On the Critical Path

Two books I read recently referred to the same intriguing theory: to become an expert in any complex skill requires 10,000 hours of practice, which equates to about ten years at 20 hours per week. Moreover, such dedicated practice may be even more important than talent.

I’ve often heard that hard work is generally important and, in every profession, some work harder than others. In the NBA, stars Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, and Michael Jordan were obviously talented, but also known for their intense work ethic. They practiced countless hours in their youth and worked harder than their peers in college and at the professional level. Similarly, comedian Jay Leno is known as one of the hardest working entertainers in show business. Early in his career, he used to do stand-up over 300 nights a year. Now that he works on the Tonight Show, he still does 160 dates around the country each year to hone his act. I had thought that stories like these showed that these particular stars happened to approach their career by working hard. I had never heard that a specific amount of focused practice may be decisive in determining the best of the best in a number of fields.

In his book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell explains that in the last twenty years, researchers have shown that really hard work could actually be more important to success than talent. The original study was in the early 90s by psychologist Anders Ericsson at Berlin’s Academy of Music. The instructors identified three groups of violinists by skill level – the elite, who were good enough to become world class soloists, the middle “good” group, and the lowest group, who would likely not perform professionally. All violinists were asked how many hours they had practiced in their lives. All started around age 5, but by age 20 the elites averaged over 30 hours per week and had amassed over 10,000 hours of practice. The “good” students had logged 8,000 hours and the lowest group had “only” practiced 4,000 hours. The researchers concluded that all students had adequate talent or they would not have been admitted to the school, but what distinguished them by age 20 was simply how hard they had worked.

Gladwell noted that researchers have studied other professions with similar results. They generally agree that 10,000 hours is the magic number for attaining mastery in almost anything. But what would happen if someone with unremarkable talent dedicated 10,000 hours to a chosen skill? Would he or she become world class? According to recent media reports, we may have an answer in a few years. A man named Dan McLaughlin in Portland, Oregon had heard about the 10,000 hour theory and decided to dedicate his next few years to testing it. Two years ago he was a professional photographer who was bored with his job. He wanted a change and thought becoming a PGA golfer might be a good goal. Up until then, he was not passionate about golf, but he thought he could change his life and inspire others if he showed he could change careers with enough hard work and dedication. So with negligible golf experience and unknown talent, he started learning and practicing golf full time. He planned to play golf 36 hours per week for six years and then become a PGA player. He is about a third of the way through his 10,000 hours and his handicap is down to 6. You can track his progress at http://thedanplan.com/

If he endures to 10,000 hours, it will be fascinating to see the results. If he becomes good enough to join the PGA, it will be a compelling validation that hard work, without any obvious advantage in talent, is powerful enough to succeed.

Before I leave this subject, I thought I’d do one last thing: estimate how much time I’ve spent in a sampling of some activities in my own life, and how successful I’ve been in each.

Activity        Practice (hrs)     Result                                                                               
Golf               500                    Helps explain why I’m awful
Baseball      2000                 Slightly above average until the pitching got too fast
Driving         9000                  Above average driver and seldom hit things
Sleep          140000              Really, really excellent sleeper. A natural.

Cliche, yes. But setting a good example by doing yourself what you ask of others is invaluable in getting buy-in and respect.

I was recently talking with my sister, who works for the US government. We were discussing work meetings. She asked me how I kept track of so many appointments.

“Do you use an Outlook calendar?” she asked.

“Of course,” I answered. “I couldn’t function without it.”

She looked at me with envy.

“You don’t?” I asked incredulously.

“No,” she admitted. “Co-workers send emails asking if we can meet at a certain time. Or they walk around and ask people to meet right then in an open conference room.”

I was astounded.

“Even my boss, a government bureau chief, uses a paper calendar,” she said.
She probed further. “Do you use SharePoint?”

“Something just like it called Livelink,” I answered. At this point, I almost felt like I was bragging.

“Wow,” she responded. “I sure wish we could use something like that. The government is just too big to coordinate such a solution.”

I thought for a minute. The federal government, specifically the Office of Personnel Management, was my customer at my last job. They required us to use specific software, have organized file systems, satisfy many security requirements, and our project managers had to use Earned Value Management – an advanced project management budgeting/performance practice. I asked her about similar requirements, even though she works for another department. “Oh yes! We require all that of our contractors and subcontractors. But we don’t do it ourselves, even though we should.”

I don’t mention this to criticize our government. Many organizations follow similar poor practices. If the contractors and subcontractors knew that what they were being asked to do wasn’t being followed by those dictating it, how serious about compliance do you think they would be?

Just in our little world of the PMO, our mission is to set and oversee solid project management practices for IS. The PMO team members are PMs themselves. They manage projects and must follow the methodology set out for everyone. Doing so helps us experience first-hand what we’re asking others to do and gauge its feasibility. It also earns us the respect of others who know we’re not just delivering best practices for others to follow, but we’re practicing what we preach.

Think about what you expect of others. What are you asking them to do, and are you setting a good example by doing it yourself?

It has been nearly four years since Tim Russert’s unexpected passing. He was admired by many and I believe that his shoes will never quite be filled. You may remember when he scribbled, “Florida, Florida, Florida” on a whiteboard while covering Election Night 2000. Although I have never been an enthusiastic follower of politics, I occasionally tuned in on Sunday mornings to watch Meet the Press. I was drawn to Tim’s thoughtful and thorough style of interrogation – he did his homework and would press guests relentlessly on past statements and contradictions.

Perhaps it was his blue collar roots that made me connect with him. He grew up in Buffalo, the son of a sanitation worker. I was deeply touched when I came across a quote – “There is not a day that goes by that I don’t say to my son, ‘You are always, always loved, but you are never, never entitled.’” As I recall, his son turned out pretty well.

I wish I had come across this quote before my daughter was out of the nest, but luckily, she became a lovely and successful young woman. I do remember, like it was yesterday, when she got her first after-school job as a waitress in a donut shop. I hate to admit it, but I had a fleeting thought that nobody would like her because she would be lazy and do as little as possible. Au contraire! During the slow period after the morning rush, she would do things such as shine the toaster, restock supplies, and if necessary, tidy up. When it was busy, if a teammate was busier, she would pitch in and help them out. My little Emily was a model employee and very quickly received a pay raise!

I recently rediscovered a book that was buried in my pile of unread books – QBQ: The Question Behind the Question. John G. Miller could have entitled his book, “Stop Your Whining and Do Something About It!” Makes me think of the lyrics to a Rolling Stones song – “You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometime, you might find, you get what you need.” I think that in a way, I needed to read this book at this point in my life and career – sort of a tune up for my human machine, my mind, and my heart. The idea is that rather than blaming the vendor or upper management or your teammates or solar flares or the full moon, you ask or think to yourself, “How can I help?”

You might wonder how on earth this is connected to project management. So what am I talking about – this quality or trait that I value so dearly, and for which I strive? Simply put, it is personal responsibility and accountability. This applies to all of us – teachers and students, parents and children, vendors and customers, project managers and team members of all levels, etc. You get the idea.

Can you imagine what would have happened with the Apollo 13 mission if the astronauts sat back and blamed NASA for their problems and took no action? Can you think of situations where you sat back and watched, feeling frustrated as a project floundered? Perhaps you asked, “Why don’t they…’” or  wondered, “How could they . . .” when in fact you should be asking, “What can I do…”

I am sure that most of us have stepped up when given a difficult situation, but I know that from personal experience, there are times when I have complained and blamed, perhaps even to the extent that I got tired of hearing myself complain! I challenge you to listen for the blaming thoughts and questions, and to “always, always” consider how you can help.