Logic and Project Management!

As a child, I was glued to the television whenever there was an opportunity to watch Star Trek!  I loved the show - campy by the standards of today, I couldn't help myself as I wanted to be on the Starship Enterprise as she traveled to the stars.  And, yes, my favorite character was Spock - followed closely by Scotty.  Spock in may ways spoke to many of us - using logic instead of emotion to solve problems.  And when he did let his emotional side out of the box - showed that emotion could and would frequently lead to painful mistakes.

So, why am I using space within a blog focused on project management and applications development to discuss Spock?  Logic - use it to succeed within your role.  Strip aside the emotion that you feel when confronted with issues and follow the facts!  Stay calm, track down the details and use those details to identify the move forward solution.

No project of any realistic size moves from idea to implementation without some sort of issue rising up, ready to take the whole thing off the rails and into the ditch.  Some problems are small and others tend decloak themselves like a Klingon battle cruiser to surprise and fire upon your Starship Enterprise!  These incoming salvos threaten to overwhelm you, the team and the project.  At this point, you can either act emotionally, running around without a plan and make the problem worse.  Or, you can act like Spock - use logic to create a plan, execute the plan and overcome the issue.

Planning:

Sometimes with a small issue, you can 'wing it' and successfully manage the issue.  That said, the larger the issue, the more likely you will need some type of plan and process to deal with the issue.  Leadership in the organization is going to expect you to communicate the issue, progress in finding a solution and then progress against whatever plans are ultimately put in motion to resolve the issue.

There will be wide variety of additional items you will need to manage within the overall effort:

1. You may need to setup a research team to investigate how the issue was missed or what the cause of the issue was so that this information can be communicated to the management team.
2. Additional personnel resources beyond the original scope of effort associated with the project to identify the overall solution as well as assisting in any work needed to implement the solution.
3. Additional budget resources beyond the original scope of the effort to cover any additional internal or external resources needed to provide the overall solution.
4. Communication plans may need to be put in place to update internal resources, communicate with and manage customer expectations and manage any risk to the overall reputation of the organization.

Each of the above items will require management effort from the Project Manager to ensure that future milestones within the overall effort are adjusted and manged properly; and to coordinate activity between various team members, departments, and outside consultants.  All of this will take careful planning, using organizational skills to minimize the impact to the project.

Methodical:

Many times as a Project Manager you are dealing with choices - making decisions about where short-cuts can be taken; making decisions on whether to go with Plan A or Plan B when there is no consensus from the team on which direction to take; sometimes sifting thru agonizing amounts of detail to understand an issue so that it con be communicated to the management team.

As the complexity of a problem increases, the number of details being tracked or managed associated with the issue will grow beyond your minds ability to track them all.  You are going to need processes in place that allow you to align the issue resolution within the overall tracking mechanisms in place to manage the project.

1. You will need to track new data points within and aligned to the overall project - new milestone dates, budget information, new internal and/or external resources, new equipment that may need to be purchased.
2. You will need to realign your current schedule to accommodate any new milestones associated with the new effort.  Especially those new milestones that will require current or future activity within your plan to be delayed or altered.
3. You will need to ensure that communication plans are executed properly not only to manage internal expectations, but just as important to ensure that customers, vendors, the media and other 3rd parties are kept in the loop.

Your role as Project Manager requires that you have a plan, that you execute the plan and that you manage the expectations of your team members.  You need to be the calm within the storm.

Detail Oriented:

Team members are going to be hitting you with lots of information - your job as Project Manager is to sort through the minutiae and ensure that the relevant data is recorded, tracked and used to make decisions throughout the overall project lifecycle.  As Project Manager, you will be expected to identify the important pieces of data, communicate that to the team and ensure that the information is available within meetings as decisions are made on the forward progress of the project effort.  

Additionally, management will expect that you understand the relevant pieces of information within the flood of details and know when to present that information up the ladder.  Many a Project Manager or Manager have failed when they have forgotten to keep the leadership team informed on decision points and the underlying information used to make those decisions.  I'm not saying that you should have the expectation that your being micro managed - but when there is an unforeseen issue that crops up, over communication is necessary to ensure that everyone understands the nature of the issue, the solution being implemented and the overall impacts to the organization.

Logical:

You can be angry and frustrated - that however is not going to help you move the ball forward and find a solution.  At this point, you need to step away from your emotions and use logic to understand where your at, what data points you have available to make a decision and then make short and long term decisions based on that information.  Knowing that you can adjust future activity and decisions based upon additional data points that surface.

Spock would 'follow the facts' to get to the answer - wherever those facts happened to lead him.  That's your role!  You will be tempted as angry and frustrated team members, management, customers or 3rd parties call you or come over to talk with you.  At times, you will want to 'fire back' at the individuals - however, it is better to step back, take a breath and then approach the conversation.  Focus on the fact, just the facts!  Use logic - it is the best tool you have at your disposal to deescalate the situation.

Mr. Nimoy, you are and were an inspiration to many of us ... may you live long and prosper among the stars!

If you'd like more information on my background: LinkedIn Profile