Learning Leader

Measuring the Effectiveness of Project & Programme Managers: Have We Got It Right?

We had a great day yesterday with a few of our major clients at Lotus F1 headquarters.

That's me with the nearest thing you'll to me sitting in a Lotus position...

I'm not a "petrolhead", so it astonishes me how wide and passionate is the appeal of Formula One. Some people got very enthustiastic during the 'Pit Stop Challenge'!

We had canvassed our clients on what were their hot topics and the one that emerged most strongly was, "How do we measure the Effectiveness of Programme and Project Managers?" So at the end of proceedings I had to stand up and give my assessment. Here it is on SlideShare.

 

Measuring the effectiveness of Project and Program Managers: Have we got it right? from Patrick Mayfield

From my perspective we can't separate competence from learning, nor the role from the context in which it happens. So we have a lot to improve in how we measure and develop project and programme managers.

Do let me have your views.

P3O: The 'Big Idea'

 

 

I have found myself frequently sketching out the same diagram on what I see as the fundamental 'grand idea' behind P3O. So I have converted it to a sub-seven minute video.

Let me know what you think.

The fulcrum of Change

Last week I led our Change Management Practitioner course for a client in Kuwait. As expected, taking people through this material helps me reflect more deeply on some aspect other.

One theme that emerged this time was being clear about what will not change, being clear in one's own mind and within one's change team, as well as clear with all the other stakeholders. I'm sure you can see immediately why this is important to people. Depending on the change, it can be pretty disturbing stuff, particularly if everything familiar seems to be under threat.

At an early point in the course we cover the 'levers of change', the various areas to consider in making change happen. Well, I remember from my Physics that for a lever to work - to get leverage - a fulcrum is needed. As I understand it, a fulcrum is something firm that won't move. In the same way i believe we need a fulcrum for the change levers to work. What might such changeless areas be?

In their management classic, Built to Last, Jim Collins and Jerry Porras showed from research that all organizations that prevailed over the longer term where ones that

• Had a clear understanding of their values, and
• Were constantly reinventing their practices whilst never messing with their values.

In order to be able to be constantly changing, they had to have something firm and changeless. Values were their fulcrum. In the chaos of change, people in these organizations always knew what the organization stood for.

What are the values in your organization that you can hold up and say, "We stand for these things, and they will not change."?

Audio Book a Hit! ... #PRINCE2

Recently we launched an audio series on the increasingly popular PRINCE2 project management method on our website... and it's really taken off!

What we set out to do was to record 'informed conversations between John Edmonds and me, where I interrogate John in a friendly, conversational sort of way, since John was one of the authors of the most recent edition.

I think people appreciate that we have hit upon a fairly accesible way of getting into an otherwise dry management reference.

Now ... where are the out-takes?

 

The extreme dysfunctions of directing a project

How much time does a busy executive give to directing a project?  Too much and you will find the project sucks you in. Too little and you are not doing your job. But what are 'too much' and 'too little'? 

There are two extreme dysfunctions in directing a project:

1. micromanagement; and
2. absenteeism.

Micromanagement is interfering with the delegated role of the project manager. This behaviour basically shows an inability to delegate, or an absence of trust. Here the Executive requires every twist and turn of the project to be brought to his or her attention. As a consequence, the project manager is likely to do less useful work in order to serve this obsession with excessive reporting and planning.

Absenteeism is the opposite. Here the executive is not engaging with the project primarily as a decision-maker, but when present, if at all, is there to be briefed. There is no conception in the mind of such an executive that at key moments in the project the project manager needs to be empowered by decisions, decisions to proceed as planned, decisions to adjust scope or requirements, decisions to stop work, decisions to provide resources. Without this decision-making role the project manager is again disempowered.

Sometimes I've seen both behaviours exhibited by the same individuals: they take an 'arms length' approach to direction. Then when a crisis is drawn to their attention, they panic and throw themselves into the project; in doing so, they disempower the project manager and her team.

But there is a cure for these two extremes, and a very sensible use of the executive's scarce time. We coach executives on this in our briefings. This better approach save everyone a lot of time and waste.

High praise for our 'Birds of a Feather' session at Best Practice Showcase

Wow! I've just received a forwarded comment by one of the participants the other Friday at the Best Practice Showcase:

"Your session was best of the day by a mile in my view in terms of facilitation, content and dynamic discussion."

Thank you for that (you know who you are!).

We are analysing the contributions from over all five sessions and I'll present our analysis of it here shortly.

But that comment has just made my Friday! :)

Who do you write your business case for?

When you write a business case for your project or programme, who exactly are you writing it for?

My colleague, John Edmonds, and I were talking about this yesterday as we reviewed our Business Case Workshop material.

We identified three audiences:

1. Your investors. These people are the obvious target of your business case. You are writing it to 'sell' your project to them so you gain their approval and funding. PRINCE2 calls these investors the Project Board; more specifically it is the Project Executive or sponsor. In MSP it is the Programme Director and the Sponsoring Group. These people will make the investment decision.
   
   Questions they will ask are: "How likely is it that I will get a return on my investment?" "How does this support our strategy and critical is it to that strategy?" "How can I compare investment in this initiative against another?" and "What risks are there to the achievement of this business case?"
   
   
2. The second audience is, perhaps, a surprise: You. The very act of writing a business case will help you clarify your thinking. "Thoughts untangle themselves as they pass through the fingertips," is one of my favourite quotes.
   
   Most project managers I know are reluctant to begin writing a business case, let alone to  review it occasionally. However, if you do, you will find you begin to shape your project or programme design based on where the strengths and weaknesses are of the business case that emerges. For example, a case where benefits are predicated on early or time-constrained 'quick wins' is bound to influence you towards a shorter solution, or perhaps a phased delivery.
   
   
3. Other stakeholders. A stakeholder is usually defined as "any individual or group with an interest in the project/programme or its outcome".  Other stakeholders will be influenced by the reason why we need the project, its meaning and purpose, perhaps much more than the appeal of what you will deliver. In your business case will be reasons and benefits that are relevant to each one of these stakeholders.
   
   So you might be writing for quite a wide audience. Although these other stakeholders may never see the Business Case as a document - because it is usually fairly commercially sensitive - it needs to be mined for meaning, as the source of answers for all stakeholders' 'why' questions. Thus our business case becomes a key input into crafting our influencing and engagement with stakeholders.

So next time you have to write a business case, think of the audience, in that order. You may find it motivates you to write a better one.

From rapid learning to recognition

With our Leading Change Summer School we are building on the experience with clients where we have delivered short 1-day modules that are separately accredited to demonstrable applied performance in the workplace, leading to an external qualification. I have put this into a Prezi presentation

 

and added a voice-over explanation here:

 

Let me know what you think.

Traditional Management Training: What's Wrong with this Picture?

On Friday I posted a 'Napkin' picture that I had drawn for a client. It began with an image something like this first picture, designed to show the 1-day workshops that make up our Leading Change Summer School.

Later I asked one of my colleagues, "What's wrong with this picture?"

He got it immediately. It's a lecture, not the kind of learning that we advocate and practice. (I find it interesting how many people in our business have 'Lecturer' or even 'Senior Lecturer' as their job title!)

So I drew this second one. What I have attempted to show is the delegates learning by discovery, where the trainer is more a guide on the side. [The trainer is top left in the picture.] 

Reflecting on what I had drawn, I realise I had drawn the trainer smaller and in the background. It made me wonder how much the ego of a trainer comes into this. I recognise in myself that I would rather be 'the sage on the stage' than 'the guide on the side'. There is something ego-centric in me that I want others to recognise my learning, knowledge and insight. I think this, more than anything else, has allowed the traditional model of training to persist for so long, when the alternative is so much more effective.

What's your experience?

The power of napkin notation

This picture was drawn by me in my day book. [A Moleskine A5 plain drawn with a cheap Lamy fountain pen ... for all the stationery geeks reading this.]

I composed it over a coffee Starbucks before a client meeting.

Spurred on by my graphics course last week I decided to illustrate the process of the C4CM-accredited modules in our Leading Change Summer School from a 1-day training module (top left) where delegates leave with an open exam paper, to receiving their Award (bottom centre).

It brought me back to Dan Roam's intriguing book:The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures; the idea that there is real power in the simplicity of of hand-drawn diagrams, rather than sophisticated PowerPoint pitches.

My client got it immediately.