A FEW THOUGHTS

Archive for the ‘Business and Work’ Category

Going through some of the “lessons learned reports” from previous projects I’ve come up with a list of my 11 main lessons from running IT implementation projects. There will certainly be more along the way but these are very important I think;

1. Get involved from the Start
   To take over a project from someone else, or to get involved as PM when the project is already on it’s way is something you need to be aware of. When your company or customer alreay have signed agreements with third parties that will affect your project deliverables you need to go through it and as soon as possible raise a warning if needed. To have the IT department or provider with its PM involved at the earliest stage is important. Maybe just as a consultant just to oversee contracts, but nevertheless important. Both, if the project is run as a delivery within the organisation or as a delivery to an external customer someone from the IT-management or Project Management should before project initiation do an initial validation of the project scope together with a risk assessment and analysis. If possible the customer should be a part of this even if they have done their own assessment.

 

2. Make sure the customer can ask the right questions
   Either if you are confronting a customer in the project, a part of the organisation internally or a partner of some sort it is important that the stakeholders have the right competence to ask the right questions for your type of project. If they don’t it is your job as project manager to alert them or bring it up as an issue for the steering committee.

 

3. Make sure you have your backoffice support available
   If you are doing implementations that are scheduled for a certain period of time to avoid downtime for the users etc, make sure that you have the necessary support teams available during that time – and within the same time zone. It is nothing worse than being stuck with a problem somewhere in “NeverNeverLand” on a Saturday evening during migration-weekend with nobody to ask. So get support-teams, backoffice-teams and make sure you have ways of escalating if necessary.

 

4. Do not assume everything is as usual
   This part has sub-paragraphs actually:
   1. After, for example, a migration-weekend – do not go into the trap of thinking everything will work. It will not! Something has not been tested thoroughly enough and somebody will complain! It’s just the name of the game. Most of it will hopefully work if you and everyone else has done your job right, but there is always something.
   2. For an organisation going through change or a massive project changing routines etc, it is directly ignorant to assume a “business as usual” attitude through the project. Instead steps should be taken making sure you have a chain of command through the project phases and that resources are kept available. In project oriented organisations one should be aware that a change of organisation affects responsibilities and people taking responsibility.

 

5. Do not underestimate the benefits of a steering committee!
   Large projects should automatically have a steering committee. Smaller projects is often left out in the cold.
   Do not underestimate the benefit of a good steering committee where you have representatives from the different stakeholders, customer and project management. If you run into problems, the right committee can move mountains.

 

6. Theory and practice are two very different things!
   Having a good design is not enough. You have to make it work. That is also affected by lesson no 9, having the right people, but first of all you need quality assurance. Before starting anything – go over the design with as many as possible. Not every Tom, Dick, and Harry – but people that know this area. Get the providers to look at the design and make comments too. Better to find flaws before starting than after.

 

7. Every design has an expiration date
   Do not think something that was designed a year ago will work today without going over it for quality inspection again.

 

8. Every OSI layer counts
   Make sure you do not forget any of the OSI layers when designing,  implementing or troubleshooting. It is all connected, no matter what the tech-guys tell you!

 

9. Make sure you have people who know what they are doing
   You need to both make sure you have people onboard the project that know what they are doing, and that the organisation have employees that can operate this in an operation phase. Hired consultants do not count in this matter. The organisation need to have its competence inhouse if they are to operate it themselves.

 

10. Trust yourself, your instincts and be fair.

 

11.  Take learning from this:

More funny strips at Dilbert.com

Technical Project Meetings, like any meetings I suppose, have a tendency of sometimes getting out of hand both in sense of time and agenda. This can be reduced by some simple tips on how you prepare and how you carry out the meeting. There are also som pitfalls you should be aware of. Let’s start with a few rules on planning and carrying out the meeting:

1. Set Crispy Clear Objectives
   Ever experienced the meeting that took half the day and where you achieved nothing? Yes? Chances are that one of the issues were lack of clear objectives for the meeting. Before calling any meeting, make sure that you have clear objectives that follows the idea of S.M.A.R.T. (S = Specific, M = Measurable, A = Attainable, R = Realistic, T = Timely).
2. Set an Agenda
   Meetings without a clear agenda will take longer than they need to and don’t get the results you need to. Write and distribute the agenda in advance, at least 1 or 2 days before the meeting, not 30 minutes before the scheduled time. Give timings for each item and allow for small delays, otherwise you will get halfway down your agenda by the time you have to leave.
3.  Keep meeting papers short or avoid them
   Receiving a ton of papers is the biggest turn-off for someone attending a project meeting. Consider whether you really need to distribute papers for your meeting, and try to keep papers to a maximum of one page. For status reports, consider giving people a template that include a simple traffic light system to indicate where things are good(green), there are issues (yellow) there are major issues (red).
4. Get the right people in the meeting
   While there usually is a core team you need in the meeting, there might be decisions that require someone more senior occasionally. If you know this, make sure that you get the person who can make the decision along otherwise you will have a frustrated team on your hands. If difficult, try to schedule that persons part of the agenda to the end of the meeting and limit the time.
5. Make sure the environment is comfortable
   Effective meetings only take place if the people attending are comfortable, so get the room with A/C and provide cold water and hot coffee if needed.
6. Start and Finish on time
   I know you hate it when people turn up 15 minutes late when there is 15 minutes left. Make sure it is clear to everyone that you will be starting and finishing on time. Encourage them to leave 30 minutes either side of the meeting free to ensure they can get there on time and that if something major arises it can be dealt with. If that doesn’t work you will have to schedule it in for them.

Now, with those six rules you should be quite well prepared for your meeting and it should be ok. However, as you know, there are always some people who can sink a meeting totally just by being themselves. So there are a couple of stereotypes you should know how to deal with. I am quite sure you recognise them:

• The Dominator
  Some people tend to dominate discussion simply because they are excited. These can actually be useful to the team if we find appropriate approaches manage their positive energy. Unfortunately, most of us are also familiar with the other type – the aggressive bully that disrespect others comments and hijack the meeting completely. Sometimes these dominators are overly negative, and other times they just won’t let anyone else get a word in. In either case, you need to deal with it:
  • Thank them for their feedback and ask for other opinions (“Paul, that’s an interesting idea. Let’s see if others have ideas as well.”)
  • Repeat the dominator’s comment and write it visibly for all to see, then ask for other ideas to complete the list, before you discuss them all. You can say; ”that is a good idea, let us get three more ideas on the table before we discuss them all”. 
  • Suggest you use a round robin technique of going around the table and ask each person to share a comment and start off with the other participants, or ask everybody to use a minute to write down their ideas and then have everybody read it out loud while you write it all down. Then discuss.
  • Make sure you also ask the more quiet people to share their ideas
  • If necessary, take a break and have a word with the dominator where you explain that he/she brought up several key points and you appreciate that because it helps the others on the way, and now you are hoping to get some of the other team members involved in the discussion. Ask them to help you get the team involved.

•  The Multi Tasker
  We are seeing more and more multi taskers in our meetings. You know the ones whose attention constantly darts between the meeting and for example PDA, laptop, reading etc. And usually with the explanation that he can not be away from his work. Otherwise the world falls apart.
  • Using a “drop box” in the meeting room and agreeing to place all phones, etc there prior to meeting start.
  • Limiting meeting time to one hour to ensure participants aren’t away for too long.
  • If you arrange a full day workshop, agree on 5-10 minute technology breaks every hour
  • Use techniques to keep participants engaged (round robin, team work, voting)

• The Rambler
  The rambler derail the meetings with their extensive rambling commentary. Often the rambling goes into areas with little or nothing to do with the agenda, and not only extend the meeting,but also completely alters the agenda – and thereby minimising effectiveness. A couple of pointers:
  • Have a printed agenda on a whiteboard. When conversation goes into wilderness, point to the specific agenda topic to refocus the group.
  • Include timings for each part of the agenda, and ask someone on the team to give a 5-minute warning before the end time for each section.
  • Simply interrupt. Remember, it’s your meeting. Raise your hand and interrupt discussion to ask if the conversation is on topic and helping the group reach their goal for the meeting. You can also introduce a list of these unresolved issues that come up which you address at the end of the meeting and assign action items for each.

At the end of the day, running effective meetings is about planning and executing. And in regard to the team members; too often project managers simply ignore their “personality issues” and instead stick their head in the sand hoping the behaviour will improve on its own. It won’t! The good news is that there are a variety of facilitation techniques you can use, and they enable us to be assertive while preserving those critical relationships. Remember these key points when using the techniques:

• Don’t forget the power of questions. Questioning is a powerful way to deliver a difficult message.
• Try less assertive techniques before progressing to more assertive ones. Many will respond to very mild interventions.
• Act early! You want to send a very clear signal to the team that you will address counter-productive behaviour quickly.
• Act on behalf of the team. The more you remember it’s not a situation of “you” verses “them”, the easier the exchange will be.

I’ll finish this brief lesson off with a quote form the book of Tim Ferriss; “The 4-Hour Workweek”;

It is your job to train those around you to be effective and efficent. No one else will do it for you.

I have for the last ten years worked as an independent consultant and project manager. For some years I did this as sole proprietorship. For a couple of years ago I started a private company, still just myself though. For these years I have been lucky to get a lot of good assignments and projects with large and interesting companies as well as government departments. These have in many of the cases been through other consulting companies, temp-agencies and recruitment companies. I am not sure how the situation is in other countries but I will try to explain these markets in Norway.

For ten-fifteen years ago there was a very clear difference between what was categorized as a temp agency, a consultancy firm and a recruitment company.

• A temp agency handled short term and some long term assignments with a majority of their assignments within areas of basic office work, clerical work, accounting, canteen work or cleaning. Maybe also some very basic IT resources. 
• The consultancy firms handled projects and assignments within management, IT, audits, sales etc.
• A recruitment company handled recruitment to permanent positions.

I think maybe the real difference between the two first was that the consultancy firms delivered services with more of a quality assurance and control. The temp agency basically just delivered the manpower and it was more or less up to the customer to make sure the temp delivered as ordered. The agency of course did an interview with the person but no in-depth look at whether this person was the right person for the job, other than qualifications. The consulting companies delivered more as a service, often with their brand, methods and reputation as proof of quality. This kind of separation between the three different type of companies has in Norway really been washed out over the last ten years and there isn’t that much of a difference between them. They all do temp assignments, they all do recruiting, and they all try to sell it with their logo as a proof of quality.

If the latter was their only agenda I could certainly understand it and it would not be a problem. However I suspect that the issue is more or less that their business has gotten a lot tougher and more competitive and that this actually makes them explore “new territory” and lower the quality while doing it. These days they all fight over the same customers and the same consultants. The customers put out the assignment for all bidders and the agencies go through their databases to find candidates. To compete in this market of course I need to make sure I am registered in the database of every single agency even though that fact itself only drives the competition further. I have on a “good” day gotten calls from three different ”agencies” regarding the same assignment. If you then were so unfortunate that you accepted to be profiled with the first who called, the other two will definitely put you on their black list. I have even gotten phone calls from these agencies going “are you sure you don’t want to go with us on that contract instead of that other company?” How low is that? Don’t get me wrong; I’m all for capitalism and letting the market forces rule. The problem I think is that the tougher the competition, the tougher the “rules” of the game get. I wonder if this is also related to the fact that the job market for temp agencies and recruitment has so high turnover.

Earlier I could actually feel some kind of team feeling by being affiliated with an agency and to have an assignment for them. The recruiters would actually go out of their way to make you feel good during an assignment, buy you a lunch once a year and bring you a small chocolate with their logo on it for christmas. Now, I can usually afford my own lunch so that is really not the issue, but I like to think that a company that gathers $20-25 per hour I work (as their fee) should in fact be just a bit grateful that I stick with them and cherish that in a way. That way; by supplying me with assignments, a single lunch per year and a $2 chocolate they would in fact earn approx $38.000 (1900 hours x 20$) per year. Not bad really.

Now, with a tougher competition it seems like the focus has shifted from investing in that long term loyalty to just getting that next assignment, that next customer and finding a consultant for it. Again, don’t have a problem with the market forces, but if I am to earn a temp agency $38.000 per year I think that trying to gain my loyalty by building a team feeling, buying a lunch and a chocolate is the least they could do. Oh yes, I have been told for the last four or five assignments what a magnificent experience this will be, and it has lately just become a laughing matter. I just don’t buy it anymore. So that of course drives me to “sleep with every possible partner in this business” as well as promoting myself directly to potential customers. Because really, I don’t need that agency between me and a customer. I do have contract templates sufficient enough. I do not need their extra 15 days delay in payment. I don’t need them to take a $20 cut per hour. The only benefits I see with an agency is:

• They could have a network of potentially good customers
• They could provide some kind of social network I could benefit

So if I build up the first myself, and really don’t get the second anyway I don’t really see the reason to use them. So, as I know there are quite a few (at least in Norway) with me on this, here is my suggestion for the recruitment-, temp- and consultant agency: If you want to survive beyond the next 10 years you need to:

1. Make sure you operate with ethics, keeping your word, respecting your opponents, customer and consultants
2. Work for a long term relationship with both your customers and consultants
3. Give me as a contractor reason to use you. I do manage to get quite a few contacts myself in a short while you know
4. Give me as a potential customer a reason to use you in the future
5. Provide me something beyond just the assignment. You need to make me feel that THIS IS the place to be
6. Keep in mind: The more are not always the merrier. Think quality in addition to quantity

I do in fact think that some of them have to change their methods quite fast if they are to survive. This is both because dirty ways of doing business often looses in the long term, and because I think the new generation of workers, consultants and also customers are so used to handling both job offers and social communities that the demands will change. I think, and certainly hope, that good ethics and moral will be a more important issue when selecting business partners in the future.

As one of the steps of altering the way I work to be more efficent and productive I have tested the service RescueTime. Basically it is an online service where you will find a dashboard presenting the data from your computer through an agent you download to your computer (Windows, Linux or Mac). The agent gathers data from your computer on what programs you are using, what websites you are visiting and by use of categories (that you can modify) identify how productive or how much work you get done. These data are shown in a great sample of graphs and charts making it real easy to see what pitfalls you easily go into during your day. It also provides a search-function where you can do a search on a single website or program to see how much time you have used on it for a period of time.

The service comes in versions for both individuals, business or schools. For business and schools there is a variety of options you can look deeper into, and it can of course be used for management information as well. For individuals you can choose between a free lite version and a pro version for $5 per month. I tested the free lite version but the pro version will give you deeper tracking, options to block webpages, alerts etc. When starting I recommend that you after a couple of days use go through the categories and tweak the different websites and programs to your use, so it will give you more precise output. The “downside” to this is of course that when using this it is really just all up to you to change your bad habits…

Here is some interesting info for all geeks, and also non-geeks really. Kevin Rose just published an interview with Dr. Andrew Weil, author as well as founder/director of Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine at University of Arizona. The interview includes a lot of good questions and interesting answers on everyday health topics such soda drinking, use of multi-vitamins, coffee, tea, anti-oxidants, Omega3, krill, detoxing vs. more natural ways, soy food, exercise and diets. The interview was really good and informative. Absolutely recommended watching! I also recommend having a look at his website which holds tons of info. Thanks Kevin for your good work!

Guy Kawasaki, co-founder of Alltop.com, has some great material which I follow closely. In one of his latest posts he presents a list from the latest book of Bruna Martinuzzi, an expert in leadership and presentation skills; The Leader as a Mensch: Become the Kind of Person Others Want to Follow . The list is the New Years resolution on How to Become the Kind of Person Others Want to Follow. This is really good stuff. Recommended reading !

1. Give people gifts other than those that you buy. This means giving someone a second chance, giving someone the benefit of the doubt, and giving others a reason to want to work for you besides earning a living. It entails giving others latitude, permission to make mistakes, and all the information they need to do the job. It means giving them the authority that goes with that responsibility and giving them due credit for their ideas.
2. Become a talent hunter. The biggest hunger in anyone’s eyes is the hunger for appreciation. Genuinely acknowledging others is high octane fuel for the soul.
3. Sharing ideas and information that can enrich. To that end, derive inspiration from Charles Leadbeater’s words: “In the past, you were what you owned. Now you are what you share.”
4. Spend more time in the “beginner’s mind.” This means replacing “Been there, done that” with “Tell me more.” It translates into moving away from pushing into allowing, from insecure to secure, and from seeking approval to seeking enlightenment. It’s forgetting about being perfect and enjoying being in the moment.
5. Don’t tell people what they can’t do. Instead, show them what they can do. If some of your habitual phrases are “Let me explain why that won’t work” or “Let me play Devil’s Advocate for a minute,” read Tom Kelley’s book The Ten Faces of Innovation: Ideo’s Strategies for Beating the Devil’s Advocate & Driving Creativity Throughout Your Organization.
6. Minimize the space you take up. When you enter a crowded coffee shop with a partner, don’t hog two tables to spread your papers around. It’s a form of theft.
7. Become a relationship anthropologist. Know the difference between a conversation and a discussion. A discussion involves issues or right vs. wrong. It is an exchange of facts, opinions and data. A conversation involves an exploration of another person for the sole purpose of learning about that person.
8. Be happy for others. The exact opposite of the word envy is farginen, which is what happens when you celebrate others’ accomplishments as you would celebrate your own. Take a moment to absorb the spiritual beauty of this concept by viewing this video clip that explains the Generosity of Spirit.
9. Get rid of grudges. Whether they are for real or imaginary slights, raise the bar on your own behavior by forgiving and moving on.
10. Help others caress the rainbow. This means show them how to have hope. There is tremendous positive psychological capital to be gained if we are resolute to tap into it to help others.
11. Make people feel better about themselves. We cannot control everyone liking us, but we can control how others feel when they interact with us. Do others feel better about themselves after they spend time with you?
12. View all promises you made in 2009 as an unpaid debt. Promises imply trust, but trust is fragile. It’s like a Christmas tree ornament—one slip can shatter it. And we all know that once it’s shattered, it’s very difficult to put it back together.

Kevin Rose gives a demo of the beta version of Square – a new device for iPhone that will allow you to accept card payments with your iPhone.
This looks really cool, and I look forward to seeing the product when it hits the market.

Telemarketing. Phone Sales. Telephone sales. Harassment. I guess that sums it up.
What on earth do we need telemarketing for? Have we, as human rase, not come further than this yet? Do we still accept to be bothered and harassed by strangers on the phone? And I am not talking about the relief organizations calling for support. I’ll allow that, and sometimes even support a good cause. But telemarketing, as in trying to during a phone call get really friendly with me, sell me a product and theng hang up. I really thought telemarketing would be a phase we could look back on with amusement, like the fax machine and small pagers (prior to mobile phone). Do you rememeber when you had a pager? Someone called it, left their number and you had to run 4 blocks to find a payphone. I know some companies still use the fax machine, and in lack of a scanner and e-mail I can understand. But next time the fax breaks down I hope they buy a scanner. But telemarketing… The irony here, must of course be that I did in fact work with telemarketing for a year or so when I was young, like 17 or 18. But who haven’t done that. It seems like the job entry point for many young people. Maybe passed by working in the local supermarket or hardware store.

For me it has got to be quite a sport to see; 1. How fast can I spot a telemarketer? 2. How fast can I break him/her off? I think I am quite good at it. I mean, first of all, you can normally spot them just to look at the caller ID. If there is no caller ID it is usually someone selling. And at the point we can of course choose not to answer the phone at all. Then if I pick up, and there is someone presenting them exaggerated happy “Hi !!! This is Tom from the xxxxx Group” (which I have never heard of), he is probably selling something. So I would guess I usually manage to spot him in something from 1 to 4 seconds. Now, the next part is to break him off. Now that is really depending on whether I’m in a in a cheerful mood or not. I might break him off right away after “xxxxx Group” with “It sounds like you are selling me something, and I am not interested”. I also might await him finish off his introduction of the product before I give him a courteous ”no, thank you”. Whether I do that to be courteous or to waste some of his time too I don’t know.

Telemarketers who then courteously say “ok, have a nice day” I have no problem with. I’m not out to make their day miserable. But, the salesman who starts to argue and ask my “WHY” I don’t want his product, and maybe questioning whether I am doing whats best for me… may he burn in hell! Really! Also, the salesman who all the time in his sales pitch overenthusasticly using either my full name, first name or last name. My name at all, really. “Well, Mr. xxxx , do you not agree that this is a fine product?”. I mean, Who the hell are you? Maybe, just maybe, I’ll allow you to use my name if you give me all your personal information so I can screw with your life on my spare time. If he or she, on top of it all, manages to mispronounce my name I’ll cast them a spell they have never experienced before.

The best example on how to get rid of a phone salesman I think I saw on an epiosde of Seinfeld where Jerry answered the phone with ”You know, I am really busy at the moment but why dont you give me your name an home number and I’ll call you tonight. Oh’ you can’t do that. You don’t want someone bothering you on your spare time? Well, then you know what I mean.” Click!

In the digital media-internet age that we are in, is not telemarketing a bit obsolete? I am certainly at the point where I don’t want to be called up and told what I should buy or subscribe to. I like to figure that out for myself. And, somehow I always think of the Eighties when someone tries to sell me something on the phone. It is something about the way they present themselves and their product. I would think we had a bit more finesse and panache in 2010. But maybe not.

I just read an interesting article from Gill Corkindale, an executive coach and writer from London, decribing the different types of leadership in terms of working inwards to your team or outwards to the organisation (very simplified). It is interesting reading which could give you a couple of “breakthrough facts” about yourself. This can really be key areas on your self-development as a leader and how to maybe get the edge on your own career. One of her hints refers back to another letter of her which argues the importance and benefits of actually setting up time in your calendar for yourself and your own reflection. How are you to improve – as a person, as a leader, your ways and methods- if you dont actually prioritize it yourself? Recommended reading.