Don't bring me problems; bring me solutions!

or "Don't come to me with a problem if you don't have a solution"

These sayings are some things I've heard along the course of my career. 

Now, when I first heard it, I thought it was dumb. I mean why the heck else would I approach my boss? If I didn't have a clue how to fix a problem, then why *shouldn't* I go to my boss?

But just as in observing a jewel & its many facets, there are many ways to interpret the above remarks... 

A few experiences have shifted my attitude from the one I previously held.

1. I encountered an issue at work and realized it needed to be addressed with a higher priority than some projects that I was managing currently. I called my manager and told him about this new problem. He seemed to be pretty busy but listened to me and then came right to the point: "What do you need to do?" My first reaction was to feel put on the spot. I thought he'd want to mull it over, hash it out, conduct an exercise in re-prioritization, etc. But instead I responded with "I need a developer and it will take 2 weeks ". He said, "OK, it's important. Do it". Problem solved...

If I were to have not thought of a solution and simply told him the problem and stopped there, I wouldn't have added any true value. I just would have laid the problem at his doorstep and waited for instructions.  That's not what I get paid to do. In that moment that I felt put on the spot, I was able to move past it & instead respond with my proposed solution and so he was able to make a decision and give the go-ahead. This is what being pro-active is all about and in that moment, I realized the truth of those sayings above.

2. I had a discussion with a medical doctor about this very same topic and she expressed to me the parallels of this in her own work. She supervises residents who would call her up with the patient's condition and explain things to her. Then silence... The residents wait for her to tell them what they should do. She can of course easily do that. She knows what needs to be done. But residency is training for medical doctors. So she simply turns the tables and asks them what they want to do. "They can suggest the craziest things; it's OK. We don't have to do it, but they need to generate ideas" is what she said. She can identify the good doctors from the not-so-good ones from interactions like these.

I'm not saying that you can't go to your manager with problems. Your manager is supposed to guide you and if you have no clue about how to go about something, then by all means ask your manager. The saying is just a reminder that we always have more power than we think in creating solutions to the problems we encounter.

The bright side of project practices

A good article on Projects @ Work about looking at the positives on projects rather than only concentrating on the negatives: On the Bright Side

The idea is to do MORE of the things that went well. Unfortunately, since the tendency is to concentrate on the bad and fix it, we forget the positives and to do more of those. Human beings' tendency to forget what went well and magnify what went wrong is epic. There are a # of studies in customer service that have shown that when a person has a positive experience at a business, s/he will tell 4 friends/acquaintances about it. However, if s/he had a negative experience, s/he will tell 9 friends/acquaintances about it! No wonder we quickly forget what went great and go for the bad...

In this vein, at my own workplace I am suggesting that PMs at the end of each project reflect and think about 3 things that went well about the project and that they would do again (so those are positively reinforced) and 1 or 2 not-so good things (so those could be rectified).

This kind of reflection will increase awareness of the positive things so we can bring those best practices forward into future projects.

Harry Potter & Project Management

This is a great post on the Unclutterer blog:
Post on JK Rowling's organization of Harry Potter

about how JK Rowling organized her thinking about the storylines of her Harry Potter series. I was never a Potter fan until last year. I dismissed the books as just for kids after summarily reading the first one. Luckily I picked it up again and just became entranced with the whole thing. I devoured all the books and movies one after the other. My life was put on hold until I was done... (I'm sure millions of fans around the world have had similar experiences).

In coming to appreciate the books, it dawned on me that Rowling's achievement was monumental. I was witness to a masterpiece: the books are elaborately crafted affairs with things happening in book 2 that don't rear their heads until books 5 or 6. She didn't just write the 1st book, and then after all the money came in, say "Oh that did well... Let me write another". No... she had these plotlines and twists organized from the very beginning! It is just amazing to see this mastery of organization in action!