Archives for 1999

Here’s my vote for the most altruistic, yet most influential, position in the organization.

by Neal Whitten, PMP, Contributing Editor

I RECENTLY WROTE an article called, “Duties of the Effective Project Manager” [PM Network, September 1999]. The article was widely embraced, and many readers requested that I also address the duties of resource managers. With the prominent role that is becoming increasingly popular for project managers, resource managers are becoming less sure of their role. Let’s take a closer look.

The No. 1 reason why employees leave a company is that they don’t feel appreciated. They don’t feel like anyone is championing their cause, looking out for them. Resource managers are the primary nurturers within an organization and company. They support their direct reports in helping them be successful in two key areas: meeting their project commitments and helping them to discover and achieve their potential in the organization and company. Let’s look at a short list of the more significant duties of resource managers (RMs).

Hires and fires. RMs must invest the time to hire qualified people who can help the projects achieve their goals. Also important is the need to appropriately address poor performers.
Performs resource planning and allocation. Only RMs can make job assignments. (A project manager can, however, assign tasks and action items as they relate to a project member’s assigned job.) RMs must anticipate and plan for future demands of their resources (direct reports).
Defines roles and responsibilities for direct reports. RMs ensure that their direct reports not only understand their jobs, but also understand how they will be measured against performing their jobs satisfactorily.
Supports direct reports in meeting their commitments. RMs work with their direct reports to help them be successful. This includes reviewing their plans and routinely tracking their progress.
Is a catalyst to resolve domain-related problems. RMs ensure that all problems within their domain are being addressed with the appropriate sense of urgency.
Evaluates performance of direct reports. Although verbal input from others can be solicited, RMs are fully accountable to work close enough with their direct reports to fairly evaluate their performance.
Compensates and awards direct reports. RMs have the duty to appropriately compensate and award. Better to err on the side of too many and too large awards, than too few and too small.
Provides career counseling and development. Each human resource needs to be nurtured to reach his or her potential. RMs must be available and accessible to work with and help develop their direct reports, including in areas of training and job opportunities.
Promotes a productive work environment. RMs have the responsibility to ensure continual improvement in the productivity of direct reports, both on long-term projects as well as from project to project.
Serves as channel for company communications. RMs serve as conduits for the dissemination of company-related information to direct reports. The RM puts a face on the corporation with which the direct reports can communicate.
Executes company policies and practices. RMs are the enforcement arm for company polices and practices as they relate to the RM’s domain of responsibility. This includes ensuring compliance with legal issues in such areas as products and services, workplace safety and contractor relationships.
Secures future work opportunities. RMs strive to practice a full employment policy for direct reports whose performance is satisfactory. The best RMs do not resort to downsizing as a standard or convenient method of managing the business. Instead, they accept responsibility for seeking and developing new business opportunities, while the direct reports focus on driving the day-to-day operations.

THE RESOURCE MANAGER has a nearly impossible job—with demands coming from every imaginable direction—yet a job that can have a profound impact on the organization’s success.

Whether they are clients, vendors, contractors or company employees, a project suffers when preferential treatment is given to any group or person.

by Neal Whitten, PMP, Contributing Editor

WHAT IF A PROJECT is made up of client personnel, vendors, and contractors, in addition to the company’s personnel? How should the project manager relate to each of these diverse groups?

This is a common problem on many projects, yet the answer is simple: Once people are assigned to a project, regardless of where they hail from, they must all be treated the same. No exceptions!

Exhibit 1 shows a project that consists of all of these groups. For purpose of illustration, each team is led by a team leader and is made up of a different group of project members: client personnel, vendor personnel, contractors, and company personnel. Note that, although not depicted in this example, it is possible that a team can consist of a mixture of people from these different groups.

Once the project members have been assigned to the project, the project manager should not focus on their origins. The focus must be on the project, the commitments from each team, and on the corresponding actions that each project member performs toward achieving their assigned tasks. The project manager sees everyone as a project member and will work with each person and group as if they were personnel from the same project team … because they are!

Each team is expected to have plans, commit to those plans, and track according to those plans. If any team is in trouble, or headed that way, the project manager initiates the attention required to help the team get back on plan. Every team is held just as accountable for their commitments as any other team.

I commonly see project managers treat the client’s personnel assigned to the project with kid gloves, quick to cut them slack at every turn. I often see vendors treated as if they are a “black box” that cannot be tampered with, their whims easily accepted as “cast in stone,” with no or little chance of altering. I see contractors treated as second-class members of the team, where project information is often withheld from them—information that they need to fully function as members of the project. And I often see company employees treated harshly because of the view that they are the most accessible project members and, therefore, the most easily manipulated.

A PROJECT’S SUCCESS is dependent upon the success of each and every project member. An effective project manager recognizes this and works consistently, firmly, and unbiasedly across all members of a project to ensure the project completes successfully.

Which do you practice: the “50/70 Rule” or the unreliable “50/50 Rule”?

by Neal Whitten, PMP, Contributing Editor

HAVE YOU EVER NOTICED that the “linear 50/50 rule” doesn’t seem to work well on your projects? That is, if you have an activity such as Prepare the Product’s Documentation, Code the Product’s Modules, or Run the System Test Scripts, when half of the allotted time for the activity has elapsed, you are 50 percent completed with the activity. Yet, when the remaining 50 percent of the time expires, the activity has not completed? This is a common problem on projects with activities that are made up of multiple so-called equivalent-weighted tasks.

For example, if we have 100 pages of material to write in 20 days (Prepare the Product’s Documentation), we expect the progress of writing the pages to represent a linear progression. That is, each page takes the same amount of time to write and that five pages can be expected to be completed every day. But the reality is that if you are only 50 percent complete with an activity when half the time has elapsed, the activity is almost certain to be completed late.

So, what can we do different? When planning an activity made up of many tasks that are approximately of the same level-of-effort, do not use the linear 50/50 rule. Instead, use the “S-shape curve 50/70 rule.” That is, when 50 percent of the time has elapsed, 70 percent of the work must have been completed. The remaining 30 percent of the work must be completed in the remaining 50 percent of time.

Let’s look at the exhibit to better understand what happens. The S-shape curve is common for planning many types of endeavors. It suggests that progress usually is slow at the start of an activity, builds to a peak when productivity is at its very best, and then slows again during the more difficult phase of completing the activity. Almost every activity you take on in life tends to play out this way. This is why many of us say we are on schedule midway into an activity, and believe we are, yet often are late in completing the activity.

THE NEXT TIME you are creating a plan for yourself, or are working with your team or project members in creating a plan, make sure that your plan takes into account the realities of the S-shape curve. Furthermore, when your progress is being tracked, show the planned progress as an S-shape curve where the vertical axis depicts the quantity being measured, such as the number of pages to be written, modules to be coded, or test scripts to be run. Then report your actual progress against your plan that is depicted as an S-shape curve.

“Project manager” is a job for those who want to make a difference.

by Neal Whitten, PMP, Contributing Editor

TRULY EFFECTIVE PROJECT MANAGERS are not easy to find. Although many people have the potential to become successful project managers, a person must first understand the duties of a project manager before he or she can be sufficiently effective in that role.

The project manager has the single most important position on a project and has the overall responsibility for its success. This position comes with a tremendous responsibility, accountability, ownership and authority. Because of the criticality of this role, project managers must be carefully selected, trained, and nurtured to give them every opportunity to be successful. Let’s look at a short list of the more significant duties of a project manager.

Has Full Responsibility and Accountability for the Project. The project manager, fully accountable for the outcome of the project, is the glue that holds the project together. The project manager leads the project with passion, as if it was his or her own business.
Applies Lessons Learned From Recent Projects. The project manager studies the lessons learned from prior projects and applies the most important lessons to the new project.
Defines Project Roles and Responsibilities. The project manager is ultimately responsible for ensuring that project members understand what is expected of them and what they should expect from one another.
Leads the Project Planning Activities. The project manager directs the creation, approval, and ongoing change control of the project plan.
Performs Project Tracking. The No. 1 reason for tracking a project is to discover potential problems before they occur. The project manager applies this proactive approach in routinely tracking the project members’ progress against their project commitments.
Adopts Project Management Best Practices. The project manager, not management, is responsible for defining, teaching, and enforcing the use of good project management practices.
Manages to Project Priorities; Performs Risk Management. The project manager understands that the No. 1 problem on all projects is that the most important problems are not being worked to a swift closure; therefore, most of the project manager’s time each day is dedicated to addressing the project’s top three-to-five priorities.
Communicates Project Status Upward and to the Client. No significant project status leaves the boundaries of the project without project manager approval.
Drives Decision-Making to Lowest Level Possible. The project manager drives ownership of decisions to the level where the accountability of the decision must lie. A key result is that project members, with proper training and coaching, will almost always rise to the expectations placed on them.
Promotes Client Involvement. The project manager recognizes that project success is directly related to satisfying the client; therefore, client involvement is essential to ensure that the right product is built.
Encourages and Supports Escalations. The project manager establishes a project culture where escalations to resolve “stagnant” problems are viewed as good business and not viewed as being personal.
Enforces Effective Change Control. The project manager ensures that scope creep, communications, and quality are carefully managed.
Mentors Project Members. The project manager is a teacher and a helper.
Promotes Good Working Relationships. The project manager serves as a role model in promoting good working relationships across a project.
Makes Things Happen. You don’t have to be the smartest, most knowledgeable person on the project to be the project manager. You do, however, have to have the knowledge, skills and experience to be able to recognize when problems surface or potential problems are looming. You must be able to articulate those problems, bring the right people together to solve those problems and know when the problem has been properly addressed and closed—all this with the proper sense of urgency that the problem requires.

Cultural change can “trickle up” from project participants and spread throughout your organization. Here’s how.

by Neal Whitten, PMP, Contributing Editor

MOST ORGANIZATIONS ARE in need of a “culture” makeover. Members are uncertain about the behavior expected of them on projects. Members commonly do not have the basic project management skills of planning, tracking, and interpersonal communications that are required to work effectively. People complain about the unproductive culture within which they must work. Furthermore, there is a myth that touts that the only way to change the culture of an organization is for the change to come from higher management.

You want to change the culture of your organization? You can. Project by project. Here’s a highly effective method you can use, which doesn’t require permission or intervention from higher management.

When a new project is started, a culture-training class should be mandatory for all project members assigned to the project. Culture training is the formal training of all project members in key hard skills, soft skills, and processes that are essential in helping to ensure a successful project. Culture training provides all project members with a common understanding of how the project will be run and the role that each is expected to play. A Project Management Office or training organization is a likely organization to conduct culture-training classes or to find suitable instructors to do so. The project manager can teach a portion or all of the class if desired.

Culture-training classes typically are one to two days in length, depending on the size and duration of the project and the “culture maturity” of the project members. Very small projects of five or less members may require classes only a half-day long. Let’s look at some topics to address in a culture-training class:
Roles and Responsibilities of Project Members. These positions include the project manager, resource managers, product architect (chief technologist), business architect (client’s advocate), product manager (sponsor), team leaders and team members.
Project Planning Process. Includes discussion of the development process to be followed, how the project plan will be developed and approved, and how the plan will be maintained.
Project Tracking Process. Includes discussion of project tracking meetings, metrics to be tracked, identifying high-risk/high-priority problems, and creating problem recovery plans.
Escalation Process. Includes discussion of the process to be followed when escalation is required to resolve an issue.
Project Reviews. Includes how to conduct project reviews, their frequency and timing. Performed at selected points along the project cycle, a project review is an independent review that examines the health of a project.
Post-Project Reviews. The process to be followed in conducting the project review at the end of the project.
People Communications. Includes discussion of common interpersonal communications problems that can arise on a project and how to avoid or deal with them. Examples include attacking problems and not people, asking for help, being willing to help others, and asking questions rather than assuming.
Soft Skills. Discusses attributes and behaviors that one can adopt to become a more effective project member. Topics include how to deal with criticism, managing time, how to make and meet commitments, and being accountable for one’s own actions.
Lessons Learned. A discussion of the lessons learned from the most recent post-project reviews and how to apply the most significant lessons.

CULTURE-TRAINING CLASSES provide uncommonly great benefits to starting a project and its members on a productive footing toward launching and implementing an effective project. Culture-training classes not only can give new projects a jump-start, but can also help power projects through to a successful completion.

Don’t exhaust yourself in trying to sell top management on project management best practices. The buck ultimately stops with you—not with your management.

by Neal Whitten, PMP, Contributing Editor

I CONVERSE WITH thousands of people each year. One of the questions most asked by project managers is: “How can I get buy-in for ‘project management best practices’ where I work?”

This standard answer is the wrong answer: “You must sell your ideas to top management. Once they buy-in to your proposal, they will lead the charge for reform. This reform includes directing their staffs to comply. Then the next level of management will direct their staffs to comply. And so on, until ‘the word’ has traveled down to the troops on the front lines and the changes are embraced by all. If they don’t support you, then you cannot substantially influence the practices accepted in your projects or across your organization. Therefore, you must keep working to sell the top management.”

In most cases, this approach does not work. In the few instances where this approach does work in driving and institutionalizing project management best practices, it is a welcomed experience. It would be great if this approach worked all the time, but it is wishful thinking.

So, what’s the solution? Think, for a moment, as if you were top management. Ask yourself what you would expect of someone who is coming to you for support to solve a problem. What would you expect that person to communicate to you? You would expect to be made to (1) fully understand the problem, (2) fully understand the solution (and that solution will be owned and led by someone other than you), and (3) fully understand precisely what is expected of you—what your role is—to help bring about the solution. These are the issues you address.

If you have done these things, then you almost always will get the support from top management and from the management below them. However, if, after an earnest attempt, you still are ineffective in selling change to top management—for whatever reason—don’t resort to the common behavior of withdrawing, complaining, and whining yourself exhausted. If you behave this way, the problem will now be you! … if it wasn’t already.

Instead, you should fix the problem as it relates to your domain of responsibility; that is, in those areas that fall within your job assignment. For example, if you are a project manager, it is your job to ensure that project management best practices are defined and enforced on your project—not across your organization that is made up of many projects. Defining project management best practices for your project is not management’s responsibility, it is yours (unless they have already been defined and institutionalized in your overall organization).

As a project manager, you have more influence in changing the way your project is planned, tracked, controlled and run day-to-day than anyone in your top management could possibly ever have. Your project will be planned according to how you lead the planning activities. It will be tracked based on your direction of when, where, how, what, and so on.

IF YOU ARE SUCCESSFUL in selling top management on change and in obtaining their support, then that is the most effective method to change the culture of an organization. However, in absence of their full support, you must take the responsibility, accountability and authority to drive the needed change in those areas that define your domain. Don’t wait for someone else to do it for you. If everyone focused on solving the major obstacles that prohibit him or her from achieving their commitments, then the entire organization would experience a giant leap forward in improving its performance. Don’t become part of the problem. Be part of the solution in those areas that impact your performance and success.

The best-run meetings almost always end well before their scheduled end time.

by Neal Whitten, PMP, Contributing Editor

“MEETINGS, MEETINGS AND MORE MEETINGS. Aren’t we ever going to get some real work done around this place?” How many times have you have heard this? Perhaps you’ve said it yourself a time or two. It has been my experience that most meetings are poorly planned, conducted and, frankly, waste a significant amount of time.

Let’s look at a short list of meeting guidelines that can correct this common but pervasive problem.

Plan the meeting. Make sure that the attendees critical to the meeting’s success are properly informed and have committed to attend. Reschedule the meeting if the required attendees cannot participate and the meeting cannot be sufficiently productive. Inform attendees of the meeting objectives so that they can come to the meeting with the proper mindset and come prepared. Of course, disclose the meeting date, time and location.

Start on time. Always begin meetings on time. Don’t review progress for latecomers during the meeting. Consider scheduling meetings to start precisely 10 minutes after the hour so that attendees can arrive on time from prior meetings.

Identify the meeting leader. All attendees need to know who is in charge of the meeting. Everyone looks toward this person to demonstrate the needed leadership throughout the meeting.

State the meeting objectives. Clarifying the scope of the meeting at the start will help the meeting attendees remain focused and productive.

Assign a person to take the minutes. The meeting leader must not take the minutes. This action causes the meeting leader to lose concentration and the ability to be fully engaged in driving the meeting. It also negatively affects the progress and pace of the meeting. The minute taker preferably is a person who is not, otherwise, an essential participant.

Keep meeting on track. The meeting leader ensures that the meeting begins and remains on track to achieving its objectives. Overly lengthy discussions, tangential topics, and scope creep are discouraged and the appropriate actions are taken to refocus the meeting attendees.

Enforce common respect for all participants. The meeting leader creates and enforces a productive and respectful meeting environment. The meeting’s success is dependent on the free flow of information and ideas, as well as the full participation of the attendees. Problems are attacked, not people.

Summarize meeting achievements. When the meeting objectives have been met, the key points and assignments are briefly summarized. This action helps the attendees to be clear on the meeting outcomes and allows them to immediately begin taking the appropriate actions while the meeting minutes are being prepared.

Distribute meeting minutes within one workday. Either the minutes taker or the meeting leader prepares and distributes the minutes within one workday of the meeting. In either case, however, the meeting leader is ultimately responsible for the content of the minutes and ensuring timely distribution.

End the meeting on or before its scheduled end time. The meeting ends on time to accommodate other commitments of the attendees. The best-run meetings will almost always end earlier than scheduled. Consider ending the meeting 10 minutes early to accommodate attendees arriving to their next meeting on time. If the meeting requires more time than was scheduled and the meeting cannot be continued immediately, then give attendees a heads-up as to its likely rescheduled date and time. End the meeting on time.

THE MEETING LEADER IS RESPONSIBLE for following these or similar guidelines. Attendees rightfully look to the meeting leader to run effective meetings. Posting these guidelines in all meeting rooms can help to educate and remind meeting participants what they should expect and demand when they give up so much of their limited time to meetings. There is a direct relationship between effectively run meetings and the overall effectiveness of the related organization, project or team.

Here’s a great tool for improving the performance of projects and turning failing projects around!

by Neal Whitten, PMP, Contributing Editor

A PROJECT REVIEW—an independent review performed at selected points throughout the life of a project—allows us to examine an active project to determine its overall health. If any significant problems are identified, actions can then be recommended to address them. These midproject corrections can help improve the performance of projects and can turn failing projects around.

A project review is not the same as performing routine (recommended weekly) project tracking meetings. A project review is a special event to examine the current state of a project from an impartial source—one or more reviewers from outside the project.

Project reviews are typically performed on projects that last six months or longer and are performed every three to four months. They are best performed near major milestones, especially prior to releasing additional funding for a project. Project reviews should be scheduled in advance and appear as tracked activities in the project plan.

Project reviews should be arranged by someone not directly on the project being reviewed. A Project Management Office (PMO)—also commonly called a Project Office—is a likely organization to administer project reviews. The PMO selects the members of the review team, typically composed of one to five “experts” from outside the project. Depending on the project to be reviewed, review team members might have skills in areas such as the technical aspects of the product being developed, project management, quality, marketing, business management and legal.

The PMO prepares a list of topics that selected project members must address during the project review. The topics list is approved by the project review team and then provided to the appropriate project members to aid in their project review preparation.

The project members requested to present before the project review team typically are members who perform in leadership positions on the project, such as the project manager, the product manager, the business architect, the product architect, the team leaders and selected resource managers and team members. On small projects, all the project members may be asked to participate in the project review.

The project review is conducted by the review team. The goal is to identify only significant project problems. The selected project members present the requested information to the review team and respond to questions asked by the review team. A project review might take anywhere from two hours to three days, depending on the size and complexity of the project. For most projects—those of 50–300 members—a full day should be sufficient. By contrast, a project of five members may require only two hours.

After the project review, the review team prepares summary charts and presents its assessment informally to the project manager, then to management, the project members, and, optionally, the client. Out of professional courtesy, the project manager is permitted to see the findings first. Many times the project manager will identify inaccuracies in the findings or items taken out of context. Such comments from the project manager can help ensure the integrity and usefulness of the findings. The problems identified must be logged as “action items” and tracked to closure by way of the project’s tracking process.

A PMO can perform an administration role before, during and after the project review to ensure that all parties perform their duties when, where and how required. A PMO also can monitor that the problems identified are properly addressed and closed.

PROJECT REVIEWS ARE a powerful tool in managing projects. They act like a routine physical by a doctor; that is, the project undergoes a reasonably thorough examination and any significant problems identified are treated appropriately. The purpose is to ensure that the project is and remains in the best of health. How healthy are your projects?

A mentor’s advice can impact your career and help protect your projects from crash-and-burn.

by Neal Whitten, PMP, Contributing Editor

PROJECT MANAGEMENT MENTORS are, by far, the best way to develop effective project managers. Mentors must be seasoned project managers who have “been there, done that, messed up and lived to learn from the experience.” Mentors must be accessible to work with project managers while the project managers perform their basic tasks such as planning, tracking and problem management. Mentors especially must be available during crises.

For those of you with years of project management experience, think back on how much a project management mentor—the right mentor under the right circumstances—would have helped you accelerate your learning of both hard and soft project management skills, avoid some hefty mistakes and, as a side benefit, might have moved your career ahead sooner.

The project manager, in the position of being the most influential person on a project, can have a profound impact on the outcome of the project. With projects commonly costing or impacting many thousands, even millions, of dollars, doesn’t it make good business sense for a project manager to be provided mentoring help in the quest for success, both of the project manager and of the project?

Here is a short list of example guidelines that a mentor follows to help the mentee develop his or her potential:

Helps Enhance Performance. A strong measure of the mentor’s effectiveness can be seen through the success of the mentee and of his or her project. However, it is important to note that the mentor’s objective is not promotions for the mentee—any expectations in that direction can interfere with the great learning opportunity. Focus must be on performance and achieving results—although promotions might be a byproduct for the mentee who consistently exceeds expectations.

Provides a Penalty-Free Relationship and Never Betrays Confidences. To be most effective, trust must be developed between mentor and mentee. Discussions need to be relaxed and candid on both sides. The mentee must be encouraged to be inquisitive, without concern for asking dumb questions or confiding about mistakes made. The dialog between the two must be held in confidence and should not be used in performance evaluations. For this reason, the mentee’s manager—or any manager in the mentee’s chain of command—usually is not the best mentoring choice.

Helps Identify and Develop Strengths, Interests and Specific Skill Areas for Improvement. The mentor needs to help the mentee to recognize his or her strengths, interests and areas for improvement. The mentor will recommend classes, conferences, workshops, books, articles and even other experts to help the mentee’s personal growth.

Assists in the Creation of a Development Plan. The mentee has the responsibility to create an individualized development plan that includes, with help from the mentor, the identification of knowledge, skills and experiences needed and a plan to acquire or achieve them. The development plan should complement any related aid offered by the mentee’s company.

Meets at Least Monthly. The mentor needs to be accessible to the mentee during crucial periods such as the development of new plans, establishing a project tracking process, re-planning exercises, and crises. In most cases, face-to-face contact of one to three days per month should be adequate as long as telephone access is available within 24 hours.

I HOPE THIS SHORT LIST of guidelines is long enough to spark your interest in seeking a mentor (if you don’t already have one). The time and cost invested in acquiring a mentor is small compared to the benefits that can be gained.

The most effective project managers are developed day-to-day, not year-to-year or project mistake-to-project mistake. Mistakes will happen, even with the best of mentoring. However, project managers with strong mentors should find their effectiveness continually improving. The company and everyone connected with the project will share in those gains.

If you’re among the 99 percent of us who fail this simple test—but shouldn’t—you could be in a position of weakness, to the detriment of your current and upcoming projects.

by Neal Whitten, PMP, Contributing Editor

THIS TEST IS MADE UP of only two questions. The answer sought for each question is a simple “yes” or “no.” See how you do.

Question 1: Do you work in an organization where it is mandatory to perform a post-project review when a project or a major phase of a lengthy project has completed?

Question 2: Do you work in an organization where it is mandatory for the project manager of a new project to go before a small review board to prove that the lessons learned from recent projects will be directly applied to this project?

If you answered “yes” to both questions, you are in a very, very small minority. Yet, the benefits of an organization that can answer “yes” to both questions can be striking. If you can answer “yes” only to the first question, what’s the point? Where’s the improvement occurring? Where are we institutionalizing the lessons learned?

Picture the following: You work for a company that is five years old. Each year there are 10 projects, each of one-year duration. Today, at the end of five years, your company has the experience of having conducted 50 projects. The founders of the company had the foresight to insist on learning from both their mistakes and their successes; therefore, it was mandatory to perform a post-project review at the end of each project. Furthermore, it was mandatory, at the start of a new project, for the project manager to convince a small review board that the most important lessons learned from recent projects will be aptly applied to the new project.

At the end of the first year of this scenario, there were 10 post-project reviews and a lot of lessons to learn. The 10 new projects for the second year benefited from the lessons learned from the first year. At the end of the second year, the post-project reviews revealed the next layer of lessons to learn. The 10 projects started in the third year benefited from the most recent lessons learned. And so on, until we have experienced five years of consistent improvement.

It is my assertion that the company depicted in this scenario will become a major force in whatever industry it serves. The products and services produced will be among the most advanced and successful, the employees will be among the most productive, the quality of the work will be among the best, the morale will be among the highest, and the customers the most satisfied. Why? Because we consistently get better in designated key areas by deliberately analyzing, measuring and improving our performance.

Isn’t it interesting that we expect professionals in other professions to continually improve, but we don’t expect the same from ourselves, from our organizations, from our projects. For example, we expect an athlete to continually improve his or her skills and “stats.” We expect a sports team to go over the mistakes and successes of the last game and to review the performance and weaknesses of the upcoming opponent. We expect NASA to continually learn from every earlier space launch and mission. We expect airlines … you get the idea.

We are paid professionals. We need to demonstrate the leadership and boldness to insist on organizations that perpetuate self-improvement. For example, don’t merely add an activity to a new project plan that says the project manager must “review lessons learned from the most recent post-project reviews.” Reviewing something, by itself, usually yields little improvement. However, having to convince a review board of three members that you have appropriately applied the most significant lessons learned to your new project can yield marked improvements. If you cannot convince the review board, then you must replan and return to confront the review board until you can demonstrate the application of these lessons.

ARE YOU LEARNING from project to project? You are a paid professional. Try this at work!