Tip of the Month – February 2011 – Ask good, probing questions.
February 9th, 2011
Most people who know me know that I try to ask very good questions…probing questions…questions that try and drive out a good understanding of an issue and its root cause so that it can be solved. So you can imagine my surprise when a manager at one of my client organizations said to me, “Don’t ask questions in meetings.” I was devastated. This manager’s rationale was that asking questions would cause meetings to run longer. I remember when I was doing undergrad internships at a prestigious medical center, the philosophy was “dumb questions are easier to address than dumb mistakes.” I have always tried to heed this advice, except I always try to ask good questions, not dumb ones.
Needless to say, this manager and I disagree, but the client is the client. You must adapt to the client’s culture. I believe as a program and/or project leader you need to ask many good and probing questions. If you do not ask questions, I find that you often find out too late about an issue (or the root cause of an issue) to “fix it,” so the issue does not negatively impact your program (i.e., cost, schedule, or quality).
If you find yourself in a similar situation, sit down with the manager and try to understand his or her rationale for taking a particular position. In some cases, it may be valid. In other cases, the manager may understand your perspective or offer another approach to get the information needed to address the issue(s).
You need to be a leader. You need to lead your program to a successful outcome. You need to understand the issues and get the issues solved quickly. You need to solve the issues so your programs can be successful. Good probing questions will simplify your life as a program/project leader. I know it has for me.
Posted in Communications Management, Human Resource Management, Issue Management, Leadership, Monitoring & Controlling Process, Portfolio Leadership, Program Leadership, Project Leadership, Tip of the Month | No Comments »
Tip of the Month – January 2011
December 31st, 2010
One of my frustrations is when project team members have a defeatist attitude about certain tasks on a project. My parents always taught me, “If you think you can, or you think you can’t, you are probably right.”
The next time you catch yourself caught up in negative energy while working on a project, ask yourself, “What needs to happen in order for this work effort to be successful?” Be empowered. Do what needs to get done for success to occur. If you need help from the leadership team, explain the problem and the specifics you believe need to happen to fix the issue. Your leadership team will thank you, your project team members will thank you and you will be viewed as a “go-to” team member.
Posted in Leadership, Tip of the Month | No Comments »
Prioritizing Discretionary Project Funding
December 31st, 2010
Portfolio Management
January is a common time of year for organizations to establish their discretionary financial plan. One of the challenges with this process is determining how much work can get “crammed” into the financial budget. The discretionary budget is never enough to fund all of the desired work. Therefore, organizations need to prioritize.
Just like your personal to-do list, you have the “strategic few” and the “trivial many.” Projects are no different. Take the time to prioritize which projects are the “strategic few” before you commit discretionary funds.
If you have carry-over projects from the previous year, reassess the business case for the project. If the project is running late and it does not support the business case, do not be afraid to abandon the work effort. If there is value, get a firm “estimate to complete” so you can determine what funding you will have available for other work. You can use either Earned Value (EV), or bottom-up estimating techniques to determine the Estimate-to-Complete (ETC).
Before you commit which projects will be performed with the funds you allocated, take the time to determine their strategic and tactical importance. You should be able to rank each initiative and have a definitive estimate (remember the level of precision on definitive estimates are -10% to + 15%). I personally prefer the old level of precision for definitive estimates of -5% to +10%. Knowing both the rank and definitive estimate will allow you to prioritize. An example is provided below:
In this example, the total funding available is $7.0 Million. Pick the order of magnitude for your business. This could be $7K for smaller businesses or $7 trillion over multiple years for larger organizations (e.g., governments). The concept applies regardless of budget size. Determining the estimate needed to complete the project and applying a management contingency will provide you a pretty good assessment of your funding requirement.
Prioritizing funds based on the leadership team’s agreed-to priorities will allow you to allocate funds to initiatives ranked as the highest priority, which protects the company’s interests in the event of funding shortfalls. Drawing a simple line where funding runs out will allow you to communicate to your leadership team what projects can and cannot be performed with the allocated funding. The leadership team can then make a decision to provide additional funding, or reprioritize work.
Posted in Cost Management, Leadership, Portfolio Leadership, Project Leadership | No Comments »
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