Here's a case for you, folks. This is a real story which happened to me a couple of years ago and I thought it would be good to offer it for a discussion.
You are wrapping up a project at a bank and, as a PM, were asked by the Sponsor to identify the Most Valuable Player on the project team.
You have two people in mind, and cannot quite decide who to nominate.
John is a developer. A single young man with few friends outside of workspace, he regularly puts in 14-hour days. By doing so, he is able to deliver on time. He is a good developer, but not a genius by any stretch of imagination.
Julie is a Business Analyst. She is great at what she does, and you know that you will want her on your next project. She is diligent, efficient and delivers on committments. Julie is a mother of three. She cannot possibly spend any more than prescribed 8 hours at work because of her family needs.
I have had this sort of situation come up, I personally would nominate the entire team assuming of course that everyone contributed postively to the effort. Saving Changes...
Michael DiVecchioProgram Manager| Department of Homeland SecurityFulton, MD, United States
I agree with Tom, I'd nominate the entire team. I've been involved in many projects where we could not have succeeded without the work of our admin assistants handling all the personnel and administrative details. The biggest way to demotivate someone is to screw up their pay or vacation time!
However, if forced to choose, I'd nominate both of them. Even if they have to share in the glory, your gesture will go a long way in rewarding them. At the organization I used to work, we were a strong matrix entity. For the top performers on my team, I worked with their functional managers to ensure they were properly rewarded. And one thing to keep in mind, a monetary reward isn't always necessary. Public recognition or even a simple email to their supervisor lauding their performance is very effective. Saving Changes...
Nominating the team or the both individuals is an easy answer and may or may not be possible!
Saving Changes...
What a situation to get put into! The entire team contributed, yet they want you to choose a "Most Valuable Player." Not a great team-oriented environment and a possible morale sagger. I would first view my concerns to the sponsor and see if the reward could get "filed away permanently." If the sponsor insisted, I would probably nominate the business analyst as the number of hours one puts it isn't as important as the quality of work one delivers. If she can balance work and life and still manage an awesome performance, then she definitely deserves an award. On the other hand, the developer works 14 hours just to deliver. Should someone look at his work to see why he needs to work so much? Maybe he has some habits that he could work on to get his average hours down? No one wants a burnout on a project team, and at the rate he's going he'll have burnout in no time. In the end, the number of hours over the norm shouldn't matter as long as people deliver quality work. We do need lives outside of work. But still a tough situation nonetheless. Saving Changes...
I was recently placed in such a situation myself. My initial reaction was the same as yours, so I can relate very well with what you feel. But then I tried to look at it from a different perspective; instead of turning it into a pick and choose situation, I turned it around to be more like a recognition platform.
Heres what I did.
1. In my review I clearly mentioned that it was very difficult for me to pick one since a lot of people had put in significant effort and the success of the project was not determined by the efforts of one individual
2. I then went on to mention why I would choose each person who I wanted to pick and the contribution they had made (thereby providing recognition to each of them in a public forum)
3. Lastly, I weighed each option and presented a reason for choosing one of them. The criteria being who went out of their way and did a job that was truely exceptional. Something much more than what was expected of them in the given parameters. While presenting my selection, I also presented the details of what drove my decision
4. Finally, I summarized with the thought that there should have been more awards or a team award rather than one.
Each one of us would approach the problem in a different way and I would like to know what you think about the solution
Saving Changes...
Mark Price PerryBusiness Driven PMO Evangelist| BOT InternationalOrlando, Fl, United States
Dear Ilya,
Interesting post and replies. And, while I agree with all of the wise advice provided, I think it is absolutely appropriate and warranted to recognize the MVP of the project, if there is one. And, quite often, especially in large, long-term, complex projects almost always an individual contributor on the project stands out above all others as the project MVP. This is in no way a discredit to the others, rather just a recognition of individual contribution above and beyond the call. Of course, a sensible sponsor would have the common sense to understand and appreciate that the team and the MVP should be recognized. Also, as a general rule, I like to advocate that while public MVP recognition is appropriate, this should be for outstanding contribution, but not project rescue which most often is better recognized privately.
But getting back to your dilema, it seems that the root problem isn't which candidate to identify to your sponsor as your project MVP, rather that your project really doesn't have an MVP. And, this is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact it can be a very good thing that a project runs well and completes successfully without need for a hero. In such a case, the project team is the MVP. And to no discredit of your sponsor, he or she might not have this insight, experience, or mindset until you or someone else shares it with them. And, if you brought it to your sponsor's attention, he or she may very well conclude, on their own, that the best thing to do is to recognize the team as the MVP.
Nonetheless, if you do have to pick from one of your two choices, I would offer that you consider first and foremost the end results achieved of the candidates. Whether someone is young, unmarried, and has few friends or older, married, and with kids is irrelevant. And, terms such as "great at what she does" and "not a genius by any stretch of imagination" are inappropriate to use in evaluating and communicating the skills exhibited and end results achieved of an employee. You might consider using end result statements to help you with selecting your MVP such as:
Dave, our developer, led the research, porting of the Order Entry application, and deployment of a new servlet engine to improve runtime efficiency 450% which will support the online order entry transaction growth requirements for the next 3 years.
Or, Sally, our business analyst identified the requirements of our new Order Entry process, determined the gaps in the existing process, and developed an online help resource for the new Order Entry system.
End result statements will not only help you determine your MVP, but also help you communicate their outstanding achievement. Perhaps I am "old school" but it one of my project managers suggested recognizing a project team member because he worked 14 hours a day and got his work done or because she is great at what she does, meets her commitments, and is a mom too, etc, I would be just a little bit unhappy.
So, getting back to your scenario, of the end results of your two candidates that you mentioned, you have one person that delivers on time and another that meets commitments. Neither of these end results stand out as project "MVP" worthy to me, rather just project "P".
Saving Changes...
Ian WhittinghamManaging Director| Calixo ConsultingGolden Cross, East Sussex, United Kingdom
I would have put aside my bias as to who I thought was most deserving and turned it over to the team. If the Sponsor did not specify how I was to arrive at my nomination then, I would have polled all of the project team members, anonymously, for their nomination as to which team member was most deserving of the MVP award, and state their reason(s) for nominating that individual. This would enable me to (1) see what project contributions &/or qualities were most valued by my team and (2) gain collective buy-in from the team as to the award's recipient. With any team, it's important to understand what (& who) they value in terms of contribution to meeting the team's goal(s), and to show that you welcome and value their judgement in this. If you have the opportunity to do this, make sure that everyone is aware of the MVP award -- and how it works -- at the start of the project. Saving Changes...
"If they have moving sidewalks in the future, when you get on them, I think you should have to assume sort of a walking shape so as not to frighten the dogs."
