Why we all need a little Project FIRST AID

[Also available as a podcast]

I recently attended an Outdoor First Aid course at Camp Waingaro, which is an old scout hall nestled in 19 hectares of New Zealand bush. Quite a long way from anywhere - or at least it felt like it when I found that I could no longer get a cellphone signal. It was a beautiful site, surrounded on three sides by a creek that wound its way down the valley.

I initially thought it would be something of a refresher course, as I had attended first aid courses before, but in many respects this was an entirely new experience.

Granted, the last in-depth First Aid course I took was over 30 years ago - but as it turned out I had remembered most of the basic concepts I needed to know over all of that time. The first day of the course was a lot of theory - with some practical exercises using CPR dummies, various bandages, how to deal with choking and so on. Of course, some practices and techniques have changed over the years - in fact, some first aid practices seem to change every few years as they learn more and best practices change.

On occasion, I have had to use my first aid skills in the past - beyond the basics of blisters, small cuts, splinters and burns. One was a full-out mountain rescue involving a victim 200 feet (61m) down a steep slope, his near-vertical evacuation and the treatment for scrapes, lacerations and embedded gravel. Years after that, I had to deal with a victim who had become engulfed in flame. It was a long drive to hospital as we worked to cool and protect his burns. Fortunately, both victims fully recovered.

As it had been a long time since my initial training, I was nervous when I first arrived at the course, but I grew progressively more confident throughout the day as we covered familiar topics. However, things changed when we got into the practical outdoor scenarios the next morning. 

(c) 2012 Mathew Frauenstein

When it all hit the fan, I felt like I knew almost nothing.

Not all practice is the same

In fairness, I had retained most of the basic first aid knowledge I had learned. How to splint, how to bandage, how to check for shock - and the dozens of other key things you need to be able to do when you come across an injured person. I am reasonably confident that if someone came up to me with a moderate injury, I would be able to do an acceptable first-aid treatment on it - hey, I had done it before, a number of times. All good, right? Bring on the scenarios!

It was not quite so easy.

The scenarios were setup for us on the fly - and even though the accident makeup was pretty basic, the situations themselves were common ones - and so by their nature, disturbingly believable. We all took turns playing the role of victim and rescuer/first aider. 

If that had been all there was to it, it would have been relatively simple - in theory, anyway. 

But - as we all learn sooner or later - theory falls down flat when you hit the practical stuff.

Note: It is very hard to remain "unconscious" while you are getting numerous bug bites, lying face down in the gravel. However, if I had moved, I would have spoiled the scenario - and affected their treatment response. Ouch!

Our scenarios did not involve one victim or even two. The first scenario involved four victims with various injuries, and two bystanders who caused more problems - with one quickly becoming another victim. Pretty messy - and the dozen would-be first aiders frankly botched the overall situation pretty badly.

Time to regroup, and go back into class for a lessons learned session. 

It's not just "First Aid"

What we were beginning to learn was not just the first aid skills for helping a victim - but the management and coordination of a team while in an emergency situation. We were practicing trying to keep things together until higher-level medical help could arrive. That, or evacuate to a safe point; in the bush you could be a long way from help - hours or sometimes days depending on the conditions.

What occurred to me as I was driving home from the course and scratching my bug bites was that many of the same skills we were required to exhibit under pressure were the same ones we use on projects.

In fact, when you get right down to the bare bones of it, every one of those scenarios had the characteristics of a project.

Each scenario had:

• Requirements (Scope) - "Help the injured victims, and do what we can to keep them safe and alive." 
• Time  - There was not a lot of it, as we had to stabilize the patients quickly. We needed to get them to help as soon as possible- which in reality could also involve a lot of waiting. Time will run fast - and slow - while you are waiting for help to come.
• Uniqueness- every scenario was unique, and outcomes were unpredictable. Victims had been advised to change their reactions throughout the 20-30 minute scenarios, depending what the first-aiders did to treat them.
• Planning - We had to constantly plan and re-plan on how we were going to deal with each victim, how to manage the rest of the group, what to do if we had to wait for hours or days for help, and so on. No gantt charts, but it was planning just the same.
• Scope Creep - for example, in the shape of a rapidly rising creek or river, where everyone suddenly needed to be moved to higher ground. Conditions do change, so you need to be able respond. For once, no formal Change Requests needed to be signed off by the Project Board!
• Stakeholders - The victims, the other members of the group and witnesses (who all may be distressed and either interfere, help or become another victim), and Emergency Services (who were hopefully on the way soon after being contacted).
• Assessment of skills/Task Assignments -  Who is the best person for the job? Don't use your best first-aider as a runner, and if someone vomits at the sight of blood, get them to help the one with the sprained ankle instead of the amputee.
• Leadership - A key element of handling any situation - and as we found out in our first couple scenarios - if you are missing this, the whole situation can fall apart fast.
• Prioritization (triage) -  Who was injured the most badly? Who needed help the quickest - the one gushing blood, the one with a sprained ankle, the one who chopped off his arm, or the one with a head injury? At first glance it may seem obvious, but you also need to take a second look (a secondary survey) to make sure you didn't miss something serious. Re-prioritization may often be required.
• Communication - With the patient, with each other, with the leader, with emergency services. Regular updates were required throughout the scenario, between the first aiders and to all the stakeholders.
  
  Note: The lack of communication in the scenarios was just as important - today we live in such a connected world it it hard to imagine not being able to make a cell phone call. However, the geography of the camp and the lack of cell signal was a visible reminder that you need to be prepared to communicate in other ways - and that you will probably need to send the fastest runners to go for help.
• Cost and Resources - We had limited supplies and people to help, and the the primary currency for cost was in saving lives - though you won't always be able to save them all.
• Execution of the plan (not the patient). 

In addition, we had to deal with:

• Stakeholder engagement - If there are people milling around not helping (or getting in the way), get them involved with something they can do to help - or keep them out of the way. Keep them occupied and in a safe area away from the emergency scene - so they don't become (or create) another victim.
• Coaching/Positive encouragement - Everyone responds better with a clear head and a sense of optimism - both the patients and the first aiders. "Hey buddy, we saved your arm and are keeping it cool so they can try to sew it back on later" or "That splinter's not too big, we'll get that cleaned up."
  
  The situation might also require you to bolster the spirits of your team - First Aid is hard, draining work. If they wear out and get discouraged, the patients will be at risk - and so will your team.

So yes, in a very real sense, we were dealing with projects. Certainly not Waterfall (though you might have someone fall over one), and not exactly Agile - but high-urgency, unplanned, emergency projects where conditions can and do change from minute to minute.

It was a thought-provoking weekend, and I took a way a few essential lessons that you can apply to any project. All it takes is a little FIRST AID.

F.I.R.S.T. A.I.D.

Every project needs a little First Aid - and you might argue that some projects need it more than others. So let's open up our kits and begin.

[F]ind out what the problem is - and if there is more than one problem. You may be able to clearly see the challenges in front of you, but what about the guy behind the tree with an axe in his leg? 

On your projects, this is all about determining the scope / requirements - what it is we are trying to do, what are our goals, what are the pain points and problems the project is intended to solve. Do you have a clear handle on what you need to do? Better check the bushes to make sure you didn't miss something important. In other words, you need to validate your requirements.


[I]dentify who is the best leader for the situation, and who can take charge of each case or patient. This might not be pre-determined, as your regular "leader" may be incapacitated or unavailable. 

On your project, leadership roles can and do change. Sure - you are the Project Manager, but you need other people to take on different leadership roles as well - each of your team leads focused on different deliverables, for example. Besides, I am sure you will want to take a vacation some time, or might be down with the flu. In those situations you will need to have a second-in-command to keep things running while you are away.

[R]ecognize your limitations. You can't solve every problem or fix every situation, at least not on your own. You need the skills of a competent team around you, and you need to share the load.

When administering CPR they recommend you take turns every 200 compressions - that is a change-over every two minutes! 

"Pah! That's not very long - I can do it longer!"

Warning - If you 'tough it out' and stick to it for 10 minutes, it will take you 20 minutes to recover. If you swap every two minutes, it will take you only two minutes to recover. If you only have two rescuers including yourself, two-minute stints can keep the patient alive for a long time. With only the two of you taking ten minute stints, in twenty minutes you will both be exhausted - and your patient will be at a greater risk of dying because you over-did it.

Don't be a 'hero' - let others help, and you will collectively avoid burnout. You may even save a life - or your project.

[S]tabilize the situation,any which way you can. If your project is running off the rails, it is essential that you regroup, assess the situation and re-plan. When you identify what the current burning issues are, you have a better chance of dealing with them. Letting things run along un-checked is definitely not acceptable - and the best way to get back into some semblance of control is to gather your team together to tackle it.

In an emergency situation, it is not only the patients you need to stabilize - it is the whole situation and all the people in it. If you have other [healthy] people you are responsible for (children or adults), it is important to make sure that they are care for - and most importantly, keep them out of trouble. Boredom can kill - sometimes literally.

[T]ake a deep breath. One or two, or maybe count to ten. Taking a moment to pause and reflect will reduce stress in any situation. Smell the roses, take a short breather when things get overwhelming on your projects. You will find that things are not necessarily as bad as you think.

Tip: Those deep breaths are good, but not too many too close together. (In other words, don't hyperventilate - or you may need some First Aid yourself!)

[A]ssign tasks to others. Unless your project is very, very small, you will have a team of people to work on your project. It may be big or small, but it is essential that you delegate and assign responsibility for various project tasks to be completed. You can't do it all on your own, and it is a delusion to think that only you can do it the best.

In an emergency situation, it is critical to have an assigned 'patient leader' for each patient, even if more than on person is required to assist. The patient leader will be helping the patient but also keeping track of vitals and other information about the patient, ready to pass that on to the situation leader, so they can communicate with emergency services and get you any additional items or help you may need.

If you have a complex scenario with multiple locations, you need to extend that a level further, and add a site leader who is keeping up to date on the status of all of the victims in a specific area. They then report back to the main situation leader on a regular basis. Sounds a lot like a project team, right?

The key is to be very specific in the assignments, so there is no uncertainty around what you have asked them to do - and by when.

[I]nspire confidence in your team and stakeholders. If you are supposed to be in charge but look like you are falling apart (or don't know what you are doing), you won't be doing anyone any good.  Fumbling with a bandage and dropping it in the dirt in front of a bleeding victim may not give them much confidence in your ability to keep them alive.

Confidence is good - but it requires careful balance. If you act over-confident a lot of the time, it can come across as arrogance. Conversely, a person who is a fumbling, quivering mess is not well-suited for the leadership requirements of that role.

Note: We are all human - and in some non-emergency situations not being afraid to show your weaknesses can actually develop a stronger team. That is why you build up a team after all; each person has different skills and strengths, and the combination makes a stronger whole. 

If you have the strength and confidence to share some of your weaknesses - and show you respect the corresponding strengths in your team members - you can go a long way together.


[D]o your best. If you can't remember what was on page 57 of the "what you should do" manual, use your common sense, best judgement and make some stuff up to get you through.

At the time, we were all so busy trying to do the right things right that we didn't have time to think about anything other than making it through each scenario with (hopefully) "live" patients at the end. We made lots of mistakes - so I am glad we were not actually dealing with real victims. But that is what practice is for - to learn what to do before you need to use your new skills in earnest.

The point is to be as prepared as you can, and keep on trying.

Summary

The outdoor first-aid scenarios that followed were increasingly complex, but we began to work a little better together as a team as the day went on. It was also obvious that we were a long way from being experts, and we could all use a whole lot more practice.

The 'textbook' over-confidence from the classroom was long gone, and the reality of the situation was beginning to sink in. You don't know what you know until you actually try to do it, and hopefully you will learn from your mistakes and move on with more confidence in your abilities as you practice.

Probably the most important lesson, however, was that of recognizing your limitations - none of us were as good at responding as we thought we would be, and we all had a lot more to learn. 

The same can be said of our projects - just as you have 'practicing Doctors', we should really consider ourselves 'practicing Project Managers'. We will never be perfect, but with practice we can all hope to improve and apply those lessons learned on the next project.

Good luck with your projects, practice those skills, and keep your First Aid kit handy.

 Email: Gary Nelson, PMP  
 

What's the big deal with Team Sports, anyway?

[Also available as a podcast]

When I was a child, I didn't like sports. 


Well, that's not exactly true - I loved swimming and spent almost every day during my young summers in the water at our local pool, and was part of the swim team. Wrinkly skin, and a persistent smell of chlorine - it was a wonderful way to spend a good part of your summer's day. Besides, when your town had an outdoor pool that was only open for 3-4 months out of the year, you made the most of it. The rest of the year it was either too cold, or just plain closed, as the pool was left drained for 6 months of the year while the temperatures plummeted from freezing down to -40 degrees Celsius in the coldest months.

In the winter, starting sometime in November, the outdoor ice rinks were getting into full swing. I spent a few winters trying to perfect long, graceful glides around the temporary oval of a Speed Skating rink on our Elementary school field, while my younger brothers were just starting getting into ice hockey at the PeeWee level.

I think I managed two or three years of Speed Skating before I stopped going, while my brothers went on to play hockey with a passion - and still do today, over thirty years later.

My favourite sport fell back to swimming, which I pursued through to Bronze Medallion, and still enjoy today.

The key thing about swimming is that it is very much a solo sport, even if you are on a swim team. Separate swim lanes, individual competitors - even when they held "team" races like a relay, you were still the only person in your lane at one time.

I did not enjoy team sports at all - not even Hockey, which is close to sacrilege for anyone born in Canada.

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One for All and All for ... Someone Else

When I say I didn't enjoy team sports, that is exactly what I meant. Of course, everyone had to try a range of sports in school during PE and I was no exception, but as a general rule, I did not enjoy it.

I wasn't trying to be difficult, but a combination of poor coordination and being smaller than the sporty kids left me on the sidelines or regularly ridiculed when I tried each sport. Even though I tried to improve my skills through practice, in a small town it was hard to get away from the sporty kids, who were also my ever-present horde of bullies. When there were only 30 kids in your grade level in the town, it was even harder - the kids you played with all tended to be from your class. The result was the sporty kids got better playing after school, while I continued to be sidelined, or ridiculed further at my attempts to improve. Eventually I just gave up trying.

Needless to say, those experiences left a sour taste that lasted for years - long after my coordination and abilities caught up with my growing frame and I tried my hand at darts, golf and other skill-based solo sports, and some hoop practice with a basketball. 

I had come to see most team sports as a place for jocks and the sporty ones - but not for me. I didn't even bother to watch professional games on TV - except for the hockey playoffs when the level of excitement infected even me.

The "I" in Team

There is no "I" in team, or so the saying goes. It is all about the team, not being an individual, blah blah blah.

But for me, I just couldn't see the point of team sports - as far as I could see, it had no value. People running or skating about, whacking balls or pucks around, bashing each other and trying to get an object through - or into - some type of net.

Even though I was part of a hockey household with wildly varied dinner times as my younger brothers dashed about to hockey games here, there and everywhere, I just didn't "get it". I could see they had fun - and more than a few trips to the emergency room over the years. Dislocated joints, broken bones, concussions, but I just could not see why they continued to play, year after year.

While recovering from a dislocated shoulder, my youngest brother forgot his left hand on the bathroom counter one evening. He had been brushing his teeth, and his left arm was so weak he could not even lift it.  He had to step back into the bathroom and pick up his left hand with his right, smiling sheepishly as I passed him on my way in to brush my teeth. Even then, he couldn't wait to get back onto the ice rink.

Sometimes I thought I must be the only sane person in the room. My brothers had to be nuts to get back out there after each major injury.

Just last year (in his forties), the same brother lost the end off of one finger trying to catch a slap shot in his glove. I shook my head when I heard about it, half way around the world. His hockey team will always be "short-handed" from now on.

I came to believe, through observing my brothers and other people over the years, the "I" in Team must be "Insane", where sports was concerned. 

A Change of Heart

If you have read any of my other articles, you will find that I feel quite strongly about the positive value and virtues of teamwork. So how can I reconcile a dislike of team sports with being a strong supporter of teams today?


Well, a few things have happened over the years to give me a change of heart.


The first was in 2001 (at the age of 34), when I was managing a system implementation project outside a major eastern US city.  I was sitting in a bar on a Friday evening with a work colleague, winding down from a long week's work. An American College Football game was playing on the TV behind the bar, which I was busy ignoring as I dipped deep-fried cheese sticks into sour cream and jalapeno jam. My colleague had ordered them to share, and they were fantastic - hot and spicy, but perfectly balanced with the sour cream and some celery. My colleague had also brought us to the bar to watch the football game, as she was a big fan of football, held parties during the SuperBowl, the whole bit.


She was busy yelling at the TV in between jalapeno cheese bites, encouraging the players or complaining about bad plays. She noticed my comparative dis-interest, and asked if I watched football much.


"Not really," I said, feeling awkward. She had brought me to watch the game, but aside from knowing the basic rules, I didn't go out of my way to watch it. I had only been to one live football game in my life, and someone else had bought the tickets.


She took it as a challenge to help me enjoy the game, so she explained the rules in more detail and commented on each play as the game unfolded on the TV behind the bar. We finished the plate of jalapeno cheese sticks and ordered another. I soon found I was paying more attention to the game than I was to the fried cheese sticks, and they were starting to get cold. I was, for the first time in my life, enjoying watching a football game - but it wasn't the score or the throwing of the ball itself that interested me. It was the interaction of the players.


Something had switched on inside my head - I was seeing organized sport in a whole new light. I could see the coordination within the team, the players working together, trusting someone to be in the right place to catch the ball just as they were tackled. I could see the results of a well-executed play that relied on the whole team working together - and the failed play where one player tried to do it all on his own.

In that one evening, I had suddenly gained the ability to appreciate watching football, albeit from an unexpected angle. I was now seeing the game with a leader's eye.


The second revelation was not a particular event, but more of a gradual progression since that evening in 2001. Over the past 13 years, I have come to appreciate almost any other team sport - as long as I know the basic rules. I am now able to relate the teamwork I see every day on my projects to the teamwork I see on the sports field - whether it is basketball, rugby, baseball, soccer or any other team sport, even Cricket.

Although I still don't go out of my way to watch that much sport on TV, if I am watching it with someone else, I will enjoy watching it with them. Of course, live is often better than TV, so every now and then I will actually buy tickets for the family and we will go watch a live rugby game. I even went to a Cricket match with my teenager, and loved it.


The best joy of all, however, is now watching my own children play team sports - soccer and hockey. Not much ice in New Zealand so it is Inline Hockey, but hey - Hockey runs in the Canadian blood, even if it skipped a generation.

Summary

When I was younger and did not appreciate team sports, I saw them as unimportant and without value. I literally could not understand why anyone would enjoy them - let alone watch them on TV for hours on end every week. Yelling at a glass screen where the players could obviously not hear you made even less sense.

However, what I came to realize - and finally accept - was that even though sports was not important to me, it mattered to others that I cared about. And you know what? That was OK.



So my final revelation is this: 

There is only value where you place value.

Each of us determines the value system for our lives - those things that are important to us, such as family, friends, code of ethics, causes we believe in, and so on. We may inherit them from our families as we grow up, but over time we fine-tune our value systems to model what is the most important to us. This helps us shape how we fit into the world - at least, as we perceive it.

Our value system also strongly affects how we interact with others, and how we behave towards each other in a variety of situations. The foundation of a strong team is a core set of common values, and learning to appreciate that other people have different values than yourself.

The most common source of misunderstanding and frustration is where values do not align, and you cannot seem to sort out the differences. However, the value of a great leader is being able to take that group of people with different skills, beliefs, backgrounds and attitudes - and then craft them into a Team with a common vision and shared values.  

The principle is always the same, whether it is on a construction site, in the project office, or on a large patch of muddied grass.

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Good luck on your projects, keep an eye on the ball - and no matter where you go or what you do, support your favourite Team.


Email: Gary Nelson, PMP  
 

Dis-Orientation: The importance of Project Vision

[Also available as a podcast]

"Where there is no vision, the people perish..." Proverbs 29:18

One of the most important things you will do as a leader or Project Manager is to communicate a compelling vision to your team or organization. It not only sets the direction for the team and the project, it also begins to pull a group of individuals into a cohesive unit - and eventually, if all goes well, into a high-performing team.

Without vision, all is lost - or has the potential to be, unless you bring things back on track. This not only applies to your projects, it applies to "real life" too, as I learned first-hand many years ago...

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Up to the Snow

In 1992, I went skiing with a work colleague and his wife on Mt Ruapehu, a large volcano in the center of the North Island of New Zealand. I had been once before, but this was their first time on the mountain. It was a brilliant, sunny winter day - clear and crisp, and you could see all the way to the west coast from the Turoa ski lodge. The sky was a deep, intense blue you can only get with pollution-free air.

When you drive up to the ski lodge there is a sign for a pullout about half way. No matter the apparent winter conditions, you have to stop and put chains on your car tires before driving any further. The altitude near the peak is high enough to support a permanent ice cap all year round, and the winter roads are often slick with black ice when they are not covered in snow.

One interesting fact about skiiing on a Volcano: When you line up to buy your lift tickets and rent ski gear, there are signs all around telling you that they can give you a 30 minute warning in the event of a volcanic event. If an event does happen, you are supposed to stay on the ridges, and not try to ski out down the gullies. Makes a lot of sense, really - water, mud or lava will flow down the low points in the gullies first.

It was not an idle warning - when I was there in 1992, there was a large hot water crater lake, surrounded by ice. A small 'burp' from the volcano could make the lake level rise, melt the ice and cause a mud flow called a Lahar. In 1953, the crater lake level rose in the middle of the night and caused a massive Lahar down the eastern side of the mountain, through the Whakapapa ski field. It wiped out a ski chalet and a railway bridge near Tangiwai, minutes before a passenger train dove into the chasm, killing 151 people. It was the worst railway disaster in New Zealand history.

Note: The large hot water lake in the crater is smaller than it used to be; in 1995 and again in 1996 a series of eruptions reshaped the top of the mountain. The eruptions started September 25, 1995 - near the end of the ski season. People were still skiing while it vented ash. Things quietened down through the summer, and the ski fields were preparing to open for the season when another eruption cycle started on June 17, 1996. There have been other minor eruptions (2006) and a lahar (2007) since then.

Duly warned, we put on our skis and made our way over to the ski lift. I took off my prescription glasses and put them away in my small backpack. I pulled out a pair of regular polarized sunglasses with a sport strap and slipped them on. I could not see as clearly, but I had skied that way before - things were a bit fuzzy but I could see shapes well enough to stay on the trail and avoid running into things at least. With the strong NZ sunlight, I needed to protect my eyes from the harsh UV rays and snow glare more than I needed sharp vision.

I quickly learned that skiing on Ruapehu was different than every other mountain I had skied on before. The first, obvious difference was the lack of trees - Ruapehu only had rocks poking out of the snow here and there, otherwise everything was white. It made it a lot harder to see where the runs were - a lot of the time, you had to rely on simply following the tracks made by other skiers. There were no clear edges to any of the runs - unless you counted the occasional cliffs and drop-offs, which were still white-on-white. Fortunately, it was fairly easy to follow the tracks of the other skiers. With my polarized sunglasses, I could clearly see the sharp edges of white and shadow in the snow, even with my blurred vision.

The three of us skied together the whole time - but as they were more experienced, they were often waiting for me at the bottom of each run. At around 3pm we paused near the top of one run to admire the clear, perfect view of Mt Taranaki - a classic volcanic cone, far away on the west coast. Looking to the left, we could see some cloud approaching from the south, getting close to the mountain. We were getting tired and hungry anyway, so we decided to call it a day and head back down to the ski lodge. The runs were already emptying out - and as slow as I was, no one had passed me in a while. For long stretches of time, the only people I could see were my friends up in front.

As we descended, the cloud enveloped the mountain. It was not a thick cloud, more like a dense fog - there was still plenty of light coming through it from above. That, however, was the problem - everything was now a brilliant, diffuse white, and because of the fog you could not see anyone or anything beyond about 10 metres. We slowed down so that we would not suddenly come across any large rocks (or cliffs) at speed, but the visibility rapidly deteriorated.

My colleague and his wife seemed to be OK up in front, but I was having increasing difficulty in seeing where I was going - I could only see where to go by following their dark shapes ahead of me. The faint outlines of the ski tracks in the snow had long since disappeared in the white glow, with no shadows remaining. Only the occasional black rock here and there reassured me the outer edge of the run was still on my right.

At one point I took off my sunglasses because I thought I could see just a hint of shadow, or difference in the snow without them - with my astigmatism it was still a blur, but it was the best I could manage. I couldn't stop to get my prescription glasses out of my bag - my colleague and his wife were getting ahead of me. By now we were very worried about getting down to the lodge. The glasses probably wouldn't have helped much anyway.

We continued to ski like that down the hill with them leading, just ahead, but they got faster and faster as they got more nervous. I was struggling to keep up - and to see. At one point the pair completely disappeared into the fog, so I sped up even more to catch up. I suddenly felt very alone, vulnerable and disoriented.

A moment later, I was airborne - white all around, above and below me, with no sense of movement. I was not even sure I was still upright.

Project Vision

There are many books and countless articles about leadership, and nearly as many about the importance of setting a vision for your team. Vision is not only about having goals - although setting goals is an essential part about getting things done. Vision is much more than that - a well-communicated vision generates emotion and passion within the team. It creates a common identity, a strong sense of purpose and direction. With good leadership, a compelling vision and a skilled, engaged team working together, there are practically no limits to what you can accomplish together.

The most powerful thing a team can buy into is Purpose - why we are doing this project, who it will help, and how we can make a difference. When people understand, accept and embody these themes, they will commit themselves wholeheartedly to the common vision - be it a short-term project, or the long-term future of your company.


The opposite to this is also true - if you do not have a compelling vision driving you, pulling you, pushing you onwards, you are likely to have a team busy spinning their wheels and accomplishing nothing. Sure - they may look busy, they may even produce mountains of paperwork as proof-of-life, but if they are not pulling in the same direction, you will soon find out you are going nowhere.

Ooof!

After a brief eternity, I landed skis-first on firm snow and promptly fell over. I was at the bottom of a curved gulley, used as a natural half-pipe for snowboarders. A few of them were doing their last runs of the day and whooshed on by me.

My colleague and his wife were standing at the side of the gully waiting for me, and came over to help me up. They had seen the lip of the gulley and had skied gently down the side. In my haste and blurred vision, I had not seen the edge at all, and flew nearly 3 metres out and 3 metres down to land on packed snow in the middle of the gully - shaken, embarrassed, but not hurt. We skied the rest of the way out without incident - we were now below the main cloud level, and we could see our way a more and more clearly with thicker cloud above and improved contrast.

Summary

Having clear vision - both in the literal sense, and on your projects - is  essential to success. Whether your goal is to simply get down off a mountain, or to deliver a complex multimillion dollar project on time and meet your stakeholder's needs, you simply can't do without it.

And sometimes Vision, or the lack of it, can literally mean life-or-death.




Wait a minute, you say - aren't you overdoing it, just a bit? I mean how hard can it be to find your way back down to the ski lodge?

The dazzling white cloud that made it so hard for us to see was actually the leading edge of a storm that lasted for two days. We only had our clothes, skis and small packs with water and snacks - we were not prepared to bivouac in the snow. It would have been all too easy for us to get off the trail, and miss the ski lodge completely.

Two years earlier, on August 13, 1990, a group of 13 soldiers and Naval ratings on a winter survival course were not so lucky. They were caught in an intense blizzard with high winds and zero visibility, but were not prepared for it. They had become disoriented near the summit, and dug snow caves for shelter while two men went for help. Rescuers found them three days later, huddled in the snow and suffering from exposure. Six frozen bodies were found only 150 metres from the Dome Hut, where they could have taken shelter and survived - if only they could have seen it.




Good luck with your projects, dress warm - and never forget the importance of a clear and compelling Vision.

Email: Gary Nelson, PMP  

May Your Projects Never Be Late Again: Secrets from a Road Trip

[Also available as a podcast]

How do you make sure your projects complete on time? When you set a deadline, you are supposed communicate it to everyone, right? Then, presumably,the entire team will work towards that date, vendor and client alike, to make it happen.

That is usually what happens on most projects - you may be a little late on some target dates, a little early on others, but generally all of you are working towards the same dates, and hopefully the same priorities.

But what about when it doesn't work out, and deadlines are missed repeatedly?

Certainly you can apply contract penalties to a vendor, but that does not always help to achieve the desired effect of getting finished on time.

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  What do you do if it seems like part of your own team is disregarding your schedule? What if they seem to have a different sense of timing altogether, no matter how clearly you communicate the priorities and schedule?

This can be particularly problematic as you near the end of the project, when there is still a lot left to get wrapped up. People may be getting tired and losing focus - but you need to keep them delivering, right to the end. 

Tempers may flare, relationships can suffer, and you can end up with an even bigger mess on your hands if you are not careful, with little to show for your project as you near that all-important deadline. All the while, the clock is still ticking.

A family friend was plagued with this problem for many years - until he figured out the secret. He not only found out a way to keep a very important chronologically-challenged team member/stakeholder happy, but he also managed to bring things back on schedule, time and time again.

So how did he do it?

Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?

Time, they say - is relative. This is particularly true when you are on holiday, and especially so when you take a road trip to see family and friends. The clock seems to have its own independent pace, or at least you don't care much about it until it is time to leave. Then, the clock suddenly grabs your attention again and you have that familiar feeling of pressure - of time weighing down on you.

The problem is - this time pressure often only seems to be affecting you. The rest of the team are still in holiday mode, clocks switched off and hidden from sight. Getting there may have been half the fun - but the going home part may not seem that fun at all. So why should they think about it?

However, you still need to get them moving; it's time to go, real life beckons - and you have no choice but to get them re-focused and prepare them for the last leg of the Road Trip. 

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There is a lot to do and not much time, so we will spell it out as we go. Let's get started!

For our R.O.A.D.T.R.I.P, we need to consider the following: 

Rapport

noun - a close and harmonious relationship in which the people or groups concerned understand each other's feelings or ideas and communicate well.

When you start out on your project or on your journey, you need to have a common vision and purpose. Simply put, you need to communicate and understand where you are all trying to go and what you are planning to achieve. If one of you heads out the back door instead of getting into the car, you have a problem before you even put the keys in the ignition.

On a project, this is achieved by clearly articulating the vision and desired outcomes. Ideally the project sponsor or a key stakeholder communicates the message to the project team, but failing that, the Project Manager should take on the task. If logistics permit, try to have everyone together in the same room, at the same time - the Project Kickoff is an ideal opportunity for this. 

When you share the vision with the full team early into the project, it eliminates a lot of potential misunderstandings. The team also gets to meet each other (some for the first time), and they will begin to develop a sense of rapport that will carry them through the project, even if they work at a distance from each other.

This sense of rapport will also help you push through to the end, particularly if the core team is around for the full duration of the project.

--

When I was twelve, friends of our family and their two boys came to stay with us for a week-long visit. We lived in a small town at the time, with not a lot generally going on, so visits from family or friends were kind of a big deal. How small was the town? Well, under a thousand, unless you added in the dogs and cats. So really, not much going on compared to a big city.

Our friends had lived in the town for several years, and we had become close; the two boys were best friends with my younger brothers, being closer in age to each other. They had moved down to Vancouver the year before, so we were all looking forward to the visit.

They arrived in their car late one summer afternoon, we helped them unload their car, and the visit began. Kids first played in the house, then in the yard, and then the noise carried on down the street, friends re-connecting and just having fun. The adults caught up on recent events, chatting for a while in the kitchen, then the conversation moved out to the back yard. The swatting of mosquitoes struck a counterpoint to the sizzle of hamburgers and steaks grilling on the Barbeque. The conversations went on late into the evening, well after the younger kids were supposed to be in bed.

Organize the Team

Once you know where you are going and what you need to do, you will need to organize the project team to get the job done. Depending on your project, this may be a small internal team, or a large, distributed team involving multiple vendors, business units and teams spread across the planet.

You need to organize the project team and assign tasks from the outset, but this is only half the battle. Managing the return journey, or the final leg of the project, can require some special handling. Some people may not want it to end, and may drag their feet on producing those final deliverables. Incidentally, this common drag-your-feet mentality may have also spawned the "20/80" rule, i.e. "the last 20 percent of the project can seem to take 80 percent of the effort".

--

Throughout the visit, the adults visited and kids played, from sun-up to sun down. Everyone enjoyed themselves and the time they spent together. A week can seem like a long time, but it is far too short when you are having fun visiting. However, as with all visits, it was finally coming to an end.

The night before they were to leave, the visiting father announced their schedule for the morning. He stressed that he didn't want to leave late, as they had a long drive ahead of them. 

"We need to get up early, have breakfast, and get packed up quickly so we can all be on the road by 10am," he said firmly. His wife nodded. The boys sighed. "We need everybody helping, so we can get out of here on time." 

Act on the Plan

When you have the vision, the team and your plan, you need to put it into action. Otherwise it is all just a nice theory and a pretty Gantt chart on the wall.

Plain and simple, you just need get to work - and follow the plan! Sounds, simple right?

--

In the morning, we all got up early and had breakfast. Once the suitcases were packed, my younger brothers and the other two boys shot out the back door for a last chance to play before they had to leave. They made the most of it, tearing up and down the street, some riding on bicycles with the others running along behind. Inside the house, the adults were chatting - well, at least the two mothers still were.
 

I was outside with the men, helping them carry the suitcases and bags out to the car. After nudging one suitcase a little tighter into the pile, the visiting father walked back up to the front door, and called up into the house.

"Hurry up Dear, we need to get going. We want to make it to the hotel before dinner."

"Just another minute!" was the reply.

Decide what is Actually Important

Not everything on your project is important. Well, not of equal importance anyway. There will be different sets of priorities as you work through the project, and as a result, not all relationships will go smoothly. At times, some people will disagree with your priorities or simply rub you the wrong way. 

The key thing is to think about what is most important in each situation before you react - what is the most important thing - the schedule, the deliverable - or the relationship?

--

He grunted as he lifted the next pair of suitcases and then walked towards the car. I grabbed a smaller suitcase and followed behind. He set down the suitcases and looked at his watch. Reading it up-side-down, I could see it was five minutes to 10.

He seemed pretty relaxed though, which surprised me. My father had told me that his friend hated to be late, and got really grumpy about it.

The odd thing was, he did not look grumpy or annoyed at all. 

More curious than polite, I just straight out asked him. "Why aren't you grumpy?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Why would I be grumpy?"

"Because Dad said you don't like to be late," I replied.

Tactics

Dealing with people is hard, especially when they are not doing what you want them to be doing. It takes a lot of effort to communicate, manage expectations, re-share the vision and priorities, re-set expectations, communicate some more, only to find they are still not complying, or simply "not getting it". It can be extremely frustrating - but you have to be smart about how you approach it, rather than just acting on your frustration.

You may simply need to employ different tactics - if you can't solve the problem head on, try and approach it from a different angle.

--

He gave a little smile. "I used to get grumpy when we would go on trips. The first few years we were married, I got very frustrated whenever we were trying to leave. My wife would always want to have a little more time to visit or look around, no matter what I did or said."

He lifted a suitcase into the back of the car. "At first, I decided I would just start packing up early and load the car myself, to give her more time to visit. That way, she would hopefully feel she had visited enough, and would know it was time to go when I finished packing the car."

Reflect

Action is not everything. Sometimes, you just need to take a step back and look at the situation or the project from a distance. When you are in the thick of things, it can be hard to look at the big picture. 

You need some time to reflect on a regular basis. Little inspiration actually happens when we are sitting at our desks, slogging away, focused on the small details. You may have already noticed that your best ideas happen when you are taking a short break, during a walk around the block, or simply on the way to the water cooler, or stepping out to get a coffee.

If you find you are getting stuck on a problem, or getting all worked up about it, you need to get up, stretch, and take a short break away from your work area. This applies equally to project problems and people problems. Take a break and some time to reflect on the issue - it will be time well invested.

--

He picked up the second suitcase and stuffed it into the back of the car. "Unfortunately, it didn't work. I would end up doing most of the work to pack up, and she still kept visiting long after I had finished packing the car. We would always end up leaving late, and we would often argue in the car once we got driving down the road."

"Let me tell you, you don't want to make your wife angry, even when you think you're right. It's not worth it," he warned.

Innovate

"If at first you don't succeed, try, try again." - Thomas H. Palmer

One key to success is to not keep doing the same things over and over again. One definition of insanity is where you repeat the same thing over and over again, but expect different results.

If what you are doing is not working, try again, certainly - but try something else. You may just need to apply a small tweak, or you may need to come up with something truly different.

One key difference between a project problem and a people problem is you can try variations on a theme with a project problem as much as you like. However, if you try that with people, it is seldom successful - they will soon see through your repeated, feeble attempts to get them to change, and more than likely get annoyed with you and become even more resistant to your efforts. 

You need to be truly innovative - and you may eventually realize that you can't change other people - but you can change you, and your approach to things.

--

He took the suitcase from my hand and put it on top of the other two."But now, it all works out. She gets to visit, I still load the car, and we all leave happy."

"How do you do that?" I asked as he closed the back of the car.

"I finally got smart. I realized that she would never change - she would always want to have the last few minutes of visiting. After all, it would be months or even a year before we would see our friends again. I finally learned the secret," he winked.

Kids love secrets. "What was it? What?"

Plan for Delays

No project runs perfectly to all parts of the original schedule. You need to allow for some slippage, for under-estimation of task effort. When you build your plan, you will factor in all of the things you know, and probably a lot of assumptions. You will also likely include people factors into your estimates as well - i.e. if we are able to get Bob on that part of the project, we will be able to get that done in (X) weeks, but James would take a couple weeks longer, because he has less experience.

It is bad practice to always try to design for the best-case schedule; you may not be able to get Bob or James, or even your third pick. If you need to bring in somebody new, it may even take (2X) to get the job done.

Instead, design for a realistic schedule, taking into consideration the potential resources and the level of risk on your project. Don't make it too lean or too padded, but you need to plan for a few inevitable delays. You may also want to introduce additional deadlines ahead of the important ones, in order to identify potential delays early.

--

He leaned down close to me and whispered. "I gave her a different departure time than when we actually need to leave. If we need to leave at Noon to get to the next stop in time, I will tell her we need to leave no later than 10am."
 
He stood up, still speaking quietly. "That way, she gets to visit a little longer, and we still leave a little early according to my schedule. When we finally get in the car, everybody is happy, and she feels just a little bit guilty about being late. However, I am smiling inside instead of being grumpy. There are no more arguments in the car about leaving late."

Summary

If history has shown that a particular project resource or vendor is habitually late, you may need to take extraordinary measures to ensure they don't impact your project deadlines.

The reasons behind the lateness can vary widely, from misinterpreting your final deadlines as their delivery deadlines, or a misaligned set of priorities. Proactive communication is always your best tool - but if they are late in delivery time after time, and they appear unlikely to change behavior, you need to take a step beyond the project norms.

It might only be used as a last resort, but in cases like this, you may need to have two sets of deadlines.

• the set you share openly for them to deliver to you, and 
• the real, final, "secret" (internal) deadlines that you are responsible to deliver to your sponsor.

In the end, you have to do what it takes to make sure you can deliver your project - on time.

--

He winked. "Of course, I still have to act a little grumpy to hurry them into the car, or we really would be late. But you have to promise me you won't tell her the secret, or it won't work anymore."

I still haven't told her - although if she reads this, the cat is finally out of the bag. Of course, it has been well over thirty years since then, so she may have already figured it out by herself.


Good luck with your projects, enjoy the Road Trip, and may all your projects complete on time - however you need to define your schedule.

Email: Gary Nelson, PMP  
Books: www.gazzasguides.com
Project resources for kids: www.projectkidsadventures.com

Is your Project Team like a Light Switch...or a Candle?

[Also available as a podcast]

A few years ago I went on a fly-fishing trip with a group of work colleagues. I was working on a project in New Zealand, and we were going to be staying in an old company-owned holiday "bach" just outside of Taupo. You could book these properties for a weekend and pay a small fee. A basic type of unit - furnished with several beds, kitchen, TV, tables, chairs and couple sofas - nothing too fancy.

We unpacked our gear, loaded up the fridge and headed back outside for fly-fishing lessons. My first ever lesson - and apparently you need to learn how to do it while on dry land (without a hook) just to get used to the back-and-forth action before you try it standing hip-deep in a river. Perhaps to make sure you didn't fall over while casting - or hook anyone around you.

After about an hour of practicing casting, it was getting dark and our arms were getting tired, so we headed back in to get dinner ready and settle in for the evening. One of the guys was frying up dinner while the rest of us chatted and watched the little black-and-white TV. I was just walking back into the living room with a fresh beer when the lights went out.

"Who turned off the lights?" I asked.

"There's some coins on top of the fridge," one of the locals called out from the sofa.

"What?"

"Coins on top of the fridge. Put some in the slot."

"What slot?"

He sighed and got up. "In the meter."

He walked over to the fridge and picked up three coins. He popped them into a box on the wall, one by one. The lights suddenly came back on. "That should do for an hour. We pay for power when we use the bach - it's one reason it is so cheap to stay here."

I studied the pile of coins on top of the fridge. It was perhaps my first experience of "user pays" - in this case, quite literally with a pocket full of change.

I was experiencing a sudden and strange shift in expectation - electricity is just supposed to be "on", right?

Taking it for Granted

When you stop to think about it, there are many things we take for granted in our every day lives. Turn on a switch, the lights come on, turn a tap and clean water comes pouring out. We get in our cars and turn the key - we expect it to start, and take us where we want to go without breaking down. (Assuming we do some basic maintenance, and fill the tank regularly).

The fact is, there is a lot of investment into the systems, products and infrastructure to support all of these "easy-on" things we use in our every day lives. We seldom appreciate the effort that has gone into those systems - and are rarely thankful that we have them. We have got used to them just being there and working - that is simply the way it is supposed to be, right?

We complain when things stop functioning -  but when is the last time you thanked a light switch for working? Well, probably never as that is a bit strange, perhaps - talking to inanimate objects. But have you ever called the electric company to say "thanks for keeping the power on yesterday, I had a big family dinner last night, and I was able to cook the roast until it was finished"?

I am guessing also - never.

You may think I am being ridiculous - but consider this: We have become quite accustomed to these comforts in our society. Not so many decades ago, the hours you were awake (let alone working) were limited by daylight - or how much candle wax you had left to spare. Back then, you would make a conscious decision to stay up and use an extra candle - or save it for another day and hit the hay when it got dark. Today, you just switch on the light and watch TV until late in the night, night after night, without a second thought.

"All right, all right, you've made your point," you say. "But do I really have to call the power company in the morning to thank them?"

Well, that is up to you - but it's not a bad idea. The problem is, they will probably treat you like a crank caller. Why? The answer is simple - nobody expects that level of courtesy any more. Besides, they wouldn't call the plumber to thank them that the toilet didn't back up yesterday, would they? They, like you - simply expect things to work.

It is just another symptom of what you might call the "Light Switch" Society.

How do you switch this thing on?

How do you treat your team members? I am guessing for many, that on any given day they are being treated exactly like a light switch. They show up for work in the morning, and -click- they are expected to be fully productive and on the job. Work a full day, then -click- at around 5pm or so, they pack up, and trudge off home through traffic to screaming kids and a nagging partner. And tomorrow, the same routine: -click- on, full work day, -click- off home.

And although there are a lot of problems with that whole approach, which I will touch on next, a sometimes bigger problem is that the switch stays on - or is forced on - until much later in the day, past normal working hours. Email, laptop, smartphone, deadline pressures from work - all of these can easily steal our "home" time and deny us time to rest and recoup for the day ahead.

There are many books and discussions on that particular topic (work/life balance) - but what I would like to focus on here is the "Light Switch" perspective of working with your project team.

Of course, we are professionals, and should be committed to doing our best, do a good job, work a full day and be able to leave work "at the office" if we are lucky. The "Light Switch" problem is more about attitude - how we approach each other, and set expectations on one another. In a very real sense, we are imposing a new technological symbolism onto the workplace, with all of its implied behaviors - and adverse side-effects.

Up through the 1800's, people had a physical appreciation of resource consumption and limitations - if you were up late, you "burned the midnight oil" (literally), and people who worked late and rose early needed light - so they "burned the candle at both ends" [of the day]. In fact, the phrase "burned out" likely grew from that time period and earlier - when physical and mental exhaustion had direct parallels in their environment - i.e. the simple candle. You could only burn it for so long until it ran out of wax. A similar thing happens with people - they run out of energy and need to rest.

Light switches, however, behave quite differently.

Make the Switch

Q: When is your Project Team like a Light Switch?
A: When you treat them like one.

"Ha ha," you say - "but what does this mean for my projects?"

Answer: Plenty!

Let's look at the characteristics of a Light Switch:

• Settings: On/Off (or Dim, if you want to spend a bit more)
• Power source: invisible - no input or energy required from you, after flipping the switch. The light switch does not change.
• Controls local and/or remote lights, not very personal
• Light remains On or Off until changed, without visible energy requirements to remain so.
• Output is constant 
• Is resistant to other forces (you can't blow out an electric light)

Now, the characteristics of a Candle:

• Settings: On/Off (or Dim, depending how you trim the candle)
• Power source: visible - and literally shrinks before your eyes
• It is the source of light, very personal and in-your-face
• Goes out when the candle burns down
• Output depends on length of wick, type of wax, size of candle
• Depends on energy and skill from you to ignite the flame 
• Subject to other forces (You can blow it out)

Now, think about that - and your team for a moment.

If you treat your team like a light switch, this means you are taking them for granted. They should simply work hard, without thanks or praise, and do it consistently day-in and day-out. No encouragement required, no mentoring, no guidance - and certainly no development training. Switch them on, work - off, go home. No consideration of what drives or motivates them, just work.

In effect, they are viewed as just a machine.

Not very nice, is it? And yet there are many bosses out there (I would not call a person like that a Manager) who do behave like that.

I would not expect to see a top-performing team in this situation. More likely a group of people looking for the nearest exit, as soon as they can scramble to it.

If you want to have a top-performing team, you need to start with treating your team the old-fashioned way. Yes - OK, like a CANDLE:

Care about your team. Great leaders actually care about their teams - as people.

Ask their opinions about project matters - because they probably know more than you do. You have a skilled team precisely because you can't do it alone.

Nurture your team - get to know them personally. Put some time and effort in and invest in those relationships. Get to know them! Encourage them, praise in public - deliver constructive criticism in private.

Develop their skills. Projects are a great way to try something new that they may not get in a normal 9-to-5 job. Make the most of the opportunity. See what their needs are to help them grow and develop, and help them get any additional training they may need/want.

Lead, Mentor and Coach them, not just direct or dictate task assignments to them.

Engage with the team, one-on-one. Don't be afraid to get your hands dirty. Pitch in and help when it is needed, rather than supervising from on high.

Remember, teams are made up of people - not switches, not numbers, and not role assignments. A company is nothing without its people - and the same applies to your projects.

Summary

Looking back at that old pay meter in the holiday bach, I think it is a good symbol for bridging the old and the new; you get the advantages of steady, stable electric light - and no burned fingers working with candles. However, it also reminds us that you need to put some effort in on a regular basis - you need to engage in the process.  

Translated to teams, we need to step back from the modern-day perspective of looking at everything as if it were a machine (or cog in a machine). What makes the difference between a good and a bad workplace, or a good and a bad project, is how people interact, or fail to interact - with each other. Light switches are convenient - but you also need the personal interaction you get with a candle.

Why not try it one weekend - while camping, or even at home? Tuck away and ignore those electric devices, and live up close and personal by candlelight. Heck, it might even make for a romantic evening.

---

But what about the rest of the fishing trip, you ask? Well, it was a fun weekend, but the water was muddy from recent rains and nobody caught any fish. Although I did see direct evidence that I was, in fact, on the far side of the world, far away from home. While I was standing hip-deep in the river, casting back and forth, I noticed some small, odd objects floating down past me. 

They didn't look like wood. When one came within arm's reach, I plucked it out of the water to have a closer look. I turned it over in my hand, inspecting it closely. I was holding a rock - a floating rock. It was then I knew that I was truly on the bottom of the world, and up-side down - because how else could rocks float?

Pumice, anyone? ;-)

Good luck with your projects, and keep an eye on those candles.


Gary Nelson, PMP