The Deadline: A Novel About Project Management

Pathological Politics You have to be willing to put your job on the line any day . . . . . . but that doesn’t guarantee that pathological politics won’t affect you. Pathological politics can crop up anywhere, even in the healthiest organization. The defining characteristic of pathological politics is that goals of personal power and influence come

The effects of pressure People under pressure don’t think any faster. Extended overtime is a productivity reduction tactic. Short bursts of pressure and even overtime may be a useful tactic as they focus people and increase the sense that the work is important, but extended pressure is always a mistake Perhaps managers make so much use of pressure

Productivity Improvement There is no such thing as a short term productivity fix. Productivity improvement comes from long term investment. Anything that promises immediate term results is likely to be ‘snake oil.’

The manager has to learn to trust her gut, lead from the heart and build soul into the team and into the organization.”

You can’t get people to do anything different without caring for them and about them. To get them to change, you have to understand (appreciate) where they’re coming from and why.

Oh sure, there some easy bugs in the middle, totally local to that one module, but those are the ones that get picked up easily in inspections. The real bugs, the ones that take up your time, are the ones that have something to do with the interface between that module and the rest of its world.”

Project Sociology Keep meetings small by making it safe for unessential people not to attend. A published agenda, rigorously followed, is the easiest way to make non-attendance safe. Projects have need of ceremony. Use ceremony to focus attention on project goals and ideals: small meetings, zero defect work, etc. Take steps to protect people from a

Hiring is only the most important thing a manager does.”

Negative Reinforcement Threats are an imperfect way to motivate performance. No matter how serious the threat, the work still won’t get done on time if the time originally allocated for it was not sufficient. Worse still, if the target doesn’t get met, you may actually have to make good on your threats.