Voices on Project Management

By Cyndee Miller

This is normally the day where I’d write a post extolling all the amazing things that female project leaders are doing. And there’s certainly plenty to celebrate. Those women you see in the video above are leading the way in everything from space exploration and AI to healthcare and renewables. So let’s start with a simple note of recognition: Bravo!

But I’d be remiss not to also acknowledge a fundamental reality: The pandemic has taken an enormous toll on working women. A UN report found that while the unpaid workloads for both men and women have increased, women are bearing more of the burden. And according to a recent study by McKinsey and LeanIn.Org, senior-level women in the U.S. are far more likely than their male counterparts to feel burned out, exhausted and under pressure to work more.

Asked whether that aligned with her experience, Kat Megas, PMP, was blunt: “Yes, yes and yes,” she says on an upcoming episode of the Projectified® podcast.

And while she says she’s been “very encouraged” by peers and the organizations she’s worked for, there’s still some work ahead, says Megas, a program manager at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in McLean, Virginia, USA.

Megas outlines a situation that I think every single female leader—particularly those in male-dominated fields—has experienced at some point: Your idea is met by a sea of confused looks until a colleague says the same thing—and it’s lauded as a brilliant idea.

She puts it down to different communication styles—that women try to bring people along and pose ideas “as a question and something to be thought through so that the whole team can come on board.”

It’s a fair point and one that some teams are even looking to technology to solve. UK global creative agency AnalogFolk saw that women often choose wording that makes them sound passive. So the agency developed a tool called BigUp.AI that uses natural language processing and machine learning to analyze blocks of text and offer users more powerful wording. It’s impressive stuff—earning it a slot on the PMI Most Influential Projects social good top 10 list.

But Megas rightly points out that she and other women shouldn’t have to do all the adjusting.

“I don’t want to have to change who I am to fit into the mold. I like the way I approach things. I like the fact that I am a consensus builder. I like the fact that I think I have the right answer, but I will always be open to a broader discussion,” she says. “I would like to think that that would be a world where one day that would not be perceived as being indecisive or not being willing to take leadership or make the decision, and there would just be a recognition for different styles.”

This is about respect. And the differences are felt even more deeply among Black women in the U.S. They were the least likely among all respondent groups to report feeling like a valued member of their team, that they were being treated with respect and that there's a climate of fair treatment among coworkers, according to a Gallup survey conducted late last year.

At the same time, the COVID crisis has highlighted the emergence of a new female force in leadership, according to two speakers at the Brightline Strategy@Work conference last November. And they pointed to New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

“One of the characteristics and attributes of what we’ve been seeing from women taking on those leadership and authority positions is decisiveness. Jacinda Ardern in New Zealand—obviously, incredibly decisive with a lockdown very early,” said Kit Krugman, head of organization and culture design at Co:collective.

“There is fierce resolve. There is decisiveness. There’s this determination coupled with the sense of relating to what others are going through—that empathy—that really seems to speak to people at this moment in time,” said Vince Molinaro, PhD, CEO and founder of Leadership Contract.

“It’s exciting to see just great leadership—full stop. And the fact that it happens to be a lot of women in political roles or political leaders, running our countries, is no coincidence. It’s great to see that playing out, and there’s lots to learn from what they’re doing. It’s just great to see how they’re managing the complexity of our times.”

How are you seeing women rising to these complex times?

by Wanda Curlee

Saying COVID has changed the way we do business is an understatement. Some companies accelerated their projects, pivoting to quickly to support clientele. Others had to overhaul processes because of virtual or hybrid working environments. One thing was certain: Standing idle in the face of uncertainty was not an option—and that has translated to big changes to how portfolios are managed.

Some projects or programs may have to be canceled or moved in the sequence or scope deleted. Any of these in a typical environment may be useful—but during COVID, that could be the end of a company or cause a severe financial burden. When projects and programs remain unfinished, the company’s goals aren’t met. Not meeting the company’s strategic objectives may mean the company gets beat in the marketplace or that they don’t have a new product to introduce or that they can’t meet an internal need. And the list goes on.

         Restaurants, service companies, construction companies and many others impacted by COVID had to move quickly. Leadership and portfolio managers had to shift with the changing economy. Those that pivoted with intent by thinking of alternate ways to move the company had a better chance of surviving. Within the restaurant sector, some establishments leaned into personal catering more, for example, while others sold off their meats and vegetables along with seasonings to locals as family dinner kits.

         Some portfolios went into overdrive to meet demands. The ones that come to mind in the U.S. are large retailers, supermarkets and fast-food companies. They were all considered essential. However, they also had to pivot. They designated shopping times for the elderly and those with medical conditions, for example. And many large retailers rolled out a variety of options for customers to get their merchandise: same-day delivery, curbside pickup and parking lot deliveries.

Leaders in many companies believe the world will go back to business as usual after getting to herd immunity via the vaccine. While I expect a sense of normalcy to emerge at some point, I don’t believe we’ll ever return to where we were before the pandemic. Even as the business landscape stabilizes, portfolios will still have to pivot quickly. It may not be a pandemic, but there could be a shift in the economy, politics or industry. Now more than ever, you must document the successes and failures within your portfolio—and use the information the next time you need to pivot.

What are some lessons learned you’ve gathered about managing a portfolio amid such uncertainty?

by Soma Bhattacharya

Agile has become ubiquitous in project management, with teams using it to spark out-of-the-box thinking and drive countless projects across the finish line. Yet almost as quickly as the approach popped up, companies and project leaders began to oversell it—and what seemed to be a radical way of thinking has become mired in repetition and monotony.  

Agile was about being open and transparent, and people having the utmost importance in the process. Now, if you ask anyone about agile, it’s all about the three questions: What have you completed since the last meeting? What do you plan to complete by the next meeting? What’s getting in your way? There’s also the fear of being constantly monitored and the fact your performance is measured by your team’s velocity. 

Breaking out of this mold can prove difficult—who has the time? But with much of the world working from home, now might be the best chance to rethink agile as bold, kind and human. 

Let’s look at how that might work.

Agile is bold: Challenge the process. Question what’s right for your team and be open to experiment. To get everyone engaged, encourage team members to ask questions. And try incorporating at least one fun icebreaker in each team standup to get people to open up and spark discussion. 

Agile is kind: Just because the data seems all over the place or you don’t achieve a desired project outcome, the team is not always wrong. Look for insights, do anonymous retrospectives, dig deeper and listen more. Avoid making assumptions. Instead, remain empathetic and open as you talk through challenges and navigate team members to arrive at a solution. 

Agile is human: Agile won’t work if the team can’t work together and it’s up to leaders to foster a sense of camaraderie. One way to build this spirit of collaboration and rapport is through simple exercises, like using a sticky note or sharable spreadsheet where team members anonymously write one thing they’re good at or that they’re proud of outside of work. Then allow other team members to guess that person’s identity. This isn’t about who wins, but it gets the entire team to communicate in a low-stakes environment.  

What are the biggest challenges your team has come across with agile—and how have you overcome them?

by Cyndee Miller

Like most kids, I was obsessed with space. The thought of wandering the solar system blew my wee little mind. That sense of sheer wonderment hasn’t diminished—I’m a space geek for life. And there’s certainly been plenty to pique our interest. Look no further than PMI’s 2020 top 10 list for Most Influential Projects in space. And now there’s a new space race among the earthlings. Last July, Earth and Mars aligned at their closest points in two years—and space agencies around the world jumped at the chance to explore the Red Planet. Following successful launches last July, spacecrafts from China, the United Arab Emirates and the United States are all now officially checking out Earth’s closest neighbor. Another mission, ExoMars by the European Space Agency and Russia’s Roscosmos, aimed to join the action but ran into delays and must now wait for the next opportune planetary alignment in 2022.

Following seven or so months of travel, the UAE’s first interplanetary spacecraft, Hope, and China’s Tianwen-1 were already exploring the Marian orbit by mid-February—and sending back amazing pictures of volcanoes and other features.  And so it was that last Thursday I found myself cranking Bowie’s Life on Mars? and watching NASA’s Perseverance make its amazing touchdown. Entry, descent and landing is often dubbed the “seven minutes of terror” because of the precision required—and Perseverance was headed to “the most challenging Martian terrain ever targeted,” according to NASA. But the rover landed—and now even has its own Twitter feed. (Hobbies: Photography, collecting rocks, off-roading.) China’s space agency plans to place its lander and rover later this year.

Some might question the wisdom of investing all these dollars, dirham, euros and yuan into such an esoteric pursuit, especially in the middle of a pandemic and one of the worst economic meltdowns of the past century. NASA alone estimates it spent roughly US$2.4 billion to build and launch Perseverance.

It’s a fair question, although awfully short-sighted. And it also overlooks all the benefits space exploration can bring to life here on good old Earth.

NASA estimates more than 1,600 innovations grew out of the Apollo space program—changing the trajectory on everything from mattresses to mobile phone cameras. (There’s a reason it came in at number 3 on PMI’s list of Most Influential Projects of the past 50 years.) And the Mars program is no slouch, either. Just one example: Autonomous navigation on the planet requires complex neural networks and deep learning algorithms—tech the space agency says can also be used here on Earth in cars, drones and toys.

And it doesn’t stop there. Along with its trip to Mars, NASA is ready to embark on the first foray into extraterrestrial construction, joining forces with U.S. construction tech firm Icon, U.S. startup SEArch+  and Danish architecture hotshots Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG). The goal for Project Olympus is to develop a space-based construction system for creating small cities—complete with landing pads, habitats and roads—on the moon and eventually Mars. But all that pioneering of new frontiers “materially, technologically and environmentally” may also help advance construction on Earth, too, said Bjarke Ingels, BIG founder and creative director. “The answers to our challenges on Earth very well might be found on the moon.”

At the same time, we have a slew of private companies— SpaceX, Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic—plotting out the business of space tourism. Now that coffeemaker Lavazza and the Italian Space Agency figured out how to make zero-gravity espresso, I’m good to go.

Do I expect to be packing my bags for an interplanetary trip anytime soon? Nah. For right now, though, the Mars missions spark new ways of thinking—a much-needed dose of joy and astonishment to an exhausted humankind. And that’s some impressive ROI.

What do you think of the Mars projects? Can they help teams here on Earth deliver more innovation?

by Cyndee Miller

Will 2021 truly be the year of epic charcuterie? Or maybe it’s the citizen care pod? Searching for The Next Big Thing has sent me down many an internet rabbit hole. And truth be told, the ROI is often not great. So in the spirit of uber efficiency, I present PMI’s latest report: Megatrends 2021. It has the scoop on the big trends, but it’s also specifically curated for project leaders so you can see how these tectonic shifts are actually playing out across projects.

“We know the world changed significantly in 2020, but our research confirmed the long-term impact of how these trends are changing how the world does business,” said PMI President and CEO Sunil Prashara. “There is virtually no industry and no geography that is untouched by the five megatrends outlined in this report. From COVID-19 to the climate crisis to the mainstream use of AI, these forces are driving change across sectors, requiring leaders to embrace new ways of thinking and working. As changemakers in their organizations and communities, project leaders are in a unique position to tackle these challenges and embrace new possibilities.”

Without further ado, here are the 5 big megatrends you should be watching:

COVID-19

No doubt, this one’s pretty obvious. The health impact alone is staggering: More than 2.3 million people have died as of early February. But it’s also the way that the virus has exposed deep systemic inequalities in income, wealth, employment, healthcare access and digital access that's forcing companies to rethink and reinvent.

Megatrend in action: Learning Passport

“The world of education got knocked 30 years ahead overnight,” said Mac Glovinsky, program manager at UNICEF. With schools in more than 190 countries closed, he and his team worked with Microsoft, the University of Cambridge and Dubai Cares to quickly expand an existing digital platform that would meet the pandemic-fueled demands of stuck-at-home students in underprivileged areas.

CLIMATE CRISIS

Again, this one shouldn’t be a big shocker, but the pandemic put it front and center—and made it abundantly clear that we’re running out of time. Perhaps the biggest existential threat humanity has ever faced, the climate crisis can be mitigated only with ambitious, innovative initiatives—and the project talent to make those plans reality.

Megatrend in action: Stella McCartney

The ecoluxe designer began testing out a new tool from Google Cloud that uses data analytics and machine learning to give brands a more comprehensive view of their supply chain. For sustainability-driven McCartney, the project is an opportunity to lead the notoriously wasteful fashion industry in better measuring the impacts of its raw material sourcing on air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, land use and water scarcity.

CIVIL, CIVIC AND EQUALITY MOVEMENTS

I’m old enough to remember a time—and it wasn’t that long ago—when organizations taking a stand on social issues was considered bad business or strictly the province of more “progressive” companies. The massive global protests of 2020—the latest in a decade of large-scale protests covering a whole host of societal issues—changed all that. Silence is no longer an option—and change is a question of when, not if.

Megatrend in action: Bandages for All

As discussions over diversity and inclusion dominated, leaders of Johnson & Johnson’s Band-Aid brand released a new line of bandages representing non-white skin tones. It was actually a retread of a previous project—that happened to be in lock-step with consumer sentiment growing louder by the day. The century-old brand had previously released a range of bandages in multiple skin tones in 2005, but discontinued them three years later. Smaller companies had tried to fill the gap, but the new project is a powerful statement from a major consumer brand.

SHIFTING GLOBALIZATION DYNAMICS

Emerging markets have rocketed onto the global stage. But these up-and-comers need serious infrastructure and education investments to avoid being mired in middle-income status—and to help their large, young populations find decent work. That’s where project leaders can really make a difference.

Megatrend in action: UN Office for Project Services

To move the needle in emerging markets, the organization invests in a range of projects, from improving irrigation in drought-stricken countries to improving internet access. “Every project is different but they all follow the same logic: create sustainable opportunities in the community to generate revenue and reduce poverty,” said Farhad Abdollahyan, head of the org’s project management office.

MAINSTREAM ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

AI is now table stakes for many companies. Even my Yves Saint Laurent lipstick will soon use AI to deliver a bespoke hue just for moi. While that’s lovely, the seamless integration of algorithms into peoples’ daily lives means encoded opinions don’t get noticed, let alone questioned. To combat bias being built into AI, project leaders need to double down on building diverse teams and including different POVs and perspectives.

Megatrend in action: BigUp.AI

Leaders at UK global creative agency AnalogFolk saw how language could affect how people are perceived—and that women often choose wording that makes them sound passive. So the agency developed its BigUp.AI tool that uses natural language processing and machine learning to analyze blocks of text and offer users more powerful wording.

The world is only beginning to ponder the post-pandemic reality, but there’s no doubt these five megatrends will dominate The Project Economy. And it’s up to project leaders and changemakers to be up on emerging developments so they can find business opportunities—and make the world a better place.

How are you seeing these trends manifest on your projects?