Management Scholars Academy

If I am asked to recommend one time management technique that will greatly help in getting focused, it is “To do list – prioritized”. It is the essence of all the self-exploration that is required in time management such as ‘understanding the destinations of your time journey’ ‘steering the direction of your time travel’ ‘Knowing where you want to go next and how to get there’. If you are too tired to do all that thinking just begin with “to do list” today and keep up with it for three months.

Did you visit MS Academy blog’s website lately? Check it out – http://msacademy.in/wordpress

I made these improvements in the last two weeks to make it more professional.

> Originally I only plugged wordpress into msacademy. So I registered with wordpress, got an API and installed the site stats plugin (Now I know how many people visited from where and what they are wearing (-:))

I was introduced to Surya namaskar in a PMP boot camp back in 2003. In fact our batch participants did that every hour during the four hour PMP exam. Along with a few warm up stretching exercises and breathing exercises, Surya namaskar gave a bout of fresh oxygen to the brain and much needed energy to go through the four hour examination.

We were talking about power play and politics. They cannot be wished away. Consider these projects:

> Running a hotel
> Starting a school
> An ERP implementation
> Producing a movie and
> Taking your team on a tour

They all have stakeholders – 1.customers, 2.sponsors / investors, 3.performing organization / senior management, 4.team and 5.the society in all the above projects. But see how project objectives are set in these projects…

Innovation Management System

Do we need an IMS then? Yes of course. IM policy should clarify that the organization believes that every one can innovate in spite of their level in the organization and the needed support will be provided. The key to innovation is in asking the right questions rather than finding the correct answers. Some times the question is the innovation! Finding an answer to that question may follow a systematic approach. The IM procedures should give guidance on how to ask the right questions and find the viable answer through pilots. In the end, if the innovation can be deployed across the organization, it should be done through the QMS. There should be links to IM assets and mentors who can ignite minds to innovate.

QMS and quality control cannot be compromised for Organizational Innovation Deployment. Otherwise newer products and services may meet changes to requirement but will stop meeting the original requirements.

Training and orientation

Training for innovation can be more effective through mentoring and coaching. Books, videos etc from powerful speakers can kindle the fire. Don’t forget MS Academy workshops.

Audits?

Audits typically focus on non-conformances and defects and so do not apply to innovation management. Instead as part of coaching, the coach can ask the innovator to create a self review checklist and use that to measure progress. How about measurement and rewards and so on?

I am sure when Philip Crosby said, “Quality is free”, people would have wondered how it can be. They would have confused quality with grade and said, “Better quality products are always costly.” Or they would have confused quality with goodness and said, “Not everyone can produce good quality. There are good workers and sloppy ones.” Crosby defined quality as conformity to certain specifications set forth by management and not some vague concept of “goodness.” These specifications are not arbitrary either; they must be set according to customer needs and wants. Now we all agree that everybody can acquire knowledge, skills and process abilities based on his/her strengths and produce quality work.

Quality is free

Having worked for the past 11 years in I.T. quality management (Implemening CMMi, People CMM, ISO, PMBok) out of the 17 years in the industry, I have convinced myself about the truth in the book “Quality is Free” by Philip.B.Crosby. In that book, the author emphasizes that doing things right the first time adds nothing to the cost of a product or service. What costs, and costs dearly in terms of rework, test, warranty, inspection, and service after service, is doing things wrong.

By this time you as Project Manager will be introduced to a lot of people related to the project. Find out how and why they are stakeholders in your project. Stakeholders are people with considerable interest in your project and can influence the course of the project. They could be seniors from your organization, managers from client organization, senior managers in client organization who could be the sponsors, end users, media and so on.

Each stakeholder will have their idea of how the project should be run to meet the objectives and that is the source of politics. Don’t under estimate the power of any stakeholder in helping as well as hindering your project. Check the next few posts to understand more about the power struggles and how it matters, sometimes more than even project objectives or customer satisfaction!!

The word NO is powerful; we will be using this word often indirectly, either by our behaviors or gesture, or simply through our silence. Most of life time situation does not allow us to say this word directly. The most common reason for not saying no is fear of disappointing others.

Too many NO s or too many YES es are dangerous. But saying NO to things not important towards out goals is one of key ingredients of our professional and personal time management. It helps us keep distractions away and focus on our goals.

It is tough to say plain NO; it is good to say in graceful manner. We need to be creative in saying no.  Some ideas to help you there…

Received the photos from SPICON 2010. Show off time -

Receiving a memento form Mr.Kannan, VP-Quality, HCL Technologies. Along with me is V.Manikandan who has joined MS Academy to help with business development and workshop delivery. Mani has an MCA degree and 8 years experience in IT industry.

Receiving a memento

I am sharing a joke during the panel discussion

Along with me on the stage From L to R Mr.Chandrashekar, Mr.Vinayagamurthy, Mr.Rajamanickam and Mr.Kannan.

Thanks for watching!!

Now we are ready to begin the first stage – the confused stage called initial planning. Write the project goal statements and keep it clear in your mind. You are going to articulate it to so many stakeholders in the coming days and week to get their support – like the managers who may lend their people and other resources, the team leads, the customer himself, (so that they can keep changing it aoap, as often as possible (-:)

“I can do it” is a good form of motivation. But there is an even more powerful form of motivation. Having a mentor who can tell you – “You only can do it”. Choose a mentor who can help you develop management skills. You can read any number of management or self help books. But when you try to apply the principles from there, you may want clarification or get stuck for want of systemic deficiencies or just need assurance that it will work. A person who has been there and done that may have an answer. See this – Brain functions that improve with age Once the mentoring relationship matures, on the right occasion your mentor will say – “You only can do it” and it will help you sour the skies.