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Struggling with Project Scope Creep

Scope creep is every project manager’s biggest challenge.

When a project’s scope gets expanded to include ambitious work that was never planned for, it can disrupt the original project plan, stretch the timeline and blow away the budget. Some call it featuritis, as in “We’d like to add these features that weren’t included in the initial project.” When software developers are asked to haphazardly include strange, orphaned features, their software becomes bloated with additions that seem out of place. Hence the term “software bloat.”

Are you feeling bloated? You might be due for a surprise addition at any moment. Scope creep can make you the babysitter of someone else’s unplanned brainchild. As a project manager with a new, unexpected addition to the family, all of its needs, complaints, kicking and screaming becomes your problem.

Some try to prevent project scope creep by explicitly defining the plan, timeline and budget of a project on paper. It’s a good strategy, but those set-in-stone documents can often get ignored if someone has a sudden brilliant epiphany that must go into the project. After all, “big picture” people can’t be bothered with silly trivialities like budget, resources and project scope, right?

Have you suffered from scope creep at work? Have you defeated it? How? Click Here to Read Article …

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Dealing with Coworkers: Are They Colleagues or Competitors?

Peter North 19th July Office Life 5 Comments

In a typical organization, employees are separated (or self-separate) into groups with similar skills. Whether you’re crunching numbers, reaching out to customers, or designing the next big product, you’re likely working alongside people with similar skills to your own.

Businesses seek a good bit of overlap in skills. Shared proficiencies increase collaboration and help us communicate with our peers. In areas ripe with arcane terminology like marketing or I.T., shared backgrounds are an absolute necessity for proper teamwork.

Similar skills and experiences are great for camaraderie, communication, and getting things done in general. But, they can also blur the line between colleagues and competitors, especially when someone asks you this:

“Hey, you’re the only one who knows how to run that system, right? Would you mind showing me how to use it? You know… just in case you get hit by the proverbial bus…”

Some don’t give a comment like this another thought, but others might wonder if the “proverbial bus” is really a “proverbial pink slip.”

Are you dealing with coworkers who are colleagues or competitors? Click Here to Read Article …

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Do You Have Low Frustration Tolerance?

Peter North 16th July Office Life 4 Comments

Psychologist Albert Ellis developed the concept of “Low Frustration Tolerance” (LFT) as part of a greater theory on procrastination as it relates to cognitive behavior.

LFT is a peculiar form of self-defeating behavior. By habitually avoiding short-term frustrations, unaddressed issues and unfinished work grow into much bigger, much more stressful problems. As a sufferer of LFT continues to dodge small, tedious tasks, they inadvertently grow them into large, dreadful problems. Once the problems are bigger, the aversion to the work is greater, building an ever-growing mountain of work to be done (and an ever-growing mountain of stress to match).

Low Frustration Tolerance (LFT)

Seeking immediate pleasure or avoidance of pain at the cost of long-term stress and defeatism.

Short-term psychological hedonism.

(Albert Ellis also jokingly called it “can’t-stand-it-itis,” as in “I just can’t stand it!”)

High Frustration Tolerance (HFT), on the other hand, is a much better trait for productivity, not to mention mental health. Those with HFT can tolerate the frustration-filled tasks required to do their work and meet their long-term goals. While they’re not delighted with the short-term tedium, they have much bigger things to be happy about in the end.

What is your frustration tolerance? Have you run into “can’t-stand-it-itis” at work? Click Here to Read Article …

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Lack of Employee Communication: Why Managers Can’t Listen

Peter North 13th July Communication 5 Comments

A good manager is understanding of setbacks and receptive to new ideas. Their job isn’t just about overseeing the work of others, it’s about removing roadblocks, rethinking problematic parts of the job, and most importantly, listening to their employees.

Although being “open to suggestions” is part of every good manager’s persona, many employees feel that they’re not being heard. This is often voiced as one of the most common work-related complaints of all time:

“My boss just doesn’t listen.”

While this may be true in some cases, the problem isn’t always that “the boss doesn’t listen,” frequently it can be that the employee doesn’t talk. A recent employee communication study based on the Cornell National Social Survey identified exactly what makes employees hold their tongue:

Many fear exactly what you’d expect; that speaking out about a work-related problem can have consequences that threaten their standing and job security. But a significant amount (over 25%) keep their mouth shut not because they fear retaliation, but because they’d rather just save their breath. In other words, no matter how valid their complaint may be, they just don’t think that anyone would listen or care.

As a result, employees don’t just avoid blowing the whistle on serious scandals; they also steer clear of smaller, easily resolvable problems, many of which would benefit both the individual and the group if addressed.

Clearly an environment that isn’t open to suggestions is missing many chances for improvement. But, whose fault is it that these opportunities aren’t being seized? Is it the manager who is not listening, or the employee who is not talking?

Before you think “my boss doesn’t listen,” make sure that you’ve given them the chance to hear you. Click Here to Read Article …

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Giving Dressing Up a Dressing Down

Peter North 11th July Career 3 Comments

WorkAwesome has offered quite a few articles about dressing professionally. Some suggest that helps you to get promoted and gain respect in the workplace. It’s certainly good advice; dressing well is a positive statement about your attitude and preparedness. But, how big of a statement is it? Should we be taking such care to “look sharp,” or have the effects been embellished?

There’s an obvious correlation between higher-level jobs and better dress, but perhaps it’s a classic “chicken or the egg” conundrum: Which comes first? Are people promoted or hired due – in part – to their professional appearance, or do their high-level jobs enable (or require) them to dress better? Maybe the only reason that executives dress well is because they have to. Click Here to Read Article …

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Problem Solvers vs. Opportunity Creators

Peter North 9th July General 2 Comments

We all have different professions and titles, but ultimately we can be separated into two categories: problem solvers and opportunity creators. Those who work in areas like “operations” or “technical support” are quintessentially problem solvers. On the other hand, positions in “sales,” “sponsorship” or “marketing” are intrinsically opportunity creating efforts.

The two have a symbiotic relationship – neither can survive without the other. Either a plethora of problems or a lack of opportunities could sink a business.

The main difference between these two is one of visibility. A great team of problem solvers is rarely recognized, as a lack of problems can seem “normal” and even make those who solved all the problems seem unnecessary.

In contrast, opportunity creators are celebrated at every possible juncture. A successful sponsorship, contract or campaign is good news for everyone, so of course it should be celebrated. However, this can cause opportunity creators to appear more appreciated (or more valuable) than problems solvers.

They’re not.

Don’t get me wrong. As a purebred problem solver, I don’t want the spotlight. What am I going to say that warrants it? I mean, this isn’t exactly going to set the world on fire:

“Today, our systems are working as expected. We’ve enabled you all to do you work.”

Although new opportunities “sound better” than solved problems, neither one is more valuable than the other. Problem solvers and opportunity creators are joined at the hip; they’ll sink or swim together. Click Here to Read Article …

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Job Titles and Descriptions: Less is More?

Peter North 7th July Your Job 10 Comments

Job titles were originally meant to succinctly describe a person’s basic duties in a few words. When you looked at someone’s business card or shook their hand in a meeting, their job title would give a general (but clear) idea of their role within their organization.

Some titles have stayed true to this purpose, remaining concise and unpretentious, like “Software Developer,” or “Account Manager.” But others have grown more vague and grandiose, like “Senior Vice President of Partnerships and Marketing,” or “Solutions Architect and Change Management Lead.”

Indistinct job titles and descriptions may impress some people, but they also risk giving the impression that your organization is overstaffed and that you are one of the nonessential fringe-workers. If you can’t answer the question, “What do you do?” without resorting to intentional ambiguities, you’re going to sound more like a cornered, dodgy politician than a competent worker.

The truth is, any job can sound impressive and important if you craft a little complexity into the title. You could call a window washer a “Transparency-Enhancement Facilitator,” or give the title of “Media Distribution Specialist” to a paperboy, but it doesn’t change the nature of the work. After a short conversation, their roles will be clear – regardless of their job title.

Is a long, vague job title a sign of ordinary, mundane work being embellished? Is it a sign of “bloat” in an organization? Or is it just part of the game? Click Here to Read Article …

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