Archive for the ‘self employment’ Category

Asking the right questions

Sunday, May 23rd, 2010

I have been looking on LinkedIn a lot lately and trying to answer some of the questions raised in discussions. I found it hard to give a useful suggestion most of the time because the question was not asked with enough context.

Asking questions is a skill. For a consultant, PM or a business analyst, it’s a critical skill. It’s about asking the right questions in the right way.

What are the right questions? That depends on your objective. Who, what, when, why, how are a good place to start. Thinking about your end goal will help determine what information you need.

  • What are we trying to do?
  • When do you need to have it done?
  • Who will be doing the work, who will be affected by the outcomes?
  • Why are you trying to achieve this?
  • How have you done this in the past, how can we get started…?

These are all excellent questions. When the questions are framed this way the gap is context. When you start to form your questions, think about the people you will be asking, is there ambiguity in the context? Will you need to explain the background? Can your answer come in a yes/no format – this is not what you are aiming for most of the time.

Let’s look at an example.

Question:

Do you have a PMO?

Answer:

Yes or no.

This can be misleading when you go to implement a solution.

If you realize there’s more information, you might ask what does the PMO do? If you go down this route, you’ll get the information you need, eventually, but you are setting up more of an interrogation than an interview.

A new approach:

Question:

Often an organization has formal or informal project support, methodology, training and prioritization. How is this handled in your company?

Answer:

Depending on your client, you’ll get a different answer – what you will get, though is a conversation rather than an answer. The conversation will lead to a richer understanding of what, why, how, who, when.

If you think about the bigger picture of the information you need, you’ll start to form more open and encompassing questions and the result will be a better understanding of your client.

Do you have any success stories, or horror stories?

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Contractor or Consultant

Sunday, March 7th, 2010

I’ve been giving some thought this week to the idea of developing and deepening project management skills in an organization. During the latest cycle of downsizing, a number of companies questioned why they needed dedicated project managers. They asked, “why can’t my department managers do that job?”

Well, we know the answer to that is at least two sided. First, they need the skills and then they need time. Department managers learn to put out fires and ‘deal’ with problems. They don’t achieve success by keeping their boss informed of problems and challenges and they don’t necessarily provide periodic status reporting. And, they have day jobs. They can’t set aside their day job to do a project.

The reality right now is that operations and projects are getting mixed together. Whether that can be successful in the long term is questionable, history doesn’t predict that it will be, but I think in the short term, there’s a way to support businesses through successful project delivery.

Some project managers who go the self employed route set up as contractors. They go in and do a great job managing a project and then they get out.

Others go the route of consultant. They may still go in to do a project, the difference is that while there, a consultant will look for opportunities to improve processes, set up new ways of dealing with projects in the future and leave lessons behind purposefully.

From a perspective of the business, project management contractors fill in shortages of capacity. Too many projects for a short term to complete with internal leadership. As the company grows, some of the contractors will be invited to become permanent employees.

For the business person, a consultant will suggest changes to improve, streamline, and change, the business processes to increase capacity of the internal team. As the company grows, consultants are asked to do more of this work and may temporarily fill a gap in competency.

The world needs both, contractors and consultants, as much as it needs employees. The key to success for the project professional is to know which you are, consultant or contractor. The key to success for the business person is to know what you need.

Have a successful week.

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Posted in organizational savvy, Professionalism, self employment | No Comments »