I realize that I am not the world’s most patient person. This is a source of endless frustration with my fiance: we both get frustrated with each other because I think that he should or does know/understand something that he doesn’t, and when it becomes clear that he doesn’t, I have to decide if that means I should just do it myself or if I have the patience to explain it to him. His driving lessons are a good example. I am tremendously frustrated with the fact that he is so oblivious to directions while driving. The reality is that he is still so nervous about the mechanics of actually handling the car, that he is not devoting any effort to remembering how to get from Point A to Point B. When I stop and calm myself, I understand that. Yet, in the moment, I have an extremely hard time not just taking the steering wheel back myself.
The same problem is now manifesting itself at work. I am working on a project that is being mostly managed by two guys: one who is brand new to project management and one who is a manager who doesn’t think in project management terms. While the Junior PM in the equation is very good about taking guidance and suggestions about how to proceed or the best/most effective ways of tackling a problem, the fact is that neither of them are very directed. And then there are the other boys I work with who compound things by running off on tangents, being late for meetings, and selectively adhering to requirements.
For example: we just had a meeting in which three of the seven participants — the most critical three, as it turns out — were nearly ten minutes late. Four of us sat, cooling our heels, when we all have other things that need to be done, waiting for these guys to arrive. And then, once they DID arrive, the discussion went something like this:
Him: “I know I should know the answer to this, but when was this due again?”
Me: “End of day today.”
Him: “Hmmm. Probably not going to make that.”
He then went on to explain which pieces were finished, which weren’t, and what he needed in order to be able to complete his work. He didn’t TELL US any of this prior to today. He just waited. Argh!
And, a conversation with Him #2:
Me: “Was the Quality Plan created for this project already?”
Him #2: “No, not yet.”
Me: “Well, since we are going into QA tomorrow, that should probably be a high priority. Can we please get this scheduled ASAP?”
Why is this so hard? Truly. I don’t understand. This is NOT rocket science.
Even worse, this isn’t just my experience. The woman who works for me — a very good project manager — presented her schedule to her team in copious detail last week. They reviewed each of their tasks and associated due dates. The short version is that all of their work is due at the end of day next Monday. Today she finds out that one WHOLE DEVELOPMENT TEAM (of four people — exactly half of all the people working on the project) are out of the office for training yesterday, today and tomorrow. So the six days they had to get work done, has now been cut in half. They saw the timeline. They agreed to it. They were supposed to alert her to any schedule disruptions they were anticipating during the project. But they didn’t. They are out of the office, and that’s that. No progress for this week.
What’s so utterly aggravating is the fact that in this organization, there is no real pressure to do what needs to be done to make the date. Certain people have a ‘work all weekend to get it done’ ethic, and when that runs smack into the ‘I’m out of here at 5:00!’ ethic, we end up with a morale problem.
For me, though, it just bothers my attitude. I do not ask anything of anyone I am not willing to do myself. And when I make a commitment, I keep it. When I get a commitment from someone else, I expect to be able to count on it. Obviously if someone’s kid gets hit by a car, the plan is going to suffer. That is what should happen. We are not inhuman. But when you’ve got a deadline that you’ve known about for weeks and you know you are going to be out of the office and that it will impact your ability to make that date, then not speaking up is just inexcusable.
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