Agile Project Management

“The sage says little and does not tie the people down; and the people stay happy believing that what happens happens naturally.” Tao Te Ching, Chapter 17

I have been doing some work lately with Agile project management, focusing on how to set up just enough process to successfully run the project without creating so much process that it “ties people down.”

I’ve seen projects fail due to lack of planning, and others that get stuck in the planning phase and never really deliver the product. One time I was hired by a company that was trying to launch an internally built sales force automation (SFA) project. The project had been going on for about 6 months and there were lots of programmers hired that were typing away at their keyboards. A huge project schedule had been put together and posted on the wall of the project room, and there was an extensive requirements document; however, it didn’t seem like any real progress was being made. By simplifying the work and breaking it up into iterations I was able to deliver some value to my customer quickly. This first release went out to the field so they could start using it while we kept moving forward with additional features. The key, as is with any Agile project, was to deliver value to the customer quickly.

Servant Leader

“Why is the Sea the King of a hundred streams? Because He is below them.”
– Toa Te Ching, Chapter 66.

This quote expresses the idea of the leader as servant, which has been an idea that has been discussed by many authors such as Robert Greenleaf, Stephen Covey, Ken Blanchard and others. How do we, as project managers, serve our teams.

I was on a project one time that as the PM, my main role was keeping the team isolated from “management” so they could do their work. I kept my boss informed on what was going on, so he didn’t have to go to the team for status. I kept other, non-project related work from being dumped on them. I made sure they had the tools they needed to do their work. The results spoke for themselves, the project was on time, on budget, and the customer was delighted with the results.

So next time you’re leading a team, think about how you can serve them to help make them successful. It will make you successful also.

On 9-11

I've seen this quote attributed to Confucius. I thought it was appropriate for today.

To put a World in order: we need to put the nations in order.

To put a Nation in order: we need to put the government in order.

To put a Government in order: we need to put the state in order.

To have a State in order: we need to put the community in order.

To have a Community in order: we need to put the society in order.

To have a Society in order: we need to put the family in order.

To have a Family in order: we need to put the family members in order.

To have the Family members in order: we need to put ourselves in order.

To put ourselves in order: we need to put oneself in order.

Dharma and Team Performance

In his book The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success, Deepak Chopra talks about the law of Dharma. He states that each of us has something that we can do better then anyone else in the world, and we will be successful when we understand what this is and follow this path. I came across something similar in Jim Highsmith’s Agile Project Management. He states his opinion as “nearly everyone has the potential to be above average at something. It’s a managers’s job to help them find that something.” I had a boss once, when talking about a poor performer, stated it as “maybe their light would shine brighter on another basket.”

The idea is the same; our team will perform best when we have the right people on the team. So how do you know if you have the right team, or even if you’re in the right position?

I was once in a job that I hated. There were a lot of office politics and micro-management. Because I wasn’t happy, my performance wasn’t at its best. I eventually got out of there and found something much better.

So how do we put together that perfect high-performing team? As the project manager, we need to be enthusiastic about the project. If we’re not sincere, the team will know. The project also has to be aligned with strategy. If we’re doing a project that doesn’t seem to make sense for the company, this to will cause friction. Finally, the rest of the team has to want to be part of the project. If team members don’t want to be there, they aren’t going to perform at their best.

So is your light on the right basket?

Ethics versus Morality

I was reading some Buddhist teachings on morality recently. Morality is a foundation of Buddhism. At the basic level, one should not harm others. Beyond this, the next level is to help others. I started thinking about this and how it compares to ethics.

So is there a difference between ethics and morality? Many people might think the two are the same concept. When one digs a little deeper, it will become apparent that they aren’t.

The PMI statement on ethics is straight forward; represent yourself truthfully (including your PMP certification), don’t lie about your qualifications in business, and don’t become involved in any conflict of interests. Nothing new here, is there?

Morality goes deeper then this. Think about “do no harm.” I recently came across a situation where a project manager was leaving their company and the project they were leading. They didn’t do anything to help the organization prepare for their departure beyond spending a couple of hours getting the new project manager up to speed on the day they left.

From a PMI perspective they didn’t violate any ethics, but from a Buddhist perspective, they violated do no harm. They could have better prepared the organization and the new PM for the transition. The project was impacted and the organization was harmed because of their lack of action.

So while ethics are important and a good starting point, a good project manager must go beyond this and use morality in their actions.

More Tao of PM

Another image in the Tao Te Ching is that of strenght versus flexibility. As oak tree is very strong. The same can't be said of grass. But here in Kansas, when we get a tornado, the grass may bend in the strong wind, but remain unharmed. The oak tree however can be broken by the winds.

So what does this say for the project manager? I once recruited a project manager from another department to work for me. This PM got things done through use of power, primarily via their position. In my department though, positional power didn't carry as much weight as other types of power. In my department, it was more about building good relationships, often referred to as personal power or power through trust. This type of power requires more flexibility and more time to develop.

So the PM was acting like an oak tree, but they should have been acting more like grass to be effective.

The Tao Te Ching and Project Management

It's been a while since I've posted. I have been out on vacation in London with the family and then doing a little traveling for work. It's given me time to think about ideas to write about here.

I recently got a new Palm T|X. It's really slick! It has WiFi, so I can surf the internet from my couch without dragging my laptop over. It also plays MP3s, audio books, and I can keep pictures on it. It uses the same memory chip as my camera, so I can use it as a picture viewer.

One application I found for it was a copy of the Tao Te Ching. I have read this book before, and even used it for a presentation on leadership. Now I have it on my fingertips anytime I need some inspiriation.

One image used in Tao Te Ching is that of water. Water is fluid and moves around obstacles, but at the same time wears things down; think of the formation of the Grand Canyon. I think a good project manager is one that recognizes when it's time to move around an obstacle and not try to overcome it with force.