leadership themed reference material.
It was then that I discovered the important part soft skills played in successful
management and leadership. That was my second teachable moment.

Successful management and leadership requires addressing and satisfying the

emotional and psychological needs of our fellow human beings.
 This was going to indeed be a challenge. How would I approach it without
seeming phony and insincere? After further research I decided to adopt the
servant manager approach. My theme being “How may I be of assistance in
your job, work responsibilities and career ambitions?”

I still use that philosophy after more than thirty years as a management
professional. The positive feedback from co-workers and colleagues has
continued to be gratifying for me as well as those I’ve managed. My first teachable
moment occurred when I was not aware that I was not ready. The second
teachable moment occurred when I was. But both moments required that I
assess my new responsibilities and prepare myself for their unique challenges.

TIPS AND OTHER LITTLE LESSONS

1. When you approach a new assignment, make sure you have the correct
mindset coupled with adequate experience and training.

2. Adopt the servant manager approach and ask “How can I help?”

3. Remember — your current difficulty may actually be an opportunity in

disguise. Try viewing your situation as a chance to make things better
instead of focusing on the problem.

RELATED CONTENT:

The Collaboration Corner: The Business Analysis Advantage

Podcast: Business Analysis for Practitioners
Stepping Out of Your Comfort Zone
 Ruffin Veal III, M.S., PMP, Principal of Ruffin Veal & Associates, Inc. has
been an information technology and management professional for over three
decades. His management and leadership related articles can be seen in the
Project Management Institute’s (PMI) Virtual Library as well as in national and
international publications. He is a Certified Project Management Professional
(PMP). He holds a B.S. degree in Computer Science and an M.S. degree in
Project Management.
 FINAL THOUGHTS
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