Beginner Stuff

Beginners are not stupid, backward, or slow. Beginners do, however, lack knowledge and wisdom. Therefore, while it is vital to ultimately decrease the importance of methodologies (see Pawel Brodzinski's blog that explains why --> http://blog.brodzinski.com/2007/12/clue-of-project-management.html), the beginner requires strict orders to follow.

Ken Blanchard calls this the directive stage of situational leadership. You need to tell the beginner exactly what to do and when to do it. The beginner only wants to hear what they need to know and not endless rhetoric about the background of a problem. The stricter and tighter you make the instructions to the beginner, the faster they will get to the point where they want and need to know more.

Work/Life Balance Versus Ergolibrium (revisited)

On the surface, ergolibrium may sound the same as work/life balance, but it isn't. Ergolibrium focus on keeping our work in balance which is only a subset of work / life balance. It's important to maintain a healthy work/life balance, but keeping each aspect of our lives balanced leads to overall balance. Taken as a discrete unit, our work itself should be balanced. I refer to this as the law of the rubber band. People are like rubber bands; if you leave them lying around, they will go limp; if you challenge them, they will perform; if you stretch them too far, they will break.For a good blog important aspects of work/life balance go to http://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/10-signs-of-work-life-balance-blow-out-and-10-inquiries-for-getting-it-back.html

Note: This corrects the earlier blog on this topic which had an invalid link.

The Benefits of Pain

Ouch! Accidently banging your arm against the sharp corner of a desk stings. Ouch! Being told your presentation lacks zest hurts. Ouch! Finding out your water leak will cost $500 in wasted water alone (not to mention the pipe repair bills) causes pain.

If you consider the real reason for pain (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pain), you will discover a two fold purpose. Physical pain informs us that some damage has already occurred or that damage may occur in the future. On a physical level, our bodies give us no choice. Our pain receptors immediately inform us of damage or potential damage. On emotional, financial, and other levels, the pain realization may not occur until well after the damage is done.

Therefore, when life (or our work or our current project) gives us a lesson, we need to listen. Since we normally only feel physical pain instantaneously, other forms of pain require us to look further back in time for the right root cause. So while the arm on the sharp corner can easily be remedied, the unenthusiastic presentation, water leak, or work problem may require greater proactivity on our part and more effort to determine the real problem.

Work/Life Balance Versus Ergolibrium

On the surface, ergolibrium may sound the same as work/life balance, but it isn't. Ergolibrium focus on keeping our work in balance which is only a subset of work / life balance. It's important to maintain a healthy work/life balance, but keeping each aspect of our lives balanced leads to overall balance. Taken as a discrete unit, our work itself should be balanced. I refer to this as the law of the rubber band. People are like rubber bands; if you leave them lying around, they will go limp; if you challenge them, they will perform; if you stretch them too far, they will break.

For a good blog on a key aspect of work/life balance go to the following link http://www.slowleadership.org/blog/?p=344

Ignore the Biggest Naysayer

I just did a quick skim of Guy Kawasaki's blog http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2007/11/five-lessons-fr.html. One of the tips from that blog is to "Ignore the naysayers". Sadly I'm probably the worst of my own personal naysayers.

Another way to ignore the naysayers is to turn their complaints (or in my case my own apprehensions) into risks that need to be managed. In other words, don't let the concerns sit at the bottom of your stomach, but do something about them.

Some examples ...

Don't know anything about marketing . . . start learning.

Don't feel comfortable commenting in other people's blogs . . . remember the discomfort of having something to say, but then keeping quiet.

Don't like addressing disquieting issues . . . build relationships.

Think about it.

Some Dance

I know an executive who works several states from his wife and travels home every other weekend. He has the financial means and is old enough to retire, but he continues to work. Although he has never blatantly stated so, he has indirectly commented that retiring would require him to live full time with his wife. Although we could probably launch into a lengthy discussion about long distance marriage, I think this brings up an interesting point about perspectives.

You may recall the two lines from the Eagles song (complete lyrics):

Some dance to remember
Some dance to forget

In the exact same circumstance, any two people may have wildly different perspectives. An extreme example is where the death of one person (the ultimate in negative outcome) becomes the joy of another (the funeral director receives business benefit). Based on your personality type, family background, amount of sleep the night before, etc., you may see a situation completely different than the person next to you.

Think about it.

*** First True Post ***

Welcome to my blog. I hope you will find items here that you can use in getting work completed with maximum effectiveness whether you are motivating yourself or others.

My intent is to post at least one blog per month that contains information of real substance. I will highlight these posts by starting and ending the title line with three asterisks. These monthly posts will contain stories, essays, etc. that discuss work balance and motivating people to get work accomplished. These posts should be of real benefit to professional project managers, however, since everyone is an amateur project manager (whether they know it or not), these posts should help everyone. I encourage everyone to post comments so that we can have a true knowledge interchange.

There will be other entries not necessarily related to work balance that will be posted here. These type of posts will not contain the asterisk notation and are primarily for my benefit, however, you are welcome to log comments on these posts.


Regards,

H. Peter Schiller