Strategic Project Management

It isn't often that I get to experience the "perfect" plan. However, my Saturday on the bike was the "perfect" culmination of the "perfect" plan. We spent the day riding through a couple of the most beautiful canyons in northern Utah. The ride up Logan Canyon to Bear Lake has to be one of my favorites and the weather was ideal. I really enjoy cruising the roads that are less traveled.

Although my Saturday was pretty much the perfect day, I think we can all agree that it doesn't always turn out that way at work. However, there are some things I learned from my epic day in the saddle:

1. Be flexible. Although I may have said earlier that the plan was perfect, it wasn't exactly as we had planned. It took us a little longer to get to Bear Lake than I had thought it would, so we ended up eating lunch someplace other than I had intended. That being said, it hit the spot and didn't diminish at all from the day. Sometimes I think we try too hard to stick to the plan regardless of the circumstances that present themselves and don't take advantage of other great opportunities that crop up. It doesn't hurt to be a little bit flexible.
2. Relax and enjoy the ride. Sometimes I have to remind myself to take joy in the journey. One of the things I like most about riding motorcycles is that the "riding" or "the journey" is the fun part. It's not always about the destination. I think projects are the same. I often wonder if we should take time to enjoy the journey. If we expect our project teams to always be looking forward to completion instead of enjoying the challenges and growing opportunities that projects usually present, we create an environment that nobody wants to be a part of.
3. Recognize progress. The smell of the river, the feel of the wind, the scent of the pine trees all make a ride up the canyon worthwhile. I recently wrote about how acknowledging progress (no matter how small) is what makes work worthwhile for people. Just like the smell of pine adds enjoyment to the ride, I think we need to celebrate the successful accomplishment of milestones—even if they might not be considered "significant".
4. Retrospection can be rewarding. I usually take a couple of photographs during the Saturday ride to share with my friends and family who didn't join us. My brother-in-law and I both contribute to a blog about where we go and what we've seen. But it doesn't stop there. We also talk about any issues or problems that might have cropped up during the ride and what we're going to do different next time to either minimize or eliminate them. At the end of every project, I think a retrospective discussion about lessons learned is critical. Does that mean that we will never make the same mistakes? Probably not. But if we don't make the attempt, we will definitely continue to repeat them.
5. Take a break. For me, the Saturday ride is where I recharge my batteries and get energized for the coming week—while I relax and decompress from the previous week. Whatever it is that does that for you and the individuals on your project team needs to be encouraged. Sometimes you just have to be off the clock. During the ride I don't check my phone for messages, I seldom check my watch, and I don't care if the ride takes three or six hours. The object is to get away and relax. Everything I need to do will still be there on Monday.

So maybe the plan wasn't "perfect". But the ride was a success. I find the same things are true regarding projects and project teams. Perfection may be elusive, but that doesn't spell disaster.

Over the years I have participated in a number of discussions (debates really) about whether or not project managers are decision makers. The opinions seem to be pretty polarized. The camp that says "NO" argues that the executives in the organization make the strategic decisions and project managers execute those decisions. In most organizations this is probably true.

Those that argue "YES" (and I find myself in this camp), argue that depending on the size and dynamic of the organization many project managers are a part of the strategic discussion. They might not make "the" decision, but they are part of the process. What's more, project leaders make all kinds of decisions every day. With that in mind, I think it's important for project leaders to build some sound decision-making practices. Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert once said, "Informed decision-making comes from a long tradition of guessing and then blaming others for inadequate results."

Adams might be describing many organizations, but it doesn't have to describe yours or how you interact with the decision-making process. Most companies don't foster good decision-making practices—handicapping project leaders, project teams and their organizations. The answers to the following three questions will help your organization foster a workable decision-making process:

1. Who? Prior to the beginning of any project, determining who has decision-making power is the first step. Of course on most projects, there will likely be several decision makers.
2. What? Different members of the team will probably have different decision-making responsibilities based upon their role. Identifying the scope of everyone's responsibility regarding the type of decisions they can and can't make avoids confusion and makes it possible to streamline the process. Nobody wants to "Mother, may I?" every move they make, nor should the project leader or stakeholders be expected to make every decision.
3. How? Identifying how decisions are made and how they are shared with project team members is almost as important as the decision itself.

Regardless of you work management practices or project management tools, making project decisions is part of a project leader's job. What's more, it's been said that in-decision becomes decision with time.

The Chinese philosopher Confucius suggested, "By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is the noblest, Second: by imitation, which is the easiest; and Third, by experience which is the bitterest."

I don't think there's anyone who has to make decisions on a regular basis who wouldn't agree with Mr. Confucius. What do you do within your organization or project team to foster good decision-making practices?

According to Mark Twain "There are lies, damned lies and statistics."

In fact, I was once given a book written by Darrell Huff titled How to Lie With Statistics. It looks like Mr. Huff took Mr. Twain seriously.

A couple of days ago I wrote about honest project communication and the importance of telling  the truth (honest and transparent communication). This post generated a lot of discussion on Ganthead, where I have also made a couple of additional comments—some as recently as this morning. However, as I thought about it, I decided that I wanted to include some additional thoughts.

I do believe that honesty is the best policy. Over the course of my career I've witnessed others who have tried to skirt that policy and found themselves in trouble (in fact, a younger version of me had to once learn this the hard way myself). Sure, there might be times when the boss expects you to lie. I think that was probably going on at Enron. And Enron is a good example of what happens to organizations that foster a culture of lies.

As a project leader if you're asked to lie to the team, and you lie about project status to your boss, your boss is probably getting what they deserve. A culture of dishonest communication is not a healthy culture. In fact, it is a destructive culture.

Of course there are times when I have stretched the truth a bit to avoid hurting someones feelings (I think we have all done that at one time or another), however I think we all know that is not what I'm talking about. There may be some reading this who believe that I am naive and telling lies is just a part of business—people lie all the time. And, you may be right.

Fortunately, I have never been required to lie to colleagues or customers by my boss, so I can't speak to the challenges associated with managing my career within a culture of lies. I hope that should such an occasion ever present itself, my personal integrity would remain intact. That being said, knowing the people I am fortunate enough to work with, I doubt that will happen.

The crux of the matter in terms of project communication is this: decision-makers can't make good decisions with bad information. Period. Honest project communication is crucial to good decision-making. Anything less is asking for trouble.

Dishonesty within the project environment can't be tolerated. One of the things I hear regularly when I talk to customers and colleagues around the world is, "We can't trust our project data." I'm sure some of that can be attributed to old and irrelevant data, but some of it can also be attributed to the fact that some project managers aren't truthful. Covering your behind by telling lies about what's happening within a project may help you in the short term, but eventually  lies are discovered. This applies to team members too.

Although this might not be an "easy" black-and-white situation, it is nevertheless a very black-and-white situation.
 

The weather wasn't very good this weekend. We were going to ride up through southern Idaho but  the rain (and even snow) in some places looked pretty sketchy, so we decided to visit someplace else. Paul suggested Antelope Island on the Great Salt Lake.

It turned out to be a fun day on the bikes after all, even if we didn't get to take our "planned" ride. I think it's pretty important to remain flexible when things like the weather can get in the way. We may have had to change our plans, but we still got a fun ride in. No harm, no foul.

Riding into work this morning, I was thinking about Saturday's ride and thought about how that applies to work and projects. Sometimes things happen that change the nature of what we're doing, can impact scope, or might even instigate a complete change of direction. Depending upon why the changes were made may or may not indicate a problem.

The way I look at it, project execution is really where the rubber of strategy hits the road. When the business climate is volatile and market forces change, it's important for organizations to remain nimble enough to adapt what they're doing to accommodate the changes. Does that make the project a failure, NO. I think changes in scope or direction indicate project failure only when they are made because the project is lagging or failing to meet objectives. Strategic adjustments that change the scope of a project or cancel a project outright, do not indicate a failed project. In fact, strategic changes can lead to a successful outcome (much like our ride to Antelope Island).

It was a shorter ride, but it was a Utah State Park with lots to see—so we did. We stopped to see the sites, take in the vistas and even had a buffalo burger. All in all, it was a great day (even with the change in plans). I had some friends that went camping up in the mountains over the weekend and they saw nothing but rain and even snow. Had we gone forward with our original plan it would have been a cold and miserable day at best. I'm glad we changed plans. It made for a fun day on the bike.

Feel free to share some of your experiences when a change in direction or a change in scope resulted in a successful outcome.
 

I don't think they tell this story in school anymore. I think it's been debunked as a fabrication. That being said, I grew up learning that George Washington was honest. So honest in fact that as a boy he received a new ax and promptly cut down his father's cherry tree.

When asked about what happened to the tree, the young George said, "I cannot tell a lie. I cut down the cherry tree."

An icon of virtue for my young mind. True or not, for me, President Washington's image remains intact.

I once worked with a manager who always said whatever it was he thought you wanted to hear. At first, since it was what you wanted to hear, it was easy to feel pretty good about things. However, that didn't last very long. Soon (just like everyone else) I figured out that I couldn't trust anything he ever said. The same was true about what he said to the boss. He eventually got fired.

If your colleagues, team members and even the boss can't trust what you say, you might as well start cleaning out your desk right now. Of course, everyone likes to hear that things are all peachy-keen, but only if they are.

I learned early in my career that honesty is always the best policy. Even if the news is bad, hitting bad news straight on is always better than fudging the truth and hoping for the best. That's not to say it's aways pleasant. It isn't.

What's more, when the team sees you spin the truth to the boss, they assume you're doing the same thing to them—and they're probably right.