Grateful and Resolute - 1/1/10

Grateful and Resolute was my first major post of 2009. I'm in Palm Springs for Christmas 2009 and as promised, I wanted to make this an annual theme. I'll be traveling to Philadelphia again in January for the PMI Volunteer Strategic Planning Meeting which will help further my work with the Component and Community Relations Governance Committee. Following that meeting I'll be heading for Washington DC for client training and meetings. This year, I wanted to get a proactive start.

Of course, I am, as always, grateful for family, friends, good health, and professional colleagues on multiple continents. For a good portion of the year, I lost the full use of my hands to some form of inflammation which was never pinned down by traditional medicine. Fortunately Eric Hollander at Chang Acupuncture in San Diego was able to help out, and I'm grateful that after a few months of treatment, I'm back to normal. I'm also grateful for my continued association as Director of the Project Support Office for EDmin. Like last year, I am grateful for:

- The visitors to this blog. Visitors increased and stopped to read the articles more frequently.
- The experience and learning afforded by volunteerism with PMI. In October I started my participation in the Leadership Institute Masters Class 2010 which has proven to be a valuable opportunity to learn and collaborate.
- The impact I believe my day-to-day work has on education. Improvement of education has to be a priority.
- The opportunity to provide high quality education and training to aspiring project managers through an online offering of my Controlling Project Costs and Risks course at UCSD Extension. This course was offered twice this year.
- Susan Peterson, who has graciously allowed me to re-publish her past articles on this blog.
- Fadi El-Eter at PM Hut who re-publishes Susan's and my articles on his site. Fadi is committed to making PM Hut one of the number one resources for project managers.

In my January 2009 article, I made some resolutions. Here's how I did:

- It was a challenging year economically, but I met and exceeded my commitment to donating 85% of my online class revenue.
- I extended my online version of Controlling Project Costs and Risks to include a resource on project management budgeting. I also added material on RACI, SMART Goals, and Six Hats Thinking both to the online course and the blog. The article on RACI became one of the most frequently visited and read articles on this blog.
- I continued to move the blog into more advanced topics, including an article on Product Management which were also integrated into my online class.
- I continued to dedicate time to PMI volunteer activities. As a member of the C&CR Governance Committee, I produced several articles for Friday Facts, collaborated with the team to produce other deliverables, moderated a governance presentation at the annual North American Leadership Institute Meeting, and co-presented with Richard Polendey, the current Region 7 Mentor. I've helped Richard manage the regional web site as it is transitioned to a PMI virtual community to better meet the needs of the region and PMI as an organization.

Based on the successes of 2009, I'd like to make the following resolutions for 2010:

- I will continue donating 85% of the revenue from the online class.
- I will successfully complete the 2010 Leadership Institute Master Class (LIMC) through my participation as required, including a trip to Scottsdale AZ in April and the final meeting in Washington DC prior to the October 2010 North American Leadership Institute Meeting (LIM). I am also working with my LIMC team on a presentation for the LIM.
- I'm going to advance this blog to a new platform, time frame TBD, but I'm hoping to have this underway before the end of 2010. The goal is to be able to introduce some new technology for delivery of articles.
- I will continue my volunteerism with PMI as a member of the Component & Community Relations Governance Committee and continue to assist Region 7 with their technology transition.

As always, if you have any thoughts you would like to share, please leave a comment on this post or drop me an email at sdcapmp@aol.com. Thanks for reading and a Happy, Healthy, and Prosperous New Year to all!

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year! I'm taking a brief blogging break and will be back with new articles in January 2010.

GTD for PMs - Part IV

You're pretty good at keeping up with both your project work (more planned, organized and scheduled) as well as other tasks, but every now and then ... INCOMING! Unplanned and unscheduled tasks come pouring in. I found a pass, run, or kick strategy works best here.

Pass
Delegate or recruit help for as much as you effectively can and where you trust you will be supported. Especially where you trust that the task will be done and will be returned to you in good order when you need it. That helps eliminate items on the list you will need to address for a while.

This may also include saying "no" to some things, but its best to use that 2-letter word sparingly. Better: Say "Yes, but here's what I will need to do to get this done as you have asked ...". Then ask the requestor to provide the support or resources you need. Negotiate the deadline too.

Run
In any respectable large workload, there are probably more than a few things which require considerable effort to finish. Before your deadlines hit, run as many of these down the field as you can. Do the hard part, but stop short and don't complete the last 15-30 minutes of work. This is where you may need to put in some extra effort as well. Work at nights or over weekends to continue to run as many tasks down the field as you can.

Kick
As the deadlines near, you will start collecting back the delegated work and have all your tasks down the field. With all your balls lined up just short of the goal line, start to kick tasks over that goal post. Complete those last 15-30 minutes of work just in time to meet all the needs.

Now of course, my scenario is idealistic. You may not be able to get everything over the goal line in time. Following this strategy will get you as close as possible. Then, if anyone expresses disappointment that your didn't finish it all, you have an ideal opportunity to discuss how a project management approach would have assisted you in meeting the unrealistic goals and expectations.

Leadership Quotes - Part III

As a newly commissioned officer, it is quite ordinary to imitate great leaders you have come to know through your study and service. But when you stop imitating others and start leading in your own way, you will emerge as a great leader in your own right.

Dr. Wess Roberts and Bill Ross, Make It So: Leadership Lessons from Star Trek: TNG

This book had a great point about the ST: TNG series. Each main character had an episode highlighting the fact that even though it wasn't their "specialty", they were able to restart the warp engines, solve difficult tactical and strategic problems, and operate sophisticated equipment. While they had some aid in the form of computer assistance, they also had the knowledge and skills necessary and the basic leadership skills to get the job done.

All roads seem to lead back to my original Jack Welch quote in Part I. If you have good people who are passionate about what they do, you build their strengths with training, and set them free to do their work, they will find their way. They become leaders in their own right.