Project Management – Page 13 – thoughtLEADERS, LLC: Leadership Training for the Real World

5 Keys to Successfully Allocating Work Across Your Team

September 17, 2014/3 Comments/in Leadership, Project Management /by Mike Figliuolo

As the leader of a high-performing team, how you distribute and balance work across the members of that team is a critical success factor. It needs to be done fairly. Note, I didn’t say equally. Work allocation needs to be done fairly because you want your team to operate on the basis of equality. You want people to work on things they’re good at but also that they’re excited by. There are five criteria to think about as you think about distributing work.

1. Priority

Consider the work’s priority. Priority needs to drive everything. If you’ve been rigorous in your prioritization process, start at the top of the list and begin allocating work from there. That list should be based on the team’s and the organization’s goals. This has to be the first consideration in terms of how you distribute work. If a project is a top priority and somebody is available to do that work, they should be tasked with that work.

2. Skill Sets

Evaluate the skill set of the people who you’re thinking about distributing the work to. If they have the right skill set, you’re going to get a high quality result. The end product will be something that meets your customer’s needs. This also reduces the likelihood of people failing because you’re not giving them work that they don’t have the skill set to perform. You’re giving them something they can be successful with.

How rigorous is your prioritization process?

June 19, 2014/1 Comment/in Innovation, Poll, Project Management /by Mike Figliuolo

Our reader poll today asks: How rigorous is your organization’s prioritization process?

– We do a great job of regularly prioritizing work: 21%
– We do an OK job of prioritizing: 38%
– We don’t prioritize well; we try to focus but aren’t always able to: 28%
– We prioritize poorly and pursue any opportunity presented: 13%

Saying “no” matters. Your resources are limited and two of those critical resources are time and focus. If you’re not being rigorous in prioritizing your projects, your focus is diluted and it impacts the quality of your work. Invest the time once or twice a month to stack rank all your projects, prioritize and draw the line below which you’re not going to work on. As projects above the line are completed or de-prioritized you can work on things below the line. Your execution will improve and your project success rate will increase. For the 21% who are rigorous in prioritization, just be cautious that you don’t become inflexible and that new high-priority projects have an opportunity to enter the work queue.

Do you agree with these poll results? Let us know in the comments below!

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

Did you enjoy this post? If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog. It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!). SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!

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What do you do when you know an initiative is doomed?

March 20, 2014/1 Comment/in Leadership, Poll, Project Management /by Mike Figliuolo

Our reader poll today asks: When you know an initiative is doomed regardless of what you do, how does your organization respond?

– We immediately cut our losses, learn from it, and move on: 38%
– We keep trying to make it work through heroic efforts: 24%
– We stop working on it and let it wither without explicitly killing it: 19%
– We make some effort to make it work but eventually declare defeat: 19%

Losses are painful to take. I applaud the 38% of you who see the lost cause and act decisively. Throwing good money (and time and effort) after bad only compounds the problem. Try to look at the problem objectively and realize it is a sunk cost. Ask yourself: “Knowing what I know today, is it a good investment to put another dollar or hour into this project?” If the answer is no, step up as a leader and stop the bleeding. Go invest your resources in other more promising ventures. Your organization will be better off when you do.

Do you agree with these poll results? Let us know in the comments below!

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

Did you enjoy this post? If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog. It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!). SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!

Read more

5 Myths that Can Ruin Project Management

January 13, 2014/8 Comments/in Guest Blogger, Leadership, Project Management /by Mike Figliuolo

Today’s post is by Mary Prescott of WorkZone.

Every industry has its myths, and project managers aren’t exempt. This is unfortunate for the industry, but if you can dodge the myths, you can pull ahead of the competition. Are you aware of these falsehoods? Or are you wasting resources and time as we speak?

It’s time to correct a few misconceptions.

1. The customer knows what they want

Whether you’re dealing with “customers” or “clients,” it’s a longstanding myth that the purchaser knows exactly what they want from you. But, it turns out, we humans are actually notoriously bad at predicting what we want and what we need.

When Guy Kawasaki gave a presentation shortly after Steve Jobs’ death, he decided to talk about twelve key lessons he learned from the giant of Apple. Lesson number 2 was that customers can’t tell you what they need. He went on to say, “The day that you hear that Apple’s using focus groups to decide on its future projects, that’s the day to short Apple stock.”

This applies to all industries, and it applies equally to the B2B sector.

It’s important to remember that the customer is not the expert. You are. That is your value.

When you’re speaking with your client or doing market research, focus on the “why” of the project. What are the goals? What problem are you trying to solve?

2. You need to win every battle

Read more

Best of thoughtLEADERS 2013: The Greatest Posts EVER

December 17, 2013/0 Comments/in Balanced Lifestyle, Books, Business Toolkit, Career, Communications, Entrepreneur, Guest Blogger, Innovation, Leadership, Project Management, Sales, Social Media, Strategy, Training /by Mike Figliuolo

It’s time again for our year in review list of the BEST posts we’ve published in 2013. It’s time for the 2013 edition of The Figgies which are the awards we give ourselves for writing awesome blog content (here are the 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012 editions of those awards).

This is an annual event at the thoughtLEADERS Blog. This list is comprised of our most viewed, most forwarded, quirkiest, most provocative work. There’s also a kicker bonus post on the list just for good measure. Enjoy. Share. We’ve loved writing them. We hope you’ve enjoyed reading them. I don’t ask a lot of you folks so I have two small requests as your holiday gift to me (you are getting me something, right?):

1. Invite all your coworkers, friends, and family to come check out the blog and become readers. The only way we all get better is by raising everyone’s game. I’m not asking a lot here. If you found this blog helpful at all this year, here’s your chance to return the favor for all our hard work. Just email folks and tell ’em to come take a look.

2. Pick up a copy of One Piece of Paper: The Simple Approach to Powerful Personal Leadership (especially if you’re looking for last-minute holiday gifts for bosses, team members, or your mom – she’ll love it). I talk a lot about the book because I’m evangelical about the topic. Buy it. Read it. In the words of Roland Smith (former CEO of Wendy’s/Arby’s) “It could change your life.” To get a sense for what the book is about, read this free ChangeThis Leadership Manifesto which is based on the book. If you like the manifesto, you’ll love the book.

Thanks for your incredible support in ’13 and best wishes for ’14! We hope to be a part of your future success!

Enough blahbitty blah. Here’s the best stuff we’ve written all year:

Problems Don’t Get Better With Age

June 12, 2013/0 Comments/in Books, Business Toolkit, Communications, Entrepreneur, Guest Blogger, Leadership, Project Management /by Mike Figliuolo

Today’s post is by Maynard Webb, author of Rebooting Work: Transform How You Work in the Age of Entrepreneurship (CLICK HERE to get your copy). Here’s Maynard…

In business, as in life, one thing is always certain—you will run into problems. But contrary to popular belief, problems are not bad things. In fact, I think they can be good things—if you look out for them and work to fix them fast.

People fear problems and as a result, they love to ignore them. The irony: that’s really what fuels them. If you can find problems early, you often can solve them when it takes a relatively minor act to fix (and you can get to an exponentially better place fairly quickly). The worst time to solve a problem is when it becomes a major issue and either spins out of control or results in public embarrassment. Think about Netflix going down on Christmas Eve due to AWS issues. I am sure that no one at Netflix was expecting to do damage control on Christmas Eve. It should not have gotten to that point.

The best way to solve any kind of problem is to build into the corporate culture a practice and process that will help to seek out issues early and take care of them. Andy Grove wrote about this in his epic book, Only The Paranoid Survive. Often there is expertise to solve an issue or concern within the company, but people don’t feel empowered (or sanctioned) to do it. Teams need to acknowledge their biggest issues, understand what can be done to fix them, then know it is not optional to let the current situation continue.

When I arrived at eBay people had convinced themselves that availability and scalability issues were okay as what we were doing was “hard” and hadn’t been done before. That’s not acceptable. Problems need to be solved, not supported.

So what’s the process and path to fixing problems early? Read more

Best of thoughtLEADERS 2012: A 55 Gallon Drum of Awesomesauce

December 17, 2012/0 Comments/in Balanced Lifestyle, Books, Business Toolkit, Career, Communications, Entrepreneur, Guest Blogger, Innovation, Leadership, Project Management, Sales, Social Media, Strategy, Training /by Mike Figliuolo

This year is almost over so it’s time for the year in review list of the BEST posts we’ve published in 2012. It’s time for the 2012 edition of The Figgies (here are the 2009, 2010 and 2011 editions).

This is an annual event here at the thoughtLEADERS Blog. Here’s how it goes: this list is comprised of our most viewed, most forwarded, quirkiest, most provocative work as judged by you the readers. There’s also a kicker bonus post on the list just for good measure.

Enjoy. Share. We’ve loved writing them. We hope you’ve enjoyed reading them. I don’t ask a lot of you folks so I have two small requests as your holiday gift to me (you are getting me something, right?):

1. Invite all your coworkers, friends, and family to come check out the blog and become readers. The only way we get better is by raising everyone’s game. I’m not asking a lot here. If you found this blog helpful at all this year, here’s your chance to return the favor for all our hard work. Just email folks and tell ’em to come take a look.

2. Pick up a copy of One Piece of Paper: The Simple Approach to Powerful Personal Leadership (especially if you’re looking for last-minute holiday gifts for bosses, team members, or your mom – she’ll love it). Yes – I know I talk a lot about the book but it’s not for the money (I would have made more money if I worked in a sweat shop in Asia making sneakers). I talk a lot about it because I’m evangelical about the topic. Buy it. Read it. In the words of Roland Smith (CEO of Wendy’s) “It could change your life.”

Thanks for your incredible support in ’12 and best wishes for ’13! We hope to be a part of your future success!

Enough preamble. Here’s the best stuff we’ve written all year:

How to Avoid the Perils of Being a Project Manager

August 15, 2012/0 Comments/in Guest Blogger, Project Management /by Mike Figliuolo

Today’s guest post is by Rhona Aylward – a very experienced project manager who has seen some ridiculous things in her career.

I’ve been involved with projects in one form or another for 14 years and over the years I’ve had some humdingers. I’d like to share some of the weirdest experiences I’ve had as a project professional and lessons you can take away from them. Here are the most memorable, in no particular order:

The Customer Who Told Us to Act Like Huskies and Eat Each Other

I was involved in an extremely expensive and controversial project involving multiple vendors and billions of dollars. This project was critical for the customer and they were regularly pitting the various vendors against each other.

The most memorable meeting was about 10 months into the project and involved 6 vendors and the customer’s Senior Responsible Owner.

The SRO stood up in front of us and announced that he wanted us vendors to act like huskies – pull together as a team but if there were issues we were to eat each other! There was a stunned silence as all the vendors just froze and looked at each other around the table as if to say, “what the hell just happened?” Needless to say the project was not a success.

Lesson: Make it your business to understand the customer’s actual requirements up front. You might find that what they say they want and what they actually want are two very different things.

Team Development is Not a Straight Line Drive

July 11, 2012/3 Comments/in Guest Blogger, Leadership, Project Management /by Mike Figliuolo

Today’s guest post is by Sean Glaze, an expert in team-building and coaching. You can read more about him at the end of the post. Here’s Sean…

As a basketball coach, I used to talk to my team about the importance of the straight line drive when we focused on offensive team development.

The idea is to get your ball-handlers to attack the basket without making a “banana cut” that might allow the defender to recover and get back in front of the ball. Once you beat the man with your move to the rim, your job is to go in as straight a line as possible.

Obviously, all defenders are normally taught to push out all drives as wide as possible and to get the ball to move further to the side instead of in a straight line to the goal. The team who most often won that battle of straight line drive attempts usually won the game.

But as much as our coaching staff would talk about straight line drives in regards to developing our guards and their dribbling skills, the concept of straight line drives outside of the basketball court is a dangerous fallacy.

People too often believe that success is a straight line drive.

They want to assume that you start at point A and go immediately to point B without the distraction or bother of anything other than a direct path.

But success is not found by traveling a straight line drive.

Get Out of B.E.D. And Alter Your Outcomes

January 26, 2012/4 Comments/in Communications, Guest Blogger, Leadership, Project Management /by Mike Figliuolo

Today’s post is by Marty Stanley, author of Get Out of B.E.D. and the newest member of the thoughtLEADERS team.

“We got it done, but it was ugly,” the manager said, shaking his head in disbelief. Miscommunications, lack of communication, an inexperienced team leader and management on vacation resulted in cost over-runs exceeding $50,000, delayed implementation and loss of customer respect and confidence. The manager lamented that this was not an unusual experience. It happened more often than he wanted to admit.

We’ve all experienced these “ugly” scenarios at one time or another. But it seems that there’s a breeding ground for ugly outcomes in many organizations. People are going a hundred miles an hour, multi-tasking and taking on more as a result of reduced staffs. People are trying to cope with downsized environments and a sluggish economy. The demands and expectations are high and resources and clear communication are often scarce. A lot of things can slip through the cracks in this kind of culture.

Being in B.E.D. is the Breeding Ground

An environment like this can become toxic and counter productive. When a workplace is in B.E.D. (Blame, Excuses and Denial), people often react impulsively with each misstep, and more mistakes happen. Mistakes are like rabbits… they multiply! No wonder things turn out “ugly.”

4 Keys for Successful Project Leadership

January 16, 2012/12 Comments/in Leadership, Project Management /by Mike Figliuolo

We always talk about project management but rarely discuss project leadership. There’s a difference.

Leaders play a critical role in setting the conditions for a team to successfully manage a project. If you focus on the following four key roles you can play on a project as the project leader you’ll dramatically improve the odds of project success. More important, you’ll create a culture where your team members trust you and know you’re doing everything you can to help them succeed.

In creating the right culture, you’ll boost morale, reduce turnover, improve productivity, and generally have a team that wins more often (and not in the Charlie Sheen “winning” way…). So here goes – here are four things you need to focus on as a leader to create an environment for project success.

If You Want to be More Productive Just Do Less Work

January 9, 2012/4 Comments/in Balanced Lifestyle, Business Toolkit, Communications, Leadership, Project Management /by Mike Figliuolo

You work too hard. You do too much.

Want to be more productive? Just do less work.

I know you’re probably scratching your head right now wondering how to not get fired by taking this recommendation. The truth is you’ll probably be on your way to a promotion if you pull this off correctly.

Here’s how it works: we work on a lot of stupid crap that no one is ever going to look at let alone use. Being more productive all boils down to not doing said stupid crap.

What kind of stupid crap am I talking about? How about those bajillion Excel reports you and your team generate every month? Those “latest best estimates” that are time stamped by the hour to let folks know which version you’re working from. Those weekly or monthly status updates that are 68 pages of the equivalent of PowerPoint water boarding. How about the 9,000 cc emails you send or receive every month? That stupid crap.

“Oh no! We can’t stop cranking those things out! They’re ever so valuable! And 80% of my job responsibilities center around turning out such value added deliverables that create synergies across the enterprise!”

Barf.

Let’s really evaluate this “work” you do and create a plan to stop doing it.