Tyson Steele | AtTask Blog

Project Process Automation: From Bog-Water Floods to Freshwater Springs

19 December 2011 - POSTED by Tyson Steele

For several months this summer, I worked in the Uinta National Forest draining a swamp that was overflowing onto a nearby road and into the foundations of some cabins, including mine. After digging a 500 foot ditch through the swamp, I was able to channel most of the water away. However, whenever I left the swamp alone, it would slowly clog with enough debris that it would start to flood again. With a little perseverance, I continued to carve precautionary paths and outlets until the water could drain away with no effort on my part.

I could have given up half way through, and the swamp would have probably never risen enough to damage anything. However, the very process of channeling the flood eventually led to the discovery of several unclaimed freshwater springs. With a little more work, what was once a stinking bog became a crystal clear stream of potable water.

When beginning a project, I think the amount of work can sometimes feel like this overflowing swamp. For example, a project may be centered around solving problems that keep coming, lowering costs that keep rising, or saving time that can’t be saved. Whatever the circumstance, sometimes the only way to get things done is to jump waste-deep into the “swamp” and start going down the list of tasks. When a difficult project is effectively managed – channeled through the right paths per say – you may happen to find, as I did, the origins of the project’s source. At that point, problems are not only eliminated, but they transform into something that can be beneficial in the future.

All sorts of acronyms are associated with this idea; BPM (business process management) and PCM (project cycle management) seem to be the most common. However, rather than focusing on the details of these terms, I want to mention one fundamental principle that these practices suggest: namely that any recurring process in project management, if possible, ought to be automated. Basically, if there is a business critical tool that can eliminate the time it takes to create and send reports, then, if the tool proves to be beneficial, by all means use it. Each step toward automating a project process is like creating one more exit path out of a swamp. And, each exit path carved is one more path closer to the project source, which, in it’s ultimate end, is the constant flow of capital.

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Projects and Procrastination

3 November 2011 - POSTED by Tyson Steele

One of my favorite hobbies is to build custom longboards in unique shapes and designs. Once, a friend requested a board from me in the shape of a flying-V guitar.

Having built plenty of boards before, I figured I could just whip something up when the time called for it. Despite having months in advance, I put the project off, starting just a few days before the deadline.

The board was cut and sanded successfully, but the final design process was a disaster. With only spray paint bottles, stencils, masking tape, and very little time left, I stayed up all night painting, pushing the drying times to their limits. When my friend came to pick it up, the paint started to bubble and peel.

I was going to have to spend hours stripping the paint away in order to repaint it. I had no choice but to push the deadline back.

In project management, I think it is easy for team members, managers, and executives alike to get comfortable with “the way things have always been done.” For whatever reason, individuals may feel that because they have mastered their job, no adjustments need to be made to their previous project management processes. They may think that because they have successfully executed projects in the past, any future project should be smooth sailing. Once this type of thinking sets in, it is easy to procrastinate.

I think almost everyone does this, some more than others. However, it is a problem when projects are procrastinated to the point where time, cost, and quality standards are compromised. It becomes a major problem when procrastination is a habit in every project a person does, when a deadline is always pushed to the very end.

Project management software can certainly help keep project teams and their tasks on schedule, but if a project has been delayed for too long, the level of tooling doesn’t matter. Like the drying times for a painted surface, some projects just can’t be rushed.

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Climbing an “Everest” Project with a Careless Budget

7 October 2011 - POSTED by Tyson Steele

As an outdoor enthusiast and gear head, I am often asked for recommendations on places to go and what equipment to bring. I once talked to a man who was planning an excursion to Mount Everest, and he wanted my advice. However, when I showed him what he would need, he didn’t believe me. For example, when I told him about crampons (the spikes that clip to boots for traction), he said he would just “make do without.” On mountains like Everest, crampons make the difference between moving forward to summit and slipping backwards a thousand feet into a deep, icy crevice never to be found. The man explained that he was tight on money because he had already purchased three plane tickets (for him and his two sons) at $4,000 each and three guide fees of $2,000 each.

So, he was spending a total of $18,000 just to travel to Everest, but he couldn’t spend an extra $300-$500 to actually survive.

This man reminds me of the project manager (or team member) who tries to do everything alone and in the process neglects the basics of project management, budgeting, and teamwork. This person is ready to spend the entire budget and climb the tallest projects without equipping the necessary project management tools and methodologies. Then, with little financial backing left, this person simply waves off the small, yet fundamental, tasks and spending matters.

The obvious way to prevent such a problem is to implement a budgeting plan before the project even begins. At both the project level and the portfolio level, the main spending areas should be strategically defined, selected, and prioritized. And, in any case, project resources and management software can’t wait until the end. If it is apparent from the beginning that the project cannot be supported, I would give the project manager the same advice I’d give to the man going to Everest: don’t do it. Wait for another day.

However, when considering Everest’s overall price of $18,000, an extra few hundred dollars is nothing – especially when life depends on it. For the project that is financially unbalanced but absolutely must be completed, I would say this: face the facts and pay the price. That might mean admitting mistakes were made in order to request additional funding, or it might mean spending a little extra time working over the weekend. Whatever it is, a little extra stress / cost is better than an abandoned (or dead) project.

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Scope Creep to Scope “Timber”

21 September 2011 - POSTED by Tyson Steele

Earlier this month I went to my cabin in the Uinta Mountains of Utah to do some maintenance. As I was clearing the nearby forest of debris, I decided to cut down some dead pines to make room for other smaller ones. I was not ready for what was coming.

When cutting trees in the past, I usually used a chainsaw. On this trip, however, I only had an axe, and without thinking, I chose to start with the pine having the biggest trunk. After about five grueling hours, I was on the same tree, ready to give up. Eventually, though, the tree snapped, and I felt pretty accomplished.

Timber

However, completely buried in the task of chopping, I didn’t realize that the tree would fall across the road – my only way back home. For all the work I did, I was going to have to do it three and four times over just to get back home.

Sometimes, for all the work invested in a project, success just ends up being a big problem in disguise. For me, it was due to neglecting a few fundamentals of project management.

First, I was not prepared. With any project, it is important from the beginning to identify as many project constraints as possible and plan accordingly. In my cutting down the tree, I had no plans whatsoever – no way of knowing that the work involved would be so strenuous, long, and come with such unpredictable results.

Second, I was not equipped with up-to-date tools. In project management, the team should have the tools they require to quickly and efficiently do the job. Project management software plays an especially significant role in eliminating time consuming management processes. It makes the difference between an axe and a chainsaw. In the time that I cut down one tree with an axe, I could have cut down thirty with a chainsaw.

Third, I applied no strategy. I did not make the proper cuts in order to direct the fall of the tree. In project management, when a poor methodology is applied, the amount of effort being put into a project doesn’t matter if it is going into the wrong place. Just because a project seems to be “cutting” well does not mean that it will “fall” well.

Any project with poor planning, old tools, and no methodology will obviously encounter problems. Like cutting down a tree, if you aren’t careful with a project, scope creep can come so suddenly that perhaps a more fitting term is scope “timber.” It just crashes and turns into another project, even bigger than the first.

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