Feedback

If I could, I would stop performance reviews ...
To be more precise, I would stop their use to negotiate salary and bonuses.

Performance reviews are a source of fear, and contribute to skewed measures.

Would you dare to openly confess your errors under threat of stick and carrot.

Let me be very clear:
I fully support respectful non-manipulative feedback.
I am against manipulation.


Fungus

FTE

Before getting into FTEs (Full Time Equivalents), you need to:
1. Know your goal.
2. Prepare a hierarchical map of the work packages you will need to achieve your goal (WBS).
3. Detail the lower level work packages, until you have tasks that can be accomplished by one individual in a week or so.
4. Estimate the number of hours for each role that you will need in a day (or week or month).

Then you can calculate the man-hours per day (or FTEs) that you will need.
It works both for continuous processes and for projects.

As you and your team develop skills, the required FTEs decrease, or the total work performed increases.

Of course this is only a practical, but rough approach. Real people have a heart, and perform different than mathematical FTEs.

Fungus

Esteem

Lets suppose that...
1. My self esteem is an indicator of how well I am doing.
2. I am doing well if I add value to my community.

My self esteem can be expressed as the quotient of the value I have added to the community divided by the value that I reckon I should have added. If I am as good as I can be, my self esteem is 1.00 (or 100%). If I did not make my best effort to prepare my class, then my self esteem is hurt, and I may get 0.95.

Self esteem (aka conscience) is the measure of what I do compared with what I should do.
Subjective? You bet!

If my Project-to-Live includes respecting others, and I don't respect them, my self esteem lowers.

The late Mr. Alphonse Capone's Plan-to-Live included zero tolerance for people who did not pay on time. Late payments would have affected his Plan to Live, and his self respect (and his self esteem) would have lowered.

Fungus

Leadership

From what I read, a good leader is a person with the ability to manipulate the will of others to engage and energize them to do as he pleases in order to reach his own objectives (frequently called organizational or strategic).
Darth Vader called them imperial objectives.

Fascinating creatures indeed.

Fungus

Community

My self appointed mission is to build a healthy community. I don't sell anything. I build. Or I like to think so ...

Is this a commodity?
No. I see it as a specialty. It is not something common, but something special.

Is it tangible (can it be touched)? I'd say yes. You can swim in a healthy community.

Let me try to explain my objective a little further:
A community is a social group (small or large) in which individuals share the idea that common good comes before individual good. And taking care of the community will benefit all community members. A healthy community is integrated by well developed individuals, who are able to work as teams.
That's not something you buy and sell, that is a way to live by.

However, you still need resources to push ahead, and you have to charge someone to get them.
Got to go... see you later.

Fungus

Acceptance

Birds of a feather flock together.

I like to be around people who look like me. I don't like to be around people who don't look like me.
Oops... Looks ain't everything... let me rephrase that.

I like to be around people who share my world view. I don't like to be around people who don't share my world view.
That's a preference, not a limitation.

How can I get them to do what I want?
Oops... let me rephrase that.

How can I influence and lead them?
Should I send people who are different to the back of the bus?
Should I wear a sheepskin or imitate the duck call so that they let me approach them?
Should I try to make them into my image so that I can like them better?

I believe that to make friends or business associates it is more sensible to let them know who I am, and understand who they are. Show our different world views. And find some common ground. Then we can develop mutual trust. I believe that cats and dogs can agree to collaborate if they have a shared goal. They don't need to like each other.

I don't want to get people to do what I want. Much less by lying to them. I want us people to open our eyes, understand who we are without embarrassment, accept our differences, and get to work in the design and construction of a healthier community.

Fungus

Problem

This is my favorite checkist.

Problem solving 101

1. Document the desired state (where you want to be).
If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there.
(L. Carroll)

Describe it in a SMART way: Specific, Achievable, Measurable, Relevant, Time framed

2. Document the present state (where you are today)
If you don't know where you are, a map won't serve.
(W. Humphrey)
In measurable terms comparable to #1

3. Understand the system through one or more of:
3.a. SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats)
3.b. Ishikawa (or fishbone) root cause analysis
3.c. Process diagrams (process charts)
3.d. Activity flowcharts
3.e. Value stream maps
3.f. Ask 5 times "why?"
3.g. Expert analysis
... there are others, but this is good enough to start with.

4. Document the reasons why you are not where you want to be (aka root causes) and group them in: communication, training, process, product and tool.

5. Fix the process to improve communication, training, process, product and tool as needed.

6. Measure the results
(are you closer to your goal?)
... and go back to square one.

This is as easy as 123, but most of us don't do it.
We say it's boring. It does not let creativity flow. We think we are better than that.

And maybe, just maybe, some managers don't appreciate the quiet and systematic solution of problems. They want to see struggle long hours, working weekends, heroes and casualties. The whole nine yards.
After all, John Wayne, James Bond, Dirty Harry and Catwoman never used a checklist.

Fungus

Politics

I suggest that Project Management gives us the tools to fight office politics. A thorough stakeholder analysis, should uncover some of the hidden agendas, that could then be adressed, and if requirements are balanced against the organizational goals, walls sould fall and feudal strife should become harmless. Ok. I am an optimist, but you see what I mean. What really frightens me is that The Project Management Office could fall in the wrong hands, and be used to support silo building and internal warfare in the search for power or whatever. "There lies Mordor" Fungus

Purpose (shared)

Let's suppose that you want to help an individual to self-develop in a multi-task technical environment (program or portfolio oriented), while he gets the results you want. Let's also suppose that the results you want are productivity, quality and volume. Now try this question: Why would the individual want to produce more volume with higher quality? In case he wants to do it, it will probably not be for your reasons, but for his reasons. So... telling him what you want may not be enough. You know what you want, why don't you ask him what he wants? Ask him about his own goals. And in doing so, show him that you care and you want to help him meet his goals, as they are consistent with yours. (win win) Fungus

Motivation

Long term vision keeps me up when I feel down.

I know what I want, and I know I'll never reach it. I like to feel that I am moving forward. "The wind in my face".

That's why I keep going. I try to laugh at my mistakes. That way I change my mind to a different level (as in Einstein's famous quote) and perceive the obvious opportunities.

After that, it's a "Just do it".

Fungus