Helping Project Managers to Help Themselves

Some time back I was the executive sponsor responsible for developing a facility strategy for a new line of business. I empowered one of my project managers to develop the strategy which we would jointly present to our management. We both had visions of what we expected in the strategy but I didn’t ensure our points of view meshed.. My project manager was very competent in her job; however mind-reading was not one of her skills. The day before we were due to present the strategy, I did a walk-through with her. It wasn’t anything like I envisioned, and I knew the strategy in its current state wouldn’t be well received by our management. We went through a fire drill to get the strategy to a state where I thought it would be better received. We survived the review with our management, but it didn’t go nearly as well as it could have gone, and we went through a lot of pain (including a sleepless night) to rework the strategy.

I don’t fault the project manager one bit for the misstep. It was totally on me that the strategy wasn’t what I was thinking because I didn’t ensure our expectations were aligned at the outset. I also didn’t put checkpoints in place along the way to ensure we stayed aligned. It cost us not only in additional work but in relationship trust. I blew it.

My story unfortunately is just one of many I’ve seen and experienced through the years where expectations were misaligned. Due to my experiences I’ve become manic about setting and aligning expectations, so much so that when I get misaligned it’s like being punched in the gut. It’s at the leader’s feet to ensure clear expectation alignment when empowering someone to get something done. Those leaders who just expect someone to ask the right questions on the what, who and when of getting something done are just asking for frustration and rework. This is a “measure-twice-cut-once” application; a little extra work up front to ensure alignment can save a lot of downstream pain.

Need help to better define and stay aligned on expectations? Consider the following five tips:

1. Be crisp on the what, who and when – Expectation alignment starts with an intentional understanding of what needs to be done, who needs to do it, and when it needs to be done by. Be specific, including specific dates and named owners. Also take time to understand other’s expectations and drive getting to a common vision.
2. Wireframe the deliverable – For a more complex deliverable it may be worthwhile to wireframe out what the deliverable needs to look like, whether it be a table of contents, a picture, or some other means that brings clarity to what “done” looks like.
3. Take regular checkpoints – Develop an agreed-upon follow-up rhythm to ensure that deliverable progress is on track and any deviations can be caught early. See my article on Fostering a Follow-Up Culture for more.
4. Outline clear actions if there is a deviation to the deliverable – It’s certainly possible for there to be a deviation to the deliverable whether it be content, date, or some other factor. Ensure clear agreement exists among stakeholders as to how changes will be communicated, what decisions the deliverable owner can make, and what requires agreement among the stakeholders.
5. Articulate the consequences of misaligned expectations – When expectations do get misaligned, be clear on both the business impact and how stakeholders are impacted. For example, misaligned expectations may mean a date slip which might impact downstream activities. Being clear about the consequence helps keep everyone aligned on the importance of producing a timely desired result.

As leaders, it is your job to take the lead on clearly aligning expectations for delivery. In this “measure-twice-cut-once” approach, well defined expectation alignment means less execution friction. Your team needs it.

My wife Patty and I purchased a townhome back in 2009. It is in a beautiful area, walking distance to the types of things we like to do. Built in the 1970s, it was badly in need of major renovation. I saw the potential and after one visit was ready to put in an offer. Patty needed to go back a couple more times to look at the townhome, the property grounds, and the neighborhood. She needed more time to think through and absorb what we were considering before moving forward. We made an offer four days after seeing the townhome, when we were both comfortable with the purchase. Then we proceeded with gutting and remodeling, then moved in June 2011. We never regretted the decision.

Our home purchase example was the first time I consciously thought about how quickly I made decisions and moved forward with implementation relative to Patty’s more deliberate approach. At first, I was frustrated with our speed differences, wondering why she couldn’t move as fast as me. As we’ve continued to grow, I’ve learned to respect and appreciate her more thoughtful and deliberate pace as she raises issues that I might not consider. We now recognize each other’s processing speed, or what I call “think-do cycle,” and how our different styles yield a decision-making speed we’re both content with.

The think-do cycle applies to work teams as well. You may have some on your team who are ready to launch on a proposed solution when others need time to process. When differing think-do cycles aren’t acknowledged and embraced, work teams could get frustrated with moving either too fast or too slow. When differences are embraced, decisions and resulting action are made with better team buy-in. As the leader, your job is to balance team-buy-in with the timeliness that a decision must be made. It’s not easy to do; but it’s something that leaders continually need to balance to minimize execution friction.

Need better awareness of the think-do cycle and how to implement in your team? Give these five tips a look:

1. Understand your own think-do cycle speed – Are you someone who typically makes decisions, then immediately embarks on implementation, or do you need more “soak time” to digest the change? Getting real with yourself on your cycle speed will help you better understand the cycle speed of others.
2. Acknowledge other’s cycle speed – Knowing the think-do cycle speed of team members, stakeholders and others you interact with helps reduce frustration with those whose speed differs from your own. There’s no harm in identifying cycle speeds. Use terms that don’t imply one speed is better than the other, such as “deliberate” or “quick.”
3. Articulate the strengths and weaknesses of each cycle relative to each job function – Someone with a deliberate think-do cycle most likely wouldn’t do well in a position where split-second decisions are needed; conversely, someone with a quick think-do cycle might struggle in a position where consensus-building among a diverse group of stakeholders is required.
4. Keep a balance of both types – The best organizations I’ve seen have a balance of quick and deliberate think-do cycle team members. Teams with a blend of think-do cycles yield a better overall solution than teams made up of people with only one type of cycle.
5. Embrace your counterbalance – You can recognize your and other people’s cycle speeds, but if you don’t embrace the styles different from your own, you’ll just create frustration with your team. Make sure you listen to those with different styles and adjust your own speed when it makes sense.

Be mindful about the think-do cycles of you and your team. You’ll better secure team buy-in on key decisions and reduce execution friction.

Through my years I’ve seen many leaders at all levels struggle with getting things done either by having to work late in the evenings and on weekends or by completely missing due dates. As I’ve talked with these leaders, they just consider it part of the job, unable or unwilling to do anything about it. I found myself early in my career doing the exact same thing; setting unrealistic expectations and killing myself to try to meet them, only to have a limited success rate of delivering on time. I hated that hamster wheel.

The good news is you don’t have to accept this as the status quo. Here are six simple principles to get better control of your work and be more deliberate about what you get done:

1. Make your to-do list a “done” list – It’s commonplace to keep a to-do list. My approach is to apply four changes to the prototypical to-do list:

• Express what needs to get done in terms of the final deliverable, not the action to produce it - For example, instead of saying, “Research hotels in Venice,” say, “Decide and book hotel in Venice.” The wording focuses on a definitive end to the activity, versus something which has no defined end.
• Add a date the to-do needs to be done - By adding the due date, you by default prioritize when something needs to be done, which is the same as prioritizing the list.
• Add an urgent/not-urgent indicator - By adding the urgent/not-urgent indicator, you are forced to think about not only those things which need to be addressed right away, but also those which are important but not required immediately.
• Subdivide dones into deliverables that can be completed within a normal work week – For bigger deliverables that may take longer than a week to produce, break the deliverable down into smaller deliverables that can reasonably be completed in a week. For example, if you have a done called “produce competitor report,” break the deliverable into smaller deliverables that align with the report’s table of contents, i.e. “Create strengths and weaknesses analysis for each competitor.”

2. Ensure your calendar includes everything that consumes time in your day, not just meetings – I’ve seen countless examples of people only putting meetings with others in their calendars, making their days crammed with meetings, then burning the midnight oil to get non-meeting work done. Any activity that consumes time in your day--meetings, work time, personal time, professional development, or other activities--deserve time scheduled in your calendar.

3. Schedule a recurring Friday afternoon progress and planning meeting with yourself – Near the end of your day on Friday, block out 30 minutes on your calendar to do three things:

• Review what you committed to get done – For those items you committed to do in the prior week, look at what you actually got done. For those items you either didn’t get done or spent more than your allocated time completing, ask yourself why. Were you too optimistic? Did you let yourself get distracted? Was there legitimate activity that was higher priority? Doing a retrospective analysis on your planned vs. actual done activity will help you be more realistic in future planning.
• Plan out your calendar for the upcoming week - This is the time to review your “done” list for urgent and non-urgent deliverables needing to be completed and slotting the work time to produce the deliverables into your calendar. It’s important to be realistic with yourself on how much time is needed to complete the deliverables and not set yourself up for failure. Remember to ensure your calendar includes all activity that consumes time in your day.
• Document what you plan to get done for the following week – For items you are committing to getting done, update your Friday planning meeting for the next week to include the dones, which you’ll review in a week’s time.

4. Make difficult calendar choices – If there just aren’t enough hours in the week to get things done, look to see what needs to change. Perhaps it’s a change in due date or altering or deferring other items in your calendar that are taking up time. Whatever the case, be willing to make some decisions about what you do and who you meet with.

5. Find hidden time in your calendar – Are there meetings you just don’t need to be at? Are there one-hour meetings that can be done in 30 minutes? Can the frequency of recurring meetings be reduced? Can some things be done through offline communication, i.e. email? Ask yourself where time spent in meetings can be reduced or eliminated without materially adverse business impact.

6. Remember that you own your calendar, it doesn’t own you – Certainly things may happen during the week which could alter what you get done (or when you do it). Don’t beat yourself up if it does happen, just look at the frequency and reasons behind the changes. If they’re happening on an exceptional basis because of unforeseen work hitting your plate, then accept it as part of the job. If they’re happening frequently, then it could be you’re either not realistic in your planning or you’re allowing yourself to be distracted. It’s up to you to decide, just be honest with yourself.

A common thread through these principles is discipline. You can put the best-intentioned techniques in place but if you don’t follow them, you’re dooming yourself to emails at midnight. Seriously consider the principles, put your spin on them, and put them into action. 

On a recent project my company was working with a frozen seafood manufacturer to help them bring a specialty frozen seafood product to market. A huge component of getting this project done was the packaging; it had to be eye-popping and appealing while protecting the frozen seafood pieces inside.  After a number of design sessions with the packaging manufacturer, we received the finished packaging.  What was initially exuberance during the design session turned into disappointment when we saw the finished product.  Some of the graphics were a bit blurry, a re-sealable zipper wasn't included, and a clear window to view the contents inside was missing.  Our emotions went from disappointment to anger as the manufacturer told us it would be a number of weeks before a new delivery of the packaging could be done.  If we took this route, a key delivery to a very important customer of ours wouldn't be met.  What a pickle.

As we thought through our dilemma, we started thinking about what was "good-enough."  While some of the problems with the packaging were irritating, they were largely cosmetic and didn't impact the quality or taste of the product.  We ultimately decided that we could still use the packaging by making one change which we were able to implement in-house.  Through this process, we found that we had to mentally adjust our expectations from "perfection" to "good-enough" in order to meet our commitments to our customers and get the product out in time.  Not the optimal choice, but certainly a workable one.

As leaders, we are constantly faced with deciding which tasks to do and how to apply resources to those tasks.  There are rare occasions where stars align and we are able to get everything done exactly the way we want it with the resources given to us.  Most of the time, though, we have to decide not only what to do but what not to do.  This is where the good-enough leader comes in.  Good-enough leaders are able to get more done with the resources given to them because they know that there comes a point where the incremental effort (or what I like to refer to as "polishing the apple") just isn't worth the expense required to achieve the effort.  Good-enough leaders are able to define clearly what good-enough means for any task being worked on and are able to get the team to self-check on achieving good-enough.  Simply put, good-enough leaders get more done because they know not only when to start, but when to stop.

So let’s talk about why the concept of good-enough is important to leaders.  There’s some very basic reasons as to why good-enough matters to you:

• There are typically more things to do than hours in a day – Take a look at your to-do list.  Are you going to be able to get everything done today that you hope to get done?  If you’re like most leaders today, you’ll probably go home wishing you would have gotten three more things done than you had hoped.
• More is expected out of today’s leaders - More today than in the past leaders are being asked to get more done with less and are expected to do things that prior generations of leaders weren’t expected to do.  What would have been considered exceptional performance a generation ago is today considered “running with pack” performance.
• Many leaders don’t know when to say when – Whether it be due to misunderstood expectations, an overzealousness to please the customer, or a passion for perfection run amok, many leaders will continue to work on something beyond a degree which matters to a customer, colleague, or team. 
• Over-delivering may compensate for inexperience – Particularly with new leaders, going beyond good-enough can be due to inexperience of the leader or due to an overzealous new leader wanting to wow the socks off of his or her customer. Some of this is simply unavoidable growing pains, but some of it can be mitigated.

Being good enough isn't all that difficult and can be applied to virtually any job.  Look to be a good-enough leader by thinking about some of these tips:

• Establish good-enough guidelines up-front - When taking on a project or task, take time to discuss with the team where the good-enough line lives.  As example, if the goal is to prepare a presentation for management, it may be acceptable to have different fonts on different slides but it is not acceptable for data to be incorrect or for the presentation to have spelling errors.  Establishing clear guidelines with the team (and yourself) helps to reduce rework and reduces the likelihood of misunderstandings on what good-enough means as it relates to your specific project or task.
   
• Separate the "must-haves" from the "nice-to-haves" - For good-enough to work it's super important to get a clear understanding of what needs are absolutely necessary to deliver your end product and to separate the "must-haves" from the "nice-to-haves."  As you are assessing each need, ask, "What is the absolute worst thing that will happen if we don't meet this need?"   Then, decide if you can live with the worst case. 
   
• Align expectations with your customers or stakeholders - As you are defining your must -haves, include your customer or stakeholders in the process to ensure you aren't missing a must-have need or mis-categorizing a nice-to-have as a must-have.  Key to this is allowing the customer to see the benefit of being good-enough.   The benefit could be a reduced cost on a contract, taking on an extra project, or potentially implementing a couple of the highest priority nice-to-have needs.  
   
• Adopt a "good-enough" mantra - Working to good-enough doesn't stop at needs definition.  In our day-to-day work we all, as leaders, are faced with decisions on where to apply resources, what things to do, and what things to not do.  When you adopt and maintain a good-enough mantra with your team, the team will start thinking in good-enough terms and learn how to draw the good-enough line without your coaching and prodding. 
   
• Encourage others to cry foul when a team member starts polishing the apple - Adopting a good-enough mantra is a great first step; using the mantra day-in and day-out is the next step.  It is easy for a team member to become obsessed with a project or task and to want to spend a lot of time making something perfect.  When you spot someone spending time on a task which appears to be beyond good-enough, ask "is this good-enough?"  Also, be open to a team member challenging you with the good-enough question.  What's good for the goose is good for the gander. 
   
• Don't accept "good-enough" as an excuse for substandard quality - being good-enough means you understand what must be done and you work to the good-enough line.  It isn't an up-front excuse for shoddy workmanship or unacceptable quality.  As example, a developer cannot use a "good-enough" mantra as an excuse for not testing a program he or she has written.  Work should still be performed to whatever professional specifications are applicable to your organization.
   
• Use a coach to help you draw a “good-enough" line – This is particularly helpful with new leaders. Find a coach, colleague, or friend to help you identify when you’re working harder and longer on something than necessary.  You’ll not only get a tap on the shoulder when you’re working too hard, you’ll also begin to get a feel as to what good-enough means as it relates to your job.

Be a good-enough leader.  You'll get more done because your team will make better choices on where to spend time and will consciously avoid polishing the apple.  Think good-enough; it works. 

So after you've celebrated that new job or promotion, the reality of what you've gotten into sets in. Now what? Where do I start? Who do I talk to? What are the most important things I need to address? Who can I impact if I do something wrong? Who can impact me if they do something wrong? The question list goes on, adding to the stress of taking the new job. Random execution not only translates to focusing on the wrong things, but also dramatically impacts your credibility with your manager, team, and stakeholders. The answer is not to arrogantly come into the job with all the answers, but to come in with a plan to understand the environment, draw conclusions on the most important things to focus on, and develop an execution plan to act on those conclusions. The answer is a 100-day plan.

First things first, your plan may not take exactly 100 days to complete. Depending on your situation it may take fewer days, or, if you are stepping into a major crisis, you may have to expedite the plan or do it concurrently with addressing the crisis. Generally speaking, your plan should not take more than 100 days to complete. The rationale is simple; you want to be viewed as someone who takes deliberate, thoughtful action, not someone who takes forever to figure out what needs to be done. If you can get it done faster and do quality work then by all means do so; just be deliberate in your action.

My 100-day plan focuses on six steps as shown in the graphic below, followed by more detail:

1. Develop a 100-Day What/Who/When/Asks Plan
2. Identify Who Informs, Concurs, and Decides
3. Understand What Works, Is Broken, and Could Be Better
4. Develop a What I Learned Summary
5. Create a What Actions Do We Need To Take? List
6. Develop an Execution What/Who/When/Asks Plan

Note: click on each graphic to see a larger, easier to read picture

The 100-day plan's purpose is designed to help you do the following:

• Understand who the key stakeholders are in and around your organization and the roles they play
• Identify what is working, not working, and could be working better in your area of responsibility
• Summarize what needs to be done and when it needs to be done by
• Communicate a clear execution plan of the most important things to focus on, who needs to do them, and when they need to be done by.
• Establish credibility with your manager, team, and other stakeholders as someone who listens and seeks to understand before taking action.

Following is an explanation of each of the six steps comprising the 100-day plan with an example of how the deliverable should look.

Step 1: Develop 100 Day What/ Who/ When/ Asks Plan

Step 1 is articulate your 100-day plan tasks, who will be performing those tasks, and when you anticipate the tasks being complete. Being "aggressively realistic" is important here; meaning you move the work forward as quickly as you reasonably can while ensuring a quality end product. Once you've determined the what, who, and when of your tasks, articulate any specific requests to your management to help you get the plan executed. Does your plan require travel which requires expense approval? Do you need your manager to provide an introductory email to some stakeholders informing them of your new position and that you'll be contacting them?  Think through what those "asks" are then do a plan review with your manager for concurrence and approval.

Step 2: Identify Who Informs, Concurs, and Decides

Step 2 is the development of an internal and external list of stakeholders who you want to interview as part of your current-state understanding. Internal stakeholders are those who are within your direct organization including direct reports, extended team members, and other people who impact or are impacted by the work your organization does. External stakeholders are those outside your organization who may or may not be impacted by your work but can provide good information on the current state. External stakeholders also can include experts outside of your company who provide information on industry trends, best practices, or other data points which could help give information about your future direction. For each stakeholder you should identify whether the stakeholder informs you (provides advice but is not directly impacted by your execution plan), concurs with you (doesn't formally approve your execution plan but you want/need their buy-in), or is a decision maker (formally approves your execution plan). I also think it's important to do a checkpoint with your manager as she/he may have additional stakeholders who are functionally or politically important to include, along with their appropriate inform/concur/decide status.

Step 3: Understand What Works, Is Broken, and Could Be Better

Step 3 is about interviewing your stakeholders to understand what is currently working, what's broken, and what might be working but could work better. This step is vital to not only understanding the current state but to establish a reputation with team members and stakeholders as someone who listens prior to taking action. I've found it helpful to focus on four areas in your works/broken/better discussion: organization strategy, people, processes, and technology. Depending on your situation these areas may be different. The last question I like to ask is, "If you were sitting in my chair, what are the top three things you would you do?" This is particularly effective not only in understanding items stakeholders think are important, but the priority they place on those things they identify. You may customize what you talk about depending on your stakeholder, but it's better to have a structure to work from then alter as needed, rather than totally winging it. Remember to interview your manager to understand his/her top priorities and perspectives.

Step 4: Develop What I Learned Summary

Step 4 is about taking what you've learned through your discussions and documenting trends and important facts that will influence execution plan actions. This is not an audit trail of everything you heard in every discussion; if you do that then you're likely to come out of the exercise with an unwieldy an non-actionable list. Conciseness and clarity are important here as this sets the stage for what you will focus on in your execution plan. You'll also want to do a checkpoint with your concur stakeholders to confirm you are focused on the right working/broken/better items and underscore that you've listened to what others have told you. Again, this is a crucial credibility builder with those you will be working with.

Step 5: Create What Actions Do We Need to Take? List

Step 5 begins the translation of what you've learned into what needs to be done to fix what's broken, improve upon what can be done better, and not disturb things that are working well. Each action includes three descriptive pieces of information: why it needs to be done, what the consequence if it isn't done, and when it needs to be done. Through articulating these factors you begin to develop a prioritized list of actions that comprise your execution plan. Do a checkpoint with your concur stakeholders prior to completing your execution plan.

Step 6: Develop Execution What/ Who/ When/ Asks Plan

Step 6 is about taking the actions in step 5 and creating a what/who/when plan which facilitates you working on the most important actions and getting them done first. It's totally reasonable to divide your actions up into phases, with your first phase of actions having a more detailed plan and subsequent phases being done once the first phase is complete. I can't stress enough the importance of focusing on the most important items from step 5 first and not getting distracted with trying to plan out all of your actions. In this step you'll do a concur checkpoint to ensure their buy-in prior to doing a decision maker checkpoint. You want to make best efforts to secure concur stakeholder buy-in and avoid having dissenting stakeholders discredit your conclusions and plan.

As mentioned throughout, your situation may require compression or expansion of the above steps. What doesn't change is the understand/conclude/act cycle that you'll need to go through to understand what you're getting into and determine what you need to address, while building trust and credibility with your stakeholders and management.  Next time you take on a new job, use this model as a framework to help you execute a practical 100-day plan to get you off to a good start.

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