Tired of the Feeling You're Herding Cats? Problem Solved!

Have you ever heard the saying "it's like herding cats"? When you did, or if this was the first time you've heard it, did it resonate with you? Did you smile and nod your head? Well then at some point in your life, maybe even currently, you are a leader. 

Project managers aren't just admins. They aren't just coordinators. They aren't just planners or schedulers. Project managers are leaders. Sometimes intentionally, sometimes reluctantly, sometimes in complete denial but they are leaders. They see the forest and the trees. 

But leaders can't lead if they don't communicate. The people that you lead may be very skilled at what they do but it's your job to ensure that none of their talent is wasted on frivolous things because you did not communicate a direction to them. Having a team of the best football players on earth is pointless without a coach. Mediocre teams with coaches will beat all-stars with no coach. 

But it's like herding cats!! Yes it is. We are all busy with competing priorities daily.  That won't change. So how do I gets the cats to herd so we can get things done on schedule, with the level of quality we need and on budget ?  

Cats may be very independent minded, divas who don't really put much stock in others. The sun don't shine till they wake!  But no matter how high the pedestal they're perched on, cats still need to eat. They've got to come down to feed. 

The independent minded, divas on your team, and all of the other team members for that matter, desire more than just showing up for a paycheck each week. We all do. Spend the time as a PM formulating your plan, coordinating resources, and scheduling WEEKLY progress tracking meetings with your team. Then feed them with communication / direction for the upcoming week. Give them specifics (their favorite dish) and deadlines (or the food will get cold). Here's a translation of the metaphor for the non-metaphor types ;)

Herding Cats	Translation	Practical Application
Get the Cats to come prepared to eat	Prepare the team to provide the right updates on the right tasks at the right time	Detailed Tracking Meeting Agendas
Show them what they ate and whats on the next menu	Motivate the team to continue to perform by advertising their progress (good or not so good)	Detailed Progress Reports
Tell the top Cats only what they need to know to help keep the other cats in line	Remove blockers by synthesizing them and providing clear decisions for the Execs / Sponsor to make to unblock progress	Executive Briefing Decks
Keep them from straying too far	Manage scope by focusing only on those actions that will help the project, whittling out those that do not, and focusing the action item owners only on those action items that are current (right actions, at right time, for right deliverables)	Action Item Logs

The challenge is that producing the 'meal' to maximize your results take time. Lots of time and analysis. This is the reason why most project managers DON'T do it. They either don't understand the value / benefit, don't know how to do it or they simply just don't have enough hours in the week to do it. Even with all of the software tools we have at our disposal today, this is still a highly manual, labor intensive administrative effort that most PM's  avoid. 

'There are too many other things that need my attention and I just don't have the time'. 

At www.exorion.net we've solved this problem! 

Just like the microwave oven turned hours of meal preparation into minutes (or in some cases just seconds) we have turned the analysis and prep time of communication to project team members into one that is done automatically in seconds! 

So now you're asking yourself 'how is that even possible?' Go to www.exorion.net and click on the BETA test tab and watch the product presentation video for more information.

This is the most powerful way for project managers to herd the cats. You have to be consistent. If you communicate frequently; providing the information they need in a highly digestible and consistent format, at the right time to the right people, your team will understand what needs to be done, how when and why. 

If your project was floundering, it will turn around and sail. If you were doing well, you will supercharge it towards success! Using our solution consistently on all of your projects will 'train the cats' to adopt successful behavior that will carry over from project to project for success on a consistent basis. 

Need to herd the cats to get your project done? Feed them good food. They'll show up on time and leave happy. 

The next time you catch yourself thinking "my project feels like it's rudderless at sea" or its "out of my control and I'm always playing catch up instead of leading it", you'll know that today you heard of a solution that will put you back in the drivers seat and steered towards success. www.exorion.net 

The thin line between SME & PM

It isn’t uncommon for subject matter experts to run or lead projects. In fact this tends to occur as the focus of projects from a sponsor’s perspective is generally on the ‘content’ of the project and they often don’t really see the value of a separate PM role on the project.

While it is vital to have a subject matter expert or analyst on a project, (as PM’s should not be responsible for solutioning) there are some subtle yet potentially costly risks associated with putting that individual in a dual SME/PM role.

It is human nature to focus our attention and efforts in our areas of expertise and more often than not this is what occurs. A SME is more likely to focus their attention on the details around the ‘solution’ and to then go through the motions when it comes to the PM component of their roles.  This includes throwing together a ‘project plan’ because this is expected of the PM side of their role.

My experience has shown many SME built project plans and there are some consistent findings in this respect. One is that the project plan always seems to end on the targeted project completion date, but the critical path cannot be calculated.

This is usually because there are few if any dependencies built in. Instead the Start No Earlier Than (I call it the SNET) constraint is abused throughout the plan obscuring the total slack.

So what? Well while the solution may approximate perfection, the estimated time, effort and costs are unknown and likely based on a faulty ‘work back’ plan. The ‘project plan’ is simply window dressing and there simply to satisfy the sponsor & stakeholders’ need to see things appear to wrap up on time.

What results is often a project that overruns it’s scheduled time due to poor planning, key resources that may also cost dollars (IT resources or consultants) either disperse to other previously committed projects or must charge the extra time against the project increasing the budget and lowering the return on investment.

In many cases this part of the job is severely neglected in favor of solutioning. The other risk is that having the SME who is also responsible for the PM function is akin to having the fox watching the chicken coup.  The PM role naturally provides the devil’s advocate to question the validity and assess the overall impact to the project’s success when change requests are introduced.

Scope creep cannot be properly managed without having an unbiased second opinion and a true assessment of the impact on the overall plan. This again leads to the perfect solution that will likely meet none of the requirements of the triple constraint. If getting to market on time is a key requirement, you need to have someone whose focus will remain on getting to market on time. SME’s are excellent at what they do which is why they perform this role. Their participation is vital to the project’s success. Excellence and perfection are the undying goals of a SME and rightly so. This is why they are at the table.

A PM’s role is to ensure that ALL of the objectives of the sponsor are being addressed, stakeholder expectations are managed, and that there is a high quality, regularly revisited plan in place along with the proper checkpoints and processes to address the unknown unknowns that tend to crop up at inopportune times.

Not all projects require a PM. As a rule of thumb, if the number of stakeholders and team members is small, the scope of the project is limited to one department (not an enterprise wide project) and time & cost is not an issue you may be able to manage with a SME/PM. Once the scope of the project grows beyond this, your risks increase significantly unless you have a qualified & experienced project manager running your project.

The PM’s view of the project is much broader than the SME and project success means keeping your eye on all of the moving parts of the project, including the solution.

Article published in BA Times Dec 2007 by Sean Best, PMP, Project Management Professional and Owner of exOrion LLC. His 20+ years of project management experience includes work in the banking, payment processing, telecommunications and software industries. He can be reached at exorion.solutions@gmail.com