Managing Projects and People

1. Managing Projects and People Graham Taylor MBA MBBS BSc MRCGP Consulting Pharmaceutical Physician www.drgrahamtaylor.com

2. Managing Projects • Getting started • Project definition • Planning delivery • Delivering, monitoring and reviewing • Project close and associated review • General Tips

3. Getting started • Develop a strong business case – is the subject worth it? • Ensure project fits with organisational agenda or personal strategy • Perform risk analysis (overview) • Identify major stakeholders early – degree of consultation or involvement? Seek advice • Involve finance in business case where appropriate – assistance and credibility

4. Project definition • Produce a written project definition statement. Circulate to stakeholders – ‘your contract’ • Use this statement to prevent creep (extension) at later stages • Identify in detail what will, and will not be included in scope • Assign roles and responsibilities writing exactly what each team member will do, and will be responsible for • Think about team selection carefully. Skills, Training, Availability • Form a Project Manager Group within the company to share experiences and provide support • Progress to in-depth stakeholder analysis and identification • What is the project driver – quality, costs or deadline? Discuss and clarify with sponsor

5. Kick-off meeting/workshop • Use it to develop the project definition statement • Key stakeholders, sponsor, project team • Identify significant risks • Plan the project in general terms • If appropriate, hold similar meetings at the start of each new phase within the overall project • Ensure regular review as the project progresses through different stages • Involve sponsor and senior manager in reviews • Check progress against the business case

6. Planning for delivery • Create a work breakdown structure (WBS).Key element. Lists all activities necessary for effective project delivery • Group tasks under different headings. Identifies work ‘chunks’. Informs development of a Gantt chart and identification of milestones and deliverables • Identify all dependencies and input into Gantt. WRITE them down • Estimate timelines to 80% certainty (ie be realistic) • Identify critical path, ie those activities which must be completed by due date in order to deliver project on time • Communicate ++. Build communication plan and include in Gantt • Regular stakeholder communication if major change project • Regular Gantt and milestone reviews

7. Delivering the Project – monitoring and reviewing (Project Governance) • Define a clear monitoring and reviewing process with sponsor and senior managers • Ensure compatibility between organisational corporate governance and the project’s monitoring and control structure • Be aware early of what will be monitored, how and the frequency • Keep accurate records – auditing and monitoring • Use a ‘planned’ and ‘actual’ form • Tight or Loose control? • Agree a system for approval of changes to project specification and get formal prior sign-off • Assign a project quality assurance individual • Schedule project meetings with set times and action points • Check critical path, stakeholder and communication targets • Set tolerance figures for maximal deviation and assess progress against schedule • Create an ‘issues log’ for discussion at project team meetings • Use a traffic light system for progress against plan • Produce one-page reports highlighting key issues as project progresses

8. Closedown, and review • Agree in advance date of post-project review, and enter into Gantt • Invite stakeholders, sponsor and project team • Focus meeting on learning and application to future projects • Check delivery of original project objectives, and whether in scope • Reflect on delivery against budget, quality and timeline • Evaluate how well risks and stakeholders were managed. Use questionnaires to obtain feedback • Prepare a list of any unfinished items. Identify roles and responsibilities for completion of these • Handover as appropriate • Write an end of project report and circulate. Identify key learning points • Close the project formally and inform others as appropriate • Celebrate success with the team. Recognize achievement

9. General Tips • It’s useful to incorporate the principles of project management into your every day work, even if it isn’t formally recognized as a project per se • Get training if you need it • Always ensure you have documented buy-in of senior managers • The ‘day job’ can get in the way – all the more reason to share similar approaches between the two • Projects have different organisational priorities – determine these early in the life (lives) of projects you are involved with • Explore whether project management software can be of help

10. Example Gantt chart

11. Another example of Gantt

12. Managing People • ‘Management is nothing more than motivating other people.’ Lee Iacocca

13. Where do you start? • Understand what management is, and involves • Managers are not primarily individual contributors • Responsibility for the work of others • Your success depends on your team’s performance • Responsible for far more work than you could do yourself • Can’t fix everything

14. Initial transition • New ‘rules’ apply when you manage people – familiarize with HR • Pulled in many directions compared with when working ‘solo’ • ? Different dress code • Find a mentor • Join a networking group • Consider personal training (HR) • Help your direct reports to accept situation, as some may have been peers before. May present challenges • Don’t neglect your family • Don’t neglect your health

15. Identify Goals • How will you be measured? • What are your new goals (eg productivity-related)? • Do you have daily or weekly team targets to hit? • Write everything down and keep it visible • Review regularly - dynamic

16. Get to know your team well • Individual strengths and weaknesses • Vital to know in detail because you will need to draw upon particular skills for particular tasks • Their skills and weaknesses will influence your performance and its measurement, and how you are perceived within the organization • Deploy them wisely

17. Meet with your team members • Regular 1:1s are vital • Give feedback on job performance • Outline goals to have achieved by next meeting • Learn about ‘staff’ issues • Ask for ideas • Motivate – people motivate themselves but you can find out their ‘triggers’ and enhance the work environment to facilitate this

18. Be visible • This is terribly important • Cannot seem aloof or isolated • Cannot give impression you are different or more important • People very quick to turn against someone who ignores visibility

19. Document team activities • Your personal performance depends upon team performance • Keep a written record of issues and achievements • Problems are expected • How these are handled individually and by your team is what your management prowess will be measured against

20. Reward performance • Recognition is generally more important than money • Money is not a primary motivator (although it is important) • Rewards should be regular • They should be attainable but difficult • When awarded, make them public knowledge

21. Coaching • Learn how to coach effectively

22. More Time to Think Nancy Kline • We are living in an epidemic of obedience • We are developing sophisticated victims in our leaders and executives • Most decision-makers are obeying the people who pay them • The crises we face today started with obedience yesterday • The decisions that led to those crises were made by people who were paid well to carry out someone else’s systems or wishes • Who is actually THINKING???

23. More Time to Think 2 • The planet needs people that think for themselves • Organizations, governments, religions, schools and families need to become ‘Thinking Environments’ • The quality of everything human beings do, everything – everything – depends upon the quality of the thinking we do first • This changes our understanding of leadership • It places right at the top of required expertise in leaders and professionals and parents and teachers the ability to generate people’s finest independent thinking • So, how do we help people to think for themselves, with rigour, imagination, courage and grace?

24. More Time to Think 3The 10 components • Attention – give attention of generative quality • Equality – regard the person thinking as your thinking equal • Ease – if you are at ease, the people thinking around you will be • Appreciation – genuinely appreciate • Encouragement – build with them their courage • Feelings – welcome the expression of feelings • Information – offer accurate and complete information • Diversity – genuine interest will encourage better thinking • Incisive questions – liberating questions rather than limiting ones • Place – prepare the place so people feel they matter

25. More Time to Think 4 • Listening without interruption • Being interested in what the person will say next • Attention is an act of creation • Listening to reply is different from listening to ignite • As the thinker, knowing you will not be interrupted frees you truly to think for yourself

26. More Time to Think 57 Questions to wake you up! • Then what? • What is the question? • What do you think? • What do you know now, that you are going to find out in a year? • If it were entirely up to you, how would you improve this situation? • What is enough? • How will you know when you have it?

27. Reflect upon... • The quality of everything people do depends on the thinking they do first • Our own thinking depends upon the quality of our attention for each other • The brain that contains the question usually contains the answer • People should be allowed to finish what they are attempting to say without you finishing it for them • In a hierarchy, people are equals • Diversity is critical because quality is added as a result of the differences between us all • Thought quality diminishes in the absence of concentration • The greater the diversity of thinking, the greater the unity of decision

28. Thank you for your attention gdtaylor@btinternet.com