9-11-2001 | Never Forget

10 years ago I woke up at the U.S. Air Force Academy like any other day.  After marching to breakfast, I headed back to my room where I watched with horror the television coverage after the first plane hit the first tower.  As we all know, that was only the beginning of what was one of the darkest days in our Nation’s history.

It was an interesting place to be during that time – a lot of things changed instantly – just 9 months from graduation and now we were facing the reality that we would be commissioned into a military that was going to be at war.

Today, I took in some of the coverage, blog posts, and many twitter and Facebook status updates, but mostly I enjoyed the opening weekend of the NFL season.  I was resolved that I wouldn’t write a post today – that I wasn’t “close enough” to New York on that awful day, and that I wasn’t as personally impacted as many others were.

But then, I saw this video that aired today during the Eagles-Rams NFL game.  It was done by Spike Lee as a tribute to the New York Fire Department to help honor the victims and heroes of Sept. 11.  It’s pretty awesome, and the lyrics for this Jay-Z song, “Empire State of Mind”, are quite telling of the resiliency and resolve of New York City after that fateful day 10 years ago…  Never Forgotten, Forever Grateful.

Concrete jungle where dreams are made of,
There’s nothing you can’t do,
Now you’re in New York!
These streets will make you feel brand new,
The lights will inspire you,
Let’s hear it for New York, New York, New York.

9-11-2001, Never Forget is a post from: HR Think Tank

I haven’t blogged in 220 days, but I haven’t been idle either.  Far from it.  What has been going on you might ask?  For one, this happened!  (More on that later)

Here are 10 things I have been up to since this Word of Mouth Marketing post on January 8, 2011:

1. My first big project at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center went live.  It was a custom developed Time & Labor implementation and was a big win for BIDMC and SEI.
2. I transitioned from an HR Project Management Consulting role to the role of Test Manager on a large-scale, integrated Lab Information System for the hospital.  The transition from HR to the Clinical side has been as rewarding as it has been challenging.  And it has been very challenging.
3. I took a hiatus from blogging.  220 days.  I started to find myself staring at draft posts in WordPress, seemingly without words.  This lack of words was my mind telling me that I was lacking focus.  I don’t expect blogging to be easy, but I do expect to feel passionate about communicating a message, and if that isn’t there, I’m not going to fake it.
4. During that time, I began dreaming up a new concept for my ‘social landing page’ (Blog, resume, experience, non-profit advocacy work, and everything in between), called davisory.com.  It’s a play on what I do (Business and technology consulting – Advisory services), and my name.  Yeah I know, it’s not ingenious, but it let’s me have more range to talk beyond the boundaries of HR Technology.  I really enjoy HR, and I know I will work on many more HR projects, but I also know it’s not all I can do, nor is it all I will be doing, so www.hrthinktank.net is feeling very restrictive.
5. I fell off my bike.  My first real crash, going 20+ mph.  Spent a little time at the doctors, and a little more time recovering, but I got right back in the saddle.
6. I got married on July 4.  It was the best day of my life and we couldn’t be happier.  I’m excited for everything that life holds for us.  (To see the video, click the link, then look for July04 Andrea and Jason in the right column)
7. I went to Hawaii.  I sailed around the Napali coast in a 65-foot catamaran.  I watched the sun rise above the clouds and then biked down the Haleakala Crater on Maui.  I ate, drank, and laughed, and had an amazing honeymoon with my beautiful new wife.
8. I hit my 4 year anniversary at SEI-Boston, LLC.  SEI was recognized by the Cincinnati Enquirer as the #1 Best Workplace: Small Companies in their 2011 report.  We’re now 30 consultants strong in Boston, up from 5 when I started four years ago.  It’s a great company, and we’re hiring.
9. I rode in my 3′rd Pan-Mass Challenge, only this time I rode from the New York border.  3 days, 300 miles, all in the spirit of fighting cancer and pedaling for a cure.  Like my previous two PMCs, it was an amazing experience, and I couldn’t be prouder to be involved.  Want to help the cause?  I sure could use your help and would love you as part of our community.
10. I sat on my couch, for 3 hours, and thought about all of the big things I did in the past 220 Days.  I reflected on a busy 7 months.  I’m excited about the next 7.

Thanks for reading.  Hope you are all doing well.

-Jason

220 Days. is a post from: HR Think Tank

Today’s post is an excerpt from the article HIRE POWER, published in PM Network on July 1, 2010, and authored by Jenn Danko, a writer based in Chicago, Illinois.  The excerpt below was featured in a sidebar entitled A Virtual Foot In the Door.

It’s not all about after-work cocktail hours and lunchtime panel discussions anymore. Project managers looking for career opportunities should also consider heading online to do some networking, says Lucian Tarnowski, BraveNewTalent Ltd., London, England.

“Don’t think of networking as just face-to-face interaction. Your online brand is just as important – if not even more,” he says. “Specific to project management, people skills are important, and being able to communicate that over social media is huge. If you can’t have a one-on-one relationship with a person, the next best thing you can have is a connection through social media- and who knows which of those connections will end up with a job?”

Online networking can be a great resource for information about company projects and potential career leads, too, says Miles Jennings, ProjectManagers.net. Hartford, Connecticut, USA. He knows a thing or two about the subject, having started the Project Manager Networking Group on Linked In. Sometimes who you know can help you with what you know. “Social media is a quick path to network in the profession and learn from experts in the field,” Mr. Jennings says. “Use social media to drive real-world connections.”

Beyond establishing initial contact, you can use social media sites to set up in-person meetings when appropriate. Don’t be shy, either- interact with colleagues on message boards and forums.

“If you are passionate about something and want to be a leader in your field, leading debates is important,” Mr. Tarnowski says. “There’s a big opportunity online to do so.”

And although it seems everyone is atwitter over Twitter, blogging, can be another powerful way to showcase skills and build relationships, advises Jason Davis, Systems Evolution Inc., Boston, Massachusetts.

“Yes, you have to go out and get solid project experience, but the blogging community is allowing people to interact about their experiences.” he says. “It’s allowing people to get involved with other project managers they wouldn’t normally have been able to connect with.”

It can also help those just starting out to gain some credibility.

“Young project management talent can not only get a presence that way but can also build their résumé, and ultimately, their careers,” Mr. Davis says.

The main article was about social recruiting and how companies are using this as a tool to recruit good project managers.

I was quoted as emphasizing the power of community on Twitter – “Primarily, I see the Twitter space as a place to build community within the profession and keep a pulse on the conversation,” says Jason Davis, Principal Consultant at Systems Evolution Inc., a project and technology management consulting firm in Boston, Massachusetts.

6 months later, I still couldn’t agree more.

A Virtual Foot In The Door is a post from: HR Think Tank

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.  I hope you have a great day full of family, friends, football, and food.  It’s been a great year and we have a lot to be thankful for.

That is my Dad and my awesome nephew Cayden.  Dad’s shirt says “This is what a cool dad looks like”.  I would have to agree.  If you have ever met him you would agree too.  Given it’s Thanksgiving, and also that it was my father’s birthday in November I thought, hey, I should do a lessons from Dad post.  Boom. Done.  This Thanksgiving, I’m thankful for these awesome lessons from my dad.

1. Sleep when you are dead.

My Dad owns this phrase.  A lot of my friends immediately say this when my Dad comes up in conversation.  He would say it whenever he wanted us to go on some crazy trip last minute.  My favorite was in the Summer of 1999.  I was on my summer break from the US Air Force Academy and hanging out in the backyard with friends.  Dad came out and said “I am leaving for Woodstock in 15 minutes, who is coming with me?”  About ten college kids standing around and only two takers.  We drove to Rome, NY and had a great time at Woodstock 99 – Rusted Root, Jewel, Our Lady Peace, Chili Peppers.  Loads of great bands and good times on less than an hour notice.  Lessons here are endless – Be spontaneous.  Life your life.  Have fun.  Don’t wait until tomorrow to do something you could do today.

2. Show Up; 2a. Do what you said you would do

Half of the battle is showing up.  Commit to attending an event and thinking about blowing it off?  Don’t.  Have a little too much fun and thinking about calling in sick?  Don’t.  My dad taught me that it was important to be reliable.  If you say you are going to do something – Do it.  This is obviously important in both your personal and your professional life.  If you consistently show up and do what you commit to… if you are reliable… you put yourself in the position to be a go-to friend, or the go-to resource in the workplace, and that is gold.  So show up.  And Do what you said you would do.  Every time.

3. Behind every great project manager is at least one exceptional technical resource who they have not pissed off yet.

My Dad is a problem solver.  He’s a technologist at heart that fixes tough technical problems.  I am a project manager slash business development type.  I know enough to know when there is a problem, but I usually have to convince someone else to fix it (hey, that is harder than it sounds!).  Dad ribs me quite a bit on this point -  “I want to DO the work”.  “I fix things.  You just plan things.”  While  knowing your role, learning the art of escalation, and managing scope are all important, I learned perhaps the number one rule of thumb for any successful PM from my father before I was even a PM: Behind every great project manager (or business sponsor for that matter), is at least one exceptional technology resource who they have not pissed off yet.  Take it to the bank.  You lose your tech team, you’re done.

This list could be way longer, like be nice to your mom (and make sure everyone else is too).  I also know by now that he brought me into this world, and that he can take me out of it, and that even though he taught me everything I know, he didn’t teach me everything he knows.  I’m looking forward to learning the rest of it, because I have a Dad that I like to hang out with. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

This Thanksgiving, I’m Thankful For… Lessons From Dad is a post from: HR Think Tank

The original HR Think Tank was designed by myself (with a little header help from Elizabeth Farmer).  I got by on tweaking the options on the incredibly well designed Thesis Theme. BUT, without serious customization, a Thesis site looks like a million other blogs out there using Thesis, and I am admittedly no Matt Cheuvront, who did an awesome job with my charity site, cyclingagainstcancer.com.

So, when Tara Repucci and her team at NAS Recruitment Communications (Andrea Wolny, thank you!) offered (at no cost) to develop a new design concept for my site to give me a unique design while showcasing their work, I jumped at the opportunity.  NAS was great to work with – completely flexible and accommodating, and super professional.

Now that we’re live, I need your help.  I need your thoughts – unfiltered – on what you think about this design.  Love it? Hate it?  I want to know. What would you change?  What’s missing?  What’s your first reaction to the design? I appreciate your feedback!

(P.S. NAS also did an amazing job on Lisa Rosendahl’s blog – Simply Lisa.  Check it out!)

HR Think Tank: New Look, Same Blog is a post from: HR Think Tank

My first job out of the Air Force Academy was simple: Manage the ‘task list’ of action items and have them ready for the Colonel’s stand-up staff meeting at 7 AM. The expectations were clear – Show up on time with a status for every task, and run through brick walls if needed to chase down the contributors to make sure nothing was late.  This was not the type of leader that accepted no shows, no status, or late. It was an unassuming job, and trust me when I say I wasn’t the envy of any of the other junior officers.  Even the guy running the snack room liked his discreet, no pressure duty more than being in charge of the task list.

The Colonel expected his directs to be managing their projects to tight schedules, and the stand-up was specifically to highlight issues that couldn’t be handled without involving senior management – those sticky issues that needed some additional horsepower from the top to drive decisions or outcomes to keep the projects on schedule.  It wasn’t uncommon to witness the Colonel tear apart project managers for ineffectively escalating issues.  Some project managers would avoid escalation at all costs, only escalating at the 25th hour when remediation was ineffective because it was too late.  Others were alarmists, escalating every issue or decision to leadership.  This was the first time I realized just how important mastering the art of escalating project issues is to being a high-performing project manager.

The ability to strategically manage escalation is one of the key differentiators between the Rockstar Project Managers (PM) and the average, or even good, PMs.

To kick off my Rockstar Project Management Series – here are a few tips on how to manage issue escalation effectively:

1. Timing is Everything: It’s a delicate balance, escalate too early and your manager will feel like they are doing your work for you; Escalate too late and the project slip is on your shoulders.  Effective escalation is an art, not a science, but in general an issue should be escalated after all reasonable avenues of resolution have been investigated and exhausted without success, but while allowing reasonable runway for the escalation to still result in a successful outcome.  Issues must be escalated in time to enable management to outline and execute a mitigation strategy.

2. Don’t be an Alarmist: Have you ever looked at an issues log and seen every item classified as high priority?  If you are a business sponsor, is your e-mail stream full of status updates from project managers that are over-communicating on every task/issue?  Project Manager’s should set reasonable reporting requirements with the management.  Report at a milestone or major task level, but manage your project at the task level.  Managers will appreciate the quiet progress and will take the issues that you do raise much more seriously.

3. Have a Process and Follow Through Simply escalating an issue is not enough.  There should be a process to track risks as they matriculate into issues, and then the systematic burn-down of those issues, including those that are escalated for action.  Escalated issues should also include documentation as to what actions have been taken, and recommendations for actions the manager can take to help resolve the issue.  Most business sponsors/managers won’t be as close to your project as you are, and your success lies in making them successful.  Don’t just throw issues on their desk and go grab DunkinDonuts

4. Communicate: Managers shouldn’t be completely surprised to see an issue escalated to them.  Under normal circumstances, you would have been tracking progress on this issue and communication would have occurred that there was an issue that may require escalation.  Transparent, early communication or risks will prevent embarrassment later.  Knowing what to communicate and what to work behind the scenes will mean the difference between Rockstar PM and a good or average PM.

Rockstar project management involves managing the balance because as much as leadership (and clients) don’t like to hear bad news on their project, they don’t like the Boy Who Cried Wolf either. The best project managers, and the best consultants, understand the delicate balance between candid project status with timely escalation of critical issues, and over-communication issues to the detriment of the project teams reputation and ability to work autonomously.

(Image courtesy of http://braddocksblog.com)

Rockstar Project Management: The Art of Escalation is a post from: HR Think Tank

Back in March, I was asked to write the monthly ‘Living the Value Proposition’ column for my company’s monthly newsletter.  In a very Jerry Macguire-esque effort – I stayed up all night thinking about value propositions – the tough to define, ever-continuous search to define the elusive catch-phrase that pops into peoples minds when they think of our company.  I wasn’t looking to write marketing collateral or website material here – I wanted to dish some old school stream of consciousness thoughts on some basic questions: Why do people work here?  Why do clients hire us?  What enables us to get long term traction?

I decided to talk about the value of people and trust, and what they meant to our company – About how they defined our sales and delivery approach.

I wasn’t on Twitter yet – but I found Amber Naslund (@AmberCadabra) who wrote in her blog back in 2008 that “Delivering something worthwhile is not achieved in a board room with big flip charts or spreadsheets and ideation sessions. It’s not delivered with a slick brochure or well-written copy, or a stack of press hits in the Wall Street Journal.  It’s not delivered in key messages or brand attributes, even.  It’s delivered in the work that you do with and for your customers, each and every day.  The hard stuff, where you roll up your sleeves and show what you’re made of.  Solving real problems for real people.” When I read this – it instantly resonated with me – it sounded like my company.  It was at the heart of why we were experiencing real traction with clients.

I used Amber’s message as a spring board into talking about our hiring model as a key differentiator for the firm.  We don’t hire ‘revenue streams’ for short term opportunities; We don’t bend on out model to snatch up a high performer that isn’t a cultural fit; We don’t have partners and directors and mangers and associates and note takers in an endless ongoing hierarchy of escalating bill rates.  We hire good people that do great work and we give those people the opportunity to be part of a great company, and it works – Good candidates come here – and stay here – and we’re better because of it.

I also ran across Chris Brogan and Julien Smith’s blogs and their pre-Trust Agents eBook called Trust Economies.  They spoke about a business universe build from decades of empty promises, overused buzz words, and buyer skepticism.  They were hitting on the key to our value proposition: linking great people with great clients with a relationship grounded in the common currency of trust.

As we know all too well, a typical sales person (and in many cases a typical consultant) has a short-term mindset, focusing on monthly targets, quarterly/yearly quotas, and high-profit engagements.  But in the Trust Economy – it’s the relationship that drives the sale. Some companies will come in with glossy paper and big names and sell on reputation, but their long-term viability and stickiness are hampered by the lack of a sound, trusting relationship with their clients and numerous cases of non-delivery.

Companies and individuals alike can learn some valuable lessons here.  A strong commitment and focus on building sound relationships, and then adding value to those relationships without a greedy, take more than you give approach can lead to long-term benefits.  Focus on selling this way – Deliver.  Do what is right.  Focus on doing what is best for the client, without selfish and misaligned agendas.  Don’t gouge clients on rates because you can, and don’t change order clients to death. Take Amber’s advice and treat them like peers – roll up your sleeves and solve real problems together!

It’s about the Fuzzy Stuff: People and Trust is a post from: HR Think Tank