Johnny on Productivity

This is a blog about how I improved my productivity and the tools I am using. While sharing my techniques and thoughts I also learns a lot from my readers. I focus a lot on project task management with kanban and try to keep up with a lot of new things.

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How to manage across industries

Photo Credit: kevin dooley TheNixer cc I believe in having a mentor or idol when you want to master something. When I make products - I think about how Steve Jobs wants to create dent in the universe. When I do financial planning I think about Warren Buffet and think long term and only place my money in things I really understand and not something that I have heard. In my first full time job after graduating, I met Magnus Söderholm - a great project manager. He is the kind of project manager that loves to teach, explains everything and can make anyone laugh even in stressful times. I have met a lot of managers as a consultant, but he is the best I have met so far. I have been very lucky that he took me in to the consultancy business, taught me a lot and believed in me. So when I started writing this blog, the first project manager I wanted to interview was of course him. I haven’t met him for two years but he is as friendly and helpful as ever and I manage to get some of his precious time for an interview. First I’ll give you a short background and then I’ll explain his management philosophy. Because I kept notes and didn’t record the interview, I might get some fact messed up. Please forgive me for any fact errors and misunderstandings. And to keep this post interesting I have shorten it to only three essential questions. Tell us about your first job as a project manager and how you got here? I started working as a construction site manager (byggledare in Swedish) in 1987. I came right from the university. It was not easy in the beginning, but I was learning by doing. In -98 we started to use IT based systems. It was a revolution for the industry. We tested the new method and I got a week to get a plan and budget for a building. In 2 days I could get a better plan and budget than the most experienced construction master did in a month. The strength with the IT system was that we based the on numbers from more than 150 previous projects and no matter how experienced you was you can not compete with that number. After working with IT systems I came in contact with WM-data (the largest IT consultancy company in Sweden at that time). After a few mergers and a job change I am in Fujitsu. I have a few friends that have worked as managers cross businesses like you. It seems that motivation among peers and team members can vary and this is a big problem. What is your take on this? It is of course very different people if I compare IT consultants with a construction worker. But I learned early to have SMART goals. Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-bound. If the goal is not SMART it is not realistic and not doable. With lesser motivation it is even more important to think SMART. Which are the most important in character of a project manager? Communication. No matter what process you or the client has, communication is the most important. If I have to improve something it would be communication. We can all be better in communicating. There are many ways to communicate and many different directions. Communication with team members is obviously very important. Lesser obvious is the communication with the steer committee. Be open and express all your concerns early. If the steering committee is not experienced and not dedicated enough it is the project manager’s responsibility to make sure it is working. Projects can vary a lot, but roughly 10-15% of the project time is spent on management. If the project is small then one project manager is enough, if the project is larger the responsibility should be divided to roles like technical architect and solution architect. This can be seen as a deferred communication. Another way of communication is to through project management tools. It is important to understand that it doesn't matter how good the software is -if no one understand it then it is useless. So for new users we always teach them and make sure everyone understands it. To manage a project, the most important is the people not the software tools.

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Missing deadline: When the facts change, I change

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I was sitting in Calgary (Canada) working with a one-year project. Summer was close and I was planning my holiday plans. So I checked with the project schedule. Then my friend Chis Bateman told me: "If you are going to have vacation put it on the first deadline". He was half joking, but still serious enough. It turned out he was right, the deadline moved two times. Because of the second move, I already left the project and missed the go-live. Was it a successful project? I would say yes in this case. Due to that all stakeholders agreed to the deadline should be moved, probably long before.

Missing deadlines are very common for IT projects. But I am sure it happens for a lot of other projects too. Why is that? The more people involved and the longer time the project proceeds, the more complex it gets. 

The old school

In a typical large project, there will be an intensive analysis and design phase and the product is an advanced project plan with charts, budgets, Gantt schedule, work break down, risk analysis etc. This is of course necessary. I am not arguing about that. But when a lot of expertise is invested in the plan, the PM and project owners are relying too much on the process. When a PM has been in his first successful project, he will not just be relying on it, he will also defend it or use it as a blueprint for the next coming projects.

Then one third into the project or maybe even later comes the first output. The end users see it for their first time and give their opinions, discuss with the managers and then decided that they need X and Y too. It is obvious that X and Y are needed. This gets back to the project manager as a Change Request, gets approved and passes down the stream to the developer. So far so good. Then two third of project time is gone. Project manager discuss with the stakeholders explaining that due to the high amount of CR we need to move the deadline. Stakeholders are not happy with missing the deadline and the increased cost. But they were informed about the CR situation since the beginning and probably by the Risk Analysis too.

So things get delayed, everyone gets surprised the first times and then just accepted it.

No delay

Another ending for this story could also that the project manager is strict and choose to say no to a lot of CR. In this case probably the stakeholders agree and the team will meet the deadline. The problem is that the result is a piece of software that the end users will hate. They rather use the old solution or go back to pen, paper.

What not to do when you will almost miss the deadline

-Do not blame that the team is lazy. If the team is unmotivated there are usually an explanation. Either they already know it is too late and unrealistic to catch up.

-The communication between the project manager and team is not working or maybe they are unsatisfied with something. In either way communication is the most important and the PM should understand why.

-Do not try to motivate overtime to catch up. If some are willing to work overtime because they think they can catch up then it is fine. The initiative should come bottom up. If it comes from top down then the effect will in many times be the opposite or no effect at all. The problem is that the motivation should be finishing the project itself. Other motivations outside of this will get the team confused. If you give higher pay or extra vacation then that will be the new goal, instead of finishing the project. Another problem is that most people are lesser productive after 40 hours a week. Extra work one week might cause the next week to be lesser productive. People get cranky and morale will be even lower.

80:80 rule

It takes 80 percent of the time to implement 80 percent of the project. No surprise here, but the surprise is that it takes the same amount of time to finish the rest. So if a project was planned for 10 months, the first 8 month will be according to plan, but the rest will take 8 month more. (Math behind)

The agile way

When there is a problem and people acknowledges it - there is usually a solution. And the agile/lean process had born. I had been a fan of "programming motherfucker" for some time. Because when I started working in the business, we used Waterfall and in the best case Iterative waterfall. I saw the serious problems with the overtime when we are close to deadline and then missed deadlines. It was obviously flawed with using a waterfall type of process. The projects without process on the other hand usually work better if you are with an experienced team with good communication. 

What is agile?

Agile means a lot now days due to the many books and many interpretations, but the main idea is that the team is moving quickly. It is iterative with a iteration length of a week or two. Each iteration ends with a release. To be able to manage these quick releases the project needs a kanban. A kanban is essentially a task management tool that is visual. The simplest way is to use a board or wall with post-it notes. But I highly recommend using an online tool, because it is quicker (agile), it is accessible from anywhere and it has a change history.

Photo Credit: orcmid cc

How can this affect deadline?

Because of the frequent releases, the end users will see the product instantly and they can give feedback immediately or at least bring the discussion of any misunderstandings immediately. So the time for first CR is quicker, this alone will already result in a more accurate planning for the managers.

The second point is that due to the kanban, it is easier to get a holistic view of the scope. The team with the stakeholders and end users can discuss about the correct priority. Do we want to delay the deadline or do we want to remove some of the low features. The facts that we catch during the analysis phase have changed because we now get the feedback from the end users. And when the facts change so should we.

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Focus At Will

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We live in a world full of distractions, especially if you work in front of a computer many hours: emails, interesting articles, social sites etc. I work from home very often and it is so easy to slip of the track. So I have found a solution. The method is not new, but I have a few tools that might help.

The method is to set time box. In a good day I set 60 minutes focused work, 5 minutes break for checking news or walking to the coffee machine. In a normal day I set 45 minutes work and 5 minutes break. It is scientific and empirical proven that focused time and then a short break is the most optimal if working. We have been trained this way since elementary school to university. But suddenly when we start working, we some how lost this routine. 

Menubar Countdown

How do I keep the time? I set a visual countdown. Every time I feel distracted and want to do something else, I look at the count down and then realize "if I work just 18 minutes more I deserve a 5 minute break."

If you are using a Mac like me, try Menubar Countdown. It is free and open sourced with GPL. It has a few but important settings and then the countdown clock is minimal and stays in the menubar always visible. There are probably a lot of alternatives for Windows too, just google it and add it to the comments if you find something worth sharing.

Focus@Will

My friend Johan from Concepta Solutions introduced me a web site, Focus@Will. With Focus@Will, you can combine a countdown clock with music. The music is made for focus and you can choose a genre that fits your mood of the day. There is also a logging functionality so you can keep track of your productivity and learn from your past sessions.

Coffitivity

A third tool, Coffitivity is not so much of a focus tool, but a creativity tool that works in a similar way but with another touch. It uses ambient sound to spawn creativity. It's not my cup of tea, but maybe it works for you.

I hope this solves your focus problem. If you have other suggestions please tell me!

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No, I'm Not Coming Because Your Meeting Sucks!

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This is a follow up from the last week's article about meeting. A few feedbacks that I received were about the first point: saying NO. For many people it is not as simple as the heading for this article suggests. I don't think many can be that brutally honest and say something like that. Maybe Steve Jobs. Brutally honest is very efficient, but it also hurts a lot of relationships. For us that don't have that personality I suggest that we shouldn't be brutally honest, just honest. There are tons of books about saying no - both for management and for relationships. To be able to say no in the right circumstances can be very powerful. But we have to understand the reasons behind it.

Why we are yea-sayers

First let's understand why we are yea-sayers. Here are three quite common reasons. Do agree in one or more? 1) We are yea-sayers in my culture. Saying no is not polite. 2) I am afraid to burn bridges. I might loose an opportunity. If I say no this time, that person might never ask me again or when I ask they will turn me down. 3) We are afraid to be alienated. Everyone else is yea-sayer and I don't want to be perceived as the only nay-sayer. I will be socially out of the group.

Be friendly and honest

My approach to solve this is to understand that saying no doesn't mean that you are actually being rude, burning bridges or alienating yourself. There is a reason why you want to say no, just think about it and be honest. For me, time and priority is often an issue. I reply honestly that: "I am sorry, but I just need to finish X. I have promised to deliver it in time. But if you can wait until next week I'll get back to you." Notice how it complies with the three points. Another version is to give an opportunity to improve: "I don't think I can come because... but if you shorten the meeting and send out an agenda, then I can contribute." Sometimes the reason is that you are actually the wrong person to be asked. It requires some courage to admit that you don't know everything. "I think I'm not as good as X. You should talk to him, he is awesome in this kind of issues."

I hope these advices solves your problem. If not, please tell me why.

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Hate Wasting Time in Meetings?

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We've all been there, sitting in a meeting and wondering why are we wasting so much time. Minutes feel like hours and your mind is drifting away. Some meetings are good some meetings are bad. Here are some findings that others and I have tried to improve the productivity:

1) Say no

Say no to a meeting where you know it is a waste of time. Tell the meeting coordinator why you think so, and hopefully that person will make it a better one. The following points will give you an idea of how a productive meeting should be.

2) Meeting agenda

This is probably the most important point. A meeting has to have an agenda. Even the shortest meeting has a background, subject and next action. If the meeting is of discussion or brainstorming type you will still need to set up a common background so that the discussion doesn't go out of the subject. And in the end reach a conclusion for next action. 

For each point in the meeting agenda specify time span if possible. So in case a discussion goes way out of hand, you can abrupt it, write it down and add it to the next action. A next action for a discussion is to only let the involved discuss internally. A discussion with too many unnecessary people listening will suddenly become a power struggle. 

Always send out the meeting agenda before the meeting. Have it as a routine to send it together with the meeting invitation.

3) Participants

In general my advice is to have as few as possible if you want an efficient meeting. Unless it is a pure informative meeting where you want as many as possible to reach a consensus. Pure informative should not be kept more than 30 minutes for a large group. If you already know that a few participants want to object or bring a discussion. Collect these few in a more personal meeting first.

4) Clear action

There should always be a next action in the end of the meeting. It could sometimes be as easy as the sending out the conclusion of the discussion. But usually someone has to do something.

During the meeting the coordinator should write down all the actions and then in the end of the meeting repeat the actions so that everyone can agree. Each action should answer these three questions; who, what and when. For instance: Johnny will send in the proposal before Friday, Ben fixes the proposal until tomorrow, I will send out the meeting notes this afternoon.

5) Communication

The meeting coordinator usually does agenda and next actions. But if you are not the coordinator and you think there should be improvement, then try to communicate this to the coordinator in an open and friendly way. If you have a very good relation with the coordinator you might even suggest that you want to coordinate the meeting, so that he or she can have some more time.

More

Do you think this is helpful? Or do you have any other issues with inefficient meetings please comment.

Acknowledgements

Thank you Marcus Kierkegaard and Benjamin Beyene for great advise in the art of meetings.

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5 iPad and iPhone tricks for efficient using

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I have been using iPad and iPhone for a while now. If you also love to write a lot in you iDevice, I have a few tricks to make it smoother. It took me long time until I realized that it was possible, so I hope you get to learn something new too, otherwise I feel really stupid. :)

1) When I write a long note or message, I sometimes want to use the Undo function. In iPad there is an Undo button in the keyboard. But in iPhone there is none. At least not until you shake your phone.

Undo in iPhone 2) To write in your iPad can be very cumbersome if you want to be holding it in your hands and still have it in landscape mode (like the man in the top image). Try use the split keyboard:

Hold the keyboard button and choose split

A split keyboard

3) When you are writing sentences, instead of clicking PERIOD and then SPACE. Just tap SPACE twice. 4) When you want to write capital letters in the middle of a sentence, you usually tap on the SHIFT and then tap the letter you want to capitalize. Instead try touching the SHIFT, drag your finger to the letter you want to capitalize and then release. This also works for numbers. 5) You probably already know that you can hold a key and get alternatives. For instance hold A and there will pop up a menu with all kinds of alternatives for the letter This also works for special characters like $ (will show you other currencies), and .com (will show you .net, .org etc.).

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Make a checklist to improve the quality in what you are doing

I read a book last weekend that was very interesting. The reason why I read it was partly because I was interested in the subject, but also that Jack Dorsey gave it to all his new employees in Square. Jack Dorsey is also known as the cofounder of Twitter. To be truly effective, I have read the book and summarized it for you :)

The story

"The Checklist Manifesto" is written by Atul Gawande, a doctor from Harvard, that begins the book with stories from the operation rooms. To make the story short people almost died and the heart stopped for a few minutes but got saved in the end when the doctors realize what went wrong. The reason for mistakes is because operations are very complex, and there is not only one way to do the same thing. So the solution was the checklist, an old and simple idea for a complex problem. Then he continued about deep interviews from a building project of a multi floor project in the scale of 250 billon dollar. Where they had an unpredicted incident but also had a process to handle incidents like this. To broaden the view he was sitting a whole evening watching the chefs serve 300 guests and participated in the meeting before and after to understand to team work and process. Why the checklist Every project needs a process or checklist, otherwise detailed would be left out. Even a chef that has made the same dish a hundred times, the hundred and one time maybe he forgets an ingredient and the next few batches would be different and lesser good. It could also be that he likes the different approach and he changes the checklist, also known as a recipe. The checklist must always have room for improvements. A list is especially good when there are many people involved. A check by the responsible is a ultimate guarantee that the person agrees to a certain quality. So sharing responsibilities with a list is very efficient.

How to make a good checklist

It is easy to make a checklist and most people have done it. But to make a good checklist that works for other and not just for yourself is more difficult. (The following three points are what I got from the story and maybe not the intention by the author, all misunderstanding is purely mine.) Effortless - it is very important that the list is simple to check. In a hospital it could be a form by the patience' bed. For a company it could be a big wall in the meeting room, a bulletin board on the hallway, an Internet website or a mobile app. The important is that is has to be simple enough and that it doesn't get perceived as an unnecessary paper work that is slowing down the process. It should strengthen the project not stalling. Improved by the team - The checklist should start centralized and always needs to be used a few times before finalizing. A theory is always theory before putting into practice. And while the amount to expertise in the team the checklist should always be updated and improved. This will give a decentralized responsibility of always following the checklist because everyone knows that is updated and important not just something the boss is forcing. By asking for improvement it also makes sure that it gets implemented in the organization quicker. 5-9 important points - remove all the unnecessary steps and only leave the crucial and those where people tends to miss. One of the last points should be a reflective one. If it is a team, ask the involved if they have any concern. Maybe someone will tell you that they are afraid that there is a screw loose, or there might be a bug in the system etc. Write down the concern and maybe adjust the checklist so that it never happens again.

When to use it

Now when you know how to make a good checklist, just apply it. But not everywhere, use it on tasks or projects where you have a repetitive process, especially if the results may vary. With a checklist the mistakes will be lesser and for a team - the responsibility will be captured leading to higher quality. Now, go and make your perfect checklist!

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Let's be productive!

My name is Johnny and I work as a consultant in the IT business both from Sweden and Japan. What strikes me is that I meet so many different people working in so many different ways. I try to always catch up with the latest thoughts about productivity.

This blog is my way of sharing what I have learned and hopefully let me get more ideas from you and other readers.

The ultimate goal is to be more successful in whatever we are doing. And make our short time worth thousand times more.