Originally Published on allPM.com
“So the thing to do when working on a motorcycle, as in any other task, is to cultivate the peace of mind which does not separate one’s self from one’s surroundings. When that is done successfully, then everything else follows naturally. Peace of mind produces right values, right values produce right thoughts. Right thoughts produce right actions and right actions produce work which will be a material reflection for others to see of the serenity at the center of it all.”
Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Purpose
Getting projects done on time and within budget while delivering a satisfactory outcome is a challenge. Doing it while staying calm, cool and collected and learning something about your self, all at the same time, increases the challenge exponentially. The purpose of this article is to help improve the reader’s probability of project success while “cultivating the peace of mind which does not separate oneself from one’s surroundings”.
The Case of the Stressed-out PM
Pat was a PM with ten years of experience in high-stress, sales driven projects. Her typical project duration ranges from a few weeks to several months. Pat and her team take on all the work they are presented with and generally make their externally set deadlines, but with lots of juggling and heroics. Because of the speed at which they worked they often cut corners and kept track if things very informally, relying on their ability to remember what they needed to do when they needed to do it. They were good. Though, occasionally something fell through the cracks.
Pat’s team was continually turning over as the brightest of the people she took so much time to get up to speed burned out or realized that the stress was above and beyond their job expectations. Pat herself was beginning to question whether this was the way she wanted to spend her days and many of her nights.
On her way back from a project management course, she picked up a book on Zen archery and it struck her that the idea of perfecting one’s performance can be applied to anything, not just archery or martial arts. She decided that it would be an interesting exercise to make her approach to project management a Zen exercise. Could she perfect the process without getting bureaucratic? How could she do just the right amount of planning and controlling while being completely efficient? Could she use her attention to detail and process perfection as a means to reduce her own stress and the stress on her staff?
What is Zen?
Zen is a form of self-investigation that has its roots in Chinaand Japan. It is a merging of Indian Buddhism and Taoism. The Zen approach is one that cuts through complexity to go straight to the heart of a matter.Zen promotes knowing through inner experience. It promotes discipline from within.
In the Zen way, the individual comes to fully know his or her own nature by cutting through intellectualism, cultural barriers, conditioned responses, rules and any other “extras” that get in the way of seeing the essence. One who sees the essential nature of things has wisdom. Wisdom leads naturally to compassion. Wisdom and compassion are at the heart of our essential nature.
Wisdom and Project Management
This article is not so much about Zen as it is about taking a “wise” approach to our work as project managers.
What is a wise approach?
It is an approach that gives us the ability to see things clearly and minimize the probability that we will be reactive and ineffective in achieving our goals and objectives.
Wisdom is the synthesis of knowledge into active, practical use.
A wise person moves through life with equanimity, un-phased by the chaos surrounding her.
A wise person has choices.
He is not unconsciously driven and reactive.
Most of us have some degree of wisdom. The trick is to increase one’s wisdom to live more effectively. What does that mean? What is “effectively”? It is what ever you define it to be – a balance of more successful, richer, more powerful, joyous, compassionate, meaningful, etc.
Project management is a complex discipline. If it is taken as a means for self inquiry it becomes like martial arts, tea ceremony, archery, or leadership – a Zen exercise with the goal of perfecting its performance while perfecting ones wisdom. This is the root of Kaizen, continuous improvement, the quality approach that recognizes that perfection is always out of reach but worth reaching for.
I barely have time to do all the things I have to do, where will I get the time to play some mind game?
Doing it
Our friend Pat began her Zen exercise with the simple step of acknowledging each new project request with an email.
She worked out a format and outline and when the sales person called she brought up her “template’ and just took the sales person through a set of questions.
Her objective was to make it seem just as informal as usual, while making sure she got all the information.
At first, she forgot and fell back into her usual habit of listening, remembering and passing the oral information on.
As soon as she realized that she had forgotten, she called the project initiator back and went through her little questionnaire.
It only took a few minutes, so no one really minded.
After a short time her ability to pass solid, written information to her staff and to keep track of the information made her feel more relaxed.
There wasn’t as much uncertainty any more.
Her head wasn’t full of all that information and all that anxiety about forgetting any of it was gone.
Her staff and her clients both began to sense greater confidence and that led to fewer unnecessary phone calls, fewer things falling through the cracks and more ease in fulfilling requirements.
As Pat realized some success she added additional disciplines: clear email subjects and documents with project name and a date to identify versions. Some tracking of the time spent on each of the projects and a simple filing system so she could more easily find what she needed when she needed it.
As she got more organized and disciplined she continued to experience less anxiety, less confusion, greater clarity and a higher degree of concentration. She was becoming more energized and calmer. As she became calmer and she continued to practice her PM disciplines, her staff began to follow suit. Not because they had to but because they saw that it helped improve the way they worked.
The Commitment – Effort, Not time
Taking on the Zen or Wisdom exercise does not require a significant investment in time.
It does require the effort to shift one’s perception and remain mindful of the way she does her work.
This shift results in the ability to see things with minimal distortion caused by ones reactions.
Wisdom tells us that the key to performance is the process.
Schedule negotiation is one aspect of PM lends itself to the application of a Zen-like approach. If there is an acknowledged need for getting a project done on time, it follows that a master project manager will make sure that there is a realistic schedule for the project. If this measure of quality is accepted as a paradigm of excellent project management, the practitioner begins to subtly evaluate and continuously improve his process using the paradigm, as he is doing the work. At the same time, the practitioner cultivates “the peace of mind which does not separate oneself from one’s surroundings.”
For realistic scheduling, the process to be evaluated and improved includes technical skills, tools, conflict resolution, negotiation, authority and hierarchy, fear of failing and of saying no, communication, etc. As the process is going on, the master PM is crafting he schedule as a potter shapes a vase on the wheel. If the client or manager becomes insistent that the deadline must be met under any circumstances and the project manager feels that it is impossible the project manager presents a logical argument, in writing, identifying assumptions, conditions and the facts. He provides alternatives. He builds a case that is presented calmly and professionally.
The PM can always “cave-in” to the irrational demands of a powerful client or manager, but he does so without fear and with the knowledge that he has done everything in his power to establish reason. The Zen PM can also refuse the task and create a confrontation. Either way the Zen PM has done all that can be done to make the process work.
As the project is performed, the Zen PM controls the process and continuously informs stakeholders of progress and schedule and budget compliance. Again, no matter what, the Zen PM operates without fear, knowing that the process is carrying the burden. Documenting the argument, documenting the way the project unfolds and the results provides the foundation for effective performance.
The process is fine tuned, moment to moment, adjusting for different conditions and people. Formal ongoing process improvement refines the process over time.
At each step of the way the Zen PM focuses on the performance of the process with concentrated discipline that is moderated by the moment to moment assessment and adaptation to the practical needs of the situation and each involved individual.
