2008 Vol. 1 The Quarterly Newsletter of the PMI Central Indiana Chapter May 10

The Greatest Project Management Ability
The Ability to Anticipate
Dr. James T. Brown PMP, President of SEBA® Solutions, Inc.
Dr. James T. Brown PMP is president of SEBA® Solutions Inc. a Registered Education Provider with the Project Management Institute and is the author of The Handbook of Program Management published by McGraw-Hill. He provides project management training and keynote speeches worldwide and may be reached at jtbrown@sebasolutions.com.
The ability to anticipate is by far the greatest project management ability. Anticipation is an ability that is a culmination of knowledge, experience and skill. The ability to anticipate is not only what separates great project managers from good project managers; it is what separates great from good in most professions. The best hitters in baseball have the ability to anticipate what kind of pitch will be thrown to them and where the ball will be when it is time to swing the bat. The best soccer goalies have the ability to anticipate where the ball will be kicked so they can block it. This really comes into play during penalty kicks and this ability to anticipate will determine the goalies success or failure.
What the baseball batter and the soccer goalie have in common is that they cannot be successful trying to cover every possible outcome. The batter cannot possible hit the ball with power and control trying to protect the entire strike zone. He has to limit the strike zone to maximize the chances of getting a hit. The goalie cannot possibly guard the entire net. He has to determine what part of the net he will defend and what part will be left unprotected. The batter and goalie that can most effectively anticipate and plan their response to the future circumstances get the best results. This is also true of project managers.
The challenge of project management is so daunting that the project manager's ability to anticipate and plan has a direct correlation on their ability to execute. A lot of project management books will state that everything needs to be planned in detail and every risk needs to be covered with a risk plan. This is good in theory and for a very small percentage of projects it is good in practice. However, most project managers live in a world characterized by uncertainty. Uncertain requirements, resources, risks, etc. The role of the project manager is to minimize or eliminate this uncertainty, but it is rare when uncertainty doesn't exist at significant levels. Therefore the best project managers anticipate. They are able to visualize and plan through the fog. They make aggressive decisions based on what they anticipate. The average and poor performing project manager waits on the fog to clear. They complain or whine constantly about the uncertainty and it becomes an excuse for inaction.
The great project managers anticipate then act. The great baseball hitters sometimes swing and miss wildly. The great soccer goalie sometimes leaps to the wrong end of the net. They make mistakes just like the great performing project manager will make mistakes. To anticipate and act means that you will occasionally make mistakes. Over the course of a project, program or career these mistakes will be small compared to the number of good decisions that were made due to excellent anticipation. The successful project manager is a continual learner, not afraid to make decisions based on what they know to be true and what they anticipate to be true.
The ability to anticipate can really be summed up with one simple phrase. "TOP" (Training, Observation, Practice.)The combination of these three activities aggressively deployed provides the ability to anticipate and the confidence to act.

Training - There are always rare exceptions, like someone born with a gift that can play the piano masterfully without training. As a rule though, expertise and even basic proficiency cannot be achieved without training. If it wasn't so prevalent and sad, the number of companies that expect their project managers to be successful without training would be amusing.
Do you know any project management quacks (PMQ's)?
Would you go to a medical doctor who had no formal training but said "I have been doctoring on people for 15 years". Most would quickly identify this doctor as a quack. There are a lot of project management quacks out there. The doctor without training may indeed be able to practice medicine with minor or perhaps moderate success but certainly not at the level of someone that is a trained physician. What would you think of the football coach who told his team we'll learn as the game goes along because we don't have the time or budget for training?

Part of what makes Tiger Woods the golf champion that he is, was training from an early age. In the absence of that training he would not have been a child prodigy or dominating golf as he does today. In fact, he still values training and still submits himself (even at his level of expertise and accomplishment) to coaching. I am always amazed when I come across project managers who don't feel the need for training. Projects involve lots of variables including technology, resources and the most complex variable of all - people. Project management is so complex it is worthy of life long study if you choose to excel at it. There is a marked difference between proficiency and excellence.
A PMP doesn't make you or anyone else a good project manager!
Yes, the basics are easily acquired. PMP certification is in fact readily acquired with effort. A PMP certification by itself does not make you a great project manager or even capable of managing a challenging project. Greatness in any endeavor is the application of the basics and the summation of a large number of little things done well. This is what characterizes the masters in any field of endeavor. When I go to training (and I do) I am looking for the little things that take the basics to another level.
In the next issue of this newsletter, we will discuss the O and P of TOP (observation and practice) and their role in obtaining the greatest project management skill of anticipation.
***

Dr. James T. Brown PMP is president of SEBA® Solutions Inc. a Registered Education Provider with the Project Management Institute and is the author of The Handbook of Program Management published by McGraw-Hill. He provides project management training and keynote speeches worldwide and may be reached at jtbrown@sebasolutions.com.

Part 2 - DO YOU HAVE THE GREATEST
PROJECT MANAGEMENT ABILITY?
The ability to anticipate is by far the greatest project management ability.
We have been discussing anticipation as the greatest project management skill. I stated in the last newsletter that TOP (Training, Observation, Practice) provide the ability to anticipate and the confidence to act. The importance of training was outlined and in this issue we will define the role of observation. The importance of continuous training to maintain the ability to anticipate is only one piece of the puzzle. The next component is Observation.
Observation - Going beyond the basics to the collection and mastery of little things also involves observation. Once you accept the fact that there are little pieces of knowledge that when applied strategically together you are always on the hunt for them. People often make the mistake of limiting their hunt for knowledge to whatever field or discipline their in. If you take one thing away from this newsletter take the following point.
Excellence at anything is worthy of your careful observation and study.
Opportunities abound to study excellence. Books are a very good tool for studying excellence. Autobiographies of people who have achieved greatness are worthy of your time. Personal interviews are worthy of your time. You are panning for gold.
Occasionally I will stay at the Ritz-Carlton. Their service is usually extraordinary and when there I will inquire about their excellent service with anyone from the bellman to the manager. What they view as a conversation is in fact an interview, for I am always on the hunt for tips that contribute to excellence and achievement at high levels.
This year while in South Florida I came across the famous jazz guitarist George Benson sitting alone at the hotel bar prior to an evening show. I introduced myself and once he was done laughing at my name (he said he had been good friends with the late singer James Brown), I asked him what he did to play guitar at such a high level? How did he practice? What and who influenced him? We had a nice twenty minute conversation as he played air guitar and talked to me. George Benson probably doesn't know much about project management, but he knows a lot about excellence.
Excellence has common threads
Obviously you should talk to every project manager you view as excellent, but achievement at high levels goes beyond a particular discipline. If the grocery store you shop at is well run, talk to the employees and the manager. Not only are there common threads in excellence but often you will identify parallel applications or inspiration from what you learn from an expert in any unrelated field.
Now that we have discussed Training and Observation and their role in obtaining the skill of anticipation, we will discuss Practice, the third and final element of TOP.
What good is knowledge and theory without application?
Practice -A leader whose style and methods I hold in high regard is Ron Dittemore. Ron is a former Space Shuttle Program Manager who is now a Vice President for Morton Thiokol. Before he left NASA I interviewed him and here is one of many valuable things I took away from our conversation. He stated "You know, I have been a counselor of people, of youth and youth groups, of adult organizations and most of my experience in how to deal with people comes from those situations and not from work. I apply all the lessons that I have learned through 27 years of that experience to deal with a lot of the challenges that I face in the work place."

I marvel at young professionals who say they want big project leadership opportunities at work yet take no opportunity to lead outside of work. They say they just can't get good experience when we have a world crying out for people willing to lead.

Take Every Opportunity to Lead

If you can lead people and projects to success in a volunteer setting, where people are not getting paid, you can certainly do it in a work setting (where some act like they are not getting paid). Identify an issue you are passionate about and take the opportunity to work and lead for the benefit of your passion. It will be a direct carry over to your effectiveness in the work environment.

Excellence - A lot of little things done right

As you work projects (practice) you must try to apply the little things you have garnered through training and observation. Some will work very well others may not. Keep track of what succeeds and don't abandon what fails or what seems to have failed to soon. Analyze, analyze, analyze. Trying different things is a form of stretching yourself.

Do not be afraid of change. Any golfer can tell you how Tiger Woods has changed what was a very successful swing to a new one while getting a lot of "He shouldn't have messed up a good thing" from pundits before they were proven wrong. Tiger also practices a lot. Tiger is not afraid of change, practices and analyzes his performance. He also sets the expectation that he will be better next year than he is today. I come across many people who are content with their leadership ability to the point they have zero initiative when it comes to self development and improvement. Change, initiative and self evaluation are also necessary to your continual growth to ever exceeding greatness as a project manager or leader.

Once you start to develop great anticipation skills I guarantee others will marvel at how effectively you succeed in the uncertain environment of projects. They will marvel because they won't be able to nail it down to just one thing and the results will be the summation of a lot of little things you have honed to a sharp edge through training, observation and practice over time. The wise observers of your success will engage you in a conversation that is really an interview because they know excellence is worthy of careful observation and study.