Delegation

Everybody knows what delegation is .Your delegate your work for many reasons varying from laziness to personal effectiveness. The output of delegation depends on the activity delegated, the preparation for delegation,the skill of the person delegated. By preparation i mean , the inputs you give to the delegated person , the context you establish for him to do the work.

Apart from these factors , i found few other factors affecting delegation. There will be some cases where you have to delegate the responsibility but you haven't done it for some reason. Esp if you are a pure project manager with less technological background) , this applies to you . Pure Project managers feel the insecurity to deal with colleagues who are sound techies. As a result , they tend to take up an activity which ideally would need some technical coordination. Half way through, they realize that they can't move an inch in that activity because there is so much dependency and experience in technical things required to complete an activity.This results in a claustrophobic environment where you feel trapped.

The better thing would be to delegate to a person who can do this . You can monitor the progress of the activity and provide inputs of what you expect out of this work.

Part of the Problem !

When i was in my early years of my IT job, there used to be a forward which was supposed to illustrate the difference between being a part of the problem and being a part of the solution. The story goes like this -> US and then USSR were in a race to invent a pen that would work even in zero gravity . USA used the latest techniques to invent an ink that worked, while USSR just used a pencil to write in space ! This was given as an example , where US was thinking about the problem and not the solution.

To put it bluntly, this example sucks big time. Not only is this example bad, but also is inappropriate. The above example at best could have been fit for lateral or concept-fan thinking , popularized by edward de bono. Concept-fan , because instead of asking ' Whats the ink that would work in a zero gravity?' , the russians asked ' what is that which would help me write in space '?

Being a part of problem , i believe is something else and i felt it quite recently. Recently it so happened that one of the servers that my Tech support manages was shut down without any prior notice. Due to this , we did lose couple of days as the App servers got corrupted. Now the problem is two-fold ,

1) How do i compensate for the days lost ?

2) How do i solve this problem in future ? Who can solve this ?

But the problem became multi-fold , when somehow , without my conscious effort my mind started pondering over other things . Im not the reason for the problem in the first place and im just supposed to solve the problem by assigning it to a competent fellow. But , what happened is this -> I approached the issue with a perception of ' Im responsible for everything and i made a mistake ' . As a result , all the interactions i had with the team members were tainted by this perception . I failed to think to solve the problem , but started thinking about how my supervisors would assess me . So apart from the original problem , my mind augumented it with its own , due to its desires, perceptions, fears , feelings , past impressions . In the end , the problem became bigger and i was part of the problem .

Plain stupid !

Project management Rule No.2- Kill the innocence

Innocence is a nice thing. When we learn a technique , apply it in practice it injects some spirit into our nerves. Esp , if its a project management technique,tool it is very nice. We learn Microsoft Project tool , six thinking hats , Critical Path analysis and every other thing . I tried applying some of them and found it was exciting to use such techniques and manage a project.Life is so nice, if its linear.

But quite unfortunately, this forms just one part of management. The other part is to obliterate the innocence in you , act a bit skewed sometimes. We don't want to cheat , but you need to lie in an intelligent way to get things going. Understanding the motives of the people with whom you work is very much essential. Beyond a point , it is impossible to deal the corporate politics at manager's level without lying , without crossing the 'im- straight-goodie'barrier. But this needs to be controlled and balanced to a level that you don't miss out the essential thing - contribution is higher than your ego. To execute a project , you can project something 'more' to your senior management , but not to a level where your mirror is not willing to show you up.

Project Management Rule No.1

Starting today , im planning to have series of 'rules' blog , primarly from my experience. Karthik's blog i have become fan of brevity .

Project Management requires no Learning. To become a developer , you need to have your neurons soaked in Head First book juices , but to be a project manager you just need a pair of ass, a nice seat , paunch, expertise in microsoft word, lie,a small bald patch . Non sense !

Not only is this atrocious but completely illogical too. Having executed projects with no sense of quality process and projects following good process, i can say confidently that the day you start learning project management techniques,tools sun raises in the west - sorry , that won't happen. But you can control the project effectively , if you kick the ass of laziness that piggy backs with your archaic thoughts. There are some good books , but i will first recommend this book

Rapport with folks

One of the frequent complaints or disgusts which I often discuss with my friends is the lack of trust of the immediate supervisor on us. The immediate supervisor has a huge role to play in anybody’s career- for he represents the company to us. We look up to him and especially if you are in your formative years of your IT, you would also expect him to guide you, encourage you, plan your career – no matter what your efforts are. The immediate supervisor also plays, sometimes a crucial role in getting things done, for his contacts and familiarity with the pillars of the organization may be quite more and is handy to ‘move’ things.

No Matter whats your role is in a project, the important thing in a project is that the team gels well and things are bit open – the team member should be able to reach to the Project leader and discuss his problems and the project leader should be able to discuss the mistakes, convey to the team member on why he has got a bad performance appraisal rating, or convey to the team on the need to work harder, even probably couple of night outs to finish the project. Im not saying that there need to be ‘shaking the heads always’ guys in a team. This is not obedience but an environment where people can discuss things and agree to take up not so comfortable things for the sake of the project.

Probably one of the familiar mistakes we make in a project and in personal relationships too is to expect this rapport right from Day one of the project. Rapport is something that would come never automatically in a team. Sometimes it never comes in a team even after a long time. Worse, rapport is not something you can plan consciously – execute steps from a book and develop the rapport. This has to come naturally. There are so many reasons why people don’t get along with – without going in depth into it, I can safely say that the reasons vary from factors such as religion, race, sex to priorities, first impressions, age, physical appearance ( yeah !!) even.

I did say that rapport cannot be developed through executing some steps in a book – but you can develop the rapport in certain ways. Again, I have a certain view point about developing rapport – the most important of it is that, it has to come within and not without. You can go a picnic, go for some training programs, even on a tour as a team, but that doesn’t ensure anything. The need to have a rapport or atleast say, the wish to communicate and involve the team in executing the project has to come within. – this is the focal point here- based on which the whole concept of rapport revolves.

So if you are a project leader, you need to start believing in the capabilities of the individuals, to assess the current and nurture them. We need to start believing truly that projects – not only the development part , but even the planning part needs the brain which is located in more than one head. There are so many planes in which this works – the team member loves to be treated as an important member , to be trusted . Even sharing little bits of information on the importance of the project in the business sense, sharing best practices of your experience will greatly inspire the team and create a sense of ‘being’ in the team. Explaining the context of the task can be very useful here – imagine asking this..

“ Hey– I would like you to analyze this crash immediately and send an email to the client. I don’t like these crashes at all”.

Again I reiterate – this need not be a wrong way to communicate and it may work for some. But a more complete way is to explain the team member of why solving this crash is important and how the business thrives on the stability of the application being developed- this puts the task in a better context and the team member feels a sense of passion. This also creates a sense of responsibility within the team member.

And if you are a team member – let’s remember this: There are some good project managers, but if your boss’s ass is being fired, its natural that he drops a couple of hot potatoes into your trousers. If you are expecting that your manager will gel with you immediately, chances are that you are most likely to be disappointed. When you join the project, behind the façade of clean smiles the manager would obviously be concerned about your skills, your flexibility, how well you gel with the team and last but certainly the most hidden – how much you share his vision – if such a thing exists. He may even expect you to understand the importance of the project even if is not interested to involve you by explaining the business side of the project.

And here comes the most important thing – first impressions! I think, that we have multitude amount of tasks that being restless has become a habit and a way of mind. One of the dark things about being restless is that you tend to form impressions very quick. So, even if your are talented, if the manager has formed some kind of impression about you, things will be tough for you. Imagine a guy who joins in your project and starts questioning the deadlines straight away – his intention might be to get involved, but that’s not what how the manager might see it . So, go slow in few things, atleast at the start and once you gel with the manager, you can find your way in easily.

The 180 angle to it is this – you r a project leader and u realize the fact that you need to gel with team. So what you do is to start cracking jokes, move out with the team members, socialize with them and all those kind right from day one. While its an individual’s opinion to do this, I need to mention here – that it is quite possible that team members might take you a ride sensing that you are a bit care-free person!

To summarize, the first impressions are important to form any kind of rapport. Always go slow and steady initially – Involve others and get involved in the team as soon as possible.