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5 Things to Consider Before Starting a Totally New Project

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Never Been There, Never Done That

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The first . . . the first time we do anything from talk to walk to write our name, it’s a challenge. Hopefully, we bring to it the skillset that put us smack dab in the middle between the easy (bored) and difficult (anxious). Then we’ll be in flow, in the zone, moving forward through time and space without sefl-consciousness.

Even so, it helps to keep a few things in mind when we do something we’ve never done before.

5 Things to Consider Before Doing Something Totally New

Whenever I take a new task, yes there are still a few, I try to remind myself that I should look for what might be hiding inside the project.

  1. Everything is easier than it looks.

  2. Everything takes longer than I think it will.

  3. Planning the path at the beginning is worth every agonizing minute. No matter how much I want to run.

  4. Every project that I’ve never done holds a problem I’ve not foreseen, a decision I’ve never faced, a crisis that is totally new as well.

  5. It’s always better to consult the experienced folks before the problems start.

I know. I’m putting this one on my wall too. I would have told you the stories, but there are too many. Why don’t you tell me yours instead?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Check out the Work with Liz!! page in the sidebar.

Business Rule 11: Apples and Oranges

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A List Is a List

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Betsy, a second-year editor was working a series of Dinosaur books. The books were for second graders. That’s when kids get crazy for dinosaurs. So, the details had to be precise. Second graders know dinosaurs better than their teachers do.

The schedule was pushed tight. To kick up the pitch one more notch. When the books were done, we’d be using them to build online and CD-Rom products. Those new products relied on the books being complete on time. To raise the bar exponentially, we were working with a developer, that added time in transport and in communication.

At one point Betsy came to me, requesting help. She was a planner and a good project manager. She could see that with only one of her that the schedule was in jeopardy. We looked over the remaining tasks to see what parts she might delegate. A time-consuming and discrete part was writing the art specs.

Another editor, Susannah — of “Oh Susannah” fame — loved anything science. Her husband also taught at the university. One of us suggested that Susannah might write the art specs for the dinosaur books. We discussed the pros and cons of the idea.

“Susannah likes to go deep on everything,” I said. “You’ll have to manage her time, or each art spec will end up a book-long narrative.”

Betsy explained to Suzannah the time frame and the help that was needed. She asked Susannah for the specs as two lists for each book page -– a list of the animals and a list of the plants -– with references where possible. She encouraged Susannah to collaborate with the professor of paleobotany that Susannah was friends with, telling her we would pay him a stipend. The two editors agreed on a date when the first specs were due.

Betsy concentrated on the books in progress, while Susannah prepared the next art specs so that they would be ready when the artists were.

When the first art specs were delivered, Betsy brought them to me. She plopped in my visitor’s chair and bemoaned what she saw.

“I told her a list,” was all that she said, as she handed me three single-spaced, covered pages of text.

I looked at them. I looked at Betsy. I looked at the pages again. I thought for a minute about Betsy’s fine communications skills, and then I said what had to be true.

“This must be Susannah’s definition of a list.” We talked a bit. Then I sent Betsy back to artfully find out if Susannah had her own idea of what a list was.

Yep.

We use the same words, but don’t be surprised when they mean different things.

I don’t know why Suzannah thought what she wrote was a list. I don’t know who taught her that nor did I try to find out. I only know that this same kind of thing happens frequently, and it’s easily avoided by defining terms before people start work.

Five minutes of showing an art spec list already completed might have saved a bunch of time and some exhausted feelings. I wish I’d thought of suggesting that then.

Of course, some business lessons you just have to learn. And if you’re me, you have to learn them over and over, and over, and over again.

–Me “Liz” Strauss
Check out the Work with Liz!! page in the sidebar.

SOBCON 07
Starts this FRIDAY!!

Related
Business Rule 10: Is Their Urgency Real?
Business Rule 9: What’s the Value of Money?
Business Rule 8: What Are Your Square Periods?
Business Rule 7: Sound Bytes, Stories, and Analogies
Business Rule 6: Who Dropped the Paddle?

Business Rule 10: Is Their Urgency Real?

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Set Your Urgency Level on Facts

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My title was Director of Project Managment. My job was to make sure that the client’s needs were met as product was built. I was also responsible for strategy, budget, schedule, and all project issues.

My production manager was a bit of a pain. He was young. He was focused on personal recognition. He wanted to be KING.
I was no piece of cake either. I was young. I had no aspirations for territory, but I was focused on being SUPER MANAGER, DOER OF THE IMPOSSIBLE.

One day the production manager, Larry, stopped by my office. He said that he needed a particular something by 2 p.m. tomorrow, because it was due to the printer. I had about 800,972 other priorities that were equally urgent, but being SUPER MANAGER, DOER OF THE IMPOSSIBLE, I agreed to the deadline. I could find a few minutes between 2 and 3 a.m. when I might fit in reviewing it. Then I would have to send it over to be corrected and proofed. Then I would get it back again in time to check it before I handed it off to Larry. It could be done, but it would take keeping a close eye on.

I made it happen. In fact, I got it to Larry’s desk at 1p.m. He wasn’t there. I asked the woman at the next desk when Larry was due back from lunch. She said, “Oh, he left at 11 and he’s not coming back until Monday. He’s on vacation–extra long weekend. Didn’t he tell you?”

I couldn’t believe it! He told me he desparately needed it by 2p.m., and then he was gone!. In that split second, I made my mind up never to blindly buy into someone else’s sense of urgency again.

What to Do When Someone Is Urgent

These days when someone says, “I need this by . . . ,” I follow a set 3-step routine.

  1. I pick up a pencil and prepare to write.
  2. Then I ask, “When will you actually be able to work on this again?” That always makes the person stop to consider the date I’ve just been given. The usual response is something like, “Well, now that you mention it, . . .”
  3. At the point a new date is offered, I write down that date, the project, and the person’s name in very large handwriting, so the person sees me doing it. No words are necessary.

Just three simple steps help me find where to place my own sense of urgency so that I know when I’m urgent I am urgently moving things that will keep on moving.

I don’t get frustrated anymore by a false sense of urgency. Oh yeah and I gave up trying to be SUPER MANAGER, DOER OF THE IMPOSSIBLE in favor of trying to be MANAGER WITH A HEART WHO BELIEVES IN QUALITY a year or two after that.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Check out the Work with Liz!! page in the sidebar.

Related
Business Rule 9: What’s the Value of Money?
Business Rule 8: What Are Your Square Periods?
Business Rule 7: Sound Bytes, Stories, and Analogies
Business Rule 6: Who Dropped the Paddle?

10 Great Traits to Look for in Managers and Clients

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What to Look for Before You Start

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So we meet for the first time, and we think we want this job or project. Sometimes we get so involved in proving ourselves worthy, we forget to look at the person we might be working with (or for) until after the project has started.

Whoa! If only we would slow down. A longer look before we jump into a relationship can often save so much heartache and time — yes even money — later. Just a longer look might change our mind about how much we want this job and the manager or client who comes with it.

10 Things to Look for in Managers and Clients

Managers and clients. They’re people too — human as we are — replete with our great qualities and our great . . . ahem . . . tiny . . . things that need working on. Every one of us has ’em. Some go better together than others, that’s all.

When it comes right down to it, we can spend more time with managers and clients than we do with our family and friends. Managers and clients have an impact on the quality of our lives. So it makes sense to make sure that they are the sort of people we work well with. Here are 10 great traits to look for in managers and clients when you’re deciding whether you want that job.

  1. They already know who they are. A great manager or client is self-aware. You can talk frankly about what you do, what’s going wrong and right, without needing to preface or sugarcoat what you have to say. They look at the work. They look at you. They look at the big picture, their boss, and the market without using that information to define who they are.
  2. They listen actively. When you speak, they hear what you say and what you mean. They ask questions to be sure that they understand. They are curious about your ideas and your view point, because they know listening is one of the most powerful tools available to them.
  3. They are “the guide on the side, not the sage on the stage “ When they model or teach, it’s by telling stories or by participating with authentic curiosity and willingness to share.
  4. They don’t add too much value. They know when it’s someone else’s turn. Sometimes they don’t attend a meeting or don’t lead a discussion because they know that they can douse a fire by adding too much fuel.
  5. They respect the intuitive detail of those who do the work. Great managers know that those who live the work on a daily basis take in information and perceptions at every level. Those managers and clients realize that there’s a wealth of experience to be tapped if the right questions are asked. They also know that sweeping general decision they might make can disregard something hidden in that intuitive detail.
  6. They stand outside the process as much as they can. Great managers know that if they participate in the thinking, then there is no one outside of it to serve as a check. They have learned to hold the bigger picture to balance the folks who have the intuitive detail.
  7. They offer new perspectives and paradigms. When the going gets rough, great managers know what to say to get things back on track. They restore the vision by re-aligning the perspective that may have gone off track. They offer new paradigms when folks get stuck in problem thinking.
  8. They hold folks accountable with both head and heart. Great managers hold us all accountable for our professional behavior — in process, communication, personal, and interpersonal skills. That is a promise of a team well led and a project done well.
  9. They understand the business they are in. This may sound obvious but, if they don’t understand the business they are in, those above don’t matter, because we’ll all run out of money and have to find other jobs.
  10. Great managers understand that all people including themselves can only do what is humanly possible. They know that as long we can say that no one is going to die and we’re still going to eat tomorrow we are indeed lucky.

So the next time we go in for that job or that project, we might review this list from the bottom to the top and jot a few questions of our own. After all, a good fit saves everyone time and heartache and lots of other things you can count on a spreadsheet, that on a sunny morning don’t seem to mean nearly as much.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Check out the Work with Liz!! page in the sidebar.

Are you coming to SOBCon 07?

Related
How Too Much Thinking Used to Screw Me Up
Business Rule 8: What Are Your Square Periods?
Business Rule 7: Sound Bytes, Stories, and Analogies
Business Rule 6: Who Dropped the Paddle?

When It’s BETTER to Answer a Question with a Question

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Answering a Question

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This week I was talking to a friend — he’s a kind, wise observer — about a habit that’s been with me a long time. It’s usually harmless, but it also doesn’t serve me well.

Sometimes it’s better to answer a question with a question.

This is a good story . . . it really happened.

The Question Was When?

It was the time I was commuting from Southern California to rural Massachusetts. I was living in a hotel, driving a rental, and parking in the visitor’s space.

The situation was caused by the real estate market in California. Banks were “forgiving” mortgages, which meant house prices were lower than the amount that folks still owed to the bank. We couldn’t afford to sell our home and lose the money invested in it. We ended up waiting two years for the prices to get back to where we could afford to sell.

During that two years, I would spend two weeks at each location. Every time I was in the office, two or three people would ask some form of the question

When are you going to move here?

One day, some time in the middle of the second year of my commute, I was walking out to my car with a woman who worked on my team. She asked,

When are you going to stop being a visitor?

I launched into my answer about where the housing market was at that moment and where we predicted it was going. I told her when we projected that would mean my family would be moving to the area for real. She stood with me, by my car, and listened intently.

As soon as i finished, she polited said, “Thank you, but what I wanted to know was, when you were going to quit parking in the visitor’s parking place?”

How many mistakes had I made there? Oh.

If only, I had thought to find out why she was asking.

If only, I didn’t assume I already knew.

BTW, I didn’t really park there every day. She a classic set-up for a joke when she saw one.

–ME ‘Liz” Strauss
Why SOBCon — Not that Other One? —

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Check out the Work with Liz!! page in the sidebar.

How Too Much Thinking Used to Screw Me Up

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We Think a Lot

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The other day, we were talking about being shy and telling stories in the context of self-promotion. I said something about the “ME” in self-conscious. I’ve always thought about it. RK came back and put to words in a pair of comments that said exactly what I always had wondered about . . . am I shy or am I egotistical?

Then, oh then, the killer sentence was this one.

I’d say the ME in the Self-Conscious could be very much due to hyper thinking and analysis. — Comment by RK

Guilty.

How Too Much Thinking Used to Screw Me Up

This is one of my best stories . . . ever.

The company had a feeling about people that was good. Some folks were larks and some were owls was how the president described it. So no one really watched what time anyone came in the door each morning. Everyone assumed we all knew what our role was and that we did our fair share.

Except well, it started to get noticed that my team was coming in later. Then later. Soon it was after 9:30 when the last ones were trailing in. Okay so maybe I was the only one who noticed . . . but I don’t think I was.

In any case, before anyone else said something I thought maybe I should.

We had a short meeting at 11 a.m. I explained that we were kind of pushing the envelope on the time we came in, that maybe we should be aware that other folks might misinterpret things. After some conversation, everyone went to lunch.

Two hours later, two people still weren’t back.

This is the part where I did too much thinking. . . . I had two completely different arguments going on in my head at the same time.

  1. They’re good people. This is a coincidence. I should handle this as I always would. Treat them as adults. Assume they have a reason. Move forward.

  2. We just had a meeting about taking advantage of time. If I don’t say something, I’m not doing my job.

I bet I had this argument going on for at least 20 minutes as I kept looking at the clock on my wall. I got absolutely nothing done during that time — talk about not doing my job.

As I’m in the middle of this argument, the two return. I hear their manager say to them, “Are you NUTS!?”

It was the perfect response for the two people and the situation.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Check out the Work with Liz!! page in the sidebar. She’s much better now.