Book Review – The Lazy Project Manager

Just as over the past few months, at the request of the Arras People, I am bringing you their October book review.  This time, it’s “The Lazy Project Manager” by Peter Taylor, who now also write for PM Tips.  The book review was authored by John Zachar.  John’s views of the book that he expresses as part of this review do not necessarily reflect the views of his employer, APM.

Book Review – The Lazy Project Manager

Peter Taylor, available through Amazon

Review by John Zachar, APM

It is extremely unusual for me to pick up a ‘management book’ involuntarily. I think I lost that particular desire when I did my MBA in the nineties. However, occasionally there is a need to acquire additional information or background knowledge.

So it was with some trepidation that I picked up Peter Taylor’s book one Sunday afternoon, knowing that I’d promised a review. I finished it later that day, having only put it down for a meal. I really, really enjoyed it.

I’ve read a number of the ‘jokey’ type of management books over the years; those that have catchy titles, and purport to be a fun read, yet seem to be. This time I was pleasantly surprised that the book not only caught and kept my attention, but that it did it in a very enjoyable, easily absorbed way.

Peter’s use of analogies and stories is where I found some of the value. The remainder of the value came in the real content of the book. Over the years as a project / programme management consultant, lecturer, teacher and practitioner, I’ve built up a pretty good education about how to manage change into organisations through projects. I cannot find fault with any of Peter’s recommendations – especially the bit about being lazy!

Peter has been able to enrich the content by using his stories and analogies to make a number of points, all of them common sense; even things like “it is important to separate the important from the immediate” (my words not his – you find his analogy in the book).

One of the analogies that Peter uses, almost from the outset, is that of a dinosaur – in fact a brontosaurus. “I’m sure you know the one, thin at the front, thick in the middle, then thin at the other end.” Well, Peter modifies the analogy a bit by saying that projects should be thick at the front, thin in the middle and thick at the other end again.

The thickness of the project shape represents the amount of effort or work that needs to be done at that stage of the project. The corollary is: initiate well, compensating for difficulties, be lazy in the middle because a well organised project can run on its own like a well oiled machine if initiated well, then put some effort into finishing with real enthusiasm, helping all the stakeholders realise how well it has gone, and what a wonderful result we have.

Organising your project in this fashion allows you to apply the principles of being a lazy project manager – and still be successful. That is really what it is all about.

Don’t forget: this is not about just being lazy and not doing the job – this is being lazy, and being successful as well. Do the job, but do the job in the most intelligent way you can, so that you can be lazy when you can. That is my kind of project management. The other bits that are interspersed throughout the book are about how to achieve the above by using a great deal of common sense.

Peter’s book made this entertaining, yet useful for me.

This article originally appeared in the October edition of Project Management Tipoffs, the project management issues newsletter from Arras People. Subscribe to Tipoffs today.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: John Zachar is the Product Development Manager with the APM. He has previously written for both Tipoffs and How to Manage a Camel, and would love to hear your feedback. Feel free to contact John with your thoughts about The Lazy Project Manager at john.zachar@btinternet.com. This review is the work of Mr Zachar and is no way connected to any views, beliefs or opinions of the APM.

101 Business Books Everyone Can Learn From

I was contacted by Amber Johnson from Accredited Online Colleges about a new article they had posted on their site – she was asking if I was interested in sharing it with the PM Tips readers. They have compiled a list of 101 business books that anyone can use and I found it to be a very useful and comprehensive list. It’s really too long to share here in it’s entirety so I’ll include the first few relevant sections and let you peruse the rest at their site. The full article and list can be found here. Please read on….

From communicating to handling personal finances, from generating ideas to marketing them, become your ultimate you by developing the skills and intellect of a shark-like business person. The must-have business books below are conveniently linked to their Amazon pages, so you can buy and have them delivered straight to your door. Even if you don’t have a passion for business, do yourself a favor and check out these great reads. You’ll find yourself negotiating your way to the top of whatever career you choose.

Top Twenty

These 20 titles are the best of the best in the world of business.

• Atlas Shrugged: by Ayn Rand. A true business classic with a page-turning plot.
• 10-10-10: by Suzy Welch. When you’re facing a dilemma, ask these three questions: What are the consequences of my decision in 10 minutes? In 10 months? And in 10 years?
• The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression: by Amity Shlaes. Look back and forward at the status of mankind in the midst of economic despair.
• The Informant: by Kurt Eichenwald. A classic tale of business wheelings and dealings.
• American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House: by John Meacham. Read and study Jackson’s place in business and political history.
• Street Fighters: The Last 72 Hours of Bear Stearns, the Toughest Firm on Wall Street: by Kate Kelly. These men and women went down, but not without a good fight.
• House of Cards: A Tale of Hubris and Wretched Excess on Wall Street: by William D. Cohan. As we all know, pride comes before the fall. Learn from the fatal mistakes of those who have gone before us.
• How The Mighty Fall: And Why Some Companies Never Give In: by Jim Collins. Resilience and perseverence will take you far in life, as this book demonstrates so clearly.
• The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger: by Marc Levinson. Today’s look at industrialism.
• Selling the Wheel: by Jeff Cox and Howard Stevens. Advertising, marketing and branding are essential parts of everyday life, so apply these techniques to your own life and watch your reputation skyrocket.
• The Wealth of Nations: by Adam Smith. Look deeper into the world economy with this revealing guide.
• The Functions of the Executive: by Chester Barnard. Who are the CEOs and company presidents, and what, exactly, do they do? This book demands the destruction of figureheads, and that those in charge not forget how they got there.
• The Human Side of Enterprise: by Douglas McGregor. Although it doesn’t always seem like it, the world is still made of people, not money. This great book will show you how to look at business and negotiations on the ground level.
• The Wisdom of Crowds: by James Surowiecki. Take a look at the way people gather to make a difference.
• The World is Flat: by Thomas L. Friedman. This book details the most interesting developments of the 21^st centry.
• Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t: by Jim Collins. Discover the secrets to going from mediocre to out-of-this-world in whatever your field.
• The Secret Language of Business: How to Read Anyone in 3 Seconds or Less: by Kevin Hogan. Develop the people skills you need to get through life and through your career successfully.
• The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference: by Malcolm Gladwell. If “the devil is in the details,” this book will show you where to look.
• Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies: by Jim Collins. Whatever you do, you’re probably in it for the long haul. Read this book to find the most important ways to make your business ventures last.
• In Search of Excellence: by Thomas J. Peters. Become the best you, whoever you are, and whatever you do, and then become even better with the help of this book.

Management Skills

Whether you’re in charge of people, products or projects, these books contain everything you need to know about becoming a better, more effective, more efficient manager.

• The Unwritten Laws of Business: by W.J. King. This etiquette and professionalism guideline will undoubtedly improve your managerial and relational skills.
• First, Break All the Rules: by Marcus Buckingham & Curt Coffman. A nonconformist view of managing and building relationships.
• 12: Elements of Great Managing: by Rodd Wagner & James Harter. Look at the key characteristics of successful managing in today’s work environment.
• Growing Great Employees: by Erika Andersen. Hire the right people, then develop them into your star employees.
• Hiring Smart: by Pierre Mornell. This is another great guide for conducting the best and most productive interviews.
• The Essential Drucker: by Peter F. Drucker. Sixty years of managerial skills, all rolled into one, easy-to-read book.
• Tribes: by Seth Godin. Lead by using the most basic rules and theories of interpersonal relationships.
• The Halo Effect: by Phil Rosenzweig. Read about the nine “business delusions that deceive managers.”
• The New Leader’s 100-Day Action Plan: by George Bradt, et al. So, you’re in charge…what next? Find out how to make your first 100 days your ultimate advantage.
• Judgement: by Noel Tichy & Warren Bennis. Make good calls, and be confident about your decisions with this great guide.

Effective Communication

There’s a reason some of the most successful people today are businessmen and women, and it has much to do with their communication skills. Read these books to learn how to talk, give presentations, interview, and debate like a professional.

• Business Communication: by Carol Lehman and Debbie DuFrene. Get the basics of business communication here.
• Harvard Business Review on Effective Communication: by Harvard Business School Press. Harvard has one of the top ranking business schools in the country, so read this publication for the best advice.
• Business Communication: Process and Product: by Mary Ellen Guffey. It’s true that communication skills don’t come overnight. If you want to do it right, follow these rules.
• Messages: The Communication Skills Book: by Matthew McKay. Avoid miscommunication by reading this book.
• People Skills: How to Assert Yourself, Listen to Others, and Resolve Conflicts: by Robert Bolton. Bolton’s self-help guide shows you how to handle the toughest aspects of conversation.
• 101 Ways to Improve Your Communication Skills Instantly: by Bennie Bough. Unlike other books, this awesome guide shows you how to make important changes, fast.
• The Art and Science of Communication: Tools for Effective Communication in the Workplace: by P. S. Perkins and Les Brown. Indeed, effective communication is an art, and an interpersonal science, and this book has what you need to develop the right techniques.
• Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High: by Kerry Patterson, et al. The most important interactions you’ll have in life will involve huge negotiations, so make sure you put your most powerful words forward.
• Great Communication Secrets of Great Leaders: by John Baldoni. Learn from the gurus, and follow in their powerful, successful footsteps.
• Conversationally Speaking: Tested New Ways to Increase Your Personal and Social Effectiveness: by Alan Garner. The best thing about this book is that its advice is new but just as effective as the older ways of looking at communication.

Go here for the rest of the article and the remaining categories…

Startup Teams with HP on Cloud-Based Testing

I received my latest copy of InformationWeek recently and found this article interesting – especially since all discussions these days seem to center on either Cloud Computing or Agile Development.

Skytap is a startup that tabs themselves as the leading provider of cloud-based virtual labs that deliver 100% self-service provisioning of complex IT environments without any architectural changes. Cloud computing is poised to become the defining technology of the 21^st century and Skytap’s goal is to make serving up virtual machines over the internet as ubiquitous as delivering html to a browser. They are working to maximize efficiencies, minimize costs, eliminate unnecessary hardware, outsourcing, eco-efficient computing, and doing more with less.

I’ve worked many very large-scale government contracts where testing was a massive onsite effort involving additional hardware, software, and bodies in a compressed and stressful timeframe. Cloud-based testing would have made those experiences much more sane. And it was solely my responsibility at the time to make those tests happen and help ensure their success.

Likewise, my time in the gaming industry involved load testing for slot data management software. It’s necessary to test slot machines against large loads of usage – the last thing a very large casino gaming entity wants to happen is for their slot system to crash on a Saturday night due to heavy customer usage!

Without further ado, here is the article written by Charles Babcock for InformationWeek…

“Startup Skytap has cut a couple of powerful alliances for it’s cloud computing services, most recently joining forces with Hewlett-Packard to make it easier for companies to stress-test software against thousands of simulated end users without taxing their won data centers.

Skytap – named one of the InformationWeek Startup 50 in April, shortly after getting $7 million in venture funding – offers a Virtual Lab where developers try out applications by building test environments from its library of operating systems, databases, and middleware. Skytap already partners with Microsoft to enable Visual Studio Team System testing.

Skytap is providing HP’s LoadRunner testing tool to build test scenarios that push an application’s limits. The tests can be set up, managed, and torn down through HP’s Quality Center, which uses Skytap’s cloud computing resources to execute the actual test. The tests run as virtual workloads under VMware’s ESX Server.

Cloud computing is seen as a lower-cost way to offload workload spikes from the data center, and testing and quality assurance are likely prospects. Other cloud computing services such as Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud also can be used for testing. Companies pay Skytap from $1,000 to $10,000 a month for cloud-based testing.”

Agile vs. Waterfall – More Thoughts

Ok…I have to do a follow-up to my article “Agile Software Development Project vs. Standard Software Development Project.”  It was only posted a week ago and has already generated 20 comments.  And many have been from Agile supporters who can’t even comprehend a scenario where a ‘standard’ or waterfall approach results in a successful project.

You would think I had just stated that Pete Maravich wasn’t the best ball handler in basketball (which he was) and that Cheap Trick wasn’t the greatest rock band in the world (which they are – and you can buy their new CD “The Latest” from Amazon here …sorry for the plug, I know those guys, I know their families and they are hard-working and still at it – so buy the CD already!).  Ok…where was I?

Oh yes, I was lightheartedly discussing reaction to my Agile vs. Waterfall article from 6/11/09.  I’ve been reading all comments and have responded to many of them.  However, based on the comments that have been coming through, I think I need to actually follow-up that article with this one to further clarify my thoughts, the question, and what I’ve learned so far.

My Agile/Iterative Process Background

Let’s start with the understanding that I’ve never worked in an organization that subscribed to Agile practices of software development or project management.  I was leading an enterprise software re-write project that was utilizing an iterative development process for a large customer in Las Vegas when the company I was working for abruptly shut down.  We were through requirements and ready for development so I was already seeing the benefits, but we weren’t able to complete the process.

My Standard/Waterfall Background

Let’s also acknowledge that I have worked very successfully as a Project Manager for 18 years now – all basically using the waterfall method for software development projects.  Yes, I’ve seen some failures – both in projects I’ve led and in projects colleagues have led.  Some have ended in a fiery death for the project and careers.  But many have been wildly successful – I wouldn’t be here today if that weren’t true.  I’ve led many small and many very large projects using standard waterfall methods that have ended with happy customers, on time deployment and on budget financial status (except, of course, for necessary change orders as a result of customer and project needs).

Being what I consider an intelligent individual as well as an experienced developer, project manager and IT professional, I can make the educated statement that any process that requires continual customer involvement, short sprints that test and rollout a solution every 2-4 weeks, and constant attention to evolving requirements is bound to have frequent success.  The main problem with any waterfall approach is the fact that the project is based on an understanding the requirements are in place correctly at the beginning.  That’s flawed – they are almost never correct or in enough detail when the project kick’s off.  They usually evolve over the course of the project – with more detail and more surprises extracted along the way…unfortunately.  Usually this requires re-work.  Often it requires change orders.  And sometimes it upsets the customer.  All of that is known by everyone and completely understood by this author.

The Scenario…Again

Finally, I’d like to restate my premise for all.  If a software project has well-defined requirements up front with no need for further definition (yes, rarely, if ever happens…I know), and if the customer is continually involved and everything goes smoothly and your project is well staff with the right skill set…then if you used each method to run the project I am assuming that the overall project costs for the waterfall method would be less than with agile.  This would primarily be  because of less testing, overhead, etc. 

I’m only asking for one hypothetical project, not the best way to run a project and not the best method across a portfolio of projects.  Just one perfect project.  Would it be cheaper to do waterfall than agile assuming no re-work, no re-starts, and no issues?  My guess is “yes.”  And that’s what I’m basically hearing in the comments.  Your thoughts?