Monday, April 27, 2009

Are today’s organizations creating hardworking Idiots?

Update on December 2011
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I recently discovered this site www.slowleadership.com. It has got good articles related to, and on leadership. I like the quality of the articles here and have subscribed to the site in my RSS reader.

Out of the many articles in the site, i want to point out one article to start with. It is ' Are today’s organizations creating hardworking Idiots? The premise of the article is that organizations today are creating lot of yes men , through the way they operate and their focus.

I believe that the article is hard hitting and makes the serious reader, a bit un comfortable too. From my more than 10 years of work experience, i confidently say that there is lot of truth in what is said.

I have given below a few quotes from the article.

The dumbing down of organizations isn’t caused by poor educational standards or faulty recruitment. It’s due mostly to the crazy pace that is set, and the obsessive focus on the most obvious, rigidly short-term objectives. The result is a sharp increase in hardworking idiots: people who are coerced into long hours and constant busyness, while being systematically forced to act like idiots by the culture around them.

Don’t ask questions. Don’t cause problems by thinking, or waste time on coming up with new ideas. Don’t think about the future, or try to anticipate problems before they arise. Just keep at it, do exactly what is expected of you, and always get the most done in the least amount of time and at the lowest cost.


I think that even a fairly cursory look around most organizations today would confirm the accuracy of this observation. Consider all the time wasted in unnecessary meetings. The obsessive emphasis on staying in touch, regardless of need. The torrents of e-mails, most of which are simply copies of documents of no direct relevance to the people to whom they are sent. The constant collecting of data for no clear reason. Management by numbers and motivation by numerically-based performance measures. Trust replaced by obsessive control and leadership by forced ranking of subordinates against vague criteria determined by committees with no idea of the specific circumstances.

You do not need ethical insight or human understanding to operate a machine, and machines are how many of today’s leaders see their organization: machines for making quick profits, not civilized communities of people working together to a common end. We can only hope some organizations at least see the error of their ways before the hardworking idiot becomes the commonest creature in the hierarchy.


If you are a leader or a manager responsible for a team of people and care about them, i ask you to read the complete article here.

Friday, April 10, 2009

Project Management Governance: Notes to Self

The term Project Management Governance* is used in industry, especially in the information technology (IT) sector, to describe the guidelines to be followed for successful project delivery. It is a guide on ‘what to do’. It doesn’t talk about ‘how to do’. This difference is a key in understanding governance and its implementation, and hence, very important.

At a high level, Project Management Governance can be divided into four areas namely #1) Project Management Effectiveness and Efficiency #2) Disclosure and Reporting #3) Portfolio direction and #4) Project Sponsorship.

The suggested areas that can be covered under each one of the primary heading is given below.

Project Management Effectiveness and Efficiency
  • Un Ambiguous definition of Project Success criteria and its use in decision making
  • Sufficiency of organizations project management practices
  • Compliance with the organization’s project management practices.
  • Unambiguous definition of project management roles
  • Competency and capability of managers chosen to deliver project successfully.
  • Appropriate usage of change and risk management practices
  • Planning and correct usage of contingencies
  • Ability of staffing team to provide resources as needed by Managers

Disclosure and reporting
  • Reporting to senior management and client
  • Usage of relevant metrics for reporting.
  • Use Quantifiable escalation thresholds.
  • Ensure Quality of Information reported is not compromised.
Portfolio direction
  • Alignment of project portfolio with key business objectives.
  • Usage of good financial practices to prevent revenue leakages.
  • Risk and Issue Management at a portfolio level
Project sponsorship
  • Presence of competent sponsors
  • Quality of communication with sponsors
  • Effectiveness and efficiency of sponsors
  • Alignment of interests of all key stake holders with project success
While it may look areas like 'portfolio direction' and 'project sponsorship' are not relevant to an IT services company, it has to be noted that Projects running in the organization can be looked at as an portfolio and can be linked to the business goals of the division/organization. Hence Portfolio direction is very important area and very relevant too. Relationship with clients and other stake holders and the resulting human dynamics are managed through activities under “Project Sponsorship”. Hence it is also an important area.

Project Management Governance is an active rather than just a controlling role. It doesn’t stop with defining ‘what to do’. ‘How to do’ should be closely aligned with the guidelines set as per the Project management governance principles.
If the processes that are defined to enforce the project management governance principles aren’t sound enough, an organization may still see projects fail irrespective of having the governance guidelines in place. That is why project management governance is only the starting point in ensuring project success and not the end.
*Going by PMIs definition of project and project management (given below), we will use the term project management governance instead of project governance throughout this post.
#1. A Project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service or result. A project has a fixed start date and end date.
#2 Project Management is defined as the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project activities to meet the project requirements.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Communication Mistakes Managers Make - From HBR Blog

I believe that being successful is all about not making mistakes that are already made :-).

So can't resist mentioning this post "Seven Communication Mistakes Managers Make" in HBR Blogs . It is short, to the point and more importantly, has examples we can relate to.

I especially like #5 'Confusing Process with Outcome' .

The seven mistakes mentioned are

  1. Making controversial statements without doing groundwork first
  2. Lying
  3. Ignoring the realities of power
  4. Underestimating your audience's intelligence
  5. Confusing Process with Outcome
  6. Using appropriate forms of communication
  7. Ignoring acts of omission
You can read the complete post here