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Project Management for the Rest of UsCarol Smith, Google, Inc.
T3CON North AmericaMay 31, 2013
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Who Am I?
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Who Am I?
Undergraduate degree in journalism
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Who Am I?
2 years as an administrative assistant
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Who Am I?
3 years in Google's Network Operations and Deployments
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Who Am I?
2 years managing software releases half-time.
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Who Am I?
3 years in Google's Open Source Programs Office
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Who Am I?
A lot of time spent doing it the "hard way."
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Who Am I?
Let me tell you about an easier approach.
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What is Project Management?
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What is Project Management?
Maybe you've been thinking of project management more as a system for releasing software, or maybe you've just been thinking of it as the job the person who nags you has.
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What is Project Management?
I consider project management to be simply a system of organization. You can apply it to
any task or group of tasks to make your own work more efficient and productive.
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What is Project Management?
I also consider project management to be the system of persuasion and negotiation you
use to get people to do work.
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What is Project Management?
People managers have it easy!
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What is Project Management?
They can get work out of people simply by having the power to hire and fire or affect an
employee's performance review.
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What is Project Management?
People who just have to get other people to do work have to figure out other ways to
manage it.
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What is Project Management?
Project management is a skill and an art.
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What is Project Management?
It's a skill and an art worth developing.
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What is Project Management?
It can be used in all aspects of our lives, not just at work, and not just by a select group of
people.
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What is Project Management?
We all have to do project management in our day-to-day lives just to keep them running smoothly, often whether we like it or not.
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What is Project Management?
The companies that we work for function as microcosms of our day-to-day lives.
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What is Project Management?
They have to be managed to keep them running smoothly too, and often we have to
help that process along.
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What is Project Management?
Here are some examples of project management.
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What is Project Management?
Inbox Zero.
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What is Project Management?
Maker's Schedule, Manager's Schedule [1]
[1] - http://www.paulgraham.com/makersschedule.html
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What is Project Management?
Here's the way it typically goes wrong.
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The Perils of the Well-Meaning Project Manager
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The Perils of the Well-Meaning Project Manager
Imagine this situation.
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The Perils of the Well-Meaning Project Manager
A new project manager, just hired!
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The Perils of the Well-Meaning Project Manager
Much like most of us in this room, she wants to do it right the first time and impress her boss
and her co-workers.
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The Perils of the Well-Meaning Project Manager
So she makes a spreadsheet. Or a Gantt chart. Or even just a big project plan.
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The Perils of the Well-Meaning Project Manager
She goes to her first team meeting and presents this document to the developers.
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The Perils of the Well-Meaning Project Manager
The developers smile and nod. Maybe they even say it sounds like a great plan!
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The Perils of the Well-Meaning Project Manager
Our project manager goes back to her desk happy to have gotten buy-in from her colleagues so early in the process.
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The Perils of the Well-Meaning Project Manager
But then the time for the first item to be done, and it's not done yet.
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The Perils of the Well-Meaning Project Manager
So she sends a friendly email asking about the deadline.
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The Perils of the Well-Meaning Project Manager
She only reaches out to the one developer, hoping she will just respond and say, "oh
yeah! I'm almost done!"
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The Perils of the Well-Meaning Project Manager
The email goes unresponded to.
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The Perils of the Well-Meaning Project Manager
So does the next one.
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The Perils of the Well-Meaning Project Manager
The project manager ends up in the team meeting telling her boss that nothing is done
yet, and she doesn't know why.
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The Perils of the Well-Meaning Project Manager
Her boss decides to get involved. Her boss starts emailing the engineers and "helping" to
"get things moving."
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The Perils of the Well-Meaning Project Manager
By the time the project manager is a month into her job, she has to re-do that Gantt chart
from scratch.
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The Perils of the Well-Meaning Project Manager
And now her boss is managing the project instead. Any credibility she might have had
with the team is lost.
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The Perils of the Well-Meaning Project Manager
And nothing is done.
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The Perils of the Well-Meaning Project Manager
She meant well.
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The Perils of the Well-Meaning Project Manager
But instead of focusing on the people, she focused on the details.
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Some (Somewhat Embarrassing) Examples
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Some (Somewhat Embarrassing) Examples
When I was in Network Deployments, I knew almost nothing about networks.
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Some (Somewhat Embarrassing) Examples
My half-time project managing a software team.
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The Easier Approach
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The Easier Approach
Focus on the start of the project.
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The Easier Approach
Before you get into the details of each individual task that needs to get done, instead take an accounting of what's happening with the project already.
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The Easier Approach
Has any work been done already on the project?
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The Easier Approach
Understand and agree in writing what the most important aspects of the project are.
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The Easier Approach
What's the point of the project? What are you trying to achieve? Is there an easier way to
do it?
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The Easier Approach
Focus on the people.
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The Easier Approach
Colleagues who don't care or don't like the project they're working on aren't going to be motivated to get things done, no matter how big a spreadsheet you make and how much
you email them about deadlines.
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The Easier Approach
Make sure you've got everyone you're working with in agreement with your philosophy.
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The Easier Approach
Make sure you've got everyone you're working with in agreement with your role on the
project.
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The Easier Approach
Make sure you've got everyone above you in agreement with your philosophy.
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The Easier Approach
Make sure you've got everyone above you in agreement with your role on the project.
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The Easier Approach
Assume competence until proven otherwise.
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The Easier Approach
Use common sense.
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The Easier Approach
This is a relationship.
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The Easier Approach
Frequent, honest communication is fundamental to making the relationship work.
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The Easier Approach
Develop the ability to "read" people and negotiate with different personalities.
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The Easier Approach
My colleague who put tiaras on our engineers' heads.
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The Easier Approach
Make sure you are a "poop umbrella," not a "poop funnel."
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The Easier Approach
Be flexible.
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Project Management for the Rest of Us
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Project Management for the Rest of Us
Good project management isn't about managing projects.
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Project Management for the Rest of Us
It's about defining whatever system of organization is going to work for you (and
your colleagues).
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Project Management for the Rest of Us
It's about working with people.
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Project Management for the Rest of Us
It's about making sure your colleagues are excited about the work they're doing,
whatever it is.
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Project Management for the Rest of Us
And it's about keeping the communication open and honest.
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Project Management for the Rest of Us
Think about it.
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Project Management for the Rest of Us
What in your life do you wish had clear goals, everyone involved excited and interested in,
and everyone was openly communicating about it?
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Project Management for the Rest of Us
What about your last family vacation?
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Project Management for the Rest of Us
Or maybe your last big life decision?
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Project Management for the Rest of Us
The last project on your house?
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Project Management for the Rest of Us
Or maybe just your last talk with your spouse?
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Project Management for the Rest of Us
This is simply a way to organize your life and collaborate effectively with the people in it.
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Project Management for the Rest of Us
I hope it helps you!
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Project Management for the Rest of Us
Thank you.