 Reforming Project Management |
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Thursday, June 05, 2003
Define Project Roles Based on Strengths
I've been writing and speaking about taking advantage of people's talents. It's not an original idea. Four years ago, I was struck by the book First, Break All the Rules, by Marcus Cunningham and Curt Coffman. In this book the authors present and discuss the findings of a Gallop Organization 20-year effort to understand what makes companies sustain performance at top levels. The book has been a best-seller. One of the findings of the book, "focus on strengths" is developed further in Buckingham's follow-up book with Donald Clifton, Now, Discover Your Strengths. In the last year I've been using First, Break All the Rules in the Lean Project Leadership (Shusa) Development program that Greg Howell and I deliver. We have experimented with many of the concepts with our clients. One of the most interesting areas is to study and improve upon what is going well rather than try to improve what is not going well. Improving what's not working is a western habit. The authors claim there's more to learn and more improvement possible in what already is high performing. Our experiments support their claim. I recommend both books to project managers and leaders. Creating a project team based on the strengths of team members is a winning strategy. So, how do you find the strengths? Cunningham and The Gallop Organization come to the rescue! When you buy Now, Discover Your Strengths you get access to a "strengths finder" profiling tool. Each book comes with one access code. So, a team of eight people would require 8 books to establish the signature themes for the whole team. I did the assessment earlier this week. They distinguish 34 strength themes of the finder. The assessment takes about 20 minutes. If you wait too long studying a question the tool moves you along to the next question. My top five signature themes came out as follows:
I'm convinced this works. Get the books and take the assessment for you and your team. Wednesday, June 04, 2003
Weekly Project e-Tip: Read the Proposal Everyday
This is the first of the Project e-Tips submitted by readers of Reforming Project Management. Frank has written extensively inlcuding articles in gantthead.
Hey Frank, there's a copy of Purple Cow in the mail for you!
Two other readers have submitted Project e-Tips that will be published in the coming weeks. Monday, June 02, 2003
Begin Well? Sure, Prepare the Work!
Dr. O.P. Kharbanda writing Begin Well! in gantthead.com recommends project managers walk the job each day to set the agenda for the day. For our project manager, by far the best way to start a new project day is to go around the project site with some of the key members of the team. For one thing, it gives him an instant first-hand status of the project. No report, however detailed, can really convey the "feeling" of just an hour or so spent walking around the site. Just by observing, questioning and cajoling his people, the project manager not only can get answers to his questions, but also can make a mental (or a scribbled) note of actions to be taken once he gets back to the office. In fact, this quick "once around the site" walk, is not only good exercise, but it also sets up the agenda for the day! C'mon. While I'm the first to recommend walking the jobsite, a morning walk-around is too little too late for keeping projects on track. A Last Planner™ approach to making work ready and declaring work complete on a daily basis will dramatically improve the flow on a project. The walk-around then serves as a means for making new assessments in preparation for the up-coming planning sessions. Sunday, June 01, 2003
Blogging on Blogging on Project Management
While this is a blog about project management, I thought a few points about blogging might be useful to the readers. Dave Winer, one of the founders of the blogging phenomenon, has recently left his position at Scripting News and joined the faculty at Harvard. His writing on blogging has always been good. His latest piece describing the elements of a weblog is excellent, What makes a weblog a weblog? I encourage you to read Dave's essay. It may provide you with a broader perspective on what I am up to with this weblog. While you're on his page take a look at two other articles: Business Is Toying With a Web Tool, by Amy Cortese, New York Times and What We Do When We Blog, by Meg Hourihan, co-founder of Blogger and co-author of We Blog: Publishing Online with Weblogs. Visit the Archives for more postings |
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