Blog Archives

PMO | Why do we need to make change easy to follow?

2/25/2001

"If you want people to do something, make it easy." - Richard H. Thaler.

Steps for the change need to be easy to follow because we don't want to challenge people's patience to overcome hardships of know-how while experiencing the emotional roller coaster of rebelling against the change.

Easy means less. The actions required should stay to the bare minimum.
Easy means specific. The instructions should detail the steps. For example, when standardizing the project execution, we create document templates for each team in the process. The template embedded the required actions the team must take to complete the document. The detailed explanation and examples make the instruction is explicit.
Easy means nudging rather than demanding. Compared with using a checklist that disciplines people's behavior, document templates encourage the proper actions. Discipline requires rational thinking, which is more difficult to follow.

In summary, we need to design change management instructions to facilitate change adoption carefully.

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PMO | Project Manager Engagement Ground Rule

2/18/2001

When a new team gets together, knowing the engagement rules is essential. We define the PMO engagement rule as follows:

Start with clarifying the role of engagement with the project team.
When we receive a request, we will send an acknowledgment. If the task requires more time, we will notify the requestor with an estimated time of availability (ETA) and inform them later of any potential timeline extensions.
We need to update each task in Wrike before the due date. If there are any timeline changes or extensions, notify the project manager with a reason.
It is mandatory to respond to the meeting invitation. If you cannot attend, please provide a reason.

We will help the team adhere to the rules of engagement by constantly reviewing and adjusting the team's behavior until it is part of the team culture.

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PMO | GE's Quick Market Intelligence

2/11/2001

A business unit of GE created weekly conference calls for managers to discuss what was happening with customers, competitors, and technology worldwide. That way, they can anticipate price changes and new issues that are rising. All the people then can have the same view of the outside world. GE developed a guideline to make the meeting productive:

Discussion questions should be specific and simple enough to be answered in two minutes.
All participants should be put at ease and encouraged to contribute regardless of the formal hierarchy.
Meetings should be short, so people don't lose interest, information should be processed along the way and summarized at the end.

At the result, people can set the priority three months out and they were synchronized.

People share information and come to a common conclusion.
Most conflicts are brought to the surface and resolved promptly.

The created social cohesion is a crucial building block for achieving speed at GE.

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PMO | How to Facilitate Project Meetings

2/4/2001

Facilitating project meetings, especially the project status meeting, is one of the project managers' primary responsibilities. Experienced project managers can make an idea come to life in a meeting. They can build solid team relationships while making decisions to move things forward. Following some basic principles can help you achieve the meeting objectives and steer the discussion effectively.

First, make sure you engage everyone during the discussion to show respect for everyone in the team. Then, there are some best practices to follow :

Encourage participants to join on time. Start the meeting no later than 2-3 minutes. Doing so will let the participants know that the discussion always starts on time.
Do a time check a few mins before the ending time so that the person talking wraps up his thoughts.
Use simple language to call for information. Make your message clear; speak slowly, take a pause, and ask questions.
Ask for everyone's full participation. This means everyone participates in a meaningful way. Pay attention to introverts, and give them the opportunity and time to share their thoughts. You may consider approaches like receiving comments in writing or calling everyone for their direct participation.
The person hosting the meeting should take notes and summarize the discussion before the session ends overing the discussion topics, decision made and next steps. You can consider recording a meeting to catch up with the conversation later.

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PMO | Why do we need to make change easy to follow?

PMO | Project Manager Engagement Ground Rule

PMO | GE's Quick Market Intelligence

PMO | How to Facilitate Project Meetings

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PMO | Why do we need to make change easy to follow?

PMO | Project Manager Engagement Ground Rule

PMO | GE's Quick Market Intelligence

PMO | How to Facilitate Project Meetings

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