Behavioral Project Management

My sponsor asked me to reduce the project schedule from 24 weeks to 16 weeks for a time constrained compliance project. I drew the Critical Path Diagram (CPM) and as I was thinking hard to find ways to cut it short, I heard someone calling my name.

"Hey Sekhar", I recognized the voice that I spoke to, the day before

"Hello Rana, you are back again…!?” I greeted him

"Yes sir! You left me with more questions and few answers yesterday" he was referring to the previous day’s discussion about Mind Templatization

"Sorry buddy, I had to get back to my class" I replied

"Shall we continue that discussion if you have some time now?" he was determined

“Okay, let’s go…I need a break from my CPM as well” I got up from my desk

We headed to the breakout area with coffee cups.

"So, where were we yesterday?" I asked

“You said all the functional knowledge, the PMP credential, other learning would only contribute 30% to being a successful project manager” he was quick

“Right…!” I nodded

“You also introduced the phrase behavioural project management. So, please help me understand what behavioural project management is” he requested

"Right…quickly define the term project management for me again, please" I asked

"Like we discussed yesterday, project management is the application of knowledge, skills and techniques to execute projects effectively and efficiently" he repeated

"So, according to you, the important pieces from that definition are knowledge, skills and techniques…right?" I was validating

"I believe so…without basic knowledge and good understanding of the tools and techniques, a project manager won’t be able to perform his job right" he was confident

"You are absolutely right…without good knowledge and skills, it’s very difficult for a PM to succeed. Only difference is your focus was on knowledge, skills and techniques whereas my focus was on the word application. It’s one thing to know estimation, scheduling, risk management and other techniques and it’s another thing to be able to apply them in the right project at the right time with right audience" I triggered my debate

"Oh...oh...oh...slow down...I understood a little, but confused more. Please elaborate it" he sounded interested

"Rana, in short, you are thinking that Functional Project Management is the key whereas I am suggesting Behavioural Project Management is the key" I confused him little more

"I am still lost" he was quick

“Let me give you some perspective.

• In 2005, KPMG did a Global IT Project Management Survey of 600 organizations and concluded that 86% of the organizations reported that several of their projects didn’t meet the targeted benefits.

• In 2008, a survey that IBM had done indicated that only 40% of the projects met schedule, budget and quality goals.

• In 2012, McKinsey & Company in conjunction with the University of Oxford did a Study on large scale IT Projects and concluded that on average, large IT projects run 45 percent over budget and 7 percent over time, while delivering 56 percent less value than predicted

I have several more such survey results. In fact, way back in late 90s, I remember reading several articles which suggested that about 35% of projects fail globally. So, the failure rate hasn’t changed much in last 15 years.

But on the flip side, PMI had released, enhanced & upgraded PMBOK versions 4 times since 2000. Several project management tools have entered the market. Almost every second or third project manager is PMP or PRINCE certified. Pretty much every organization established PMO and started tracking projects closely. Majority of the organizations are adhering to at least one of the process improvement models such as CMMI, ISO or Six Sigma. Organizations have setup exclusive QA, QC and Operational Excellence teams. Still, project failures didn’t come down. Do you agree!?” I gave a pause

“You are making sense. With so much of enhanced knowledge, experience and quality practices being in place, if projects are still failing, there must be something else that’s causing it. So, you are saying that’s the behavioural part of the project team?” he was getting into thick of things

“That’s how I see it. End of the day, if my work failed, its because

• Either I didn’t know how to do such work (functional area) or

• I know how to do it, but I didn’t put enough effort into it (lack of self-engagement) or

• I know how to do the work and I am genuinely serious about getting it done but the environment & the stakeholders won’t support me (lack of organizational-engagement)

Granted certain projects would fail for lack of knowledgeable PM or a good team, but that would only be a subset. For rest of the failures, I believe the root cause is team engagement and/or organizational engagement.

So, you see, these definitions, tools, techniques, skills, all that you were talking about, I would classify them under Functional Project Management. Essentially, that’s the minimum knowledge that you need to have, to do your job. For example, you need to know different estimation techniques to be able to estimate well. You need to know good scheduling techniques to schedule the work. But that doesn’t guarantee you anything. Tell me, what you do most of your time as a project manager" I gave a pause

"Most of my time goes into communication" he replied

"What do you mean by communication" I stressed

"Interacting with different stakeholders, emails, meetings, documentation etc..." he was on dot

"Right...! If I could generalize, even those emails or meetings are with stakeholders, right? In other words, its people that you work with all through the project. Agreed?" I was building my case

"Agreed" he was prompt

"Now, tell me one instance, when your work couldn't move because you didn't know a project management technique" I made him think

"Interestingly, I can't recollect. I don’t ever think, my work got stuck because I didn't know something. But, let’s be practical here. It's only because I acquired good knowledge and techniques, right?" he was little confused now

"Absolutely…! Like I said, functional knowledge is the mandatory requirement for you even to be considered as a project manager. So, once you acquire basic knowledge and skills, that’s no longer your roadblock. Let me ask you one more question. Tell me an instance when you were frustrated by something not named stakeholder" I left him more puzzled

"Man...You got me again! Except for the workflow tool that we have, I don’t think anything else frustrates me besides my stakeholders" he is thinking now

"Right. Even that workflow tool causes frustration maybe because the owner of that tool is not listening to your challenges or issues, right? Now, one last question. All the times you got stressed out, what was the reason? Tools & techniques or people?" I threw the third strike

“People all the way” his hands also answered this time!

“Then, what do you think is the key to be a successful project manager?” I stressed

“Sekhar, I am all in. I see your point. Tell me more about this behavioural project management” his learning antenna stood up

“Before we discuss it any further, look at this picture” I drew something on the paper

“Rana, I am not an expert by any means in project management field. But based on my experience, for anyone to be successful as a project manager, they would need to be good in three broad areas. Functional knowledge, living the project management traits and understanding the behavioural aspects of all stakeholders” I took a pause

“I see what you are saying. So, where does the solution lie?” he acknowledged

“Solution was always simple. I kind of touched up on the subject of why do projects fail in my post Only reason projects fail. Additionally, I believe, Project Manager, Project Team and the Organization each have a role in this.

All project managers must practice traits such as:

Disciplined humbly – Project manager and the team should take pride in being disciplined. Lot of times, planned dates keep changing for variety of reasons. Some of them are genuine but most of those extensions are made for convenience. Project manager and the team should develop an internal culture where missing the targets is seen as an embarrassment no matter what the reasons are.

Working with ambiguity – This is the most important and least found quality of project managers. Project manager is one of the first roles that get engaged with a given project. So, project manager should have the intuitive ability to work through and uncover the ambiguity. More than 70% of the project managers that I have worked with in my career have the amazing ability to run away from ambiguity. Whenever they encounter ambiguous or uncertain situations, they would expect someone to clarify or provide answers. But the reality is that it’s the PM who should find ways to get that clarity.

Leap as you walk – The hallmark of a project manager is his/her ability to plan ahead. Project Manager must be at least two (2) weeks ahead of the rest, every time, all the time. He/she should be able to simulate the upcoming schedule, anticipate the potential roadblocks and showstoppers and find ways to eliminate/minimize them. Project manager should take up the leadership role on the projects than the executioner roles.

One size doesn’t fit all – One common mistake most of the project teams do is cover all stakeholders with one broad brush stroke. Personalization is an important aspect when working with a group of people. There is a risk of missing lot of relevant information if we end up applying same techniques and approach with every one of them.

The organizations should focus on:

Value based Execution – Most of the project tracking resolves around deliverables, effort variance, schedule variance and other metrics, but it seldom tries to review the value the project is going to add to the organization. Once the final deliverable is accomplished, project is closed with lot of fanfare. PMO teams not only should track the projects during execution, but should also track the value its bringing even after the project is delivered and in case things have gone wrong, understand where they went wrong. That way, at least for the next project, they should be better prepared. Unfortunately, organizations aren’t really learning much from failures because, the lessons learned or post implementation reviews consider only the project life cycle, but the challenge would also lie in pre-life cycle as well as post-life cycle. PMO should play a leadership role whose purpose is to drive value thru projects rather than a role of monitoring and governance.

Tools and Infrastructure – PMs spend so much of time and effort in preparing reports, manual tracking, follow-ups and other administrative activities, due to lack of right tools and infrastructure, that they don’t have quality time in fulfilling some of their core responsibilities. If organizations can invest on right automation, workflow tools and infrastructure, PMs can focus more on the stakeholders and deliverables.

Project Engagement – One of the obvious reasons for project failure is lack of proper engagement from both the project team and stakeholders. For long tenured projects, it would obviously help if stakeholder engagement is measured at project level. Most organizations deploy engagement surveys as a ‘broad brush stroke’ at the organization level which fails to identify specific details. Industry recognized platforms such as Gallup, Aon-Hewitt can be leveraged to measure the engagement levels of the team and stakeholders towards the project.

People First – Across the board, processes and methodologies have overtaken the individuals and interactions. Maybe there is a need for stringent processes looking at the risk exposure. But the culture of ‘processes first and people next’ isn’t helping to get the best output from teams. Before it’s too late, organizations need to call for the tag line ‘respect people first and respond to process next’!

Project team must focus on:

Understanding Whats and Whys - Team should understand why the project is being done, what is the problem it’s solving, what’s impact if it’s not done, what are the dependencies etc…A team that understands how their contribution to this project can help the organization will be lot more productive than a team that doesn’t know the big picture.

Being the Performing team – Obviously a team have to go through the forming, storming and norming stages before becoming a performing one. But sooner the team gets into this stage and builds the trusted relationships the better their productivity would be.

Raising Alarms – The group that’s closest to the ground reality about project progress is the project team. They should be able to raise the flag as and when they see challenges with the project execution. Lot of teams try to continue with “we can manage” attitude and although such attitude should be encouraged, but it can’t be at the expense of missing communication and warning signs.

So, if each of these entities play their role to adjust their behaviors and attitude towards projects, things would start improving” I thus concluded

Mind Templatization

I was in Bangalore couple of weeks ago for facilitating a learning program. During the break, I headed to cafeteria for my lunch and found myself in a long queue. As I was waiting for my turn, someone tapped my shoulder.

"Hey Sekhar", I heard a familiar voice from behind.

I turned around to see Rana, one of my previous batch PMP students.

"Hello Rana, how are you?” I greeted him.

"I am good sir. Do you have any company?" he asked me

"No, I was just trying to have a quick bite before the class resumes" I replied

"Can I join you, then?" he didn't give me much of an option

We got our lunch plates and found a comparatively empty table.

"So, what are you up to these days?" I didn't remember talking to him in about 6 months

"I took up a Project Manager role with infrastructure team" he answered the question in mind

"Nice...Welcome to the club" I was happy that a student of mine has become a PM

"Sekhar, I am looking for some guidance. Tell me, how I can become a good project manager?" he quizzed

"Well, there is no secret formula. It’s the ongoing learning and experience that will translate you into a more successful one" I gave my simple response

"That I understand. But shouldn't there be a starting point towards the right direction?" he was persistent

"What do you mean by right direction?" I wanted to understand his thought process

"You know, I understand the methodology defined in the PMBOK. I understand the tools and techniques. Additionally, I have attended lot of other PM related programs also. What else I need to do to be a good project manager" he sounded sincere

“Tell me one thing. You are a PMP certified. So, tell me, what does it mean to be a PMP certified, to you? What should be the difference between a PMP guy and a non-PMP guy?” I asked

“Well, I would think, PMP guy should have more knowledge than a non-PMP guy. He should be methodical, process driven and should have a standard approach while managing the projects” he replied

“Are you saying, non-PMP guys don’t have to do that?” I asked

“No, I am not saying that. I am just saying, PMP guys must be good because they possess certain credential. But otherwise, even non-PMP project manager should also be good at process, should be methodical as well as should have standard approach while dealing with the project challenges” he was on the money

“Right! Irrespective of the credential, for someone to be a good project manager, there has to be certain benchmark. I call that benchmark, Mind Templatization” I introduced my phrase

“What…What did you say?” his was puzzled

“Before I elaborate it, define project management for me, Rana" I asked

"Formal definition or informal definition?" I could sense the cunning pleasure in his voice because I used to make my PMP students remember the formal definitions from PMBOK.

"Give me a formal one" I wanted to see how much he remembered

"Project management is the application of knowledge, skills and techniques to execute projects effectively and efficiently" he gave the-pretty-close-to-picture-perfect definition.

"Looks like you still remember your PMP classes" I was impressed.

"Yes, Sir! Keeping myself fit for the project management marathon" he was proud of himself

"Good for you. So, how do you interpret that definition, Rana?" I started my pitching

"I would think the important pieces are knowledge, skills and techniques. Which is why I am focussed on continuous learning" I liked his seriousness

“Fair point…! But, if you ask me, I would say Project Management is a MINDSET. By doing PMP or any other certification or learning program, you are acquiring knowing and learning few techniques. But that’s just the starting point. You then need to use that knowledge and techniques such that when you play the role of a Project Manager, you can tune your mind to get into the skin of that role” I continued

“And, how am I supposed to do that. More importantly, what do you mean by Mind Templatization?” he asked the expected question

“Rana, have you ever experienced the phenomena of driving on a familiar road while you are on phone or having intense discussions with a co-passenger or lost in your thoughts and suddenly learnt that you have covered lot of distance and you didn’t even realize” I looked at him for his reaction

“Oh…yes, that happens quite often” he was quick

“What’s funny about that scenario is, even though your mind was absent from the road, your hands and legs still managed to drive the vehicle in the right direction without missing a turn. It’s simply because, your mind has templatized that road. It registered and familiarized itself with all the turns, speed breakers and traffic signals such that, even subconsciously, it can still guide you towards the right direction” I continued

“I understand what you are saying. But, how are you connecting this to project management world?” he was still puzzled

“For someone who is considered to be a good project manager, his/her mind should work like a template. One should be able to tune the mind such that, for any scenario, it automatically thinks of scope, time, cost, quality, risk, resources, communication and monitoring & controlling. Even subconsciously, you should have solid project management thoughts. So, in my opinion, starting point towards the right direction is to be a good subconscious project manager” I took a pause

“I think, I am getting your point. Perhaps an example will help” he was genuine

“Okay, let’s consider the below email that I was marked on from one of my Project Managers” I showed him an old email from my BlackBerry

“So, if you were to send this note, how would you do it?” I asked him

“Since you gave me just couple of minutes to think thru, I think, I would probably mention the due date by when Steve and Bob need to respond. I would also talk a little bit about what is AJAX-104 deliverable so that they get the context” he responded

“Fair enough! Valid points! Now, let’s templatize your mind. Think of this email from the perspective of Scope, Time, Cost, Quality, Risk, Resources, Communication and Monitoring and Controlling and tell me what else you would add” I pressed

“Interesting! Let me think thru. Scope of point of view, I have already mentioned that I will talk about AJAX-104 and regarding the Time…” he was cut short

“Wait…What about the scope of involvement for those resources” I interrupted him

“Oh…right! I would have to talk a little about what those resources are going to work on” he added

“Right. So, the point is, for each of those variables, you think about each one’s perspective. Scope from the perspective of Steve and Bob, the Project Manager and the resources. Similarly think about rest of the variables” I added

“Making sense…! Okay, from Time point of view, like I said, I need to give an expected date of response to Steve and Bob. That’s what I would like to know. From Steve and Bob perspective, I guess, I need to tell Steve and Bob for how long those resources would be engaged on the project, and perhaps, I might even have to tell them, if the resources are going to be needed on full time basis or part time basis. And, if part time, basis, how many hours per week are they expected to work on this project. WOW, just by being a little structured, I could make the email more meaningful” he took a pause

“Right! Now, if you continue the same thought process (aka Templatization), your email may look like this” I showed him another copy

“Wow…this sounds interesting…just by Templatizing my mind with 8 project elements, and thinking thru them for each scenario and project, I can really be more productive and communication with stakeholders would be so much simpler! But here is my dilemma; If I templatize my mind, wouldn’t I lose my creativity?” he asked a smart question

“Great question…! The answer would be no. You don’t need to be creative to define the problem statement. You just need to understand it. All PMs know about the six (6) standard project constraints. Your solution to those constraints can be creative. Mind Templatization is only going to remind you each time that, you need to think about those standard project management constraints. Which solution will you apply for which of the situations is still left to your creative discretion! If Templatization can help you draft a better email, imagine what else it can do for you in a complex project scenario” I concluded my case.

“Sekhar, this is very interesting piece of information. So, if I get good at implementing the Mind Templatization concept, I would be a good project manager, right?” he was now pushing me

"Well, you are right in the sense that, one needs to be really good with this starting step. But that’s only 30% of what you need to be, to be a good and successful project manager" I suddenly derailed his flow

"What...? The PMBOK, the hard earned PMP, and this Mind Templatization is only 30% of what I need to know? You must be kidding me" he jumped on me

"At least, in my opinion, that’s what I would think" I could sense the frustration in his body language

"Then, what's the other 70%, Sekhar?" he was almost demanding

“Buddy, it’s time for my class. Let’s chat about that tomorrow” I stood up with my empty plate

“No…please give me some hints about that 70%” he requested

“Heard about Behavioral Project Management…!?” I shouted walking towards the elevator

Six Buckets of Opportunities

It was one fine afternoon in the third week of January, 2014 when I was browsing Times of India online edition. A famed newspaper, that now carries less news and more gossip (at least the online one). As I was checking sports news, suddenly, the web site popped up a question “Who is the father of Indian economic liberalization?” with two options namely Manmohan Singh and P.V. Narasimha Rao. Usually, I stay away from such surveys because once you answer that question, it would open up 5 more web pages. But this was an interesting question. It was an interesting question not only because it is as complicated as “which came first, the chicken or the egg?” but it is also interesting because that duo has changed the country forever, in 1990s. Whether it is for good or for bad, but for sure, they played a key role in shaping the modern India.

One thing with such surveys is, you can’t see the score unless you answer it! My curiosity got better of me and wanted me to answer that question just to see who is leading. As I was about to answer, someone tapped my shoulder. I turned around and saw my good friend, Baba Khan.

“Hey buddy, what’s up?” I wished him

“As usual man. Wanted to chat with you on something!?” he was pushing me from my chair

“Okay, let’s go to cafeteria” I started walking with him

We picked up our coffee and sat down at a corner.

“So, tell me” I asked

“Well, I got caught off guard today with a team member of mine” he replied

“On, what!?” I was curious

“As part of setting the objectives and goals for this year, I sat with a team member today and while discussing one of the goals, I told him, you need to proactively identify improvement opportunities and execute them” he paused

“Okay. That’s the standard goal we set every year, right!?” I nodded in agreement

“Yeah…that’s where the trouble was. When I was done discussing that goal, he was like ‘Okay, I will try. But here is the question for you Baba. This is the second year in a row, you set me this goal and you also said I didn’t do well last year. So, help me understand, how I can identify proactively? You tell me 10 broad areas where I can look for and I will take it from there. Without giving any scope or any help, it’s not easy just looking around. Show me 10 buckets and I will come back with proactive improvement opportunities. But if you can’t show me those 10 buckets, please take this off from my goal list’ ” Baba concluded the reaction from his team member

“Wow. He practically ragged you” I was surprised

“Yeah…and I didn’t even have any response. I accepted the reality in his question and promised to get back to him as well as to entire team in couple of weeks” he sounded like a sincere manager

“Okay…so, your challenge is to list down those 10 buckets” I was confirming my understanding

“Of course, buddy. Need some help! I can think of one or two areas. But it’s not hitting me in a comprehensive way” he was sipping his coffee faster

“Well, you caught me off guard too. I don’t know if I have any readymade answer. I can think of one or two options top of mind, but I think it’s worth spending some quality time on this topic” I gave halfhearted answer

“Okay, take your time, but do tell me what you find out in about a week’s time and I will share what I can find. I am sure you need to set similar goal for your teams as well” he made a deal

“Sure. I am travelling over the weekend and will try to drop you a note” I emptied my cup

Three days later, as I was flipping between the channels in my Charlotte hotel room, I came across a paid program. It was review of a book titled “Free Money – They don’t want you to know about”. A host was interviewing the author, Kevin Trudeau

Just like any other commercial, he was trying to sell the book hard. His point of view was, there are so many grants that US federal government and state governments offer but general public isn’t aware of it. He kind of lists down 7 or 8 different grants and the final grant he listed was very interesting. He said, as you apply for various grants and waiting to receive the funds, there is another grant whose purpose is to pay you for the waiting time!

And he continued to say that, there is so much money lying in front of us and we don’t even look at it. That was my Nirvana moment. That’s when it hit me about the opportunities.

Opportunities must have to be in front of us. We just need to wear the right glasses to see them. They can’t be hidden in neighbor’s closet nor can they be hidden in Fort Knox vaults. If my work is in front of me, if my customer is in front of me, if my team is in front of me, if my manager is in front of me (well, sometimes behind me), then, the opportunities must also be in front of me. The only question is, which lens is you are wearing!?

But first, let’s define what an improvement is. Some call it process improvement, some call it continuous improvement, and some call it Kaizen. No matter, what you call, an improvement activity is not about filling goal sheets or not about showing bright spots in the metrics charts. Real definition of improvement, at work, is:

“The proud feeling that you get about something new that you discovered or accomplished that day, about your professional self, as you lay your back to rest and close your eyes”

On that note, consider the below picture that presents various buckets where you can search for opportunities.

My Manager:

The easiest place to look for opportunities is your supervisor or manager. You spend some quality time with your manager; she or he can talk about at least two things:

The challenges that she or he facing and the 6 or 12 month vision that she or he has for the team. So, once you understand what those challenges are, you could volunteer to help with some of them. That’s a big window of opportunities. Additionally, once you get to know, what are the future plans for the team, you could raise your hand and own couple of those ideas. For example, your manager might say, “Defining the right metrics for the team is a challenge right now” or she might say “6 months from now, we should have the best status reporting in the organization”.

By the way, if your manager can’t talk much about neither of these, you are perhaps working for the wrong manager!

My Team:

The second easiest place to look for opportunities is your team. No matter, whether your team is big or small, each one would present different personality. Some are bright and sharp and some are dull. Some guys are better than you in some stuff and you are better than some of them in other stuff. Then, why can’t you learn from some and help the rest learn something from you. Learning could be about your application or process or systems that you are supporting or could be about technology or about business.

For example, Jaya might be pretty good with Excel macros and you might have better domain knowledge than Richard. So, why not create an environment where you can learn from each other?

By the way, you are not thinking “If I help him, he might know as much as me and might get away with 5 or 4 rating next time. Maybe, I shouldn’t help him”. Are you?

Whom would you fondly remember from your college days? The guy, who was the best notes master but never shared or the average guy who was always ready to share? So, get on, life is not a race. Just think about how you would like to be remembered 5 years from now.

Again, it doesn’t have to be your immediate team. Look at other teams that are supporting a similar process or application or system as you are. Understand where they doing better and where they are not. So you can exchange ideas. Improvement opportunities don’t always have to be for you. You could help others!

My Friends:

When that friend from Oracle or TCS calls you, would you just crib about your bosses and the working culture in each other’s company or would you also spend some time talking about the new trends that are making noise in each other’s company?

This bucket is quite similar to “My Team”. Only difference is, it could open up much bigger basket of opportunities if you explore it productively. Without crossing the limits of proprietary information, wouldn’t it be cool, if you can tell your team or manager about the new cool stuff that’s happening outside and how you guys can also try it?

My Knowledge:

With “Know More”, you can say “no more” on the questions about improvement opportunities because more knowledge you have, more opportunities you can explore. The world today is played by knowledgeable people. More knowledge you have, more leverage you get. So, can we honestly do a reality check and see how knowledgeable we are when compared to our peers?

Can you say “I am totally better than my colleagues or acquaintances Jay, Evelyn, Pasha, Daniel and Joe Montana”? If the answer is yes, you are a genius and should retire! But if the answer is no, list down the pieces that you can get better at and there you have the list!

My Work:

Can you say “I know EVERYTHING about the work that I do”? That EVERYTHING includes nuts and bolts of the applications, processes and systems that you are supporting. If the answer is yes, then, you are already a genius. You are working in a wrong place! But if the answer is no, list down what are the pieces that you are not entirely confident about. Have you listed? Did you just realize, you now have a list of opportunities in front of you!!!?

If that’s not enough, look at the activities that you have been performing for the past 12 months or so. Now, start analyzing how were you doing it 10 or 12 months before and how are you executing them now? Are you doing faster, cheaper and better? If the answer is yes, you are already on the right track. If the answer is no, look at how you can improve your productivity. Lesser time you spend on routine activities, more utilized you can be on additional opportunities.

Additionally, have you explored any automation that can be done on the activities that you or your team does? Maybe you can download a freeware from online or maybe you can write a macro in excel or word and automate part of the work you do.

How knowledgeable are you about the upstream and downstream systems around the work you do. Do you know how the information gets processed before it comes to you and how the downstream system uses the information that you pass on? Experience repeatedly tells us that, often times, a tweak here or a tweak there might make life so much easier for upstream or downstream systems! In these kinds of scenarios, collaboration is synonymous with improvement opportunities!

My Career:

This is the most important bucket! Obviously, right? Who wouldn’t want to have a better career? Only question is, how are you preparing yourself? Have you compared the skills, competencies and attributes that you got with someone whose is above a level or two?

Oh, wait, are you asking me isn’t it too soon to compare yourself with your skip level? Maybe yes…but here is the question. Do you always want to “follow” your next level or are you also interested in jumping a level at times? Like how some of those smart kids skip a class and go the next one directly, in school!

Again, it doesn’t have to be just for skipping a level, it should be more about expanding your learning appetite.

So, as I pass this list to Baba Khan, do you have more to add? Then, go ahead and type them in the comments!