A quote on leadership

I love this quote on leadership by Lao Tzu, the founder of Taoism:

A leader is best when people barely know he exists, not so good when people obey and acclaim him, worse when they despise him....But of a good leader who talks little when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say, "We did it ourselves."

 

Plugging In

What I mean by 'plugging in' is the ability to deliver needed capabilities as a project evolves over time.
For instance, I was assigned as a QA resource on a project which is what the manager on the project felt he needed. It soon turned out that what was really needed was an env manager to sort out issues currently experienced in UAT by outside users. So I straightened that out. Then I started sending out emails about the resolution of those issues daily. Then we got out of firefighting mode.

We've been able to move forward but now other issues have cropped up: we decreased the scope of our release but the other groups weren't notified so a change in the strategy was needed. I made sure this happened.

So now I'm communicating daily with all stakeholders about the status of the project. Sounds like what a PM does eh?

In addition, as those things get sorted out, I am actually doing some QA on the side and noticing things that are off-kilter. I'm communicating these to the dev team for fixes.

So what I am trying to communicate here is 'plugging in': the ability to fill in gaps as they arise. So I'm doing PM & QA/UAT and Env mgmt. The project takes a life of its own and as usual, we are short on resources. I can scream that I was only assigned to do QA and that I shouldn't be doing anything else, but I choose to engage on all levels and move the project along by seeing what needs to be done and doing it.

What it really takes to make it as a PM or BA in this industry is to be a generalist with a passion for learning. To speak with colleagues on the phone an ocean away whom I'll most likely never meet and to understand their pain from their point of view (netmeeting, webex anyone?) and then to demonstrate that pain to an SME who knows how to fix it. This is how I plug in. The SME may not be able to talk directly to the user because of time-zone issues or an inability to properly communicate, etc so I fill that gap.

It's taking care of the simple things: building the small bridges that most people overlook. I like to say that 'adding value' to something doesn't necessarily have to be a big-bang type of thing. You just see what needs to be done and do it. You see where things are being dropped and pick them up. Not rocket science, but it makes all the difference.

Eventually, people will think of you as a go-to person, someone who doesn't drop the ball, who gets things done. And nothing is better than that if you're worried about job security!

The giving of thanks

We recently had a change in management in our group and we have a new head boss. He's already been here a few weeks & is based in London. He came to NY recently and I met him as he did his rounds. That same day, this project I was put on in the last 2 weeks got escalated to him because the stakeholders weren't seeing any progress. This is the highest priority project we have right now and is already late. I got put on the project because I have an excellent track record in QA (which is *yet* another hat I've been wearing in the last year! More on that some other time).

Long story short, the same day I met him, he must have come to my cube about 5 or 6 times to get status updates! There was a quirk in the system that wasn't allowing proper comparison of BEFORE and AFTER files, so the users couldn't compare accurately.

In order to debug this thing, I pulled in resources from North Carolina, India (I called the guy at 6 AM and had him on the phone until 12pm which is 11pm his time), Houston and NY all to figure out this quirk. It was intense and I put in a lot of hours. We never figured out why it was failing but we instead devised another test procedure that was acceptable to the stakeholders.

I've also been placed in charge of all status updates to the stakeholders, so I sent out regular communications to them giving the latest status. I made sure these emails were clear, and detailed who was responsible for what. We steadily made progress and have nearly cleared the entire list of issues.

My boss sent me a note of thanks after each one with things like:

• "Excellent work"
• "Awesome work. Push this one over the line"
• "You have taken ownership and this is exactly what I expect of people to do."
  

Can you believe the impact of one line like that ? It's indescribably awesome! These are emails I will stow away in my personal folder that I can come back to if I want a lift or to show off (I sent one to my Dad!).

Lessons Learned:

• Why be stingy about thanks? Some people don't have it in their nature to be effusive but that's not what's even required. A simple note of recognition can go a long way.
• Engagement, engagement, engagement! This guy was after me for updates and sending out emails to the stakeholders keeping them informed. He knew that the reason stakeholders escalated to him in the first place is that they were in the dark about the project and they felt nothing was being done. The first thing he stressed to me was to keep them engaged, and that is what I started to do. The cool thing is that he did it by his own example: he engaged me! He's the one that kept coming by, called me and IM'd me. So I became that way! Modeling the behaviors you want to see in others...how novel!
• Test the heck out of something. and test it smartly and efficiently. My belief is to test the software so well that you should be aware of any issues before you go into production. And then either resolve those issues or have workarounds. You don't want to go into production and then wind up seeing a problem you've never seen before. Preparation is key. Granted, there are times when something unexpected will happen and we have to deal with it on the fly. But this is rare and my preference is not to deal with the rare. Why spend a dollar on a 10 cent problem?
  
• Ideally, there shouldn't be any need for 'heroes': You know that special go-to person on your team who knows the system inside out and can solve your problems in a pinch. Things should never get that bad. I should have all issues worked out before I go to production and whatever issues there are should be transitioned to the support team so they know how to deal with it. I prefer saying instead that "everyone can be a hero!" and everyone can be if they all perform their roles to the utmost, don't drop things and take an active interest.
  

Where the heck have I been?

Well, I've taken quite the break there! Where have I been? I'm still at the same firm, just extremely busy. And plus, I just saw "Julie & Julia" and it brought back to my mind this blog. I've also been soaking in a lot of new experiences. In a way, I feel I've graduated. Joining my 'new' group (in late 2008) after my last BA position was like being hazed. It was like going from the minor leagues to the pros. We have to handle IT for all groups like Front Office (traders), risk, product control, operations, financial accting etc. I became a PM in the Architecture arena and I had to manage database migrations, and upgrades of various software components: work that could only be done on weekends and evenings and in a timely, controlled manner with lots of testing beforehand. It was anything unlike I had done before.

What was different?

• As a BA I was responsible for only one part of the project and getting that right. As a PM, I am responsible for everything. Talk about pressure. And especially on projects where the DB better be back up on Sunday night (Monday AM in Asia)
• I had to get people to do things; I am not an official manager. No one reported to me. I had to keep pushing. There was no time to sit still and coast after I got one thing done. There was always something else to look at. PMs can never sit still!
• I find a satisfaction in being a PM that I don't know if I had being a BA. Not to say that one is better than the other. But there is something to be said for utter and complete accountability and responsibility of a project from start to finish. It all lies with you. You make or break the project.

There are tons more differences and not everything can be listed. But my experience as a BA has helped vastly. I can break down a requirements document and find holes in it very quickly and then have the authority as a PM to get them addressed. And I don't mean to imply that I don't trust my BAs but I've seen some pretty bad requirements specifications and usually accompanied by no test case documents. "Trust but verify" is an adage I like.