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 

Decision Making – Trusting Your Data

Making decisions is an inherent part of managing projects.  How those decisions are made, and the information that they are based upon, can make the difference between a successfully run project and a potential disaster.

Projects are comprised of hundreds, and potentially thousands of issues.  Where do you focus your attention for the greatest gain?

Your information or ‘data’ is only as good as the effort you put into keeping it current.  However, what you learn from your data can be the difference between managing by the skin of your teeth or managing your projects as a professional PM, making decisions based on facts.  It is the difference between following every goose-chase looking for the ones that might put your project at risk and identifying the real risks quickly and early.

In order for information to become project data it must be documented.

Project data is any documented information related to your project;  e.g., project plans, business cases, PMO documents, emails, logs decks, minutes, agendas, status updates, etc.

Project data is not hallway conversations, meeting discussions, gossip, innuendo, hearsay, body language, tone of voice.  Verbal information remains just that until the commitment to document it is made.  It is more difficult to deny something that was written or recorded than to deny something that was said.

The value of the data is directly related to the level of commitment behind it.  When project information is documented it is published for public scrutiny and does not rely on the accuracy of individuals’ memories.

The pareto rule is that 80% of the problems are the result of 20% of the issues.  To find that 20% you need to gather, organized, validate and analyze your project data.  Mine the 20% that will give you the biggest bang for your buck and delegate the rest.

This could be interpreted as ‘passing the buck’, but at the end of the day your job is to manage the project, not to personally solve every single issue that arises.  The 20% usually has a component whose consequences would directly affect the scope, schedule, cost or quality of the end product and by this definition falls under the jurisdiction of the PM to address.  The remaining will generally fall within the realm of responsibility of the Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) requiring a greater depth of knowledge / experience than a PM would typically possess.

After all, every project has a team.  Each team member is responsible and accountable for their deliverables and it’s the PM’s job to leverage their skills, talents and strengths by assigning them the issues to manage that are best suited to resolve.

For example, a working project plan with an unusually high number of tasks that are locked with “Start No Earlier Than” or “Start No Later Than” constraints will hide the true critical path, particularly if these tasks have predecessors and successors.

Article published in Project Times September 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