Growing up I used to watch cartoons about superheroes who had super powers. One of my favorite cartoons was the “Justice League” which included such greats as Batman and Superman. To overcome adversity the Justice League usually had to combine their unique super powers (e.g. Superman flying and Acquaman moving under water and talking to fish).

Is this YOUR team?

I believe that Project Teams are like the Justice League in that they are made up of a team of people with unique super powers who need to work together to overcome their objectives. Here are some of their super powers…

• Project Managers – the ability to organize information and present it in a way that informs about progress
• Business Analysts – the ability to take a bunch of information and turn it into system requirements
• Architects – the ability to visualize and articulate solutions to business problems
• Testers – the ability to find problems

As PMs we must use our super power of organization to make sure that we leverage the powers of our team members to achieve the common goals. Now if only we were allowed to make our teams wear capes, masks and spandex outfits then that would be truly “super.”

I always enjoy when I go to the bathroom at work and there is someone in the stall reading a newspaper. I have so many questions for them that I want to ask….

• Is this a planned thing that you do every day?
• Is this scheduled as a meeting on your calendar?
• Why do you think that this is the best place to read the paper?
• How long have you been here?
• Is this part of a contingency plan in case there is no toilet paper?
• Do you consider this multitasking at work?

Sometimes the Bathroom Reader Guy will even leave the paper on the floor for the next person; a sort of “pay it forward” to his colleagues. So if you are reading this blog, Bathroom Paper Reading Guy, please answer my questions…or at the very least print the blog and take it with you next time.

In my career I have worked with many different leaders who have different styles of management. There are several characteristics of the leaders that I admire the most…

• Ability to ask good questions – best leaders always amaze me with ability to synthesize lots of information and ask the right questions
• Genuine – they seem to really care about the company and the people who work there
• Approachable – they are easy to talk to and make you feel comfortable to approach them
• Charismatic – make you want to be around them
• Vision – a clear vision for what needs to be done so they can lead the organization towards the goals
• Decisive – While they take input from many people they can make timely decisions

These are just a few of the characteristics that I admire and look for in leaders. Please post comments on others…

I have seen many programs which load up file shares with documents, meeting minutes, e-mails, etc and I am always curious if anyone actually goes back to check on the progress of open items. Instead of having weekly notes with embedded action items I am a big fan of having central documents that are “living.” That is, they are constantly updated with new actions or status. This provides several benefits.

• Central place where people know to go
• Don’t have to search through documents (“hmmm was it the May 30th notes, the May 23rd notes or the May 16th notes”)
• Always updated with status and progress

It's ALIVE!

In most of my programs, I have centralize living documents for…

• Action Items
• Decisions
• Risks
• Issues
• Team contact information

The punchline – make it easy for people to find/update information and consistently use it so people get into the habit of the diligence.

I recently watched a weekend marathon of “Extreme Hoarding” which is a series that documents people who cannot throw anything away and therefore have collected years worth of items. The entire time I watch in amazement at the piles that have built up and how these people have to climb over mountains of garbage to get anywhere.

These people are polar opposites of Project Managers, who I would categorize as “Extreme Organizers.” Because we are the focal point for all information and plans we have to be very organized. We need to know where the project is at all times and have metrics and lists to give us that transparency.

My worst nightmare

I am definitely an Extreme Organizer with my notebook divided into sections and pages sorted by category and date, my plans which are grouped into categories, my action item logs to not forget a single item, and even my clothes sorted by season and color (ROYGBIV…obviously).

I think both categories are obsessive – hoarders obsess over keeping “things” and PMs obsess over organizing and planning. Amazing how the same condition can make some people immobile and some people motivated. Oh well, back to organizing (and the Extreme Hoarding marathon)…..