The Hard-Nosed Project Manager

Half ethical is like half pregnant.

OK, I must admit that this subject is not as sexy or controversial as Agile and that it may be anticlimactic for this 100^th post (I know, it is both a shameless plug and a quest for praise; please oblige…) but it goes to the heart of business and human relations.

Can you be half ethical?  How does half trustworthy sound to you?  I’m asking because over the last few days I’ve had to ponder this both at work and in conversations with friends.  Here are some of the issues that came to my attention:

• A project manager has been changing procurement rules after milking a solution provider for information over many iterations of a potential project that never quite starts.  These iterations took place over 3+ years.  It also appears that the project manager may have given part of previous bid packages to the provider’s competition.
• A program manager has been hiding key information from his project manager, his solution provider’s project manager, and his own stakeholders.  This information was critical to proposals and to the successful delivery of projects.  Expectations are now out of sync with what is actually feasible.
• A solution provider has been talking with its clients in a way that would suggest to that client that almost unlimited resources can be made available to his projects although this is far from the truth.

In none of these situations can the culprits say with a straight face that they have been 100% ethical and trustworthy.  All of these situations describe a damaged relationship that will probably never be mended.  What if all participants always behaved like they are in a relationship (for the long term) instead of executing a transaction (a one night stand)?  What do you think?  As always comments are welcome.

So, I used the word Agile twice which should perk up my statistics.  All that is missing now is your praise; don’t make me wait too long…

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Leadership; part 7 of 7 - Wrap up

I hope you enjoyed this short series on leadership; it is loosely based on The Legacy of Leadership a short series of videos and documents from the George C. Marshall Foundation.  You can also find this material on iTunes in the iTunes U section.

George C. Marshall was an impressive person although those who met him in early life may not have realised it due to the slow start of his military career.  He rose through the ranks of the officer corps eventually becoming Chief of Staff of the Army, a position he held through WW2.  By the time the war was over he had been promoted to General of the Army (5 stars).

George C. Marshall is also known for the Marshall Plan which helped rebuild Europe after the war.  He lead this plan while US Secretary of State.  During the period he also received the Nobel Peace Prize (1947).  He eventually became President of the American Red Cross and, his final public position, US Secretary of Defense.

So why use the George C. Marshall videos as a basis for this series?  After all the man was not a project manager and project management is not war or politics.  That is somewhat true but his story shows one of the greatest attributes of leadership; portability.  The common thread throughout his career was leadership; candor, selflessness, commitment, integrity, and courage.

A word of caution; the acting in the videos is not necessarily the best you'll ever see.  Please do not let this detract from the message.

What do you think?  As always comments are welcome.

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Leadership; part 6 of 7 - Courage

The last in our series on qualities of a leader is courage.  Courage:

1. The state or quality of mind or spirit that enables one to face danger, fear, or vicissitudes with self-possession, confidence, and resolution; bravery.

What would you expect your newly selected leader to do when something goes "badly wrong"; to accept the responsability for the problem or to blame others?  Given a choice between facing imminent hardship or accepting to take an unethical action, what will he do?  When the road gets tough will he get tougher?

Tomorrow, I'll reveal where I found this list.  Do anyone have a idea? 

What do you think?  As always comments are welcome.

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Leadership; part 5 of 7 - Integrity

The second to last in our series on qualities of a leader is integrity.  Integrity:

1. Steadfast adherence to a strict moral or ethical code.

Can your leadership candidate be trusted to make decisions based on cold hard facts or is he biased?  Can he be trusted to treat everyone in the same fashion or will he play favorites?  If you ask his opponents as well as his peers will they say he acts on conviction or that he'll say and do anything to win? 

What do you think?  As always comments are welcome.

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Leadership; part 4 of 7 - Commitment

The third desirable quality of a leader is commitment.  Commitment:

1. The state of being bound emotionally or intellectually to a course of action or to another person or persons.

Is your leadership candidate ready to push through resistance to achieve the goals that have been laid out for him and those he picked for himself?  Will he pick consensus over conviction? Will he be taking the easy path instead of the right one? 

What do you think?  As always comments are welcome.

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Leadership; part 3 of 7 - Selflessness

The second of five qualities we should look for in a leader is selflessness.  Selflessness:

1. Having, exhibiting, or motivated by no concern for oneself; unselfish.

What motivates the person you are considering for a leadership position?  Is it the good of the many or of the one?  Is it achieving the team's or enterprise's goal or his own?  Is he willing to stick is neck out for what's right or will he stick to the party line?

What do you think?  As always comments are welcome.

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Leadership; part 2 of 7 - Candor

The first of five qualities we should look for in a leader is candor.  Candor:

1. Frankness or sincerity of expression; openness.
2. Freedom from prejudice; impartiality.

Do you appreciate and promote candor?  Would you rather promote a sycophant (a yes-man) or someone who is candid?  Is the person you are looking at promoting or hiring candid or political?

What do you think?  As always comments are welcome.

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Leadership; part 1 of 7 - Introducing the series

How do you or your organization pick leaders or promotes people?  There are many possible ways to achieve this task; from management science to plain old good common sense. 

In the former category we've all heard of the Peter principle which was revisited in the article  “The Peter Principle Revisited: A Computational Study,” by Alessandro Pluchino, Andrea Rapisarda, and Cesare Garofalo, Physica A, vol. 389, no. 3, February 2010, pp. 467-72.  Their main conclusion, picking at random is as good as anything else, won them the 2010 IgNobel Prize for Management.  This is funny in a tragic kind of way.

In the later category let me offer a mini series in 7 parts:

• Part 1 - The setup (today)
• Parts 2 to 6 - 5 qualities to look for in a leader over 5 days
• Part 7 - The wrap up and where did I get this from? Next Saturday

I hope you'll spend the time reading the coming posts; I think it'll be worth the investment.

What do you think?  As always comments are welcome.

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Unethical behavior

I've seen some serious political wranglings over the years but this article in today's Ottawa Citizen describes a particularly nasty situation; calling it unethical is an understatement.  It is a bit long but in my opinion worth the read. 

For the record let me state that I know none of the parties to this conflict and nothing about its particulars except for what is described it the article.  That being said, if you find yourself in a situation like this there is no option but to fight with all you've got.

What do you think?  As always comments are welcome.

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Ethics are a funny thing

Well, not really… I had this post bugging me for a long while, triggered by this Mentisor podcast, but I was kind of busy and my mind was somewhere else.  The first topic in the podcast is ethics and asks the question “Is spending $10,000 to save your client $5000 unethical if that client doesn't know better?”.  The Mentisor guys make a number of good points, some I disagree with, on this topic.

Those of us who have had the pleasure of taking the PMP exam and practice tests prior to the exam know that ethics are not black and white; there are cultural as well as moral aspects to them.  Some approaches are fine in some cultures or setting and taboo in others.

Going back to the Mentisor podcast, what if the client “wants” to have the answer even if it costs more to do so than the potential savings?  I think that, in this particular case, if you inform the client and he says to do it anyway there is no ethics question.  I can provide personal examples of this:

• I was involved in a pharmaceutical project that was in its startup phase; the client was asking us to make little changes as problems crept up.  This is a costly way of doing things but, based on my limited experience at the time, I was playing along.  The client was happy and my bosses too because I was charging time to the project.  However, after more than a few changes, I was getting bored and told the client that it would be more efficient to gang the changes together as it saved on paperwork and overall effort.  The client resisted and my PM was less than happy.  Eventually, the client came to see my point because the original approach was a drain on resources and funds.  Note that I’m not claiming that this was an ethical suggestion on my part; I’m not a drone and I don’t like to do the same thing over and over.  These days, with experience and wisdom (???), I would push the client to my way and I would actually refuse to work one fix at a time otherwise I’d feel like I’m stealing from my client.
• Another of my clients will spend almost any sum to account for inventory of an active ingredient prior to writing it off.  One could say that it is a waste of money but not doing so could trigger an audit due to Sarbanes Oxley.  Companies could write off high value materials that have never actually been produced to offset profits and the audit is the big hammer provided by law to make companies comply.  The cost of accounting for inventory pales in comparison to the regulatory impact on the company.
• One area where ethics are clearly involved in safety of people or the environment; if you are asked to do something that could harm either you have to refuse to do the work.  Years ago I was interviewed for a job where the HR guys kept coming back to matter of ethics.  Is tack was that if my higher ups were OK with an approach I should be too.  They offered me the job even after I pushed back; I walked away.  Never regretted it.

What do you think?  As always comments are welcome.

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