Practically Project Management

Everyone loves shiny objects. We're hard-wired from a very early age to be lured by the attraction of new things. Look no further than the "unboxing videos" phenomenon and you'll realize the truth of this. Even I confess that I REALLY enjoy getting my hands on new technology, opening it up, and testing it out.

Here's the issue. Shiny objects can be a costly distraction.  Especially for project management organizations. They often take the form of new technology, business models, management methods, or a consulting pitch packed with the latest buzz words. While sometimes these can be very good things -- there is a potential downside.

Case in point. I was working with a business leader who wanted to sponsor a project to automate an important business process. He explained that he had already hired a programmer to use artificial intelligence to improve the process. When I asked him why, he responded "Because artificial intelligence is what other leading companies use." After some discussion about the problem, we determined that artificial intelligence was overkill. The process could be automated using much simpler and less expensive methods.

And that's the trap. Shiny objects can get us laser focused on a solution before we've adequately explored the problem. This situation is prevalent in many different parts of society. Even Albert Einstein was quoted as stating:

" If I only had an hour to solve a problem, I'd spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem itself, and 5 minutes thinking about solutions."

Now some might argue Einstein was wrong about a lot of things, including the cosmological constant, so he could be wrong about the amount of time to focus on problem definition. Fair point. But based on my experience I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt on this one.

The next time you feel the attraction of a shiny object I suggest channeling your inner Einstein and really take time to explore the problem.

An easy technique is the "how might we...?" problem statement. To see how it works let's revisit the case of the business leader who hired an AI programmer to improve a business process. Instead of jumping to an immediate solution, we would begin by defining the problem. It could go something like "How might we... reduce the time our team spends on process XYZ by 50%, while decreasing defects by at least 25%, with an investment of $15,000 or less?"

Notice that in one problem statement we:

1. Defined the desired outcome
2. Established specific metrics to determine success
3. Included constraints.

This simple technique sets you up to creatively explore multiple different types of solutions.  That way you don't get locked into focusing on just one thing.  There's a lot of practical ways to do this which are outlined in more detail within the Design Thinking methodology developed by IDEO and Stanford University.

Although problem definition is a great tool to use, just keep in mind there are two sides any equation. We shouldn't forget that shiny objects have the power to help us envision new possibilities or understand problems in a way we never considered. They contribute to the zeitgeist that fuels innovation and progress. Thus, don't avoid shiny objects. Just take a balanced approach and avoid getting lured by the attraction of one particular solution.

Let’s face it.  Most of us don’t like change.  Heck, sometimes the smallest changes can set me off.  Little things like a menu update at my favorite restaurant, software updates to my phone, or dare I say reorganizing products at my local supermarket have been known to send me on a rant.   Yet, the amount of change occurring across all aspects of our lives is increasing exponentially.  Futurist Ray Kurzweil aptly described the times we’re living in as “The Age of Acceleration.”

Constant change makes the daily demands of leadership feel overwhelming, and it’s a source of frustration and burn-out for many people.  Yet, once we recognize and accept the fact that change is part of everyday life, and not some special activity reserved for HR or project management professionals, we can begin to approach it as a capability that we all need to develop.

Having been deeply involved in significant change management efforts throughout my career, I’ve noticed some common practices that have proven to be incredibly valuable.  I think of these as the five daily practices for change management.  These are approaches that can be applied by anyone, at any level, to help manage the daily drumbeat of change.  It doesn’t matter is you’re the CEO or an entry level team member — you can proactively lead positive change every single day.

Here are five “habits” that every leader is empowered to use to manage everyday change:

1. Look outside the organization – People get blindsided by change when they lose touch with what’s happening in the broader world around them. It’s important to stay informed on market trends, new competitors, and sources of disruption. This can be as simple as staying up to date on trade publications, attending a conference, or reading the news. To gain new perspectives try getting out of your daily routine.  For example, if you work in accounting at a large corporation, consider taking a “field trip” to learn what accountants are doing in smaller organizations – or vice versa. Continually explore how new insights could affect your work and pursue ways to keep yourself and your team relevant.
2. Stay close to the people you serve – It’s really easy to mess things up when you’re disconnected from understanding the ever changing wants, needs, and expectations of the people you serve. It doesn’t matter is you’re in sales, marketing, operations, IT, engineering, accounting, HR, finance, or another area within the organization — somewhere there are people who are dependent on the work you do. Take time to meet with them, discuss ways to improve, and even identify ways they might get their needs met elsewhere to help inform you about your competition. This can be done formally via a meeting or informally over coffee or lunch.
3. Measure outcomes – Positive change is really about consistently producing better outcomes. While commercial aspects of the business may have clear outcome metrics like revenue and profit, results in the back-office may appear more difficult to track. They’re not. Items like adoption, usage, satisfaction, defects, cost, time to complete a process, effort to complete a process, total number of outputs, etc… are all ways to assess outcomes. As long as you’re correlating changes to improved outcomes you’ll know you’re headed in the right direction.
4. Cultivate continuous communication – Communication is the core element to successfully managing change. It requires leaders to establish a diverse and ongoing set of communication channels with their stakeholders. This should include ways to obtain open and honest feedback based on mutual trust. Examples might include meetings, one-on-one conversations, newsletters, training, videos, chats or forums, intranet sites, emails, or dare I say an old fashioned bulletin board. Set a steady rhythm and adjust as the needs of your audience evolve.
5. Set a vision and iterate – Managing through continuous change doesn’t mean you need to respond to every single whim or issue that emerges. Instead, it requires leaders to establish a clear vision of where they’re going while also allowing for changes along the way. Start by developing a roadmap or plan. You might pair that with project management and operational methods like agile and Kanban. This will enable you to keep things progressing in the right direction while also incorporating changes as new information becomes available

Do you remember how many times you crashed your bicycle before learning to ride? Can you recall how many times you fell over before learning to walk? Probably not. That’s because when we’re young taking risks is part of growing and failure is synonymous with learning.

Yet, somewhere along life’s journey, things change. Contrary to the mantras of “fail fast” or “we want to create a culture where it’s OK to fail“, many professionals stop associating failure with learning. Instead, failure becomes associated with weakness or incompetence. This stigma causes us to take fewer risks. The result is we self-limit our own potential.

Unpacking Failure

Awhile ago I took a really big risk.  I was part of a failed start-up company and I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything. I learned more during my time in a failed business than I ever did from MBA classes on entrepreneurship, marketing, or management.

Our business concept was purpose driven. Museums and art galleries provided us with used shipping crates that were previously destined for landfills. Our industry research indicated approximately 2 million of these crates were sent to landfills every year! Precious resources including water, trees, time needed to produce them, pollution from transportation, and landfill space was being unnecessarily wasted. 

For context, these were not basic wooden boxes.  Most of the crates were custom crafted to securely transport high value pieces of art. We would collect the crates, refurbish them, and place them online for resale and reuse.  Our business also included direct partnerships with art handlers to offer our products, alongside theirs, as an ecologically friendly and lower cost option to traditional crating.  

The primary business hypothesis was there would be a “middle market” of environmentally minded customers who would want to buy these crates. After launching the business we quickly discovered the following market dynamics.

• The high end of the market wanted new custom crates. Apparently no one was comfortable putting their Andy Warhol or freshly shredded Banksy in a used crate.
• The low end of the market couldn’t afford to ship the crate. The crates were heavy and could easily cost upwards of $500 to ship.
• And.... the middle market never materialized. After a lengthy campaign of marketing and direct sales appeals we only had a trickle of sales.

There are few things that feel worse than putting your heart and soul into a business, only to have it come up short. But taking risks can often have unforeseen rewards, and the value of the lessons I learned along the way were priceless.

Here are some insights from my experience.

1. Don’t get it perfect – just get it out there – One of the things we did really well was quickly getting our store online and products available for purchase. We didn’t waste a lot of time overthinking it, we just put a minimum viable product (MVP) out there. Once we were open, using agile principles, we quickly iterated and improved based on what we were learning from the actual market.
2. Market research isn’t everything – Before launching we spent time speaking with people in the art community. They all claimed to want low cost crating solutions that were environmentally friendly. When we presented them with our concept they were ecstatic. Yet, when it came time to actually buy our products they were nowhere to be found. This is a classic case of researcher bias where individuals will say favorable things just to be nice.
3. Define what success looks like – Before launch we defined a small set of goals. My partners and I agreed, if certain criteria weren’t met then we would pull the plug. This really helped with decision making when emotions were running high.
4. Don’t confuse business failure with personal failure – When you put a lot of time, effort, and money into something, it naturally becomes personal. This is true for start-ups, projects at work, and our daily jobs. It’s easy to blame yourself when things don’t go as planned. While it’s important to hold ourselves accountable, it’s healthy to keep things in perspective. A business concept can simply be ill-timed or mismatched with needs in the market. Sometimes things just don’t work out.
5. Everyone has the capacity to do new things – Resources are scarce in a start-up and there’s nobody to delegate to. This singular reason is why I believe it’s important for every business professional to spend some time working with a small business. It keeps you humble, focused, and grounded in reality. For example, while my role was initially related to strategy, project planning, and marketing, I had to expand my contributions to include warehouse operations, direct sales, and even driving a 26′ delivery truck.

Are you growing professionally?

As I reflected on some of these insights I found myself coming back to an important question that we should all ask ourselves.

“What professional risks are you taking that have the potential for failure?"

When you genuinely explore this question it naturally highlights opportunities for learning and growth. The funny thing that I realized is that even though our aversion to risk changes as we age, the inherent relationship between failure and learning doesn't.

So here's my challenge.  As project managers we're hard-wired to minimize risks.  Contrary to our PMI training, I recommend occasionally taking risks instead! It can be something as simple as working on a new project, learning a new skill, or applying for a position in a different part of the company you work at.  Just like learning to ride a bike, it’s OK to fall down. We all crash sometimes.  If you don't crash every once in awhile, then chances are you're not really challenging yourself to reach your fullest potential.  And that's really the biggest risk of all.  

** This article was originally published by Jon Hanley on his blog at practically project management

It seems like the word "transformation" crops up about everywhere these days so here’s some friendly advice. Since we haven’t reached maximum hype, just insert the word transformation into any new project request and it will significantly increase the odds that it will be sponsored or funded. Case in point. If you're a contractor bidding on a project to replace some broken toilets, just position it as a “bathroom transformation” and I guarantee you can charge double. I digress.

Anyway, at one point in my career I dealt with transformation related topics daily.  My job was focused on identifying emerging technologies, start-ups, or business models that might help us evolve our business. I would spend my days meeting with venture capitalists, startup founders, angel investors, academics, and a whole assortment of other interesting characters. I was primarily looking for innovative ways to solve problems we had, and to capture insights about problems that we didn’t even know existed.

One of my meetings inevitably led me to the offices of the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. Here’s a shortlist of companies they’ve funded; Facebook, Github, Box, Dollar Shave Club, Instagram, Oculus, Lyft, Slack, Zenefits, etc… It’s also worth noting that their tagline was “software is eating the world.”

Oddly, the thing I recall most from my meeting was their lobby. Tucked within tiny alcoves were photographs of hydrogen bomb tests from the 1950’s. After closer inspection I discovered they were all originals. I asked myself, “what kind of organization hangs original photos of hydrogen bomb tests in their lobby?” and filed the question in the back of my mind for reflection.

Fast forward to today. Everywhere you look “transformation offices” are cropping up in corporate headquarters.  My news feeds overflow with the latest cavalcade of articles zinging around buzzwords such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, big data, block chain, and my all-time favorite… the cloud.

Here’s the thing. I have yet to see a “transformation” occur at a company that is worthy of the hype.  Most transformation programs are incremental. They typically involve process automation, replacement of old technology, or response to a competitive threat. This is valuable work but it rarely results in a company being truly transformed.

This takes me back to the question of “why the hydrogen bomb test photos?”  An answer has slowly emerged. Transformative organizations have no anchor to the past way of doing things. They embrace the destructive, disruptive, AND creative energies inherent in all new technologies -- with the intent of creating a different, and hopefully better, future. 

Because venture capitalists like Andreessen Horowitz manage large portfolios of different types of companies, they don’t have the same constraints as existing businesses. They can place multiple “bets on the future” by spreading their risk over numerous individual companies. One successful investment can offset the losses of countless failed ones. Even with savvy portfolio management, existing businesses and mature project management organizations typically can’t approach things this way.

While there are plenty of books on the topic, I believe the main challenge for existing businesses seeking transformation is best summed up in the Zen saying, “the sword cannot cut itself.”

This is why you’ve never read an article about Sears transforming retail by taking their catalog online, or Kodak transforming photography by digitizing how photos are taken, processed, and shared. To embrace true transformation often requires one to also embrace the destructive side of the equation. This often means wrecking an existing business, i.e. the sword cutting itself.  This is indicative of why Jeff Bezos was recently quoted as saying “I predict one day Amazon will fail. Amazon will go bankrupt. If you look at large companies, their lifespans tend to be 30-plus years, not a hundred-plus years.”

This takes us to the primary trouble with transformations. If you’re in an existing business, and you know your industry will be disrupted, it's really difficult to figure out what to do.  Maybe you should setup a new PMO team and call it a “Transformation Office”? Or possibly you should invest in cutting edge buzz word technology or acquire a start-up? 

Well, unfortunately the challenge really isn’t about creating a new organization or pursuing some new technology projects. It is primarily about vision, culture, and leadership. This is a much harder problem to navigate – but it’s not insurmountable. From my experience I’ve observed at least four general paths. The trick is to walk the paths simultaneously, without losing sight of your day to day business.

1. Technology Led Improvements – In the not too distant past, technology was viewed as an enabler. The “business” would define a need and the “information technology” function would initiate a project to address it. This approach needs to be flipped. It requires market savvy technology oriented leaders to demonstrate what’s possible and then work with the business to implement it. I believe this reorientation best captures what most organizations are doing with digital transformation. Culture and outdated organizational models are the biggest barriers here, not to mention that market savvy IT leaders are very hard to find!
2. Rapid Competitive Response – Today’s competitors can quickly emerge from anywhere. Even historically “stable” industries like razor blades or mattresses are seeing small disruptive competitors that present real threats to long standing businesses. Addressing this requires adding agility to the organization. A variety of companies have invested in cross-functional project teams, light-weight infrastructure, and externally focused leaders to mobilize rapid responses to competitive threats. For example, Best Buy was able to respond to Amazon’s next day shipping by offering ship from store capabilities. This was a cross functional effort spanning retail operations, logistics, e-commerce, accounting, etc… They started small by testing the capability in a handful of stores. Once proven it was quickly expanded across the entire business.
3. Diversified Partnerships – Joy’s law sums it up best; “no matter who you are, most of the smartest people work for someone else.” This means that in order to succeed, businesses need to develop diverse external partner networks. The goal here is to gain insights about new threats or opportunities while tapping into external talent to experiment with emerging capabilities. It often requires establishing a dedicated group within the organization to cultivate these partnerships. To be clear, these are not transactional vendor relationships and are typically not something that might be delegated to purchasing organizations. Some examples include Unilever Ventures, P&G Connect and Develop, Johnson and Johnson Innovation, etc…
4. Research and Disruption (the new R&D) –  This is the hardest one to explain and pursue. It’s really about taking a lead role shaping the future of an industry. While it's probably over-used, a good example of this is Elon Musk (and associated investors) being on the forefront of disrupting transportation. While Tesla gets most of the headlines, Musk plays a leadership role in the areas of space travel via Space-X with reusable launch systems, self-driving automobiles, ride-sharing services, hyper-loop, and the aptly named Boring Company. If you’re leading disruption in so many facets of the transportation industry, then it’s difficult to completely get left behind -- even if several ventures ultimately fail. This implies an approach where existing businesses pursue concepts that may undermine their current operations (i.e. the sword cutting itself).

In order to survive, practically every business needs to embrace elements of transformation. Ironically most of the challenges are internal.  They come from overcoming the forces within the business that are resistant to embracing all aspects of transformation – including the potentially destructive ones.  Understanding this is one of the first steps on the path to success.  As project managers, it's up to us to help our sponsors and leaders navigate these difficult challenges.  And, if all else fails, go ahead and hang up a few photos of atomic bombs going off, at minimum it’s sure to spark some lively conversation.

Speaking of conversation.  I welcome your thoughts and reactions to this article.  I want to hear more about your own experience with transformation projects.  What's worked, what hasn't, and what do you think we can we do as project professionals to successfully advance transformation for the benefit of our organizations?

** This article was originally published by Jon Hanley on his blog at practically project management

One of the most important lessons I ever learned was when I was working as an assistant brand manager for a consumer products company.  As part of our training we had to conduct in-home research with potential customers.  My first research topic was cleaning.  Being somewhat young and arrogant, I initially approached the assignment with the mindset that it was a complete waste of time.  I remember telling myself, “I’ve been cleaning things around the house for years so I already have a pretty good idea of what’s involved.”  I had never been more wrong.

Our research participant lived in a small two-bedroom apartment with her husband and a toddler.  After knocking on the door she invited me in.  We exchanged some pleasantries to get past some of the awkwardness.  I began with a simple question, which was “can you show me where you keep your cleaning supplies?”  After that we started to have a conversation about each product.  We would explore why she had it, where she used it, where she bought it, and how often it was used.  No radical insights.  I impatiently heard myself affirming in my head, “Yes, I know, Windex is really good at cleaning windows.“

Then a funny thing happened.  We walked over to the only bathroom in the house.  It was small, completely tiled, and absolutely immaculate from ceiling to floor.  I instinctively asked how she kept it so clean.  It was at this point that the woman started to break down -- almost to the point of tears.  She confessed that she spent one hour cleaning this bathroom every single day.  I was stunned.  She went on to explain that she smoked cigarettes but couldn’t leave her child unattended.  She refused to smoke in front of her child because it would set a bad example, so she would run to the bathroom several times a day to smoke a cigarette with the fan on.  At night, she would clean the bathroom to eliminate any traces of smoking.

Cleaning wasn’t simply a functional process like I assumed.  For her, it was a complex mixture of emotions wrapped up with feelings of love, guilt, moral obligation, and a genuine desire to be a good mom in spite of all the flaws that come from simply being human.  In short, I was overwhelmed at how little I actually understood.  From this realization sprang a genuine curiosity that has continued to serve me well.  And whenever I hear that foolish little voice in my head that says "You already know this", I immediately shut it down.        

The other thing I learned is that having conversations about your products and services doesn’t have to be awkward.  For some people it comes naturally, but for others it requires a little more structure.  One of the tools that I recommend is a “discussion guide.”  Just like it sounds, it’s an outline to help you facilitate a conversation to learn about something.  A general approach that I like to use is as follows:

1. Set a Learning Objective:  Define what you're trying to learn.  Are you generally seeking information and/or if there is something specific about a product, service, or technology that you need more information about. 
2. Identify your audience.  Determine who you want to speak with and why.  The specificity of the audience will be based on your objective.  Remember, sometimes you might get better insights from people who don’t use your product or service, or who don’t even like your product or service.  Competitive insights can be very powerful.
3. Provide a short introduction.  When you meet with someone, explain who you are, what you’re wanting to learn about, and also how you might be empowered to take action based on what they tell you.  People are generally much more interested in providing helpful feedback if they know you’re empowered to make changes.
4. Start by letting them be the expert.  When you’re speaking with someone, start with open-ended questions that allow them to explain their relationship to a product, service, technology, or situation.  This helps them to provide context, get a little more comfortable, and demonstrate their knowledge.  For example, if you were trying to learn more about how people use their phone, you might ask “Tell me about when and where you use your phone?”  During the conversation you might follow up with “Why do you?” questions, which often make good transitions to other related topics you want to learn about.  Notice, the questions are not intended to place judgement, but simply to understand and let them share their experience.
5. Consider likes / dislikes.  I often like to try to explore extremes.  Another good general question is to ask what they like most and least about something.  And, if appropriate, followed by “Why?”.  I think of this as setting the upper and lower control limits for the topic.
6. Get more specific.  Once you’ve developed some rapport and context with the person, you can follow-up on more specific topics.  This might tie to a specific learning objective related to a feature, function, process, concept, idea, etc…  For example, if you were developing an app for a mobile phone, you could present them with actual mock-ups of the app to get their feedback. 
7. Give them the final word.  Sometimes people have something important to share that they may hold back because they weren't asked specifically about it.  At the end of a conversation, I like to ask, “Is there anything else you would like me to know?”  This gives them the opportunity to close the conversation on their terms.  Sometimes the best insights come at the end.
8. Thank them.  Regardless of how the conversation goes, keep in mind that everyone’s time is valuable.  They’ve given you the gift of their perspectives so be sure to give them the respect they deserve.
9. Capture your insights.  Don’t forget to capture your insights or possible actions from the conversation.  If you didn’t take notes when you were talking, ensure you quickly write them down afterwards while the conversation is still fresh in your mind.

** This article was originally published by Jon Hanley on practically project management