Portfolio Management

I recently wrote an article for the Center for Business Practices on portfolio management. You can read it here.

Fear

"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself" - Franklin D Roosevelt

This quote comes from FDR's 1933 Inauguration speech. The US was at the height of the Great Depression and he was trying to convince people that their "common difficulties" were only over "material things."

Does fear have a place in project management? Isn't that what risk management is about? Risks are unknown events that could impact our project. Some may keep us up at night in fear.

As FDR was pointing out, there is a difference. With risk, we can assess the impact and probability and plan a response should it happen. Fear is emotional, it just happens, but we can take steps to alleviate fear.

From the Dhammapada 212-216 (a collection of sayings of the Buddha):

"From what is dear, grief is born,
from what is dear, fear is born.
For someone freed from what is dear
there is no grief
-- so why fear?

From what is loved, grief is born,
from what is loved, fear is born.
For someone freed from what is loved,
there is no grief
-- so why fear?

From delight, grief is born,
from delight, fear is born.
For someone freed from delight
there is no grief
-- so why fear?

From sensuality, grief is born,
from sensuality, fear is born.
For someone freed from sensuality
there is no grief
-- so why fear?

From craving, grief is born,
from craving, fear is born.
For someone freed from craving
there is no grief
-- so why fear?"

Water

A few years ago, a colleague of mine and I gave a presentation comparing the leadership styles of Sun Tzu and Lao Tzu. Sun Tzu authored the Art of War and Lao Tzu is credited with the Tao Te Ching.

One similarity was how both of them used the image of water. Water will seek the path of least resistance, but in its yielding can create something as impressive as a canyon.

It’s a good leadership metaphor. It is in weakness that we are strong. We’re better off going with the flow then trying to resist.

Karma

In the book "The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success" Deepak Chopra talks about karma. He says it's both the action and the consequence of the action. He goes on to explain that everything happening today is a result of past choices we've made.

Now while there are many project management analogies I could think of, the one that comes to my mind first has to do with relationships. How we have treated people in the past will impact our current and future situations.

Another book I'm working my way through is "never eat alone" by Keith Ferrazzi. This book stresses the importance of developing good relationships. The lesson for any of us is that by building good relationships now, we will have more opportunities for success later. Everyone we come across has something to offer us, we need to figure out what it is by taking the time to really get to know people.

Perfectionism

“A great thing done is never perfect, but that doesn’t mean it fails” – Tao Te Ching

I’ve been working recently with an organization in Japan that is trying to improve their project management capability, but not making a lot of progress. The parent company has established the processes for running projects, but within Japan, they have been slow to adopt these standards.

My Japanese counterpart on this project shared an observation with me. He said that in general the Japanese are not quick to adopt new things blindly. Everything from manufacturing to religion, they make their own first. At the same time, he said that is probably why the Japanese are willing to accept different ways of doing things.

Do you think there’s only one way to run a project? Or, are you more flexible? One thing I like about an agile approach is that it encourages experimentation and even failure in order to quickly figure out what’s going to work best. It may not be perfect, but it will solve the problem it was meant to solve.

More thoughts from Japan

I'm still in Japan and I went out to a famous Buddhist town of Nikko over the weekend. Back in 782 CE, Shodo Shonin established a monestary here. There are lots of Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples in the area. I took a hike up to one shrine up a small 900 meter high mountain that was marked on my map.

The map couldn't prepare me for the hike. Sure, it showed I would be going up, but it didn't show the step switchbacks I would have to cover to get to the top. It also didn't give me any idea of what the shrine at the top of the mountain would be like. However, I was glad I made the journey.

A project plan is like a map. It's meant to help guide us, but that's it. It's not the project or our deliverables, it's just helps us get there. While the best project plan doesn't necessarily mean we'll make the customer happy, without a plan we run a high risk of getting lost. So make sure your plan will get you to were you want to go.

A haiku

I’m in Japan for a while on business, so I thought I would share a haiku I came across. It is from Basho Matsuo, considered one of the greatest haiku writers.

Samidare ni
tsuru no ashi
mijikaku nareri

Roughly translated this means:

In the seasonal rain
a crane’s legs
have become short

The interpretation is up to the reader. What I think is important on international projects is trying to understand the culture of the countries you are working with. It may bring some new perspective to your life.