Accidental Project Manager Part 1

Accidental Project Manager Series
Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6

I was attending a dinner at the Northern California Airman’s Club where Eileen Colleens, commander of the a US space shuttle flight was speaking. Before she spoke, three college students received scholarships. They as a group were already quite impressive in their achievements.  One students’ comment continued to play through my mind; he stated that he knew in 3rd grade that he wanted to fly.

Think about that

• How many of you knew what you wanted to be when you were in 3rd grade?
• How many of you knew that you wanted to be a project managers in 3rd grade?

Many of us stumbled into our promotions, including becoming a project manager – we are accidental project managers.

Wise people say that we do not live long enough to learn everything from our own experiences. We should learn from others and their career falls.  And so I’m starting a series on: The Accidental Project Manager: Lessons Learned.

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Creativity in the Workplace

When researching how creativity and innovation are managed in the workplace, I found a woman who I thought was one of the best examples of the results of creativity.

This lady was a receptionist in one of the lobbies of a huge semiconductor company.  When I sat in the lobby initially I wondered why she would have been hired as a receptionist.  She was neither young, pretty, or skilled at English.  Then I watched.

She was aware of everything that was happening around her and responded with ease and grace.  For example: 

• A family came into the lobby.  The husband was looking for work as a janitor.  Instead of shuffling them off as being in the wrong place, Ms. Receptionist took the time and trouble to tell them the correct building for applying, and gave them directions to get there.
• Someone left their briefcase in the lobby.  She noticed it, although it wasn’t obvious.  She called the owner, even remembering who had been in the lobby last.

These are just two of many examples of how focused, caring, and creative she was in handling a job that in others would have been boring and routine. 

I later learned that she ws one of the most liked and rewarded (flowers, candy, books, small gifts, attaboys, etc.) people in the company. (more…)

Coloring Outside the Lines

In classrooms all over the world little children are taught the importance of coloring within the lines.  Indeed, they are often called names like “sloppy” or “careless” if they don’t conform.

In some cultures conformity to the norm (tradition) is everything.  Everyone must toe the line and behave appropriately.  Those that deviate from the norm are called deviants.

Isn’t coloring outside the lines similar to thinking outside the box? (more…)

Rewarding the ME in Teams

In the past, both here and in my own newsletters (Diamonds to You) I’ve written about the fact that although there is no I in teams, there certainly is a ME.  I want to continue with that theme.  I am quoting myself from my November Newsletter.

Here in the United States, we have a long history - since our inception - of valuing and rewarding individuality and initiative.  We pride ourselves on being “rugged individualists.” (more…)

Self-Fulfilling Prophesy

Someone sent me an e-mail the other night reminding me and all his other readers of the benefits of optimism over pessimism.   He’s right.  You tend to get what you expect to get.

So, as a manager, if you expect the worst from your people, the odds are that’s what you’ll get.  They will sense your dislike or distrust and react accordingly.  On the other hand,if you expect the best and get less than what you expect you might very well benevolently help that person learn how to do better.

When teachers pre-judge students, sometimes based on ethnicity, other times based on something another teacher has said, etc., they tend to either ignore that person in class, or interpret everything they do as “bad behavior.”  Thus expecting less, they focus on the negative and get less in return.  It becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy.

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Doing More with Less

OK, so like the rest of us you have now lost headcount, lost other resources and have been told you have to do more with less.  What do you do?

You could have a temper tantrum and shout “It’s not fair.”  I know plenty of managers who are doing the grown-up equivalent of that.

You could quit.  On the other hand, times are tough and you might be better off keeping the job you now have.

You could bring your team together and in the most positive manner possible, explain that they now need to do some process improvement and learn how to be more efficient and more effective in the work they do.

What an idea! (more…)

The PM as saleperson?

I was recently working with some relatively young (well, pretty much everyone seems to be younger these days) software developers beginning to make a transition into project management.  As we were going over some of the PM responsibilities and tools, one of them asked, “A lot of this sounds like selling.  Don’t we want to stick to the hard facts?”

Whoa.  For a moment I was floored.  Was I telling them to sell?  Was I, a hardened and cynical manager, being squiffy?  Didn’t I ask these very same questions a long long time ago?

Before my brain re-engaged, one of the engineers spoke up and essentially said, “I have to sell my ideas all the time, otherwise I end up doing dumb things.”  Immediately, another developer responded, “But it’s such a waste of time!  If we would just spend the time to lay out all the facts, most decisions would be obvious.”  Then the discussion took off with at least two camps representing those views.

I am a big fan of facts.  Without them decision-making may become a strange game and less about achieving effective solutions.  On the other hand, three things occur to me: (more…)