How to Choose Failure

 

   When is failure a choice?

     Quite often, as a matter of fact. It’s a major default option when success is not consciously chosen. Take a good look at projects of your experience.

     We choose success when we specify a clear outcome, make it a firm intention, talk about what it means – then support it with practical planning and execution.

     Choosing failure is an easy slide in the other direction. We may not realize we are guaranteeing some measure of failure when we decide or agree to accomplish something . . . and then don’t immediately press the “Start” button.

     When we really mean it, we act in two stages right after we decide:

First, establishing the project outcome and basic agreements with key                     

     stakeholders

Then, executing with solid organization and relationship building,

     You start with the finish, invoking the second of Stephen Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Successful People:

“Begin with the end in mind.”

         Regarding execution, management guru Peter Drucker said:

b

“Unless a decision has degenerated into work, it is not a decision; it   

       is at best a good intention.”

Failure Is Quick & Easy

      If it wasn’t the fastest-ever project failure, it had to rank right up there. The project manager appointed two people to get started on the design of a software program, then immediately left on vacation.

     Needless to say, there wasn’t much progress while the project manager was away.     The designers spent a lot of time fixing problems that were interesting and in the neighborhood, without really getting much done on the software design itself.

     The IT people were grateful for the extra help, but the project mostly wandered aimlessly away from the original short-term intent..

     After the project manager returned, the carelessness of the launch was reflected in a continuing lack of focus. The project wasn’t very large, but the eventual cost and finish date were way out of line.

Walk, Talk, Sit, Meet . . . Matter

Whenever I feel afraid
I hold my head erect
And whistle a happy tune
So no one will suspect

   I'm afraid. . .

                           -- Anna (from The King and I)

    

      I set out one evening at a brisk pace, warming up for a jog. I didn’t get far before my next-door neighbor called out from her front porch, where she was sitting with her husband.

     “What are you going to do?” she asked.

     “I’m going for a run,” I answered. She laughed, so I went over to see what this was about.

     “We thought you were going over there to calm things down,” she told me.

     I listened for a moment, and realized what she was talking about. A couple down the street was having a loud argument, well-peppered with vulgarities, and was sharing it via the open windows.

     This was a private neighborhood and I was the association president. There was reason for my neighbor’s curiosity – she thought I was out to exercise whatever authority I might have to restore peace, or at least quiet.

     That had not been my intent before I knew of the disruption, nor was it after she clued me in.

Shoot for the Moon

Project Management the Right (Hard) Way

     On May 25, 1961, U.S. President John F. Kennedy announced the goal of putting a man on the moon within the decade. How the hell were we going to do that? Neither Kennedy nor anyone else could really answer that question.

     For Kennedy, the how-to was not as important as the why. The Soviet Union was showing us up in the space race – and therefore in the struggle for military supremacy. We all saw it as an issue of national survival, beyond the obvious matter of national pride.

     This unprecedented monster of a project was driven by that very pressing need. We would find a way. Actually, we would find countless new ways to accomplish things never before attempted, or even seriously considered.

     Eight years and 56 days later – on July 20, 1969 – Neil Armstrong stepped from the lunar module onto that dusty lunar surface. Between the two events, there was an immense expenditure of funds and effort, fueled by relentless inventions to do what had never been done before.

     The commitment never wavered, although Kennedy himself was assassinated two years after his announcement.

There ARE No "Soft" Skills

     Have you ever fired someone?

     How did it go? Looking forward to doing it again soon?

     Well, it’s a “soft” skill. Must be easy, right?

      I never found it so. However much the person deserved to be terminated, it was a painful thing to do.

     In some cases, I felt I had a tougher time with it than the dismissee did. That was when the news came unexpectedly to that person (Oh, you thought I didn’t mean all that corrective counseling? All those warnings?).

      The person could rise self-righteously on a gusher of anger and defensiveness, at least temporarily. You can bet that pretty much all his/her associates would tut-tut sympathetically, including those who had been hounding the boss for months to do the deed.

     Not the same situation for the manager. If you were doing your job right, you had been patient and tolerant, but firm. You made sure the requirements were clear. You responded appropriately to variances and transgressions.

Project Management consulting: Listen to the interview

I was interviewed by Priscilla Hansen-Mahoney of Blazing Trails Consulting about my views on project management consulting. Listen to the interview here.

What Do You Mean, Communication?

 

    The sign on the back of the truck says, “Safety Is My Goal.”

     No it isn’t. Safety is not the goal – of the driver, the owner or the truck, whichever one “my” refers to.

     A goal is the ultimate outcome sought by any activity. The driver’s goal is to get paid. His employer’s goal is to make a profit. The truck has no say.

     This is an example of hyping an otherwise worthy consideration into something it’s not. It’s an effort doomed to failure.

     While every following driver could have understood what was meant by the sign on the truck, many of them might be negatively impressed.

     Couldn’t the company’s leadership, and/or its marketing people, have come up with something true and interesting, rather than an obviously insincere cliché?