Sam E
International Project Management Trainer and Director, Info Tech Centre [sam@itcentre.com]
If you were a manager, what could you do to make sure your team of experts finish their work on time?
As I write a monthly project management newsletter (get it at www.itcentre.com), I would be grateful for your views on the above question to include in one of my up coming articles. Thanks!
Feel free to connect with me at sam@itcentre.com
Answers (96)
Have them set the deadline!
By which I mean allow them to come together to agree a deadline they all feel willing and able to meet.
That which we create - we embrace.
Clarification added September 4, 2007:
One further if you want them to be honest about that deadline they set themselves.
First; ask what deadline they think they can hit.
Then ask then what deadline they'll put money on hitting.
This experiment has been repeated many times - often on things which are extremely difficult to predict.
The first makes paper try to justify an answer using what they think they know (ie they'll estimate the price of oil in five years in terms they feel they can justify to a bank).
The second is much less logically informed - but relies on core honesty - gut feel.
The second is almost always more accurate.
Clarification added September 4, 2007:
sorry...paper, should of course read people!
Abhijit D
Business Professional- Technology Industry
Best Answers in: Staffing and Recruiting (1), Positioning (1), Computers and Software (1)
Abhijit D suggests this expert on this topic:
Know your team!! and calculate enough marging between the deadline you give to them and actual deadlines (don't let them know), based on previous history averages. Also spend some time with most crucial task members and with those that have history of missing deadlines. Also share some followup responsibility to peers if it's a bigger team.
I have found that given the nature of the Emergency Management most team members are very aware of the immediate deadlines we all face. From time to time a slight reminder may be needed.
I post a series of post-its on the white board giving the number of days to the closing date..
All people come to you and say "sorry, I will postpond my work for 2 days" when dead-line is here... So be sure that you 100% know in advance that they can meet dead-line. That's the one and the last advice. Try to predict delays and manage them
The answer may look very simple, but has proven to be very practicle: use 2 deadlines.
One for the team and a second one - a bit later- for yourself as backup. This allows for some overrun and more importantly, additional review, discussions and improvements.
After a while, you know more or less how much extra time you have to built in, .. good luck.
Rik D
Project Director Organisation Development at Thyssen Krupp
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I would go one further than David... Have them not only set the deadline, have them decide the way they will do the job. You called them experts didn't you? As the manager you have to trust the experts to do the job right (and have the proper checks in place to make sure you know if and when to have to jump in). Empowerment does not only boost the people, it supercharges the effort.
Mihaela M
Senior Officer PMP at International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
1. Assign tasks which could be finished at the deadline set by you.
2. Enable team members to contact you whenever they need eometing to fulfill their task.
3.Control on a regular basis task advancement if the team member is one of those missing deadlines.
If you are dealing with experts make sure you know theirs strength and weekneses. Give them some space, yet keep a close eye on general flow of the project. If possible, subdivide large tasks into small pieces. This will help you in number of ways: easier to control; early detection of possible issues; an ability to adjust group load to better control "the whole" through the "atomic elements".
Set realistic dedlines. Have a contingency plan.
The good news is that your team of experts are most surely already properly motivated -- primarily out of a desire to do well for themselves and for their team out of a sense of pride. Assuming this is already in place, ensuring that the team isn't prodded into "false emergencies" (i.e. their work is actually appreciated, not ignored, when delivered on-time or early) keeps then focused on true deliverables.
To get things done on-time, I'd ensure that work is broken down into tasks that are 2-3 days in duration and to clearly show how these tasks align with project milestones along the way. Then you'll know early and often if your team is going to finish on-time and you'll be flexible enough to adapt to changes in the work schedule, faulty estimations, or the actual deliverables themselves. Best of luck!!
Sam,
The game of management is ever-changing, when it comes to team management it is important to keep the team focused and motivated. I would suggest staged incentives to give the team motivational support as well as a dedicated resource manager that will allow the team to have access to needed materials and critical information when the team desire=s it. I also appreciate those managers who use the aged technique of "management by walking around", sometimes one of our greeted skills as managers is our people skills. By using our gift of gap and giving our time to the team. They view our commitment to success as a factor. You give of yourself and the team will prove more successful and will produce those needed results.
I am working on a book right now that deals with motivational theories in team environments. I would be happy to cover some of my theories and best practices with you if you are interested. Please feel free to contact me directly at ChristopherAWillis@gmail.com.
Thanks,
Chris Willis
have the manager and team work with an executive coach, who will have valuable new input. My experience as an executive coach covers work with managers, teams and individuals to increase productivity and create a more effective working environment, reduce stress and maximise effectiveness. I would be happy to talk to managers or teams with tips and ideas or work with them directly. I can be contacted via linkedin or on anita@nowinska.com
Sam,
I would ask question: How to estimate an effort and to define a deadline, to enable your experts deliver on time. To be more serious, let them validate inputs, let them make an effort estimation (and a preliminary analysis leading to WBS, if needed). Than track progress ...
In my opinion, these steps are crucial.
Regards,
La'd'a
Nice thing from Steve. We tried something similar with two sets of numbered sheets: tasks, from 100 to 0, and remaining days to deadline. The ones having accomplished a task would tear away one sheet for tasks number, and every morning we would tear away one sheet for remaining day. It was all very nice and brought us somehow together, which is very important as David indicated.
However, more often than not, the deadline is imposed from above and has nothing to do with the deadline you and your team would say it is required by a truthful evaluation.
So, if the real question is how to help your team meeting a less-than-reasonable deadline, I would say:
set intermediate deadlines
send non-annoying reminders
show them your own burden
if it makes any sense and if the specific task/job makes it possible, sometimes get your hands "dirty" by working with them side by side
Except having two deadlines (one for them that they agreed at their meeting and for you) - ask them at the first meeting they proposal what each of them has to do (as they are experts) and tell them that once a while (let say weekly) you expect to have a meeting with them to have a brain storming and each of them can show their progress and problems what they tackle currenlty - in this way you will know that they will work all the time (not the last minute) and also you have some monitoring whether all is going well. Good luck.
Don't wait for final deadline. I have seen most of the times team members don’t know whether they are going to meet a deadline or not, So I would say Track progress of individual tasks which needs to be completed to meet the deadline and take action items if you see any schedule slippages at task level.
Kevin B
CIO / CTO, ITIL and IT Governance Consultant @kevinbehr on Twitter
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Read the novel by goldratt called Critical Chain. It describes an amazing approach to bringing projects in on time..
has worked for me over and over again..best of all it requires zero mind games!
quoted from Wikipedia:
"Developed by Eliyahu M. Goldratt, Critical Chain Project Management is based on methods and algorithms derived from his Theory of Constraints. The idea of CCPM was introduced in 1997 in his book, Critical Chain. Application of CCPM has been credited with achieving projects 10% to 50% faster and/or cheaper than the traditional methods (ie. CPM, PERT, Gantt, etc.) developed from 1910 to 1950's.
From numerous studies by Standish Group and othersref for traditional project management methods, only 44% of projects typically finish on time, projects usually complete at 222% of the duration originally planned, 189% of the original budgeted cost, 70% of projects fall short of their planned scope (technical content delivered), and 30% are cancelled before completion.
These traditional statistics are mostly avoided through CCPM. Typically, CCPM users report 95% on-time and on-budget completion when CCPM is applied correctly."
kb
Links:
Niki F
Business Consultant at GMAC Real Estate Consultant
Best Answers in: Staffing and Recruiting (2), Job Search (1)
You need to make sure there is accountability from everyone in your team. You also want to ensure your team does not need to be micromanaged. The best type of employee is proactive, driven, and ambitious-so you will need to make sure there is a carrot at the end of the rainbow-hard work should pay off. Set deadlines, and ask for activity reports. I like group reporting because they will not only have to answer to you-but also to their peers which will make them answer to themselves.
Firstly you need to have a talk with your team and decide when the deadline will be.
Next you should pick a date on which you will check the progress of work so you will be sure that everything is going on the right track.
If your team members are aware that they are responsible for their work and that it's better to tell that you won't get your work done on time and move the deadline than not say a thing and just fail the deadline then everything will be all right :)
cheers!
Be clear with what you expect from them (who, what, when how, why). With clarity of purpose, the room for error can be managed well. It is when possible scenarios are carefully considered and what is expected from each member given their respective roles that timeliness on a project can be more or less predictable. You deviate on that, and you're in for big trouble.
1) Let them know what needs to be done.
2) Let them know whats the scope of the work that needs to be done also set expectations and responsibility for the assigned task.
3) See to it that they have all the necessary tools for the work to be done in time and i believe that a deadline should be set considering two things a) ability of the person & b) availability of all the tools necessary for the work to be done on time.
4) Give them a deadline but do come back and visit to see if everything is going as planned.
1. Ask them for their opinion on deadline and then negotiate.
2. Let them see what you will be doing at the same time and the implications of their work on yours
3. Keep close whilst the work is being done, with regular team updates - doesn't have to be micro management or looking over shoulders, but keeps everyone focussed on the work required and shows that you are still interested.
Ray M
Energy expert, educator, award winning sculptor
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In my experience the best motivator is reward and recognition. Project management compensation should comprise a component of base salary, and compensation based on agreed upon project measures. It isn't a bonus, it's part of their compensation. The better teams and project managers make more based on their results, not on arbitrary performance appraisal or business financial choices.
You would be surprised how many projects magically come in ahead of schedule and under budget when the project manager's wallet is directly connected................
Chip J
Strategy, business development, sales, business and staff management, communication, and organization skills
There are some good suggestions already, but the best answer is an integration of many of these good ideas, plus a few others. Here is what I do, as a manager, when setting deadlines.
1. Include the project team members as much as possible to set the deadline. Often there is a non-negotiable drop dead-deadline, though: e.g., a client expects the delivery on a certain date. In that case, explain the source of the deadline, the importance of it, and the non-negotiability of it.
2. Set milestones leading to the deadline. Break up the project into sub-tasks, and here is where you let the participants have their way. Have every team member agree to the sub-tasks, and assign a "manager" for each sub-task's completion.
3. Print a giant project chart with deadlines, people's names on it, etc., which is prominent. (Alternately, an online version works if the team is geographically disparate.) Make sure everyone agrees with a format, level of detail, etc. The worst thing you can do is to create this "tool" that everyone resents.
4. Have status meetings. They should be brief: basically, each person who is responsible for a sub-task has to report the status.
5. Do not "fudge" deadlines. If you have a fake deadline and a real one, everyone will learn this is your technique. It destroys your credibility. It fakes reality. It is dishonest.
6. Deadlines are deadlines. If everyone has agreed to the deadlines of the sub-tasks, then they are responsible for meeting them. That means working to midnight, or whatever, ever if something unexpected complicates matters.
My experience is that if you create an atmosphere such as this, people take planning far more seriously, and they stick to plans. As someone who has earned an excellent reputation for running successful projects, this is what I know works best.
Stop treating them as little children! Trust their expertise and give them the responsibility of finishing their work on time. Listen to them when you make your estimates and accept (and use!) all input.
There's no substitute for knowing your team (which is short for "do whatever works.") However, there are a few essentials.
First and foremost is that you must extract a commitment. Regardless of how you arrived at the due date (usually best if they actively participate in setting it), you can't expect anyone to stick to it unless they have committed to it. Get it in writing, memorialize it in an e-mail, etc.
Second, be extremely clear. Be explicit about what "completed" means and what slips are acceptable and what aren't.
Third, be honest. I am NOT a fan of the popular idea of having one deadline for the team and another "real" deadline, at least not without complete transparency. This might work at first, but soon enough, your team will figure this out and stop paying attention to the artificial deadline. Instead, bring your team into the loop and tell them what the underlying business reason for the REAL deadline is, then explain why they need to get it done with enough time to spare to allow for review, corrections, slip-ups, unexpected snafu's, etc. This engenders trust and loyalty by making your team feel more plugged-in, rather than making them feel like cogs in a wheel.
Fourth, check in periodically. Depending on the team, the person, or the project, this might mean intense micro-managing or this might mean a quick status meeting. But the bottom line is that you have to monitor adherence to the schedule and take corrective action before a minor hiccup becomes a major problem.
Good Luck!
Roberta Z
Export & Trade Finance Manager at Natixis
Best Answers in: Using LinkedIn (2), Advertising (1)
I've heard of some US companies which fix the deadline together with the team (according to their assumptions) and fix as well a sort of bonus (in money): if the team respect the deadline, they receive 100% of the bonus; if they finish one week later, they receive 75%; if they finish two weeks later, they receive 50% etc. etc. etc.
Otherwise, the important thing is to underline the importance of respecting the deadline an provide them with the tools and organization which allow them to have as much time and instruments to do the job.
In my experience, there are a few key levers RE: team motivation and performance that have worked well. 1) Provide clear and ongoing direction to the team in terms of project deliverables and timeline expectations; 2) ensure that the team understands the business impact of their productivity (or potential lack thereof); and 3) provide incentives (financial and other, if possible) to beat critical milestones throughout the entire project. Above all, the manager must walk the walk with the team and lead by example, demonstrating the will to beat project timeline expectations (let alone meet them).
First and foremost the word team should be underscored. And though rewards should be handed out carefully and only for behavior that is intended to be repeated, sometimes it works as a great motivation. Perhaps you may suggest that if the project needs to be completed by X date, but the TEAM finishes it Y number of days early, the TEAM will be rewarded with lunch, sports tickets, or whatever your resources allow. This should be done sporadically so that they don' expect it to happen all the time.
Further, I have learned that making each member of the team accountable to one another and to the team as a whole could make a difference. If you create an internal check list requiring everyone on the team to routinely check off whether their respective assignments have been completed, it sometimes motivates one member of the team to get themselves in gear as everyone finds out that this particular individual is not holding up their end.
in addition, make regular (daily? depending on the project) BRIEF update meetings should help. It eliminates the possibility of last minute excuses for delays and allows the project manager (you) to grasp the regular status of the project and if necessary reassign tasks amongst the team members and encourage partnering up for specific tasks, depending on their respective strengths and weaknesses.
Finally, try to sporadically keep in touch with each member of the team individually via email or internal memos. Ask them what challenges they have been experiencing with their specific tasks and be prepared to offer solutions or at least references to help them. Regularly praise them for being an integral part of the team.
Finally if that doesn't work, you may want to ASK your best players on the team yourself WHY the team cannot seem to stay on schedule. You would be surprised to learn the reasons. Occasionally one might come to learn that the project manager themselves needs to redo his approach to the management of the team and project.
Good luck
Find out the potential of “Experts” by taking into consideration of past achievements & time taken in accomplishing the tasks (on man hour basis), calculate the intensity of labor involved in finishing the current task, call the team-of-experts for a meeting & discuss with them & arrive upon the “Dead-Line”. Guide them on how to finish the task in “Given-Time”. The one who just assigns a Task is called “A BOSS” & the one who assigns a task & guide them how to do is “A LEADER”. He is the one who never fails.
