Skip to main content

Continuous (self) improvement - a personal note

It's a standard Saturday morning and I'm sitting working on my phone at the kids' dojo while they practice sparring drills.  Their coach is giving them some feedback and I'm returning to feedback in this post.

When I wrote the last blog on Continuous (self) improvement I was thinking about it in the abstract and although I had many real-life examples in mind, I was then confronted with an opportunity to share an instance almost immediately after it occurred.

I write this the morning after a team social occasion (aka leaving drinks) and although I don't drink (medical reasons - don't judge me...) my colleagues certainly do.  These events can be fertile ground for picking up people's feelings and frustrations at work.

 Sometimes a shared rant is a bonding exercise
Sometimes it's an opportunity to let a teammate feel listened to.
And sometimes it's a chance to learn how people feel about you or your performance.

 Over the years it's mainly been the first two but last night I was treated to the latter.

It somehow felt very appropriate so soon after the last blog post, as though I was being personally challenged to walk the walk, (I'm fairly certain that's not the case, as these chaps consider themselves far too cool to read any blog written by a Project Manager.)

While I definitely wouldn't recommend giving drunk feedback, I would always recommend listening to it.  It may be less clear than sober office feedback and contain slightly fruitier language, but the level of honesty can be off the charts.

I mean it 100% when I describe all feedback as an opportunity.  Of course, I never said opportunities are painless.

How did it feel?

Initially awful - a good sign that it might be of use.  

They (and apparently the less vocal team members too) had evidently perceived a situation differently to me.  It was a source of anxiety and the group had not felt as protected as I would have liked.

Obviously, in reality, I work hard to protect my team, so this felt like a real stinger.  But as I'm often saying: 

Perception matters - it trumps reality EVERY TIME.

How did I take it?

So that was the first challenge: 
  • Did I listen?  
  • Did I let them explain things from their perspectives without continual interruption?  
  • Was my reaction conducive to further feedback in the future?
  • When I explained my perspective, was it calm, measured and not an attempt to be dismissive of them?
I think I acquitted myself well and can answer yes to all of the above - I'd ask for their thoughts but they appear to have very little recollection of the evening...

Something to learn?

Of course!  It's very easy to under-communicate when protecting a team.  But they're grown-up professionals.  They need to know that they are taken seriously and that they are being fought for. 

"It is not enough to deliver.  You must be seen to have delivered or the value is diminished."

I've taken some time to consider my next steps and have some clear actions to take on Monday morning.  It might have cost me a few hours sleep but it's an opportunity to improve that I'm grateful for.

Being a PM can be a lonely position at times and it's important not to take things too personally.  Make all feedback a positive and it will benefit you mentally as well as professionally.

Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Continuous (Self) Improvement

“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.” - Leo Tolstoy Introduction: Most people talk a great game about continuous improvement.  And as a group, most of us truly agree with and see the benefits of, the concept as applied to our projects and teams. Sprint Retrospectives, Post Implementation Reviews, 5S, DMAIC, PDSA (not the dog people) and so on. But... Do you practice it personally ?  I don't mean training courses, formal development plans and all the other bureaucracy that people step through stoically every year in a bid to get a pay rise.  I'm referring to the small (but meaningful) improvements we can make every day. Or to work in an Agile principle: "At regular intervals, the team (of one in this case) reflects on how  to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts  its behavior accordingly." Step 1: Feedback (aka input to the CI process): Of course, all improvements need to be identified i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Definition of Done - An example

Done? To call a story 'Done-Done' we should refer to two things: the acceptance criteria for each story the team’s Definition of Done The DoD is defined by the team and should be updated whenever it seems appropriate e.g if there's a big change in the team or the work; or the team simply sees the need for a change. If you have project based teams, it's something to agree before timebox 1 kicks off. If you're more product based and continuously working through an ever growing backlog, slot it into a timebox kick-off, a retro (if that's where it was discussed) or just grab 10 minutes after the daily stand-up. An Example: Here's a basic example created by a team I was working with: ---------------------------------------------------------- A. Dev done ---- Code review done ---- Unit Tests written and passing ---- Integration tests written and passing B. Test complete ---- Manual Testing complete – Acceptance Met ---- Automation Tests written and ...
Post a Comment
Read more

"We are Agile!"

A phrase Project Managers hear a lot, and one that occasionally proves to be at least partly true. As it's most often spoken rather than written, it is hard to know whether the speaker means 'agile' or 'Agile'.  I find that asking the question ('big A' Agile or 'small a' agile?) can reveal a lot about that person's knowledge of the 'Agile' world.  If you find yourself asking the people around you this question and you receive blank faces or confused responses you can be fairly certain you haven't landed in a particularly Agile organisation, rather you're somewhere that has rolled out a buzzword in the hope of improving speed of delivery. Organisations tend to fall into one of the following categories: - Comfortably Waterfall - Fine . This organisation knows how it wants to work and perhaps has reasons why they prefer to keep projects waterfall. - Waterfall but concerned they need to get on the Agile bandwagon - Confused ....
Post a Comment
Read more