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.

The Focused Florence Foster Jenkins

A few nights ago I went to see the movie about Florence Foster Jenkins. I was inspired by how she carried through on achieving what she set out to do. Another thing remarkable about Ms. Jenkins was her ability to ignore what was going on around her while achieving her goals.

I am not so sure she was as oblivious to others' reactions -  to her singing or what was happening in her personal life - as the movie shows. Maybe she chose to ignore those things in her focus to create what she wanted?

Projects can be like that. Lots of distractions, things we could pay attention to that can lead us off our goal. I'm not saying we should always ignore distractions, but we should be aware of what is a distraction and what really needs our attention.

Thank you, Ms. Jenkins...

Have you been Asked yet Today?

I had a conversation with a potential client the other day and they asked me question after question. Probably thinking I was getting irritated by it (if they knew me better they would know this certainly wouldn't be the case), the client said “We teach all of our consultants to ask questions. If they don’t understand something, they are told to ask more questions.” Wow!

This is definitely the kind of place I would like to work. My husband can vouch for this. If he tells me he was talking with so-and-so the other day and they went to the Bahamas, I ask “When did they go? For how long? Did they go with someone? ...” until he says, “I didn't interrogate them!”

One of the biggest problems with projects is not getting a complete view of the objectives (scope). This stems from a few things, including not spending the time and effort to find out what the client really wants. How do we find out what the client wants? ASK.

Why wouldn't we ask questions? Probably from a fear of looking stupid – after all, whatever we do, we are supposed to be experts in our field. Our customers come to us to get their problems solved. Isn't asking questions a sign of weakness?

I would claim that asking questions is a sign of confidence.

When I was in elementary school there was a classmate who asked the most seemingly stupid questions. That classmate is now a doctor. I could see that my classmate wasn't stupid – rather, appearing unintelligent was less of a risk than not knowing.

So, as my potential client so clearly demonstrated, asking questions is a key to success.

Is it Really a Project?

I asked a colleague the other day how everything was going with his project. He told me that what he was working on was supposed to be a project, but really it was operations.

The word was that the company had described the work as a project to win the contract. However, the work wasn't seen as a project.

Was it a project or not?

First, I would say that if the team member did not think he was working on a project, he was not. No matter if there was a project name that he put on his time sheet each week.

How could it have seemed to be a project?

My guess is that the Project Manager and executive saw it as a project. There was an account code assigned and surely there were reports to the customer on the deliverables. And, hopefully, there was an end result in mind.

However, if the project team members did not see any sign of this being a project, it surely wasn't to them. (If a tree falls in the woods and no one hears it...)

If there were regular team meetings with outcomes the team was working toward - that would be seen as a project. Even if there weren't team meetings, but regular communication from the Project Manager, possibly outlining the overall status of the project, there could be some semblance of a project.

What was the missing key?

I would say communication from and to the Project Manager.

So, I guess my colleague was right - this was operations cleverly disguised as a project.

Reaching Project Goals and the Law of Attraction

Do you manage projects, large or small? If so, have you thought about how completing a project successfully and using the Law of Attraction are alike? Being interested in both topics, I have thought about this interaction quite a bit. And here is my view.

According to the Project Management Institute (PMI), a project is “a temporary endeavour undertaken to create a unique product, service or result.” So, our goal in a project is to create a particular product, service or result.

How do we perform this creation? One of the main things we will do is to build a picture/description of the outcome, and get agreement on it. For example, if our project is to create a website for our company,  we define the overall look of the website, how many pages the site is to include, and the site’s purpose before we get down to work. Thus, we are defining the scope of the project. When we do this, we almost always visualize the end-result and work from there.

So, how is this similar to getting what you want through the Law of Attraction? The Law of Attraction is based on the premise that if we can see and believe what we want, we will attain it. So, like in a project, we are seeing and focusing on what we want.

In a project, this focus and belief in the end-goal provides not only a focal point for project team members, but also gives motivation – the team working towards a goal. If you have worked on a project where all team members had the goal in mind, you will know the feeling of synergy and excitement that can result from this “beginning with the end in mind” as Steven Covey says.

Why not try it, if you have not already, in your work and personal life? Imagine the desired results (outcome) to get results! As you do so, ideas on how these results may come about might spring to your mind, or maybe you will find yourself doing things that help bring about the outcome. Whichever way it happens for you, please email me with your results, I would love to hear your stories.