Things I learnt about Project Management

1. Managing one’s wants is the most powerful skill a person can learn

2. Projects success is dependant on executor's attitude's and not just effort

3. Budget should be the last thing to think of

4. Planning is over hyped, under utilized

5. The only time quality comes into action is when you are not reviewed

6. Manager's like engineers who fix things quickly.

7. Between the release date and code freeze lot of bugs are raised, requirements changed.

8. Requirements are changed like clothes (everyday), schedules like attitudes (never)

9. Lines of code fewer the better

10. Those who complain the most, accomplish the least

11. Features have incomplete requirements even after they are delivered

12. Agile becomes an excuse to not follow processes

13. Code review should be scheduled like checking emails are

14. The guy who writes the worst piece of code, is the guy who is more concerned about quality

15. Scope, quality, time and budget never meet at one point.

Many Many more, coming into phases.. What's your learning's though?

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Ways you are forced to kiss failure

No matter how Alpha, Beta, Omega or Gamma types of project manager you are.. if you refer to Johanna Rothman's post on Don't start a project with scarcity you would be convinced that if you have to succeed on a project make sure you don't start out of scarcity. However is the situation ever in your hand? Are you as a Project Manager allowed to make a decision on when to start a project? and with what resources? Well I read the answer on your face... NO.. You are never.

One day your Boss will come and say "There is a X million deal on the table, now go and kick this off".. The best part of this is that your end date is already decided by the deal. You may or may not have resources, you may or may not have requirements, you may or may not know what to do, you may or may not have the right skills to do.. but a certain part of the project is definitely and permanently defined...

So then what Johanna said is very much correct, but just not it.. there are many other things that you start out of scarcity and result in you ending up running on the autobahn of the FAILURE...As a Project Manager these are those few things I thought I would list down for you.. these are those things that are forced on you, so that you can kiss death.. and of course, remember you are the cost, quality, delivery owner on this.

So what are those things that come to you in such a hurry that you don't even get a breathing space to digest it and then work it out.. here you go.....

1. Hire X people, Y customer is going to sign a Z amount of deal in A days.. till then you are the only one to work on it
2. No projects get released without pressure, I am sure you would do it. Put maximum pressure everywhere to get the best quality work in least time
3. If we don't fool them, someone else will.. so even if we know its not possible, lets say we will do it and review the status after sometime..
P.S You own this project
4. I think X can do the job well. Just put him on the best role. If he screw's up the project, you are responsible

5. You get me a project plan while I define what you should be doing in this project, I don't know yet on what I want.
6. Why don't you start working on this , the requirement will be defined as we move on.. I am yet to figure out  what I want
7. I want this feature, I don't know how it will work.. neither does our customer
8. I want an Amazon, that would work like Google, get me revenue like Microsoft, quality of which is like Apple, it perform on a load like twitter and is as popular as Facebook. Now do it.

9. I can't estimate, I will let you know when it finishes.
10. I was supposed to deliver this yesterday, but I need more time, how much? I don't know yet
11. Quality is what we have to compromise on because of 1, 2, and 3
12. How can we test a product that is not fully developed? It is just unstable..
13. We cannot fully test it as we need more time, actually more time than we took for developing it.

Now if you see any of these lines hitting you during or in the beginning of your projects...take a step back. Wait, define the risks, let them be floated. Take a big new wall and paint it in BOLD and strong letters "X Project can fail if we don't"

List down the reasons... and put it in front of the stakeholders cabins.. let them see this every moment so they know under what conditions you work in.... Till then... think of better ways you can handle these issues...

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How to turn Whining gods to Wining Gods?

"XXXX just cant do the work right"
"This office sucks hard, when will these people learn?"
"I am tired of this" blah blah...

I am sure you are hearing this... from someone and this someone is whining about something or the other.. regular workplaces have certain number of jobs reserved for some people who are always whining... we call them the whining gods.. these are the guys who have problem with everything and everyone...and you wont believe how easy it is for these gods to affect and impact and influence others... Seeeeeee.. while I just chose to talk about them, I am already one of them... whining about them...

Yes.. the workplace negativity is accelerated by the whining gods... who mutate very fast and can turn to be venoms if no handled carefully and in time. I have seen environments getting spoilt just because the whining gods control the emotions of the factors and actors in environments. So how do we handle the whining gods?

Well here are a few tips...

1. Do not agree. If you do there is a whole bunch of negativity that will float around.
2. Do not argue... I read somewhere that Arguing with an Idiot is never fun, he first gets you to his level and then beats you.
3. Do not counsel - No cheering or sympathies... that will boost the performance of the whining god
4. Do not whine with them... You are making one monster out of them then.
5. Never avoid or Ignore... If you do... they will spread the word... just spread it bad and hard.
6. Never try to solve their problems... because they have bolted there minds with the thoughts that there problems can never be solved by some smart ass.

So then how do we beat the whining gods?

If you have a whining god, consistently complaining about colleagues or bosses... just tell them.. well we heard/see that you handle him/her well, How do you do that?

If you have someone at the workplace consistently complaining about the quality of the work by people... make him incharge of it, for a while.

If someone is always complaining about the environment etc... ask them to initiate things that would improve the ENVIRONMENT.

In other words... there is no real and 1 thing fits all way to handle the whining gods.. slowly and steadily you have to beat them in different areas, beat there complexities, beat there frustrations, beat there attitudes... one step at a time...

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And you become a Project Manager!!!

One stormy windy night, when lightening strikes the roof, you are deep in sleep with a dream that takes you to a deathly hallow... sound of serendipity all over your ears, voices of shallow deaths all over the world.. a dark cloud starts covering the world and with a bang there strikes a lightening right at your left foot... gives you the power of a Knight and makes you take the oath as a Templar.. there with a bang the time stops... and there

"YOU BECOME A PROJECT MANAGER"

Well not really... its not that dramatic, nor that simpler to be a Project Manager... but then how does one really become a Project Manager?

1. You take your vision to the next level and give every project participant a feel of ownership of the project.

2. You tell them what, when and how of the future of the project is going to be.

3. You communicate effectively and timely.

4. You communicate to your team and alert them when they are going to make a mistake.

5. You stop them to think, You kick start them to march

6. You share the same page with every one on the project

7. You make them believe that it is achievable

8. You make them execute in the way it is most beneficial

9. You think every moment of time that 1 line of code you would want to write

10.You start staying over night to plan tasks for others for the next day.

11. Your list of TODO is always bigger than the size of your monitors

12. Your mailbox is full of unread emails

13. Your calendar buzzes you every 2 hrs about a meeting that starts in 15 minutes

14. You buy gadgets to ease your job, You dont use it because they are an effort to setup.

15. You think of Orange , Green and Red all the time

16. You start your day early and you end it late.

17. Weekend is a extra day you get to complete the pending tasks

18. You are always busy, when it comes to friends and family

19. Until the moment of failure, you believe you will succeed

20. You drink coffee like water, and water like coffee

21. You think Lunch hour is the best hour to send the pending email responses.

22. You think meetings are a waste, when they dont expedite the project

23. You always feel you are short of resources

24. You think you need to know what's involved and what's not involved in the project.

25. You started to like this word DONE.

If you see the above few symptoms in you, You bet you are turning to be ONE HELL of a Project Manager.... but wait.... remind yourself of those things that takes you away from been a Project manager....

1. You hold a weekly status update with the Team and next day you fire a email to check status of your Team

2. You call in , walk to , or chat with one of your team members 5 minutes to 5 about something very critical that you told him/her that you wanted to discuss in the morning

3. You schedule multiple meetings with your Team members who are on tight deadlines. Just to ask same questions.

4. You cannot make a decision and you think that pushing the decision on others court will get you away from it.

5. You want your Team to think out of the box and code and develop fast, even if requirements are not defined or present.

6. You think every one is wasting their time, and everything was supposed to be completed yesterday.

7. The only thing you want to hear is "It is Done"

8. When one person in your Team quits, you think the task can be handled by the person next in the alphabetical order

9. You like to change the resources, scope, budget but not the time

10. Quality means BUG FREE to you

11. You have a meeting with Project Teams, just so that you can summarize in black and white on what you want them to do.

12. You look and ask for only those options that you know are not feasible

13. You assign someone 2 tasks at the same time 1 with highest priority and then check on the other task every day

14. You think you are the one working hard than anyone else.

15. You switch on teams tasks depending on the angry emails you receive

16. You compare the planned date Vs the Actual date

If any of the above symptoms are nearing you, You need to get into a meditation mode and think of Project Nirvana... because these things are just going to turn your project into a miserable experience....

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Don’t just be a “bargain” Guy?

We all bargain something or other, somewhere or else... we have learnt bargaining from our mothers, sisters, grandma’s, teachers, Bosses, colleagues and everyone else who we deal with on a day to day basis. You want your kid to wake up early for school he would ask for a toy, you bargain for a cheaper one. You drop him to school to study the teachers bargain for studies. You want him to be admitted to a school you bargain on price... Now as Software Engineers you face this bargain every moment..

Your Sales guy comes to you and ask for a feature, you bargain on time, he on dates.

You estimate your Project manager bargains on it

You give a Project plan your customer bargains on it.

An 80 yr old man who could not get out of the bed asked his 10 yr old to go and buy stuff from market. Since he was too young to shop, the grandfather told him “Bargain on anything that the shop owner offers”. Kid asked “what is bargain?” Grandfather said “If he tells you the thing is for 10$ you ask for 5$”. The kid went to a shop asked for a video game, the guy came back and showed him one. The kid said “I will pay 5 dollars for this”. Surprised with the kid the shop owner checked his price list found it was 4$ and he was still in profit said “OK, take it for $5” The kid thought for a moment and said “I will pay 2.5 for it”. The pissed of shop keeper said “take it for free”.. on this the kid said “then give me 2”

Everyone in this world bargains and when they bargain they bargain hard... But as Manager’s it is our job to balance the bargain. It is a need not a necessity so when we have to choose we can decide what and how much to bargain. Next time you sit on a chair where you have to bargain as an Engineer, Sales, Customer, Project Manager, CEO or CFO or anyone... bargain:

• On time that will not hurt Quality
• On resources that will cut cost but not Quality
• On schedules that will not hurt the burn-down status of your resources
• On commitments that will not affect your Teams plans and schedules
• On Plans that are over optimistic
• On technologies that can help you build a stable product than a faster product.
• On Quality that can let you sleep with peace

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What keeps you Motivated?

A few posts from me on Motivations and Rewards and Rewards and some humor affecting motivations and then nothing after? Well yes the truth is that I am not motivated enough to write on motivations these days... the simple fact been that there has been lack of Intrinsic Motivation off lately...

Well that also made me think on what keeps me motivated? I feel everyone we work with is bonded by the fact that intrinsic motivations work... somewhere and somehow and such factors really affect the growth and downfall of talents... In reality the downfall is seasonal and the growth is continous, specially due to the fact that anyone who is not motivated (Or on a downfall) tends to switch to either another job or a role or open the disaster doors... and this leads them to the begining of the growth... isnt it?

Yes. I thought I would share with you on what I feel keeps me motivated.. and maybe it applies to you as well...

1. Challenged and Challenging Job: I think this is the biggest motivation to anyone... If you are not been challenged in a job you take it easy and when you take it easy it is no more helping you. I have seen highly productive engineers performing bad just becuase the challenges were not thrown at them... Now wonder why Deepesh , Amit , YN, Savio and Rhushi always need to be kept on their toes?

2. I need to be listened? Yes.. If you are not implementing what I say is still OK but at least listen to what I want to say? The de-motivation of anyone begins when we dont listen... Recently I went through a phase analaysis where one persons Ideas were rejected in and out analysed the reaction and it appeared that the moment this happened the person started to look for a change.. He was off for a few days attending interviews?

3. Where is my share? Everyone wants to be recognised, human nature. Its Managers duty to ensure that everyone doing better is recognised in an appropriate way. This recognition should also be linked to the Business results for instance: The 4 Quarter delivery we achieved is yielding us to a another bigger contract with the customer, This is due to the hard work from Rama, Yogesh , Deepesh, Savio , Rhushi , Nikita , Ani , Saket , Natwar and many more...

"Congratulations guys, Your efforts are getting us through a bigger more contract and this will definitely help us in achieving broader and bigger goals for the next few quarters"

4. Pay me peanuts?
This is a sensitive and a bigger part of Motivations, Top talent always wants to be paid appropriate. You pay to what they do and contribute. Usually top talent is over looked and this really causes frustration. The compensation is also linked by the talent to the goals they achieve... for example when Nikita last time told me that "My average appraisal mean that I will get a average compensation change" it showed that a person contributing value to the growth expects an at par growth for what they are making in terms of money.

5. Where do I go?
Uff... The Roadmap.. I need to advance... I want to grow.. I want to change the direction of myself and my organisation. I want to fire missiles from the bullets that my organisations has given me. All of this means that I need to see how I can grow with the people I work with and the organisation I am into. It is important that a timely and frequent review of growth options is discussed with top talent or to that matter every mammal that can be motivated.

6. Too much in the office - Too less in socials
Some balance should be maintained. Lot of hard work also means lot of frustrations and lot of road blocks. People who work hard , smart and effective also needs time to have a good social life... I have seen several people who leave the organisations when they are growing or are on a better growth path, just becuase after a few years they are frustrated becuase all of a suddent they realise that they did not have any social life for the time they were with the organisation. I feel that people who work long hours in office and on weekends will have a average 1-2 year relation with their organisation as opposed to people who balance their lives well who may stay for 4-5 yrs.

Now do you think its important to ask people not to work on weekends and also leave office early everyday?

7. Love each other
A healthy environment is required where team likes to work with each other. The fact that it is very important not only to have better Team compositions but to also have better understanding and chmistries between the Teams to deliver at peak. Team members that value and love each other.


Now can you tell me if there is anything more that keeps you motivated?

I am sure everyone of us wants to grow.. and

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Get your UI right?

OK... A Software Engineer , A Web Developer , A Programmer... now what does each of these mean to you? Well each of the section treats software web projects differently.... e.g A Programmer thinks more about code and the standards than anything else in the application... A Software engineer talks about the architectures, performance and robustness of the application... A web developer talks about the components and frameworks and usability for the UI.... why the hell do we not get all in one?

If you are doing a web project or to that matter any IT project please ensure that you think about the

UI First
UI second
UI third

and then in priority bring the other aspects to work... specially becuase the client or end user will look at your UI first and this is how your web tool is going to make an impression on him.... now how many of you Managers, Programmers or developers think about the UI before anything? As a Project Manager here are the answers and problems I usually face:

a. I think we should first get the feature work or the code work correctly and then get the UI fine...

b. UI is just cosmetic , can be done anytime ;)

c. It wont matter if the client see the functionality fine ... UI is just a kiddie pool....

Luckily I got to work with a whole lot of guys like Veda and Rhushi who think that prototyping is the first step in moving towards making a project successful. Now its not about mockups.... its all about prototyping to generate a first cut UI to go into being Agile and create a Fantastic UI for the end user.....

Now if you think why my looks change every few weeks ..this is the answer!!!!!!

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How many Projects do you manage?

Reading Johanna's post about How Many projects are you managing? gives a clear touch to what Me and Kari had always been talking about... If you want to complete a project or to that matter anything that you want to do in life thing with quality and standards you should keep focus on it. the moment you manage more than one thing you tend to pull down both... No wonder we have a whole bunch of Managers who think that doing multiple things will save them or keep them in the highest positions where we feel that doing multiple things will probably not let you focus on any one thing...

How vulnerable it is to say that "This thing Project is not a Quality becuase I was managing another Project?" Sometimes I dont wonder why multi tasking OS ($Soft at least) tends to crash more times than anyother OS. I believe when you manage more than one project or thing you just manage them... you dont lead them. And as Johanna said in her post :
1. You are not checking what it means when it is said done.
2. You are not there for the Team when they need you.
3. You are not with the Team to help them manage it well.

Gosh!!!!! God change these managers from being Damagers of the Industry

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This is not my job!!!

Oops... yet again. This is something that pinched and inches me deep... Why do people define what they have to do and what they dont have to? Ideally speaking this is not an attitude its a mentality that creates a huge drift in making better workplaces suck ;). Today I was surprised to hear this from the leader (Bet another toxic one) when he/she said that its not my job to get employees together... honestly been a employee representative how could you say that?

After this note going back to the basics of my nature I thought I would gather my thoughts on what they actually mean when they say "This is not my Job"

This is what the crude form of team members think

1. There is someone who can do this, and he is supposed to do it.. so why should I even bother to look at it.

2. Oops another responsibility and that too without enough compensation?

3. The last time I did something of this sort they did not even bother to Thank or appreciate my effort.

4. I think its a waste

The toxic form of members who are also smart A** think

1. No authorities , No responsibilities.

2. Why should I do something that someone else is going to get credit for?

3. Where the hell does this come from... I am paid for what I am supposed to do and this is what I am not paid for.. Am I?

4. Will my failure doing this job affect my performnace elsewhere?

Now come the fine group of tremendously talented teamies who just dont want to do it

1. This is not the right way to do it

2. I dont think this can be ever done.

3. Do you think I am smart enough to do this?

4. I could have done had I had time available from my existing bullshit.

So next time when someone says that this is not my Job slice him vertical into one of the 3 categories and then you will know what he actually means ;)

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Outsourcing sucks since there are not many co-located teams

Well Yes Yes..... I still work for a company that works on outsourced projects and that's why my post comes into action.. since when you do more you know more.... The misery of outsourcing always had been the domain knowledge and product understanding... and for the time been lets not use words like product vision or product UVP's... The more of technical teams I have dealt with, the more I realised that with the on-site - offshore model the understanding between the teams work but doest work that great.....

Reasons? in one of the Project kick off meetings earlier Sarah who was our Customer Services Director said that because of one small functionality lapse in the product a major security threat could have occured... and Yes the team sitting offshore could not understand this becuase it was never told on what is the IMPACT of not doing something... moreon sometimes the teams developing the softwares really really do not understand the business or functional use of what they develop...

Now lets get back to the basics.... Why Outsourcing sucks when the teams are not co-located...

A. The whole world talks and implements the distributed global development and enjoys the perks and benefits that come from cost reductions... Now what they dont understand is "DOES THE THING MEAN THE SAME TO YOU AS IT DOES TO THE PERSON SITTING 10,000 MILES AWAY FROM YOU?" geez... sometimes it does most of the times it doesnt.... Remember Project Management is a biggest challenge here .... Managing distributed Teams have their own problems from communication to conversions.

B. One Point of Contact
My previous company believed in ON-SITE - CORDINATOR concept.. one person who knows the team well stays with the Product Owners and co-ordinates with the development teams to realese what is expected..... Geez what a misery it is now I understand how things can be screwed with this approach... I am sure you would want to know WHY? and I am going to write it out sometime .....

C. I was waiting on this...
Recently something of much importance happened with the current developments that I am involved in.... There is a much awaited , Big cost , predominantly important project that needs to be kicked of.... however there are Teams waiting out here to begin... Why? We are waiting for something from the other end? Yes .... this is what you hear when you walk pass the development teams that are doing offshore development with the Business Analysts and Product Owners including the sponsors are sitting out of the location somewhere in the world...

Anyways I dont want the count to reach Z and then I have to put up a new numbering to tell you the issues .... the point of this post is to understand the importance of co-located team...

So when I say co-located teams I really mean that the Dev, QA, Product Owner , Product Manager and sponsors.... all sit in a place where the eyes can meet the eyes.... Now why this is important?

1. Teams can be involved in ad hoc discussions which can change the drive and path of the product and development... And if you think that it can still work by people involving offshores in scheduled meetings you are the one to come out and think out of what you are doing always.... The Idea of bringing the iPod did not come in a shceudled meeting ;) The Yahoo citations were not happening when development was talking to product owners... and so on.... ad hoc discussions happenings across desks bring innovations.... and you have to agree that many a times ideas trigger when you are not at work ;)

2. Teams know who and how .... meaning which customers want what and when and how they will use it and HOW it will affect the world.... in such cases you can trust that you will not build something that was NOT urgent and was just built becuase someone thought it should be like that...morever the bigger part of the story that is visibility in the development activity and the product vision is provided to everyone that is a part of it and not just one few...

3. Catch the responsible and Hold the accountable....
Many a times I have seen that NON Direct access to owners and champions along with sponsors or customers lead to a lot of mediation and hierarchies.... which causes a lot of trouble in the end.... remember he said that we have to do this? Or do you know who can get the answer for me? Or He told me that you should do this? Or I had a word and this is how it should be? Or I am working on it? grrrrrrrrrrrrrr.... these make it look sick...

4. Eureka .....
The call is not very common for dislocated (THIS IS A DELIBERATE USE INSTEAD OF DISTRIBUTED)... majorly I havent seen someone saying Eureka ..... "Hey Russ .. see what we can get here" Something I heard a long ago from James our developer who told Russ our Product manager who was sitting opposite his desk to show him that he has developed a very light weight User selection interface....

Now you want me to go Hundred dont you? Well I would want to continue..... but time is the key and so is work.... I could steal this time out specially today because I see when the product manager is not present .... outsourcing sucks...

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Do you know the GOD's and the DOG's of your Project?

OK Lets find them... Comment or reply to my Email... lets list the characteristics of the GOD's and the DOG's of your project.....

Beware both can be dangerous if not handled correctly... and one complements the others ;)

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Hush the Technology

The WebOS market is growing stronger inspite of the recent Office 2.0 and Enterprise 2.0 announcement done recently... while the world still wants to move and think about the semantic worls... Ajax is driving the second gear with the complete Web OS solution....

Have a look at www.ajaxwindows.com

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Rewards : Do they Motivate? - II

In my earlier post regarding Do rewards Motivate? and to my promise in the same post to tell you what would be an Ideal Reward like..... I felt the need to explain the differentiation between rewardful and rewardless motivations... To what I feel and I can easily describe why rewards were ever introduced is to create a passion in the people to do things better to have optimum or more than optimum results and to think beyond the boundaries that they work under.... I am not sure if I can call it extrinsic Motivation..... but the reason I feel I can call them extrinsic motivation is the fact that the motivation is in form of some or the other sort of rewards... this somehow clearly mean to me that the moment rewards are off the motivation can go for a toss... surprising no? The other fact about the extrinsic motivations is that it comes with a cost which obviously not so very easy to be managed by startups and smaller organisations who have to work over limited costs until they grow bigger. One of the blog post I read from a startup CEO was "How to Cut down Costs" and if of course talked about costs related to non business activities.

So lets leave what we don't have to opt for... I am sure all of you would be wanting to know the other side of motivation that does not ask for tangible rewards. But like any other product sale this type of motivation needs COMPLETE support from the individuals... Yes we are talking about the intrinsic motivations... the same that lead the leaders of countries , CEO's, Business Managers and many others to create a path to success by way of fantabolous innovations and aspirations... Yes creating a passion and intrinsic motivation can be the Ideal Reward.... The reward that can help someone achieve goals not only in line to organisation goals but beyond that.

So Whats the tangibility of this Ideal Reward?
Who Gives this Award?
How can it motivate those who look money as rewards?
What type of Employers can reward them?
Is it only verbal and nothing tangible?
and of course hell lot of questions that I see driving 90 miles an hour in your heads...

So to begin with the promotion to be intrinsic motivated is not at all tangible... you wont get any motivation in a handy form... however intrinsic motivation will lead you work towards something that you have always wanted to do...

When we started TechShepherds Software that was the Idea... and the way the motivation went to the associates was through a share in the profits of the organisations directly... how fun it was when I really saw everyone working as if it was their own company... of course challenges came for every hard or strategic decisions we made or the approach we took... and that's how the empowering for most worked.... to that matter 5 out of the 13 run their own setups big or small and I am sure they follow the same approach towards success now... Yes create a motivation that makes everyone feel been a part of it and just not closer.

Who can reward here or who creates this passion within?
Yes its the leadership that works in front or behind the scene here.. remember The Commodity Leaders have no role to play here, specially because the commodity leaders want to Empower Themselves to achieve success...

How can it motivate those who look for Tangible gifts?
So the answer here goes for 2 layers of people... this cannot be implanted in them who:

1. Think that the Employees/ Resources are a liability.
2. Think that money and designation is the only way to grow.

Is it only Verbal?
Yes it comes in different forms and different stages... Which I would really like to share....

What are the Stages of this reward or how this motivation works and helps?
1. Create a feel of responsibility and intrinsic interests in the goals the organisation is working for... (remember this is not easy and needs lot of understanding of the resources you work with). A typical phscycological study of human behaviours might be required. Also remember that the leaders have to show a vision of the organisation and not self....

2. Understand the Objectives and Goals from the Team and individuals, its very important to do that... for instance if someone has core interests in making movies he might not be a good developer but he definitely can be a good Product Analyst or a Web Designer. It might not be easy to understand this too... You wont find many people who can tell you what they want to do in their life.... but all will conclude to earn money and retire ;)

3. Identify the rockers and the boulders.... both of these types cannot be motivated so do not waste your time creating intrinsic strategies on them...

4. Throw responsibilities but do not control. Passion at work is affected badly when responsibilities handled by the associates are been directly and minutely controlled by someone. The effect it has is the Member who has intrinsic interests have a feel of failure and thus been controlled. This can also make the intrinsic motivated run on a different side.

5. Let the motivation be transferred.... and let the authorities , visibility and responsibilities rotated... this helps the teams and the players to be very effective to work towards a goal.

6. Let them have their shares....
Its very important that the players with intrinsic motivations get their share of success in whatever form it comes... this also means that the leaders have to let these players accelerate well and at times well enough to overtake the leaders themselves... Solidatory success needs to be lonely settled with them... one of the good qualities of players that are intrinsically motivated is that they thrive for the next thing and want to move fast... the speed of the organisation and individual goals should be able to match this... else its too late.


7. Praise and Curse
Doesnt go in the same words though... make sure that the innovations from every player is praised and whenever required failures are cursed so that the feel of failure lead them to success... its very important to de-motivate the players so that they understand what , when , how , where and which is important for their lives. Make use of talented hunour to give the message out. Use quality humour to praise and show whats wrong, Be direct and clear when required, Be hard and firm when necessary and be Soft and calm when must. All of these help the person to identify himself and find a way to move in the direction of desires and aspiritions.

Well there are many more thingsz that you can definitely do.... unfortunately I think its enough at this moment if this post works as a motivation for you to motivate others to do miracles...

Remember Our Teachers and Mentors have made us, and we have to take their seat to be equally effecient and effective for others...


Regards
Sameer Shaikh
http://pm-better-than-sex.blogspot.com

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Replace the Issues or Fix it?

What do you do when you find issues with ?

1. The Product you are working on?
2. The tasks you are doing?
3. Colleagues?
4. Your Boss?
5. Yourself?

Do find the answers ... and I will share a quick resolution tip to problem solving....

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The YIKIT How to

Referring to the earlier post on the YIKIT's and to a request from Faisal on how to compel the YIKIT attitude, here are a few ways to handle and manage the YIKIT attitude:

1. Never embarass them
This should be the last thing you would want to do.. The YIKIT's attitude is just to show that they know more than anyone else, these type of people cannot hide their embarassement and would want to run away from their existing jobs and Team to avoid any more of it. The YIKIT's can be best Team players and also can have lot of knowledge and experience.

2. Throw responsibilities at them
The easiest way to be more effective with a YIKIT is to throw responsibilities at him in such a way that his experiences and knowledge is polished. A YIKIT really may or may not know things but pretend to show it.... making him realise that he doesnt know it can harm so let him polish his skills by making him work in the area he pretends to work keeping in mind that YIKIT's need virtual micromanagement.

3. Turn a YIKIT to a TIKIT or a MIKIT
Step 2 can really turn a YIKIT to Though I Knew it or even Maybe I know it which can be very effective since it will make a YIKIT to go and explore the world. YIKIT's can harm a Team if the YIKIT attitude turns to TITS meaning Thats It ;)

4. Ask Questions that you know and dont know
A YIKIT like to answer everything or show that he is a encyclopedia no matter its a Jack knowledge... I mean Jack of All King of None kinda knowledge... Another way to turn a YIKIT back to normal is throw questions that you have deep knowledge in and where you dont have any knowledge without making him realise about your knowledge in the area.

5. Avoid making statements or giving answers to YIKIT's easily
This is to make sure that the YIKIT doesnt take words from your statements and then make over stories on own, avoid responding first to make the conversations and progress better.

Remember of all the things you need to understand that:
a. YIKIT's are knowledgable
b. YIKIT's are intelligent
c. They have good skills and imagination power
d. They never want to loose
e. They Know what to talk and what not to

I am sure for a success of any Team you need all of these qualities....so YIKIT's been in the Team is important the only thing to take care of is better management of YIKIT's and having a good control over them.

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DOING A JOB or DoING it RIGHT

"When there's a gap between someone doing a job and doing the right thing, then management has failed"

Now I don't remember which Article or Blog I read this and unfortunately not able to find the exact place even after doing so many searches, I am actually forced to link this to the Harry Potter book specially because of the incidences happening over there... BTW This post was written when I was in the Godric's Hollow where Harry has just survived the Deathly attack.I am having a feel that its the Voldermort's mismanagement that is killing him. Be it not managing Snape to kill Dumbledore or be it not getting hold of the Undesirable one while leaving the dudesley's. Anyway forget it, coming back to the Fun. The root cause of failures in management are linked to doing wrong things at right times.Yes say for example "Taking your kid out in rain when he has just come out of cough and cold" Or "Having a quarrell with your wife when she is in a real bad mood" too many more things really, yeah wrong things at right times....

So while we think that its a managements failure when the right things are not done and the jobs are just done as a Project Manager certain things really can be credited on the path to "Why My Software Projects Fail". Lately while realising and analysing the follies and faults a Project Manager can do while reacting to situations can definately lead to the worst. Through a Project Managers career comes occasions like :
1. Biz critical situation needs to be responded by a Software support.
2. Risks need to be managed by playing with resources (doesnt only include Man Power).
3. Values need to be staken at the cost of situations...
more of course that you wont like me to write here.... under these situations the Best Manager's takes a call that can suffice and satisfy the needs and what plays a major role here is the time taken between the agreement on decission and actual implementation. If you are a cricket fan and had watched the 2nd day play of cricket Test Match between Englad and India you will agree Vaughan's decission to let Panesar continue a longer spell of bowling thinking that his spin will bowl out India short;) Unfortunate the decission was wrong. I have seen Managers who want to do everything in one shot right from decission to implementation and 11 out of 10 times it results into failures (however there is NO MANAGER IN THE WORLD WHO SAYS I DID THIS WRONG) If you dont believe this ask your Manager why a person who was fired recently becuase he been not productive or having other issues was HIRED at all? Well the answer wont be My choice was wrong it will be "He was better now he changed" so anyways.. taking decissions hastily is a art of Mis Management that can kill success... And I believe it is "JUST DOING THE JOB"

Yet another place to measure how it can affect in doing the right thing or just doing the JOB. A Father of an Indian girl's decission to hurriedly (without proper investigations or checks) of the groom she is marrying can result in disaster of a spoiled marriage, while if the fixing of marriage and the actual marriage takes long its possible that you might find the defects of the groom/bride way in time... definately leading to a find of successful marriage.

So next time you are to make a decission just dont make it "IT WILL BE DOING YOUR JOB" take time and then implement no matter it gets late it will be a right thing ;)

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Move To Thrash

A Few weeks ago we developed this feature for one of our key Customers on a key Project... what a thing it would be I realised if I get this Button in the Project Management to:

1. Thrash the Communication problems
2. Thrash the delays in the deadlines
3. Thrash the bugs in the system to never restore
4. Thrash the hurdles in the way of a successful growing product
5. Thrash the banners that do not motivate anyone from getting motivated
6. Thrash the fear so as to enable everyone to grow equally
7. Thrash barriers that cause project delays and confusion.

and last but not least solemnly thrash the erosion of quality code.

This is just to make the challenges of Project Management look a bit easier.

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So whats the Problem?

With reference to my earlier post on Are we creating a Bug? and the strong opinion I carry about Negative Management (I am putting it sweet here so that you dont feel I am calling MIS-MANAGEMENT) In both the stories I find the biggest similarity... A WRONG APPROACH. So who decides the right approach? How to take a right approach? How to avoid creating a Bug? Or Natwar (Our Automation King) language Animator V/s Animation approach.

So the 2 things that tell me what went wrong in the earlier 2 stories are:
1. The right resource was not found..
2. The right action was never right..

think the right action is never instant... there maybe arguments on this but thats a personal opinion.... I have always seen hasty decision ending up into major crisis. secondly when I say the right Action is never right, I always mean that the Right Action has scope to be improved. For instance creating competition is must within an organisation and is the right action, however competition that can lead to insurgency can screw the business.

So we stand on How to be more effective?
How to take the right steps?

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