 Reforming Project Management |
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Thursday, March 18, 2004
Snakes Bite
I don't think any of those questions are answerable from a rational perspective. At one very safe construction firm a person was recently observed working without fall protection. He knew what to do. His life had been saved just a few years earlier when the fall protection worked. Yet here he was working without fall protection alongside of another person working without fall protection on a day their foreman was absent. This is unacceptable. And it happened. And it will happen with someone else someplace else in the future. We cannot understand this as a rational act. At what time will we face squarely that people are just not rational? Not that we are always not rational. We aren't. But we are capable of doing what is not rational. If you want to understand this just look at Martha Stewart. That woman was on top of the world when she traded her stock (with less than 1% of her net worth at stake). She was offered a plea bargain but declined it. She is now convicted of four counts of obstructing justice and lying. This woman's pride, arrogance, and obstinacy brought her down. And Martha was just doing what Martha does and had always done. This is the lesson. People do what they do, just as they always have done. We will not succeed changing that with behavioral-based approaches. It's not that they are devious. No. They are just doing what they do. I'm reminded of a great story in David Schmaltz' book The Blind Men and the Elephant, Mastering Project Work. David tells the story of a man who befriends a snake. After the man treats the snake quite well, and contrary to all assurances the snake makes to the man that he won't bite, the snake bites. And the man is surprised! That's what snakes do. It doesn't matter what behavioral approaches one takes, the snake will bite. But the world is not only composed of snakes. That is all that is going on here with safety. Some people will work not tied off when they have an opportunity to do so. No behavioral motivationist acts will change that. And we can't let that get in the way of keeping people safe on our projects. How? By not having those people in our employ, by not leaving a work site unsupervised, and by designing work practices that absolutely shield people from work that is not ready to be started and finished. Anything less will result in workers doing what they do and injuring themselves and others in the process. Lest we forget, snakes bite. Wednesday, March 17, 2004
Project e-Tip: Three Are Smarter than Two
I regularly get into conversations about decision-making. One commonsense understanding of management is as decision-making. Yet, where do we get trained for that role? Peter Drucker has some good advice. Thanks go out to Glen Alleman for sharing Drucker's thinking.
Have a conversation today with your team about the decisions on your plate. It may be the best thing you can do for yourself! Tuesday, March 16, 2004
Compass: State of the Art of Project Management
David Schmaltz is in great form in the latest issue of Compass Newsletter. He uses the metaphor of the performing artist to examine the state of the art of project management. I have to admit that it took me two reads to appreciate David's message. I'm not a thespian, theatre buff, nor art aficionado. The metaphor was overworked for me. However, David puts it succinctly: The state of any art has never been defined by that art's business. While art these days needs to be supported commercially, the quality of the art is not synonymous with the commercial returns. Extrapolating, just because a project or project methodology produces commercial value doesn't mean that the way we do those projects produces the value that we intend. I was surprised to find these comments tucked at the end of the article: Those who have chided us for avoiding involvement with the XP, Agile, and Lean movements expected us to hop onto one or another of those bandwagons. Our question was and always has been, ?What will people do once they take to these stages?? We find players performing in remarkably similar ways, whether the stage holds a waterfall, a spiral, or a high school production of the land-rush scene from Oklahoma! But reflecting, David has his own idea of methodology and ideology. To put words in his mouth, 'Projects are personal. People already always have what they need to deliver project results. Just let them be human.' [David, how did I do?] David Schmaltz is one smart guy. He's backed up by business partner Amy Schwab who proves the rule two are smarter than one. Read this issue of Compass and get yourself on their subscription list. And if you haven't done so already read his book The Blind Men and the Elephant, Mastering Project Work. No Project Authors Interview this Month
Life has been quite hectic. We are not able to have our scheduled interview with Norman Bodek this month. (What will you do with that free hour?) I am sorry for any disappointment. Perhaps we'll be able to interview Mr. Bodek at another time. We will be on schedule to interview David Anderson next month. Monday, March 15, 2004
The Added Work of Rework
Promises and Prescriptions "There's never time to do it right, but there's always time to do it over." The need to re-do something is rooted in one of two possibilities. Either it was not done right the first time, or something has changed to make the original attempt less than fully useful. Frank does a good job describing how single-point estimates for time-to-complete become memorialized in schedules and then "are translated into commitments". We see this on projects everywhere. Smart experienced people get together early on to create a schedule of tasks, durations, and due dates. The project has not yet started, nor do we know who will perform each task. Add to that the uncertainty of the future. It's no wonder that schedules are no good for authorizing the work on projects. They have no basis in the performers' current reality. Frank goes on to describe how doing work early increases the likelihood that conditions of satisfaction will change, circumstances around the task will change, and the task will be out of sequence with other work. Want to avoid these risks? Listen on your project for these words, "Let's get a jump on it." It's a leading indicator for possible rework. Frank misses two important aspects of promising regarding schedules. [I did read ahead in his series to see if he wrote about them.] First, in spite of our practices, schedules are never promises for task completions. Only people can make promises. At best, schedules are only suggested requests. I say 'suggested' to acknowledge that as time goes on, project tasks are completed, team members learn, and the customer makes changes. What was memorialized in the schedule might no longer be relevant. Remember this: only the promise spoken by the intended performer has any reliability. Second, while people are bound to make poor estimates, failing to allocate capacity is equally responsible for the unreliability on our projects. Rephrasing Frank's opening statement, "There's always time available for doing a task, but there's never time when the task is due." To do lists get in the way of project reliability. Want to increase reliability? Then have your performers allocate the time they estimate -- have them block time out in their calendars. Adding a task to a to do list is the precursor to failure. Next up, Part 3: Work Your Way Out of Rework. Sunday, March 14, 2004
Absent Project Reformer
Been a crazy last three weeks for me. A little ski accident (my wife not me -- she's recovering nicely) resulted in turning my world upside down. I hadn't realized how I've been squeezing my writing and blogging into my already-full day. I did a quick look at the posting times for my last 20 entries. Most were late at night. I've decided to bring that to an end. No more last minute manager for me. Here's my plan: I will post Project e-Tips on Wednesdays and Safety Thursday. I will continue to update the safety sideblog on Safety Everyday throughout the week. I will also post one other time, probably Mondays on whatever moves me. There are so many unfinished writing projects. Although it's quite late, I will continue to comment on Frank Patrick's outstanding series Promises and Predictions. But don't wait for my continued commentary go visit Frank's series today. Visit the Archives for more postings |
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