People And Projects Podcast: Project Management Podcast

Total Duration 22:23 Download episode 61 Have you ever heard this quote?"There's an inverse relationship between your level in a company and your ability to see reality." We joke about that at times when it seems like the people above us are out of touch. But why is it more difficult to see reality, the higher you get in an organization? Sometimes it's just because the people higher up are focusing on longer term issues. By virtue of their scope of responsibility, they're not in the day-to-day. But that's not always it. I was facilitating a project management workshop at a company a couple years ago discussing this very topic. A participant said it this way: "Around here, it's crap down at our level but it's fertilizer up there! It's not a problem, it's an opportunity!" Information gets filtered as it travels up and down and around an organization. What gets through and why can make all the difference between making good, informed decisions or barreling over a cliff with what we thought was an accurate map.

Check out this quote from Daniel J. Boorstin. He said,"The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance; it is the illusion of knowledge." How often have we kidded ourselves that we knew something only to get more data or evidence later that made it clear we didn't have the full story? It happens all the time. Probably more than we realize. I find a related observation when it comes to attention. We think we see the world or situations or people clearly but inevitably it's all being filtered through lenses. It could be argued that we have an illusion of observation. Have you ever seen the famous video that asks you to count the number of times a basketball is passed between a group of college students? Check it out: {youtube}vJG698U2Mvo{/youtube} Interesting, eh? Selective attention is alive and well, and for all of us who desire to lead and deliver, we need to be acutely aware of how it works. In this premium episode I want to take time to highlight some points from the interview with Cathy to help you p

In our last episode, you heard the first portion of my discussion with Cathy N. Davidson, author of Now You See It: How the Brain Science of Attention Will Transform the Way We Live, Work, and Learn Cathy's book is just coming out this week and has already been named one of the top 10 science books of this fall season. Is technology making it more difficult to focus? Cathy and I talk about that in this second portion of the interview.   Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Have a great week!

So let me guess.... While you're listening to this cast right now, I'm guessing you're also doing something else as well, right? Maybe driving a car or checking e-mail or working out. Or perhaps you're checking out what's going on with your Facebook friends. Hey, if you're doing that, look up The People and Projects Podcast on Facebook and Like us! Oops. Sorry. I got a bit distracted there for a moment!   Anyway, there is seemingly an endless number of stimuli that are vying for your attention right now. Which do you focus on? Why? There are many great minds that are putting a lot of effort into these questions for it could reasonably be argued that time is not the scarcest resource anymore: it's attention. As we strive to focus on a world clamoring for our attention, I wanted to share one of my favorite books that is just coming out this week. It's entitled Now You See It: How the Brain Science of Attention Will Transform the Way We Live, Work, and Learn, by Cathy N. Davidson. I had the opportunity to talk

Dee Hock is one of my management heroes. Dee founded VISA years ago and had many insights on how to be an effective leader. If you've sat through one of our leadership workshops, you might be familiar with one of my favorite Dee Hock quotes. Dee says: "If you look to lead, invest at least 40% of your time managing yourself -- your ethics, character, principles, purpose, motivation, and conduct. Invest at least 30% managing those with authority over you, and 15% managing your peers. Use the remainder to induce those you 'work for' to understand and practice the theory. I use the terms 'work for' advisedly, for if you don't understand that you should be working for your mislabeled 'subordinates,' you haven't understood anything. Lead yourself, lead your superiors, lead your peers, and free your people to do the same. All else is trivia." There's a lot to chew on in that quote, isn't there? Too often we think managing is about managing down--our so-called subordinates. Dee puts much more focus on managing ourse

One of the lessons that eventually becomes clear is that managing is not just managing down: leading those people who report to us. In fact, the higher I got in organizations, the more I found I needed to manage up: in many ways, to lead my boss. That's a lesson I don't remember being taught in a textbook. Whether you're a project manager, team member, or senior leader, we all have a boss, and learning to lead that boss is a key skill that must be developed. Earlier this year I had a conversation with leadership expert John Baldoni. John is the author of many books, including Leading Up: How to Lead Your Boss So You Both Win. In this episode, you'll see what John has to say about how you can more effectively lead your boss.   You can learn more about John by visiting http://www.johnbaldoni.com/. John recommended you check out his previous book Lead by Example: 50 Ways Great Leaders Inspire Results. Also, I recommend you check out the other book John mentioned in the interview: Lead Your Boss: The Subtle Art o

There's nothing easy about rescuing a problem project. There's a reason why they're called problem projects! Todd's book is reasonably good at outlining a framework for how to approach the problem project when you inevitably will be tasked with doing so. In this special premium edition, I want to share some coaching for you based on lessons from Todd's book. First, let me encourage you to not back away from the problem projects. I talked with Todd about that early in the discussion. Though it may not be fun, per se, there's something engaging about the problem-solving of a problem project. If you can develop a reputation of taking on the chaos, bringing it under control, and delivering the project, it really is your chance to shine. It used to drive me crazy when I'd hear people say, "It's not a problem, it's an opportunity!" Let's call it what it is: it's a problem! However, it is an opportunity as well. Remember that when you're tempted to try and dodge a recovery effort. Second, I have to ask: Do you have

Lead projects long enough and eventually you'll have to deal with the problem project. Whether you were involved with the project from the beginning or inheriting problems from someone else, the reality is we need to be able to rescue the problem project. That's not only true--it's also the name of a new book from Todd C. Williams, PMP. In this episode, I talk with Todd about ideas and recommendations from his book Rescue the Problem Project: A Complete Guide to Identifying, Preventing, and Recovering from Project Failure. You can learn more about Todd by visiting http://ecaminc.com/. His blog Back From Red can be found at http://ecaminc.com/index.php/blog.   Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Have a great week!

I have to tell you, I greatly enjoyed reading Peter Sims' book Little Bets and talking with him over the phone. Frankly, I enjoyed it far more than I expected. I expected it to be a book about innovation, and it is. But there are so many lessons in it that apply to all of us who desire to deliver projects and lead teams. In this special premium edition, I want to share some coaching for you based on lessons from Little Bets: How Breakthrough Ideas Emerge from Small Discoveries. First, the big idea of the book is to stop trying to hit the home run, to figure it all out up front, to completely understand everything before you take the first step. Some of those who seem to make success seem effortless start small and iterate instead of trying to get it all correct from the start. One of the objections I often hear about project management is that it presupposes that you can figure out everything up front and then you execute against that plan. That's why project management doesn't work, according to that mindse

One of the great challenges of business is how to go from idea to delivery. It's easy to talk about ideas but turning those into a finished product requires much more than talk. It can be daunting to deliver. There's the risk of failure. There's the fear of unknowns--of surprises that can create obstacles to success. Going from idea to delivery is truly challenging! Ultimately project management is about how to deliver results but leaders of projects and teams need more than just work breakdown structures and Gantt charts. One of my favorite books of this year provides great insights for all of us who seek to lead and deliver. I recently had the real privilege of spending some time with Peter Sims, author of a great new book entitled Little Bets: How Breakthrough Ideas Emerge from Small Discoveries, and look forward to sharing that discussion with you in this episode. You can learn more about Peter by visiting http://petersims.com.   Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcas

Ever get a crazy idea and decide to act on it? Too often I just sit on the idea instead of taking action. In late May I had a crazy idea: to produce a Father's Day Rap with some friends. Though Father's Day is in the rear view mirror, I thought I'd share yours truly making a fool of myself trying to lay down some rap tunes. After all, it's good to be humbled, isn't it? {youtube}IOwWlw5zPcc{/youtube} Regardless of your aspirations to rap or not, here's my question for you.... What's a crazy idea you've had lately but not acted on? Why not make it happen? Too often we're held back because we're afraid we will fail. I appreciated Peter Bregman's recent HBR post that recommends we don't ask, "Will I succeed?"  Rather, a better question is "Is it worth the risk?"  I'm not worried about succeeding as a rap artist or cinematographer.  And I certainly realize there's a risk of acting so silly, publishing it on YouTube, and letting you know about it!  But was it worth the risk? It was a great memory, not the least of

Thank you for joining us for this special premium edition of The People and Projects Podcast. Whether we're trying to change ourselves, our teams, or others around us, there's nothing particularly easy about it. Oh, there are models that are helpful and then there's basic common sense, but when all of this flies into the face of reality, making lasting change is truly challenging. I don't know if it was obvious or not from my interview with Kerry Patterson but I am very excited about their new book Change Anything. I really like that they have proven through research that willpower isn't the answer. In fact, it's a trap. Instead, there are proven strategies that each of us can customize to help us making changes that last. In this premium episode, I want to highlight a few of the points from Change Anything that I particularly resonated with and that could help you make lasting change. First, there's great wisdom in their advice about being both the scientist and the subject. The scientific method is an inter

So let me ask you a question: How strong is your willpower? When you want to make a change, how successful are you at not only making it but also sustaining it? Whether at work or outside, whether personally or with a group of people, learning how to effectively change is critical. And it needs to start with us individually. One of my favorite books of the year just came out. It's entitled Change Anything: The New Science of Personal Success and it is from the authors of Crucial Conversations, Crucial Confrontations, and Influencer: The Power to Change Anything. I had the real pleasure of talking with author Kerry Patterson earlier this month and look forward to sharing that interview with you in this episode. You can learn more about Kerry's organization by visiting http://www.vitalsmarts.com.   Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Have a great week!

Thank you for joining us for this special premium edition of The People and Projects Podcast. If you haven't already, make sure you listen to the discussion I had with management thinker Roger L. Martin. In this premium edition I stress some important follow-up points to help you take practical action from that discussion. Thank you again for being a premium subscriber to The People and Projects Podcast! And thank you for joining me for this premium episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Have a great week! Download the episode

I recorded this episode on the road this week, while in Las Vegas speaking at the Agile Development Practices and Better Software Conference. I greatly enjoy talking with people from many different companies about the challenges they face on their projects and teams. Here's a recurring them I hear from leaders who are responsible for delivering projects... "Should we ship or delay?" "Keep trying or ask for help?" "Invest in a new product or milk the existing cash cow another year?" Whether you're leading teams or projects, we're often faced with what seems like unpleasant trade-offs. It's not a matter of which option is the best. Sometimes it feels like we need to figure out which option is the least evil! Success with a project, team or even organization can come down to how effectively we lead when we're seemingly stuck between the proverbial rock and hard place.   To help us navigate these situations I turned to Dr. Roger L. Martin. Roger has been named one of the top 50 management thinkers in the world an

Thank you for joining us for this special premium edition of The People and Projects Podcast. If you haven't already, make sure you listen to the discussion I had with leadership and change guru John Kotter. In this premium edition I stress some important follow-up points to help you take practical action from that discussion. Thank you again for being a premium subscriber to The People and Projects Podcast! And thank you for joining me for this premium episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Have a great week! Download the episode

In this episode, I continue my conversation with Professor John Kotter. If you haven't listened to the first part of this interview, make sure to check that episode out! Our focus in this cast is on John's most recent book entitled Buy-In: Saving Your Good Idea from Getting Shot Down. To learn more about John's organization, check out http://www.kotterinternational.com/. You can follow John's Harvard Business Review blog at http://blogs.hbr.org/kotter/.   You know, if you were a premium subscriber to the People and Projects Podcast, you could now listen to some special coaching advice that I share after each interview with my guests. Each premium episode is designed to help you improve your ability to lead and deliver by taking the next step in applying the learning from our standard podcast episodes.   Thank you for joining us for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Have a great week!

When was the last time you wanted to make a change at work? Maybe it was an approach on a project or something bigger, like wanting to introduce a new way of doing projects, such as using principles from agile project management. Chances are you faced some resistance to your proposed changes. Yet one of our key responsibilities is to lead change, even when our ideas are getting shot down. Well, to give us insight on this topic, you could argue one of the best people in the world to talk to is Professor John Kotter. John's most recent book is entitled Buy-In: Saving Your Good Idea from Getting Shot Down and is a great follow-on to his classic books on change. I had the opportunity to spend some extended time talking with John earlier this year and look forward to sharing that discussion with you over the course of two episodes.   For our premium subscribers, your extra coaching podcast episode will come out with the second cast. In this first cast, John and I focus on the topic of change. Enjoy the interview!

Thank you for joining us for this special premium edition of The People and Projects Podcast. If you haven't already, make sure you listen to the discussion I had with Harvard Biz blogger and author Jodi Glickman. In this premium edition I stress some important follow-up points to help you take practical action from that discussion. Thank you again for being a premium subscriber to The People and Projects Podcast! It truly is my pleasure to provide resources to help you grow. And thank you for joining me for this premium episode of The People and Projects Podcast! Have a great week! Download the episode

Last week I facilitated a tutorial and delivered a new keynote to over 800 people at the STAREAST conference in Orlando. It had been a while since our family had visited Florida so I had the opportunity to bring my wife and three children along, which was great! Between speaking engagements, we had the opportunity to spend time at Disney and if you've spent any time at a Disney park, chances are customer service and quality come to mind. People at Disney know how to be great on the job. They are patient with demanding customers and seemingly cool under the heat of the Florida sun.   What does it take to be great on the job? As it turns out, there's a book by that name out this week by Jodi Glickman. I had the opportunity to catch up with Jodi recently and look forward to sharing that interview about her book with you this week. Learn more about Jodi's organization at http://greatonthejob.com. You can also find her HBR posts at http://blogs.hbr.org/glickman.   Thank you for joining us for this episode of The P