Category : Project Management

Those Lingering Tasks

Posted by Deborah at 9:16 pm

Have you ever noticed that some tasks on your list just don’t get done.  They linger on…days, weeks, months…and you keep thinking, “I should do that.”  But inevitably, other things crop up, the day gets hectic, and the task lingers for another day.

There are two ways to approach these tasks:

1. Get ‘er done!  These tasks are ones you really should do.  For example, you know you promised to mentor the new employee, but there never seems to be enough time.  Here, you just need to decide to get it done.  Dedicate a specific time to the task at hand and just do it.  If you keep rationalizing that other things are more important, it will never get done.
2. Forget about it!  These are tasks that you want to do, but realistically, you only have so much time in the day.  You might really want to take on another side project, but you’re stretched thinner than a pancake already.  In these situations, you have to decide to just take the task off your list.  Don’t feel bad about knowing your limits.  Not all tasks on your list must be done.

Leaders Don’t Have All the Info

Posted by Deborah Fike at 11:06 pm

If you’ve never been a decision maker for a project or team, you might think the decision makers always have all the information.  I’m here to tell you it just isn’t true.  First, taking the time to gather “all” the information necessary to make a nuanced decision would take way more time than you have, period.  Second, gathering information can lead to “analysis paralysis,” where you spend so much time gathering info that you don’t actually do anything.

So no, managers and leaders, just like the guys on the front line, often have to use their experience, intuition, and just plain common sense to make decisions on a day-to-day basis.

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Project Manager for a Day

Posted by Deborah Fike at 7:33 pm

Hey, project managers, does this sound like you?

Snickers aside, there was some accurate stuff in there. Some of it revealed frustration from a project manager’s point of view (changing deliverables, hard to wrangle team members). Some of it showed how frustrating it can be to work with a project manager (condescending tone, not listening to ideas).

Stereotypes abound for a reason. If you don’t like yours, why not consider a change? You might not be able to completely eliminate these kinds of interactions, but you might be able to find a better way to get things done.

For starters, how about less meetings?

-Deborah Fike

Tiny Tower and Task Management

Posted by Deborah at 9:34 pm

I’ve recently become addicted to an iPhone/iPad game called Tiny Tower.  In this quick-fix game, your goal is to manage a tower of residents and shops such that you can build and build upwards into a huge tower.  There’s no winning scenario – literally the sky’s the limit, as long as you keep stocking your stores, getting more residents, and hiring construction workers for the next floor.

If you look closely, you can see my weekend in there.  (Tiny Tower)

The strange thing about these task management games is that I’m willing to spend a ridiculous amount of time playing it.  Ordering supplies, assigning people to work, and waiting for customers to show up are generally not things people do for fun.  So why do we bother?

Because it’s rewarding.

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You Can’t Please Everyone

Posted by Deborah at 11:16 pm

It’s worth stating the obvious: you can’t please everyone. This is especially true in project management, where stakeholders have different agendas:

• Company Executives want to make as much money in the shortest amount of time possible.
• Clients want the largest amount of features at the lowest cost in the shortest amount of time.
• Motivated Team Members want to do relevant work and have their ideas be heard.
• Unmotivated Team Members just want to do as little work as possible and go home to their families.
• Customers want a cheap product or service that does everything and then some.
• And a list of others whom you can only guess what they want.

So the next time you make a decision someone doesn’t like (and it will happen), just remind yourself: You can’t please everyone.  What you can do is weigh the choices and make the best decision possible for the project.

-Deborah Fike