Recently I have been involved in mentoring a team of business analysts. One of the core issues was related to helping others making things happen at a faster pace.

So how are we making things happening? It all starts with a stimulus – an aggression, an emotion or just a thought (e.g. an idea)

Evolutionary speaking, the first way of getting into action was pretty straight forward:

Stimulus –> Action

This is still the most “popular” way we react to physical or emotional stimuli. It might be useful when we face a life threatening situation, but this “auto pilot” mode might be dangerous in a business situation… Luckily, the approach evolved to a better one:

Stimulus –> Thought –> Action

But when more than a thought emerges, a decision needs to be made, so our “equation” becomes:

Stimulus –> Analyze –> Decide –> Action

Here is where most of us would say … enough already. Think for a minute about a more complex situation (such as an e-commerce project), that requires detailed preparation:

Stimulus –> Analyze –> Decide –> Prepare –> Action

This is not the end: everything between Stimulus and Action can be further expanded. The analysis may be preceded by research, the decision could incorporate validation from others and the preparation could include anything between pure resourcing to simulation and testing.

With every evolutionary step, the chain of “making things happen” gets longer. So gets the time and energy spent and, if we add the “several people involved” factor into this equation, the complexity is not just adding up, is multiplying.

But really, is there any way to shorten the time between the stimulus and action while maintaining the robustness of the chain?

Well, while we have an abundance of Agile techniques and fast tracking – they all have limited applicability, as sometimes it is impossible to break down the scope / deliverables and to do parallel processing.

But there is a much better way.

For individuals is call internalization. Think of the time you learned a new skill, say, driving. In early stages, the process was similar to the long chain: analyzing, deciding, preparing, checking, etc. Experienced drivers use the short fuse, from stimulus to action, as they really are on automatic pilot mode.

This also works in the business environment and it comes under several names: procedures, processes, drills, etc. Once a successful path between stimulus to action is found and documented the entire process gets quicker – although the chain is not shortened..

So, it is very important to:

a)    Start by treating a new project by replicating the best practices in that field
b)    After every new endeavor is closed, document the lessons learned
c)    Fine tune the business processes and work procedures according to previous two points (a and b)

What other shorting techniques do you currently use?

Is there any doctor who would care first about the immune system of his patients rather than of his own? Do you know any farmer who intentionally leaves the weeds to invade his crop? How many pessimists do you know who have achieved significant success? Have you ever read of a top athlete who does not keep track of his own performance?

So why, so often, we are reluctant to scrap the dead weight which inevitably appears in our lives? More important, what can we immediately do in order to build an immune system which should automatically protect us from the bad influences. This applies in our lives (from jobs towards relationships), applies in projects but may well be applicable to  organisations and countries.

There may be several ways of looking at this topic, but from my experience the four best things to do in order to enable your immune system are:

• First of all, be aware of the most dangerous forms of degradation: those actions which – like the blind spots – are not perceivable and do not produce any immediate results. Spotting that slow, not so obvious, regress which does not leave any noticeable changes in the short term is the first step for building an immune system. HINT: religiously implement a measurement system, and compare the current status with a previous state (for the web use web analytics, for your waist grab a tailor ruler)
  
• This may be counter intuitive, and is a paradox when related to the previous point: develop a tolerance to failure. Everyone can make mistakes, including us. But way too often, we fall in love with our own current way of doing things, either because we hate to be wrong or because we don’t want to beat ourselves up with regrets and remorse. So ignite your immune system by allowing to be wrong – after all is just part of being human. HINT: make a brief inventory of wrongdoings and accept them as a part of who you are, then envision a way to take corrective action and renew your habits with a proper way of doing things
  
• See things in a different light, a bright light. There are enough shadows from the past fueled by fears and frustrations which may blur our clear way of seeing things. Our past experiences have shaped our emotional paths and thought patterns and it takes time, acceptance and effort to change those. However, the now moment presents us the reality like a virgin territory – it is up to us what and how we decide to see. Using “the old pair of eyes” will show us the world as an old dusted museum, whereas looking through “the present pair of eyes” will bring more discoveries to us. HINT: boost your immune system by living in the right now, present time which enables us to see more the positive aspects of the surrounding activities, contexts, people, experiences…
• Make yourself the most important person in your life. This advice was suggested by the flight attendants when explaining the role of oxygen masks: first put your own mask, then apply it to your kid. This may sound very selfish, but is not. Let’s me be clear on this: unless we first take care of ourselves, and make ourselves stronger first, we can not be truly be kind others, without jeopardizing our own immune system. HINT: First help yourself, then help others

Bottom line: build your immune system by measuring everything, by accepting and then replacing the bad habits, by seeing the bright side of things through the right-now lens and by placing yourself first in the priority queue.

How a small, unpredicted change in a part of a system may produce terrible effects in another part of the system, and what to do about avoiding the entire chaos

The Butterfly Effect is a term from chaos theory: in simple words, the wing movements of a butterfly in New Zealand may cause tornadoes somewhere in Europe. And we all have experienced the butterfly effect: something which seems insignificant triggered a set of high impact events.

Let’s consider this scenario:  some well intentioned guy suggests, at the end of a meeting: “… and BTW, we are going to improve our URL structure using  shorter, human readable format”. You immediately see the SEO benefits, but hey: there may be more. Without assessing how complicated this may be from a sys admin perspective, the hassle of those the customers who visit site through links found on other websites, or impact over the web tracking system, etc this might be soon pretty messy.

What to do when a member of your team or the sponsor of the project asks for a small “deviation”? Or when someone from the sales team asks for a on-the-fly change of the reports in a webanalytics project? Or when someone in your life asks for a small favor?

Here are some guidelines which I use in such a case:

Analyze and decide whether the change is a real need of just someone’s desire and then check its effects it may produce, in short, medium and long term:  create healthy boundaries. For a online project, use the most important word, especially to ASAP requests: develop a habit of saying NO when you hear it, like: “I’ll get back to you on this, after I assess the full impact”, and then stick to your promise. For an webanalytics project, check with all the report stakeholders, and create a parallel, test account. In life, double check before you commit if you have the energy, time, attention, etc to stick to the new change and integrate it into your life.

Also, as much as possible, try to build or work with modular things, keep items separate – like black boxes with inputs and outputs: untangle things, processes, responsibilities, decisions and use of resources.  For an website, it may well be separating the project team from the product team (and interact just though change requests, using a clear protocol).  For a webanalytics work, it may be separating performance reporting based on the various sources of the traffic. For life, in general, separate experiences from the past, to those from present and from the coming ones.

Last, but not least: if you decide to go ahead with the change, look for those conditions and resources which would make the change an inevitable success, let everybody know what is about to change and happen and how this will likely to impact their lives.

Bottomline: there are not too small changes to be approved and executed without considering their effects on the entire system.

Online Project as a Submarine: The Unusual Alarm Bells from the Head Quarters

What are the early warning signs that the project is not going as smooth as your sponsors would like?

A quick note: the post is not based on any scientific evidence, but just empirical observations. Similar to my previous analogies on how an online project management is like riding a submarine: in this case the Admiral is – in project terms – the sponsor or someone with a strong say in supporting or killing a project. Don’t get me wrong: these guys needs have to be understood – as early as possible.

Saying things:

“I like this, we should have it as well”: usually this is the “me too” syndrome, as the Admiral want something just because competitors have it.
Hint: explore with him the consequences of changing the scope

“Proceed immediately – get it done ASAP”: unless entitled (e.g.: you are late with the delivery) the “whatever it takes” syndrome might indicate a sudden change in the project scope
Hint: ask for clarification, understand the drive for this urgency.

“Don’t worry – I know this better”: the Admiral may know something you are not aware of, but sometimes he would confuse his preferences with his competency.
Hint: test where the issue stands. Don’t forget he is entitled to make decisions – and if he is wrong, explain him, but if he decides (even if you don’t agree) make sure you push yourself and the crew to make the project a success.

“I want more reports on my desk”: without any other explanation, this often reflects that the Admiral either does not understand certain activities, or feels his control is slipping away.
Hint: walk him through the issues, be transparent and try to find out what started all this

“Start the meeting without me”: while the Admiral might be just busy, it may also indicate that he has lost appetite and interest for your project
Hint: make sure the project is still aligned with the overall strategy of the fleet

Doing things:

Number of people CCed in Admiral’s emails increases: hard to explain this one, but usually when more people are included in the formal communication (especially those with tangential interest in the project) something might be wrong.
Hint: first reassure Admiral (privately, is possible) that as long as you take have the authority, you will also have the project’s responsibility

Delayed replies or no replies from Admiral to your emails: the Admiral might not have enough information (waiting for more information), might lost his interest for the project, way too busy or -and here might be a serious issue – hesitant of taking a decision.
Hint: do not contemplate the “no news, good news” scenario: push for an answer

Admiral engages on one on one with members of your crew: usually this is a trust issue, or might be just testing an idea the Admiral came up with, without the hassle of asking permission form you
Hint: understand where Admiral perceives you as wishy-washy, unreliable, uncaring or incompetent.

For more tips, hints, and updates follow me on Twitter here.

In his excellent book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” Stephen R. Covey unveils a principle which he calls “Begin with the End in Mind” which virtually applies to any areas of life.

To be successful, in every profession, one should pay attention to the above law. Think about marketing: a marketer begins his work what the client needs, wants, fears and frustrations – and that, and only after that, he proceeds with the rest of the work. For a doctor, the main focus is restoring patient’s health, and with this in mind, she starts to investigate what is wrong and what is the cure. The captain of the submarine, knows his destination first.

Actually this advice is just common sense – and therefore fundamental: after all, did you know any farmer to plant random seeds, and then reap whatever grows up? But now, please think of an online project. With which end should we begin? Is the project’s end – like delivering the website to a product manager or webmaster? Or is it a totally different end, in which everyone happily lives ever after?

Confused? But seriously, what is the online project’s end, to know where should we begin? Obviously, the first answer which comes probably in every junior project manager’s mind is the main project deliverable – the website. And while this is true – as no one can call himself a project manager unless he delivers – it may not represent the whole truth.

Let’s take a look at another habit of highly effective people: “Seek First To Understand, Then To Be Understood”.

By adding this layer in clarifying project’s scope, your chances – as project manager – of reaching the final destination increase, as it adds the human factor to the entire equation. Satisfying the project stakeholders – especially the post launch ones – is an absolute must for project’s success.

Unless what needs to be delivered is thoroughly extracted from the minds of the stakeholders and understood by the entire team, the project is just like a pizza delivery without a menu. From my experience, the best online projects start by defining who is going to use it (the end-users as well as the web manager), by defining the high level performance metrics of the website-to-be (which should be part of project development), and – just after that – how the site should look.

Bottom line: the first and probably the most important thing to look in a project is getting right, as quick as possible, what needs to be done and what not – by clarifying, articulating and testing what the project stakeholders expect to have after the project is over.

For more tips, hints, and updates follow me on Twitter here.

Online Project as a Submarine: The First Entry in a Disastrous Diary

OK, you’ve got my perspective on what’s the most important word in project management. If you are a can-do person – and as a project manager is mandatory to have this attitude, and to be a solution seeker – then you probably had enough of de-motivational talk. But push yourself a little bit harder, and imagine this: the sponsor, the boss, the big chief, the supreme commander, or whoever with a significant larger salary, and a higher position than yours, calls you for a specific, unique, assignment. So far, so good.

Instead of using some painful real world examples (like: “We need a site like Amazon.com by the mid of this year”) let’s use the same analogy between a project and a submarine. So, the admiral calls you, a submarine captain and orders: “Take your crew and discover an island like the one from this picture, in two weeks”. You take a look at the picture: looks familiar… in fact, all you can see is just a white sandy beach – and you automatically think: how hard this may be – there may be thousand islands like this in Pacific, right?

Right now is when the disaster usually strikes, but it will manifest when it’s too late. So inexperienced project managers or rookie sub captains, are totally unaware that they are already in deep trouble.

Obviously, the admiral doesn’t have to spend the whole day to explain you what exactly are the characteristics of the island (like the size, the flora, natural resources, etc) – he has more important things to attend. Besides, you are supposed to be a smart guy, who immediately figures out things, right? So, you immediately approve him and think of setting sail ASAP as two weeks will fly like a breeze. At this point is irrelevant that neither you, nor any of your crew members have sailed into an ocean.

From my experience and from what I have seen so far in numerous online projects, dialogues like the above one happens way too often. Rushing things too soon, brings a lack of clarity in knowing the right destination. Or, in project management terms a poor defined scope – what it is and equally important what is not – will bring pain to everyone. Period.

But let’s dive a little more into our imaginary scenario: you have set sail, for ten days now. You spot an island which seems to have the white sandy beaches: you are positive this is a success and you are already thinking of receiving a medal. In total disbelief, you learn that the admiral is furious: he keeps asking where are the palms… but you don’t remember any of those in his picture.

Obviously, now it’s the last moment time to ask your superior all the details. After picking admiral’s brains, you change course, but the crew already has started to doubt your capacity to lead them. After ten more days, with the resources almost depleted and well beyond schedule, you finally spot another island: this time it the full package, as per admiral’s instructions.

But, almost like a curse, the disaster strikes again. The end user, the one who will manage the island, refuses to sign-off… as there are no sources of fresh water, and it seems that nobody from the Marine HQ ever bothered to ask him.

Unfortunately stories like this one happens. It happened in my life.

Please keep in mind this is just an analogy. The so-called island might be a website, which – almost like an iceberg – has most of its volume hidden, and the process of discovering what’s important requires discipline and a step by step approach. Sometimes these steps are counterintuitive – will talk about those later.

To find out what you should do first and foremost for a smoother journey, please check my other post on what’s the first thing to look for in a project.

For more tips, hints, and updates follow me on Twitter here.

Once in while, junior project managers ask for immediate tips, tricks, and advanced ninja moves which could bring them some serious advantages, with almost zero effort. And you know they are junior – whether this is written or not on their business cards – as they keep asking about quick fixes to their project issues, before even knowing the basics of the project management.

Of course – there are a lot of tips and tricks to be shared: but how valuable are those if you don’t handle the fundamentals? Imagine that you want to know how to drift a racecar, but you don’t know how to shift gears… And – this is probably the hardest lesson I had to learn, going through lots of pain – but no rookie seems to be interested in finding out the fundamentals.

So here it is, the most plain, powerful, single word you have to know, and use when managing a project:

NO

Yes, it that simple: NO, NO, NO. Knowing how and when to say no, is so important. In project management is one of the most ecological tools, as it helps saving resources, energy and time to be dispersed with minimum effort. For example, read this gem, from 37signals.com blog:

“The hardest part about making good software that ships on time is knowing what and when to sacrifice. As programmers and designers, we often fall in love with our requirements and are unable to kill our darlings. We mistake what we said we’ll do with what must be done. It’s rarely so; you can always do less.”

So my friends: please do say NO – as you can always do less. As a team member say NO, when your project manager or sponsor volunteers you for a mission impossible. As project manager say NO, when a team member wants to implement something which is not essential to the project, or is sapping on the project resources (especially when asking for more time).

One more thing: please say NO, but do it graciously. Otherwise your ecological efforts will turn you into a dictatorial neysayer. And this has nothing to do with being a solutions seeker, a good submarine captain or a project manager.

For more tips, hints, and updates follow me on Twitter here.

Online Project as a Submarine:  The Crew’s View

That’s probably the most exciting part in the series dedicated to the analogy between a submarine and a project, as lot of my readers may relate (more or less) with the following experiences:

• Never assume: the assumption is the mother of all screw-ups, so don’t be afraid to ask as many details as needed in order to properly perform your job. One can not over-understand a topic: information overload can be fought by asking for more condensed information
• Voice your concerns, but resist the temptation to fight for your opinions, especially in the areas you have no experience, and bear no responsibility – much to often everyone is expert in design, usability, and marketing… but no one will get in the information architecture or documentation
• Trust your captain: unless you have serious doubts about his (mental) health, his genuine desire for the wellness of all the crew members  or about his competency in running a submarine stick with him: he knows he will be the first to be executed if things go wrong
• Repeat captain’s orders, before getting into execution: there is so much noise around, and so little margin for errors, that a miss-communication may be fatal. Over communicating is a less sin than being deaf and speechless
• Know your role, as well as others crewmen roles as who is supposed to do what: information like who’s the next in line command, might save precious time and resources, when the captain (the project manager) is unavailable
• Refuse to take responsibility for those actions in which you have no input, and virtually no authority: saying no when facing a too tight deadline is not an act of mutiny, as long as you have arguments to support it.
• Understand that, no matter how bad the destination looks like, how unpleasant the conditions of the voyage might be, you are part of a living, constrained environment: be sensitive to other’s needs and personalities
• Without delivering all is just a big waste – waste of resources, of your efforts, of everybody’s time: so ask yourself – how may I contribute to get the things done
• Don’t forget that even what seems to be a small error from your side, could jeopardize the entire mission, and even the submarine:  don’t hide the problems hoping they’ll go away anyhow
• Find reasons to enjoy every moment of your journey: most of the times you are sailing into uncharted territories, discovering new seas: think of a greater good, that delivering the scope of your project (or reaching a new destination) may bear your name, and may be enjoyed by many others, from then on
• Once you reach the destination don’t hesitate to relax a bit: celebration is probably the most undervalued part of the project

Obviously, in all my three articles are probably expressed less than half of the things running through my brain on this topic. I will write a couple more on the practical tips and sharing stories on how to avoid a couple of traps while concentrating on what works.

For more tips, hints, and updates follow me on Twitter here.

Online Project as a Submarine: The Captain’s View

OK: if you did not check my previous article on why an online project is similar to a submarine, don’t worry – just enjoy the surrogate experience on how is to be in the shoes of the manager of a project (or, so to speak, wearing the captain’s hat) from the comfort, and safety of your day to day life.

This is not the beginning what you have expected? Then you are already starting feeling like the captain of the submarine:

• No matter how hard you try to anticipate what will come, be prepared for the unexpected: changes in the destinations (or, in project terms in what needs to be delivered), changes in the resource availability, etc
• Feel comfortable with limited information: both from the crew (project team), and from your headquarters (sponsor & stakeholders)
• Extract as much information about your destination (which is your deliverable): what is it and what is not – then make sure to communicate it on a need-to-know basis with everyone from your crew
• First discipline yourself, and then discipline the rest of the crew: like in a submarine captain’s case, the project manager life will feel much easier if you are tough on yourself
• Know when to say no, even under intense pressure – this may be the most important word to use. More on how to say it nicely, click here
• Planning is good and necessary in the very early stages of the trip, but sticking to it – and not being flexible – might be a deadly sin: check your map, but avoid the hidden rocks
• Always check for the shortest route, make sure everyone and all the engines are tuned in this direction: resist the temptation to add new stopovers (unrequested features) just because this may be doable and fun for some crew members.
• Rest assured there are enough unpredictable factors like strong streams, which will push your submarine off the course: always concentrate on doing what is in your control to get back on the track
• Always trust your team’s input: is not just that they know better what need to be done (once they know where to go), but look at this as a great buy in tool, as they can not contradict themselves later on
• Everyone – absolutely everyone is important on the submarine (if not, why should they be hanging around?), so listen to everyone: sometimes a tiniest piece of information can spare you of unnecessary pain
• Refuse to step into your crews’ shoes, unless their actions is jeopardizing the entire submarine (project)
• Be ready to take unpopular decision: as a captain, your main duty is to get everyone safe to the destination, rather than temporarily feeling good about yourself and later one being stuck at the bottom of the ocean
• Build a reserve on your most precious resources, but keep that information for yourself: sounds counter intuitive, but you need to access extra resources quickly, without stopping or asking for more approvals

Now it’s time to turn the tables and have a look of how it feels to be part of the crew.

For more tips, hints, and updates follow me on Twitter here.

Why is an online project more like a … submarine?

Don’t jump the gun: it’s not about the art of how to sink a nice online project– let’s face it, we already can do this without any advice. Rather, is a simple analogy which you may share with those who don’t have a clue of how is to be involved in an online project: to understand and – most important – to feel, the very same way, as someone involved in such an existing adventure.

First of all, I want to be upfront about this: my views don’t come from any project management books, or articles, or materials, may these be endorsed or not by Project Management Institute – the world’s most recognized professional association for project managers. Oh no:  my PMP certification has little to do with this article – it just my 12+ years experience in managing online teams, real, virtual, from Europe, North America and New Zealand.

OK: enough with the small talk. Imagine that you take a dive in water. Weather you are in your scuba dive, in a small submarine or even in the latest, largest built nuclear submarine there a common of similar factors:

• Limited resources everywhere you look (oxygen, food, fuel, manpower, time) and – sometime even worse – everything is predictable (same fiod, same air, etc) – same thing like in a project: money, people, time, are limited (and usually not enough), and it’s hard – once the project started – to add too much variety (same faces, some things to clarify, etc)
• You can not see the final destination, and most of the time, you don’t even know how to get there – same happens in a project: what exactly needs to be done (aka the project scope) is usually unclear, not to mention how to get it delivered
• Your own experience depends where you look: magnificent, if you glare through the submarine’s side window, and – on the opposite – quite depressing when contemplating the tiniest restroom you’ll ever see – the same happens inside a project: it’s up to you to look at the bright side of things, like the long term benefits of having the project completed, rather than complaining of the pain on getting things done
• In the depth of the ocean, you are protected from the rough waves, but on the other hand, you don’t know who may be hunting you, until it’s too late – this one may not be that obvious, but usually a project is somehow protected by the sudden changes within a company, but on the other hand, someone outside the project might secretly try to play his own games
• Pressure is a constant fact: it just another hostile environment, but it depends  how we use it – similar, in a project we always have some kind of stress, but– unless stress is constant, it’s a great thing, as it help us growing and pushing ourselves.
• Last, but not least: if you are not reaching the final destination, everyone might be in jeopardy: the submarine, the crew, even the waters of the ocean – same as in a project: the failure to deliver might be critical for the team members, dfor the project itself and – in extreme cases – even for the company as a whole.

In my following articles on how a project is similar to a submarine, I’ll give you the eyes, the mind and the heart of the project manager (or of the submarine’s captain if you like) as well as the submarine’s crew perspective (or the project team views). And of course, more analogies…

For more tips, hints, and updates follow me on Twitter here.