My Professional Journey

What are some of the goals of a commercial enterprise?

1. To continuously increase profits 
2. To justify Return On Investment
3. To be a market leader
4. To produce high quality products

What are some of the goals of a non-profit organization?

1. To produce a high-quality non- commercial product .
2. To provide a high-quality service to the community.
3. To be the most respected and employer of choice in the community.

How do these different kinds of organizations achieve their goals?

1. By Improving Productivity 
2. By Improving through-put
3. By Increasing efficiency in labor, cost, work practices, policies.

So what ultimately are the enablers to achieving the company or organization's goals?  They are the people working in these companies and organizations. They are the workforce, human resources, employees, Volunteers - whatever you wish to call them , in short, the living flesh and blood of these bodies.

So in order to reach the end goal of profits or a quality product and respect from the community, Companies and Organizations need to harness , encourage , develop and harvest the talents of the people working for them. At the forefront of every company's strategy must be the development and acquisition of capable, empowered and talented leaders, Leaders:- 

1.  Who think outside the square
2. Who are enablers of positive change.
3. Who are receptive to positive ideas or criticisms, no matter whether the ideas and criticisms come from the lowest rung of the corporate ladder or the highest.
4. Leaders who can build and train their workforce  towards achieving the organizational objectives.

Jim Collins in his book "Good to Great" says that he had a team of researchers working and researching on eleven companies that attained meteoric growth and sustained that growth for a period of 15 years or more and at the heart of that growth was a great, aggressive, humble and innovative leadership . 

Where did these companies find these leaders? In a staggering 90-95 percent of the cases, the Leadership was home-grown. Yes, the leaders have risen through the ranks within these companies and have catapulted them to great heights. Therefore, Harvesting Home Grown Talent does pay rich dividends a lot of times.

And yes, Home Grown Talent is not only useful in developing leadership skills, but also for retaining efficient workers who keeping improving and  excelling  at what they do but may not have leadership aspirations. 

 My perception of Harvesting Home Grown Talent is a four step process :-

1. Discover  the Home Grown Talent, irrespective of outward appearances.
2. Nourish the Home Grown Talent
3. Setup the Home Grown Talent for personal and organizational growth
4. Harvest the Home Grown Talent to reap rich dividends 

I was thoroughly impressed by an Article called "What Great Managers Do" by Marcus Buckingham on the Harvard Business Review website. He tells a story of an exceptional leader, who was the Manager  of  a Walgreens store who effectively used the above four steps to lead the store to success. 

In every Walgreens store there is a concept of Reset and Revision. A Reset involves stocking an aisle with new merchandise, whereas a Revision is rearranging the items to look more appealing. The manager Michelle,  had a rather eccentric looking gentleman as a staff member who she may  have never employed, had he not expressed an interest in doing a "difficult to resource" graveyard shift at night.

She realized that this gentleman, when told to perform a generic task , would fiddle with it for hours together but when given a specific task , like re-arranging the "Christmas merchandise" , excelled at it. The manager recognized his talent and made him the "re-arranging" and "re-setting" in-charge for the whole store.

On the other hand, this staff member wasn't good at customer service. So she discovered another lady working in the "cosmetics" part of the store who was extremely good at customer service  and at the same time was very skillful in "Revision". She made the customer-service lady "Revision" in-charge of the whole store for a part of her day and customer - service for another part of the day.

In the end, the Manager got the best of both her employees and set them up for future growth within the organization and in their careers ahead.

Having such talented leaders at the helm, it's therefore no surprise that Walgreens features as a "Good to Great" company in Jim Collin's book as well.

Jim Collins also explains the principle of "Genius with a Thousand Helpers". A leader that is a genius drives a successful company,  but after they leave the company , it cannot sustain because the "helpers" haven't been empowered or imparted the "elixir of success" to carry the company forward after their departure. Contrast this to a "Great" company where the Leader assembles a team of superior executives during their tenure,  with effective succession planning to carry on their Legacy and their good work.

In my experience, Harvesting Home Grown Talent has several advantages:-

• The person has in-depth knowledge of the Business Process of the company and can play a pivotal role in introducing efficiency.
• The person has valuable insights from what went wrong in previous projects and can provide inputs into planning the next one more efficiently.
• The person is well trained and experienced in what they do and are valuable Subject Matter Experts in projects affecting or using their area of work.
• Over-time managers can discover transferable and hidden skills in the employees that can benefit other parts of the organization or business.

Harvesting Home Grown Talent also requires the following :-

1. Demonstration of Initiative and Leadership skills by the employee.
2. Eagerness  shown by the employee to progress vertically or horizontally within the organization.
3. The alignment of the employee's knowledge and skills to the Organizational Vision.
4. A workplace champion or protege (can be your manager or a person who is empowered to bring an organizational change) who recognizes the talent and encourages it .

 Bill Gates identified the first three qualities above in Satya Nadella and by his virtue of possessing the fourth quality above and being intimately aware of Satya's work , determined that there was no better successor to him than Satya.

Has Harvesting Home Grown Talent setup Microsoft for success? Only time will tell but the respect shown and the opportunity given is commendable nevertheless . 

 (image courtesy :- greeningofgavin.com)

Picture a sports team. The team has just lost the all important final match of a tournament and the fans are disappointed. The captain steps up for the runner's up trophy and whilst congratulating the team that put up an excellent performance throughout the tournament, graciously accepts that the team did not perform to it's full potential and needs a lot of improvement before the next season.

The captain also points out the exact areas where they were at fault and the desire to work hard on their weaknesses and the promise to live up to the expectations of their fans. Fantastic !  They have told it like it is , it's honest and it's from the heart.

The management of the sports club promptly acts on all the feedback, constructive or destructive , makes some leadership changes, improves training and invests in the well being of the players and soon enough , in the next season , this team wins the tournament.

Telling it like it is, has led to a complete turn around of the sports team for the better.

Unfortunately , Telling it like it is , doesn't necessarily permeate into corporates and firms which are essentially big teams of performers, just like a team sport.

Just like the management of a sports team is judged on it's performance, every year or season,  the management of a company is judged by it's employees through surveys. It is encouraged that the employees provide an honest, unbiased opinion of various facets of their work , with emphasis on leadership. They are also promised anonymity and frank disclosure of survey results, besides the promise to "act" on the results of the survey.

After-all, it's good leadership and direction that will propel the teams to achieve their objectives, year after year and will keep the employee motivated to perform to their optimum potential.

Many employees open up and provide honest feedback , especially on leadership because they still believe, just like the promises made by our politicians, that their "votes" and "feedback" count.

To the defense of senior management , they don't always get it right. Therefore , surveys are a best opportunity for them to see  -

1. What works and what doesn't in the organisational structure that they have created?
2. What are the bottle necks and what are the pain points?
3. What have they neglected in terms of training and team building?
4. What can help them achieve their firm's objectives this year and in the years ahead?

The results arrive and the top level management sees some of the "brutally honest " comments put forward by their employees. There is a lot of "useful" ideas, which if implemented correctly  

1. Can help implement new and streamlined work practices.
2. Can help cull some roadblocks in leadership.
3. Can help discover and mentor underperforming individuals or teams.
4. Can help create a more efficient and effective workforce.

But, as expected, the distilling of the results begins and what ends up being presented to the horrified and , at the same time, amused employees is a very watered down version of the actual situation. There's a token recognition of a couple of areas where the firm performed better than last year and where it was worse.

The reports presented, somehow always show that the results are not that bad and that the management is doing it's "job" efficiently.

When the time comes for the management to act upon the feedback, the employees observe that a fraction of it is implemented in a very diluted form and whispers are rife in the corridors. In the end what remains is the age old question -  "What's the use?"

(image courtesty : quotesgram.com )

People, myself included,  set themselves fairly ambitious goals like 

• I wan't to be the"Perfect" Project Manager.
• I wish to have the "Perfect" Physique
• I wan't to have the "Perfect" Marriage
• I wan't to have the "Perfect" Career

The Urban dictionary defines "Perfection" as an impossibility, something unattainable, something that cannot be reached. If ever something were "perfect", then that would mean that they were different from everyone else, thus making them "imperfect". 

One viewpoint says that Perfection cannot be defined by one person, perfection means something different to everyone. One person thinks perfection is when someone has no flaws. The Other person thinks,  perfection is when you love someone regardless of their flaws.

An examiner says you have to get 100 answers to 100 questions right to get a perfect score in a subject . If you achieve that Perfect score , It doesn't automatically equate to you knowing everything on that subject. It just means that the examiner has set a benchmark around what parts of the subject you must know and according to that benchmark , you think you have achieved perfection. So, this is another example of Perfection being defined by two people.

Coming back to my initial four examples , I think that when we say we wan't to achieve perfection in something , What we might be actually saying is :- 

• "Perfect" Project Manager.  ( I wan't to run successful Projects, using my Project Management experience , tools and methodologies and complete them to the customer's satisfaction within time and within Budget)
•  "Perfect" Physique (  I wan't a six pack with bulging biceps and chiseled jaws like that star , with 12% or less body fat and the rest being muscles or If I were a woman, I would want the body of that ramp model )
•  "Perfect" Marriage (arguments resolved amicably, physical and romantic needs satisfactorily met, adorable kids, peaceful family life)
•  "Perfect" Career (Successful, having quarter of a million dollars and occupying "x" position on the corporate ladder with work-life balance thrown in) 

The above examples can have as many combinations and definitions of perfection as there are human beings on this planet. 

Perhaps Perfection for us is what we have seen other people do successfully.  But our paths to success are going to be entirely different to theirs and so will the end results be. Hence, we really cannot follow their formula and achieve success in the same way as them.

Even if you don't follow others and set your own benchmarks for success or "Perfection", at what point will you know if you have achieved :-

• That perfect physique?
• That perfect marriage?
• That perfect Career?
• That perfection as a Project Manager?

You really won't know . Because ,

• Once you have that six pack like Ryan Gosling , you may want the bulging biceps like Channing Tatum.
• Once you become the perfect Project Manager, you may want to become The Perfect Program Manager.
• Once you have done everything in your marriage that you possibly could to maintain peace, there will be an unforeseen incident which will completely change things.

 Your goal posts will change and lead to more anxiety , heart breaks and stress and maybe several other negatives .

And so two questions come to mind :- 

1. Isn't it a lot easier for us to cut ourselves some slack and strive towards being  "good" or "better" at things rather than striving for Perfection?
2. Isn't it a lot easier for us to think in terms of the " Progress" that we are making rather than putting unnecessary pressure on ourselves to be Perfect, when no such thing exists?

I saw three words, on the message board outside my gym this morning "Progress , Not Perfection"  , and It instantly drove home the message as to what I should really focus on , In my life. I should really strive for progress.

In the World of Project Management , PRINCE2™  says that the purpose of the "Progress" Theme, is to Establish mechanisms to:

• monitor and compare actual achievements against those planned;
• to provide a forecast for the project objectives and the project’s continued viability;
• to control any unacceptable deviations.

We can apply the purpose of PRINCE2™ 's "Progress" theme to any of our life's projects , for example:-

• Let's plan to get a good physique, a better physique, not a perfect physique and keep monitoring what we are achieving incrementally every week. Let's give ourselves a pat on the back for each milestone achieved with regards to our physique.
• Let's keep working on our marriage and our objectives to make incremental adjustments in aspects of our relationships that will lead to our happiness. Let's try really hard to see if we are able to maintain the viability of this relationship .
• Let's try to navigate through and control the unacceptable politics and risks in our Project Management career and ups and downs in our marriages to  see if we can achieve success .

We are making sure that by doing the above ,

• Work continues and doesn't stagnate and we are gaining confidence day by day in our methods or changing them to suit circumstances.
• We are moving closer to what we perceive as the end goal .
• We are improving every single day. 
• By patting ourselves on the back for incremental achievements, we are summoning our inner powers to keep working hard and keep giving ourselves tougher challenges to surmount.
• We are keeping an eye on the "prize" but not beating ourselves if there are diversions along the way or there is temporary loss of focus because "life happens".

Once, we are good or better at doing one task, let's give ourselves a more challenging one, and work at  completing it slowly but steadily, learning and making mistakes along the way, yet improving at every step and let's keep progressing and strike off the word "Perfect" from our dictionaries.

(image courtesy : makingprogress.me)

(image courtesy : abc.net.au )

Those who have just read the title of this post are no-doubt wondering about the Oxymoron in the title.  This post is not about correction of your vision using spectacles. It's more about lacking the "big picture" vision in the Project Management world.

On Projects, We tend to use jargon like "The Left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing, There is scope creep and no one knows why" intending that Project Teams are working in Silos and there is no traceability of what is happening end-to-end.

Perfectly valid statements. Everyone on the Project Team must know what is happening.

So How do we make that happen? Project Managers would argue that Communication Management Plan is paramount in their agenda and they would show reams of documentation that would demonstrate that they have covered absolutely all bases regarding communication in their Projects . Apart from the plans, they have Weekly project meetings, one-on-one catch-ups, communication through the intranet, Project Steering committee updates, newsletters every quarter especially if the project is big.

Therefore , should we blame the Project Manager entirely due to lack of communication? The answer is No. Each of us as Project Team members should have the onus on ourselves to understand what is happening on the Project and find opportunities to positively contribute in it. 

As an avid fan of meditation I would put the word "Mindfulness" in the mix. In simple terms, it's being aware of what is happening around you. so let's bring "Mindfulness" into Project Management. The next question is how?

We are all capable, intelligent individuals who have the gift of being able to use our brains and accomplish big things in life.  So if we don't have the grasp on what is happening and wish to break free of the Myopic vision , let's ask ourselves these Important questions:-

1. Have I got access to the Project Business Case, Project Brief or Project Charter? If yes, have I read it and understood what it aims to achieve?
2. Have I read the user requirements document? Have I understood the requirements even at a very high level? Or If I am on an Agile Project, do I know about the Release Plan?
3. Do I know the Project Team Structure ? Do I clearly understand my role in it and my deliverable? Do I understand the relationships between myself and the Team that I work in ? Do I understand the management and reporting structure of the Project Team ?
4. Do I understand the Key milestones and the critical path in the Project? are My deliverables contributing towards these?
5. Do I understand if what I am delivering on the Project is affecting other teams on or off the Project?
6. Can I contribute as a Stream Lead or a Subject Matter expert on the Project other than my realm of expertise?
7. Could I Put myself in the shoes of the Developer,  Business Analyst, Project Manager, Tester and Resource Manager and understand how the Project Risks are affecting their area of work on the Project?
8. Could I suggest an improvement in  efficiency , a missed requirement, a nice-to-have, a missed risk?

Projects are delivered as a collaborative effort and a good Project Manager will be receptive to any help they can get from the team.

Hence for anyone out there, working in the Project, get yourself a Project Management qualification. They may just be the prescription glasses for your myopic vision.

• Have you experienced the same in your careers ? Your valuable insights would be quite helpful .

image courtesy :-imdude.com

Scenario :- A Company to develop or acquire a new Web based Software which is intended at speeding up it's business process, justifying it's Return On Investment , enabling it to have a leaner team, aimed at cutting costs or migrating from a paper -based to an electronic system.  It invests time, money and  human resources into unit testing, undergoes comprehensive System and Integration Testing Cycles, performs User Acceptance Testing and the system is deployed into Production .

The system has been developed or installed according to Vendor or Architect specifications , there are robust Business contingency and Disaster Recovery plans in place and the Business can start to see money.  

Everything is hunky-dory until the usage of the system peaks and the system comes down on its knees and all hell  breaks loose trying to figure out if the problem is with the application, the underlying infrastructure or the back-end database. 

What went wrong? In spite of everything that was seemingly right in the above scenario, there was one thing missing which was proposed as part of the request for Project funding, but could't be implemented due to Time or Budget constraints. And that not-so-insignificant thing was Performance Testing aka Stress or Load Testing.

All of us who have either been consumers of a new Software System or closely involved in it's development, Project Management or Testing would understand the enormous importance of Performance Testing and building it into our Business proposals and Project Plans, particularly if the Software is to be rolled out to a wider audience. So where would you highlight the importance of Performance Testing to a Project Sponsor?

• In the Project Brief
• In the  User Requirements Document 
•  In the Steering Committee meetings.
• In the Project Risk Register, if the initial proposal was not to include it in the Project.

And how would you justify their ROI in the Peformance Testing Component of the Project?  by asking these thought provoking questions:-

• How will you assess if the System being implemented will satisfactorily service the required amount of users that you foresee using the system?
• How will the system cope should more load be introduced than you envisage at this stage?
• How will we have the traceability to the Vendor or Architect's platform specifications to the System built or implemented on it?
• How will you get a measure of approximate future growth of the number of users using the system.
• How will you get a measure of the hitherto undetected platform or application issues  in isolated Unit tests or even integration tests without load.

 The discerning Project Sponsor is then compelled to think about the risk of not doing Performance testing and the significant costs incurred  to analyse the subsequent production issues .

So I have two open questions to the community :-

1. When would you plan Performance Testing? During the Test cycles or during the Project Planning phase?
2. Have you been able to realize the benefits of Performance Testing in your own companies? I would love to hear your case studies for my own experience