The power of options

Project Managers tend to forget that being task master is not the only reason they have been hired for. A PM is hired also because he knows the domain in which the project operates, the culture and processes of the company, and can integrate all these elements together to deliver the project. Fundamentally, PMs are consultants to their projects too- someone who understands the gaps, finds options for it, and implements the option that best fits the goals of the company, project and the team members.

A lot of Project Management theories focus on the most common requirements a PM should have: Good Communication Skills, Negotiation Skills, Technical Know-how, Team Management and the likes. However, at the crux of all these 'everyday' activities lies the constant process of what I term the "understand-analyze-decide-implement" chain. As is pretty evident from the name, for any situation, a PM first understands the issue at hand, analyzes the possible options that can help resolve the situation, make a decesion/recommendation around the most feasible option, and finally, implement it.

There is great power in options. And these are the reasons why:

1) Options make you think: The whole process of determining options forces the PM to think about the situation, the project and the likes. Digging out options itself makes the PM sharp and aware of what may have gone wrong. Imagine a production issue in which, a DB is at fault. What will you do first?

2) Options are based on facts: Options can be determined only on the basis of clear facts. They help the stakeholders read between the lines and weed out things that are helpful, significant, but may not be obvious at the first sight.

3) Options build confidence that the PM is incharge: Possibly bigger than the solution itself, is the impression that the PM is in charge. Things have gone wrong, yes, but the PM knows his business. Presenting a list of well thought out options gives everyone the sense that a solution is soon on its way.

4) Options help validate the decesion: Most modern decesion making tools and techniques- the balanced score card, the solution matrix, distribution curves,and the likes- feed on options that are evaluated using the tool. This enables better decisions to be made, ones that are based on facts,data and well thought out analysis.

Options make life easy. They help reach decisions faster and effectively. Options are possibly the most important deliverable from the PM to the project-on the first day, the last day, and everyday. 

Taking up a Project that is in the middle of its timeline- understanding the IQ and EQ of a project

Far too often, Project Managers find themselves allocated to projects that are in the middle of delivery. Reasons for this are many- the previous project manager has resigned, taken ill, or simply been allocated to another project himself. Either way, the incoming Project Manager has a task at hand that is both uncomfortable and exciting. Every in-progress project has an IQ (Technical Story), and an EQ (people story to it).

How then, should the PM start this process of 'Getting in' this new project? Here's some suggestions to begin with:

1) Know the team members: Easier said than done, this is possibly the best way to start an in-progress project. Meeting with the team members in a free open discussion helps the incoming PM with a host of information items, including

a) The scope, business and the nature of the project
b) Project Status and pending items
c) Key stakeholders, ways of working, and,
d) Pain Points if any.

This helps understand the IQ of the project.

2) Understand the 'Context': Every project, at any stage, has a context, a story to it. Add to this the fact that a project requires change in leadership, and you have a good reason to know whats happened, more than whats going on. Speaking with some of the key team members to understand the reasons for exit of the PM, nuances of the business, technical and people issues, helps understand the Context better. The incoming PM also gets a good amount of clarity on the kind of trust (or the lack of it), if any, that exists in the project.

This helps understand the EQ of the project

3) Appoint a Shadow-PM: Regardless  of the context or status, a project still has to continue without interruption. Depending on the situation, an incoming PM may take time to fully settle in and start active work. In such an event, it is best to appoint someone from the team to take charge. Normally, it is either the outgoing PM himself, or, if thats not possible, then, a senior from the team or the most public member of the team who has built good relationships with stakeholders.

4) Stakeholder Plan:  Depending upon the complexity of the project, a plan should be established to speak with stakeholders beyond the immediate team. In the event that everyone is in the same site, the meetings can happen physically Face to face. For virtual teams, it is best to plan for conference calls. Remember, at this stage, only the plan needs to be established. The actual discussions happen later

5) Inform the stakeholders: The simplest, yet, possibly the most difficult piece of communication is announcing your arrival, to the stakeholders. After the first 4 steps have been done, close your arrival by informing stakeholders of the following. This, of course, assumes that the exit of the previous PM has been communicated before.

a) Your arrival.
b) Who handles the project until you 'fully' take over.
c)  Summarize your stakeholder plan, to inspire confidence, and clearly indicate you will set up calls and begin discussions with various members.