“I’ll let you know when I’m finished.”
One of the most frustrating things I hear when dealing with project managers is that they are unable to tell if a project is 5%, 25% or 95% complete, due to the ambiguous, ever-changing nature of the task at hand. Apparently, since the work is always changing, it’s impossible to measure its status.
What nonsense.
All that frame of mind tends to lead to is projects that go on forever, overrunning both cost and schedule, and upsetting both internal and external customers.
If something is unable to be defined, all you need to do is define it. However, the excuses abound:
- “There’s no good way to measure it.”
- “As soon as we define it, it will just change anyway.”
- “We don’t have the time.” (An old stand-by).
It’s OK if your measurements are arbitrary – just measure. Take a guess. Set a target. See if you can hit it. If you can’t, identify why. Then identify what you’ll try next time to get closer to the target. (Very PDCA-ish, isn’t it??) [PDCA = Plan Do Check Act]
- Maybe you set a bad standard to measure yourself against. – That’s OK!
- Maybe you didn’t take measurements when you should have. – That’s OK!
- Maybe external forces beyond your control caused you to miss. – That’s OK!
- Maybe you screwed up and didn’t do what you should have. — That’s OK!
Identify some milestones in your project. Weight them as best you can. Even if it’s something you’ve never done before, set some things in place where you can gauge your progress. For instance, I’ve never been a Mixed-martial arts fighter before, but I can imagine some of the steps:
- Identify training schools (5%)
- Surrender paycheck
- Begin training (10%)
- Obtain pain medications
- Identify chiropractors
- Identify potential opponents (5%)
- Lose sleep
- Identify opportunities to chicken out (25%)
- Select opponent (10%)
- Conduct fight (10%)
- Attend rehab (10%)
- Re-evaluate life goals (25%)
The point is to Always Be Learning. If you simply “Do” without a standard to measure your activities against, and no way to see how reality compares to that standard, you’ll just keep executing, endlessly and aimlessly, and never getting any better at it. Over time, you’ll find you’re just going through the motions in order to earn a paycheck. For the individual career, and for the company as a whole, that situation can be disastrous. If you’re not looking for ways to constantly improve, one thing is for certain: the competition is.
And when they do manage to out-do you, you’ll be finished for sure.
Copyright © 2011 David Kasprzak
