Strategic Project Management

I don't know how many of you are familiar with the term "rock crawling" or have actually had the experience of spending time behind the wheel of a Jeep or other four-wheel drive vehicle and picked you way up a boulder-strewn stream-bed or other similar trail. However, if you live near the mountains like I do, it's one of the pleasures of owning a Jeep.

Yesterday, my colleagues and I had the opportunity to take some Razr 4x4s out into the mountains for a working? off-site to cap off a successful end of the second quarter. There were a couple members of the team who had done this kind of thing before, but there were others who had never been behind the wheel of a four-wheel drive off-road vehicle.

I have to admit that I really enjoyed bombing down the fire-roads with my foot to the floor—drifting around the corners throwing up dust and grinning from ear to ear. However, the highlight of the day for me was watching one of my colleagues who had never done anything like this before pick his way up a very technical section of trail. Our boss (who does this all the time and was very familiar with the trail we were on) talked him through almost every boulder and was encouraging every step of the way. He did a great job climbing the trail—which wasn't diminished at all by the "mentoring" he received on the way up.

I think project teams should work the same way. I think teamwork includes more experienced team members helping less experienced team members pick through the obstacles that often tend to crop up in the middle of a project. And like my rock crawling colleague, sharing "beta" about the trail never diminishes the achievement of project success—I think it sweetens it.

Do you encourage your project teams to work this way? Please share some of your successes with us.
 

When I was in High School, I had a trigonometry teacher who was obviously a brilliant guy, but couldn't explain anything he was talking about so we (I don't think it was just me) could understand it. If I couldn't figure it out  by reading the textbook, I wasn't going to understand it by listening to his lecture either. I would often leave his class feeling like everything was "clear as mud".

I've been part of project teams where I felt the same (and I don't think I'm alone on this either). With that in mind, is there something project leaders should be doing to make sure that tasks, assignments and project communication is clear and understandable? Here are a few suggestions:

1. Use the "My Mother" Rule: When I'm writing any project communication, I often think of my Mom. She's a pretty smart lady and I figure if she can understand what I'm talking about, most likely the reader will understand it too. So, when you're writing a description of a task or other communication, ask yourself, "Would Ty's mom understand this?" If not, try again.
2. Don't Assume Everyone Knows What You Are Talking About: Sometimes it easy to make assumptions about the level of understanding that exists among the team. Just because you "get it" doesn't mean that everyone on the team is going to be able to wrap their head around what you're trying to say without the proper context. For example, if your only description of a task is: Update Patch for Next Release, it would be unreasonable to assume that your reader will understand what you are requesting. Take a little extra time to make sure the team has everything they need to know to completely understand what you're asking of them (and remember #1...would my Mom get it?). I have never experienced a time when a colleague has been frustrated at knowing exactly what I was expecting, but I have frustrated people when they didn't know what I was talking about.
3. Don't Rely Exclusively on Email or Other Electronic Communication Methods: Sometimes, it just makes sense to have an actual conversation with people. Like many of you, I have come to rely on electronic communication to share information, collaborate and respond to questions. Most of the time I think it works just fine. However, there are times when a conversation is in order. Make sure to spend face-time with the team to answer questions or help resolve issues.
4. Listen to My Grandma: She always used to say, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." Before you complete your project plan and distribute all the tasks to the team, take a few minutes and visit all those who will have assignments and give them a little advanced warning that they are going to see a number of new tasks show up on their list of things to do. It's polite. It gives you an opportunity to provide context. And, it will always be appreciated. This is particularly true of matrix-ed organizations where the project team could be dispersed throughout the organization. If the team is spread around the world and a face-to-face conversation is problematic, I think an email or a phone call with the "heads-up" information is appropriate.

Successful projects require more than a "clear as mud" understanding of what's expected. Team members need context to perform at their best and engage in their work. And yes, for the most part, I have always tried to listen to my Mom and my Grandma.

I spent the last few days in the Uintah Mountains fishing and camping with my family. As we sat around the campfire each night, telling stories about each other, I couldn't help but think about the "tribal knowledge" our family likes to share at times like these with in-laws and other family guests.

Now that I'm back and in front of the computer for the first time in five or six days, I can't help but think about the tribal knowledge that exists within our project teams and the organizations we work with. Although my daughter-in-law might find the stories about her husband's childhood amusing, the tribal knowledge that impacts our project teams is more than amusing, it's critical for a team to successfully work well together.

I was very fortunate when I entered the workforce that an older (and more experienced) colleague took me under his wing and shared with me the unspoken order of things within our organization. I'll admit that some of them were pretty obvious, but there were others that were vital to helping me keep my foot out of my mouth. His serendipitous mentor-ship and the things he taught me have helped my career many times over the years.

What is the unspoken order of things within your organization? Is there any kind of established vehicle for sharing that information with those new to you organization, or do you leave it all up to chance?

Here are a few suggestions for sharing tribal knowledge that might help new members of your project teams get up to speed quickly. Of course, these are just suggestions, please feel free to share any successful approaches you might have.

1. Meet together regularly as a team to share stories. This could be part of a quarterly planning meeting or other team get-together. Stories are a great vehicle for learning. And, sharing stories about team successes and failures could be a great way to share the "unspoken order of things" to your team.
2. Assign a more experienced mentor to a younger (or newer) team member. There's a reason that the trades are so successful with an apprenticeship program. It just makes sense to me that a more experienced colleague take a less experienced team member under his or her wing. This isn't necessarily to make sure that they know how to do their job (we should be able to assume that), but someone to help navigate the nuances of working within the organization is a good idea.
3. Spend one-on-one time with team members on a regular basis. Once a month or once a quarter it's a good idea to sit down with team members for a one-on-one conversation about goals and objectives along with individual and team performance. This is also a great time to share tribal information.

Regardless of how you choose to share tribal information, I look at it as more of an ongoing process than something you eventually finish. If you are doing something to successfully share this type of information within your organization, what are you doing? Do you think it helps your project teams?

I don't think it matters what type of organization you work with, keeping your best people is important. I was looking back over some old resource material the other day and found (or re-found) an article from Entrepreneur.com that offers seven suggestions for how to keep good team members, as the economy improves. I think the suggestions apply very well to team members (I'm convinced that project success is really dependent on the individuals that make up the project team and the extra work many teams are doing now with minimal resources):

1. Revisit Old Promises: It's important to address any benefit cuts or salary freezes which were agreed upon by team members due to economic conditions, but it's also important to review any other promises made to the team that may have been forgotten. For example: the extra day off for working the weekend, the bonus that was promised but wasn't realized, etc. The team will remember, so you had better remember too.
2. Take Action: If employees have concerns or complaints, don't ignore them. If team members are asking for additional responsibilities, give them an opportunity to participate in an expanded role on the team. When team members feel that their voice matters, they are more inclined to feel satisfied at work.
3. Have Fun: A lot of teams plan activities outside of the office. If that works for your team, that's great. However, it is possible to make the work environment a fun and enjoyable place to be. Focusing on "all work all the time" can make the job a drag. Sometimes all it takes is a 5-10 minute break during the day or bringing in a pizza once in a while to ease the tension and make the workplace fun. Be creative. One of the teams here spends time once in a while shooting hoops for a few minutes during the afternoon to keep everyone's mind fresh.
4. Keep Talking: Keep the team up to date regarding the status of the company and its prospects. This can go a long way to ease fears about the future. Our company meets together every quarter to talk about our successes (and failures) during the quarter. We also get an update on our company's health. I find this hour very valuable and appreciate that our CEO makes it happen every quarter. It may not be a company-wide meeting in your organization, but you can certainly keep your team up to date.
5. Be Transparent: Make sure to communicate both the company's good and bad news without "sugar-coating" the bad news. It's important to speak to every member of the team individually from time to time to let them know how they are doing and how they fit into the company's (and the team's) plans for growth.
6. Address Inequities: Rewarding employees based upon performance can be a good idea, but if there are significant pay inequities on the team, they aren't a secret. Now is a good time to address pay inequities with raises where appropriate. As a project leader, you might not have the authority to implement a pay raise for a key employee, but you sure have some influence with who does.
7. Be Realistic: As the economy improves, you may very well loose some team members to the "bigger or better" opportunity. However, if you can show the team that they are important to the organization's success, and are open and honest with them regarding what's happening at your company and their future, they will more than likely stick with the team.

What do you do to keep your best employees?

I started my career in the industrial business. I worked with contractors, machinists and other tradesmen who were building and maintaining factories, refineries and other such structures. I spent most of my time with mechanical engineers and their blue line drawings. It was a much different work from the high tech world I live in now.

Some time ago, at the recommendation of a colleague, I read the book Shop Craft as Soulcraft by Matthew Crawford. It was less a book about the author's love of motorcycles and more about the psychology of work than I had expected, but I enjoyed it. Because of my experiences as a young man, I think I could relate to his descriptions of the tactile nature of the work done in the trades as opposed to the more esoteric work done by knowledge workers in the high tech world of software and computers.

In the chapter titled The Contradictions of the Cubicle, Crawford describes the difference between the way a team of knowledge workers is led and the way a construction crew is directed. I think there is something we can learn from his description:
 

Over the last couple of years we've heard a lot about the "new normal" and how it is impacting knowledge workers, project teams and project success. To be an effective project leader, I think we need to embrace some of the practices that are considered successful among the crews that work in the trades.

In my opinion, an important part of leadership is a willingness to roll up the sleeves and pitch in on a regular basis. I know that I have appreciated the leaders I have had who were willing to do that during my career. What's more, they seem to have a better handle on what I was doing and were better able to help me succeed.

Does it makes sense to lead a project team of knowledge workers the same way a master directs the work of an apprentice? Probably not, but there are things we can learn from that relationship—and I think we should.