EPM, Microsoft Project and You

By: Collin Quiring

As a Project Manager, I tend to instinctively relate most events in life back to that profession.  I have been thinking about the situation with Shirley Sherrod (Georgia’s Agriculture Department Director).  This is an ongoing story at the time of this writing and this blog is not a political or news blog so I am not writing about this from that viewpoint nor am I indicating if what is happening is right or wrong.  However, here is a very brief summary of the current situation as I understand it:  a video was posted of Ms. Sherrod talking about a situation where she discriminated against somebody she was supposed to help.  She was fired forthwith.  Now, more of that speech is being shown where Ms. Sherrod explains that she was wrong, that she corrected it, did end up helping the individual and she made a much larger point about her role in her organization and the role of race relations.

In Project Management, we are always being asked to do more with less, do it faster, stay on top of everything and numerous other clichés meant to encourage (force?) us to act and react as quickly as humanly possible.  Well, that often means that we react to the facts as presented to us and not necessarily to all the facts or an objective view of the facts.  And, while we may be presented a set of facts with a certain “spin” from another team member, lets not forget that we have our own internal “spin” of how we are understanding those same facts.  My thoughts about getting all the information and this current situation made me think about projects I have been on where I have reacted first and then later learned more facts.  More than once I have had to go back to individuals and apologize.  And, unfortunately, a time or two the damage was already done and apologies didn’t matter (to the person or the project).

My point is that as a Project Manager, I need to try and obtain as many of the facts before I react.  I know that isn’t always easy and there is a line between “analysis paralysis”, discovering facts and being over-reactive to a few bits of information.  One great way to discover more of a story is to ask those involved rather than assume the worst or assume the bits of information that I have are the complete story. 

Perhaps a Risk Management plan would help with some things that occur during the course of a Project.  But, in the case when something new pops up and it “demands immediate attention” and a course of action, perhaps I need to take a deep breath, determine if I have all the information that I can reasonably be expected to obtain and then make a decision.  There are legitimate times when immediate action might be required but I think that if we react to everything like it requires an immediate reaction we may be creating extra pain for ourselves for when we learn more information.

By:  Collin Quiring

Project Management is usually involved in the creation of “the new” or the modification of “the old”.  In the beginning stages of a Project almost everybody involved talks about the great benefits, the wonderful aspects of the newer version and how they can’t wait for the change.  More often than not, however, those same people seem to throw up roadblocks to accomplishing the goals of the project as it becomes closer to fruition.

Why?  There are all sorts of reasons that cause this behavior but I think that one of the key ones is the perception of gain versus loss.  When it gets down to it, people tend to like “the devil they know” instead of having to do things differently.  Besides the issues that come with something new like having to be trained in a new tool or process comes the psychological balance of risk/benefit or of gain/loss.  People tend to talk about how they want something better – newer and improved.  But, the desire to stay with the known version of what they have is extremely strong.

The need for the Project Manager is to understand that just because people are excited about the gains as a result of their project they need to know what those people feel is being lost.  As Project Managers, we can become immersed in the details and tangible results of the project and forget about some of the effects to the existing situation.  As I talked about in a previous blog about marketing the concept of Project Management we need to be addressing the concerns of the stakeholders in how it affects their current (soon to be “old”) tools and methods.  This is part of the marketing and changing the perception that Project Management is only about disrupting the status quo.

Project Managers must understand that the gain/loss mindset exists for every person affected by the results of the project – some of whom may not be direct stakeholders in the project itself.  We concentrate and promote the gain part of the project – which we need to do.  But, a essential piece of the project should be to try to understand and address what the gain/loss equation looks like to the people involved.  The transition of losing the “old” and gaining the “new” won’t be as difficult if there is an attempt to assuage the loss part of the equation, rather than just concentrating on the gains.