Manage This - The Project Management Podcast

NICK WALKER:  Welcome to Manage This, the podcast by project managers for project managers.  Every couple of weeks we meet to discuss what matters to you in the wide and diverse field of project management.  It’s our chance to reflect on our purpose; to take stock in how we’re doing; and, when needed, challenge ourselves to step it up.  We talk with project managers about real-life situations.  We pick their brains to discover their ideas and motivations and find out what has worked for them. I’m your host, Nick Walker, and with me are the two main brains of the outfit, Andy Crowe and Bill Yates.  And today, Andy, we’re talking with the guy who literally wrote the book on measuring strategic gold. ANDY CROWE:  Nick, I have been looking forward to this all week, just to get into the topic of strategy, to look at it; and to also look at it from a project management standpoint. NICK WALKER:  Well, let’s get right to it.  Joining us via Skype is David Barrett, a professional speaker, a regular blogger, a podcast host, an education advisor, and author of five books.  His career includes the creation and directing of a conference business; a training company; a software development firm; a speakers bureau; and, most recently, a TED-style event series for project professionals across North America.  He specializes in helping people and organizations manage the uncertainty by creating healthy projects and strategies.  David Barrett, thanks so much for joining us today here on Manage This. DAVID BARRETT:  I’m thrilled to be here, gentlemen.  Great to join you. NICK WALKER:  You’ve recently coauthored a new book, coming out just in a few days, titled “Seven Elements of Strategy Execution.”  David, what prompted this book?  How did it come about? DAVID BARRETT:  Well, 25, almost 30 years later into this business, and things have changed a lot.  It’s no longer build it on time, on scope, on budget for all of us project managers.  The day is now here where we’re being asked to step it up, to be more involved in the organization, to add value, and to be more than just the tickbox project manager that many of us grew up to know.  So this whole piece of strategy is, in my mind, a natural evolution on many different fronts.  I think it’s now to everyone’s benefit, to everyone’s favor to start understanding why we’re doing the work we’re doing. And this portfolio of work that we’re managing and working on is huge.  It’s mission critical.  It’s driving the business.  And so the day has come that we’re being asked, and we should be asking, why are we doing this?  How does it fit into the strategic plan?  So this is the connection of the work of all of us, of this wonderful community of project managers worldwide, to the “why.”  In my opinion, just to that one word.  Why are we doing this?  How does this fit into the bigger picture?  And that’s a strategic plan. ANDY CROWE:  I’ve heard it said before, David, that a man with a “why” can defeat a man with a “what” any day. DAVID BARRETT:  Absolutely.  The “what” is important.  The “what” is important to know, to see that vision down at the end of the road.  But just to drive us down to some object is not going to work.  It never has.  It never will.  But to give us purpose to build, which gives us passion for what we are doing, it’s so important today.  You know, we’re no longer staying with these organizations for many days, for our lives.  We have options.  So on both fronts it’s important that we’re connected. BILL YATES:  That’s true.  David, I’ve seen this with PMI, as well.  They’ve really, as they look at the performance that leads to exceptional project managers, those who are able to recognize the why, to see that context and understand how strategy influences their day-to-day decisions, they bring more value to their organization.  I think even of the Talent Triangle when PMI rolled that out.  Strategy is really, you know, it’s named a little bit differently.  But strategy is one of those key tenets that they point to now as a key to success.  So it is, like you say, it’s like an evolution.  We’ve been asked as project managers to think more strategically.  So how does that play out in day-to-day life?  How do you see that in the life of the PM? DAVID BARRETT:  Well, absolutely.  And I tell audiences, one of my keynotes I focus on the project manager’s career.  What doors are in front of me?  Where are my options?  And I like to point, as you all have pointed out as well, the fact that the PMI is, well, they’re pointing out – they’re being told by their major stakeholders, “Give us more.  Give us people that understand this strategic space.  Give us more than,” as I said earlier, “that tickbox project manager.”  But I think, as well, I read it as PMI is now almost giving us permission to look beyond the role of the project manager.  So there’s two fronts here going on.  One is align the work.  Be passionate about the work you’re doing and align it to that strategic direction of the organization. But the other one I love to hit on every once in a while is, you know, you can leave this space and probably have a – I think project managers make great leaders.  But project managers that understand strategy also have a really wonderful role, potential role to play in our organizations in that management of our strategic plans.  These are not going well.  The stats are not good on successful strategy.  And we need to manage them better.  And I think people are waking up and saying, you know, maybe these are projects.  Maybe this is a large portfolio of work that we have to manage like we’re managing the rest of our project work. ANDY CROWE:  And you know what, David, one of the reasons I believe that’s true, that contributes to projects’ difficulty achieving strategy, is if the project managers are kept in the dark, if they’re not aware of the strategic goals of the organization, why they’re doing these projects, then they can’t make the fine-tuned adjustments to make sure that they’re actually hitting the true strategic goals.  They’re just marching onward, going on, and trusting that somebody else is going to do that.  But when the project manager at least has an understanding of that context, it helps. DAVID BARRETT:  Absolutely.  So we drive from our community up towards, if you want to say out towards that strategic plan through the efforts of the PMI, the Talent Triangle requirement of now the PDUs in the strategic area.  But we also drive from the top down.  The book that we’ve published or that is about to be released, “The Seven Elements of Strategy Execution,” two of those chapters absolutely key in on the role of the project manager, one being synergy and one being the clarity.  So if we’re not clear about where we’re going, and if we don’t bring everyone into the plan, into the vision, and make them a part of this march, then our strategic plan, our strategy is – it’s going to be tough.  It’s going to be tough to be successful.  The alignment and the synergy within our organization, to get our project team involved, to get everyone involved into the why – we go back to that key word, the why – is critical on strategy execution success. ANDY CROWE:  You said a key word that’s one of the words that we use a lot at Velociteach which is the word “alignment.”  Say more about that.  What are you looking at when you talk about the word “alignment”? DAVID BARRETT:  You know, when I think about alignment, I think about the whole organization.  I think about how one vision, whether it be the acquisition of another organization, a growth of 50 percent, moving to a new marketplace, a new product line, I think that everything needs to be aligned if we’re going to be successful.  And alignment goes right from all and every employee of this organization to senior management, to our vendors, our suppliers, and everybody else.  It’s critical that we are all rowing in the same direction with a commitment, with the passion, with the knowledge, with knowing what we all have to do.  So this alignment piece goes straight throughout everything we do, everybody and everything we do, and it’s critical to success in our organizations today. NICK WALKER:  Let’s talk a little bit about some of the elements that you list.  You’ve got clarity, commitment, the team, accountability, synergy, the plan, leadership.  Is this a specific order that you need to be thinking of these in?  Or is this just sort of a whole that we need to be talking about and thinking? DAVID BARRETT:  This is a whole that we need to be talking about.  There is no methodology here.  This is not a new project execution, strategy execution methodology.  If you want to look at the PMBOK or the BABOK or any of these other knowledge areas, this could be considered another one, as well.  These are the seven areas, the elements that we believe that leaders, that organizations, that owners and operators need to consider if they want to execute successfully.  And we can pick any one of them.  They’re all absolutely critical. Just the term “leadership” and you of kind of go, well, yeah, really, and defining your leadership, and making sure your leaders are aligned, and everyone is onboard.  I’ve been involved in a project recently where there was a major acquisition.  And the Board of Directors of this organization sat down and said, “We’re going to do this.  This is the plan.  We’re going to acquire that company.”  And there were, call it 15 senior leaders in this organization.  That Board of Directors knew full well that they would lose seven to eight of those people within one year. I was interviewing one of the board members, and he said, “You know what, it was almost 365 days to the day later when the seventh person walked out the door and said, ‘I quit.’”  It was part of the deal.  We knew that this leadership team was not the right group.  Just as an example of one of those seven elements,

AAnNICK WALKER:  Welcome to Manage This, the podcast by project managers for project managers.  Every other week we meet in an effort to get to the heart of what matters to you as a professional project manager.  We do that by talking with some of the leaders in the field, sharing their successes and sometimes their failures.  And we dig deep to find out what motivates them to be at their best. I’m your host, Nick Walker, and with me are two guys who are always at their best, Andy Crowe and Bill Yates.  Andy, our guest in the studio today will be familiar to football fans, but he’s actually moved on to a different field. ANDY CROWE:  Yeah, and we’ve got a lot of energy in this small podcast studio today, though.  We’re kind of bursting at the seams.  It’s a good thing. NICK WALKER:  But you know it’s not every day that we can refer to a former NFL star as “Doctor.” TOMMY JACKSON:  Ah, that’s what I’m told, that’s what I’m told. NICK WALKER:  Yeah, but Dr. Tommy Jackson was a defensive tackle for the Atlanta Falcons and the Kansas City Chiefs.  He now serves as the Director of Advising for University College at Kennesaw State University.  Jackson holds five university degrees.  Count ‘em:  a Master of Business Administration, Master of Public Administration, Bachelor of Arts in Public Administration, a Master of Education, and a Doctorate in Philosophy and Adult Education with Higher Education Administration. TOMMY JACKSON:  A lot of “tions,” right. NICK WALKER:  Yeah, yeah. ANDY CROWE:  That’s a long business card, my friend. BILL YATES:  It’s typical for a football player. NICK WALKER:  Of course, yeah, exactly. TOMMY JACKSON:  That’s why you just put “T.J.” on the card.  It makes it so much easier. NICK WALKER:  Well, you know, as a student at Auburn University, Dr. Jackson received an All-SEC honor both in football and in academics.  As a television sports analyst, he’s been nominated for an Emmy Award.  And in between his work in education he was also the program director for the at-risk student program within the city school system in Opelika, Alabama, his hometown.  Dr. Tommy Jackson, it’s a pleasure to have you with us here on Manage This. TOMMY JACKSON:  I am so glad to be here. Thank you for having me. Truly, truly. NICK WALKER:  You had a stellar career in football, both at Auburn University and for two NFL teams.  And in that career you developed, should I say, a reputation for destroying your opponents on the field.  But also you have a passion for building people up. TOMMY JACKSON:  Yeah. NICK WALKER:  And helping them succeed in life.  How do you sort of reconcile those two extremes? TOMMY JACKSON:  You know, because it’s very funny, you have to basically have the same mentality for both, whether you know that or not; right?  And people are like, wait, what do you mean?  Hold on, I’m going to explain it. No, working with people is something that takes a lot of – it takes having a passion for it.  And that’s something I’ve always had, whether it was playing football, whether it was working with students, you have to have a great passion for it because in order for you to be successful at anything, you have to have a high degree of passion, and you have to have a high degree of education.  And that doesn’t necessarily mean degrees from that standpoint.  But it’s like having an understanding of what you’re doing.  That’s what really – that’s what buys your credibility.  People are able to say, “Ah, he’s done it.  He’ll do it.”  And these are just things I’ve done over life. So, yeah, I enjoy football that way.  I was always in the classroom.  I was always looking at video.  And I was always studying my opponent.  And it’s the same thing you do when you work at a university or you work in the private sector.  You’re going to study.  You’re going to study your opponents.  ou’re going to study everything you do. BILL YATES:  Can we call you Tommy? TOMMY JACKSON:  Yes.  I’m glad you said that. BILL YATES:  Okay.  Dr. Jackson, Tommy... TOMMY JACKSON:  I’m Tommy. BILL YATES:  One of the things that, when I think about the role that you played, you focused on as a young man, both, you know, in your football career, you were the obstacle; right? TOMMY JACKSON:  Indeed. BILL YATES:  You were the pain inflictor.  You were the tip of the spear.  You were in the role of a defensive tackle or a nose guard. TOMMY JACKSON:  Yes, yes. BILL YATES:  So you were a disruptor. TOMMY JACKSON:  Have to be. BILL YATES:  Yeah.  So it’s funny, when I think about the experiences that you’ve had there, you can relate to a project manager because many times project managers are trying to figure out how to manage that type of behavior. TOMMY JACKSON:  Absolutely. BILL YATES:  So I want to hear what experience you have as having been an obstacle for PMs who maybe have obstacles now on their team that they’re trying to deal with. TOMMY JACKSON:  You know, it’s amazing.  I think about the role of being a defensive tackle; right?  So what people don’t understand about linemen is this.  Linemen truly lead by getting rid of obstacles or removing things for people.  So, yes, I may have been an obstacle for my opposition.  But for my team, oh, man, I’m the guy that removes those obstacles, man.  And that’s the way you have to approach things. So I would just think about this from a football standpoint.  So for linebackers, linebackers always need a defensive tackle to basically cause disruption, jam those offensive linemen, remove people from them so they can make plays; right?  It’s the same thing being a project manager.  Think about it.  What are we here to do?  We’re here to remove those obstacles.  We’re here to make life easier for our team because ultimately, by being the leader, you’re basically serving.  That’s what you’re here to do; right?  And so for linemen, you know, that’s really what we do.  We lead by serving.  It’s true servant leadership. ANDY CROWE:  You know, Tommy, one of the things that we do, we have a weekly standup meeting here.  A lot of organizations do daily standup meetings.  But in that standup meeting, everybody gets around, and we talk about three things:  What did you do since our last meeting?  What have you got planned for your next work period?  And what obstacles are you encountering?  And we’re really interested in that aspect because then the project manager or the coach on the team can get out there and try and remove as many obstacles as they can.  So it’s similar to that role that you played.  It’s interesting. TOMMY JACKSON:  Oh, wow. ANDY CROWE:  Just real quickly, I’m curious.  When you’re studying tapes, what are two or three things that you look for that you’re watching in your opponent?  What are you looking at?  What are you trying to identify? TOMMY JACKSON:  Wow.  So I’m glad you said that.  It’s so amazing, I was about to go into that.  You look for tendencies, one, because tendencies are so important; right?  And that’s in any industry.  That’s in sports.  That’s in the private sector,  and that’s if you’re working in marketing.  It’s anywhere.  The financial services industry, it does not matter.  You look for tendencies because, when you understand a tendency, you can see where things are moving to, where things are going.  I remember hearing Wayne Gretzky say it’s not the guy who follows the puck, but it’s about where the puck is going. BILL YATES:  Right. ANDY CROWE:  You skate where it’s going to be. TOMMY JACKSON:  That’s what those tendencies help you do.  They help you figure out how to, not follow, but how to get ahead.  A case in point, like in football, if you saw a guy, everybody tells this one, like, oh, he has white knuckles, you know he’s coming off the ball.  Actually, people heard about that, so people started faking that out.  So you would get, you know, you sit back.  He’s all, let me get ready.  No. People like to show certain things, right, in order for you to kind of fall into it so that they can basically get one up on you; right?  But it’s about being smart enough to understand how some of those tendencies, they do work for you.  But you’re also smart enough to see, one, where the industry’s going; and, two, what are you going to do once you get where you’re going?  It’s amazing in football because people don’t realize how technical it is. ANDY CROWE:  Right. TOMMY JACKSON:  But it’s just like the business world.  Like for instance, if I know for a fact that I have a performer on my team, and there are certain things that they’re not great at; right?  Why would I put that person in that position to continue to fail over and over and over again?  That’s bad coaching on me, and it’s being a bad teammate for me; right? So what do you do when you have those people who are amazing performers, and you know that putting them in this position every time – for instance, I have a guy who likes to rush off the edge.  He’s a great pass rusher.  He’s probably not going to play the run well.  So guess what?  If I’ve got guys who do things really well, keep them in that place, keep encouraging them, and they’re going to help you win every time. ANDY CROWE:  I like that. TOMMY JACKSON:  Every time. BILL YATES:  Mm-hmm, that’s good. ANDY CROWE:  You know, thinking back to another great sports figure, Muhammad Ali, that was the thing that he would do that was so confusing.  He would get people assuming he was going to do a certain thing, and then his motions would confuse his opponents to no end, his footwork and his handwork.  You wouldn’t know what he was going to do next.  So he kept people off balance that way.  We’ve had a few team members do that from time to time, keep us off balance.  We don’t know what they’re going to do next. BILL YATES:  They’re playing rope-a-dope. TOMMY JACKSON:  Yeah.  Now, remember, we’re dealing with people.  And that’s what I think people must realize when managing.

Have you ever managed a project that involved the merger and acquisition of more than one entity? Dr. Leeds discusses strategies for leading stakeholders with a great deal of uncertainty as it related to their own professional futures.

What do heroics, task-switching, and gold-plating have in common? All are forms of waste. The podcast team sits down with certified Project Management Professional, Alan Zucker to discuss identifying and eliminating waste from our projects.

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Alan Zucker joins the team to discuss an Agile approach to project management. Alan makes the case that Agile is a more natural way to work. It’s a mindset, not just a methodology.

Bob Mahler joins the cast of Manage This to talk about risk management. He served on the team that developed the Risk Management chapter in the 6th Edition PMBOK® Guide. He discusses this as well as practical advice for project managers.

Grow your Emotional Intelligence. Monique Russell – executive coach, leadership guru, and communication expert—joins the Manage This crew to discuss how Emotional Intelligence impacts the role of the project manager, and what you can do to improve.

NASA and astronomers around the world are perplexed by the most mysterious star in the universe. Something massive and unpredictable is blocking the light coming from a distant star known as KIC 8462852, which is also known as Tabby’s Star