My Role In Reducing Project Churn
At my wife's request, I spent a lot of time with her parents over the holidays. My father-in-law is still not sure - after 28 years of marriage - if I am worthy of his daughter and so my time with him is always a bit of a struggle.
One night, we were talking about the bad bosses we had worked for. My father-in-law, Larry, told us that he once had a supervisor that held a mandatory staff meeting every Monday at 6:00 a.m. I told Larry that 6:00 a.m. was not that bad but a weekly staff meeting was just cruel. He was shocked.
"You don't have staff meetings?"
Not anymore.
"Without staff meetings, how do you know things are on track?"
As I give out assignments, I explain what needs to be done and why and then trust my staff to deliver.
Larry repeated, "But how do you know things are on track?"
I trust that if if someone or something is in trouble, my staff will let me know.
"What if they don't?"
If that becomes a problem, I help them find a new job. But, that is rare. What usually happens is everyone is more productive because we reduce project churn. How much time did you spend in staff and status meetings? Did you feel like they helped you perform? Did they really help your boss make sure things got done? Or, were they just a way for your boss to inform himself? How much value did you get out of the combined weeks or months you spent in staff and status meetings during your career?
My questions caused him to pause. In fact, we had this conversation five days ago and I am still waiting for his answers.
Now, lest you think I am some kind of soft touch pushover, I am demanding. When someone tells me that they understand what needs to get done and why, I expect them to deliver. It is just that I don't want them spending their precious time writing status reports, telling me things are on track, or asking me how to handle things that are in their control. I want them spending their time getting the things done that need to get done. So far, this has not only improved project performance by reducing churn, but everyone seems to enjoy life so much more.
