I woke up at 4:30 a.m. today; could not get back to sleep because of a Twitter-inspired book concept that was swirling in my head. If 140 experienced project managers can come up with 140 tips, each in 140 words or less, we’ll have a very concise body of knowledge that will be useful for all project managers.
Would you like to be part of it?
Tip: Ten words or less (start with an action verb)
Explanation: 110 words or less (describe the tip and the reason behind it; provide examples; use bullets for brevity)
Conclusion: 20 words or less (summarize your tip)
By participating, you are granting me full rights to publish and use your tip. You will not receive any compensation other than an attribution and an electronic copy of the book.
Get the guidelines and examples: http://johnestrella.com/LLPM.pdf
Connect with Dr. John A. Estrella via Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
Tags: author, book, lessons learned
Tip #51 Use a to-do list
Create your to-do list by brainstorming everything you need to do in the day and write it on the list. Don’t worry if you end up with a long list.
Your to-do list should be
• Created new for each day. Writing your tasks down unloads your psychic RAM. When you don´t occupy your mind with having to remember everything, it becomes easier to think clearly.
• Kept in immediate view at all times. Seeing your list throughout the day keeps you on track when you may want to do less important, low-priority tasks.
• Carried with you wherever you go. You can use your to-do list to bring clarity about relative urgency and importance.
If you are working on a big project, the to-do list can motivate you by letting you see how much you’ve really done.
Tip #52 Do not be afraid to speak up
The average large company, running around 150 projects at any one time, loses £13 million a year by not stopping projects that are failing. It’s not always management’s responsibility to cancel projects. If you’re working on something that you know isn’t going to deliver the proposed benefits, you need to speak up.
The project manager’s role is partly to direct the work and partly to provide an objective position on how the work is done—and that means suggesting stopping everything and starting again, or even not starting again, if necessary.
Don’t be afraid to challenge senior people. Not all projects are started from the basis of a competent idea. If you know the project is going to fail, explain why it should be stopped. It is up to your sponsor to take the final decision to stop it.
Author, Project Management in the Real World
Tip #53 Learn how to delegate
Leave yourself enough space to see the entire picture.
Tip #54 Spend as much time analyzing the project team as you do the project requirements
So many project teams are made up of culturally diverse and/or virtually located resources. It is becoming more and more important for a project manager to spend time learning about the individuals who make up the project team.
The lack of face-to-face meetings, the inability to “walk down the hall” for a chat, and the different cultural backgrounds can make it difficult for a project manager to provide direction and receive needed feedback.
A project manager needs to ensure his/her communication with the team equals or exceeds the communication with non-team stakeholders.
Tip #55 Never base your project plan on best-case estimates
Often, as project managers, we don’t give proper instructions to SME’s on how to give proper estimates.
Risks must be taken into account when making estimates at all levels of the project. At the activity level, risks can be taken into account using the formula (P + 4M + O) / 6, where P = pessimistic, M = most likely and O = optimistic estimates. At the project level, overall identified risks must be taken into account and added to cost as project contingency. Lastly, at the management level, a reserve must be added to the overall cost to account for unidentified risks.
Accounting for risk builds realistic estimates. And, realistic estimates are a backbone to realistic project plans.
Tip #56 Always give credit where it’s due
The project manager is the voice of the project. That makes it easy for people outside the project team to get the wrong impression. They can think that the one who voices the ideas, insights and solutions related to the project is the one who came up with them.
To be sure, a good project manager produces a fair share of breakthrough contributions, but a good team produces far more. It may be tempting for the project manager to bask in the glow of the false impression, to let it stand. That temptation must be resisted.
The best way to stifle a team’s creativity, to dam the flow of results, is to take credit for others’ work. Conversely, the best way to promote a team’s creativity, to encourage the flow of results, is to always give credit where it’s due.
Tip #57 Use lessons learned; don’t re-invent the wheel
Lessons learned are a way to learn from the experiences of others, thus reducing the time others spend solving problems. Use lessons learned to:
- improve the quality and productivity on work requests
- reduce repetition of errors and missteps
- provide a foundation for evaluating and improving activities
- support continuous learning and process improvement
- allow associates to contribute to the improvement of others, a project or an organization
As an example, IBM is shifting the organization towards a culture based on open and frequent communication with employees who are more proactive in identifying and acting on improvement opportunities.
Turn “Lessons Learned” into “Lessons Applied.” Don’t reinvent, re-use! Lessons Learned are not learned if not executed.
Tip #58 Engage coaches to improve performance
One team member is falling behind and not meeting deadlines or performance expectations. You have determined the problem is not over-tasking or lack of commitment, but rather a low skill level or motivation. What to do?
You could try to find a replacement, but that person may be hard to find, and would need time to ’spin up’ on the project. Further, the struggling team member will have a loss of esteem and the project may be further delayed. A better course might be to enlist a coach.
Find a mature person with the right skillset to provide coaching and encouragement to the struggling teammate. The coach should not do the work, but should provide motivational and technical advice to help the team member get caught up and excel in the future.
Everyone wins: the team member becomes productive for this and future projects, the project gets back on schedule, and the coach gets esteem and recognition for their effort.
Senior Global Project Manager, Intel Corporation
Tip #59 Encourage your project team to share ideas
People are the most important resource in your project. They usually have great ideas that can solve hard issues. They are smart and can look at the problem from a different angle. Trust them.
Global Project Manager, Intel Corporation
Tip #60 Focus on the end state
When working in projects, even if a small one, it is very common to get confused in the lot of information and situations that appear. You should maintain the focus in the solution and coach your team to behave in the same way.
This can be reached when the information is organized, the solution is clear, the vision of the end-state is commonly shared and the team is motivated to get the work done.
Difficult situations will pop-up during the project life cycle and if the dynamic of finding the solution is well disseminated among the team and the stakeholders the success of the project will be easier to achieve.
PMO - Citibank Brasil
Tip #61 Listen more than you talk
Project managers are inherent leaders. You need to inspire your team to work harder to accomplish more work for less cost and better quality. Listen to the team’s concerns, their understanding of the value of the project, its significance and their role in the bigger picture. Make sure your team is submerged in the mission of the project.
Listening skills for a project manager is crucial for effective communications across the project. Make sure messages relayed to the team by self or others are (1) clear, (2) accurate, (3) relevant, (4) concise, (5) at the correct level of detail and (6) transmitted using the most effective medium.
IT Architect & Systems Engineer - IBM Corporation
Project Management Faculty - Prince George’s Community College
Board of Directors, Chair - Islamic Leadership Institute of America
Tip #62 Make trust your core message
Establish a climate of trust on your project. This is a practice-what-you-preach concept so it has to start with you.
Build Trust
• Make an effort to get to know your team and your stakeholders.
• Make a point of being trustworthy through with every decision you make, every response you give.
• Lead by example. Let your team know how to behave by watching how you behave.
Manage Trust
• Build a communications plan so you know your team is building important relationships effectively.
• Set an open door policy. You want people to come to you with problems.
• Encourage trustworthiness in your people. Don’t punish them for making mistakes or bringing you bad news.
Tip #63 Keep your plans agile and the objectives personal
Your project plans need to be detailed for the near term so everyone knows:
• what they are working on,
• what their accountability is for the deliverables and quality, and
• how this fits into the greater objective.
The only thing that is certain about a long term detailed plan is that it will be wrong. PMs can learn a lot from military strategy - a general doesn’t plan a battle in detail but depends on the soldiers knowing their objectives, so they can react to events and seize opportunities.
“A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week.” - General George S. Patton
Tip #64 Identify, record, track and resolve issues
Issues are bound to occur in projects. Issues can arise within the project team/performing organization, project sponsor, stakeholders, customers, vendors, etc. A project manager should identify, record, track and resolve issues using the issue log throughout the project. Failure to resolve issues might affect the project delivery.
As always, enforce a deadline to resolve the issues and to achieve a WIN-WIN outcome.