Mapping Information for Projects

Mind maps are an increasingly popular visualization tool for collecting information or planning. (Get the Wikipedia story here, see more at the Mind Maps blog here, or the mind maps software blog here).

Here's a sample of a hand-drawn map on the left. If you aren't familiar with these, they start with a central idea or subject. Then, they branch out with subtopics off the main idea. The branches can continue as far as you have paper (in the hand-drawn version).

 

 

We can use these for Project work such as:

1. Outline new ideas for a new project(s).
2. Brainstorming answers to a problem.
3. Outlining a book or project report.
4. Recording notes from a meeting.
5. Explaining a concept.

The software version is similar but more symmetrical. (Both free versions and purchase versions are available online. If you are interested in the software version, check the mind mapping software blog for more info.)

These make a better public presentation tool and are better for those who prefer software to hand-drawing.

The question becomes, what's the benefit of using these maps for our Project information?

It seems the answer depends on a few basic things:

1. What kind of learner are you?
2. What's your preferred method of explaining or notetaking?
3. Can you easily learn new ways of learning?

I've used both the handwritten and the software versions. I won't say they are the golden answer to all questions and problems, but, for me, they are a useful way to visualize information. The hand-drawn version requires only simple tools - paper and pens or markers (using different colors does help with visualizing) - and is obviously portable. But, if you are at your computer, the software version goes together quickly also and can be printed in color.

Try one out and see how they can contribute to your Project work.
What other unconventional tools do you use?

Scheduling - Purists vs Randoms - Obvious Lessons

In ProjectWorld, scheduling can create massive controversy. Much of the debate is between "Scheduling Purists" and the opposite - I'll call them "Random Purists".

Scheduling Purists often feel that whatever is generated on paper (or on screen) is what will happen, at a certain time, and in the exact required sequence. They are often disappointed and amazed when the actual execution of the Project happens in some other order of events or when a specific task goes (apparently) unnoticed long after its scheduled start date.

The eXtreme version of the Random category is just the opposite. They want to do what they want to do when they want to do it and it will "take as long as it takes". Or, perhaps when they are "trying to be part of the team", they don't say it THAT way, but they generally ignore what's planned since they believe a different sequence or set of activities is best.

Whenever these two are together on a project, they will obviously create friction. Friction can be good, but this usually creates friction so hot that it will burn through a Project and leave a scar.

So, is one of them right and the other wrong? Not really.

A few points from this two-sides-of-the-coin extreme are these :

1. One person (or one small group) shouldn't decide what will be done and when. As many participants as possible should be involved in the process.
2. In spite of best efforts at the beginning to define what will happen when, something will likely change. That statement is not a way out for the Randoms to throw away the schedule and do what they want. Think of it like this - we say what we plan to do today, in the next hour, with some certainty. The shorter the time-frame, the better the certainty.  However, trying to say with certainty what we will do in 2 months at 8:00AM or in 14 months is reaching, to put it mildly.
3. Plans and schedules have to be somewhat flexible and should be expected to change as we move further away from "Start Here".
4. Items 1-3 are not excuses to throw it all in the trash. The Customer always has a desired timeline for completion of the work. The old sayings "You can't hit a target you can't see" and "If you don't know where you are going, any road will take you there" come to mind.
5. Friction about some details and plans leads to better plans. But, neither ignoring the schedule because we choose not to "own it" nor demanding that the original plan be followed at all costs will benefit the Project.

Project schedules are typically necessary. It might be a list. It might be a 2,376 item graphic. It might be milestones on a calendar. Whatever form it takes, we can expect that the schedule that's developed early in the project will need some adjustment as we go along. And, we can expect that someone working on the Project who ignores the plan and schedule will generally fail to deliver.

PROJECT-ing Forward

There is some debate in the Project community. The wider community.

Some vote for PMI, PMP and all the other letters.


Some vote Lean and Agile and 2.0 and the "new way".

It can be easy to pick a side or easy to go buffet style and take some of each. (That will be heretical to some who are strongly on one side or the other.)

Better still, when we think about better or great Project work, think about how we can move the discussion forward.

Not stuck in any time period or stuck on any method. (Sure, certain fundamentals don't change. We can debate the fundamentals another time.)

If we must get stuck, let's get stuck on PROJECT-ing Forward.

Doing something new. Doing something better. Learning every day. Making mistakes and trying again.

But, don't stay stuck. Move ahead.

Who Manages Time?

Time - "A continuous, measurable quantity in which events occur in a sequence proceeding from the past through the present to the future."

In doing Project work, we manage people, money, and materials. Those are often thought of as the basics. Within reason, we can get people and manage what they do for your Project. We can get money (okay, let's not argue about this one in the current lending climate!) and we can manage it. We can get more materials and we can manage them.

But we can't really get more time. And, how do you manage time?

MORE TIME

1. Time is a different resource for a Project. Like the definition says, we can measure it. It only happens in a sequence.
2. Customers need the Project completed in a FIXED amount of time - by a certain date. Very seldom is it their preference, even if they add to our Project Scope, to give us more time.
3. Every work day, we only have a fixed amount of time.
4. Even if we excel in productivity (doing more in less time), Project tasks will take some amount of time.
5. One task may wait for some time before another is completed so that it can start or finish.
6. We may have a schedule that says something will be done in a certain amount of time. If that something isn't done as planned, it doesn't really get more time - it uses time from something else - that can't get more time - that uses time from something else - on and on. I know, it's not all that sequential.
7. We don't really ever get more time.

MANAGING TIME

So, how do we MANAGE TIME?

1. We don't really manage it.
2. Sometimes it seems to manage us, instead.
3. We can only treat is for what it is - a scarce resource (usually) that is part of the whole Project picture.
4. We can manage the USE of our time. Deciding what to do today and in so doing deciding what not to do today.
5. Time needs attention. 
6. We have to stay aware of it. Late is never acceptable on a Project. If you are late, sometimes everything else that went well is forgotten. All that is remembered is - "She was late". "He didn't complete it on time."
7. "Better late than never" - is a lie. At least for Project work. So, though we can't really manage it, we must make the best use of it on our Projects.

YourSelf as a Project

Interesting post titled "42 Practical Ways to Improve Yourself" by Celestine Chua over at Lifehack. (She also has her own blog about Personal Excellence.)

To keep improving our Project work, we have to also make a Project of ourselves.


Notice a few of her personal items that also sound like Project work:

• Overcome your fears
• Level up your skills
• Get out of your comfort zone
• Put someone up to a challenge
• Identify your blind spots
• Ask for feedback

42 ways to do something is both interesting and overwhelming (how will I ever do all of those?). We can pick a few that strike our interest and work on those first. Then, go back for more - for us, for our Teams and for our Projects.