Michael Kennedy

So, you’ve got a great idea for a class project; to launch a new business; to improve a community service; to change the world for the better. Let Michael Kennedy – an award-winning management consultant and project manager – be your guide on what it really requires to take a good idea and make it a reality.

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What makes a successful project?

It may seem a bit obvious, but in order to execute a successful project, you need to know what a project is. The Project Management Institute says a project is: a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product or service. I like this. Projects start and end (temporary endeavor), and when they end, there’s a new ‘thing’ (unique product or service) that you can point to as the output of the project. That ‘thing’ could be a new building, a new app, a new process, a new marketing campaign, a new department, a new policy – anything that didn’t exist before. The key thing to keep in mind is that using and maintaining the ‘thing’ you’ve created is not part of the project, however, putting in place the systems and processes needed to effectively use or maintain that ‘thing’ can be. For example, if you’ve built a new condo building, you need insurance and maybe contracts with gardeners, a site supervisor, a functioning owners’ strata, and garbage services. The use of the building and all of the maintenance activities that take place after the building is delivered are not part of the project, but getting all these contracts, etc. in place to keep the building running can be part of the project. 

Normally, when we think of a project, we think of an initiative that needs a team of people to pull it off. The first step in project success is getting everyone on the same page about what that initiative is actually going to deliver.  Making sure that the ‘thing’ you’re driving towards is what’s actually needed is crucial. To make sure we’re headed in the right direction, I ask five questions, in sequence:

1. What is the problem or opportunity we are trying to address? To start, everyone needs to be on the same page about what we are trying to make better (ie. what is the problem statement?) 
2. What benefits are we trying to achieve? This is where we get specific about what we want to improve. Sometimes we want to make something take less time or energy, sometimes we are trying to communicate something to a wider group of people. Whatever the case, what are the outcomes of the project? What are the desired results of your ‘thing’ being put into the universe? It’s hard, but if you can quantify your desired benefits with numbers, all the better (eg. Reduce process by 20 minutes; 200 people know this program exists, etc). 
3. What has to change to realize those benefits? This is where people come into play. All projects impact people in one way or another. Answering this question is key to pinpointing the specific processes or activities or gaps that our project is going to attack. 
4. What is the project scope? Now we are in a position to figure out what we’re going to do. If we want to get from A (question 1), to B (question 2), by changing C (question 3), what all needs to happen? Do we need to design and rollout an awareness campaign? Do we need to buy and install some new software? Do we need to organize a march? Do we need to review and write a new policy or operating procedures? And what are the steps to do that?
5. Who is the sponsor? Most Project Managers will tell you that having a good project sponsor is the most important part of project success. A project Sponsor is the champion of the project. They are the people approving the project scope, budget, and schedule but more importantly, they are the people the Project Manager will go to if they get stuck. They remove roadblocks and help to keep things moving. For this reason a project Sponsor is someone senior and influential in the organization you’re working in. In small organizations and grassroots initiatives, it is very common for the Project Champion to also be the Project Manager.

How critical is research?

The more we know about the problem our project seeks to address, the better positioned we are to define meaningful project objectives. In other words, the more you know about what’s going on, the better your decisions will be about what it is you should be doing.

A major caveat to my answer is that as someone who manages projects for a living, my value add isn’t an understanding of the business or social or environmental problem we are tackling with the project, it’s my ability to facilitate the design and execution of a project plan. In short, I ask and involve people who know what’s up rather than research it myself. My role is to administer the project, to enable the team to do what they need to do to address the problem they’re trying to tackle – not to decide what the right thing to do is or even how best to go about doing it. 

Does focus matter?

You make time for the things you care about. Like anything, the more time you commit to a project the smoother and quicker things will go. As a Project Manager I have to account for the fact that the people working on my project have other things on the go. When creating a project plan, I take the availability of the people working on my project into account. I ask them or their manager how much time they are able to commit to the project and I design my plan around their availability. I do the same for myself. If I can’t get the people I need or the timelines aren’t lining up the way we need them to, then we have some serious conversations about what our priorities are. 

How do you set out to create a plan?

A project plan tells you what you’re doing, who is doing it, and when it’s getting done. Making sure everyone is on the same page with respect to these three questions is how I spend most of my time; it’s crucial for enabling your project team to be successful. 

My first step when creating a plan is to get help. If the objectives of the project are already defined, my next step is to pull together the people I think are needed to get it done. Once we’re together, we start hashing out a plan:

1. Define Deliverables: We talk through everything that needs to get done and create a big to-do list. More often than not, there are things on the list I haven’t thought of and people we need that I didn’t include as part of the team.  
2. Assign Resources: We collectively assign tasks to team members. These people ‘own’ getting their tasks done. In most cases, this is very easy: the IT person does the IT stuff, the marketing person does the marketing stuff, the business person does the business stuff. On projects where roles aren’t clearly defined (ie. school projects) this can be a nightmare. My advice is to stick to people’s strengths and be fair. 
3. Schedule Activities: Now that we know what we’re doing and who is doing it, we can schedule out the activities. We need to take into account how long each activity takes and what the dependencies are between activities (eg. if you’re building a house, you can’t paint the walls before the walls are put up). Once that is done and we have lined up all the activities in sequence, then we look at opportunities to ‘crunch’ the schedule. For example, Yes, you can’t start painting the walls before they are put up, but do you need to wait until all the walls are up before you start painting some of them? Note, one person can’t do 4 things at once, if one of your people has 4×4 hour tasks in a day, you’ll need to spread things out. 
4. Communicate & Update: You can’t share the plan enough. It will constantly need updating as new things come up, as things take longer or shorter than planned, etc. Keep everyone up to date with what’s happening. 

How do you learn what you don’t know?

Normally I don’t. Most of the time I rely on people who do know to tell me. People love talking about what they are good at and/or care about. I just ask. 

Is it critical to be innovative? To do something new? Or should we build ideas that reflect what’s worked in the past?

Innovation takes time and energy; these are limited things for all organizations. My advice is to be strategic and innovate where you’re looking to differentiate and stand out; copy and follow best practice where you don’t. If you aren’t looking to be known for having the most innovative, fantastic accounting practices of any not-for-profit-organization out there, then don’t put energy into innovating your accounting practice – just paint-by-numbers when you set it up and learn from people before you. I’ve worked on many innovative projects, but it’s the product of our project that’s innovative, not the project itself. The way I managed getting the product delivered, typically isn’t very innovative at all. I follow the path and use the tools that have worked for me in the past. 

And do you need to be a good team player? Or do we need more original thinkers?

From what I’ve seen, the notion of a genius locked in a basement coming up with brilliant ideas is false. There is a whole field of study called ‘Design Thinking’ that looks at the notion of a repeatable process for developing innovative ideas for products and systems. At the core of the methodology is teamwork. A clear decision-making hierarchy is necessary on a project to keep things moving, but opening up problems to the group is definitely the way to go. The hardest part of group problem solving is getting everyone on the same page about what the problem is. Once that’s done, groups are typically very quick at coming up with great solutions. 

Do we need Lincoln’s team of rivals to review work and highlight blindspots?

During the conceptualization of a project (ie. what is it we are actually trying to do), a healthy amount of discussion is warranted. But once you’re moving in a direction, it’s important to remember that projects are hard and sometimes you just need to let people run with things. I can’t stress enough that indecision is often worse than the wrong decision when you’re in the middle of project execution. Trust each other and keep things moving. During brainstorming in particular, a key rule is to not pass judgement. Regardless of how seemingly ridiculous an idea might be, judgement has to remain suspended. There are formal and informal hierarchies in any group and if people are being shot down, they’re not going to actively contribute (some get around this by having people answer questions independently and then consolidate the answers after the fact). Separating idea generation and idea selection is key; these should be treated as separate activities.  

How do you foster collaboration?

I find role definition to be the single most important factor. People want to work and want to do good work. As a project manager your role is to enable your team to do their work. If people aren’t clear on exactly what they’re supposed to be doing versus the person next to them, they will trip over one another and you’ll have frustration. 

What happens when you encounter roadblocks?

Roadblocks are inevitable. When they happen, I make sure I, and everyone involved understands the problem. This is normally the hardest part; it’s amazing how much time can be wasted when people don’t actually ‘get’ what’s wrong. Next is to work up the project hierarchy. If the team can’t solve the problem, they normally know who can or who needs to make a decision or call. For major issues, I bring them to my sponsor for resolution. 

Why does budgeting matter?

I would recommend swapping out the word ‘budget’ with ‘resources’. You need to manage your resources as a Project Manager. Resources are people, money, space, anything that is limited and you need to get things done. I’ve run many projects that have a capital budget of $0. On those projects I’m managing the time of the people that have been assigned to work on the project; few things are worse than feeling like you’re working on the wrong thing or your time is being wasted with useless meetings. You’re also managing access to external people and tools. For instance, if you have 4 hours of time total access in a graphics studio, don’t spend the first two hours figuring out what you need to do in the graphics studio; do the pre-work to maximize that resource. 

How do you monitor a project? How do you know if you’re on the right track or going off the rails?

The scale of a project will dictate the tools you use. Action Logs, Issue Logs, Risk Registers, Change Log, Schedule…all of these tools and many more can come into play. Going back to the idea that your role as a Project Manager is to enable everyone to get things done, and that not knowing who owns which activities is a major source of frustration on projects, to me, the action log (whether maintained through a ticketing application or maintained on a spreadsheet) is the most essential tool you as a Project Manager can have. 

An action log is a simple list of all the small tasks that need to get done, who needs to do them, and by when. During my project meetings, the action log is presented on the screen and I ask everyone for an update on the items they’re supposed to be working on. This is their chance to let the team know if they’re blocked and need help, if they’re done, etc. It’s not a problem-solving meeting, if there is a major issue that has come up, I’ll schedule something for the people who need to solve it separately from my project team meeting. 

When the status meeting is over, I’m aware of any new risks including threats to the schedule. Because I have already pinned down my dates and now my resource constraints, I just need to cross compare progress against where I planned to be at the time I’m reviewing. If I’m behind or over budget, I need to investigate to see if we can get back on track. 

Is it important to celebrate successes along the way?

Absolutely. Projects can be tough and celebrating success is a big part of keeping the team motivated. Having clear milestones or gates in your schedule is a good way to do this. Once a chunk of work is done, announce it to everyone and celebrate in whatever way makes sense. Even small shout outs to team members who have pushed through something can help with comradery and motivation. 

And celebrate failure, because we learn?

We learn from experience; good and bad. When a project is over, or a phase of a project is over, it’s a great idea to look at what worked and what didn’t. When doing this, I prefer to focus on process rather than the outcome itself. Repeat the structures and processes that worked, correct the ones that didn’t. If a decision was made and it turned out to be wrong, look at how the decision was made rather than the decision itself. If a team did not work well through a project, look at how it was structured and functioned rather than point at individuals who did and didn’t act a certain way. Yes, people can be a factor, but more often than not, a project has struggles because the processes supporting project execution and decision making were not right or robust enough for the task at hand. 

What’s the biggest takeaway you have from the projects you’ve managed?

Chill out. Getting worked up doesn’t help anyone. I tell junior project managers that everything that goes wrong on their project is their fault and therefore, their job to fix. If your team is infighting, it’s your fault for not outlining roles properly or pushing them too hard. If your contractor didn’t deliver materials on time, it’s your fault for not being clear enough with them on expectations. If rework of the application is needed, it’s your fault for not ensuring requirements were fully understood and passed along to the developer. With that mindset, you abandon the blame game (because everything is your fault), and focus on getting a resolution. Chill out, understand the problem, and go fix it. 

Nature – your island – has been a grounding force in your life. Why do you love nature?

Being in nature is humbling. I find the scale of the ocean or forest calming; it’s a reminder of how inconsequential a lot of what we worry about is. Being in nature calms the noise of the day to day. I work hard and I take delivering on my projects seriously, but when compared to standing on top of a 30 metre cliff face, it’s just work. I often hear, “I wouldn’t want your job, it’s too stressful.” I recently watched a bald eagle knock a Canadian goose out of the air and then tear it apart before it could recover. That goose experienced a lot more stress than I’ve ever encountered. 

Can nature teach you to be a better project manager? To listen? To be patient? To be creative?

There’s a saying, I don’t know where it came from, “swallow the big ugly frog.” It means, suck it up and deal with the biggest, ugliest thing there is to deal with. In project management, this means, don’t mess about addressing small problems just because you know how to take care of them; if there’s a big, ugly problem that will stop the delivery of your project, that’s where you need to spend your time (even if the conversations are going to be tough and the solution isn’t clear). There’s always a path forward. “Nature finds a way” as the Jurassic Park quote goes. I love seeing plants compete with one another for sunlight and water, twisting around trees and over boulders to get what they need. There’s always a way, and if there isn’t, it wasn’t meant to be. 

In an increasingly polarized world, do you think that we can, in fact, find balance between people and nature; jobs and conservation?

We better. There’s a notion that you are best positioned to change from within. There’s another that says by participating in something, you legitimize it. I think both are necessary. We need people trying to make changes from within and we need people pointing at problems and screaming about it. I’m not a screamer, though I’m getting grumpier and less patient as I get older. I think if enough of the decision makers in an organization care about things like conservation, company policies will reflect this. A small win for me was introducing environmental scoring as part of the procurement policy for a large former client of mine. 10% of a bidder’s total score is based on a ‘green’ score (emissions offsetting, etc) for any contract. It’s not perfect but it’s something. Ultimately though, I don’t trust business to drive the changes we need. We, collectively, need to do this through our governments. We create the boundaries that businesses operate within. We need smart policies. 

That said, people aren’t terrible. Understanding the perspectives, motivations, and hurdles that get in the way of people doing the right thing is hugely valuable for someone trying to drive change. Empathy is a powerful tool.  

When it comes to protecting biodiversity, it’s critical to understand economics. With that in mind, what from your experiences has taught you about the role of business in tackling the challenges at hand?

Henry Mintzberg wrote a book in the 80’s called Life and Death of the Strategic Plan. In it he talks about emergent strategies. To oversimplify, the idea of the emergent strategy is to treat the market like a top athlete treats their sport, by “letting the game come to them”. It’s about positioning your organization to be reactive to opportunities and challenges as they come up. From what I’ve seen, organizations that focus their strategy on refining how they assess and make decisions about opportunities and challenges are the ones that thrive. Poor decision-making practices are what kill businesses because it handcuffs them into inaction when opportunities or challenges present themselves. 

Do you think big ideas could do well to take a business approach?

Businesses are good at analysing problems, making decisions, and executing. These techniques and approaches are completely transferable to any type of problem you’re looking to solve. If a young person is angry about something, if they want to see change, they need to learn how to craft their message, mobilize resources, and get it done. Best practices (many coming from business) can be learned from books, and courses, and on the job. You become a tool of change by honing your skills and becoming effective. Don’t discriminate when it comes to where the lessons come from.  

Should more students look at their career path as a tool for fostering change?

I tell young people to find a good boss. Find someone who is going to teach you how to do something you want to learn how to do. Being effective at whatever it is you do makes you a very useful tool for a change movement. You want to be in a position to offer skills to the causes you care about. Add skills to your convictions. 

What’s the one thing you know now that you wish you knew at 15? 

“Chill with the hair gel and quit skipping math class.” But I know he won’t listen.

Different Perspectives