Jaeger Consultants Ltd

Risk Analysis is in everyone’s mouth and hopefully mind. It is easy to talk about, but is it easy to do? If you have never done one it sounds intimidating. Most also talk about the very detailed and complex risk analysis you need for the kind of rocket science projects. But where do I start with my projects?

It is simple, start where you are! When I first attempted to do risk analysis I wanted to do the rocket science project level and thought that’s what is needed. But I realized 2 things very quickly:

1. I had no idea how to do it
2. My bosses were not ready for this and were not ready to give me all the details I needed, especially information on cost of sales, Opex and “Director cost”

Hence I needed a simpler approach. At that time I was not just trying to come up with all the processes in project management, all templates etc, but I was also trying to figure out which of our Data Infrastructure Projects I need to actually get involved in. We were 2 Project Managers – one trained one not trained in project management – and 4 Technicians who would run about 40-50 projects simultaneously at any given time. These were spread out all over the country and some were simple 1-3 day installations. I could not be involved in all projects, it was physically impossible. I ended up developing a simple scoring sheet with the help of my team, which helped to determine the complexity of a project by scoring 10 areas. All our projects were client projects. However the IT knowledge, the ease to work with them, security considerations and accessibility of the project sites varied widely. In our discussions we realized quickly that scoring a project on monetary value or number of data points alone does not work. Our score sheet ended up with scores for accessibility by public transport, IT knowledge of the client, previous installations, willingness of client counterpart to cooperate with us, number of data points, number of systems to be installed, complexity of integrations etc. We defined for each scoring area 5 different responses which had scores from 0 to 4 attached to them. The reason we used fixed answers was to avoid very subjective responses. We wanted to make it as easy and clear as possible.

Then for the total score possible, we again defined 4 different levels of complexity of projects.

Level 1: Technician handles the project alone, only reports in the weekly meeting and escalates if issues come up.

Level 2: Technician handles project with regular supervision calls by the Project Manager

Level 3: Project Manager handles the project, Technician handles the technical Team on site

Level 4: Project is very complex and needs a dedicated Project Manager – usually our Project Managers handled several projects in parallel.

When we had just developed and implemented the scoring sheet I watched a webinar on a new risk management tool and was surprised. What we had developed was a simplified version of what the speaker had used at NASA and used as the basis if his risk assessment part of the tool. That’s when I started understanding what risk management practically means. You find your risks by analyzing the complexity of the project.

With that risk analysis suddenly became something that was doable. I looked for a suitable risk analysis template on the internet. You find many on www.projectmanagement.com and other places. Then I adjusted it to our needs and we quickly had a usable tool, with which I could do first risk analysis. I concentrated on identifying risks and defining what prevention, mitigation, avoidance, and transfer measures would be used and who would be responsible for each. In our circumstances calculating costs of the risk, wasn’t really possible. But we scored the risks in to low, medium low, medium, medium high, high and very high, again clearly defined in percentages.

Over time I then prepared reports for Senior Management, gave them some workshops where I taught them about the possibilities of Risk Management and slowly sensitized them to the need to be more proactive in this area.

I hope this example shows you how you can start simple, learn as you go along and slowly get to the sophisticated level of risk management you want to reach.

In PMBOK guide you are taught about the standards of project initiation and how this should be spearheaded by the Project Sponsor. It talks about the importance of a project charter and that this document justifies the project. However in the technical field in my environment, all this is often not done for each project.

Often each project is started by the Sales Team and maybe one Director involved. The Project Team is not involved and has little or no influence on the process. The project is jumped at them, when budget and timeframe have already been set. This can be very frustrating. Project Managers often feel left out and helpless.

Here is my 5 cents to this:

This does not have to be this way. Even if you are at or near the bottom of the pecking order, you can still have your influence! As a Project Manager it is very important that you demonstrate your leadership and get things set up the way they should.

You can have your influence! You just need to play your cards well. What does that mean? First you do your projects to the best of your ability, note down all the short comings and all the pain points. Do Lesson’s Learned session with your team. Let them come up with solutions.

Do your reports to the Senior Management and point out the shortcomings as issues faced in the project execution.

Do a Project Management Workshop with the Senior Management, so that they understand where you are coming from. Here you show them the benefits and possibilities proper project management from initiation to closure can bring the company. But don’t hit them with your complaints yet. Just point out that you want the company to reap all the benefits and you will keep them updated. Customize your presentation to what the key people like to hear. In other words map out your stakeholders and know which one you need to win over.

Then you compile your data from a least a couple of months worth of projects. Prepare a presentation, in which you present the issues that come from poor project initiation and budgeting. Then present your solution. Mine usually include the following:

1. Project Managers to do the initial timeline during the Sales Process, write the assumptions and the project management approach. This will help the sales team, but it will also help you! If you have told them the project will take 4 weeks, and they only charge the client 3 weeks labor, then the Sales Team will be to blame. However your Senior Managers will catch on very quickly on your facts.
2. If most of your projects are very similar, do one (Standard Operating Procedure) SOP document, in which you define who the project sponsor is and when. However you need to develop this with your Senior Management, let them define the things. You only put them on paper. That way you can pin a Senior Manager down to be your contact person / Project Sponsor.
3. Prepare workflows from end to end, if possible as Swim Lanes, so that it is very clear who does what.
4. Define the Change Management Process including responsibilities.
5. Define the Lesson’s Learned Process – I usually have a 3 tiered approach, since in very hierarchical companies junior team members will never speak up in front of Directors.
6. Prepare one Project Charter that applies to 80% of your projects.
7. Design a gating process with the Senior Management, where every step of the way there are checks and controls and decisions are made whether a project is worth pursuing / continuing or not. Senior Managers may decide to continue a project that you think of as a loss or failure, but if this has been officially decided, it is not your responsibility. You just do the work to best of your knowledge.
8. Have a “Special Director’s Instruction” Template. A simple form, on which you document any instructions given by Directors or Senior Managers – especially those famous phone instructions – and make them sign. That way you are covered and it becomes an official instruction
9. Keep minutes of every meeting. Yes it is work, but you need to document, what is discussed. And yes, you need to do it yourself. The slowly you can train others to keep meticulous minutes.

If you follow these points and add any other steps your situation may require, you will realize that slowly you are changing internal processes. Your Directors will notice the difference. Voila, you as Junior Manager / Junior Staff have just done a major change in a company.

Main thing to remember is to always remain humble, bring it as a solution and let them discuss it. Include their changes if possible, or convince them with facts that their changes / suggestions wont help.

Slowly slowly you will be able to implement all process groups from the PMBOK Guide and over time you will have a smooth professional end-to-end Project Management Process

Once you have a team assigned to you, the big question is how do I pull my team together. We have all learned about forming – storming – norming – performing – adjourning, but how do I do it.

The answer is: there is no one sure proof way to pull your team together. What you do will depend on:

• The time you have – how many times have you managed projects where the bosses expect you to go on site immediately
• The budget you have – in my environment, there will hardly ever be a budget for any team building activity
• Who is in your team – personality, back ground and maturity plays a role
• Has your team, or at least some of them worked together before
• Is the team virtual or co-located or both

I think you are getting the gist that this is way more complex than we thought. Yet we have to do it.

So what do we do? In my context here, if you are working for a installation company, you will basically never have time to build your team. Your boss may not even understand the need for it, after all we work for the same company…..

In these cases I try to do one or several of the following.

• During the team briefing – not the internal kick-off that is formal – I ensure I schedule a time slot, where people tell each other something personal, like a fun fact about oneself, that is not related to work (I love to climb mountains, I used to run marathon, I am addicted to cappuccino, whatever). Or I make them share a family fact (I have 5 children, I have a baby on the way, My wife is doing her PhD… etc). This loosens up the tension and people have a first laugh together
• During subsequent team meetings we start with a round of achievements. Everyone speaks about what he thinks his biggest work achievement is since the last meeting and we clap for him.
• We celebrate birthdays, religious holidays, graduations, baby births etc with the relevant team member. It does not need to be a big ceremony, a little cake, a bag of chips and a couple of bottles of soda on the construction site can do the job. If there is no budget I often buy them myself, keep the receipts and at the end of the project I ask for the refund. However I don’t always get my money back. Usually these things cost me less than $10.- and the effect on the team is worth it for me. I bake most of the cakes myself, without decorations. The technical teams appreciate them anyway, and on a construction site a fancy cake is out of place.
• If I see or know that 2 people are not working well together, I will either put them on some work together, so they sort themselves out, or try to draw them out one on one. Take them out individually for a cup of tea and get them talking, or go out for a drink together after work. When they are relaxed, get them talking about the project and their opinion. Then if they are not talking about the person who is an issue ask directly, but make sure they know it remains off the record and confidential. Sitting with the person for lunch somewhere separate can also work.
• Address any issues as early as possible.
• Speak to them in their language. This could be talking in Kiswahili instead of English, or speaking at a level they are comfortable at. Don’t try to impress with big words, when the guys you are working with are simple people.
• Ask for their input during meetings, when you are looking for solutions and ensure everyone can have a say. Draw the quiet ones out. Often they have the best suggestions.
• Go watch a movie together, one that the individuals would have watched anyway. Everyone pays their own ticket.
• Go for a drink as the team – each pay their own bill
• Watch a football game together
• Give people a lift in your car, then just talk about fun things
• …. There are endless opportunities to have little bit of informal team building

Team Building is your responsibility, even if the set-up does not allow for more formal team building etc. You can help people relax in your team, which helps in drawing them together as a team. Let everyone have an active part and feel that they can suggest solutions to issues. Listen actively to them.
If any are not performing as usual check up on them. Often they have an issue at home or outside the project and can’t perform due to the stress. Even just being able to talk about it, helps most of them and you can see the relief in their faces. Sometimes you can also give them advise on how to address their issues, no I am not talking about marriage counselling, but a common sense tip, or in case of money issues advice on what the company can do, or where one can get a loan (own experience) can help.

In my project management career I have met many who would get upset about me insisting on processes. I would be told we need to be more flexible. Many times the word “agile” would come up. However I quickly realized that most people using the word agile had no idea what it actually means. That agile means daily meetings, on time, time bound and very focused. Once people understand that, they become more careful when using the word.

Any great artist will tell you that they did not just pick up a pen / crayon / paintbrush or whatever they use and become great artists just like that. The really big artists like Leonardo Da Vinci, Pablo Picasso or here in Africa Cheri Samba (DRC) or Patrick Kinuthia and Kaspa in Kenya spend years learning the basics. They learned the color charts, what complementary colors are, how to mix primary colors to get all other colors, the essentials of perspective, the anatomy of the human body and much more. Those working in certain specialty areas, have to learn the basics of construction – like Leonardo Da Vinci for the Sistine Chapel, or Basics of photography and lighting like Alf Kumalo from South Africa. The musicians had to learn the basics of music first, spending years learning their musical scales and practicing their etudes. Dancers need to learn basic dance steps first. Once they have internalized the basics they can now start their own interpretation of the basics. Even those who pushed the boundaries of their artform needed to have worked within the boundaries first. They always build up on the basics. Then most try out different things those artists before them, who they use as inspiration, have used until they find their own unique style. The same applied in Project Management, you can not do without the basics!

You need to understand what basic project management is and how it works. Then you can work on understanding agile, waterfall, iterative, scrum and all the other methodologies out there. Once you have understood all these standards, you can now work on customizing your projects. You will find many times you will end up using a hybrid approach, which uses elements from the different approaches and standards, to fit the needs of your projects.

A good solid foundation on international standards like PMP (Project Management Professional) certification from Project Management Institute (PMI) or Prince 2 Practitioner for IT projects, will give you the start you need. If you do any of the specialized certifications later, really depends on your preference and where your niche is. A Masters in a University that does not base its program on an international recognized standard, will just be another piece of paper. However a Masters from a University, who base their program on an internationally recognized standard, can be very useful. Even if you have done your certification or your degree, you need to keep yourself grounded on the basics. Hence I believe it is essential to keep attending seminars / webinars / conferences etc. Here you can mix with others, exchange ideas and learn from what others do. You also learn how the standards are adjusted to the emerging needs. Keeping up with the latest developments is essential for us as project managers. Then we can lay out the initial processes for our company and spin the day to day requirements around these. Every couple of months – I recommend at least annually – you then need to review your laid out Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) to confirm they still comply with the current needs of the majority of the projects. If needs change you have to adjust your SOP, hence the regular reviews as a team.

With a good solid base of processes / procedures, you can now tailor to the needs of your individual project.

Yes you heard me right, even as a Leader you still need to develop. Nobody has reached the top and is perfect. All of us are on a journey of growth. The most obvious was in childhood, where our bodies and minds were constantly reaching new milestones. However as adults we need to work on development. It is a conscious effort. The decision is yours, are you happy where you are or do you need to grow?

Read up on horizontal & vertical development. The Center for Creative Leadership has a lot of resources. https://www.ccl.org/?s=vertical+development

You may ask, what is this horizontal & vertical stuff you are talking about?

Horizontal development:    The new information, tools and knowledge you gain

Vertical development:         “What you do with it” – the increase in ability to work with the                                                new knowledge you have gained.

We go through different stages of development. All of us started out as a Conformer, most of the leaders have at least reached the next stage of Achiever. This is the “My way or the Highway” stage – you believe you have all the solutions. The third stage is the Interdependent Collaborator. You know that the best solution for this group / this project / this company only can be worked out and customized by the entire group. You do not provide solutions, but facilitate to work them out.

Since the team has worked on this solution together, they will buy in and own it. Compliance will be much better, less resistance and much better results in the end. And that’s what we all want, isn’t it?

This growth does not come by itself. If you stop reading, learning, looking for new knowledge, new tools etc, then you have lost your plot. You are stuck in a rut and are not developing. If you stretch yourself and keep learning and working on yourself a whole new world opens up for you.

Here are a few examples from my life:

• When I got involved in PMI and started volunteering, a whole new network opened up for me. More opportunity to learn from others.
• Working as Senior Project Manager and Change Manager with different companies my leadership style and my approach changed over the years. I used to be in the achiever stage and wanted people to take up my solutions, since they would make their life much easier. Now I work with the teams – yes the team, not the Senior Management alone – to develop the solutions. They have the answers and ideas, you only need to guide them to formulate their ideas.
• My journey in the Leadership Institute Master Class (LIMC) of PMI it was the learning more about myself, how I tick and how others perceive me, that triggered the most growth. Have you ever wondered why others perceive some of your good intentions negatively? Usually these areas are overdone strengths. You want to have more of that strength and are subconsciously overdoing it. Once you have identified what you are overdoing, you can then start toning down a bit. You will be surprised how different the others will perceive you.

What does this look like practically? If you are want to be very supportive and overdo it, others may perceive you as self-sacrificing. Your strength is perceived by others as weakness. If you are too adaptable, you may be perceived as compliant. If you are too helpful, you will be perceived as smothering. And the most obvious and common one: If you are too confident, you will come across as arrogant. If you think about it you will find people in your environment, who do exactly that.

All of us have 28 strengths in varying degrees. Some so little developed that they become weaknesses that hinder our growth.

In all the above cases, if you tone it down a bit, don’t do it too much into people’s faces, let it be more subtle, people will perceive it as the strength it is.

We are all on a journey, let’s keep learning and growing. When you look back you can marvel at where you have reached. Like when you stand on a mountain top after a climb and the starting point is in the valley far away. By then you can also laugh at the more foolish things you used to do, as you were growing.