One Bite at a Time

I don't know about you, but I think our government's approach to health care reform is asinine. Trying to change one-sixth of our economy in 1000 pages or more of government gobbledy gook that has so tight a deadline that very few of our esteemed "leaders" have read it and fewer still understand it. Our "leaders" tell us that "doing nothing is not acceptable." I would tell you that putting water on burning magnesium the worst thing you can do.

I know, I know. Water on a fire is generally good. But did you know that water has an explosive effect on burning magnesium? People who don't know what they are doing shouldn't be in a big rush to do it. As one newspaper columnist put it the other day, "our government believes that doing nothing is worse than doing it wrong. They fail to remember that haste does make waste."

I agree that we do need health care reform. My biggest objection to the current process is the apparent desire to tackle everything at once. It's like trying to swallow the elephant whole. Yet the old saying that applies here is "The only way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time."

Those of you who have studied project planning with me know that I am a big proponent of comprehensive project plans that are thorough and detailed. You know that I believe in thorough planning to eliminate as many unforeseen situations and unintended consequences (oops) as possible. You also know that I believe that project plans should be "written in pencil" and we should "carry a big eraser" so we can quickly modify the plan as our project experience unfolds. You also know that it's best to have contingency plans in place so to be prepared to handle the unexpected in a professional way.

There have been, however, situations in my career where I have been given "hot" projects that didn't lend themselves to lots of planning. Often times these projects involved taking over one sort of disaster or another; disasters that were often caused by a lack of proper planning in the first place. My approach to those "hot" projects (where doing nothing was unacceptable) was to (quickly) take one bite at a time. Find one element and nail it in. One. Use that as a basis and nail in a second. If the second doesn't fit without adjusting the first, then adjust the first and re-nail it. Next nail in the third, adjusting one and two as necessary. Keep nailing things and at some point you'll have enough solid framework to allow more thorough and comprehensive planning for further steps.

Not so different from the medical world when it has an emergency that must be dealt with now. They know they can't do everything at once. That's what triage is all about. Or the ABCDE (airway, breathing, circulation, disability,exposure) of severe multiple injury (trauma) treatment. Shouldn't our government take a more structured approach to health care as well?

About me: Dan Pelley teaches project planning as part of his "Managing for Results" program, one of five programs leading to a Certificate in Supervisory Management. He welcomes your comments on this post. Was it useful for you? You can easily respond via the comments link below.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.

Communicating Effectively

Today's post was written by Carrie Norris, Supervisor-in-training at Staples Distribution Center in Wauregan, CT. She lives in Dayville and attends our Certificate Programs in Supervisory Management at Quinebaug Valley Community College in Danielson. Her post deals with communicating effectively and in a timely fashion and is reprinted with permission.

"I have always taken pride in being an effective and efficient communicator. In my current position as a Supervisor in Training, communication is critical. Since the first day of the program, I have been responsible for many projects which have created opportunities for me to work with people within all levels of the company.

"I worked on a stack rack project (a racking system intended to maximize storage space within our facility) with a woman from corporate and a supervisor representative from our other 3 Distribution Centers. I had to respond quickly and clearly for many different aspects of the project including project meetings, e-mails and conference calls. This trait was especially important for this particular project as I was the only non-salaried employee included in the project (which is rare).

"Communicating effectively and in a timely fashion during this project enabled me to keep the project on schedule, ensured successful project completion and also allowed me to get my name out there as someone who is responsible and can be counted on to get the job done.

"Being an effective communicator also lets people know that I believe their concerns, projects and success are important. I believe that this trait is crucial in order to be successful in all other aspects of leadership skills. I have been on many projects since I began this program and felt that this was my best example."

Subsequent to writing this article, Carrie continues to be chosen as a member of company special project teams. Congratulation Carrie. And thanks for your contribution to our blog.

About Pelleyblog: We are striving to be a communication device for managers where many people can share their thoughts, ideas, opinions, perspectives and points-of-view. We focus on topics of interest to supervisors, group leaders, foremen, department managers, project managers, team leaders, assistant managers, associate managers, office managers, nurse managers, crew leaders, unit managers, and other first-line managers. But managers at all levels, and people interested in management topics are welcome and are encouraged to join us both as readers and participants.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.

The Best Time

When developing an action plan you must first decide what you are trying to do (the goal), how you are going to do it (the action steps), how long each action step will take (person-hours), when the action step should start and when it should be completed (target dates) and who will perform each of the action steps (scheduling; that is, assigning people to the task).

Another parameter to be considered is the best time to undertake the entire project which in turn will set a target date for project completion. Once the project completion date is set you can then work your way back through the action plan to decide the best time to do each step in terms of impact on customers, employees, suppliers and others.

I'm writing this post because I had a bit of a revelation this morning traveling to an in-house program about 50 miles from home. I went by a landscaping materials company and noticed they paved a good size apron where they now place loam, mulch, wood chips, pebbles and so forth. The facility looked very sharp and I though about how the paving underneath probably made it easier to keep the area neat and clean.

"Hmmm," I thought, "they must have done that over the winter." That thought was quickly followed by another: "Of course they did. They wouldn't do it during their busy season when they are open seven days and have customers to serve." That thought was quickly followed by: "But you can't pave in the winter. So maybe they did it just a few weeks ago as they only recently reopened for the season."

Then came the revelation. I've had to plan special projects of one sort or another throughout much of my career. I think I have a good solid knowledge of project planning methods and techniques. But I can tell you that the best time to undertake a project has been rarely considered in the projects I've had to plan. Nor have I seen a discussion of "best time" (or "most favorable" time) being thoroughly discussed in project planning resources I've used. I can remember an occasional customer telling me to develop an action plan to be done at a certain time due to other considerations such as business seasonality. The other action plans I've done tended to be more need-driven and usually had a parameter of "start it now and get it done as fast as you can. "

So out of all the above rambling, two thoughts on planning I want to share with you today. Unless your project has an "asap" delivery parameter, set your start and complete dates for the overall project by considering the interests of all stakeholders. Ask yourself when is the best time to minimize disruption to our customers? When is the best time to minimize the impact on our daily operations? When is the best time to have adequate staffing for the project? When is the best time to procure materials? Secure the financing? And so forth.

Bear in mind that this process will usually produce conflicting answers. The best time to minimize disruptions for the customer may not be the best time to minimize impact on daily operations. So you'll obviously have to assign values to each stakeholder's interest and then carefully plan to optimize among the competing interests to set your project start and complete dates.

Once you've set your overall project date parameters, you now apply a similar process to many of the action plan steps at the detail level. When is the best time to put an asphalt apron under the bulk materials yard in terms of minimizing disruption to customers? In terms of minimizing disruptions to facility operations? In terms of minimizing extra storage and handling costs for materials temporarily removed from the yard? When is the best time lay asphalt? When is the best time (cost-wise) to have a paving company do the job? And so forth. Again competing interests will have to be maximized. And your best time will also have to be considered in light of the overall project best time; bearing in mind of course that the best time to conduct the action steps of the project may possibly cause you to rethink and possibly reschedule the overall project dates.

About me: Dan Pelley teaches project planning as part of his "Managing for Results" program, one of five programs leading to a Certificate in Supervisory Management. He welcomes your comments on this post. Was it useful for you? You can easily respond via the comments link below.

Copyright © 2009 Daniel W. Pelley
All rights reserved.