I started work with a new client this week. One of our conversations revolved around adoption of the program we were implementing. This is a pretty common theme in a lot of projects I work on, how to get people to buy in to your vision.

I came across an article on this topic on Harvard Business Review. One of the interesting recommendations of the article was to tell stories. As a former Navy guy, I have heard my share of sea stories. While entertaining, sea stories also had a lesson to teach. It was usually about how to avoid doing something stupid, exemplified by someone doing something stupid.

But stories can help in business as well. I often tell stories of how a previous client did something similar and what their outcome was. Sometimes, in spite of my best advice, I have had clients do stupid things. More often though, they stories are of success. The story drives a point home better than providing statistics or giving recommendations without any backing.
So what stories do you have to tell? How will your stories help you move your project forward?

I had an article published yesterday on Projects@Work on Seth Godin's latest book, Linchpin. I've been a fan of Seth Godin since he spoke at the PMI Global Congress more years ago than I want to think about. It was at the conference that I was introduced to Fast Company magazine as well.
From Fast Company's "The Brand Called You" to Linchpin, the focus has been on how you need to take charge of your future. So have you worked to refine your brand? You may be thinking that you don't need to because you work for a company and don't plan on becoming a free agent. Even if you do work at a company, you still need to think about your brand. As Godin points out, if you are just a cog, you can be replaced by a cheaper cog.
So where do you start? One good technique is to become the expert on something; be it project management, your company's products, or some technology. Then you need to get the word out that you are the expert and help people out. This is what Godin calls giving your gift.
As an example, I was one of the first people to get my PMP certification in the organization I was working in at the time. I started helping other people get a better understanding of project management. First, it was some half-hour "brown bag" sessions at lunch and eventually I put together a half day intro to project management for people in the department. This wasn't in my job description. No one asked me to do it. I did it because I was developing a passion for project management and I wanted to share it. People started to think of me as the guy who know how to run a project, and the big, high profile projects started coming my way.
So figure out how to brand yourself. What do you have to offer your organization? What problem do you want to be known for solving?

A came across this...it's like the saying the race doesn't go to the swiftest but to the one that keeps on running;
“Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination are omnipotent. The slogan ‘press on’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”~ Calvin Coolidge

I heard an interesting tidbit of information this week. As software complexity increases, the amount of effort to add a feature rises exponentially. For example, if you were 40 story points, it might cost $10,000 (I am making all these number up) but to do 80 story points wouldn't be $20,000 but more like $40,000.
So when you combine this with the Standish study that said only 20% of the features on custom developed software are used always or often, you have a pretty good argument for simplification. Not only do all these extra features never get used, they cost a whole lot more to implement than the basic features that are needed.
So next time you're in front of the customer and they ask if you can do this or that, say yes, but it will cost them. Ask them what the real business value is. If they have a good answer, the feature probably makes sense. Otherwise, focus on the top 20% of the features they want (based on business value) and deliver that first before committing to any additional work.

Back when I was in the Navy, I received one fitness report (aka performance evaluation) in which I had a lower rating for Creativity. At the time I was puzzled, why would I have to be creative? I was a low-level officer, just following the orders given to me. There wasn't any room for creativity in my job.
It took me a while to realize that in any job you should be bringing creativity. Following the rules is not enough. You need to use your creativity to change, improve, and maybe break the rules in order to improve the organization.
This isn't always easy. You have to make the time to come up with creative ideas. On a recent project of mine, I was so busy going to meetings, responding to emails, and just getting tasks done that I wasn't being very creative, so I got into the habit of reflecting on the day after I got back to my hotel room each night and thinking about what I could have done that I didn't even have time to think of during my busy day. That became the first task on my list for the next day, so I could get to it before things got to crazy.
So where can you be more creative? Take some time at the end of your work day to think about this.

I read an interesting concept today. This come from US Snowboarder Shaun White. He said that when he doesn't succeed with a maneuver, he watches the video, then he imagines the scene but instead of failing, he succeeds with the move.
Think about this. You had a meeting or conversation with a colleague that didn't go how you wanted. What could you have done to make it come out the way you wanted?
I find I'm challenged when I have to give constructive (ie, negative) feedback to a team member, the conversation doesn't always go the way I want. If I practice Shaun's advice, future conversations should go smoother and I can get my gold medal!

I came across an interesting idea in Seth Godin's LinchpinTransferring your passion to your job is far easier than finding a job that happens to match your passion.
I've read a lot lately about how you should figure out what you're passionate about and then find a way to make money at it. I think about photography, which is something I am passionate about. Would I feel the same way if I had to do it to make money?
The alternative that Godin is proposing is to become passionate about what you're doing now and that will in turn make you more successful because you bring your full self to work.

My niece graduated from KU School of Journalism this past Saturday. The keynote speaker talked about 1988, the year most the students were born. I started thinking about how much journalism has changed since then. This was pre-web. Not many people even had home computers back then and newspapers had no idea what was coming as far as the changes in their industry. The professors must spend a lot of time updating their knowledge so they can send graduates out with the latest skills, but that won't be enough. The new graduates will have to continue to keep their skills updated if they want to remain competitive in the workforce.
How much time are you spending updating your skills? Stephen Covey talks about taking time to sharpen the saw; stepping back from the day to day work and focusing on your skills. Finding the time to do this can be challenging, but the options are also increasing. Now we can attend a 1-hour webinar on a topic of interest. We don't have to take 3 days off and attend a conference just to pick up some new knowledge. There are other on-line training opportunities, self paced classes, and of course books, blogs etc. What you need to do is make the time. Block off an hour or two this week to sharpen your saw so you can keep up with the changing world.

So I was playing a small part on a large program not to long ago that was marching to an impossible date. Late in the game, the senior executive decided to push the roll-out date by a month, recognizing that the original date was not achievable.

So my first question was, why did it take so long? I can understand keeping the pressure on, but I think there's a difference between an aggressive date and an impossible one. In one case it will motivate you to work hard, in the other, it will only discourage you. Did this decision maker not have the information needed to make an effective decision? Were people afraid to provide the information?

Of course the throw more bodies option was used at one point prior to the delay. Anyone who has tried this knows that this approach doesn't really work. Nine women can't have a baby in a month and you can only divide up a project so much before you're spending more time on overhead then on development, not to mention the increased complexity of communications.

I've seen a number of huge projects that go down in flames and every time I see a new one starting I have to wonder why. In some cases it may be necessary, but in many cases a better option might be to break the big program down into more manageable chunks. This will reduce the overhead, communications challenges, and impact to the organization.

So this week I introduced my team to the concept of done and done-done. I first got this idea from Dave Prior. Done means the developer thinks they've finished the task. Done-done means someone else has verified the task is really complete; such as a tester saying it passed testing or and end user verifying it is what they need.

This becomes important when you are trying to accurately track your progress. If a developer says they're done but they forgot something or it doesn't work right, there's still work to do. You may be nearing the end of your iteration and have a lot more work left than you think if you have a lot of tasks in the done stage but not really done-done.

So I don't even try to get % complete estimates I have found these to be notoriously inaccurate. I ask the developers to tell me either not started, in progress, done, and done-done. For those tasks in progress, I look for when they will be done. The tasks are all pretty small, around 8 hours of effort. That way, if I don't see at least some tasks getting done (and done-done) each day, I know I have a problem.

Agile is about being able to identify when you have problems as early as possible so you have more time to fix the problems. Having an accurate status plays a strong role in knowing the health of your project.

My kids are both into jazz. They have a pretty good program at the high school they both attend. I heard someone talking about the rules of jazz recently;

1. Learn the rules
2. Practice the rules
3. Break the rules

The idea with jazz of course is to improvise, but that doesn't mean play which ever notes you want. However, it does mean you aren't just playing the notes written on the paper.

This is also the idea to having an adaptive project management approach. First, learn the rules. Get your Scrum certification, read some books, or attend a conference. Apply what you learn on your projects. I've talked to a number of folks that say the way to implement Scrum is to first do it by the book (rule 2).

Once you get to know what you're doing, move on to rule 3. Every project is unique, so figure out how to break the rules for your project. Again, it doesn't mean drop everything. It means knowing how to improvise without throwing the whole structure away. Have you had your jazz today?