Adapting Project Management
to Scientists and Engineers
David A. Maynard
Dave Maynard
• Nerd
Background
• BSEE using a slide rule
• MBA using Minitab
• PMP #7054 using a dull pencil
Experience
• NASA Avionics engineer & P.M., SMI
• IPFW & IUPUI instructor
• PMBOK V6 contributor & SME
• PMI-NEIC Director of Education
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“Projects are the means by which
NASA explores space, expands
scientific knowledge, and
performs research on behalf of
the nation”
NASA Space Flight Program and Project Management Handbook
NASA/SP-2010-3407
4
Flag flown aboard the
Shuttle during Approach and
Landing Test
5
Managing a Project Team of Highly Skilled Individuals
Difficult
6
Team Problems
7
• Conflict &
disagreements
• Lack of focus
• Power & authority
• Uneven participation
• Overbearing
experts
• Lack of followthrough
• Too much agreement
8
There
are Many
Types Of
Diversity
9
All Teams Have Diversity
Scientists, engineers,
mathematicians and all
highly skilled people bring
an “extra dose” of
Informational Diversity
10
Informational Diversity
Variations of skills, abilities, and knowledge among team members
11
Informational Diversity
Is based on different functional,
educational and industry backgrounds
that constitute information and
knowledge resources upon which the
team draws
12
An Informationally Diverse Team Can Work
Organizations often create cross-functional
teams which enhance informational diversity
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Northcraft et al., 995
This is Done On Purpose!
15
The effort
is too
complex
for a
generalist
to have all
the
answers
So, We Form A Cross Functional Team
Members with different
expertise are chosen to
achieve a common goal and
are mutually accountable for
the team’s success
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Reasons for Cross-Functional Teams
• Highly competitive markets
• Resizing and restructuring
• New technologies
17
(Hsieh)(p.301)
• Rapid pace for new product development
Lots of good reasons to do this…
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How Well Does This Actually Work?
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Not
Very
Well
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There are many studies that show
problems with cross-functional project teams
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Behnam Tabrizi
Cross-Functional Dysfunctional
In One Large Study…
They either did not have
clear goals or, when they
had them, they did not
meet them
And were unable to attain the
returns expected by
management
23
Raise your hand if one of
the following study
results sounds familiar to
you
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difficulty getting their
products to market
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Steiner, 1972; Hackman, 1990,
Dougherty 1992
Cross-functional new
product teams had
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Steiner, 1972; Hackman,1990).
Dougherty (1992)
Innovativeness
is actually lower with
cross-functional teams
27
Dumaine, 1994
Managers
express
frustration with
the time and
resource
demands of
functionally
diverse teams
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Stasser and Titus, 1985, 1987
Cross-functional teams
often prove ineffective at
capitalizing on the
benefits of their
informational diversity
Dumaine, 1994
Difficult to motivate members to
work together effectively
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members report the
experience frustrating
and dissatisfying
30
(Baron, 1990); Amason and Schweiger (1994)
When groups benefit from
informational diversity –
about task content or
how to do the task
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(Jehn, 1997)
Workgroups disagree
defining how to proceed
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(Jehn, Chadwick,and Thatcher, 1997
Groups with members of
diverse educational majors
experience difficulty
• Ineffective
• Difficult getting products to market
• Lower innovativeness
• Frustrated with time and resource demands
• Frustrating and dissatisfying experience
• Increased conflict
• Difficulty proceeding
33
Conflicts Within a Team With Informational Diversity
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Enhanced Informational Diversity
Where there is high
informational diversity, team
members often debate
their different
perceptions and options
35
We Won’t Always Agree!
36
Conflict!
• Conflict in a project team with high
Informational Diversity is nearly inevitable
• Sources of conflict will vary according to the
type of project and the stage of the project life
cycle
37
MANY TEAMS OF HIGHLY‐SKILLED PEOPLE HAVE CONFLICTS 38
Views of Conflict
• Traditional View: developed in the 19th
century, prevalent through the 1940s and still
exists today
o Conflict is bad
o Always has a negative effect on projects
o Performance declines as conflict increases
o Conflict must be avoided!
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Traditionalist PM’s Role
• The manager is responsible to free
the
project of any source of conflict
o Reducing
o Suppressing
o Eliminating
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Interactionist View
• Conflict is natural and inevitable in all
organizations
• It may have either a positive or negative
effect
• Project Managers should focus on managing
conflict rather than eliminating it
41
Frederic A. Starke and Robert W. Sexty, 1992
Contemporary Management in Canada.
Scarborough ON; Prentice-hall Canada
Conflict vs. Performance
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Managing Conflict
o Ask tough questions
o Invite members with different views to speak
o Appoint a “Advocatus Diaboli” (Devils Advocate)
o Consider alternatives
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Gray & Larson, 2006, Ch. 11.
• Encourage Functional Conflict!
Studies About Interactionist View
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Yeah, yeah, yeah…
Tell me something I
use!
Where’s my “takeaway” hot
45
shot?
Things I’ve Tried That Seem to Work
46
I didn’t get this any where
near correct the first
1,000 or so times.
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With a Team of Experts & a Difficult Technical Project…
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Establish a Sense of Mission
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During a visit to the NASA space center in 1961, President John F. Kennedy noticed a janitor mopping the floor
Wyinoe
50
The President stopped, shook his hand, and asked what he did at NASA.
The janitor replied: “Sir, I’m helping to put a man on the moon!”
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A Sense of Mission Binds
the Team Together
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Project Mission Thoughts..
• Why does this project exist?
• Why is it important?
• Will It will be used?
• Did I had a part in fulfilling the mission?
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Peter Drucker, 1973
'That business purpose and business
mission are so rarely given
adequate thought is perhaps the
most important cause of business
frustration and failure.”
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Believe it, Say it, Do it, Repeat
If YOU don’t
believe in the
mission of your
project – you’ve
got the wrong job
55
Personally…
I greatly miss the
feeling of working on
a project with a
“sense of mission.”
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Establish a Communications Framework
57
Churchill’s War Rooms
Information is Visible to All
58
One of My ‘Control’ Rooms
$46 Million Project
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Google’s War Room
Used for more than 80 startups
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Or… Electronic Dashboards
61
“Top Five” (right now….)
1. Microsoft Project
2. Asana
3. Basecamp
4. Mavenlink
5. Smartsheet
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Focus on Measures That Matter
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The Time V. Information Dilemma
• Team members should be cognizant of other parts
of the project
• The project manager should know exactly how the
project is doing
• PROBLEM: This is too much information to
absorb for multiple disciplines and multiple projects
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The Time V. Information Dilemma
• Not enough time to absorb
the information and manage
the projects
• Team doesn’t have time to
learn how or what the other
disciplines are doing and
complete their own efforts
65
Leading and Lagging Information
Lagging
66
Information Leading
Monitor Information that Matters
o Tracking Progress
o Customer satisfaction
o Defect Rate
o Scope change requests
o Overdue tasks
o Earned Value
67
David..Card@DNV.com
Lagging Indicators
Monitor Information that Matters
o Predictive
o Performance Goals
o None are intrinsically a
leading indicator
o Leading Indicator =
f (measure, time,
interpretation)
68
David..Card@DNV.com
Leading Indicators
Leading Indicator
• Not a guarantee that something will happen in the
future
• They indicate or suggest an increased chance that
the future event may occur
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It’s difficult to find leading indicators for your project Clarify Responsibilities As a Team Effort
71
Circle Dot Diagram
Circle Dot Diagram
• A visual representation of roles
• Helps prevent wasted effort
• Promotes common understanding of roles
• Helps prevent miss-understandings
• Works in other languages for distributed global teams
• Easy to create and update
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What You Don’t Like about somebody; Is What You Like
74
This Was A Breakthrough
Concept For Me
75
What You Don’t like
• I’ve picked a few
personalities that stick
in my mind
• Some of the best and
most frustrating team
mates I’ve ever worked
with
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You Like
Always Wanting More Detail
• Really annoying when the goal is foggy • Great when the goal is identified +
• Helps drag all the dreamers back to reality +
• Can’t get them onto the next task 77
Whiner / Complainer
• Awful to work with in a high-pressure
environment • Great for helping identify risks! +
• Helps to avoid “group think” problems +
• Not good with the customer 78
What you like about them
79
Is what you don’t like about them
Negotiator
• Irritating during a team decision making
session • Wonderful when dealing with suppliers +
• Great when the project gets in trouble +
• Not fun when you can’t get something to work 80
The List Goes On And On…
• We all have a list like this (like = dislike)
• Remember this when you DON’T like them,
that you DO like them
• Point out to the team that this person has
helped the project a great
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The Team Develops Guidelines and Rules
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Working Guidelines Developed
• If in doubt something is being discussed, write it
down
• There’s harmless humor in every situation
• Mindreading doesn’t work
• Meetings don’t waste money, if they’re done right
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Jointly Developed Rules
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Control Room Rules
1) Neatness doesn’t count; accuracy does
2) If in doubt, write it on a big piece of paper
3) Bad news is good; good news is great!
4) Truth is permitted
5) Keep your charts up to date at all times
6) Don’t roll over or give up
7) Read the charts!
8) Stay focused
9) All meetings are held here – on time!
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Humor
Helps a
GREAT
deal
86
Project Humor?
Yes! Especially at the worst of times
Lack of attention
to detail award
Shredded Tie Award
(with Goat Tie Tack )
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Rules..
We Would Shout
These Out If
Someone Violated
A Rule
“Giving up” = RULE 6 VIOLATION!
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Continual Questions
• What would ruin your plans?
o Make me cry!
o (Bad news is good)
o “Thank you for making me cry”
• Are we fooling ourselves?
o Maybe we’re all just agreeing
o (Group think)
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Use Smart Processes and Always Improve Them
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Use Scalable Processes
If your organization follows a good,
scalable project management
process, you’re more likely to be
successful on your projects
91
Processes must be able to “scale” from huge
projects to small projects.
It’s not one size fits all.
This avoids abandonment of trusted processes
Team members need feedback
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• Positive feedback has power to exponentially build a team and create a synergy that other methods cannot duplicate
• However, solely giving positive feedback can be detrimental
• Negative feedback is a necessary evil
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Celebrate Every Success!
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Consider Uncommon Solutions
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Consider Uncommon Solutions
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“Projects fail too often because the project scope was not fully appreciated and/or user needs not fully understood”
Tom Fields, CIO Magazine
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“High user
expectations
can be the
cause of
project failure”
Michael Leicht, University of Missouri St. Louis
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I’m done!
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Questions?
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We can keep the conversation going
#ACCESSE16
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@damaynard