Sense, Sensibility and Perception: There is no accounting for Taste

[Also available as a podcast]

A colleague of mine has no taste. None at all - either he lost it in early childhood or he never had it, he can't exactly remember. 

I am not being mean about his clothing or sense of style - I am being quite literal. His taste buds do not work at all. When he eats, there is only texture, no flavor. "Food is simply fuel" as he says it - there is no particular enjoyment to any particular food, just the satisfaction of no longer being hungry.

"How horrible," I thought, "to never be able to taste chocolate, fruit or delicious, exotic foods". 

And then a few years ago, as a side effect of some bug going around, I completely lost my sense of taste as well. Usually your sense of taste is diminished when you have a cold, as smell is a big part of the sensation. But it wasn't that - my taste buds actually stopped working completely - and the smell part of it went too. Nothing but texture was left - not even spicy food registered, other than some watering eyes.

Fortunately it only lasted around 4 weeks, but I can tell you I was worried it might not come back. Life without the taste of good food...and chocolate! Of course, I could imagine it very well as I was experiencing it first-hand, but I did not like the prospect of life without tasting. While I suffered the effects, food was definitely just fuel. No enjoyment at all.


I was thinking a lot about my colleague during that time - wondering if he missed it, or simply did not know what he was missing. 


Other friends or colleagues are color-blind, some red/green, some other mixes, and a rare few have strictly black and white vision. A few others are partially or entirely blind, either through accidents, disease or blind since birth. Countless others wear glasses, as I did until laser surgery - when I had reached the point where things were still a bit blurry at the "best" setting on the optician's fancy machine.


Some other friends and family are deaf, either mostly or partly - and my kids certainly have selective hearing when there are jobs to do around the house!

I have not come across anyone personally who has a diminished sense of touch, but I understand that there are many people with this condition as well.

When we are dealing with people, we never know exactly how they each experience the world - what their perspectives are - and not just with the physical senses. 


One thing that is undeniable, though, is that your perception of the world around you affects how you respond in any given situation - and it also affects your approach to projects and challenges.

Sense & Perception

In projects, we are not just limited to working with differences in people's physical senses (sight, sound, taste, touch). People each approach the world with different perceptions and attitudes, which are based on a combination of their physical sensations, experience, background, education, expectations, language, culture - and which side of the table you are sitting on. 

I have been to a number of countries where the behaviors were different than "home" - and unprepared, this could (and sometimes did) lead to embarrassing or even potentially dangerous situations. In India, for example, I let a snake charmer put a cobra across my shoulders for a photo after I asked him if the snake had been de-venomed, as I was quite nervous and risk-averse. He nodded. I later found out that nodding meant "No" and wobbling your head sideways meant "Yes". Oops! 


Words in one language may sound identical to words in another language - and have a completely different (sometimes offensive) meaning. So be careful when you are interacting with people with different primary languages, and try to learn their language - or at least enough to avoid anything that might be offensive. 

However, even if you share the same primary language, the same words can have different meanings from one company to the next - don't just assume that they understand the jargon you are using.


The key thing to remember is that practically no-one will experience things in exactly the same way you do - and therefore they will have a different experience and understanding of the same event. Therefore, you should always be looking to achieve understanding - to verify that you understand what they are saying - and they understand what you are saying.

Sounds simple when you say it fast - but of course it is trickier than that.

Tip: "You got that, right?" does not count as verifying understanding. If they nod and smile, it might just mean they didn't understand your language at all and they think you are paying for lunch.

Depending on the situation, you may need to use a variety of approaches, including:

• Paraphrase what you heard and repeat it back to them in a simpler way, or without jargon.
• Ask more questions around the topic, especially if you are not entirely clear about it yourself.
• Draw pictures and diagrams to check if your concepts agree - even if the words, phrases or language seem to be an obstacle.
• It is important to simplify - and not over-complicate.
•  and so on. You may need to be quite creative depending on the audience.

Another way to put it is that you need to deal with different people in different ways, and learning how to do that is a key leadership skill. The more you know about them, the easier it is - if you meet someone for the first time, being a good observer of people definitely helps.

When you have worked with someone for a long time, you get to know each other very well, including a fair appreciation of how they perceive the world around them and how they might respond in a given situation. This helps you to communicate more effectively and efficiently - and interact without too much friction. When you have meet someone new, it can take time (a little or a lot) to get to a common ground.
 

Sensibility

"It just makes sense! Why don't they get it?"


What you think and what they think from observing the same thing can be completely different based on your perception and expectations.

For most of my career, I have been on the "vendor" side of the table - but recently, I have been able to experience the end-customer side, as a project manager working with various vendor/suppliers. For some, it might be tempting to play power games, but really - that would not be professional (or nice) - and besides if you are on a short term contract you will be back on the other side of the table soon enough (and possibly working for that vendor!)


After all, you are both there to solve some problem, deliver a successful project outcome and come out the other side relatively unscathed.


What I have found in my career so far is that there are several types of vendors, and several types of customers - and each have distinctly different perspectives. While the reality is somewhere in the middle, here are the extremes:

• Do-the-least-you-can vendor: This vendor will do the bare minimum to deliver, cut costs wherever possible, and will conform to documented scope but not look at the bigger picture. This vendor may nickle-and-dime the customer over minor change requests, and lose focus on how the product/result will be used. You don't want this one to build the bridge you drive over every morning.
  
• Let's-get-it-done-right vendor: This vendor actively looks out for the interests of the customer, taking those extra steps and asking more questions so they understand the big picture as well as the details. This vendor works to ensure the requirements are well defined, and they are usually in it for the long haul with a lasting relationship with the customer. This vendor also needs to be careful to not over-deliver and overrun costs, but they may accept some overages as "relationship investment", if it takes a bit extra to make sure things are done right.
• Give-me-everything-I-want-but-cheap customer: This customer often has unrealistic demands and pushes the vendor for everything they can squeeze out of them, as cheaply as possible. They can be quite challenging to work with, and getting acceptance sign off is usually delayed by "you need to do this one more thing first". They don't tend to get a good result, and have few long-term relationships with vendors, unless they are locked into a long-term support contract (and believe me, the vendor is probably counting the days!).
• Let's-work-together-to-do-it-right customer: This customer has a realistic view of the world and understands there are different types of vendors. They will also generally know their own business well and their own requirements - and are generally reasonable in working together with the vendor to define the scope and project schedule. They will usually work closely with the vendor during the project, but it is likely more a collaborative relationship than strictly oversight. This customer may have been burned by "Do-the-least-you-can" vendors in the past, so they may be pragmatic about contractual details and risk management - including contractual penalties. However, if you are a "Let's-get-it-done-right" vendor and perform well, you are likely to form a long lasting relationship, do more business - and potentially have less punitive contracts as trust is built with the vendor.
  

Although no person or company is perfect, those that work to "do a good job right" tend to be more successful in the long run - they build loyalty with their staff and their customers. If you match this type of company with a "Let's-work-together" customer, you generally get a better outcome as you both work together well towards the common goal. An additional benefit is that if you do run into the inevitable bumps in the road, the customer is more likely to say "let's sit down and talk about it" rather than "I'll see you in court!"

Although I have been on the vendor side most of my career, I can say that I have generally worked for let's-get-it-done-right vendor companies. I have spent quite a few years in several companies like this, and the reason that I stayed so long is that my values aligned strongly with theirs - to do a good job, and do it right. I have always worked to see the bigger picture for both sides - what works for US (collectively), and what solves the problem? I usually found myself straddling the fence and being the customer advocate - looking both at what was best for the company, and what was best for the customer. 

Do you know where I put the most weight? On the customer. If we do a good job meeting their needs (reasonably, within scope and budget), we all win!

Summary

When working with customers, stakeholders and your project team, one of the most valuable skills that you have as a Project Manager is to be able to empathize - to learn to understand where the other person (or vendor, or customer) is coming from, and how things look from their side of the conversation. If you can truly appreciate things from their perspective, it can help smooth out relationships and defuse some potentially nasty situations before they slide off the rails. 

Of course, we cannot read minds, but we can become good observers of people. And there is one more thing that will make you smarter and become a better Project Manager and leader of people.

Ask questions. 


Not silly ones, leading ones or left-field ones, but sincere questions that show you really want to learn what they have to say. The better listener you are (and this involves asking questions - not just sitting in silence), the wiser you will appear - and eventually become.


The wisest person in the room did not come into it "knowing everything" - they came in as an open-minded, empty vessel and asked plenty of good questions to those who did.


Incidentally, the most important question you can ask in a situation where you are trying to come to an agreement is "did I understand you correctly?" after paraphrasing what you think they said.


Good luck with your projects, and keep asking questions, with your mind, eyes, ears and all your other senses wide open.

Gary Nelson, PMP
Gazza Consulting Services

New Year, New Project - Don't Forget the PARTY!

[Also available as a podcast]

Happy New Year - and welcome to your new project! 

The start of the calendar year often marks the start of new projects; the old year is done, the new year is fresh and full of potential. Everyone is rested from the break and raring to go...ok, perhaps recovering is the right word. However, it is still a great time of year to kick off new projects, with most people full of energy and optimism. Who knows - your New Year Resolution might even have been about your project. (Ya, right!)

Many people finished up the calendar year with a lot of social activities and parties; the closer you got to the end of the year it seems the less work was done, or at least it was harder to get work done. I know exactly how tough it was - I was in the first month of ramping up on a new project, looking for information, while everyone else was winding down from the year and starting to disappear on holiday.

Now it is a new year, people are returning from holiday, refreshed or recovering, in any case coming back to work to hit the ground running (or at least at a moderate walking pace).

So what do we need to do to get our new projects off on the right foot, to help make sure they are successful?

Quite simple, really. What we need is...a Project PARTY.

The Project PARTY

What, another party to distract the team? We just had a series of those in December - what are you talking about? We need to get everyone focused and minds back on the job!

Yes, this is true. Although we do need a fair dose of social interaction to reconnect relationships after the break, I am not talking about having another "party". What we need to to start off your project successfully is contained in the acronym P.A.R.T.Y.

Prepare
Assemble the Team
Review Requirements
Team Development
Youthful spirit

Let's have a look at each of these key points:

PREPARE

As the Project Manager, the most important thing you can do at the beginning of every project is to get your head on straight and figure out what needs to be done. You may have already had a chance to read the Project Charter, High Level Requirements, Contract and other related documents. Or perhaps this is the first day you have them dumped on your desk (or email inbox). 

(We will assume that the project has been approved to start already and has a Project Charter or similar authority document in place - so most of the Initiation phase is complete).

Even if you read over every document twice before the break, chances are that all those parties and the time away let a lot of those details slip out of your head. So whether you have read the project documents before the break or you have them now for the very first time, it is important for you to read them over a few more times to let it all sink in.

It is also time to look over your trusty toolkit of Project Management tools and metrics, to decide what is going to be needed and work best for this new project. Just as every project is unique, the specific tools and templates you use on this project may be different than your last one. Perhaps they will be the same set of tools with little or no tweaks or changes, but it is important to think about what you actually need, rather than starting the project on auto-pilot. You might need new tools/templates, or changes to the ones you used last time based on lessons learned. 

Next, you need to review the stakeholder list - who is your Project Sponsor? Who is on the Project Control Board / Steering Committee / Change Control Board? If you don't know some of them yet, it is time to get introduced and spend a little time with them to let them know who you are, and to discuss their understanding and expectations of the project and its goals. For those you already know, go and spend a bit of time with them, asking the same types of project questions, after the chatty bits about their holiday and how the kids liked their presents.

Another consideration for you as the Project Manager is that in order to achieve project success, you will need to be the leader that your team needs you to be (which will change over time as the project progresses). I suggest you read Ten Attributes of an Effective Leader and the other leadership articles as you prepare for the next step.

Head full and spinning with words, charts & leadership advice, and hand sore from all the stakeholder handshakes? I guess it is time for the next stage.

ASSEMBLE THE TEAM

Depending on your project, some of the team members may have been pre-selected, particularly if they are named in an RFP response, or they were involved in the Project Initiation process. Quite likely these pre-selected people will be more senior staff who will be Team Leads on your project. 

In selecting members for your team, you will need to leverage the influence of your project sponsor, and the expertise of your Team Leads. Unless you have been around the company for a long time, it is unlikely that you will know everyone and their skills and aptitudes. So use the Team Leads - review the high level project documents with them and listen to their recommendations on who should be on the project team, combined with the people that you already know would be ideal for particular roles. 

When you have the candidate list of people that you want for your project (and some alternates), it's time to try to secure those people for your project. This can in some ways be the toughest part of your project - particularly if the people you want are experts and in high demand from other groups and projects. They may only be available for a portion of your project, or on a part-time basis. This is where you can use the leverage of your Sponsor to try to secure the best resources for you, negotiating with the department managers in your matrix organization. If your project is important enough, with a high profile and strategic company direction, you will likely have more luck in obtaining the key staff you want, even if they are pulled from other projects. (Oh, no, poaching!) Well, technically that is poaching, but in the strategic interests of the company the sponsor may determine with the managers that it may be the right thing to do for the company to juggle resources around. 

If you are on the other end of the scale, you might find that your first, second and third choices are not available to you, and you are having to train up Bob from the Mail room. Don't knock Bob though - this may be the break he needs to show how skilled and dedicated he is - you never know.

Just make sure to use your sponsor's (and your own) influence to try to get you the best resources you can - that is part of their job as the sponsor.

When you have the team identified, it's time to schedule a meeting to get everyone together. But not just any meeting - you need to have the Project Kickoff. 

(For a detailed discussion of what should go into your project kickoff, read Project Planning 1.0 - The Importance of the Project Kickoff).

REVIEW REQUIREMENTS

During the Project Kickoff, you will do many things with the team in going over the landscape of the new project, who is there to do what, the overall objectives etc. You will also have some form of requirements (usually high level) that describes the project scope.

Review these requirements with the team (send them a copy well before the meeting and ask them to read them in advance). These are of course not the final requirements - you will define more detailed requirements as you get further into the project. It is important to make sure that everyone is heading in the same direction though - and has a common understanding of what the project is about before they leave the kickoff meeting.

(See Developing Exceptional Requirements for more details about creating detailed requirements from high level ones during the Project Planning and Execution phases).

TEAM DEVELOPMENT

Now that you have the team together and you have done the ice-breaker and introductions in the project kickoff, you need to grow them from a group of individuals into a team (hopefully a high-performing one, but one step at a time). You need to structure some activities (social and work-wise) to build on your initial efforts in developing the team. If you have a large team, this may be more successful in small groups -i.e. you working with the team leads and the sponsor, and you and each team lead working with their groups (and the sponsor if appropriate for the activity).

The key thing here is to develop a sense of team success and camaraderie early on - carve out some initial deliverables that they can work on together over a short period, with a high probability of success (but not too easy, either). Make it an achievable challenge. Scheduling a group coffee (or tea) once a week is another great idea to help the team develop and get to know each other.

Although they can be fun, climbing walls and crossing moats may not give you the best outcomes for team development - you need them to work together on project deliverables after all, and some may be intimidated by physical challenges and set a poor mood. If those out-of-office challenge activities work for you, great - but if they might work against your particular team, then you may want to reconsider using them.

You may also find these articles helpful as you consider your team development strategies: 


Teams, People and Change: You Can't Push a String 
Leadership: On Developing Teams - Are you alone on the Ice?
From the Playground to the Olympics: What NOT to do in Team Development

YOUTHFUL SPIRIT

Energy is a vital element as you start your projects. There will be many times through your project where you are worn down and wonder why you signed up to manage this %^@#$%^ project in the first place. Do whatever you can to keep your optimism and energy levels up - and remember that enthusiasm is contagious. Talk with your Mentor regularly - and especially when times get tough. They can help put your head back on straight and improve your mood.

If you can start off the project with enthusiasm around your team, it will help set the overall mood of the project and project team. (Though I don't recommend dancing on tables). Prudent optimism and enthusiasm will help sustain your project performance.

Conversely, negativity is even more contagious, so avoid it at all costs, or your project will sputter and fail - as your team becomes dispirited and start looking for the nearest exit.

So smile, be authentic and optimistic - with an enthusiastic, youthful spirit.

Summary

As we all know, there is a lot more to be done as you deliver your project. We have not covered all aspects of managing your project in this article. However, getting your project started off on the right foot is a key factor for project success. If people start off in different directions and are confused about the scope and overall project objectives, you will be doing a lot of chasing and correcting expectations rather than delivering. It is better to get that sorted out from the beginning, and reinforce/remind the team as you go along. 

If you would like to read some more Project advice, I suggest you look through my other PM articles, or  if you would like a more comprehensive reference, you can always buy my book (Gazza's Guide to Practical Project Management) in kindle or paperback format (make sure to use the current discount code!).

Good luck with your projects, and I wish you all success for the coming year!

Gary Nelson, PMP

Gazza Consulting Services

Pick Me! Pick Me! ...What is YOUR Essential Value Proposition?

[Also available as a podcast]

When my father graduated from university and got his first job as an Electrical Engineer, his manager told him the following on his first day:

"Congratulations on earning your degree. But I want you to know the only thing it shows me is that you know how to learn."

My father was stunned. He had worked hard to get his degree over several long years; surely all of what he had learned counted for something! Engineering was a hard degree to get and covered a lot of knowledge areas in depth...what was his manager talking about?

For the manager, my father's value proposition was the potential for a future of great contributions to the company, based on his educational focus and demonstrated ability to learn complex things (provided he continued to apply himself and work hard, of course). To be sure, the company must have seen value or they would not have hired my father in the first place - but it was still a shock for him to hear that message on his first day.

My father didn't tell me what he was thinking before he entered the office, but that first meeting with his manager had a profound effect on him. I even believe it was a defining moment for him. It forced him to look forward - to what he could do with and for the company, rather than dwell on his prior accomplishments.

What you have done is not as important as what you will do next. The past only shows what you were capable of then; it merely lays the groundwork for what you might become on your journey.

Image licensed from Fotolia #45593398

For many of us, our value proposition is often quite different than what we think it is. In fact, our value is always defined more by the other person (the receiver of your services) than by you (the giver of the service).

They want to know what YOU can do for them, and how you can help them solve their needs and problems. This is your Value to them.
 
But there is much, much more to it than that...  

Resetting Perspective

You may be a leader of many people, but at the grocery store you are just another customer with money to spend, that will help them pay their bills. You expect them to provide quality goods at a reasonable price.

You may be a brilliant world-renowned Particle Physicist or Nobel Prize Winner, but in the dentist's chair they only care if you have been flossing and brushing well. You, in turn, expect them to be competent at their chosen profession, so you don't leave the chair with more holes in your mouth than you had when you went in.

The fact is, your long list of accomplishments does not always matter. I am not saying what you have done or accomplished is irrelevant, far from it. However, you need to look at the specific situation to establish the proper perspective.

In the transactional model, your value proposition is about what can YOU do for THEM in a specific situation, and their value proposition is what THEY can do for YOU in turn.

If your perceived value is acceptable to them, and their perceived value is acceptable to you, then you are likely to strike a deal, make an exchange, purchase a product, sign a contract, hire the other party to perform a task or tasks - or join a company for the long term, in a partnership or employee-employer relationship.

It's simply not just about you and what you want. It never is.

Pick Me! Pick Me!

Nobody ever hired you just to give you a job.

Likewise, no company ever gave your company business just because you needed someone to buy your product or service in order to meet your quarterly targets.

These days, there are a lot of people looking for work - and companies looking for customers, retail and corporate.

Nothing new, really - markets are cyclical, boom and bust (guess which part of the cycle most people think we are in...!).

Regardless of the market conditions, the reality is that many people still get jobs, many companies still sell to customers - and some even grow and flourish despite market conditions. At the same time, others suffer, have difficulty finding a new job or getting that next customer.

Why do some do so well - while others continue to get frustrated as a company lays off people around them - or including them?

You may have comparable products, skills or self-perceived value to everyone else bidding on a contract or applying for a job, but one person or company is always singled out and gets the business, or the job.

So what is it that makes the biggest difference?

Well, before I tell you, there is one thing we have to do.

Knock that Chip off your Shoulder

I am not trying to be mean; what I mean by this is that if you have been doing something for a while, or maybe got a big promotion, it is common to have a decent sized sense of your own value and importance. Sometimes though, it gets a bit too big when we focus mainly on ourselves. Self-worth is fine; self-aggrandizement is not so good. Conversely it is quite unhealty to always put yourself down, so stay somewhere in the middle, okay?

The reason the expression is "chip on your shoulder" and not "bulge in your jacket pocket" or something else is that it reminds us that our vision gets partially obstructed when that "chip" is parked on your shoulder. Sometimes you can have them on both shoulders, and they can grow into blinders. You can lose sight of the bigger picture and the other people around you - especially your team.

Want a dose of humility? Try to fix your broken toilet, and then have to call the plumber in the middle of the night and explain how you broke it even more. He doesn't care about whether you work at Wendy's or are the CEO of WalMart. He just cares about fixing the gusher and getting that healthy overtime callout surcharge on top of his regular rate, because you disturbed his sleep. (No, this did not actually happen to me. It's just an example!...maybe)

So give your shoulders a good firm shake. Brush them off for good measure, make sure there are no chip fragments left. They can grow back all too quickly.

But don't shake too hard and drop all your skills, experience and aptitudes though...we will need those next.

Be Useful

"Find a need and fill it, and the world will come beating to your door."

Well, perhaps, if you are lucky that will happen. The more realistic approach is to figure out how you can be useful - or continue to be useful.

If you are staying in the same company or job, it is always a good idea to periodically ask yourself if you are still useful to others - especially before someone notices that you are not being useful. If they notice it first, you might be someone in the next paragraph.

If you are changing jobs (voluntarily or otherwise), the most important thing you can do is figure out where you will be useful. Notice that I did not say "where you will be great"...scrape off that bit of chip from your left shoulder.

When you look over an RFP, or job description, look at it closely. I want you to put aside your first thoughts if they are "can we sell our product?" or "I like the hourly rate". We can get back to that later.

Look at it again - and ask yourself first "can I help them?", or "will my product or service make a difference and satisfy what they need?"

Next, look at your assets - the product suite, your service offering, or, if you are applying for a job, your experience and areas of expertise and skills. What have you done or can you do, deliver or provide that will help them? How can you or your company be useful?

Ok, now you can look at the other stuff (sales, money, hourly rate). But only a quick peek, then tuck it away.

Next questions.
- "Do I want to help them?"
- If you help them, will it also help you? (Sales, salary, opportunity to grow, feeling good about doing it, etc).

If the answer is "no" to either one, go back up to "Be Useful" and pull another one from the pile. If the situation only helps one of you, it is not a good starting point and eventually one side will feel it is unfair...so try for a near balance (win-win).

If the answer is "yes, I want to help them and it will help me in some way", read on...

Do it with ...

I hope most of you made it this far. Not everybody does. In fact, it took me a few weeks to make it back down this far the last time...but I digress.

So... you can help them, you want to help them, and you feel good about it - a win/win of some kind.

Great!

You just made it to the shortlist and are in the final round.

And the winner is....


Passion.


Yup, Passion. Not the fruit, but the in-your-guts-oh-boy-I-really-like-doing-it kind.

Can do + Want to Do + Do it with Passion is the winning combination that makes the difference.

The thing to remember about Passion, though is that it sometimes sneaks away while you are busy "just working". Then one day, you find out it is missing, and you are not having as much fun any more.

If that happens, you need to find it again. Surprisingly though, the Passion you find may not even be the same one you thought you had lost. As people grow and change, what excites them can also change. Not always, but often. You may even find there is more than one of them running around your feet, waiting to be picked up.

If you have lost your Passion, I strongly suggest that you go find it (or another one). We all need Passion!

Summary

As my Father found out on his first day of work, the most basic factor of your Value Proposition is how you (or your comany) can be useful to others. If you can't be useful, well, try doing something else. Of course, it is not a one-way street; you have to get something out of the exchange as well - fiscally or emotionally, the relationship should be useful to you too.

Note: A Prima Donna with stellar skills is far less useful than someone who is "pretty good" but a stellar team player, unless maybe they are a brain surgeon.
 
Being useful, however, is just table stakes. If you want to stand out, and get a chance to be useful by winning the contract or getting that job, you need Passion.

Not only that - you need to be able to communicate that usefulness and passion, and show them, no, convince them that you "have it" - with no chips on any shoulders.

Don't believe me? I have had (and lost) different passions over many years as I have grown and changed; over the last decade or so I have developed several areas of Passion related to Project Management and serving customers - but my latest additional Passion took me completely by surprise (just this week, actually!)

What is it?

You'll find out soon...but it has something to do with writing. And it's new.

Hint: You can search, but not on search engines, and you will find it...but if you don't, you'll have to wait until early 2013.

If you find it, leave a comment on the blog or drop me an email. A couple of you will win something if you get it right!

Good luck with your projects, and make sure to find your Passion!

Gary Nelson, PMP

Gazza Consulting Services

From the Playground to the Olympics: What NOT to do in Team Development

[Also available as a podcast]

"I got here first!"

"No, I did!"

"Me!"

"No, me!"

I just got back from a three day school camp with my youngest son. We  went to new and interesting places each day, and everywhere we went, walking or driving, the adults were constantly serenaded by the same chorus when we arrived at each destination.

"I got here first!"

Somehow, it seemed vitally important to be the first one to arrive wherever we went, or at least it was if you were under 10 years old.

The playground is a useful place to hone skills and promote competition, but it is equally important to learn to work and compete together as a team.

Often, when children compete in teams, you will have individuals claiming they were the fastest in the team, and therefore they are the reason the team won - so really "they" won and the rest of the team's efforts did not matter. 

Unfortunately, some people never outgrow this. They are in constant competition with everyone else, even though the others may not even know there is a race going on. They may not say it out loud, but they likely feel a small satisfaction in reaching the traffic light first, so they can be ready to launch off again - first - as soon as it turns green.

Even as adults, some people within teams will promote their personal contributions to the detriment of the team - just like back on the playground, they believe that they (and themselves alone) are the real reason the team succeeded.

It is true that one person can make a difference.

It is also true that one person can help to bring a team together - or destroy it.

Fortunately, most people do outgrow these playground behaviors, and become great team players. There is hope!

World-Class Teams

In July and August 2012, the Summer Olympics were held in London England. While there were many events that featured the best individual competitors in the world, there were also many team events. To me, the team events were the most challenging and very exciting to watch, as it required the whole team to work together flawlessly under pressure under very specific deadlines, particularly in races where 1/10th of a second can mean the difference between Gold and watching someone else receive Bronze. Very tight competition.

Photo licensed from Fotolia 1228781

One competition that demands very high levels of teamwork is rowing - requiring precise coordination of every stroke with your teammates to apply the maximum forward force at exactly the same time. If your timing is slightly off or the pressure is uneven, the boat will veer off in one direction and then another, causing drag and loss of forward momentum - and no medals.

Overall, Great Britain placed first in rowing with 9 medals (4 gold, 2 silver, 3 bronze). In second place was New Zealand, with 5 medals (3 gold, 2 bronze). In the Men's Double Sculls, the NZ team's lead over the silver winners was significant - NZ won by two boat-lengths. An exceptional show of teamwork and flawless execution. 

Every gold medal winning team performed to their utmost, an exhilarating mix of communication, trust, effort and coordination. However, there was one thing that was quite notably lacking around every medal winning team, gold, silver and bronze alike.

Nowhere did you hear "I got there first!"

When the team won - they all won together. The person in the front did not "win more" than the person in the back. Without every team member putting in their maximum coordinated effort for the common goal, they would not have achieved a world-class standing.

Your Project Team

You may not be competing on the world stage, or even going for "global project of the year", but it is just as important for your project team to work well together towards the common goal. True, you may have a number of shining stars on your project, the anchors that you can rely on to work a bit harder when needed, pull the long hours, and some that are exceptionally gifted or skilled. Certainly the Olympic teams were not filled with mediocre athletes - they were all of the highest calibre.

What makes them - and effective teams - different from the playgrounds of our youth is the maturity and strength to put the good of the team first. 

If we win - each team member can be proud to be part of the winning team, without "I's" popping up like seagulls. No one person or few people should take the credit. It is shared and enjoyed equally.


And if we lose, nobody points fingers at who did the worst, or who they think was the "weak link". There may indeed be a few who did not seem to contribute quite as much as the others, however they may have actually been doing their best. Teams need all kinds of people in order to get the job done, with the associated mix of abilities, skills and attitudes.

Leadership also makes a significant difference to overall performance of the team. If the team leader, manager, Project Manager or CEO takes all the credit for the work of their teams, it will demoralize the team. Similarly, if there are problems and the leader shunts the blame onto the team, the team will quickly dissolve into clusters of individuals and small groups steeped in resentment. The leader just destroyed the team.

I learned a valuable lesson from my first Manager and Effective Leader - if there was success, he did not claim credit but publicy bestowed praise on the entire team. If there were problems or failures, he accepted them as his own in public - and then convened the team to see what could be improved or what needed to be done to fix the problem - together.

Summary

Attitude, more than individual ability, makes the difference between a "good" team, an "Exceptional" team and a "poor performing" team. Where teams struggle from internal divisions and bickering, you will usually find a room full of egos, who are all clamoring "I was first!". While they bicker, the other teams sail on past to collect the medals.

Park your ego at the door.

You may have exceptional skills and experience - but you have been invited into the team to give your all and do your best so that we can succeed - together. Besides, your own exceptional skills may actually be middle of the pack in "our" high performing team, so don't crow too loud. Sit down, grab an oar, and help pull the boat forward.

Good luck with your projects, and remember it is the whole boat (or team) that wins or loses - not just the person at the front.

Gary Nelson, PMP

Gazza Consulting Services

Project Pain Management: The Good, The Bad and the Useful

[Also available as a podcast]


Definition of PAIN

a : a state of physical, emotional, or mental lack of well-being or physical, emotional, or mental uneasiness that ranges from mild discomfort or dull distress to acute often unbearable agony, may be generalized or localized, and is the consequence of being injured or hurt physically or mentally or of some derangement of or lack of equilibrium in the physical or mental functions (as through disease), and that usually produces a reaction of wanting to avoid, escape, or destroy the causative factor and its effects <was in constant pain> 

b : a basic bodily sensation that is induced by a noxious stimulus, is received by naked nerve endings, is characterized by physical discomfort (as pricking, throbbing, or aching), and typically leads to evasive action
 
Source: Miriam-Webster (http://www.merriam-webster.com/medical/pain)

Everyone has experienced pain of some kind. Most project managers have experienced pain on projects as well - and if you haven't yet, you must be just getting started in your career. Pain can come in many forms - physical pain, mental distress, concern and worry over things that you may (or may not) have any control over.  In fact, pain can be good for you, as it is principally designed as a protection mechanism. Brush your hand against a hot frying pan? Your body quickly tells you to get yourself away by triggering pain sensors. Step on a nail or cut yourself? Pain tells you to stop doing what you are doing and take care of your injury.


But not all pain is the same. Some pain says "Stop that!" and yet some pain you need to ignore, like runners pushing through to get their second wind.

In early 2005, I damaged my right knee - I tore my meniscus. The pain while walking right after the injury was quite bad - but of course, I still had to walk. Before I could start Physio, I had to take a flight back to the head office. Walking from the farthest gate to the main terminal was a very, very long and painful process. From there I caught one of those courtesy trams that go from gate to gate. The entire trip was measured in short walking distances and rest spots, and Naproxen was on the daily menu for a while.

I returned from the trip to my project in the US and started Physio, which helped a lot, but I still had regular pain through the next year, if I overdid it or stood too long in one position. Once the inflammation settled down, walking was Ok - but standing was not, as it put pressure in mainly one spot. But I managed, and started to get better and much more mobile - once again measuring walks in miles/km instead of dozens of feet or minutes standing up.

In 2006 I twisted my left knee when I fell into a hole, damaging it as well. You think I would have been smarter and re-injured the bad knee, but no. The pain from this injury was quite different - and worse. Walking or standing was painful for any duration or distance. But I got along, by not walking too much and avoiding standing still for very long. I went to the doctor - and was put on a waiting list for an MRI in Vancouver. I waited for 14 months, and finally had the scan. Then I had to wait a few more months to see the specialist who went over the results. The whole time my knees (both of them acting up in sympathy for each other) limited my freedom of movement as a result of the annoying pain.

At one point I actually bought a folding cane to carry in my bag, and had to use it a few times.

When I finally met the specialist, he went over the results with me, discussed "pain management" as the only near-term option and then sent me to physio. He also gave a picture of the long-term prospects which I was not terribly happy about. I left the office feeling quite discouraged. Osteochondrital impaction? Big words for "can't fix it".

So I started physio. It made things hurt more, frankly - for a while. Then it hurt a bit less. But at the same time we were preparing to sell our house prior to moving - so I found myself up on the stepladder and tall ladder (generally, just plain upright for long periods), standing and moving as I repainted the entire inside of the house, including ceilings.

During the several weeks of prep and painting in the evenings and weekends my knees were on fire, but the job had to be done. However, after the third week I began to notice something interesting.

1) There were actually two types of pain, not just one.
2) I was hurting a bit less and less every day as I forced myself onto the ladders to paint.

By the time I went in for my followup visit with the specialist who had had little hope for me other than pain management, I was walking nearly pain-free, and not only that - I was able to stand in place for long periods as well.

Over two years of suffering, and nobody told me I just had to get off my butt and move!

Sometimes, pain is a sign to stop doing what you are doing or you will further damage things (pain #1), such as actual joint pain. 

Other times, it is simply a message that you need to persist, and things will get better if you push through and keep going (pain #2). This tricky type of pain was merely muscle fatigue - a sign that my knees were growing a little bit stronger again, and the next day would be a little bit better than today.

In the case of my knees, the odd bit I learned about joint mechanics is that when you exercise your muscles and tone them up, they actually pull your joints apart - reducing wear and pressure on the cartilage between the bones. If you let things go and rest because it hurts, you lose muscle tone and your joints experience more direct pressure from the weight of your body. Weird, but true.

On your projects, you will also experience two types of pain - good pain and bad pain. The key is learning to identify each type of pain and then respond to them appropriately.

Project Pain

Pain was originally designed as a simple survival mechanism. However, with higher cognitive abilities, humans brought pain into a whole new sphere. No longer would we have to simply stub our toe or hit a thumb with a hammer to feel pain, we can now suffer pain in many non-physical areas as well. We feel pain about thoughts and emotions too.

Pain is great for projects. Seriously, it is - the only reason that someone buys a product or starts a project is because they have a problem to solve. This is their "pain point". So in truth, you would not be managing a project at all if there was not a big pain somewhere that needed soothing, a substantial problem that needed solving. 

Bad Pain vs Good Pain

Bad pain we are all familiar with, most commonly in the form of injury or loss. Physical injury, financial distress, loss of a loved one, ending of a relationship, or being laid off. Bad pain is generally associated with a negative outcome. In general, we all want to avoid introducing or having  "bad" pain.
 

There is, however, such a thing as good pain. We are most definitely not talking about sado-masochism though - we are talking about good, old fashioned discomfort that is not associated with an injury or negative outcome. Good pain is associated with positive outcomes.

An athlete endures pain on a regular basis while running, swimming, biking or in any other sport. They know at which point they will begin to feel discomfort while they are exerting themselves, and they also know and learn to expect the signs of "good" pain compared to "bad" pain. If they start to feel bad pain, they know they need to stop, hit the benches, or let someone else win the race because if they continued, they would be seriously injured and perhaps miss the next few races or games. Good pain, on the other hand, is the wall they must pass through to reach the rewards on the other side - the second wind that lets them once again pick up the pace and win the race.

On your projects, you will come across many people who will not do something because they anticipate pain, or discomfort - they feel fine as-is and do not want to change where they are or what they are doing. It is important to remember that change of any kind can and will cause discomfort - it will cause some pain to those affected.

The problem is, people often look at all pain as being the same - "it will hurt, I will feel uncomfortable, so I don't want to do it, and I don't want to go there." I don't care what it is or what is on the other side - I just don't want to deal with the pain.

Whose Pain Is It?

On your projects, pain can be experienced by everyone at some point - the project team, the sponsor, the stakeholders, the end users or consumers - and yourself as well. The real trick is identifying the type of pain it is, who is having it - and what you can do about it. You cannot take on someone else's pain, of course - but in being aware that they are having it, you may be able to help either alleviate the "bad" pain, or help them push through "good pain" to the other side.


As all projects are change projects, most of the pain will be associated in some way with that change - and needs to be accommodated in the Change Management Plan.

(We have explored Change Management in several other articles, so we won't discuss all of the specifics again here. If you would like to read them, they are: Implementing Organizational Change? Learn How to Grow a Desert, Built to Last: Forget Waterfall, Forget Agile - Let's Talk Tectonic Project Methodologies, and Teams, People and Change: You Can't Push a String )

Pain affects different groups in different ways - and needs to be approached differently in each case.

Stakeholders and end users/consumers of the project may need to change and learn to use the new system or product. If it is entirely new, some of them may be excited, some may be neutral, and some may be unwilling to take the leap. If it is replacing something they are already using, it is likely you will have more people reluctant to change as they are comfortable just as they are, or heavily invested in the old way of doing things. If the end users/consumers have the choice of staying with the old product or moving to the new product, then you have a marketing challenge. 

However, if the directive is that they need to switch because the old product is being phased out, this needs to be included in the Change Management Plan. You need to look at the change from a pain perspective. If you know it is a "good" pain on the way to migration to a new and better solution, you will want to paint encouraging words. You may also want to point out pain of not adapting - the old solution may be decommissioned, or they may no longer be skilled or employable (the "bad" pain of not changing).

Note that "good" and "bad" pain are dependent on your perspective - some may see all pain as bad, and you will need to work with them to help distinguish the two. You cannot assume that just because you can see both sides of the pain that they will as well. You may need to do a lot of communication with different stakeholder groups to get your message across and convince them that it is "good" pain, and they can and should push through it.

Of course, you may also have cases where what is "good" for the company or the project may be seen as "bad" for an individual - for example if their job is being made redundant. If the company approach is to re-assign people to other roles rather than lay them off, you may still be able to turn a "bad" pain into a "good" pain. 

However, sometimes you will have people that will continue to see the change as "bad" pain, and you may never be able to convince them otherwise. They may solve that for themselves by leaving, or they may stay on and heckle from the sidelines. You just have to be prepared for each possibility.


The Project Team may also experience some of the same pain as end users, as they may also be users of the old and new system. However the team will also have different pain points than the end users or stakeholders. They will be dealing with a lot of change, but they will also be doing a lot of learning so that they can train and support the end users. Learning something new (and having to become an expert in it) can be a daunting challenge full of uncertainty. They also will not know what they do not know - so there can be confusion and anxiety. It is important to provide support and regular checkpoints and/or assessments to make sure that they are progressing and are understanding how to use the new tools and the system. 

Or you may simply have someone taking on a new role, and they are experiencing the pain and discomfort of uncertainty and self-doubt in the role. They may just need some mentoring and encouragement.

If any of the team are struggling, make sure to spend the extra time to figure out the gaps and support them - help alleviate their pain.

Remember - most of the pain on projects will come as a result of dealing with change. And sometimes using "bad" pain as the stick to help them get through the "good" pain to the carrot is just what the doctor ordered - it can be a "useful" pain.

Summary

My knees still have good and bad days - but mostly very good days where they don't trouble me at all - they feel like they did before either injury. I am still careful to avoid certain movements under pressure, such as a sudden twist around corners with a loaded grocery cart. But that is simply a matter of planning - today I can navigate the entire store with a full cart without undue aggravation of my knees. I am also out and walking almost every day, which keeps the muscle tone up. I definitely notice it though, if I skip walks for a number of days in a row when things are busy on a project. 

On your projects it is important to discern which type of pain it is that is confronting you. Is it a "bad" pain warning you to stop, before you cause damage or a negative outcome? Or is it the "good" type of pain, the one that tries to trick you into not moving forward, but once you do, things get better, or you grow and improve? Either way, pain can be useful teacher.

Good luck with your projects, keep that Aspirin handy, and remember to push through the "good" pain to project success.

Gary Nelson, PMP

Gazza Consulting Services

Would you know an Unacceptable Risk if it jumped up and bit you?

[Also available as a podcast]

When I was younger, I was quite risk-averse. I said "no" to a lot of things that some might consider a "safe-ish" activity - like Bungee Jumping or riding a motorcycle. (Dirt bikes were OK though, because I never got going that fast).

So why did I find myself backing away from a snake charmer who was walking towards me with a fully loaded Cobra held out in front of him?

More to the point, why did I let him put it around my neck in the first place?

Most would say that this definitely falls under the category of unacceptable risk. Some might say it was the adventures of youth. I would simply call it stupid.

February 1993 - my first day in New Delhi, India for a 2-week trade show. On the ride in from the airport in the middle of the night, I had passed a man riding an elephant down the street. An amazing country. I was solo for the first two days before the rest of the team showed up, and I was looking for something to do after I had checked out the booth at the fairgrounds. We had organized for cars with drivers, because it takes a whole different set of skills to drive there.

My driver had pulled over to the side of the road so that I could experience some of the local culture and tourist attractions, which apparently involved getting your photo taken with a poisonous snake draped over your shoulders. 

It must have been the smog affecting my brain, because I agreed to do it.

As you might expect, I was a bit nervous so I asked the charmer if it was safe - if the snake had been de-venomed. He nodded. So we proceeded, and the driver snapped a couple pictures of me with the charmer holding the snake across my shoulders.

It was only after he had removed the snake and I paid him that I realized my mistake. The charmer decided he wanted more money as I was walking back towards the car.  So he started to follow me. I turned to see the charmer pointing the "apparently de-venomed" Cobra directly at me like a weapon. Oops.

The driver stood between me and the charmer and signalled me to hand him some money. I did, and he passed it to the charmer, who seemed satisfied, un-cocked his Cobra and walked back to the basket.

I afterward learned that nodding meant "No" and wobbling your head side to side meant "Yes".

I  guess I should have read up on the cultural signals before I left on the trip.

Do you know an unacceptable risk when you see it?  Or does it literally have to (almost) bite you before you know it is "unacceptable"?

Defining Risk

In a previous article, we discussed the basic components of risk, the principles of pre-and post-event risk mitigation, and some basic risk assessment strategies. There is a continuum of risk - and where a specific risk falls will depend on the impact of the risk if it occurs, but also your personal or corporate risk tolerance. In the basic model, we looked at "High/Low impact" and "High/Low probability" in relation to anticipating risk events. But there is another aspect to risk management that is very important to consider, that may sometimes be less tangible and hard to quantify in numerical terms.

Is a risk "acceptable" or not? In order to determine this, we need to take a deeper look at managing risks.

Assessing Risk

In order to assess risk, you need accurate information, experience, and a solid dose of common sense (which apparently I was lacking at the time). If you don't know enough about the potential risk area, ask an expert, or at least a colleague who knows more about it than you. As a Project Manager, your job is to make sure that the team delivers - but it is not your job to know everything. Having an awareness of the big picture and the moving parts, yes - but you are not generally the detail expert. That is why you have teams with people who know each area much better than you do.
 
So employ their experience and skills when you do your planning and your risk assessments. More heads are better than one, especially when it comes to gauging risk. If you don't have anyone on your team who is experienced in that risk area, bring someone in from elsewhere in the organization, or bring in a consultant. If it is potentially a major concern, it may well be worth the investment of a few hours or days of someone with a keen eye and battle scars taking a closer look.

You also need to keep in mind the bigger picture beyond your corporate walls to fully consider the level of risk involved, and the true impact of what might happen. You might end up changing your project plan, scope and vision significantly if you determine that a high impact negative risk event is not only likely to occur if you continued along the current path - but would be completely unacceptable if it did. 

One thing to consider in your planning is that what may be "acceptable" to you may be completely unacceptable to others. So you need to be prepared to walk a mile in the others' shoes so you don't have a one-sided perspective.

Acceptable vs Unacceptable Risk

Acceptable risks are ones that you can generally live with if they occur. (Ideally, that everyone can live with.) You may have a delay in your schedule and/or additional costs, and perhaps disgruntled users or stakeholders. But at the end of the day, there is no real harm done. What you deem "acceptable" is relative based on your context, and may be very different for another person, project or business. 

An unacceptable risk might be defined as one that would do harm, fiscally or physically to person(s), a business or the environment. However, it is also fair to say that an "unacceptable risk" for one person might be quite acceptable to another.


Financial Risks
Your company might invest 10 million dollars on the "Next Big Thing" in the anticipation that if you are successful in the market, your product would be poised to bring in hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars in sales. That's a calculated risk by the stakeholders before they even start the project - and if they have deep enough pockets, it may be an acceptable risk. 

If, however you were a small company with an idea and very little funding and very little awareness of the potential market for your product, investing the last $10,000 you had might not be an acceptable risk. You might even lose your house, and have nowhere to go. 


For financial risks, deciding whether it is "acceptable" or not is generally dependent upon whether your business would survive, or the project could still be completed (or worth completing) if the risk event occurred.


Material or Bodily Risk
If you are a skilled mountaineer, climbing Everest or a sheer rock face may be seen as an acceptable risk because you are well prepared for the activity. Yes, you might fall to your death or suffer hypothermia, but the chances may be very low due to your level of experience, conditioning and confidence in your abilities and those of those going with you, and the quantity and quality of your gear.

If, however you were new to the outdoors, the same activity would not pose an acceptable risk, as you would likely be completely unprepared and much more likely to suffer a mishap, or even die.

Preparedness and experience are key contributors in assessing risk - and not just for yourself, but for the entire team, project and stakeholders. A seasoned mountaineer would refuse to take a new, untested person on the hard climbs with them. They would need to ensure that they had been prepared, conditioned and practiced on the smaller climbs first, with lower elements of risk. Eventually they would gain enough experience to join you on the difficult slopes.

If you were constructing a bridge or a building that thousands of people used every day, it would be unacceptable for it to fail or collapse, so all planning and quality control efforts should be utilized to ensure that will not happen - as the injuries and loss of life would be unacceptable.

Similarly, if your project may cause environmental damage should something go wrong, you need to assess the risks and take active pre-event risk mitigation strategies in order to avoid an occurrence.

Some of it is just common sense (which can sometimes be hard to find during hectic times on a project).

When I sat down with the snake charmer, I thought I had good information but I misunderstood him, and also failed to use common sense. Things might have turned out badly for me, due to being naive (and stupid). I had based my assessment on the skills of the snake charmer being able to safely handle the snake, and my understanding it was no longer poisonous. The act of him later posing the snake as a weapon caused me to swiftly reassess the situation, and therefore the level and nature of the risk. Definitely "unacceptable" in hindsight, based on my normal aversion to risk.

The Sleep Test

If you are sill not sure about the acceptability of a risk, there is one way to get a gut feel for"acceptable" vs "unacceptable".


Would you be able to sleep at night if it happened? If you cared about someone else affected by the event, would you still be able to sleep with it?


Well, perhaps you always sleep like a baby. But let's take it up another notch. Could you live with yourself, should the risk event occur?

Balancing Risk

The partner company hired us a car and driver, so that we would not face the perils of driving on the New Delhi roads. It was an acceptable risk to have the car and driver get us from place to place, as they were local and familiar with the city and road rules. Every day while at home, we determine that driving our own car to the shopping mall, to work or to the kids' music recital is an acceptable risk - even though we could end up in a fiery crash. We judge that based on the condition of the vehicle, the condition of the roads and our own skills, we think will be able to navigate the streets to the destination and back again safely. That was the premise of hiring local drivers - that their skills and competence would significantly reduce the risk of any traffic mishaps. Well, that was the theory anyway.

We actually had two cars and two drivers due to the number of people at the trade show. One was very responsible and relatively risk-averse, and then there was the one who ended up driving me most of the time. He incidentally was also the guy who introduced me to the snake charmer. I should have seen it coming.

Having a driver was definitely a good idea, as the road rules are quite different in India (well, at least they were in 1993).There you could turn a good two-lane-each way marked road into four or more threads of traffic going each way, with cars, trucks, motorcycles and three-wheelers weaving along together at different speeds. They had foot-high curbs on the side of the road, and the only reasonable explanation I could think of was that they were trying to keep the vehicles off the sidewalk - they drove everywhere else!

It was when our driver pulled straight out into oncoming traffic for the first time that I realized that in the end, there was only one practical rule of the road. "If I am bigger than you, get out of my way!" There we were, across the center line, ploughing on ahead with the oncoming motorcycles and three-wheelers diving for safety on the other side of the road. Until a delivery truck came roaring straight at us that is, whereupon our driver promptly forced his way back into the traffic on our side of the road. He may have saved me from the snake, but I was convinced he had other plans to finish me off using his car.

I will admit, he was not all bad - he did employ active pre-event risk mitigation strategies while driving. Every time we overtook a bus going in the same direction, he was constantly beeping the horn, indicating to the bus "I am here! Don't swerve into my lane and crush me." I then began to notice the continual honking everywhere we went, by all sorts of vehicles - all announcing they were there and not to swerve into them. Apparently nobody does a shoulder check before changing lanes. But nobody was angry - if you heard that much honking in North America, it would indicate a lot of swearing and frustration.

As much as his driving unnerved me, he did keep us safe - and did a much better job of it than any of us foreigners could have managed. This was because he knew the conditions, how other people drove, and what to expect. All in all it was an "acceptable" risk, if a bit frightening for the passengers.

He did make me wonder one further time though - after leaving the reception at the Canadian embassy, he drove us back to the hotel. The road was not busy, and there was no oncoming traffic - but he was impatient with the drivers in front of him. So naturally, he pulled into the empty oncoming traffic lane. He was speeding along at nearly 100kph/60mph as we came up to a very large traffic circle, which had large concrete barriers running along the side of the entry and exit roads, merging into a solid point - a point which was rapidly getting closer. He just managed to pull back into our lane a few feet in front of the barrier before zooming around the circle to the exit on the far side.

A stiff drink was definitely in order when we got back to the hotel. Only 10 more days of this until we were to finish the trade show and get to go home.

Summary

Determining whether a risk is "acceptable" is not a simple matter, and it is certainly a situation where you need the team's input. Determining the acceptability of a risk should never rest with just one person. Sure, there may be a final decision-maker, but only after due consideration of the perspectives and opinions of the team are taken into account.

What may be acceptable to you may not be acceptable to the sponsor, the stakeholders, the company or the public at large. If you lack experience, you are more likely to underestimate the impact of a risk, and therefore judge it "acceptable" when a more seasoned person would not.

Conversely, a seasoned consultant may deem a risk as acceptable, but you as the new Project Manager may feel quite nervous about it. In the end - after listening to the counsel of others, you have to go with your gut - could you live with the risk event should it happen on your current path? If not, then you might override it and say it is not "acceptable" - or at least put more efforts into mitigating the risk to prevent it from happening.

As for me? I am not quite as risk-averse as I was when I was younger. Perhaps more "risk-mature" would be a better word. I still will not do a bungee jump, and although I have since considered riding a motorcycle, my wife has assured me it is not a good idea. But I do take some calculated risks, with open eyes and some common sense.


The good news is that I have already crossed off "put a poisonous snake on your neck" from my bucket list. Been there, done that - and got the photo. I don't ever need to do that again.

Good luck with your projects, and carefully consider what risks are "acceptable" on your projects by tapping the experience of your team.

Gary Nelson, PMP

Gazza Consulting Services