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Archives for May 2021

“And Sometimes It Rains.” A Project Parable

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Those of you who have been following me for a while know that, while most of my energy is focused on promoting project leadership skills, I also run a small side-business planting flowers and cleaning headstones at local cemeteries. I love it – the manual labor balances the time spent sitting in front of my computer.

This “Project Parable” is for you. Enjoy!

Right now, it’s raining. And it’s is Memorial Day Weekend – prime cemetery planting time.

I’ve been flat out for a week and a half, with barely a second to breathe. Most of my clients want their flowers planted before the holiday itself – we know our Live date – we can’t miss it. And there are only so many flower beds you can build in one day, even with a team – we have tight time & resource constraints. Not to mention trips to the nursery to select and purchase the right flowers for each client – some have very strict user requirements, like “no geraniums” or “lots of color”.

It was a great week through Friday at noon – my metrics were all green! When I came home for lunch I was actually a bit ahead of schedule and looking forward to an easy afternoon. I was just sitting down when my husband casually said “hey, did you look at the weather? It’s going to rain all weekend.”

ALL WEEKEND?

We live in New England so the weather changes often, but I’d just checked it the night before!

Like any good Project Manager, I trusted my husband, but I went to my weather app to verify this new information. Unfortunately, he was spot on. Rain, rain, and more rain.

I had, of course, some slack in my schedule, but 3 days of rain? That’s a bit tight. My risk of rain turned into a major issue.

After taking a moment to settle down, I took a good, hard look at my deliverables. Who needed to be planted before Monday – what’s on the critical path? Did I have time to add another trip that afternoon? What could I push to the weekend – sending pictures? Invoicing? What was the impact to my schedule?

The client was an hour away, with two sites in two different cemeteries. And I had no flowers. I juggled and found it was possible – the timeline was tight, but achievable. I could mitigate the risk by leaving immediately and buying plants along the way.

So I took a deep breath, grabbed the client folder (and some caffeine), hopped in my van, and hit the nursery. I also picked up my mom to help with the planting- thank goodness she was an available resource!

We planted and made it home before dark (and the onset of rain). We achieved the milestone! I thanked my mom profusely & owe her a nice team appreciation dinner.

I texted the final pictures to my client – he really loved how the flowers turned out and said he would sign off on the invoice as soon as I sent it.

I’ll be working to catch up on the paperwork this weekend, but I have a happy client and the new plants are receiving a good watering.

Project Management is everywhere, even running a grave care business.

Happy Memorial Day Weekend, everyone!

“Dude, you’re already there!”

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I’m sitting outside on my deck on a beautiful Saturday afternoon, writing this post to you. I can hear birds chirping and an airplane in the distant sky. All around me I see nature – grass, trees, and the occasional cat strolling across the yard. 🙂

Life is pretty good!

It makes me wonder: how often are we so busy striving to reach our goals that we don’t realize we’ve already achieved them?

Or, do we get most of the way there and become sidetracked when we see something better…or different?

How stressed are we in our lives that we can’t even notice the beauty around us right now?

Today, instead of taking this post from Life to Project Leadership, I’d like to switch it around and ask you to think about applying your Leadership skills to Life.

As Project Managers, we’re used to mapping out the steps to a goal. And freezing requirements. And bringing the team back on track when they go down a rabbit hole during a meeting.

We keep an eye on the future, but don’t let anyone get caught up in the vision. We keep everyone focused on completing “one thing at a time.”

We make sure to tell our people how much they’ve done, how far they’ve come, and how much we appreciate them. We celebrate each milestone before moving onto the next.

It’s hard to go home and take a good look in the mirror.

I know I’m guilty of driving too hard, adding goals, and putting even more pressure on myself to achieve everything in the same timeframe. I don’t stop, pick up my head, and take a good look around. I don’t exhale and relax.

I would never do that to my team – why do I do it to myself?

As I sit here enjoying the fresh air and writing on my laptop, I am intentionally taking a moment to reflect on the milestones I’ve achieved over the years. Big and small. And soaking in the “here and now”.

Our kids are hitting big milestones these next few weeks: our eldest daughter graduates college. Our youngest turns 18 and graduates high school. I am truly grateful for the time I spent with them over the years – they’ve turned into wonderful young adults.

My goals back when they were young were different than today. But I achieved them.

I’ve also realized the goal of running my own business and working out of my house rather than an office, which supports another goal of mine: writing Leadership Notes each week!

And what’s next? Reaching 10,000 people with my posts and spending the winters somewhere WARM. 🙂

So now that you know my goals, past and present, what are yours? Can you look around and say, “wow, I’m actually doing what I want” or “I already have my dream job”? What are your current goals – have you written them down, at least?

I will offer this to you: if you want someone to help you clarify or align your goals, book some time on my calendar and I’ll be happy to ask all those PM questions it’s so tough to ask ourselves. To make it easy, here’s a link to my calendar: 45 Minute Goal Clarity

Stay Safe and Lead On, everyone!

PS – Maybe you don’t have a place to rent for the winter, but I’d really appreciate if you can share this Leadership Notes blog with all your friends! Here’s the link for them to sign up: Leadership Notes – Subscribe

Homemade Pancakes: Blessing or Curse?

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Yummmm….pancakes!

I made pancakes this past weekend. I really shouldn’t be eating them, but wow, did I have a craving for something sweet!

I could have gone out for breakfast. I could have said “nope” and eaten something healthier.

The fact is, I’m a good cook. I can make just about anything. And if I want something bad enough, it’s way too easy to talk myself into making it.

That’s both a blessing and a curse.

A blessing because I can always feed myself (and what I make is healthier than anything at a typical restaurant, anyway). It’s cheaper than giving into the craving and heading out for pancakes…or steak.

But my kitchen skills can also be a curse. 

Because even though I may be able to talk myself out of running to the local café, if I have the ingredients sitting right there in my kitchen, it’s hard to resist making something I want!

This concept of “both a blessing and curse” hits many Project Managers hard. A lot of us come from the business, and can clearly see what needs to happen in a particular project area.

These PMs are blessed with understanding, and can use that knowledge to guide the team and pick up on risks earlier. They are the ones who “get it” and provide a good sounding board or another pair of eyes to solve a problem.

But when you know how, it can be really tough to resist jumping in and doing the team’s work. 

Have you ever heard yourself say “it would take less time to do it than explain it”? I know I have. Just like making pancakes, it’s hard to resist!

But, like making a treat, doing the team’s work isn’t all that good for you….or them.

When you jump in, your team doesn’t feel autonomous, and it can erode the trust you’ve built up. If you don’t take the time to teach them, how will they grow and be able to handle the next challenge that appears?

From your perspective, it may feel good to “get your hands dirty” with something familiar. But you probably have more than enough project management work to keep you busy.  

Yes, sometimes it’s “all hands on deck” and everyone pitches in. That actually improves how the team functions and gets the job done faster. But in most cases, doing it yourself is really not the best option.

The next time you have the urge to jump in and do it yourself, consider: even if you can, is it the right choice?

PS – When I’m leading a software implementation, I try to avoid having a logon. It can be way too tempting to start playing! How can you stay an extra step away from the “danger zone”?

Listen to the Grumpiest Person in the Room

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Every Friday I post a short video on project communication. This past week I talked about paying attention to the grumpiest person in the room. But there is more than I can cover in a 2 minute video. So here’s “the rest of the story”.

Essentially, in every project I’ve worked on there’s that one person who says “this isn’t going to work”, “it will take too much time”, or “we can’t do that”.

As soon as you get the team moving in the right direction, finally making progress, they just stick a big old pin in everyone’s balloon. Very frustrating!

But I’ve found that this grumpster usually has a valid point. They may simply not be able to articulate it. Perhaps they have enough experience to understand it will take weeks to complete a certain task, but they can’t tell you exactly how long, and have a tough time breaking down the steps to explain why.

My advice is to listen to these folks. Be proactive. Work with them to understand the reason behind their negative talk. Doing so can uncover risks to your project you hadn’t considered…in time for you to mitigate them!

Someone watching my video made a comment about some people being simply negative. He said “Some of the grumpy people I know are grumpy 24/7/365 and their constant grumpiness just becomes white noise as they are ALWAYS the stick in the mud. “

This can happen as well, of course. Some people are just…negative.

This is where it gets nuanced. As a leader, the key is to listen to any changes in the person’s demeanor. Has their tone shifted – the intensity increased – the detail – the frequency? These are all indications there is more to the story than personality.

And it may be trickier to get to the actual concern.

But here’s the good news: one of these “stick in the mud” team members has the potential to be your biggest advocate.

My dad told me this story years ago and it made a big impression on me:

When he started a new management position, one of the people in his office was well known for her always negative, “can’t do” attitude. And she wasn’t quiet about it. He took extra time to listen to her and to ask her opinion in her area of expertise. After a short time, her griping ended, she was more enthusiastic at work, had great ideas and input, and became one of his biggest supporters.

It truly is amazing what can happen when you pay attention and value your team.

PS – want to see the original video? Here it is on LinkedIn and Facebook!

The Plateau

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Your team worked long and hard to achieve this milestone – they need some rest!

I recently finished creating a quiz for Project Managers. It’s called “What’s Your Project Leadership Type”. It took me months, lots of effort, some late nights, and a fair bit of revising & rethinking along the way. 

As the quiz neared completion, I was doing great – making quick decisions, easily hooking up the tech, and making huge progress every day. I was so excited when I went through it one last time and couldn’t think of any other adjustments – I was DONE!

But over the next few days, instead of building on that momentum and quickly taking the next steps to get my quiz “out there” in the market…I actually started to feel a bit adrift. I *wanted* everyone to take the quiz, and I *wanted* to start presenting the accompanying webinar on Leadership Types.

But I found my motivation was actually lower than normal.  Sleep in? Garden? Read a novel? Yes, please!

And to my frustration, I couldn’t seem to figure out exactly what the next step should be, so it was tough to hook onto some kind of action to keep me moving forward.

What in the world was going on??

That “lull” I was experiencing is actually perfectly normal. It’s the “plateau” you reach after making a big, long duration effort. Think hiking up a mountain trail. You keep climbing up with no relief until you hit that bit of level ground where the view is amazing.

This plateau is what your team feels whenever they hit a milestone.

Which milestones? Any that take effort. For example:

  • Blueprinting is done or requirements signed off
  • User Training is over
  • Data conversion is successfully completed
  • A major demo is given to the customer (or executives)

Your team worked long and hard to hit each of these milestones. They’re much more than a line item on the schedule.

Be aware that your people are going to lose a little momentum. They may slide backwards in the area of team development and start “storming” for a while. They may chat a bit more during a meeting, or seem unable to make decisions.

Don’t worry – just like when I feel the need to curl up and read a book all afternoon, your people need some time to recover.

When will they get back to “normal”? It depends on a few things:

  • How long was the heavy lifting…and how much effort did they put into reaching this milestone? 1 week of all-day testing might be draining, but if your team has been burning the midnight oil for 2 months, they’ll need longer to recover
  • How strong are they as a team? If part of the effort was dealing with each other, they may be hesitant to jump back into close quarters again (even if it’s virtual)
  • Were they able to recover from the last milestone before the current one began? My husband had a manager who used to tell the team they needed to “surge”. The team would grumble “when are we ever not surging?!”

Since they hit the last milestone out of the park, no doubt the team will eventually recover. But you have a big influence on their plateau’s duration and intensity. Remember to let them rest. And help them prepare for whatever comes next.