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StartMeaningfulProjects

From SessionOne014
Create Meaningful Projects by Bob King

A human being is not one thing among others; things determine each other, but man is ultimately self-determining. What he becomes - within the limits of endowment and environment - he has made out of himself.
--Viktor Frankl, Man's Search For Meaning

Bill is one of the most competitive people I know. He is the CIO of a mid-sized company, which is merging with a larger company. We were talking not too long ago; I was interested in the politics of the situation as people jockeyed for position in the newly merged organization. I was sure his competitive juices were flowing.

"So, what will you do?" I asked him.

"I'm waiting to see what develops; I want to see how we figure out what the ideal organization and positioning for the new company should be. Based on that, I will know if staying fits for me."

"But, others," I countered, "will be using the confusion to try to stake out the turf they want - only the fittest will survive. If I was a shareholder in that company, I would most certainly want you to get in the game and get as much turf as possible."

"Maybe true," Bill said. "I just don't want to find myself with turf inside of a organization that does not make sense to me. I would rather observe the organization for a while to see what's going on. Then I can decide if I want any part of it."

I was puzzled; surely he saw this merger as an opportunity for himself and his career. As I thought it about more, I began to realize that where I saw a competition for the next job up the ladder, Bill saw the chance for a victory without meaning. He saw the possibility of being the CIO of a newly merged company that did not have vision or strategy he could support. This was the worst possible outcome of all for him.

He does want to succeed, but in a way that transcends himself. He wants to be a part of a wildly profitable company. He views the next couple of months as his opportunity to gauge whether this company has the vision and will to accomplish that.

Bill is searching for meaning. He is looking for the raw materials from which he can construct a meaningful job. The raw materials he is after are vision and will. If he can find those and can construct a meaning that is significant to him, then he will jump into the new organization with a very strong commitment. His personal success is inextricably linked to how meaningful the environment is that surrounds him.

The Components of a Meaningful Environment

Like many of us, Bill is drawn to causes bigger than himself. He is inspired when he understands how his new role will help create a significant result - greater than anything he could have hoped to do alone. If he finds a meaningful environment surrounding him, he can work effectively to create his own meaning to help create a wildly profitable company.

You can create a meaningful environment to surround the projects you start, if you ensure these four key components have specific definitions:

� project's purpose - why the project exists, � significance of that purpose - why the successful outcome to this project is important to the organization, � fit of that project's work into the organization - how it connects up with the surrounding technical and organizational context, � framework for how the work of the project will be done - a first cut at the project's organization and its deliverables' conceptual design.

House these definitions in a Project Charter (sometimes called a Statement of Work or something similar). The project charter will have other sections and, at a minimum, it must address these four components. This is job number one for the project manager and technical lead (sometimes called the project architect).

Show the project team the significance of the project. Convince them that a successful outcome to the project impacts the organization's bottom line. Communicate this early and often to all members of the project team. Wrap them in the cocoon of the your company's business model, then paint a picture for them of the beautiful butterfly that will emerge from this project.

The specifically defined purpose and significance of the project inspires the project team. Next provide roots - the foundation from which they can begin to do their work by connecting their work to the rest of the organization and by guiding them in how they will do that work.

Connect them up to the rest of the organization by making key people available early. Create a context diagram with them. A context diagram shows all the events accepted and generated by the deliverables of the project. Put it in the Project Charter. Base the requirements and analysis work on the context diagram.

Build a framework, no matter how sketchy initially, to guide the project team in how it will get its work done. Identify key deliverables, figure out how they depend on and separate from each other. Organize the project around these separate pieces and their dependencies. Remember that this work is artful; trust your experienced technical people.

Inside of this framework, project team members create their own meaning. They discover their purpose, understand its significance - all the way up to the company's business model - see how it fits with the project work and create their own framework for how they will accomplish their work.

The Benefits of a Meaningful Environment

When you start a project in a meaningful environment, you get many benefits:

� You can say why. Nobody has to tolerate meaningless explanations. No more of that "Just do it!" fluff.

� You can root your delivery dates in the surrounding meaning. You can point to something significant to the organization that this project supports. Project team members will easily recognize "Just do it by some arbitrary date!" as a management ruse to goad them into working harder, rather than smarter.

� You know when you are wasting your and your team's precious time. When users or business people are not available to the builders, you know immediately that the effort is not considered significant by the whole organization. You have the evidence you need to stop that work.

� You can contain scope. You can understand and communicate the essential pieces of what must be delivered; these are clear in a meaningful environment. You do not have to tolerate the addition of features that do not contribute to the purpose and significance of the project.

� You can trust project team members to get their work done. You can trust them to bring up issues responsibly when is in their way. You can honor them with meaningful discussions about their work and issues that are rooted in the broader significance of the project.

� You can have meaningful discussions with involved team members about proposed actions. Together you can assess that action against the purpose and significance of the project. These discussions are a mechanism to further the shared understanding of the purpose and significance of the project. When you do this openly, you decrease the number of meetings and the number of people attending those meetings.

� You can communicate the inevitable changes when they happen. You have help in assessing their impact. And you allow people on project teams to adjust their meaning to fit the newly adjusted bigger picture. When you do not do this, you run the risk of double-crossing people working on the project. Perhaps you have experienced the feeling of buying into a vision, working hard to bring that vision to life, only to find out that that vision was no longer relevant.

Maintaining a Meaningful Environment

When you do not see these benefits, ask yourself these questions:

� Do I understand the project purpose and its significance against the organization's business model? � Have I done a good job of communicating these to the project team members? � Have I acted to undermine the meaningful environment earlier established? � Do I understand how this project and its deliverables fit into organization? � Have I communicated this fit? � Do I understand the framework the project is using to get its work done? � Have I communicated my support of this framework to the project team?

If you answer no to any of these questions, it is time to renew the project charter publicly. Bring it out of mothballs, get everyone together and figure out what parts of the charter people do not understand or have forgotten. Then, re-commission the project so that these parts are well understood and will not be forgotten.

If you have trouble answering these questions, wander around and talk to people working on the project. Ask them what they are working on and ask them if they understand why. Do not accept answers like "Because I was told to" or "Because it's in the project plan." If project team members cannot answer these simple questions, then you have another reason to renew the project charter.

The Payoff

Provide the raw materials - the project's purpose, it significance, its fit and a framework for its work - of a meaningful environment. Project team members will fashion a meaningful role for themselves that supports that broader meaning. They will believe in the project and will work smartly towards its successful outcome.

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