The Journey Or The Destination

Your Project Manager (PM) frequently bends quality procedures. But she does a great job. The Quality Head is peeved. He demands adherence to procedure. "Such non-adherence to procedure is not good for the company in the long run. Besides, when there is an external audit, we will all be in trouble," He says. You understand his position. Quality Procedures are there for a purpose and they need to be followed. But you also know that the customers are extremely pleased with the PM. The PM thinks that the quality team does not understand the pressure that the project team works under. "Such minor deviations should not be made into a big issue. Software is not like production." she feels. How to do you ensure that work gets done and procedures are followed.

What do you do?

What do you do?

To Do Or Not To Do

You have completed your delivery of all software verification results. It is late Friday evening. Weekend ahead. Time to go home after a satisfactory day's work when your colleague comes in and tells you that one of the deliveries has a defect. It is not so obvious but if someone were to audit it they would find out that there has been an error on our part. Your first reaction is to find out who screwed up. But then you rationalise: "The defect is minor error in the test result. The product has no defect. It is unlikely that this unit will be picked up for audit. Even if it is picked up you can always apologise and fix it. Or you can come back on Monday and fix the small problem and then inform the customer. All the engineers are gone. You will have to call them. They have worked very hard and they deserve their weekend." But at the back of your mind there is a small tussle going on: "If the customer catches this, he might suspect that we have done a bad job. They have pointed out similar errors in the past and we had promised them that similar error will not occur."

What do you do?

What do you do?

Two World Theory

You have an important telecon with your overseas customer today. You have politely tried to postpone (or even advance) this meeting, but the customer insists that this is the only slot available when all her relevant people are available. The next available date is a few weeks down the line. God knows! You need this project. Unfortunately, this also happens to be your only daughter's birthday. You know you cannot miss that. You would love to be at the cake cutting, but you also need to be at the telecon. Your deputy can handle this but not your presence will guarantee the project. And you cannot be at two places at the same time.

What do you do?

What do you do?

Respect Is Commanded Not Demanded

Your boss encourages your reports to walk in and discuss any issue with him. So, often you find he has information that you do. Besides, you do not like the idea that your reports jump over your head. To be fair, your boss tells you everything that is being discussed in your absence. He also does not take any decisions without your concurrence. But you feel that because of this culture, your reports respect you less. When you take up this matter with your boss, he says, "respect is commanded not demanded." You need a good argument to counter him.

What do you do?

What do you do?

PS: My views here:
Maintaining pecking order

Bird In The Bush

Your company is suffering the pains from the economic slow down. Engineers are on the bench. An existing customer offers a two-month project. The project will cater for all the engineers on bench. However, the revenue is likely to be less as the customer needs to cut down cost - in fact, the job is offered only if you cut down costs significantly. You might just be able to break even.

There are indications that a big project might come your way in a months time. This is from a new customer that your marketing team has been pursuing for months.

Will you do the 2-month project? What about the (possible) opportunity cost? Or is a bird in hand better than two in the bush?

What do you do?

What do you do?

PS: My views here:
Project Resource Planning

Software Is Not Like Making Shoes

Your team has been struggling for weeks with no solution in sight. The software seems ok. The HW is perfect. But the software is not behaving correctly in a particular mode for a given set of condition. The team is working day and night. Being a good PM, you have ensured that the customer is in the loop. They understand the situation but need the software the following week. You get a call from the customer. You explain the problem but they make it clear that it is your baby and that it is your responsibility to deliver the goods. You talk to the team. They say that software problems are like this. The solution may be trivial but it takes time to figure out what is the problem. This is not like making shoes. This is software. You need the team to kill the issue. The team is getting tired. They think this could be a problem that cannot be solved. The customer is acting difficult.

What do you do?

What do you do?

PS: My views here:
Determining Responsibility

Who Is Responsible?

Your Project Manager (PM) is extremely efficient. He always delivers on time. The quality of his team's output is always appreciated by the customer. However, at the end of the project, he always loses people. Invariably 2-3 people turn in their resignations. You call your HR and discuss the findings of the exit interview. Seems like your PM is a hard task master. And your employees feel that for the same effort they put in here, they can better rewards elsewhere. A little digging and you get to know that in some cases the people who have left your company have actually joined another company as the same salary or even lower salary. You decide to attend the next exit interview. As expected, there is one soon. This is what the person who has resigned has to tell:

"I have no complain against the company. I have learned a lot. In fact the PM has given me lots of opportunity to exhibit my skills. I was given enough responsibility. This has been a long project and I am exhausted. My life outside the office is in a sorry state. I spent most of the weekends in the office. I would like to take a break. My friends in other companies work less and get better paid. In addition, they (meaning the company where he is joining) has promised me an abroad opportunity and a promotion. Your company is great for learning. But not for growing."

You call for the Project Manager. He has a simple answer, "I do my job. I get the work done. It is the responsibility of the senior management to retain people. I cannot ensure growth. That you need to take care. In any case, the other company knows that we train good engineers. Our people are in great demand outside."

You point out that the resignations are by and large from his group. The PM just shrugs.

What do you do?

What do you do?

PS: My views here:
Determing responsibility

Food Poisoning Ruined The Project

You are a Project Manager. You have a tight schedule. Seven people are working on this project. There are two days left for the last delivery. This morning when you came in there is a disaster waiting for you. Three of your project team members have reported sick. Turns out that they had gone to a nearby restaurant and this seems to be a case of food poisoning. With your project in crisis, you turn to your boss. In stead of being sympathetic she tells you that as a project manager you should have catered for such risks. She asks you to handle the situation. "We all work under constraints," she say. You know that the remaining team members cannot take the additional load. You contact your customer and he is not available. He has been reminding you over the complete duration of the project that a slippage is unacceptable.

What do you do?

What do you do?

PS: My views here:
Should feed poisoning be allowed to ruin the project

Managing Risks Beyond the Obvious