I write about Software Development, General management and what interests me in Science, Maths, Photography and Farming. Former is based on my experience as a Project Manager and what i read (books, articles, blogs), the later is a residue from my college days . Photography,Farming , Yoga and Travel got added subsequently. If you are wondering about the 'Everything else' part, it is inspired by Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy Series by Douglas Adams.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
When ITS TIME for a Handover
My thanks to her for the pain taken to make the message catchy. Now over to the message.
Identify a successor.
Train your successor.
Share work with your successor, while front-ending activities.
Tell all stakeholders.
Induct the person formally; let him/her manage Normal Scenarios while you remain in the background.
Move in to manage exceptions, if needed.
Exit when you are not needed to manage the exceptions.
Hope ITS TIME will make it easier to remember ‘what to do’, when its time to hand over any responsibility.
*Sticky: A term popularized by the book ‘Made to Stick’ by Heath brothers
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
"Whoever you are holding me now in hand"
But one thing is for sure. I have travelled too far in this path to drop everything and go back.
Over to Walt Whitman now from "Leaves of Grass".
Whoever you are holding me now in hand.
Without one thing all will be useless,
I give you fair warning before you attempt me further,
I am not what you supposed, but far different.
Who is he that would become my follower?
Who would sign himself a candidate for my affections?
The way is suspicious, the result is uncertain, perhaps destructive,
You would have to give up all else, I alone would expect to be your sole and exclusive standard.
Your novitiate would even then be long and exhausting,
The whole theory of your life and all conformity to the lives around you would have to be abandon'd,
Therefore release me now before troubling yourself any further, let go your hand from my shoulders,
Put me down and depart your own way.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Now that you have a plan in place...what do you do?
You are the Project Manager. You have the Project Plan and Schedule in place. You have the resources allocated to the project. You also have a Risk Plan as a part of your Project Plan.
Now what do you do? Will you just track all the plans or do you also do something more?
For example, do you go around and talk to people closer to the action? Do you ask them questions?
If questions, what will you ask? And if it is only one question what will that be?
From my experience, the one question that brings lot of value is asking people, ‘Now that we have a plan in place, what all do you think can go wrong?’.
Asked right, this question shakes people out of the good feel ( that all of us get when we have completed planning and resources on boarded) and makes them think about what all can NOT work out as per plan.
Do the stake holders feel comfortable talking to you? Do they share the good and bad with you? All these matter a lot.
But what is important is that the question is asked, answers got, analyzed and implemented. Don't get me wrong. this is not about being pessimistic. But about being as realistic as possible.
Monday, June 8, 2009
mysitcMundane is 'wordled'
The resulting aggregation may look mixed up, but i believe it strongly reflects the content of this blog.
What do you say?
Thursday, June 4, 2009
How to hand over a process or any responsibility....
While there are different aspects of managing this hand over/transition, given below is the thumb rule that I follow, when I have to hand-over/transition responsibility.
- Give the background, educate and prepare the identified person.
- Educate/inform team and other stake holders
- Hand over the Norm
- Step in to manage exceptions (if needed)
- Hand over the exception
- Get out.
Tom Peters says 'Leaders know when to Leave...". Project Managers should ensure that the transition happens in as seamless a manner as possible, by giving the act the thought and consideration it deserves, and plan accordingly. Hope the steps mentioned above help towards this…
Updated on 6-Jan-2011.
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