Tag: best project management blog

“Make Time for the Work That Matters” – re-post

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Project managers are the servants of the Goddess of Time. Things need to be delivered and tasks – to be accomplished by a certain deadline. Contracts need to be signed, the event – organised, the equipment – checked, the building permissions – secured, the meeting – attended, the plans – drawn, the email traffic – organised. And these are only a few of the daily project manager’s tasks. Experiencing a feeling of being overwhelmed is not unusual in projects. There are number of ways to deal with it or, even better, prevent it.

One tool I find helpful is this Self-Assessment tool for Identifying Low-Value Tasks https://hbr.org/web/2013/08/assessment/make-time-for-work-that-matters from “Make Time for the Work That Matters” by Julian Birkinshaw and Jordan Cohen from the September 2013 Issue of the Harvard Business Review.

The results of the self-assessment will give you a clear idea of what to drop, delegate, or redesign.

Next, look at the things you should be doing but are not. And commit to what you delegated and the tasks that matter to the company/organisation, the project and to you.

If you are not a fan of self-assessments, there is another simpler way to manage your tasks at hand: “The Not-To-Do List” by Sage Grayson.

Or design your own tool and find what works for you and your projects.

Human resources management dilemmas: a story

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Everyone was pushing for his dismissal. His client, the project sponsor, the implementing agency. All except for me. I’ve dragged on the file for four months, for as long as I could, given the pressure from all sides.

A letter from the client to the project sponsor put an end to his contract. We settled for a mutually agreed termination of the contract and a bit of extra paid days.1.4

In the three weeks that followed from his resignation letter, he displayed the model of best professional behaviour. He was cooperating in his hand-over to a remarkable extent. I tried my best to respond to all his e-mails (up to seven a day some days), his telephone calls. I knew it was important to him. To talk to and to listen to him.

There was no blame. Just a set of circumstances.

A farewell coffee, a farewell note, cc-ed to entire team and a recommendation letter. A warm shake of hands and an eye contact to last throughout years. The least I could have done.

I often missed his honesty, integrity, eloquent communication style and a sense of humour to envy. Rare qualities these days.

My takeaway lesson from this is simple: As project managers, we need to look beyond strict client-consultant relations and understand the numerous complexities involved. Thanks to this mindfulness, I would like to believe, he was fully supportive of all management interventions that were required.

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his last e-mail to me                                                                                                                                   10 June 20xx

I hesitate to say, “You’re an absolute darling”, for obvious reasons … but you are.

Thanks,
S

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Gender mainstreaming: a ladder

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I was in gender mainstreaming training some time ago. Two hours into the learning, a participant exclaimed: “but we deal not only with women in our projects!”. You can picture the facepalm of the trainer.Quite often I also hear what a hurdle it is to ‘mainstream gender” and other cross-cutting issues into development work. There are a number of simple approaches to befriend what became a standard requirement in projects.Use a “ladder” for instance.Step 1. Find out if gender matters. A gender impact assessment (GIA) will bring the answer. GIA will identify answers to:

  • is the project objective linked with gender inequality patters? The most common patterns relate to differences in the: access to decision-making, representation; access to resources; social/legal/financial status and entitlements.
  • will reaching the project objective affect women and men in a different way/women and men of different age groups in a different way?
  • will the above cause inequality? if yes, take Step 2.

Step 2. Get data. I know, “Lies, damned lies, and statistics”. And it is not about numbers. It is about the way they influence things and decision-makers.  “Figures often beguile me” wrote Mark Twain. Yes, numbers can charm or deceive. Triangulation can help break the charm sometimes.

Step. 3. Prevent/solve inequalities at the levels they manifest themselves. It can be project organisation matters (for example, the membership of Steering Committees) or policy matters influenced by the project (for example, through expert opinions on a draft law).Across all three steps, check you assumptions. Is what we know true/valid? Is this what both genders want/aspire to…? I came across “Testosterone Rex” by Cordelia Fine. See if this review “Goodbye, beliefs in sex differences disguised as evolutionary facts. Welcome the dragon slayer: Cordelia Fine wittily but meticulously lays bare the irrational arguments that we use to justify gender politics.”—Uta Frith, emeritus professor of cognitive development, University College London” will serve as in invitation to read it. Or, this article “A Feminist Biologist Discusses Gender Differences In The Animal Kingdom” by Suzanne Sadedin, Evolutionary Biologist on https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2017/04/13/a-feminist-biologist-discusses-gender-differences-in-the-animal-kingdom/

Each project/development work is different and many gender complexities will arise. And it is rare to reach the 100% gender mainstreamed target. It is still possible to bring a meaningful change/two and by starting small.

Sometimes, it is about giving the floor or creating a forum for all voices to be heard equally. It reminds me of an organisation 50% made of women who had less then 10% representation in decision-making bodies. Supporting an inclusive strategic planning exercise for both the organisation and the women association helped put a first stone into the road towards a more equitable representation and inclusive decision-making.

Life behind bars: look beyond

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I keep the story as a reminder of cognitive biases when I prepare projects. And about how easy it is to fall into the traps of conventions and assumptions.

***

It was in a former soviet country. Once the gate closes behind you, the air, the walls, the smell, people looks all say “welcome to urss”. Not a very welcome “welcome” though.

It was a planned trip. The administration knew we are coming. White table cloth on meeting tables betrayed it. You cannot come in an unannounced visit to a prison, unless gifted with invisibility skills. What I could not have planned were my feelings and sensations. It does not help being a lawyer trained in human rights in this case.

After a dull meeting with silent and very tense staff, a guided tour was offered by the administration. After the first wall, the family reunion hall opened its door in front of us. A hall with seven doors: a kitchen, five  bedrooms with king size beds, and a bathroom. It’s the dream land for any inmates. For good behavior they get up to five days of family time per year with one of their loved ones. In the kitchen we found a beautiful young woman with big eyes and long lashes. She was cooking a meal for her husband who was sentenced to 20 years in prison. I saw sadness and commitment and no trace of resentment in her eyes. Will she be coming every year for the next 18 years to cook meals for her husband? When they retrieved to “their” room, tears filled my eyes.IMG_0778

After the security zone crowned by barbed wire, where a cat seemed chez-soi, we were taken into the heart of the prison. The prison has three blocks. The first one we were taken to was presented as exemplary: clean and all beds were made. It was remarkable as it was a large room, 70 by 100 feet, beds one by one, with tiny passages between the endless rows. I asked whether it looks so orderly because they knew that we were coming. “No”, assured me the head of prison, “it’s a norm now,  after quite „a lot of invested effort and time into discipline”, whatever that means. It was the mine workers block, who get paid for their work and also get their term cut: a day for three days worked in a nearby mine. The room was filled with testosterone. Me and my other female colleague were safe, behind our colleagues from headquarters and their wide shoulders. In parallel, what I found striking was how relaxed were inmates compared to prison staff. After all,  they got it right, it was not them who were inspected.

What followed were a cascade of feelings. An overwhelming feeling of gratitude for my every day meals, when I entered the prison canteen. Gratitude for my health, when I stepped on the white floor of the medical care unit. The feeling of awe for the human creativity when I entered the church the walls in which were being painted by an inmate. The gratitude for my family when I looked into the eyes of a 70 old who stubbed his wife and she was still visiting him in prison. The gratitude for the abundance in my life when I saw two women surrounded by packages of food to fit into a wagon waiting for clearance to enter the prison and feed their dear ones. The acute awareness of the gift of freedom on the tiny, dark corridors of the solitary confinement ….

We were then taken to a workshop where some inmate were filling their days with wood crafts. Good behavior was a ticket to the wood workshop. I noticed the sharp objects they were using and asked whether there are any incidents/accidents involved. “No”, assured me again the head of prison. I asked an old inmate what was he crafting. “A toy for my daughter” he said. It was a beautiful wooden horse. He was dreaming of freedom…