We all make promises in our lives – to our wives, our children, our parents, our bosses, our teams. It is part of life; it is part of our character. Sometimes these promises are small; sometimes these promises are the difference between a company meeting its goal and failing. Unfortunately, we don’t always live up to our promises – sometimes it is minor, sometimes it can really screw things up. And, like it or not, it’s your job as the Project Manager to hold people accountable.
One saying that was drilled into me by one of my bosses was the phrase, ‘Under promise and over deliver!’ In short, take time to think through what is being promised and ensure that you give yourself enough time to deliver a quality solution – then when there is agreement on what and when you will deliver, beat the expectations. Find a way to deliver early or to deliver more than what is being expected. Or better yet, find a way to delight your customer by delivering more than they expected ahead of schedule!
Unfortunately, life happens and occasionally we end up running into a wall when unexpected bumps send us off the path we were expecting to travel. Whoops, didn’t realize that the changes were impacting several other applications that rely on this particular chunk of code – now I have to test a whole lot more than I was ready to test! Whoops, who knew, the vendor that was going to install the new server got delayed and won’t be here for another two weeks! Whoops, I thought it was only going to take a week to code that new service, it’s really going to take a week! Whoops, I just figured out – I’m not getting full requirements and now I’m going to have to spend some time documenting what really needs to be done before I can actually start the design and coding, that’ll be at least a month delay!
As a Project Manager you’re going to hear every excuse under the sun. There will always be a reason for why it didn’t get done!
First, you should never be surprised – in fact, if you’re doing your job right, you’re probably going to know things are getting off track before other people on the team are willing to admit that there is an issue. How? Simple, communication! Remember, in past posts, I’ve talked about the concept of walkabouts? This is your most valuable tool as a PM – walking around talking with people, 1-to-1 video conferencing , instant messaging, or phone calls. Stay in touch with what people are doing – when approached casually, they will usually tell you more than when they are sitting in a status meeting. It’s easier to share when they’re talking alone with you! You can use this time to verbally catch up on what is being accomplished and most importantly, to talk about what issues they are facing. What are the things that are standing in their way? Are they seeing any delays in the stuff that is working its way through the pipeline that is supposed to be used to help them get their assigned work completed? If so, who or what is causing the delay?
Then, don’t over react! Don’t punish the person that is giving you the news – otherwise they’ll stop! Find the root cause of what is causing the delay – 9 out of 10 times, it’s not what you initially thought.
Eventually, you will figure out what is really causing the delay. Then you need to open up a dialogue with the individual responsible.
- Does the individual just need to be reminded of the need for the work that they’ve been assigned to be completed on time so that they next person in the workflow can do their piece?
- Can you talk with the team manager and get other tasks reassigned so that the individual has more time to devote to your project?
- Is the individual not staying focused and therefore delaying work on your project – spending more time than they should on Facebook, Twitter or the general Internet?
- Is someone intentionally attempting to derail your project because they don’t agree with the direction?
The biggest ‘trick’ in the bag is to use the dialogue to bring all the information out in to the open and provide a safe path for both you and the other individual to have input into the solution. It is driving to get results with and through the people you are dealing with on a daily basis.
Your goal is to understand what is driving the behavior of the other individual, then to ensure that the individual knows that you’re looking for a win-win way to move forward. If you approach the conversation in the right manner, allowing them to share with you the issue and to be part of the solution, you will reap rewards. Stop, listen, let them tell you their story and allow a little empathy to show through, then you can begin tackling the issue of how to bring the assigned task back on track.
Tags: Project Management; Software Development Lifecycle; SDLC; Change Management; Crucial Conversations;
For more information on David L. Collison: LinkedIn Profile
