A New Take on Old Habits

Posted on December 24, 2013 by Sandie Kimball

Most of us do things we wish we didn’t do (“bad habits”), and many of us leave undone things we think we should do (failure to develop “good habits”). Those many things crowd my mind every year when January 1st rolls around. This year, however, I received a bit of relief from my impending New Year’s self-flagellations while listening to an interesting radio interview.
The interviewee (unfortunately I didn’t catch his name) pointed out that the common term for changing a bad habit is to “break” it. We think that by sheer force of will, we can become different people in a month or two. This doesn’t work for me, and I suspect it doesn’t work for most people.

His suggestion was that rather than trying to “break” a bad habit, we can “untangle” the habit as if it were a knotted ball of string. By decomposing a habit one piece at a time, we can examine at close range the small things that keep us from getting to our goal. His example was his failure to incorporate meditation into his daily life. He knew that by doing it he could reduce stress, but he never seemed to be able to find the time. After many months of analyzing his day, he figured out that if he meditated after deleting the spam from his email box, but before he started to answer emails, he was able to meditate for three minutes every day. This was the first of many small, incremental changes he made in his life to integrate meditation into his day.

One activity project managers do on every project is a Work Breakdown Structure, or WBS. Similar to untangling a bad habit, the project manager can decompose a project one task at a time until a path to finishing the project is identified. Many teams want to attack the project, to just “start working”, without looking at the project as a series of component parts. These teams most likely will not gain lasting results from this superficial approach. Just as untangling a ball of knotted string takes time and patience, untangling a bad habit through deliberate, one-step-at-a-time effort can result in success and satisfaction.

Think what a WBS could do for your next project!

Posted in Motivation, Productivity, Time Management, Uncategorized | Comments Off on A New Take on Old Habits

Plans are worthless, but planning is everything

Posted on December 10, 2013 by Meagan Turner

You can’t believe every quote that you read on the Internet; many of them aren’t true. When I came across this quote from President Eisenhower, I had to dig a little deeper. “Plans are worthless, but planning is everything.” I found the speech where he uses this quote. It’s actually a saying that the US Army has used for years. Eisenhower was emphasizing that we plan so we know a situation in its entirety, yet the next thing we do is throw out all of those plans and start anew to determine the correct approach.

It seems counter-intuitive. What’s the use of planning if all you’re going to do once a problem arises is throw out those plans and start over? What does planning give us? What is it about the planning process that is valuable? He goes on to say, “There is a very great distinction because when you are planning for an emergency, you must start with this one thing: the very definition of ‘emergency’ is that it is unexpected, therefore it is not going to happen the way you are planning.” Yet, while doing risk planning, you are likely gaining a better understanding of the environment or system that will greatly help you respond in an appropriate way.

When I sit down with my project team to do risk planning, the first thing we do is identify the risks that could happen. There are many different tools and techniques for this. Often this list contains risks with a low likelihood of occurrence, but we’ve thought through the probability of their happening, the potential impacts, and responses if they occur. This exercise helps us understand the environment and provides some context around each risk so we’re prepared.

When a risk is realized in my projects, I tend to follow the Risk Management Plan that the team put together during planning. Sometimes, the response will need small variations. Sometimes it will work just the way we planned it. In either case, thanks to the planning, the team has already thought about the possibility. So we don’t really have to start over, just maybe adjust accordingly.

Posted in Planning, Risk Management | 2 Comments

No Pain – No Gain

Posted on November 21, 2013 by admin

How can we use feedback to help keep ourselves and those around us motivated? With last month’s performance reviews, I’ve been thinking about motivation, specifically how to use positive and negative feedback effectively. Can you have one without the other?

Many moons ago, when I was in my last year at UMass Amherst, I wrote a paper that touched on the subject of motivation and performance reviews. I compared managing people in an office setting to parenting. My experience has been that when someone tells me that they appreciate something that I do, I want to keep doing it and I do not want to disappoint the person who thought so highly of me. When constructive criticism is sprinkled in with the positive, I try my best to own it and learn from the feedback. This has worked for me in my career, and also at home as a daughter, mother, and wife. I think most people respond similarly.

Of course, not everyone reacts to criticism the same way. For example, when on a recent car trip with my husband (trapped) listening to and trying to enjoy the 70’s on 7, I asked my husband to kindly stop accompanying Al Green with his kazoo voice. I gently explained that he wasn’t enhancing the song and in fact, it was making it difficult for me to enjoy it. My dear husband surprised me and actually sang with even more gusto (if that is possible) and while he was at it, he added steering wheel drums.

Even so, I can still say that in most cases when positive feedback is given, it not only encourages good behavior to continue, but it also leads to increased confidence and self esteem. With constructive criticism, it is likely to be met with some resistance, but if it is accompanied with a genuine caring in the individual, it can lead to growth.

What is your reaction to positive feedback? Do you try to “keep up the good work”? How well can you handle the sting of criticism? When you feel the pain, do you quickly strike back or do you step away and think about it?

Posted in Motivation | 2 Comments

Crossing the finish line

Posted on November 11, 2013 by Michael Madden

As some of you know by now, I will be leaving DFCI in a few weeks to join North Shore Medical Center. My new role will involve managing projects with the IS Management and Planning team. This new role will significantly cut down my 1 ½ hour commute each way, which was a major attraction for me.
Over the past 3 ½ years at DFCI, I have had the privilege to work with many great people on various projects. I’ve learned many things as a project manager, but the one thing that constantly stands out is that you cannot have a successful project without a great team. It is the team that carries the project from its earliest days until it crosses the finish line.
As a project manager, it is your responsibility to develop the team and enable everyone to achieve their highest potential. Indeed, a high performing team is absolutely greater than the sum of its parts. I have had the honor of working with people from many areas of the business and across Information Services. I have seen how talented each and every one of us can be and how we can continuously come up with solutions for successful outcomes. It’s also true that I’ve seen my fair share of problems on a team and I believe it is the project manager’s responsibility to intervene immediately and help the team resolve any differences so that we can all move on and deliver what we have set out to do.
DFCI is a remarkable place to work, from the patient success stories that we continually hear about to the advancement in research that is improving the lives of many people. Indeed, research is a key part of what we do here at DFCI. Someone recently remarked to me that without research we would be named DFCH (hospital). DFCI will continue to advance cancer research and will continue to save people’s lives as it has done for me and my family.
In closing for my final PMO blog, I would like to thank DFCI for everything you have done for me and for giving me the opportunity to work at such an amazing place. Thank you to all my many team members. You have been great and have inspired me to continue doing what I do. Lastly, I would like to thank my PMO family: Deb Cote, Sandie Kimball, Amy Tatton (good luck with the new baby), Ron Munroe, Meagan Turner, and Deb Zaino. You have been great to work with and have supported me along the way.
In Gaelic, “Go raibh mile maith agat le gach dhuine.” (Thank you very much everyone).

Posted in Communication, Lessons Learned, Motivation, Team, Uncategorized, Work Life Balance | 3 Comments

“Fierce”, and scary, conversations

Posted on October 31, 2013 by Ron Munroe

I’m trying to read books that I bought and put in my bookshelf, but never read, so I can throw them away. The one I’m currently reading is called “Fierce Conversations” by Susan Scott. I don’t recall why I bought it, but it’s thought provoking. Her premise is that we can be more successful at work and in life if we are willing to talk about the important but difficult subjects, and take the risk of being more honest in our conversations.

I believe her, but fear it’s easier said than done. In the workplace particularly, people often seem to be nice more than direct, and we tend to avoid the difficult, emotion-laden subjects. Just last week I was having a philosophical chat with someone at work and he said, “Oh you know how people are at work, they don’t really say what’s on their mind.”

The author encourages us to “come out from behind ourselves into the conversation and make it real.” That involves being willing to take on the hard subjects, being more honest and minimizing the degree to which we couch our messages with polite wrappers so that the real meaning is obscured. I was reminded of a couple examples from my past.

One acquaintance from many years ago helped me understand the power of honesty. I was working with this young executive who owned a $30M food service company. At that time, I believed that executives were the ones with all the answers and had opinions on most subjects. So he surprised me when I asked for his take on a tough problem and he said, “I don’t know much about that subject; I have no opinion.” His honesty only added to his power, not reduced it, as my mental model would have suggested. Subsequently, he showed this trait regularly. It was an enduring lesson for me; I respected him even more for having the confidence to admit ignorance.

An anecdote from my last job helped me understand the value of broaching the hard subjects. Our IT department was in trouble, people were in fear of losing their jobs, and the president told the CIO to fix it. The CIO called an offsite meeting for 30 people to talk about our problems and brainstorm solutions. In the first hour, the CIO asked for opinions on our current situation and what was working and where we were failing. One of the last people called upon was a technician from the Help Desk that everyone loved because he solved their PC problems and did it with a smile. He said, “I don’t think we’ve accomplished anything yet, we’re all being too polite.” He said we were mostly patting ourselves on the back for our good points and not admitting any of our paralyzing problems, and he broke the ice by describing one of our “unmentionable” problems. His courage and honesty changed the course of the meeting. Others became willing to risk opening up also.

As the author says, “There is something within us that responds deeply to people who level with us.” Reading this book and recalling these examples helps me appreciate the value of such conversations, but I also believe it’s hard to muster the courage and talk through difficult subjects effectively.

Have you ever experienced honesty that surprised you in a good way? Did it help?

Posted in Communication | Comments Off on “Fierce”, and scary, conversations

Hello – My Name Is: _______

Posted on September 30, 2013 by Deb Cote

Last weekend my husband and I attended a wedding where we didn’t know many guests. We were seated at a table with six individuals we had never met. As each sat and introduced themselves, I silently thought, “I have to remember their names.”
I failed.

Why is this so difficult for me? Knowing it’s a gap I have, you would think I could easily overcome this memory lapse. However, I experience it over and over. I’m listening, interested, and aware that the likelihood of my forgetting their names is high. Yet the next person is barely introducing themselves and I’ve forgotten the first person’s name. I thought the average person could remember seven things. Why can’t I remember one? That’s way below average.

I attended a Dale Carnegie webinar last year on memory retention, thinking that would be a unique learning experience on something for which I could use help. While the other attendees found the memory aids for remembering strangers’ names using mnemonic association cues effective, I wasn’t convinced. If I can’t remember Bill Porter’s name and try to envision him giving $1 bills to an Amtrak baggage attendant, what the heck would make me remember that his name is Bill Porter and not Lionel Cashman?

I remember my high school locker combination, the phone number of my best friend growing up who no longer lives there or even has a landline phone, and the birthdays of everyone that I send cards to and buy gifts for (an appreciated trait until Facebook diluted my thoughtfulness). So why can’t I remember a few new names? I think my brain is full. It has a maximum capacity and I’m there. I need to clear out some info I no longer need.

Do I need to remember that Jack, Chrissy, and Janet used to frequent the Regal Beagle, where they would run into the Ropers? Do I still need to know every word to every Schoolhouse Rock song? And sorry Mr. Devlin, but I just don’t need to diagram sentences anymore, so why store those rules in my bursting brain? How do I siphon that knowledge out to make room for remembering new names?

Some of you may possibly suffer this shortcoming, too and now you don’t feel alone. Or maybe you find mnemonic cues, visual association, repeating names internally, or repeating them out loud helpful. I’ll keep trying. Next time you see me, perhaps you can imagine me at a debutante ball wearing an enormous coat…

Posted in Communication | 6 Comments

The Unrelenting Mobility of the Project Manager

Posted on September 18, 2013 by Sandie Kimball

If you look into my backpack on any given day, you will find a laptop, cell phone and chargers; ID badges for various buildings; an assortment of folders and notebooks; supplies for leading group exercises involving post-its, markers, and masking tape; and an insulated bag containing snacks and fruit.

Yet if you look into my cubicle, you will find in the drawers a collection of folders and notebooks that could probably be thrown away unnoticed because my most important documents are stored electronically, and a desktop on which the most precious article is a picture of my husband on our wedding day. Even the Bob’s Wobble Clock–although I can’t bear to toss it–is superfluous because I use the clock on my computer most of the time.

As I was lugging aforesaid backpack up the stairs to my home office this morning, the phrase “unrelenting mobility” came to mind. As with most phrases I attribute to my own cleverness, when I Googled “unrelenting mobility”, I discovered that I wasn’t the first person who thought of it. Among the results were references to nomadism in a book called “John Wayne’s World: Transnational Masculinity in the Fifties”; a review of a play about the movement of modern America from community to isolation; and an article about the “global politics of contemporary travel writing”.  

Even though the phrase isn’t original—or maybe because it isn’t—the description of my career is fitting. In a world (well, maybe not in John Wayne’s World…) in which projects have grown increasingly dependent on off-shore resources, conference calls, and online document repositories, mobility is an important trait in forward-thinking project managers. Luckily, I have actually learned to enjoy the ability to carry my office from place to place.

One of my job goals for 2013 has been to practice more “management by walking around”. This doesn’t mean pestering people at their desks and looking over their shoulders as they work. It’s about being present with team members by participating in conference calls from their offices instead of from my desk. It means occasionally arriving at an offsite meeting early and taking advantage of a swing space, then walking to the meeting with a colleague I don’t see often. This is a stretch for me because I love nothing more than sitting alone with my headphones on, listening to streaming radio while working on an MS Project schedule.

Unrelenting mobility isn’t only about physically moving from place to place with your tools on your back. It’s about flexibility of mind, about moving out of my comfort zone so I can be a more people-oriented project manager. What adventures have you embarked on lately by stepping out of your cube?

Posted in Communication, Productivity | 3 Comments

Planning for the Unknown

Posted on September 3, 2013 by Amy Tatton

What do you do when you’re faced with the unknown? Do you jump in and see what happens? Do you sit back and quietly contemplate? Do you make lists of pro/cons?

I’m curious what influences our responses. Is it based on our personality and whether or not we’re introverts or extroverts? Is it based on whether we’re risk takers or risk adverse? Do our environment or our experiences play a part? Is it situational? Perhaps it’s all of the above.

I’m currently facing some big unknowns. Assuming things go according to plan, in less than three months I’ll become a mama for the second time, this time to a little girl. Everyone asks if my two-year-old son knows what’s going on. To some degree he seems to get it, but does he realize that a new baby is coming to stay and know what the impact of that will be? I doubt it, but my husband and I also don’t feel like we have any idea what it’ll be like. On one hand we have experience as we’re no longer first time parents, but we don’t know what it’ll be like to have two, or to have a girl, nor do we know how to pay for two children.

I’m both thrilled and terrified to find out what the reality will be like. My approach has surprised me a bit this time around. Instead of reading everything I can and planning every last detail as I did during my first pregnancy, this time I’m just taking it as it comes. Only in the last few weeks have I started to panic a bit and decide I ought to start planning and getting things prepared.

Another unknown I’m facing is taking on a new role at work. A month or two ago I was asked to be DFCI’s Training Lead for Epic. As many who are already involved with the project have discovered, there are a lot of questions and not a lot of answers just yet. It’s quite involved and will take time to figure things out. This made it challenging when deciding whether or not to accept the role. There were many great benefits, but many unknowns as well. Who would I report to? What will my role entail? Who’ll do my current job? Will the workload be manageable? Will I be able to do the job well with two little ones at home? 

Despite many unknowns in the upcoming months, I’ve decided to take the advice I’ve heard many times over the years: “you’ll figure it out”. This leads me to believe that I’m more of a risk taker than I give myself credit for (maybe I should have figured that out a few years ago when I went sky diving). I’m also banking on the feedback others share that “your regrets aren’t what you do, they are what you don’t do.” So, here goes nothing. I’m looking forward to seeing what the next year or two has in store for me. Any big unknowns coming your way? How are you planning for them?

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Housekeeping at work?

Posted on August 20, 2013 by Meagan Turner

At a recent team meeting, we were talking about focus and what types of things help or hinder our ability to concentrate on a task. One team member admitted in college that she couldn’t get started on homework until her dorm room was clean. It was a funny thought, but I’ve been thinking about this and how this translates into my work life today. 

When managing multiple projects at once, it’s important to stay focused and organized within each project. It would be safe to say that there is housekeeping done on a project each week/month to ensure that it stays on track. During the course of a month, you have project meetings, minutes, schedule updates, invoices, changes, and progress. Without procedures to keep track of all this data, it would be difficult to answer questions about the project timeline, status, etc. It’s like keeping the project’s house clean.

Not having a clean “house” would make some monthly tasks difficult. Completing your monthly project status reports could be a perfect example. Imagine having to reconcile all of the data mentioned above before focusing on the status reports each month?! That would turn an hour-long task into a time consuming, laborious effort. Plus, you’re able to stay focused on the task at hand, status reports, without having to also update the project schedule, budget, etc. Those tasks would already be completed and up to date!

How do you keep your work “house” clean? Do you have any tips or tools that help you?

Posted in Productivity | 1 Comment

You could have heard a mouse hiccup . . .

Posted on July 31, 2013 by admin

My mother used to say, “If I only knew then what I know now.” This annoyed me very much because I thought that I knew it all. Fast forward four decades and I now find myself thinking, if not outwardly expressing, the same sentiment. My high school French teacher used to say, “Experience is a dear teacher.” Today I think that we can only hope to learn and grow no matter how old we are.

In my past life, I worked at a company that had a fairly stable product and it was a great place to cut my teeth in healthcare IT. Our product suite was mature, dependable, and I knew it like the back of my hand; in fact, they called me the TRENDSTAR guru. Life was good.

As with many a mature product in this world of rapidly changing technology, our software became dated. CIOs were demanding solutions that were Windows compatible, scalable, and ran UNIX or Linux. We decided to rewrite nearly all of the modules, which was no easy feat. We went from masters of our universe to masters of absolutely nothing. To make matters worse, there was so much lost functionality and so many bugs that things could get pretty ugly. Anything that could go wrong, did go wrong and often at the worst possible time.

I was assigned to a long-time, old-technology customer who had been convinced by sales to migrate to the new system. They were in the middle of budget preparation and their system kept crashing. I logged a support case and quickly escalated it. The ticket sat in the queue for many weeks. I assured the customer that the ticket was escalated and support was aware of it, which was true, but the customer sensed and I suspected that it had not been touched. It’s a well-known fact that if every support case is high priority, then nothing is high priority.

My manager suggested that I contact the vice president of services and support. In all my years with the old system, I never had to escalate anything to the VP level. The only time I talked to a VP was at the annual summer picnic over a beer and a burger. I was sure that the solution was just a phone call away.

Here’s how it went:

“Connie here.”

“Hello. This is Deb Zaino with implementation services. “

“Hi Deb.”

“I need your help. I am working with St. Joseph’s Healthcare and we have run into a problem where their system crashes at least once a day and they lose their work. The help desk ticket has been in the support queue for seven weeks. The customer is in the middle of budget development and they are stressed because they are falling behind.”

Connie – “What’s your action plan?”

Silence. . . More silence. You could have heard a mouse hiccup! I wondered, “Was I supposed to solve this? Wouldn’t I have already solved it if I had the power and ability to do so?” Part of me was hoping to make a good impression with Connie, but I truly was expecting Connie to have an action plan. It was rather embarrassing.

Now that I have a bit more experience dealing with leadership, I have ideas as to what Connie might have been doing. In retrospect, I think she wasn’t close enough to the issue to have a solution and was looking to me, the “expert”. Another possibility is that she was employing a technique that can be used to deal with a complainer – Ask the naysayer for ideas to address the issue.

I still cringe when I think of that phone conversation, but it did make me a better project manager. When I seek support from leadership, I take time to prepare for the discussion. I try to be succinct in describing the problem. I do my best to bring a solution to the table or at least come prepared to discuss all possible solutions that my team and I have considered. And of course, I need to make it clear what I want from leadership.

Have you ever wished for, or better still, had the opportunity for a do-over?

Posted in Lessons Learned | Comments Off on You could have heard a mouse hiccup . . .