Gazza's Corner Podcast

Everyone likes to have choice. 

No, that's not quite correct. These days people demand choice, especially in the arena of consumer goods and services.

The more choice

the better, it would seem - or at least the manufacturers would have

you think so, as you try to pick out a new cell phone from the hundreds

of similar models available on any given day. 

Fotolia_43362365_XS

But the truth is we don't handle choice all that well. Choice means change and uncertainty - and offering too much choice can literally stop you in your tracks - or make you leave the shop dazed and confused, without buying anything. 

Listen to the podcast or read the full article on Gazza's Corner Blog.   

Cost-Benefit Analysis

which you weigh expected costs against expected benefits to determine

the best (or most profitable) course of action.
http://www.entrepreneur.com/encyclopedia/cost-benefit-analysis

A

few years ago I was at a customer site in Independence, Missouri. It is

a classic American town, sitting on the eastern edge of Kansas City.

One of the advantages of working for a company with a wide-spread

customer base was that I had the opportunity to visit a lot of different

places.

When money has been spent to get you there, you had

better make the most of it - so you maximize the hours you spend with

the customer. However, when the working day is done there is an

opportunity for personal benefit and exploration as well. So wherever I

went, I made sure to learn about the local history and try to see a few

attractions.

It's all about maximizing the value for the cost - which is the primary basis for cost-benefit analysis.

In this case, the personal cost was not financial, but in time away

from family - so it was worth my while to see the sights that I could in

the time that I had. Especially when somebody else had already paid to

get me there.

With a population of 119,000 Independence is more

like a small city, but they have preserved their identity and character

despite the closeness to their larger next door neighbor, Kansas City

(pop 467,000). It's just what you might expect from a town called Independence.

Although

I was only there for a few days, I made the most of my visit and

thoroughly enjoyed having a look around the place while I was there. Few

attractions were open after working hours, but I did manage to fit in a

tour of the Harry S. Truman national historic site

before it closed for the day. It was a nice southern-style building -

not huge, not opulent - but it was a good, solid building with nice

architectural features.

Source: Wikipedia (cc) Nationalparks

In fact, it was

his family home. We were only allowed to tour the downstairs, as Bess

Truman wrote into her will that in order to protect her family's

privacy, the second floor was to remain closed until the death of her

daughter, Margaret. Though Margaret died in 2008, the second floor has

remained closed in order to better preserve the home.

For a

President who took America from its traditional isolationism into the

age of international involvement, it was a sign of his firm connection

with his roots that he and his family lived in this same comfortable

house since his marriage in 1919 until his wife Bess died in 1982.

Having visited a number of other presidential national historic sites,

this was the one that I liked the most. Unlike the imposing columns and

the expansive property of Mount Vernon, this felt like somewhere a real person lived - not someone larger than life.

The

next evening, I finished work too late to see any other historic sites,

so I decided to see a movie. At least, that was the plan.

Listen to the podcast or read the full article on Gazza's Corner Blog.   

I recently

attended an Outdoor First Aid course at Camp Waingaro, which is an old

scout hall nestled in 19 hectares of New Zealand bush. Quite a long way

from anywhere - or at least it felt like it when I found that I could no

longer get a cellphone signal. It was a beautiful site, surrounded on

three sides by a creek that wound its way down the valley.

I initially

thought it would be something of a refresher course, as I had attended

first aid courses before, but in many respects this was an entirely new

experience.

Granted, the

last in-depth First Aid course I took was over 30 years ago - but as it

turned out I had remembered most of the basic concepts I needed to know

over all of that time. The first day of the course was a lot of theory -

with some practical exercises using CPR dummies, various bandages, how

to deal with choking and so on. Of course, some practices and techniques

have changed over the years - in fact, some first aid practices seem to

change every few years as they learn more and best practices change.

On occasion, I

have had to use my first aid skills in the past - beyond the basics of

blisters, small cuts, splinters and burns. One was a full-out mountain

rescue involving a victim 200 feet (61m) down a steep slope, his

near-vertical evacuation and the treatment for scrapes, lacerations and

embedded gravel. Years after that, I had to deal with a victim who had

become engulfed in flame. It was a long drive to hospital as we worked

to cool and protect his burns. Fortunately, both victims fully

recovered.

As it had been a

long time since my initial training, I was nervous when I first arrived

at the course, but I grew progressively more confident throughout the

day as we covered familiar topics. However, things changed when we got

into the practical outdoor scenarios the next morning. 

(c) 2012 Mathew Frauenstein

When it all hit the fan, I felt like I knew almost nothing.

 Listen to the podcast or read the full article on Gazza's Corner Blog.  

Today's interview is with  Bryan Barrow, a widely recognized Project Management and Risk Management consultant and Speaker.

Bryan is the

founder of Nova Consulting Ltd in the UK. Over the past twenty years, he has

worked with Project Management Offices, Project Directors and both

public and private sector organizations, helping them to improve

project planning and rescue troubled projects. He also provides coaching

and mentoring to help develop the skills of the next generation of

project leaders.

Bryan is the author of The Project Planning Workshop Handbook, which introduces the Index Card Planning Method. He publishes his subscription-only newsletter Project Leadership Tips every month. Subscribe at bryanbarrow.com.

Join us and listen to Bryan Barrow as he talks about the changing world of project management.

http://bryanbarrow.com

@Bryanbarrow

When I was in my

late teens, I bought my first car. My friends were all doing the same -

we all had our licenses and we wanted to put them to good use. Of

course, not having a lot of money, we each ended up buying older,

cheaper cars. I bought a 1974 Mazda RX4 from a family member, one friend

bought an old Chevy Nova, another had an old sports car, and one had

bought a 1977 Honda Civic.

CC Source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1973-1978_Honda_Civic_5-door_hatchback_01.jpg

All of these cars

were made near the end of an era- close to the last generation of

vehicles you could actually fix yourselves. All of them even had carburetors -

no fancy fuel injection, and definitely no computer control systems. My

car had only an AM radio, which I updated to AM/FM (but no cassette

deck). When these cars were made, most computers filled a small room,

and Personal Computers were not yet available.

Wheels = Freedom

Well, we were all

very happy to have our own set of wheels, so we took good care of our

cars - washed them regularly, learned how to do our own repairs, change

the oil and spark plugs, the whole bit. Besides, we couldn't afford to

send them in to the shop for anything but the most significant of

problems; the rest we did ourselves, brake pads, shocks and all.

Although we had

our own cars, we helped each other and worked like a team. We learned

from each other, and each became the "go-to" person for a particular

specialty. Brian went into auto mechanics in a big way, eventually

extending it into a career that included welding and being able to fix

just about anything. He quickly became the expert in everything

automotive, and for anything major we all went to him for help.

As you would expect, Brian was the one with the best car.

However, at the

time, we didn't think so. My RX4 was sleek and fast, the Nova was solid

and gutsy, and our other friends' cars were sporty. We all kind of felt

sorry for our mechanic friend Brian who only had a little red Honda Civic.

I mean, a 1977 Honda Civic wasn't really a serious car.

Sure it was small, and good on fuel - but it wasn't much for show, not

really. Not something you would want to take a girl on a date with,

compared to any of the other cars we had. It wasn't gutsy, it wasn't

fast, it wasn't much more than a tin can on wheels. Four or five people

could pick it up and move it (and occasionally we did).

But over the years, Brian proved us just how wrong we were about his car.

 Listen to the podcast or read the full article on Gazza's Corner Blog. 

Well, that's not

exactly true - I loved swimming and spent almost every day during my

young summers in the water at our local pool, and was part of the swim

team. Wrinkly skin, and a persistent smell of chlorine - it was a

wonderful way to spend a good part of your summer's day. Besides, when

your town had an outdoor pool that was only open for 3-4 months out of

the year, you made the most of it. The rest of the year it was either

too cold, or just plain closed, as the pool was left drained for 6

months of the year while the temperatures plummeted from freezing down

to -40 degrees Celsius in the coldest months.

In the winter,

starting sometime in November, the outdoor ice rinks were getting into

full swing. I spent a few winters trying to perfect long, graceful

glides around the temporary oval of a Speed Skating rink on our

Elementary school field, while my younger brothers were just starting

getting into ice hockey at the PeeWee level.

I think I managed

two or three years of Speed Skating before I stopped going, while my

brothers went on to play hockey with a passion - and still do today,

over thirty years later.

My favourite sport fell back to swimming, which I pursued through to Bronze Medallion, and still enjoy today.

The key thing about swimming is that it is very much a solo sport,

even if you are on a swim team. Separate swim lanes, individual

competitors - even when they held "team" races like a relay, you were

still the only person in your lane at one time.

I did not enjoy team sports at all - not even Hockey, which is close to sacrilege for anyone born in Canada.

(C) Fotolia 59510276

Listen to the podcast or read the full article on Gazza's Corner Blog. 

"Where there is no vision, the people perish..." Proverbs 29:18

One of the

most important things you will do as a leader or Project Manager is to

communicate a compelling vision to your team or organization. It not only sets the

direction for the team and the project, it also begins to pull a group

of individuals into a cohesive unit - and eventually, if all goes well,

into a high-performing team.

Without vision,

all is lost - or has the potential to be, unless you bring things back

on track. This not only applies to your projects, it applies to "real

life" too, as I learned first-hand many years ago...

Image (C) Fotolia 49516437

Listen to the podcast or read the full article on Gazza's Corner Blog. 

How do you make

sure your projects complete on time? When you set a deadline, you are

supposed communicate it to everyone, right? Then, presumably,the entire

team will work towards that date, vendor and client alike, to make it

happen.

That is usually

what happens on most projects - you may be a little late on some target

dates, a little early on others, but generally all of you are working

towards the same dates, and hopefully the same priorities.

But what about when it doesn't work out, and deadlines are missed repeatedly?

Certainly you can

apply contract penalties to a vendor, but that does not always help to

achieve the desired effect of getting finished on time.

(C) Fotolia_44112672

 

What do you do if

it seems like part of your own team is disregarding your schedule? What

if they seem to have a different sense of timing altogether, no matter

how clearly you communicate the priorities and schedule?

This can be

particularly problematic as you near the end of the project, when there

is still a lot left to get wrapped up. People may be getting tired and

losing focus - but you need to keep them delivering, right to the end. 

Tempers may

flare,

relationships can suffer, and you can end up with an even bigger mess on

your hands if you are not careful, with little to show for your project

as you near that all-important deadline. All the while, the

clock is still ticking.

A family friend was plagued with this problem for many years - until he figured out the secret.

He not only found out a way to keep a very important

chronologically-challenged team member/stakeholder happy, but he also

managed to bring things back on schedule, time and time again.

So how did he do it?

Listen to the podcast or read the full article on Gazza's Corner Blog. 

The Cost of Change

We have all heard about how the

cost of change increases exponentially the further you are along the

path of project delivery. If the unit of effort is, say, (1) at

requirements stage to accommodate a feature change, in design it

increases to (10x), in development

it increases to (100x) and once delivered it may increase again to

(1000x) or more. Or perhaps a different scale applies to your project,

but you get the idea.

The same rules apply when you are doing construction, when scope becomes

set in stone - or at least in concrete. Changes are easiest when you

are still talking with the architect and drawing up the first set of

plans on a napkin, but after they have been formally submitted for

review and approved by Council, it gets more complicated and costly. Any

changes to the approved plans require rework by the architect, then a

review by another dozen or so eyes, and when that is done, it needs to

get re-approved by the city planning department. Oh, and to top it all

off, yet another cheque written out to the builder to pay for the change

in scope.

Listen to the podcast or read the full article on Gazza's Corner Blog.

A few years ago I went on a fly-fishing trip with a group of work colleagues. I was working on a project in New Zealand, and we were going to be staying in an old company-owned holiday "bach" just outside of Taupo. You could book these properties for a weekend and pay a small fee. A basic type of unit - furnished with several beds, kitchen, TV, tables, chairs and couple sofas - nothing too fancy.

We unpacked our gear, loaded up the fridge and headed back outside for fly-fishing lessons. My first ever lesson - and apparently you need to learn how to do it while on dry land (without a hook) just to get used to the back-and-forth action before you try it standing hip-deep in a river. Perhaps to make sure you didn't fall over while casting - or hook anyone around you.

After about an hour of practicing casting, it was getting dark and our arms were getting tired, so we headed back in to get dinner ready and settle in for the evening. One of the guys was frying up dinner while the rest of us chatted and watched the little black-and-white TV. I was just walking back into the living room with a fresh beer when the lights went out.

"Who turned off the lights?" I asked.

"There's some coins on top of the fridge," one of the locals called out from the sofa.

"What?"

"Coins on top of the fridge. Put some in the slot."

"What slot?"

He sighed and got up. "In the meter."

He walked over to the fridge and picked up three coins. He popped them into a box on the wall, one by one. The lights suddenly came back on. "That should do for an hour. We pay for power when we use the bach - it's one reason it is so cheap to stay here."

I studied the pile of coins on top of the fridge. It was perhaps my first experience of "user pays" - in this case, quite literally with a pocket full of change.

I was experiencing a sudden and strange shift in expectation - electricity is just supposed to be "on", right?

 
Listen to the podcast or read the full article on Gazza's Corner Blog.