recoverying from mistakes

P:800.723.6120 F: 800.547.4908

12520 Westheimer Road, Suite

A1-142, Houston, TX, 77077

www.opc-houston.com | Optimal Consulting LLC

It's Not Personal: How to Recover from Mistakes and Keep the

Project Moving

www.opc-houston.com | P:800.723.6120 F: 800.547.4908

12520 Westheimer Road, Suite A1-142

Houston, TX, 77077

Carla Fair-Wright, PMP, MCTS, ASQ CSQE

P:800.723.6120 F: 800.547.4908


A1-142, Houston, TX, 77077


Who Am I?

Carla Fair-Wright, PMP, CSQE, MCTS

• Project Manager

• Software Engineer

• Veteran

• Author

• Entrepreneur

• Volunteer

P:800.723.6120 F: 800.547.4908


A1-142, Houston, TX, 77077


Table of Contents

Section Section Name Slide No.

1. Why We Make Mistakes 4

2. Project Management – 10 Most Common Mistakes 6

3. Learning from Our Mistakes - Dialing Triple R 18

4. Thank You 26

Optimal Consulting LLC

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A1-142, Houston, TX, 77077


Why We Make Mistakes

Status Quo Bias

It's hard to change because it involves more

effort and we want to avoid regretting our

decision

Memory is unreliable....

Rosy retrospection

Mistakes are unavoidable.

Perception is Economical

.

French invasion of Russia

(Patriotic War of 1812)

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Mistakes Can Make You Smarter

The brain responds to mistakes in one of two

ways

“Wake Up Call"

The brain hones in on the negative outcome,

and treats it like a problem that needs solving.

“Shutting Down”

The brain reacts to the negative feedback itself

as a threat.

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Project Management – 10 Common Mistakes

20 Common Mistakes Made by New or Inexperienced Project Managers. By Harold Kerzner, Ph.D. http://www.iil.com/freeresources/downloads/white_papers/20_common_mistakes_HK_0310.pdf

1. Preparing an Ambitious Schedule

2. Pretending to Know More than You Actually Do

3. Ignoring Problems

4. Failing to Share Accountability with Functional Managers

5. Gold-plating the Deliverables

6. Failing to Understand What Stakeholders and Sponsors Want to Hear

7. Not Fully Understanding Requirements

8. Refusing to Ask for Help/Believing in Saviors and Miracles

9. Don’t Tell the Client They are Wrong/ Not Willing to Say “No”

10.Failing to Insulate the Team from Politics

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A1-142, Houston, TX, 77077


Mistakes #1 - Preparing an Ambitious Schedule

“Customers are never told that

the schedule is ambitious and

therefore believe the schedule

is realistic. The customers

then focus on the milestone

dates and now, when the

milestones slip from ambitious

to reality, you have an unhappy

customer who wonders what

other surprises will show up

next.” - Harold Kerzner, Ph.D.

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Mistakes #2 - Pretending to Know More than You

Actually Do

“…project managers today possess

an understanding of technology

rather than a command of

technology…” - Harold Kerzner, Ph.D.

©2010 Project Management Institute (PMI®) & International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA®)

Published as part of Proceedings PMI Global Congress 2010 – Washington, DC

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Mistakes #3 - Ignoring Problems

•Fear Of:

• Creating a bad impression.

• Being “found wanting”.

• Making the wrong decision.

• Failure.

The damaged roof of reactor No. 1 at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant after

an explosion that blew off the upper part of the structure is seen

Why Did Japan's Leaders Ignore the Problems?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power

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Mistakes #4 - Failing to Share Accountability with

Functional Managers

PMs should negotiate for deliverables

rather than people.

Both PMs and FMs have accountability

and responsibility for the project’s

success.

Executive support may be needed

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Mistakes #5 - Gold Plating the Deliverables

What is “Gold Plating”

Extra functionality

Higher-quality components,

Extra scope of work or better performance.

PMI does not recommend

No value to the project.

Additions based on the PM/FM impression of what the customer would like.

(, Exam Prep Guide, 2nd Edition, Beaver’s Pond Press, 2000, page 95)

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Mistakes #6 - Failing to Understand What

Stakeholders and Sponsors Want to Hear

Interview the stakeholders to

learn what information they

deem as important.

Tracking metrics or key

performance indicators (KPI).

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Mistakes #7 - Not Fully Understanding Requirements

Using your own interpretation of the

requirements

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Mistakes #8 - Refusing to Ask for Help/Believing in

Saviors and Miracles

Project Success

Schedule

Slippages

Cost

Overruns

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Mistakes #9 - Don’t Tell the Client They are Wrong/

Not Willing to Say “No”

It all in how You Say It

•Goal is not to alienate stakeholders

•Give a logical reason

•Offer an alternative if possible

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4 Types of Clients

12 Breeds of Clients and How to Work with Them - Jack Knight | Dealing with Clients | The Lighter Side | June 7th 2012

http://freelanceswitch.com/clients/12-breeds-of-client-and-how-to-work-with-them/

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Mistakes #10 - Failing to Insulate the Team from

Politics

Your team is the most important resource you have.

Team should operate as a unit.

A great way to gain the respect of your team is to protect it from

negative outside influences such as politics

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Learning from Our Mistakes

Acknowledge your mistake.

Giving Excuses is a signal.

Explain what happened and why.

“Against criticism a man can neither protest nor defend himself; he must

act in spite of it, and then it will gradually yield to him.”

Quoted from Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe, (1749 to 1832), the great German writer, and playwright

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Three Steps to Acknowledging Your Mistakes

1. Say: "Here's what happened ...“

2. Summarize the faulty decision(s) and declare: "I'm accountable

for this."

3. Extract a lesson for the future - You might add, "I'm sharing this

with you so that we can all learn from my mistake."

Bette Price, president of the Price Group

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A1-142, Houston, TX, 77077


Learning from Our Mistakes - Dialing Triple R

‘Focused For Tennis’, Slaieu & Trogolo

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Learning from Our Mistakes - Release


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A1-142, Houston, TX, 77077


Learning from Our Mistakes - Review


Where are we?

Should we change our approach ?

Is this the right game plan?

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A1-142, Houston, TX, 77077


Learning from Our Mistakes - Reset


What is the next action.

Powerful cue word or cue phrase.

‘get up’, ‘focus’, ‘moving on’, and ‘fix it’.

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A1-142, Houston, TX, 77077


Can Mistakes Be Avoided?

Design products (or systems) to block the errors.

Why does a electrical plug have 3 prongs and why is one prong wider than

the other?

What is that hole in the center all about?

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In Conclusion…..

“I developed a mechanism so

that whatever mistakes I

made, I would bounce

straight back. Whatever was

happening off the pitch, I

could put it to one side

and maintain my form.

Call it mental resilience or

a strong mind, but that is what

we mean when we talk about

experience in a football

team.”

~Gary Alexander Neville

Gary Alexander Neville - England's most capped right-back

and was Manchester United's club captain for five years

P:800.723.6120 F: 800.547.4908


A1-142, Houston, TX, 77077


P:800.723.6120 F: 800.547.4908

12520 Westheimer Road, Suite A1-142

Houston, TX, 77077

Thank you

Optimal Consulting LLC

recoverying from mistakes

Documents

westheimer road

comoptimal consulting

suite a1

you26 p

inexperienced project

harold kerzner

downthe brain

carla fairwright