Will Working on Projects Help You Be Less Stressed?

I was talking with a business manager the other day about organizing a presentation for her group. She said, "It's always so hectic around here, people aren't so organized. Let's see if they have time to attend the session."

I replied, "Well, there you go. Project management can help with that!"

How can working with a project mindset help with organization?

First, there's the defining of the project itself and its scope. What are we doing and not doing? Clarifying that will help keep focus and eliminate unnecessary efforts.

Then there's the schedule. What has to be done next? Can someone else do part of the work concurrently to save time? Knowing what is to be done when can help reduce the running-around-with-the-head-cut-off routine.

And there's risk analysis. What should we take care of now and what money can we put aside for in case uncertain events occur? Then we can rest assured we have taken care of the what-if's and what-may-happen and get on with the job.

These are just a few examples of how organizing work into projects can reduce stress. But let's not forget communications – lack of proper communications can cause many headaches in a project. That's why identifying who is interested in the project, who can affect it positively and negatively, and how the stakeholders want to be communicated with, is so important.

If we can define these things at the beginning of the project and keep an eye on them as we go along, we will have a stronger project.

Who Needs to Know?

Have you ever had someone say, "You don’t need to know that; leave that part to me," when working on a project?

After your first reaction ("Huh?"), if you are like me, you would be thinking, "Hmm, I asked because I needed to know."

What happened here? It seems as though clear roles and responsibilities have not been defined. One person thought it was their responsibility to do that part of the work and didn’t realize another person also needed to know.

What could have helped? A RACI chart would have been useful. RACI stands for responsible, accountable, consulted and informed. It would show who is:

• (R)esponsible for the work (to get the job done)
• (A)ccountable for the work (to report on it)
• Needs to be (C)onsulted on the work (their input gotten)
• Needs to be (I)nformed about the work (perhaps their part of the project depends on it)

Typically, a RACI chart is drawn with activities down the left-hand column, and roles or people’s names along the top row.

Here is an example of a RACI chart from raci.org:

It's a very handy tool indeed to prevent some conflicts from occurring.

Root Cause Analysis Reveals Options

This past week I have witnessed two miracles.

For the past four months, my son Zachary has been unable to walk on his right foot and since February he could not talk due to a violent cough.

After taking him to many doctors and health professionals of all types (24 altogether!), no cure was found. Until we came upon Dr. MacAdam, a chiropractor who corrected the problem in two visits. With some manipulations of the spine and neck, Zachary was walking and talking again. (Thanks Dr. MacAdam - and to all who helped along the way.)

It would be good to know for sure why the problems occurred, though we may never know with certainty. In the meantime, we can look at possible causes, and possibly rule some out. Below is my simple root cause analysis diagram (also called a fishbone or Ishikawa diagram) pertaining to the situation.

Such a flexible tool that can help in many cases.

Do All Project Managers Follow the Same Process?

In May, I am giving a talk at PDSummit 2017 in Halifax, comparing the project management processes used in the television and construction industries. Having taught project managers from many different industries, I have seen that the process is generally the same for all projects. The terms used may be different but, going from one industry to another, the five process groups (Initiating, Planning, Executing, Monitoring and Controlling, and Closing) seem to be followed by project managers everywhere. But is this really true?

To test my theory I am conducting research, gathering input from project managers in the television and construction industries on their project management processes.

I have a request for you: if you work, or have worked, in either the TV or construction industry, would you please have a look at the questions and send me your input?

Individual replies will be kept confidential but I will be sharing a summary and highlights of my research. (If you really want your name stated, though, I will make sure to do so!)

Click here to answer this brief survey.

If you would like to give any other information on your projects, I would be glad to receive it - email me. Thank you very much!

Stakeholder Engagement

Recently I went to a luncheon hosted by the Halifax Chamber of Commerce, which my company was proud to sponsor. (See our logo on the banner to right of stage above.)

The topic of the luncheon was “What’s Up, Halifax?” and four panelists represented major projects in beautiful Halifax.

The panelists, Alex Halef, President of BANC Group of Companies, Dov Bercovici, President & CEO, Discovery Centre, Bob Bjerke, Chief Planner and Director, Planning and Development, Halifax Regional Municipality, Steve Snider, CEO & General Manager, Halifax Harbour Bridges, were asked questions which had been pre-submitted to the moderator. Several questions were about improving our city for businesses and residents.

What struck me with the questions and answers was the emphasis on stakeholder engagement, not only from resident and business to the government and developers, but also among the city and developers.

From the answers, you could see that communication was obviously good between the city and development representatives. They communicated in front of over 100 people and were willing to answer the audience’s questions and discuss topics among themselves in the open.

It was also heartening to see that both parties were open to further increasing their communication and stakeholder engagement.

According to PMI, a stakeholder is "an individual, group, or organization who may affect, be affected by, or perceive itself to be affected by a decision, activity, or outcome of a project."

Knowing who the perceived stakeholders are can be the most difficult part of identifying stakeholders.

For the cities and towns we live in, we are all stakeholders, and I know the government is conscientious in my area to seek input from residents and businesses. But there can always be more input and improvement on engagement.

Is that a bad thing? No. Projects are continuously improving all the time, and we should expect that to be so.

I have observed over the years that, as project managers, we often don’t realize how much project stakeholders want to be involved in a project. Sometimes we might think we are bothering a client or user, other times we think they don’t really want to be engaged at a certain level of depth. Should we assume how much stakeholders want to be involved? Well, no. We should ask them. The answer might be surprising.

Involving stakeholders is a key, and valuable, tenet of project management.

Sully, the Risk Manager

I went to see Sully last week, a movie based on a true story. Sully - Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger - performed a great act of risk management.

An airplane pilot, Sully made a quick decision when his plane hit a flock of birds, lost the use of both engines, and was in danger of crashing. He was flying above New York City when this happened, with approximately 150 passengers on board.

Sully decided to land on the Hudson River instead of trying to make it to the nearest air field.

Afterward, the landing was investigated by the US Transportation Security Administration. During the investigation, flight simulations seemed to prove that Sully could have made an airfield landing, instead of on the river as he did.

It hits Sully that there was one element missing in the investigation: the inclusion of the human factor. After all, making this type of landing was something he, a pilot with 42 years of experience, had not done before. When this factor was taken into account, he was proven right - landing on the Hudson River was the best option.

While making the decision to land on the river, Sully encountered a risk and dealt with it. According to the Project Management Institute (PMI), a risk is an uncertain event or condition that, if it occurred, would have a positive or negative effect on the project's objectives. Decidedly, flying into a flock of birds was a negative risk event, as was crashing!

Sully and his co-pilot followed the steps they were trained to do (the risk response plan) when the bird collision occurred: they notified their air traffic controller. But the solutions offered from ground control weren't viable in the situation - they didn't have time to get to the nearest landing field. So Sully made the decision to land on the Hudson River. This was their work-around, their solution to an unanticipated problem.

At the time, training for duel engine failure wasn’t something pilots usually did. (npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99480314)

What was going through Sully’s mind as he was making the necessarily quick decision? I think it would have to do with the probabilities of the different scenarios being successful, and the impact if they weren't. So he did what had the highest probability of success and the lowest impact of failure (loss of life) - he performed an on-the-spot risk analysis.

The story ended well (as my favourite movies do!) and Sully was regarded as a hero. His knowledge and quick thinking saved the lives of all who were on Flight 1549 from LaGuardia Airport that day.

Decisions

At my home, we often share dreams we had the night before. This morning my son Zachary told me the he had dreamed about Poppy (my father) who passed away two years ago. In the dream, Dad told Zachary that I should say "No" to a decision.

This got me thinking about how many decisions I make in a day - which turns out be be a lot. So, I wondered which decision that might apply to.

Related to decisions, I saw this post on LinkedIn today about decisions, and you could say Expert Judgment. In the Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK), Expert Judgment is often a tool used for making decisions.

How do we know who is an expert? It's generally someone who has done the work before. And how do you become an expert...?

Choices

When it's a nice day and I am around, I walk with my 9-year old son, Zachary, the 25 minutes to his school. Yesterday we walked. It was a bit windy and, within a few minutes of leaving the house, Zachary said he was cold. I said for him to walk behind me so I could shelter him from the wind.

About two minutes later Zachary said his foot hurt. I said, "It will go away in a minute." We got to chatting and he seemed happy enough.

About ten minutes later we took our usual path, up the hill through the woods and over the guard rail, when Zachary bumped his leg and arm on the rail. He was a bit upset. Again, I told him it would go away in a minute. He cheered up after 30 seconds.

We crossed the street and Zachary said, "We all make our own choices." Then he went on to show me how he could choose to jump on one foot, run on the grass, or run zig-zagged.

I was thinking for the rest of the day, off and on, about Zachary's statement.

Yes, we make our own choices every minute. And how we look at life every minute is certainly a major choice. Thanks Zachary.