What is business?

Business is not war,
not a machine, not a game.
It is connection.

AI in Business and Society

The first two weeks of the Generative AI for Everyone went through an introduction of AI terminology and functions and then how AI tools function.

In week 3, Andrew Ng discusses the application of AI tools in real world business and society environments.

He discusses using a general-purpose AI tool as a writing assistant or editor for brainstorming, summarizing text, or writing code.

An interesting point he makes is related to the concern that jobs will be lost. But then he points out that it isn't likely that AI tools will be used to automate jobs but rather to automate tasks. I think this is a great way to think about it, since AI isn't going to cause jobs to go away (or at least very many of them) but it will take certain tasks away. This will cause more people's jobs to change but will not likely actually take the jobs themselves. In particular, AI can be used to augment tasks, which is where the AI assists and makes the job easier, vs. automation which is where a task is actually completely given to the AI to perform. This may be a process in some situations, to augment initially, while keeping a human in the process, and eventually as the system is trained those tasks may be trusted enough to be run automatically.

If you're unsure if an LLM can complete a task, experiment. Ask it to do the task, and see what happens. He pointed out last week that the internet won't blow up if you ask an LLM to perform a task and it can't for any reason. the answer may not be yes or no but not yet, meaning some fine-tuning or training could help it learn how to do so. The question is how much time is taken on the task now and how much value is created by using AI to do it faster, cheaper, or more consistently?

An interesting concept Andrew calls out is that we usually think of the iconic part of a particular job role, such as a lawyer arguing a motion in court or a doctor performing surgery. What we don't think about are all the more mundane tasks that have to be done outside of the most iconic pieces. An AI tool could be used to take a difficult process faster and shorter to do the same basic task. Or it can be used to do a deeper analysis, which may take the same amount of time as it would initially but end up with a better result by doing more thorough testing and analysis. He shares a great quote by Curtis Langlotz, which is that "AI won't replace radiologists. But radiologists that use AI will replace radiologists that don't." In the past, technology has been used to create more jobs than it has destroyed, since the cost savings potential of new technology is limited while the growth potential of new technology is unlimited.

Data on the internet which are used to train data models represent our past and present. We may be hopeful for something different in the future. Fine-tuning and reinforcement learning can be used to create a fairer, less biased, and more just future.

In the conclusion, Andrew calls out how human intelligence is expensive. It takes a lot of time and money to train a wise human being, and thus only the wealthiest people can afford to hire the most intelligent people. Artificial intelligence, however, is much less expensive, so AI can be used to give everyone the ability to hire intelligence at low cost.

AI Applications

This is a follow-up to my previous post on the Generative AI for Everyone course.

In week 2, Andrew Ng's course is a little less conceptual and more application-focused. He shows examples of generating code to do basic tasks such as count up restaurant reviews and count how many are positive vs. negative. The code examples were simple and easy to modify and run. One of my favorite quotes as he talked about building a chat tools was the following, "Having built a number of generative AI projects, I've often been surprised and delighted by the strange and wonderful things that the users will try to do with your system." He then goes through how the system would likely respond that it doesn't know the answer but then those questions that stumped the AI can be gathered and used to provide additional information to help the system be able to answer that type of question in the future.

He then gives a simple example to determine how much a generative AI tool might cost. Based on the number of tokens required to input and output text, it could cost maybe 8 cents to generate enough text that it would take a reader about an hour to get through.

One of the most interesting concepts he discusses is that since a large language model doesn't know everything, it is best used as a reasoning engine. That is, it doesn't store and retrieve all information but rather can help you reason through and process information from other sources. Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) uses this approach of taking information from a document or other source you direct it to in order to process a response. They can also be fine-tuned or pre-trained for your particular application.

Embracing Change: Thriving in a Dynamic Business Environment

Change is constant and inevitable. In business, embracing change is essential for survival and growth. Change leadership is more about mindset than job titles. Here’s how to thrive amidst change:

Understand Change

• Constant: Businesses that don’t adapt risk obsolescence.
• Multidimensional: Impacts all levels—organizational, team, individual.
• Driven by Multiple Factors: External (market trends, tech) and internal (culture, leadership).

Strategies for Success

1. Foster Continuous Learning: Promote upskilling and reskilling. Encourage lifelong learning.
2. Embrace Technology: Use digital tools to enhance productivity and customer experience.
3. Promote Agility: Adopt flexible methodologies. Respond quickly to changes.
4. Empower Leadership: Encourage initiative at all levels. Foster a culture of ownership.
5. Communicate Effectively: Maintain transparency. Address concerns promptly.

Conclusion

Change brings opportunities for growth and innovation. By understanding and embracing it, businesses can not only survive but thrive. Prepare, adapt, and leverage change for success.

Imposter Syndrome and Writer's Block

This short video by Seth Godin is an instant classic for me.

Why do we have writer's block? What we actually have is a fear of being judged, a fear that our stuff won't be good enough, and so we say I don't have any ideas - I don't know what to say. No, you have plenty of ideas, but you're worried they're bad ones. The solution is simple - you just need more bad writing. If you do enough bad writing, it is inevitable that some good writing will slip through.

Making imposter syndrome go away is a difficult fool's errand, because the harder you try to reassure yourself and to rationalize, the worse it gets. The answer is to realize that you are an imposter and so am I. That when we feel like an imposter, it is a good thing, because it shows we are onto something. We're doing something that might not work. We're doing something that's worth sharing.

Pros and Cons of Using an AI Text Generator Like ChatGPT

This time I asked ChatGPT to write an article about the pros and cons of using an AI text generator:

Artificial Intelligence (AI) text generators like ChatGPT are becoming increasingly popular in various fields, including content creation, marketing, and customer service. These tools use machine learning algorithms to generate text that mimics human writing. While AI text generators have numerous benefits, they also come with their fair share of drawbacks. In this post, we'll explore the pros and cons of using an AI text generator like ChatGPT.

Pros:

1. Time-Saving: One of the most significant benefits of using an AI text generator is the time-saving factor. Generating high-quality content can be a time-consuming and tedious process. However, with an AI text generator like ChatGPT, you can quickly generate high-quality content in a matter of seconds.

2. Consistency: AI text generators can help maintain consistency in tone and writing style across different pieces of content. This is especially important for businesses that want to maintain a consistent brand voice across their content.

3. Cost-Effective: AI text generators are generally more cost-effective than hiring a professional writer to create content. This is particularly true for small businesses or individuals who may not have the budget to hire a dedicated writer.

4. Scalability: With an AI text generator, you can quickly generate a large volume of content in a short amount of time. This can be particularly beneficial for businesses that need to produce a high volume of content on a regular basis.

Cons:

1. Lack of Creativity: AI text generators lack the creativity and originality that a human writer can bring to the table. While the content generated by AI text generators may be grammatically correct, it may lack the depth and nuance of human-written content.

2. Limited Domain Knowledge: AI text generators may not have the same level of domain knowledge as a human writer. This means that the content generated may lack the depth and specificity that a human writer can provide.

3. Quality Concerns: While AI text generators are becoming more advanced, the quality of the content generated may still be a concern. This is particularly true for more complex or technical writing, where errors or inaccuracies could be problematic.

4. Over-Reliance: There is a risk of becoming over-reliant on AI text generators, which could lead to a lack of human creativity and critical thinking in content creation.

In conclusion, AI text generators like ChatGPT have numerous benefits, including time-saving, consistency, cost-effectiveness, and scalability. However, they also have limitations, including the lack of creativity, limited domain knowledge, quality concerns, and the risk of over-reliance. It's essential to carefully consider the pros and cons before deciding whether to use an AI text generator. Ultimately, the best approach may be to strike a balance between using an AI text generator and human-written content to achieve the best possible outcomes.

Why Pursuing an MBA is a Smart Investment for Your Career

I asked ChatGPT to write me a blog post. I didn't give it any other prompts, and this is what it came up with:

If you're looking to advance your career, pursuing a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree could be one of the best investments you make. An MBA degree can provide you with the skills, knowledge, and network you need to excel in today's competitive business world.

Here are some reasons why pursuing an MBA is a smart investment for your career:

1. Develop Essential Business Skills: An MBA program is designed to provide you with a comprehensive understanding of key business functions such as accounting, finance, marketing, operations, and strategy. With an MBA degree, you'll develop the analytical and problem-solving skills necessary to make informed decisions and lead teams effectively.

2. Expand Your Career Opportunities: An MBA degree can open doors to a variety of high-paying and rewarding careers. Graduates with an MBA degree can pursue careers in a range of fields such as consulting, finance, marketing, human resources, and entrepreneurship.

3. Increase Your Earning Potential: Pursuing an MBA degree can also lead to a significant increase in your earning potential. According to a survey by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), the median starting salary for MBA graduates in the United States in 2020 was $105,000.

4. Build a Strong Network: One of the most significant benefits of pursuing an MBA degree is the opportunity to build a strong network of peers and alumni. Through internships, group projects, and networking events, you'll meet people from diverse backgrounds who can offer valuable insights and support throughout your career.

5. Gain International Exposure: Many MBA programs offer opportunities to study abroad and gain exposure to different cultures and business practices. This can be an excellent way to expand your horizons and prepare for a global business environment.

6. Gain Access to Top Companies: Pursuing an MBA degree from a top business school can give you access to some of the world's leading companies. Recruiters from these companies often target MBA graduates for positions with high levels of responsibility and great compensation.

In conclusion, pursuing an MBA degree can be an excellent investment in your career. With the right skills, knowledge, and network, you'll be better positioned to advance your career and achieve your goals. Whether you're looking to switch careers, accelerate your career growth, or start your own business, an MBA degree can provide you with the tools and resources you need to succeed.

Entrepreneurship - Problem Statement

A problem is a bad thing, right? Not necessarily. If you're trying to get hired to do a project for someone or start up your own business to provide various products and services to people, you have a clear problem you are trying to address.

The biggest issue I see with problem statements is that they generally come across as solutions or tritely state that the lack of this specific solution is a problem. In theory, it is great to be positive and go right to what you recommend in order to make your communications as clear as possible, but if there's no established problem, then no one will be listening, no matter how polished the sales pitch.

You have to bring attention to the imbalance, tension, or pain that exists in order to be able to show that your recommended solution will counteract it.

The following is a list of questions to ask to help define the problem. Without knowing the answers to these questions, the attempted start-up business is doomed to fail.

• Context - when does the problem occur?
• Customers - who has the problem most often?
• Problem - what is the root cause of the problem?
• Emotional impact - how does the customer feel?
• Quantifiable impact - what is the measurable impact (units)?
• Alternatives - what do customers do now to fix the problem?
• Alternative shortcomings - what are the disadvantages of the alternatives?

Look at each question and answer them honestly. Hopefully, an entrepreneur has a passion for their business, but sometimes that passion can create a blind spot, where it's difficult to be honest with how good the proposed new product/service is. Include some other people in the process who are willing to be honest in answering the above questions.

If you don't know when the problem occurs or who it occurs to, stop right there. Your target customer needs to be clear since they are the ones you hope will pay you to solve their problems. Knowing that there is a problem is one thing, but knowing what is causing it is something else. A more elegant solution will be to address the root of an issue rather than just the symptoms.

People are emotional. They're also logical. Sometimes one side of the psyche wins out. Sometimes the other one does. How much better is it if you can make both emotional and logical pleas?

If you see a problem, chances are someone else does, too. Sometimes problems are small enough that the big players in the market don't find it worth their time to address the niche. As you look at the current alternatives to solve people's problems, consider what both works well and poorly about those current solutions. You need to be able to find something you can do that they can't (or won't).

There are various ways of implementing a competitive solution to a problem. Sometimes the first person to think of an idea becomes known, and the first-mover advantage is enough to carry them in front of others who come later. But more importantly, it is important to implement a solution that is difficult for others to copy. Creating the solution is a topic for another day, but it does start with understanding other current solutions clearly in order to figure out what they are doing wrong so that you can suggest a better way.

Pomodoro

A pomodoro is a tomato in Italian. It's also a system for time management and maintaining focus in order to get work done, invented by Francesco Cirillo. The name refers to a tomato-shaped timer he used to keep himself on track.

The basic idea is that you can do just anything for a short period of time, even if it is difficult or unpleasant or if there is something that causes you to lose focus. You also want to make sure you don't get too deep into something that will suck you in all day and keep you from getting to other tasks that need to be done. In the agile project management world, we use a concept called timeboxing, which is where you set a certain amount of time for a meeting or a task, and you have to fill the box but not overflow the box. When the time is up, the meeting is over, and you all move onto the next meeting or task, rather than letting it bleed into the next hour and make everything else start late, cascading through your day's calendar to where you end up staying late or pushing it to tomorrow to get things done.

To put it another way, considering the traditional triple constraints in project management, of scope, time, and cost, we more or less ignore the cost factor a bit and really look at things as a tradeoff between scope and time. Either you work until a task is completed, no matter how much time it takes, or else you work for a certain amount of time no matter how much work was completed.

In the system, a pomodoro is a 25 minute block of time in which to complete work. You want to break up the work into chunks that you think can be reasonably done in that time. The longer you use the system, especially if you track what you get done, the better you get at estimating what you can do in that amount of time. If you get to the end of the 25 minute timer, and you're not done, that's okay. You stop anyway. Take a 5 minute break to go to the bathroom, listen to a song, do some jumping jacks, eat a sandwich, or whatever will allow you a little bit of release without getting sucked into something else time consuming. If you get done early, you keep working anyway until the full 25 minutes are up. It could be reporting on the work you completed, getting a head start on the next task, planning out your next day, or anything else that keeps you productive.

You repeat 4 pomodoros, at 25 minutes each, with 5 minute breaks in between them. After the fourth pomodoro, you take a half hour break. After that half hour, you do another block of 4 pomodoros. A pomodoro could be working on a report or spreadsheet, a meeting with a client or coworker, checking and responding to emails, doing professional development, or if a student doing something like reading a chapter, working through homework problems, watching some class lecture videos, taking a quiz, practicing an instrument, etc.

The key is to not break up the 25 minute pomodoro into anything smaller. If you get a call or text or someone popping into your office or anything else that seems urgent, push it back to your break if possible. If not possible, then the interrupted pomodoro doesn't count, and you reset the timer to 25 minutes when you are ready to start up again. Turn off notifications on your phone and close your email client to ensure you're only checking messages when the planned pomodoro calls for it or during a break.

By keeping focus in short bursts, they will add up to you getting more work done than if you let a constant stream of distractions get you off your groove, while still knowing you won't get burnt out since you do have a break coming up in just a few minutes.

Conscious Capitalism

Why capitalism needs to evolve:

Capitalism has improved income, quality of life, literacy, and lifespan, but most people don't trust businesses. The invisible hand of Adam Smith has worked to increased income for many people through the industrial revolution and other changes and improvements, but the idea of shareholder maximization has had the opposite effect of decreasing efficiency and productivity.

John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods pushes back against Milton Friedman's assertion that businesses should only be looking out for maximizing returns for their shareholders. Whole foods considers a range of stakeholders that should benefit from a company's existence - customers, employees, suppliers, investors, vendors, communities, and the environment.

Mackey discusses what a common answer would be to the question about the purpose of business. The first answer is always to make money. At the same time, a doctor who is very well paid will not say healthcare's purpose is to make money. It is to help people become healthy. Of course, a hospital or doctor's office is still a business and one that shuffles a lot of money through it, but there is still an overarching purpose beyond just the money itself.

He argues that legacy companies with a different mindset will have to evolve or else they will be replaced by start-ups to have a conscious capitalism approach.

What is conscious capitalism?

The metaphor is given of a caterpillar who simply consumes as much as possible, adding no value. Eventually nature takes its course and the metamorphosis to a butterfly results in a creature of light and beauty that gives back as much as it takes.

The four tenets are higher purpose (why), stakeholder integration (what), conscious culture (how), and conscious leadership (who).

Conscious capitalism goes beyond corporate social responsibility, which only mitigates some potential negative impacts without significantly building beyond that. Other concepts such as sustainability, triple bottom line, and shared value capitalism likewise do not go far enough in terms of who can benefit from the company and how.

Raj Sisodia presents conscious capitalism as a philosphy of doing business rather than a business strategy or business model. Such a philosophy will create value rather than extract value, leading to a Win-Win, rather than a Zero-Sum result. The key is patience. Such a metamorphosis cannot happen overnight, and there will be failures along the way. Companies trying to practice conscious capitalism may fail, but that does not mean it wasn't a good idea. It just means they need to keep trying.

Just like a doctor or hospital is still a business but working towards a greater purpose of improving health, really any non-profit is at the end of the day a business. The local humane society can't fulfill its mission of taking care of pets if they don't have the money from adoption fees or donations. The thrift store can't keep the lights on if no one donates their used items. Individual owners and employees can still be paid decently personally while the organization gives back to society.

The CC Credo:

We believe that:

Business is good, because it creates value.

It is ethical, because it is based on voluntary exchange.

It is noble, because it can elevate our existence.

It is heroic, because it lifts people out of poverty and creates prosperity.

Dual Specialties

Or is it duelling specialties?

Growth is good. Being stretched and challenged is good. But sometimes we can be pushed into something that is actually more of a shift than growth.

If someone is an excellent server at a restaurant - they make good money from tips, their customers are happy and ask for them by name, and the restaurant makes more money due to their upselling skills. So what's the best course of action? Promote them to managing the servers or to managing the entire restaurant? When do those skills translate to management and when are we taking someone out of a win-win-win situation and changing it to one where everyone loses?

If someone is a good programmer, does that automatically mean we should promote them to be a project manager or product manager as a reward? What if they don't like the new job, or worse yet, what if they are bad at it?

Is the best cellist in the orchestra a perfect fit to replace the conductor when they retire? Or did we just lose the best cellist in the orchestra and gain a mediocre conductor?

Is a faculty member who is a good researcher by default also a good teacher? Should we promote the best teacher to department head or dean in the name of personal growth?

Managing people, operations, and projects well is a skill. It is its own specialty. You don't have to be a good programmer to specialize in managing programmers or a good cellist to be able to conduct cellists. A project manager may focus on a certain industry, but at the end of the day a good PM should be able to manage any project.

The biggest issue it seems with most "good" managers is that when they see people under them who are good at what they do, they want to promote them to be a manager just like them. It's time to flip the conventional wisdom on its head and start rewarding people for being good at what they do and helping them achieve true growth in their lane rather than convincing them that it is a reward to shift into a completely different lane.

Design

Light bulbs burn out, so we make them replaceable. You don't have to buy a whole new refrigerator or light fixture just because the bulb is out. It's called failing gracefully.

Cars used to have two brake lights. In 1986, the law changed to require a third brake light, which makes the brakes more visible and also gives you two working lights if one is out. Very graceful.

Brake lights have two elements in them - one for when the brakes are engaged and the other slightly dimmer one when you have your lights on at night. Most bulbs either only have one way they can be inserted or the connectors are such that however you have inserted it, it makes the appropriate connection.

My car has a brake light that has two ways it can be popped in. Depending on which way you put it in, you have a 50/50 chance that you have it backwards and one of the two lights doesn't light up. The brake light will engage, but the other one will not.

Why?

This design had to get through both the engineer that built it and the QA personnel who double checked it to ensure it would function properly. You're telling me none of the QA team ever popped the light in the wrong way and was surprised that it didn't work properly?

Obviously it was caught at some point. The real question is who didn't care so much that they approved that design when a slight rotation of one of the guide tabs would make it so it only goes in the correct way?

What do we do with our customers, students, coworkers, or others we work with that creates a similar problem that a tiny one time adjustment would fix forever? What were we too busy doing that prevented us from making that change?

Becoming a professional starts with attitude

Something I really like about Seth Godin's posts is that they are generally short but packed with meaning. The coolest thing, though, is that if you watch for a while and rearrange things a bit, they actually fit together to form a larger narrative. For example:

It's not your fault

...but it might be your responsibility.

That's a fork in the road on the way to becoming a professional.

When did you give up?

The bureaucracy is no longer your enemy. The bureaucracy is you.

And it's easy to blame your boss, or the dolt who set up all these systems, or the one who depersonalizes everything. The policies and the oversight and the structure almost force you to merely show up. And to leave as early as you can.

But the thing is, the next job, like the last one, is going to be like this. If this is the job you're seeking, if this is the level of responsibility you take, perhaps it's not just your boss.

How long ago did you decide to settle for this? How long ago did you start building the cocoon that insulates you from the work you do all day?

Years ago, the spark was still there. The dreams. And most of all, the willingness to take it personally.

You can take it personally again.

Attitude is a skill

You can learn math. French. Bowling.

You can learn Javascript, too.

But you can also learn to be more empathetic, passionate, focused, consistent, persistent and twenty-seven other attitudes.

If you can learn to be better at something, it's a skill.

And if it's a skill, it's yours if you want it.

Which is great news, isn't it?

Accessibility

Not that kind of accessibility.

I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with Disney on a variety of fronts, which is not worth going into right now. One of the love aspects recently is the Disney Institute, which is their corporate training wing, where they act as consultants to do third party training to help other organizations achieve the magic they are known for. Of course, I think the reason they can give away their secrets is two-fold: first, I don't think they give away all their secrets and second, they know that most organizations can't or won't implement them. It is a significant investment requiring complete buy-in from the top to the bottom and back up again.

In a few recent blog posts, DI has talked about service recovery, which is how to fix problems when something goes wrong. Empowerment is the key to service recovery. For an example, every employee at Disneyland is trained to know that if a guest drops their cheese-filled pretzel or frozen banana on the ground, they can have a new one. It doesn't matter if it's the person who sold it to you or a random dude sweeping up garbage; half-eaten or just licked a little bit of the salt off, doesn't matter. They know the policy - free replacement cheese-filled pretzel - so before you even realize you dropped it, the garbage dude has swept it up and told you to go to the closest stand and just tell them that you need another one. Done. The pretzel person won't bat an eye, because they know the policy, too.

One of the most important points that I think gets lost is that empowerment should actually be empowerment, and not theoretical empowerment. That's where the idea of accessibility comes in. Accessibility means the service recovery solution is readily obtainable. As DI puts it, if a meal voucher is likely to be a recovery solution, "be sure the vouchers are available to employees when needed - not just when the one person with the key to the voucher drawer is present." If the vouchers are not accessible, the empowered employee is going to be less likely to offer that solution, and the unhappy customer is unlikely to want to stick around and waste time waiting for someone to find the key if that solution is offered.

That's also a good way to hide behind fake empowerment, where you tell a customer you wish you could give them something and if it was up to you, you would, but you know that the next level up will deny the request. You might even tell the next level up to deny the request when you put it in, just so you can say you tried even if it wasn't that hard.

Assuming you're not going down the fake empowerment road, the last thing you want to do is tell the person that you wish you could give them a particular solution but that you have to talk to your manager first. This is especially true if you know the customer deserves the solution but there is a chance management will turn down the request. That kind of empowerment is theoretical empowerment - your manager tells you that you are empowered, but there's no solid proof that your empowerment actually exists.

Even if you know they will back you up, it's annoying that everyone's time is being wasted - the customer, the employee, and the manager. How much is all that time and goodwill worth? Probably more than a cheese-filled pretzel.

Communication Management

In any project you do, a big piece of the success of the project is communication. As such, a large portion of the role of project manager is, you guessed it, communication. Sometimes people get frustrated by what they see as overcommunication from the PM. Other times people feel a bit like they're floating out there on their own, unsure of how the things they are doing fit in with what everyone else is doing. The PM must find a way to balance these extremes, so everyone gets just what they need (including the project manager).

The key first step is to identify the project stakeholders and perform a stakeholder analysis. Now, the term stakeholder is a bit of a loaded one for many people. For some it is the executive stakeholders who are the customers for whom a system is being built or change is being implemented. Sure, they're stakeholders. But that's a fairly narrow view.

Back it up and think of everyone who has a stake in the successful outcome of a project. Think of anyone who could positively or negatively impact the project. Then think of anyone who could be positively or negatively impacted by the project. Sure, your executive stakeholders or customers are on the list, which probably your project sponsor and/or champion who will probably need more communication than some of the other executives. And, yes, the sponsor/champion needs to be an executive, as they need to have money and political clout to help get past any roadblocks.

This is where the first step of the stakeholder analysis comes in - the power/interest grid. You build a 2x2 matrix with Power on one axis and Interest on another. You could pick different items for your axes, but these two often will get you as far as you need to go. You sponsor should be high and right. Not enough power means they're not going to be able to help when times get tough. Not enough interest means they're not going to want to.

Other stakeholders, such as future users of the system may fit higher or lower on the power and interest, depending on what kind of project you're doing. Something that has a status quo that people want to maintain will result in high interest users trying to shut you down. If they're the users, they have relatively high power, as they can sabotage, refuse to help get the system going, or just not use the system after it goes live, even if they are not actually on the project team.

Still others will include people like the dude you always see in the breakroom and is trying to get into a position in your department and really wants to know what is going on, even though at this point the poor soul has nothing to actually offer you. Then you have managers in other departments that could shut you down if they wanted, but they care little if anything about what is going on in your project, so you try to keep away from those people as much as possible. If one of those high power / low interest executives finds out how much your project is costing and wants some of that funding for something in their department, watch out. So a big piece of what you want to watch for is considering what information is relevant to which people, so you can be sure everyone has everything they need and nothing they don't. Even the lowly users who don't have much say in what is going on may be upset if they knew how much the project is costing, but unless they're writing the check, that's not something you talk to them about.

Once you've thoroughly gone through who the various stakeholders are, what kinds of things they can offer you, how much they care about what is going on, the methods of communication that would be most effective for each, and the specific details each cares about, it's time to actually create the communication plan.

The plan itself will be based on the stakeholder analysis and three major phases - introducing the project, carrying out the project, and closure.

Project introduction will include things like gaining buy-in from everyone. Sometimes it's little more than a courtesy notification that the project is happening, particularly for low power players. You'd be surprised how often people are surprised by projects that have been started and people who thought they were a key stakeholder are completely left out of the loop. Let people know what is going on, how the project will affect them, and what help you will need from them. If they have high power over your project, something deeper like explaining the ROI or strategic purpose behind the project will be necessary.

As the project begins, you need to check in with people every so often. A person who won't see the system for 2 years until it's completely done and ready to launch and isn't working on the project will get annoyed if they are receiving weekly status reports. Don't CC the entire company on things. Don't throw information out to people that they don't need to know. Be thoughtful and consider both their time and the political fallout of making people angry at you.

Do make your plan specific. Lay out what information team leads and other team members need to report back to the project manager and how often. Then lay out what the project manager will collect and analyze and who that aggregated information will be sent out to. What format will it be in? What are they expected to do with it? Just read it if they choose or provide feedback and approvals? What items don't recur regularly but happen on either just a certain date or upon some event occurring. When there are change requests, there should be a plan for getting those communicated to people, even though you don't know when they are going to happen. You just know when they are approved, they need to be communicated quickly so the project team is working on the latest information.

And as the project comes to an end, there is information that needs to be communicated and gathered to close out the project. Often final versions of the recurring communications will be put together. Other information, such as lessons learned and team member performance may not be known until the project actually does end. Whether the project is successful or unsuccessful, there should be closure. In fact, one piece of closure is to communicate about the success (or not) of the project. There can be many lessons learned from a failed project, so don't forget to sit down and talk about how to make sure the same thing doesn't happen again in the future. If you don't document that you were going to compile the approvals of all the project deliverables at the completion of each project phase, you may not be able to go back and collect those all later, due to people either leaving the company, losing interest in the project, forgetting what they agreed to, changing their mind, or otherwise. So know what you'll be communicating at the end so you can be gathering that information throughout.

As you lay out the items you will be communicating to gain buy-in and start the project off on the right foot, the items you will be communicating on a recurring or scheduled basis throughout the project itself, and the items you will gather to provide closure to your stakeholders when the project wraps up, be sure that you refer back regularly to the stakeholder analysis. Don't spend a lot of time on people who have nothing to help you with or who don't care about what you're doing. Be sure you have a sponsor who isn't going to lose interest in you half way through.

Make certain you include everything from the stakeholder analysis in your communication plan; if you know someone cares about the project costs and the communication plan never has you sending them a report on how much is being spent, you're missing something. Possibly even more important, when you're sending information to people, refer to the communication plan and from there back to the stakeholder analysis, and don't send stuff to people they don't care about and don't need, as it will begin to burn any goodwill you have with people and make it politically difficult to work with those people in the future. Yes, this means that you need to check who's on the CC line of an email before you hit reply-all and coordinate most of the communication centrally.

Project Cancellation

I had an interesting discussion with a student recently regarding cancelling projects. In question was whether it is appropriate to cancel a failing project. The student's position was that a project should never be cancelled. The claim was that, at least at the large company where the student works, they could not afford to cancel a project once it started. If it is failing, then one would investigate the cause and make whatever changes are needed to get back on track.

Of course, you want to track things carefully to be sure any project is progressing as it should. If it gets into trouble, you do a risk assessment and change requests and whatever needs to be done to salvage it. But eventually, if it's actually failing, you cancel it. I think the disagreement came down to perhaps a difference in definition of "failing". If you have been through the process of analyzing what is going on and trying to fix it and it is still doomed for failure, then yes, it needs to be cancelled. If a couple things are just not going as planned, that doesn't mean failure; it means job security for good project managers.

There are many projects that are not cancelled even though they should be because of not much more than pride or attempting to save face. One of the most important concepts I learned about in my MBA program is that of sunk costs. That is, if you’ve already spent the money, it’s gone, sunk, finito. You don’t look back. What you already spent in the past is less important than what is going to happen moving forward. You look at how much it will cost to complete the project or change it or whatever moving forward, and the corresponding opportunity cost (which concept I learned about in undergrad economics), which is to look at whether there is something better you could be doing with that money (or time or any other resources involved) instead. This is sometimes referred to as a good-better-best comparison.

This not being willing to cut one's losses is where compulsive gamblers run into a similar issue, where they lose money and the more they lose the more they want to bet to try to win that money back. But it just digs the hole deeper instead of salvaging what remains in order to take the lessons learned and invest more wisely in the future.

Even better than straight up cancelling, however, is to build in several exit gates throughout the project so that upon completion of a phase, a planned review takes place, with the intent of determining whether the project should proceed. This is most common when the first phase is a feasibility study, but it can also be added after a prototype, pilot, or contract negotiation phase. Write up the criteria correctly, and you can find yourself successfully terminating a project by making the determination that a contract is not worth pursuing or that the pilot did not show the expected benefits. Then reallocate resources to something better.

Consistency vs Transformation

A project is a temporary endeavor. Its successful completion results in the creation of a new or improved product, service, process, or other result.

Being temporary means it should have a distinct beginning and end. In some project-based organizations, the temptation may be to drag the project on forever as a form of job security. The best job security, however, is being efficient at finishing projects and knowing your successful performance means you’ll always be reassigned once your current project is over.

Operations and processes just keep going on without a distinct beginning or end. An assembly line may be used to build a car from beginning to end, but as a whole, the assembly line is really a process that continually creates new cars over and over. If an inefficiency in the process is found, a project may be undertaken to overhaul the process, but once the new process is in place, it goes on with no planned end in sight.

Operations are important to the consistent functioning of a business. But don't underestimate the transformational power of a good project.

Prioritization

Let's take a look at this importance-urgency matrix from Dr. Steven Covey. He talks about the need to prioritize your activities in order to manage your time effectively. You can actually keep a log of your activities throughout the day and categorize them in terms of how urgent and important they are, and you may be surprised at where you spend most of your time. People often claim they don't have time to do certain important items like planning and building important relationships, because they are always just putting out fires. It's the important/urgent items that demand our attention immediately. In between all the fires, we have all sorts of other small activities that fill in the rest of our time, but these are often unimportant items that are either forced on us by others or personal preferences and obsessions.

The trick is to prioritize properly. By focusing attention on the important but not urgent items, such as strategic planning and building key relationships in accordance with your strategy, the fires will actually put themselves out. If you have a good relationship with a customer, they'll understand when one order doesn't come through right, so while you need to fix it, it's not really as much of a fire as if you had to be worried about losing the account altogether. On the other hand, you might have a customer that doesn't fit your target demographic, who causes problems, and who you don't make much money on anyway. If you can make the strategic decision to drop that customer on whose fires you're wasting a lot of time and energy, you may come out ahead, because you can focus that attention on opportunities that will provide a better return on investment. In order to have the time to focus on strategic activities, you have to eliminate the unimportant activities that don't serve a greater purpose. Eliminate or shorten some meetings; set a schedule to check email once every few hours instead of letting it distract you as it comes in; stop creating reports that you think others need but they don't actually even look at. For an IT department, focusing on strategic aspects of the system infrastructure will help ensure projects are rolled out in a way that makes sense to support the company and possibly even utilize technology to drive new business opportunities.

The SWOT Analysis is an example of a Quadrant II activity that helps you understand where you should be focusing your time in order to be the most effective. A SWOT Analysis doesn't need to be overly structured or complicated. Spending a lot of time building a pretty SWOT template and training everyone on its use would be a good example of an unimportant activity. Put it out there and let it happen, whether you use a 2x2 matrix, bulleted lists, or more of a free-form mind map. The strengths and weaknesses are inward facing. They refer to inherent qualities of the company or department and what they're currently doing. Opportunities and threats are outward facing. They are qualities of the environment, actions of competitors, or imminent events that will have an effect on you. The goal is to build on strengths and take advantage of opportunities, while eliminating weaknesses and preventing threats from knocking you down.

In order to get a handle on where to focus attention, after brainstorming, it's important to group and rank the items you have listed. Provide additional details to determine the size of the threat or the amount of money an opportunity may be worth to you. Often there are connections between the internal and external analysis. You can leverage your strengths to take advantage of opportunities and avoid threats. Overcoming a weakness may open up new opportunities. So draw those connections and quantify each aspect of your analysis, but keep your analysis simple and visual. Keeping it all on one page will allow you and others to see how all the parts tie together. Provide additional information as a separate write-up and attach it on following pages. Of course, as you begin making decisions on what to focus on, you will come up with a more detailed plan, which is great, but the initial analysis should remain simple and understandable by anyone who picks it up.

People usually like showing off their good side, so it is easy to list the strengths, however realistic they actually are. It's more difficult for managers to get honest answers from their employees about real weaknesses and threats, so it is important to create a safe place when brainstorming the more negative aspects. Here's where having done your relationship building with your team will allow there to be enough trust to do this legitimately. You might have to use a technology solution to allow team members to submit weaknesses and threats anonymously if you don't have the trust to do so face to face. Being aware of and honest about your challenges can show as much or more strength as listing out what your strengths are.

Simplification

As IT is integrated into more and more aspects of our lives at work, home, and everywhere in between, the need to make all the varying systems around us work together seamlessly leads to increased complexity. But more complexity means more cost and more likelihood of downtime. The article linked below discusses the importance of keeping it simple and provides some basic principles to keep in mind to make your organization more flexible and keeping it simple at the same time. The points in their simplification roadmap are to start at the top, use an entrepreneurial approach, use cloud services when available, and be agile. By having buy-in at all levels and focusing on adaptability, you can focus on the unique value you add rather than wasting time running around trying to reinvent the wheel or maintain the status quo.

http://www.cio.com/article/2451671/it-strategy/simplifying-it-pays-off-with-big-savings-better-business-success.html

Managing the Critical Path

When planning a project, the temptation is always there to build in extra time everywhere so that your schedule never slips. Just like if you're putting in tile or carpet, you order 10% more than what you measure that you need in case something gets damaged or if you mis-measured. Time is the biggest resource you have on a project, and the most visible "failure" you can have is missing your launch date. So it makes sense that you would add 10% or some other fudge factor to all your estimates, right? Not so fast. If you have a time-sensitive launch, set the completion date well enough before you really need it, but don't just give everyone extra time to get everything done.

The critical path is the sequence of tasks that need to be completed on time for the project to complete on time. If you have slack built in between tasks early on in your project, then what you've done is made it so those tasks can be delayed without changing the completion date. By definition, if tasks can be delayed and not affect the project completion date, they are not critical. If you do something like this, you'll end up with a very short critical path, with just the last task or two showing in red, meaning the last couple have to be completed on time. That makes sense if you look at it logically. It may be logical and possible, but is it allowed? I'm not sure I can answer that question or even if I can that I want to. The better question than whether it's allowed is whether it's a good idea. And that, I can say emphatically, is not a good idea.

Anyone looking at your Gantt chart or network diagram will expect a critical path. There are many ways you can show that, and there are many possible ways to put together a project. You can have a completely sequential project, in which case only one task is being worked on at a time and everything is on the critical path. It's neither logical nor desired, except in the rarest of circumstances, to have every task be on the critical path. On the opposite side of the pendulum, it is neither logical nor desired to have only a couple tasks or even no tasks on the critical path. At its most basic level, the critical path is really just a calculation. It is what it is. You simply measure the lengths of the various paths and the longest one is critical. At a more strategic level, the critical path is key to your management of the project, as it is the series of tasks that you will be watching most closely for scheduling issues. If everything is critical, or if nothing is, then you have nowhere to focus your attention, and the project just kind of does whatever it wants. You can probably see how that might be a bad thing.

Building in slack between tasks, aka giving people extra time to finish their tasks, is not meaningful or helpful and if anything is damaging, because if you give them extra time, they will take it. If you give someone a 1 week task but give them 2 weeks to do it in, they will wait until the second week to start. The idea is probably so if they end up taking 6 days instead of 5, the schedule doesn't change. That's good in theory, but if they have a 1 week period to do their work and start week 1 and go one day over, they are just one day late. If they have two weeks and start week 2 and go one day over, they are now 6 days late. Even if they have 2 weeks and start at the beginning and finish in 5 days, there is a phantom 5 days that everyone else is going to be sitting around waiting. Why tell the next team they can't start work for 5 days when the previous work is done, just to maintain the schedule? If there are things that have to happen on a certain date, well you hard code those and work around it. But those are pretty rare. If you want to build in some slack, put that at the end. If management wants things done by the end of the year, you plan the project to complete, say, October 31. But the project due date is published as October 31. You don't tell everyone that the goal is Halloween but you don't care if it's not done until Christmas. Stick to Halloween. If it does go over by a week, we'll all survive. But the second you start telling people your "real" go-live date, that's the date everyone will be aiming for and before you know it, New Years' comes and goes and everyone is still trying to wrap up loose ends that should have been done 2 months prior.