Don't Micro-manage: Hold Them Accountable for End Results

Today's article talks about an alternative to micro-management that is based on defining exactly what you want from an assignment before you make it to the project team member. That is a rare thing for most project team members. They usually have to guess about what the PM wants and that does bad things to accountability, estimating and performance. Holding people accountable for their end results saves you time and yields more committed and productive team. For more detail on this measured achievement technique, see our Achievement-driven Project Methodology (AdPM) .

Regards

Dick Billows, PMP

Project Scheduling: The Finish Date Miracle

Executives like finish date scheduling because it’s fast and decisive. Then the PM produces a schedule to hit that date by backing into a finish date for every assignment in the project. Easy! Everybody leaves this astoundingly fast process with the illusion that they're in control of the project. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

The illusion comes from one blindingly stupid assumption…that people will work themselves to death to turn out high quality work by the dates that the sponsor and PM have plucked out of the sky.

Because people are afraid of losing their jobs they usually can turn out some “piece-o-crap” deliverable by the finish date that the PM imposed on them [or close to it]. Then they spend months trying to clean it up and usually fail. No wonder 70% of the projects that organizations start are late, over-budget and produce little business value.

Aside from the above small flaw that comes from this scheduling approach, there is also the issue of how it cripples our problem solving.

If a PM assigns me task #523 on a project and tells me I have to be done by the 19th of January, two things happen. First, I will start work when I have time between my real job and the other four projects I’m on. Second, every time the PM walks past my cubicle and wants to know how I'm doing on #523, I will give the PM the thumbs-up sign and a 50-tooth smile. I do this despite the fact that I've forgotten the name of the project, the PM and what #523 actually involves. This status reporting works because the PM has no way to measure my progress.

How long can this overly optimistic status reporting continue? Up until January 19 at 4:30 p.m. Only then will I be forced to admit that the task is going to run a little late. The PM has no chance of recovery…it’s too late and that is the real curse of finish date scheduling.

Setting task finish dates with no consideration of the assigned resource’s availability or the amount of work in the task dooms project's manager to failure. The estimates are unrealistic and the team members know they will fail before they start; a poor basis for commitment. The PMs loses all ability to solve problems because they find out about them when it's too late to do anything. They have a thankless chore of solving big problems when it's too late.

That's why, consistently successful project managers schedule with work estimates usually made with the person who will do the work (so we can get a little commitment) and realistic assessments of the person's availability. But that'll be the subject of another discussion.

Best regards,
Dick Billows, PMP, GCA
CEO 4pm.com

Fast-food Project Initiation

Do you ask nothing more than "Shall I Supersize that requirement for you" before starting work on a new project? If so, then you are well into fast food project initiation where you will start more projects, and more pointless projects, than your project team handle. You won't have delighted users or stakeholders at the end even though they loved you for starting work so fast. Read our article for tuning this "loser" project process around.

Regards

Dick Billows, PMP, GCA

Classic Project Blunders

Project Planning Blunder #1.

Watch as an organization faced with a serious external threat assembles its senior management to respond with a PM to manage the effort. Watch the video and spot where the PM made his mistakes and decide, just like our 4PM.com students do, what the PM should have done to carry the day.
Watch the Video

Add your evaluation and recommendations to the blog

Regards,
Dick Billows, PMP

Yeah, I Communicate Real Good

While the grammar in the title is offensive, I think it captures the attitude many project managers have towards their communication skills. Everybody thinks they're a good communicator, particularly those with well recognized technical skills. But the vast majority of project managers are poor communicators largely because they use the same communication techniques and style for every stakeholder, team member and sponsor with whom they deal.

Project managers must communicate with people who possess a wide range of personality types. We deal with extroverts who enjoy discussion, debate and like to think on their feet. The way you communicate to the extroverts in your meeting is very different from the best communication technique for the introverts who want time to think and internalize the information before making a decision or even expressing an opinion.

These differences in communication techniques are not just how you talk but also how you organize your PowerPoint presentation, what body language techniques you should use, the structure of the presentation, what kind of information you give them advanced and how you follow up afterwards.

Take a look at the video lecture on presenting to diverse personality types with 10 minutes the scene from project meeting with project managers who are failing and then see them adapt their communication style to the audience and they are much better securing approval in building support.

Very truly yours,

Dick Billows, PMP, GCA

President 4pm.com

Project Methodology

Watch the video and see the steps in a straightforward project methodology, based on driving projects to produce measured business results. The Acheivement-driven Project Methodology (AdPM™)is scalable so you can use it on all size projects. It improves estimating accuracy, provides measured checkpoints for executives and assignment clarity for team members. AdPM also complies with all the best practices of the PMBOK 3rd edition.

Contribute you ideas on methodolgy

Dick Billows, PMP, GCA
President 4pm.com

Psychological Typing

Using personality typing gives project managers a tool for tailoring their presentations and meetings to fit the personality preferences of their team members and stakeholders. Take a look at the sample video of a change request meeting and the analysis from our psychologist, Maria Hunt, PhD and then add your comments.

Dick

Dick Billow, PMP, GCA
President 4PM.com

Project management to do lists

There is a disease in project management called to do listing and the infection is spread by micromanagers and sponsors who think the project management is nothing more than making a list of everything that everybody should do. This focus on activities leads to team members who mindlessly follow the nitpicking project manager's lists, even if all the steps are not necessary. It also creates team members who have no stake in the project and no interest in active problem-solving or overcoming obstacles. They just follow the to do list.

Our newest article, managing with achievements not activities highlights the difference in techniques used by project managers who are consistently successful and those who just have long to do lists.

Best regards

Dick

Dick Billows, PMP, GCA
President 4pm.com

537 Ways to Screw Up A Project: Episode #122

There is a new episode of our ongoing PM satire. Episode #122 deals with how to screw up status reporting. Watch the team at Lonegan Enterprises do everything wrong, despite the best efforts of Stephanie Rollins who tries to implement the best practices. Join us for a good laugh and some interesting less ions...you may even see dumb things your organization does.

Regards,

Dick
Dick Billows, PMP, GCA
President 4pm.com

Project Estimating

The phrase "duration and cost estimates" sends shivers down the spine of most project managers because no matter how carefully you qualify the numbers they are instantly carved into stone. The most difficult estimates are the ones that you're asked for at the beginning of the project. You may be 10 minutes into your first conversation with an executive about a brand new project when you're asked, "how long will this take and what will it cost?"

For some reason executives have convinced themselves that anybody who's a project manager can come up with accurate estimates with little or no data. The gut wrenching part of this is that your project will be view it as a failure, no matter how fantastic the deliverable, if you miss those initial estimates.

Read the article about estimating and then add your comments and ideas to the blog.

The best regards,

Dick

Dick billows, PMP, GCA
President 4PM.com

537 Ways to Screw Up A Project

Take a look at the project blunders committed by the sponsor, team members and staff of Lonegan Enterpriese. They manage to doom a customer service project to failure during the first hour of planning, Watch the video and spot the blunders and add your comments, anonymously, about your organization's project screw ups.

Regards,

Dick Billows, PMP, GCA

Status Meetings with a Tough Sponsor

Savvy project sponsors know that putting too much pressure on project managers or their team members doesn't produces benefits. Instead, the most common result tis that he project manager or team member hides problems until they're too big to conceal and much more difficult to solve.

Project managers have to learn to cope with project sponsors and other executives who use intimidation as their technique for improving project results. Take a look at the Status Meeting Video. Then add your evaluation of how the project manager did in the status meeting.

Best regards,

Dick Billows, PMP, GCA