What's New

This column is released in conjunction with the Naked Consulting series in Compass.

Brief Consulting

What you've read in this latest issue of Compass is only just the barest outline of how Brief Consulting might help your organization. Contact us at True North pgs or call us at 509.527.9773 for information about how you and your organization might benefit from Brief Consulting.

True North, not just about projects any more

As we finished up dinner, our friend, a retired Fortune 50 top executive said, "David, I understand what you mean by Brief Consulting and it is really important. But what does project management have to do with it?" David sat stunned for a moment as the implications of this question struck him full force. Our friend continued, "The top level executives are the ones that need you and they just aren't interested in project management."

Our friend's comments were a pointed echo of familiar comments we hear after every workshop. At least one person always comments, "Wow, this was really helpful. But this isn't just about projects, is it?"

Nope, it's not just about projects. It never has been. It's about how we work well together to create the futures we want to inhabit. It's about how we build on our best selves to become who we want to be. And it's about how we deal with the real world as it is. Our Mastering Projects clients have long benefited from our work. It's been an even greater benefit to them when they apply it up and down their organizations.

Our friend continued, "The top level executives are the ones that need what you do. They need your capability to work with their top staff AND the rank and file who are creating the future. They need your work up and down the organization. At some levels they'll call your work executive coaching or mentoring, in other places they'll bring you in under the guise of planning, and sometimes they'll call it team building. It doesn't matter what they call it, the point is that you deliver real results. What you call it is just how you get people to show up."

We've taken our friend's counsel to heart. True North is not just about projects any more.

True North pgs, Inc. -- performance guidance strategies.

High impact, deeply penetrating insights delivering big results now!

Executive coaching, Mentoring, Experiential Facilitation

Oh yes, and Adaptive Project Guidance Strategies.

Amy Schwab---

The Blind Men and the Elephant

The Blind Men have been publicly considering their Elephant for over a year and a half now and the book continues to find its way into new corners of the world. The book has introduced a wider community to our work as we hold more book presentations, publish even more feature articles, and field ever more subscriptions to the Compass newsletter and our online discussion group (more on this below). My gracious appreciation to all who have read and commented on the book.

Here's a recent unsolicited comment from one reader/ would-be reviewer.

"Almost 16 months have past since you sent me your book. I picked it up in November last year when I was going through really difficult times. Your book has really helped me to cope with the issue and I now see the world with new eyes. I struggled to write a book review ever since because for me the experience with your book was extremely personal. The book came to me in the right moment and it taught me a lot of things I already knew. I'm writing now to express you my infinite gratitude. I'm planning to pick it up again in November. Hopefully I'll then be ready to write the long overdue review your book deserves. Thanks again!"

Frank Westphal

Get your own copy by following the links from our home page

Appreciations

I could not have created this issue of Compass without the generosity of some very helpful people.

Thank you:

Manuel Diaz and Barbara Anger-Diaz for the encouraging conversations,
Bill Burnett and Cynthia Benjamin for challenging my certainty,
Amy Schwab for asking unanswerable questions,
Greg Howell and Hal Macomber of the Lean Construction Institute for warm hospitality,
Doug Ballon for listening to himself,
Douglas Flemmons for practicing what I've been preaching,
Wilder Schmaltz for putting the sheep in wolf's clothing.

Amy adds her appreciations:
Thank you:
Gary and Sarah -- for working out the kinks,
Cory & Carmen for learning to talk about their own genius
Debbie Z. for really exploring the differences
Randal for looking and leaping to create a more compelling future

Excerpts from Recent Writings

Since the last Compass, I've been writing, conferencing, and consulting. Below, find excerpts from three recent writings, and links to where you might find the whole articles.

The Magic of Project Work

Catching Yourself Being Yourself,

acknowledging the cybernetics at work within your project team

By David A. Schmaltz
©2004 by David A. Schmaltz all rights reserved

“Cybernetics is the art of creating equilibrium in a world of possibilities and constraints.” Ernst von Glaserfeld

An Invitation to Include Yourself In This Conversation

As you read this article, notice how you interact with the words. More importantly, notice how the ideas interact with your own ideas. Notice when your frame of reference squawks as I mention something outrageous. Notice when you agree and when you do not. If you want to see what I am trying to say here, you will have to choose to act as a reflective observer of your own experience. My words won't have much meaning to you without your active, reflective participation.

The prior paragraph was an invitation. How often we begin speaking without first inviting those listening to actively participate. This seems a material omission, one innocently overlooked and one very likely to dilute potential. I am sharing with you and I invite you into a relationship with me. Even though you are reading these words, this relationship must be your choice, and one you might not be fully aware of, so I'm make this choice explicit. When I reflect upon my own daunting responsibilities here, I have to admit that we're both sunk unless we share involvement. So I make the implicit explicit and invite you to join me in creating this article. You will be creating your own experience here either way. We might as well acknowledge what's going on between us.

This piece will be published in The Learning Organization, published by in German by the INSTITUTE for SYSTEMIC COACHING and TRAINING - See their site here: http://www.isct.net/english.htm

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The Blind Watchman

By David A. Schmaltz
©2004 by David A. Schmaltz all rights reserved

When the owner visited his garden, he was shocked to find that someone had been stealing his most precious fruit. Interrogating the two watchman, a blind man and a lame man, responsible for guarding the garden, each denied culpability.

The blind watchman said, “I surely cannot be guilty of the theft of a thing I could not even see.”

The lame watchman reported, “I wasn't able to lay my hand on any of the fruit, for you know that my legs refuse to carry me a step.”

Considering the situation carefully, the orchard owner asked the blind watchman to carry the lame watchman over to the trees. In this way, the old testament scholars reported, God will judge his people by uniting the body with the soul, and fix responsibility on the reunited whole. (from Leviticus Rabba 4)

My client reported to me that his company had embarked on a multi-year effort to increase their process maturity. Their development systems have been under very sophisticated statistical process control for years, but their delivery reliability was still poor. No projects complete on time. Each falls into a certification mire near the projected end, and extend for weeks, often months, beyond expected completion dates.

“In two years, if we work hard, we will be at level two,” he reported somewhat glumly. “Then, we start the project to move toward level three. In five years, if all goes well, they say we will be approaching level five capability.”

“And in the mean time?” I asked. “What will you do about reliability until then?”

“Well, we should be steadily improving and we'll do our best. We currently have one project team sequestered so they can focus on delivering the next release. That means no leave, no process improvement committee meetings, no distractions, no multi-tasking.”

“This, of course, means that you're forfeiting your whole company's flexibility to deliver one project late,” I noted. “This will cascade into all of your other projects where, if you adopt the same tactic on those, the difficulty will amplify endlessly.”

“Yes,” my client agreed, “That seems likely. What else can we do? We've got the control mechanisms in place. Until we achieve process maturity, we'll have to limp along.”

To be published in the Enterprise Project Management issue of Projects and Profits, A Monthly Digest published by ICFAI Press - http://www.icfaipress.org/magazines.asp

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Excerpted from:

The Trouble With Project Teams

by David A. Schmaltz

Abstract:
Project managers are moving away from the team structures that so often split projects apart. More are embracing Project Communities as an alternative to sub-dividing into teams. These communities might seem like nothing more than expanded teams, but their size and diversity demand a unique sort of management. Both the leader and the individual contributor must understand and exercise some ethical responsibilities to realize the advantages Project Community brings.

Project management has become a practice which builds boxes we exhort each other to think and act outside of. The most troubling box we learn to build has the label Project Team on it. We are trained to create project teams as if they were somehow an essential key to project success. Few consider the damage they do to their intentions whenever they cordon off their project into a team.

The first project I was involved in excluded me from their team. I was a “user” to an IT project team's project. I wasn't assigned full time to the effort. I had no technical skill to provide. I had a lot of practical experience in the domain the team was targeting for improvement, but I was not involved in the planning, tracking, or controlling of the effort. I was occasionally interrupted by a phone call or a visit to answer specific questions, and I was invited to a few so-called requirements gathering and some testing and training sessions, where it seemed to me I was being cross-examined by a slightly hostile and largely ignorant prosecuting attorney. I begrudgingly engaged, trying to help, but found it nearly impossible to contribute. I felt like a mushroom, kept in the dark and fed a lot of bullshit. I admit that I fed some bullshit back.

Published in a recent issue of Projects and Profits, A Monthly Digest published by ICFAI Press - http://www.icfaipress.org/magazines.asp

Mastering Project Work

This is an invitation to join the conversation at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MasteringProjectWork/. (Yahoo signin is required. Also, to eliminate spammers, you'll have to ask to join the group.) I started this group last year to explore the practical application of the ideas I introduced in My book, The Blind men and the Elephant-Mastering Project Work. Recent topics have included- Project Management Patterns, lots of talk about what's window-dressing and what isn't, and some conversation about what sort of agreements might encourage productive conversation.

Here's an excerpt from a recent posting (authored by me)

Who's Managing the Manager?

Last week, I met a remarkable pianist. He roomed for a time with Aaron
Copeland, played for Bob Fosse, and has traveled the world accompanying
world class performers. He told me two stories which I think are germane
to the subject of Mastering Project Work.

The first:

The new director of a dance company was hounding the dancers, failing to
acknowledge their efforts and finding fault with every attempt. Robert,
the piano player, took the director aside and complained about his
style. "I'm in charge here," commanded the director.

"No, you're not," argued Robert. "I am. If you want me to play music
they can dance to, you have to get along with me. That makes me in charge."

After a few tangles, where Robert flawlessly shifted tempo whenever the
director slipped into abuse, the director was tamed and the dance
company went on to perform beautifully.

The second:

A conductor was chewing out a member of his orchestra. The musician took
the rant, but replied, "You'd better be nice to me or I'll start playing
what you conduct."

My question: Who's managing the manager? With all of the emphasis on
training managers and with deploying managerial techniques, who manages
the manager? Robert the pianist reminds me that the managers don't
always get to set the tempo. Even when they do have the formal authority
to set the tempo, the good judgment of the individual orchestra members
compensates to create a workable one.

The idea that the manager manages seems as hollow as the idea that the
others do not. Something, someone manages the manager, too. Where does
this end? It seems to have no end. This snake eats its own tail.

I am grateful for all of the "Roberts" in my life, who have helped me
properly understand my real influence in the world. When the manager
alone is in charge, it seems that no one is in charge. david

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Pray for peace and understanding,

David
September 1, 2004

To view previous "Whats New" Columns, please follow the links below:

Issue I Issue II Issue III Issue IV Issue V Issue VI Issue VII Issue VIII