The gift of criticism, A new management perspective

If nothing bad is ever said, nothing good will ever get done...

I love it when my associate tells me in his direct, to-the-point way that she really doesn't like the project work that I put together. It's sometimes uncomfortable to hear, but I find criticism invaluable -- and worth acknowledging.

When I ask my colleague what he doesn't like about what I have put together for a program, his reasons are solid, helpful and almost always merit making a change. Who needs a "yes" person, when a person who tells you the truth, even if it is uncomfortable to hear, can really make a difference to the achieved results?

"As it seems too often be the case, people in office found some items that they felt needed change. I thought this was wonderful and I was so pleased that they had pointed them out to me. One person pointed out the majority of the changes, and I decided to send him a small present as a token of my appreciation. I also thanked each person who did so. One person in the project remarked that such thanks had not been given previously by any one. I welcomed the comments, as they can only help me improve next time.

" Can you imagine being given a gift for the criticism you deliver to a colleague? I believe this is a rather rare response to such feedback -- too rare. Wouldn't project excellence be much more commonplace and achievable if we all responded similarly?

So let's acknowledge those who tell us the truth -- and make us and what we do better! Their integrity, their commitment to excellence and their unwillingness to shortchange the end result by accepting the mediocre are their gifts to us!

Why I like to be a project manager

I have often been asked in the past about the benefits of working in project management.

Having worked for many businesses in various roles, I have learned that what I like most about project management is the variety of roles and the type of environments I am exposed to.

I was always drawn to the concept of managing, but didn't really want to stay with the same environment or be involved in long-term operational work.

Project management appeals to me because it allows me to:-

Manage teams- Work with different teams on the new projects
- Work in different cultural environments
- Be exposed to various architectures, systems
- Manage my time and efforts against very specific deliverables
- Work in multiple departments or areas, thus being able to gain insight into the ways of managing projects by looking at different angles and listening to different points of view.

The project management cycle is so finite that it creates an opportunity to refine skills a lot faster. As a project manager moves from one stage to another, you get to know the components of project management delivery. Therefore, you have many opportunities to improve how you manage each of them, be it budgeting, generating the scope of work, generating a work breakdown structure or managing the risks.

The opportunity for lifelong learning in project management is also a benefit. While you get to do a complete job with the skills you have -- therefore covering all aspects of the project management -- you also get an opportunity to specialize in a particular area, such as risk management or schedule management.

Optimising project delivery strategy

One element missing in much of the discussion around project management is a focus on the key early decisions that determine the project delivery strategy. At the project level, strategic decision-making focuses on optimizing the way the project will be structured and managed. Choosing between using Agile or Waterfall, pre-fabrication or on-site assembly, won't change the required project deliverables but will have a major influence on how the project is delivered and its likely success. One size does not fit all; simply following previous choices ignores opportunities to enhance the overall probability of the project meeting or exceeding its stakeholders expectations. Some of the key steps in designing a strategy for success include:

• Familiarization with the overall requirements of the project and its stakeholders
• Determining the key elements of value and success for the project
• Outlining the delivery methodology and getting approval from key stakeholders
• Developing the project's strategic plan based on the available know-how, resources and risk appetite of the stakeholders (including the project management team).

The problem with implementing this critical stage of the overall project delivery lifecycle is that it crosses between the project initiators and the project delivery team. Both parties need to be involved in developing a project delivery strategy that optimizes the opportunity for a successful outcome. Unfortunately, the opportunities to engage in discussion and planning for project delivery are difficult to arrange. Frequently contract documents effectively prescribe a delivery process, and/or the client and senior management don't know they need to be engaged at this stage of the project lifecycle.I suggest that project managers and project management offices start focusing more on the project delivery strategy during critical early stages of a project. What has worked or not worked on your projects?

Great depression 1929 vs current crisis

The period 1929-33 was when universal banks were ruptured into separate commercial and investment banks, which led to ascension of big giants like Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and more. However the current global turmoil has taken a reverse gear where many of these investment banks are again turned into large commercial banks.

There is a need to take a look at the differences and similarities between the great depression of 1929 and the current global fiasco. Let’s go back and brush ourselves on what exactly was the great depression.

The great depression which originated in 1929 in US and spread world over by 1930’s was characterized by barren business and huge unemployment. The main cause of this depression which took all the nations in its web was crashing of the stock markets in 1929. Thousands of investors lost their money in stock markets, leading to a longest recession which comprised huge layoffs, unemployment , wiping out of business activities , which left millions of people to depend on government or charity for food.

By 1930’s this depression became a worldwide phenomenon, taking all countries in its grip. This lead to vast downfall in global trade as each country tried to protect its own industries by imposing high tariffs on imported goods.

Causes of great depression:

1. Stock market crash: Failure of stock markets on October 29, 1929, which led to loss of about 40 billion dollars to stakeholders.

2. Bank failures: During the period of 1930’s 9000 banks filed for bankruptcy. Bank deposits were not insured and thus as banks failed people lost their savings. The banks which survived in this turmoil, stopped creating new loans, which in turn led to slowdown in business activities and less expenditure.

3. Cut-back in purchasing power: with the failure of stock markets and fears of further financial fiasco, led to cut – back in purchasing of items from all individual classes. This in turn led to piling up of inventories, which stimulated a cut down in production, leading to layoff of employees. Unemployment reached to a level of 25%, leading to lowering the purchasing power of individuals.

4. Hawley – Smoot Tariff: as businesses were slowing down, to protect its own industries American government created a Hawley-Smoot tariff in 1930, which meant to charge high import tariffs on imports, this led to deterioration in global trade leading to economic retaliation.


Current Scenario:

Before going into comparisons let’s see what current global turmoil looks like: As it’s said truth is bitter, the fact is we are going through a most severe global turmoil since the days of great depression. The similarity between both the crises is that they both originated from USA and now worldwide nations are facing its spillover effects. This financial global turmoil is a combined result of some intermingled financial mistakes. There are some fundamental causes at roots of this depression.

1. Firstly are the conceited norms in USA. USA has always been relishing sustainable economic development, buffered with low inflation rates in last two decades. This led to complete ignorance of business cycle of economy. The signs of this were reflected 20 months ago, when America was combating excess liquidity in the market. That was the plenteous sign of coming of real estate bubble and asset price inflation.

2. Secondly it is the protection enjoyed by these private and investment banks. Booming economic conditions made these banks take higher risks, among which most of the deals of these banks were highly leveraged transactions. However these risks turn out to be evil for these high flying banks as they didn’t get enough capital in support of their high risk investments.

3. Last but not the least reason would be failure of the top tier management to provide guidance to their deal makers. Greed took over and rest is history.
Though today symptoms of current events are similar to that of great depression, but according many economists making their comparison is misleading.
Apart from this the policies of Federal Reserve differ in both the periods. 1930’s policy was "downturn as a force for good". Liquidate labour, stocks, farmers, so that people will work harder and live more moral lives. However in today’s crisis Federal Reserve is making full efforts to increase liquidity in stocks, to farmers and real estate.

It’s true that current crisis is nowhere in comparison to the great depression, but still we need to put a full stop over these ongoing crises, which is hitting the nations worldwide hard. The other difference which can be drawn over these two crises is that in the present day we have President Barack Obama who promises to solve the crisis. The methods which he plans to initiate are to follow policy of creation of jobs and more spending by American people. Apart from this we have seen bailout packages already becoming the breaking news. Therefore it can be said roots of the current crisis are the same but the nature is totally different. We can hope to see a better future.

Black clouds threatening the euro's survival

The biggest victim of the global housing and credit bubble may be the euro — the single currency of 16 European nations. Having just celebrated its 10th birthday in a free-fall, the euro is being exposed for all of its structural weaknesses.

The euro is managed with a common monetary policy. But a fractured fiscal and political structure has left it without a full toolbox to fight hard times. And this chink in the armor is threatening to make the euro's life-span short.

Members of the European Union's monetary system (the single currency) are left frozen in a rigid, inflexible and arguably faulty regime. But lack of flexibility is not even the most dangerous problem the euro member countries are facing. Even more dangerous to the euro's future existence is the death-spiraling plunge of neighboring eastern and central European “non-euro” countries.

I see two black clouds threatening the euro's survival …

Black Cloud #1 — Pressures from Non-Euro Countries.

When the economic engine of your economy stalls (i.e. global demand for your exports evaporates) and the fragility of your financial system is glaring, investors flee and speculators wage an attack on your currency.

And this is precisely what's taking place in the currency markets right now …

Emerging market economies in Europe have been hammered, driving DOWN the value of their currencies and driving UP the value of the foreign-currency denominated debt that consumers and institutions in these countries are holding.

Black Cloud #2 — Vulnerability of the Euro Concept

Aside from the pressures being cooked up on the periphery, the euro member countries are in trouble for all of the reasons. Milton Friedman, one of the most influential economists of the 20th century, cited prior to the euro's inception 10 years ago.

I'll paraphrase four of Friedman's statements and follow each with what is going on now:

1. A one-size fits all monetary policy doesn't give the member countries the flexibility needed to stimulate their economies.

2. A fractured fiscal policy forced to adhere to rigid EU rules doesn't enable member governments to navigate their country-specific problems, such as deficit spending and public works projects.
3. Nationalism will emerge. Healthier countries will not see fit to spend their hard earned money to bail out their less responsible neighbors.

4. A common currency can act as handcuffs in perilous times. Exchange rates can be used as a tool to revalue debt and improve competitiveness of one's economy.

Under the euro, weak member countries are helpless. Italy has a history of competitive devaluations of the lira during sour times. Now, in the euro regime, its economy is left flapping in the wind.

Milton Friedman predicted that the euro would collapse within 10 years of its inception. As Jack has written in past Money and Markets columns, Milton Friedman saw the vulnerability of this concept coming and predicted the euro's demise within a decade.

Today, the most challenging issue facing the euro might be addressed in this statement:

“Political unity can pave the way for monetary unity. Monetary unity imposed under unfavorable conditions will prove a barrier to the achievement of political unity.”

Germany, the core of the euro and the rich uncle to its euro-member partners, appears increasingly intolerant of the less responsible, less viable partners. Could they make an unexpected departure from the currency union?

If so, how would be the euro existence and its member countries?

Steve Jobs: The story about death

In continuation to the previous 2 blogs here is the third and the last story of Steve Jobs about death in his own words ...

When I was 17 I read a quote that went something like "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself, "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "no" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something. Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important thing I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life, because almost everythin g--all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure--these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

About a year ago, I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctors' code for "prepare to die." It means to try and tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next ten years to tell them, in just a few months. It means to make sure that everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possibl e for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope, the doctor started crying, because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and, thankfully , I am fine now.

This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope it's the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept. No one wants to die, even people who want to go to Heaven don't want to die to get there, and yet, death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because death is very likely the single best invention of life. It's life's change agent; it clears out the old to make way for the new. right now, the new is you. But someday, not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it's quite true. Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else 's life. Don't be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice, heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to b ecome. Everything else is secondary.

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalogue, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stuart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late Sixties, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and Polaroid cameras. it was sort of like Google in paperback form thirty-five years before Google came along. I was idealistic, overflowing with neat tools and great notions . Stuart and his team put out several issues of the The Whole Earth Catalogue, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-Seventies and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath were the words, "Stay hungry, stay foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. "Stay hungry, stay foolish." And I have always wished that for myself, and now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you. Stay hungry, stay foolish.

Thank you all, very much.

Steve Jobs: The story of Love and Loss

In continuation to the previous blog on Steve Jobs. Here is the second story in his own words ...

I was lucky. I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents' garage when I was twenty. We worked hard and in ten years, Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4,000 employees. We'd just released our finest creation, the Macintosh, a year earlier, and I'd just turned thirty, and then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew, we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so, things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge, and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our board of directors sided with him, and so at thirty, I was out, and very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating. I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down, that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure and I even thought about running away from the Valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me . I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I'd been rejected but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.

I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods in my life. During the next five years I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the world's first computer-animated feature film, "Toy Story," and is now the most successful animation studio in the world.

In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT and I returned to Apple and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance , and Lorene and I have a wonderful family together.

I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful-tasting medicine but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life's going to hit you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love, and that is as true for work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work, and the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking, and don 't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it, and l ike any great relationship it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking. Don't settle.