Inhalt : The Lazy Project Manager and the Art of Productive Laziness

“Progress isn't made by early risers. It's made by lazy men trying to find easier ways to do something.”

• Presenter: Peter Taylor
• Work smarter, not harder!
• The Pareto principle was suggested by management thinker Joseph M. Juran; it was named after the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, who observed that 80% of property in Italy was owned by 20% of the Italian population
• We have to understand what is the most important 20% that keeps the project moving
• Productively lazy means finding the was to be effective
• Brian Tracy: Eat that frog
  • People are either:
    • Not smart or smart
    • Diligent or lazy

The science of laziness Pareto principle (80-20)

The intelligence of laziness

The focus of laziness

• Theory by Miss Anne Elk: “All brontosauruses are thin at one end, much, much thicker in the middle, and then thin again at the far end. That is the theory that I have and which is mine, and what it is too.”

• Theory by The Lazy Project Manager: “All projects are thick at one end, much, much thinner in the middle and then thick again at the far end. That is the theory that I have and which is mine, and what it is too.”
• Thick at start…
  • “A bad beginning makes a bad ending” //Euripides
  • Ahead of the Game
  • Manage the Sponsor
    • 1^st time: get some information about him (hopes fears: use open question) so you can work with him
• Manage the Creep
• Communication Breakdown
  • Right information, right way, right time
  • Reporting is NOT communicating
  • Flex your communication
  • Much, much thinner…
    • “A whole is that which has a beginning, middle and end” //Aristotle
    • All in a Fun Day’s Work: appropriate jokes are very helpful
    • Breathing Normally

• In the event of an emergency, an oxygen mask will drop in front of you from the panel above. Place the mask over your mouth and nose, straighten the strap to be sure it is tight on your face. After you are wearing it securely, a tug on the hose will start the oxygen flow. It makes sense to put your on mask on first, before helping others.
  Breathe normally…
• The art of breathing normally:
  • Stay calm in a crisis
  • Plan for the crisis
  • Breathe normally
  • Filter, filter, filter – there are some people who like to create noise
  • Delegate, delegate, delegate
  • Prioritize, prioritize, prioritize – eat that frog!
• A lot of “Love” in the room
  • Projects are about people: if you are too busy you don’t have time for them
• The lights are on (but no-one’s at home)
  • If you need to focus -> find a place
  • Sometimes you need to have the opportunity to focus and concentrate
  • Thick again at the far end…
    • “The world is round and the place which may seem like the end may also be only the beginning.” Ivy Baker Priest
    • The missing link
    • The opportunity to learn
    • “As we know, there are known knows
      There are things we know we know
      We also know there are known unknowns
      That is to say we know there are some things we do not know
      But there are also unknown unknowns
      The ones we don’t know we don’t know” //Donald Rumsfels
    • Definition of Insanity: Insanity means doing the same thing you did in the past… but expecting different results.
    • The Project Retrospective
      • Don’t do it right after the project
      • Regardless of what we discover, we understand and truly believe that everyone did the best job they could, given what they knew at the time, their skills and abilities, the resources available, and the situation at hand.
      • Ask 5 key questions:
        • What worked well that we don’t want to forget?
        • What should we do differently next time?
        • What still puzzles us?
        • What do we need to discuss in greater detail?
        • What did we learn?
  • Emotional seismograph:
    • Timeline: break it down to chapters
    • Ask people to mark how they felt
    • Look for:
      • The gaps
      • The negatives: if everybody feels negative: it is when the project to be broken