Get to Action

“Lose this day loitering, ‘twill be the same story Tomorrow, and the rest more dilatory; Thus, indecision brings its own delays And days are lost lamenting over days, Are you in earnest? Seize this very moment; What you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Courage has genius, power and magic in it; Only engage, and then the mind grows heated. Begin it and the work will be completed.” - Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Ever sit around procrastinating about what to to? Stop it! Just get to action. If you get started, the task will get done.

A new social network

I found a new networking site, described as "MySpace with Integrity" It's called Zaadz.

Their mission is "We're gonna change the world. Our math goes like this: you be the change + you follow your bliss + you give your greatest strengths to the world moment to moment to moment + we do everything in our power to help you succeed + you inspire and empower everyone you know to do the same + we team up with millions like us = we just affected billions = we (together) changed the world."

So if you want to connect with other people that care, go check them out.

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.