More than XP. More than one day.

I spent a good part of my career thinking that Project Managers are either well meaning idiots or bad intentioned manipulators. All that went away, of course, when I started managing projects and I discovered that most Project Managers are - just like most developers - good people trying to do a hard job. This session will explore the causes of common conflicts between the “workers” and the “managers” on software projects. We will discover a generic pattern hidden behind these these conflicts and ways around them.

This is a great opportunity to discover what motivates and concerns “them”.

How?

1. I’ll start by introducing the participants to a fantastic little thinking tool I use daily in my work and in (almost) every chapter in my book. It is called the conflict cloud and it is the simplest (and most profound) tool from Goldratt’s Theory of Constraints. I’ll demonstrate how to build a Cloud using an example - this takes about 5 minutes.
2. I’ll then solicit a number of common problems, disputes or issues from the group - things which p*** them off about their work place and their interactions with “them”.
3. We will then pick three or so of these problems and - one by one - we will “draw” the problem using the Cloud template. Provided the audience is varied enough - i.e. full of “them” and “us” - then we will be able to “argue” each side of the conflict. This will draw out the “their” concerns and a mutual purpose.
4. We will pause to say “Ahhh”.

5. With these three of the clouds we will develop a “generic” conflict - a deep conflict which explains all of the conflicts. In other words, it will explain deep-down why we don’t get along. I’ve done this a number of times now and I am always pleasantly surprised to discover that it is the same core problem.

6. I’ll then walk through a number of ways to “evaporate” the cloud and find a “win win” solution.

This process is incredibly easy to learn and the results can be profound. A couple of weeks ago, for instance, I took a colleague through the process in one hour and at the end of it she told me that she had just solved a big problem she’d been suffering from for the last five years.

YOU CAN FIND the powerpoint and excel files used during the workshop here: http://www.clarkeching.com/2007/11/are-project-man.html