Project Signposts

To me, effective project management always hinged on exceeding my Sponsor’s expectations.  Engrained in me from my earliest days of programming system modifications were the words of my mentor urging me to give that little extra effort and go above and beyond the requirements, and to really wow the stakeholders.  In addition, the company made it clear that my salaried position meant that the usual 8:30 – 5:00 work hours were meant only for the hourly staff.  Longer hours would be required of me periodically to meet project deadlines.   This became habit very quickly and it made me feel good.    

This “above and beyond” behavior, I was told, would be noticed, sometimes recognized, and even rewarded at some point in the future.   In addition, I inherited my parents’ strong work ethic along with an internal drive that made me proud to arrive early, put in extra effort and be one of the last to leave the office in the evening.   Long before the recognition and rewards arrived, as they eventually did, I noticed that the most tangible benefit was a tremendous sense of accomplishment, self-respect, and the admiration of my coworkers.   Working hard gave us all pride in our work and pushed everyone on the team to perform at a higher level of quality.  More responsibility and more important projects soon followed, and I eagerly accepted them.  My teams and I were successful with this mindset, but that was twenty-plus years ago.  Back then, those exhibiting quiet quitting tendencies were either eased into non-critical functions or teed-up to be included in the next wave of cutbacks.

Today, I tried to imagine what I would do in a project management environment where quiet quitting was prevalent, but I really couldn’t.  Instead, I tried to imagine the most likely outcomes of this type of behavior. With everyone just doing the minimum acceptable work, how would it impact what those work elements which became most important to my career satisfaction and success?

• Reduced Work Hours – Good Job, that’ll show ‘em!
• Sense of Accomplishment – Only to the degree that you can do it in your set time and effort.
• Self-Respect – Not seeing any here, at all.
• Admiration of Co-Workers – They don’t care either, so this is unimportant.
• Pride in Our Work – Not applicable.
• Higher Quality – There is no incentive to make continuous improvements.
• Recognition – You won’t get any from management.
• Rewards – You get nothing more than the standard salary and you’ll like it!
• Being Good at Your Job – You may be the best person at being mediocre!

This sounds eerily close to all the dismal planned, socialist workers’ paradise states that have inevitably failed in the past.  Mediocrity has arrived!  No thanks!  As for me, I’ll continue to work harder to exceed my project stakeholders’ expectations, thank you very much!

There are likely thousands of different factors which motivated people to leave their jobs during the so-called “Great Resignation” over the past eighteen months.  Whether it be COVID-19 itself or related stress, boredom with their current roles, or just a desire to move to new or better opportunities, people left their jobs in record numbers in 2021.   I was one of them.

My stated motivating factors were to take an early retirement with the intent of extending my volunteer project roles as well as to make progress on some family projects that my brother and I have been pursuing.   While my logic was positive and solid on the surface, upon deeper reflection, I’ve found there were other factors in play which drove my ultimate decision to change course.  My need for reflection was precipitated by the profound sense of loss I experienced several months after leaving the program management role I’d been in for many years. 

Upon examination, I understood that many of the key drivers which led me to leave had to do with COVID-19 restriction negatives rather than the perceived positives listed above.  My core job satisfaction motivators have always been tied to all the great people I worked directly with daily.  The personal interactions and relationship building were not aspects I consciously focused on but were central to the fabric of my career enjoyment. 

Nearly all direct interaction was removed in March 2020, replaced by an endless string of group video calls.  Over several months, COVID restrictions eventually wore down my enthusiasm to a point where, job isolation extracted all the joy from my work.   Known throughout my career for my persistence in seeing through long, grinding projects, this persistence was apparently no match for the mind-numbing power of the pandemic.  Where before, I was constantly buoyed by the knowledge that I was always a part of a team, I now found no joy in essentially working in isolation.  Tasks quickly became strictly wrote.  By late 2020, with no end in sight to office and travel restrictions, I knew it was time for a change culminating in my departure in March 2021.

In retrospect, I’m grateful I had the opportunity to change course and do some different things that weren’t available to me a few years ago, but also aware that the career cost to me was high.  I’m sure not everyone was as fortunate.  I’m very interested to hear of your motivations for joining the “Great Resignation.”  What was your key driver for making a change and once you did, did you discover that other factors were at play as well?

In the real estate world, you often hear the adage, “location, location, location.”  It refers to the fact that the location of a property may have an outsized impact on the sales price or ease of selling a certain piece of property than logic might dictate. There is a similar force in play when managing projects. For project managers, the saying should be, “communication, communication, communication!” That is, the quality and frequency of a project manager’s communication with their key stakeholders often plays a larger role in a project’s and project manager’s success than it would appear on the surface.

As project managers, we are inclined to find immediate solutions to problems while project timeline pressures may cause us to shortchange some of our project fundamentals. Naturally, our analytical side will lead us to want to manage issues as they come up and address concerns as quickly as possible. Often though, issues that cannot be resolved on the spot or our proposed solution may not actually address the underlying causes of the issue. Those cases can quickly lead to increased risk, eventually surprising one or more stakeholders and often result in an undesired outcome. This is true across the entire project management spectrum. Being able to find triggers of increased risk and manage them effectively continues to be a challenge across a wide spectrum of projects. Here are four common examples of typical contributors of increased project risk that often surprise stakeholders.

1. Using a Stage Gate Review to announce a significant project change,
2. Project course corrections that impact scope but are unknown to key stakeholders,
3. Minor project issues are “swept under the rug” to keep project momentum,
4. We Let deliverables slip to the next phase or sprint.

It is easy to see how each of these contributors can increase project risk. When these happen, we can always benefit by revisiting effective project management fundamentals. It’s easy to see how well-timed and effectively delivered stakeholder communication will at least minimize if not entirely mitigate the associated risk. As project managers, if we can get in the habit of practicing and reinforcing the powerful behavior of communication with our stakeholders, our projects will take a turn for the better. With that in mind, how can we end the unwanted surprises? What might be a more effective way for a project manager to be proactive on the above four examples by using the behavior of communication, communication, communication?

1. Prior to conducting any Stage Gate Review, talk with the key stakeholders potentially affected by expected project changes and engage them in recommending a path forward. Reinforce or regain their support so that it is a non-issue in the Stage Gate Review.
2. Anything that impacts project scope is an opportunity to proactively communicate with your key stakeholders or project steering team if you use one. Make sure there is a formal process to request changes to scope and that the process will be followed every time. This is a fantastic way to manage scope creep.
3. Don’t just keep a project issue log, actively manage it.  By communicating with the impacted stakeholders on a regular cadence, you can ensure that everyone knows the open issues, when we plan to have them resolved and who is accountable for resolution.
4. If key deliverables are at risk to slip to the next phase or sprint, prompt communication is the only way for the project manager and project team to retain credibility. Let stakeholders know as early as possible if deliverables are at risk and gain their support on a plan to get back on track. It’s also wise to communicate this to all stakeholders so everyone is aligned on the path forward.  

Remember - Communication, communication, communication. Rather than viewing it as repetitive, look at it as a reinforcer that will pay outsized dividends on your current project as well as future projects you may work on with many of the same stakeholders. It serves to keep everyone informed, reduces surprises and risk, and it builds credibility for you and your project team. The worst that may come of it is that a stakeholder complains that you are communicating too much. Is that a concern to you, or should it be viewed as more of a compliment? It is definitely a compliment!

Recently, I was reflecting on the evolving landscape of project management and methodologies promoted over the past two decades. My mind kept returning to one rarely mentioned, but essential behavior that is present in the effectiveness of all good project approaches. It should be fundamental, but it is clearly missing from most of the unsuccessful project efforts I’ve seen throughout my career. That behavior is a properly placed focus. The benefits of applying sufficient focus on the right things in any project can never be overstated.

Shine a light on it:

About 20 years ago I had the privilege of working within an organization that successfully modified its overall approach to projects. It was led by a CEO who was intent on building a culture based on getting the right people together to focus on those issues most critical to the company’s success. He would talk about “shining a light” on the issue at hand, coupled with developing a path forward toward a solution. Being part of that emerging culture as an IT director, we soon incorporated focus as a common thread in our projects and it didn’t take too long before it just became part of the way we did our work. As with anything new, the approach was initially met with skepticism and resistance. But being so logical, it was easy to get aligned, and good results quickly followed. Focus enabled our once languishing master data integrity efforts, ERP system rollouts and data warehouse solutions to thrive. System adoption soared!

In the ensuing years, we replicated these positive results by putting our focus on the right things for systems integration, standardizing our business processes, and building a Sustainability program. To this day, I have tried to stay true to the approach of putting focus on the critical project issues at hand and its has been a large part of the project successes I have been a part of.

Recent culture and organizational change efforts I’ve seen undertaken at numerous companies further illustrate the power of focus as a timeless behavior to project success. To drive new behaviors in an organization, it is essential to put the right focus on your efforts. Cultures change slowly through repetition and visible reinforcement from leadership. Focus facilitates the building of new habits in those most impacted by the change, and further reinforces their value to the organization.

Experience has taught me that the chances of instilling effective change with an unfocused project are low. Experience has also repeatedly shown me the timeless power of properly placed focus in improving the chances of project success. Whether your current project issue is related to scope, stakeholder engagement, change management, communications, or something else, focus will certainly put you on the right path to improving your chances of success. So, if your project is struggling, take a step back and ask yourself if you have the right focus. The answer will likely come quickly and allow you to dig in to determine where a properly placed focus will facilitate your project’s success.

Do you have the proper focus on what’s important to your project?