Are You Feeling Restricted as a Project Manager?

Our highlighted question of the month at Roeder Consulting fits in nicely with the September free webinar.  Do you feel restricted as a project manager, like this individual?  Does it affect your job satisfaction? Join us to discuss your job satisfaction as a project manager on Tuesday, the 11th of September.  Read about our monthly free webinars and register here: http://www.roederconsulting.com/webinar.php

 

Question:  I started working at a company that I believe has very restrictive PM processes and it hinders my ability as a PM to deliver on certain types of projects. Is this normal?

Answer: From Keith Jenkins, PMP, MBA

Unfortunately, without knowing the context of your project(s), the industry, and the standards implemented, your situation might be perfectly normal. Your perception of restrictive might be normal for someone else. There are usually valid reasons for the “so called” restricted processes.

PMs sometime feel restricted when they come into a company where a more mature project environment exists. This type of environment usually has more processes, tools, and governance in place. PMs not familiar with this type of environment may have to generate more project materials, get more approvals, etc. and it gives the appearance of restriction. In my context, “Restriction” is one of two things: Asking PMs to do something for a project even though it provides no value to company or limiting their adaptability / creativity / decision making.

Does this mean companies, even with mature PMOs can be overly restrictive? Absolutely and it frequently happens. From my experience, PMOs do a good job of initially defining procedures, defining how tools are used, governance, etc. but PMOs fail to monitor the relevance of these processes overtime. Lack of monitoring is usually brought on by shifting priorities within the PMO itself. Due to changes in company strategy, market influences, government regulation, etc. these processes / paperwork requirements become obsolete. This creates an environment where PMs are required to follow processes that no longer produce value to the project and become both restrictive and time consuming. Think about it as filling out paperwork that NO ONE reviews or takes action against.

Companies and PMOs also have to ensure they provide a PM with just enough rope to hang themselves. The successes and failures experienced during a project are the only way a company will grow competent PM talent. There has to be flexibility in the process so PMs can grow their managerial skills. The concepts of adapting approaches based on the situation, thinking outside the box to solve problems, or just exercising decisions making are core management concepts. If too restrictive, talent will not grow and flourish.

The Bottom Line:
When PMs are required to complete useless paperwork, follow obsolete processes, or processes that add absolutely no value, most mature project managers will find ways to subvert these constraints without negatively impacting their project or their end-users (i.e. customers). You then end up with some PMs performing well and others struggling because they are in fact following the rules. The system begins to experience diminishing returns. No two projects are ever the same, period. Even if they address the exact same deliverables, you typically end up with different stakeholders, customers, cross-functional teams, etc. each bringing a different dynamic to the planning and execution process. Companies, PMOs and those mentoring PMs need to ensure there is both flexibility within the system and the decision-making process. To use a football analogy:  While a defense has a game plan, it still needs to empower players so they can easily adjust their approach based on the situation at hand.

Restrictions are typically needed to gain and maintain some type of control. The problem occurs when these restrictions are not monitored and become needless constraints. The best thing you can do is mentor PMs on how and when to change their approach and empower them to make decisions based on situations at hand. Don’t forget to go back to the PMO and inform them of useless constraints!

Got a question? Email to: headquarters@roederconsulting.com

Are You a Project Manager Dealing with Skeptical Stakeholders?

Earning Buy-In
by Tres Roeder, PMP, MBA

Project Managers are constantly called on to gain support for their ideas. Whether it’s “selling” project objectives to a skeptical stakeholder, encouraging a human resources executive to provide more people for the project team, or convincing a vendor to support a change in scope, projects are one opportunity to earn support after another.
The savvy project manager understands that earning this support is an ongoing process. The process starts with including people in the project. People support what they create. They second step is to observe how people are reacting. Finally, in the third step, the project manager responds based on what is observed. This three-step process is called “The Circle of Support.”

Note that responding comes only after the project manager has included and observed. This is because the proper response varies by individual and by situation. Like anything related to the human side of change, The Circle of Support does not guarantee buy in. It does, however, increase the probability of success. Successfully following each step of the process increases the odds of success.

Learning the Circle of Support and its sub-components is easy. Mastering it takes a lifetime.

If you’d like to see the latest comments on this discussion thread and/or offer your insights go to the Roeder Consulting Linked In Group: http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Roeder-Consulting-1-Community-Project-2800285

Click here to view previous project management articles from Roeder Consulting.

Should Project Managers Build Relationships

In Roeder Consulting’s Global Webinar today, Christine Zust, MA, discussed a new reality in the work place – a lot of work is being done through virtual teams.  Virtual teams, like any team-based environment, tend to work better when the participants have a positive relationship.  However, team-building exercises don’t always result in positive relationships.  Sometimes they have the opposite effect.  In the words of one of today’s participants:

“So much emphasis is put on getting team members together to build a relationship. That’s great in a perfect situation, but what about when personalities collide? Sometimes getting people to know each other better in a personal way is not conducive to work.”

So, team building works when positive relationships are formed.  But, it can backfire too.  What if you get everyone together and they don’t like each other?  We took this conversation to the 3500+ members of Roeder Consulting Linked In group.  Throughout the course of the day people have already started to weigh in:

• Christine Zust (the webinar presenter) says “To me, the only way we can truly get to know each other is through establishing and maintaining relationships. And yes, it’s hard work. We know, through experience, that not every relationship is going to be perfect…we may encounter people whose styles are very different from ours which can cause tension or uncertainty. The greatest lesson I have learned about building human relationships is acceptance. Once I accept that I cannot change anyone but myself, I open up my thinking to welcome those challenges when they occur. Even when I have a bad relationship with someone, it’s still a relationship. I have to try my best to make the most of it.

• Gregory says “It is a must! Especially in today’s transactional world where “friends”, “connections” and “followers” don’t mean a thing. It is all about the basic human nature. With personal relationship comes trust, reliance and desire to excel.”

Positive relationships are important to teams.  It’s also true that sometimes “personalities collide.”  What to do?  The answer is to do your team building exercise … but be careful!  Human interaction is something we all need.   After all, solitary confinement is a punishment.  But, when you bring everyone together be thoughtful about highlighting the areas of agreement. If you take any random two people out of the world you are likely to find issues they agree on, and others they disagree on.  Our role as team builders is to do our best to keep everyone focused on those areas where they agree.

If you’d like to see the latest comments on this discussion thread and/or offer your insights go to the Roeder Consulting Linked In Group:   http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Roeder-Consulting-1-Community-Project-2800285

 

Agile Project Management Course : Breaking Down Key Concepts

Roeder Consulting is pleased to announce it newest course, Agile Project Management (15 PDUs).

The use of Agile is rapidly increasing. Research from the Project Management Institute shows the use of agile tripled from December 2008 to May 2011. In Roeder Consulting’s latest course learn Agile, team dynamics, requirements gathering, estimating, executing / reporting and adopting Agile into current operations. Going beyond the generic descriptions of Agile within project management, this program uses exercises to reinforce the concepts and techniques.
Be a part of the live online course debut July 11th, July 13th, July 18th & July 20th. This course will be held in four half day sessions.

Learning Objectives

We combined our hands-on experience leading high performing development project teams, and the latest research, to create this interactive workshop, where you will:

• Understand Agile concepts
• How Agile teams and roles within them are structured
• Discuss requirements gathering through the use of User Roles and User Stories
• Prioritizing User Stories and creating a product backlog
• Estimating and Iterative Planning Basics
• Executing and progress reporting basics
• Agile within the organization

For More Information Visit:
www.roederconsulting.com/agileprojectmanagement.php
For Our Full Training Schedule Visit:
www.roederconsulting.com/projectmanagementtrainingschedule.php

Roeder Consulting in PM Network

#pm #pmot #pmnetwork

Roeder Consulting, a thought leader in the field of Project Management, was featured in the latest issue of PM Network.Peter Fretty’s Help Desk discusses the use of Google+ as a Project Management tool. PMI members can view this article in the print version (page 65) or online (page 67) –

http://www.pmnetwork-digital.com/pmnetwork/201202/?sub_id=puGXsH65qK2Q

For more on Mr. Roeder’s approach to Project Management read his book, A Sixth Sense for Project Management.  You can earn up to 6 PDUs* for reading A Sixth Sense for Project Management.

For more information click: A Sixth Sense for Project Management

Earn 1 PDU today for Free! It’s not too late to sign up for That’s Amore! – Learning to Love International Project Management.  Hurry – the free webinar is today at 11am Eastern Standard Time.

Join us http://www.roederconsulting.com/webinar.php

Roeder Consulting Quoted in the New York Times!

The New York Times’ Career Couch Column this Sunday, January 15^th, focuses on why you say yes when you really mean no, and what to do if you already said yes.  As project managers this is a problem we are all familiar with.  Tres Roeder, president of Roeder Consulting, was asked for his expertise on the subject.

To read the article click: When You’re the Worker Who Can’t Say No
 

The article also mentions Tres Roeder’s book A Sixth Sense for Project Management.  If you are project manager, reading the book can earn you up to 6 PDUs*.

For more information click: A Sixth Sense for Project Management

The Project of Thanksgiving

#pmot #pm #pmp #thanksgiving

Roeder Consulting would like to be among the first to wish all Roederites (this term was coined by a member of Roeder Consulting’s LinkedIn group) a happy and healthy, even efficient Thanksgiving holiday. May your turkey reach the table under budget and on schedule. Even if your country does not celebrate Thanksgiving, we would like to pause and reflect on the many things to be thankful for. Despite the myriad ways in which each of us might answer the question of what we are most thankful for, we all certainly have much to appreciate.

Thanksgiving may be one of the largest personal projects we undertake each year. Thanksgiving requires planning, risk mitigation, clear communications, and a healthy helping of patience. As most of you will know Thanksgiving holiday is mainly celebrated in the United States and Canada. In the United States, Thanksgiving is a mix of European and Native traditions to celebrate the harvest. In Canada, Thanksgiving is often traced back to explorer Martin Frobisher as a celebration of his surviving the trek from England to Canada as he attempted to find the Northwest Passage. As you enjoy a Thanksgiving dinner this year and reflect back on recent projects, you too might find yourself either celebrating the bountiful harvest of project success, or appreciating the reality of having surviving yet another one. Either way, well done.

Thanksgiving projects— cooking a large meal, traveling cross-country, or making it through a family gathering —are often a source of stress. The liquor cabinet, chocolate stash, and football may help you get through it all – but so too will your project management skills. In particular, “sixth sense” skills— communicating with effectiveness, team building, and achieving buy in are likely to make the difference between a peaceful dinner and a day of mayhem you would like to forget but will not soon be able to. In Roeder Consulting’s classes we routinely discuss the six disciplines of A Sixth Sense For Project Management®. One of the disciplines is Adaptability. Thanksgiving is the perfect time to reflect on the importance of Adaptability. Whether it is adapting your travel plans or deciding to depart from your diet to respectfully gulp down Aunt Bethany’s green gelatin dessert, or finding a way to talk to your goofy cousins, adaptability is a key to Thanksgiving success. Be a Chameleon with a Core(TM). Adapt when necessary, but stick to your core when it comes to issues of morality, values, and firm convictions you know to be true.

Thanksgiving is also a time for Diplomacy, another sixth sense discipline. Does everyone sitting around the Thanksgiving table agree on how to resolve important and difficult questions? There often is no better test of our diplomatic skills than listening to your uncle’s extreme political views without gagging on a turkey bone. Deploy the deep breathing and mental tricks we teach. Take at least three deep breaths to keep the blood flowing to your frontal cortex where you rationally process ideas! Don’t let the emotions from your amygdala take over. Whatever happens, whatever crazy or difficult things end up being said, be sure to exercise Clear Communication to make sure you are being clear in the points you are trying to make. Many Thanksgiving conflicts arise from simple misunderstandings. Thanksgiving is also a time to recharge our batteries and prepare for the next battle at work or job transition. It is a time to listen to our whole body (brain, heart and gut). Fine tune your Awareness of these sensations and improve your ability to make Whole Body Decisions(TM). If all else fails, just like any other project, it’s good ol’ fashioned Persistence that will get you through. Whatever your plans– a large dinner, a small group gathering, or a quiet dinner alone in a lovely, well-lighted place— we here at Roeder Consulting wish you all the best during the project of the holidays.

And, of course, do be careful with Aunt Bethany’s green gelatin dessert. You actually don’t have to finish it.

Agile and World Peace

#pmot #pm #pmp

Here is a portion of the article from Steve Martin on Agile in our October Newsletter:

Agile can help enable World Peace. Well, that might be an exaggeration, but you’d be surprised at what I hear stakeholders tell me.

Managing expectations on any project is a critical skill in any industry. It takes the entire set of Sixth Sense skills to do this well: 360° Awareness, Whole Body Decisions, Adaptability, Clear Communications, Diplomacy and Persistence.

In several recent engagements, I’ve had the opportunity to help large clients transition from one or more project management methodologies to Agile, specifically Scrum. I’ve also noticed managing expectations during the transition has become more challenging. Perhaps this could be due to the high volume of published literature, blogs, webinars, etc. about Scrum. Overall, people seem to have unrealistic expectations that Agile is so powerful and so easy, that we’ll be solving world hunger, too.

While I’m an advocate of Scrum and use this approach in my projects, the plain truth is that Scrum doesn’t solve everything; Scrum is not a silver bullet. There are things Scrum does well and things it doesn’t – too numerous to list in this posting. Nevertheless, expectations must be reasonably set for organizations considering the transition.

When it comes to switching over to Scrum, managing expectations is no different than any other change initiative. There is likely a mix of information obtained by various stakeholders that spans a range of truth, falsehood and misinterpretations in between. Setting the record straight while maintaining optimism and forward momentum can be tricky. When the status quo gets challenged or an issue arises, I quite often hear stakeholders say “I thought Agile solved that.” It takes strong people skills to help reset expectations around these declarations.

To download the rest of the article, click on http://www.roederconsulting.com/newsletters.php

To learn more about A Sixth Sense for Project Management, visit our website at http://www.roederconsulting.com/

Selling Soft Skills to the Boss

By Tres Roeder, President, Founder of Roeder Consulting

Projects often are not worth the journey. Numerous research studies show that anywhere from about 35% to 70% of projects fail. Why? Project managers with underdeveloped people skills are a leading cause.

We’re talking about communicating, earning buy in, team building and leading (yes, you are a leader!). According to “Researching the Value of Project Management”, a multi-year study on the drivers of project success, firms that support people skills training are more likely to deliver project value. This point is so important it’s worth repeating … statistically valid research shows that firms that invest heavily in people skills training are more likely to have projects that succeed. It’s directly correlated.

Yet, soft skills training is often the first line item to go when budgets are tight. Ironically, the human side of project management is often more difficult when times are tough. Nerves are frayed as employees become more concerned about their jobs, families and responsibilities. The stakes of project success are elevated as profit margins decline and competition heats up. The result is often a wide range of difficult human behavior. Such behaviors can only be managed with effective people skills.

So, how can you convince the boss that people skills are worth the investment? Well, you could sit down and explain the research linking people skills to project success. You could point out the increase in emotions during difficult times. This might work. However, research shows that decision makers are much more likely to adopt an idea if it’s their own. In other words, telling the boss the answer is a lower probability route to buy in than guiding the boss along a path towards the answer. Fascinating new research shows people receive a chemical rush similar to adrenalin when they figure out the answer.

Here’s what the savvy project manager can do to sell the boss on people skills:

1. Tell a story about someone who saved the day with their people skills. Everyone can relate to a good story. Maybe the boss will say, “hmm, people skills are important so I need to get people trained.”

2. Highlight a recent situation where someone’s emotions got out of hand. Point out that traditional project management technical skills do not address how to deal with these emotions. Ask the boss for some ideas on how to better equip project managers to deal with these types of situations. How about some people skills training?

Be creative in how you plant the seeds of understanding. Also, be patient. It may take time for the seeds to take root. Along the journey, be encouraged by the fact that this very exercise of selling the boss is making you better at managing the human side of change. Now, there’s a journey worth taking.
About the Author
Mr. Roeder helps organizations change successfully. He has deep industry, consulting and training experience and leads major engagements in areas such as corporate strategy, operations improvement, process improvement and implementation. Industry experience includes serving as Director of Business Process Improvement at American Greetings with prior positions at RR Donnelly and Toyota Motor Sales USA. A former consultant with Booz Allen Hamilton, he founded Roeder Consulting in 2001.

May 2010

Are Project Managers Ready to be the New Change Leaders?

 Monthly Newsletter Article from May by Steve Martin, PMP, CSM

 As the economy shows signs of picking up, I am hearing more from clients that they need Project Managers not only who have the technical skills, but who can also lead people through significant change initiatives. When pressed for more detail, clients tend to say that “big change programs” are being queued up. All they need now is a PM to step in (sometimes in a few days!) to launch the effort. I often get a shocked, wide-eyed look, similar to one getting caught with their hand in the cookie jar, from clients or executive sponsors who can’t answer these 3 follow-up questions:

 • How does this new “big change program” fit in with your organization’s strategy and goals?

 • How do you know your business and people are ready for this change?

 • How do you know your selected Project Manager is ready to deliver the change successfully?

This got me thinking: what are the expectations of project managers to lead significant change? Are we setting up our Project Managers for success? Upon performing a research literature review, several interesting themes about Project Managers and change management arose. These are best represented as:

 • “Organizational changes are often achieved through disciplined project management. Change management and project management are two disciplines that draw upon different theoretical frameworks but rely on each other to achieve an organizational goal. While organizational change deals with stakeholders, relationships, and strategy, project management is focused on achieving tasks through a linear, logical process.”1

 • Although successfully managing change is “accepted as a necessity in order to survive and succeed in today’s highly competitive and continuously evolving environment”, there is an estimated failure rate of “70% of all change programmes.”2

  According to a survey of 93 companies, failures of change management programs can be attributed to criteria such as “absence of dedicated and fully resourced implementation teams, lack of structured methodology and project management, failure to plan and manage quick wins, failure to fully mobilize change champions, lack of sympathetic human resource policies, use of an outsider to transact change, and failure to monitor and evaluate outcomes.”3

 Pulling these three concepts together, this tends to support an assertion that Project Managers need to have what Roeder Consulting calls a balanced approach, especially for successful change initiatives; this requires an integrated dance between 3 skills sets: technical skills, business acumen, and people skills. Those who can seamlessly navigate through these 3 skill areas should have better outcomes implementing change through projects, avoiding common pitfalls, as the research shows.

 To me, successful project execution falls beyond only the responsibility of the Project Manager – that is the purpose of the 3 questions mentioned in the introduction, which gets the entire project team to focus on a balanced approach. There are no universal answers to these questions that guarantee a successful project. However, the answers do need to be reasonable and have accepted concurrence, to help the group determine if they should move forward with the change project.

 One step further, to ensure our PMs are ready to lead major change initiatives, perhaps there is something to learn from the literature about organizational behavior, change and project failures. Since we are a profession of getting things done through others, it behooves us to understand human behavior. In my personal observations, there is an abundance of methods to prepare PMs technically. However, we don’t do a thorough enough job on the people skills side. Organizational change projects require people to change behavior. Those PMs who truly understand and demonstrate effective use of “soft skills” in their change projects tend to have greater success.