This blog will be published from the middle of a desert in south eastern Spain. I say ‘it will’ because right now I am still in Belgium, completing my last minute planning for a holiday in Spain.
The objective for the holiday is to get away to find some relaxation and inner peace, to live the experience of driving my motorbike through nothingness (or as close as I can get to it in Europe) day after day for ten days. The trip was prepared like any typical project with a scope and milestones etc. and just like other projects, one needs to plan for the inevitable. This is something that I find many managers forget. It can only come out from experience. At the beginning of any project the interim or project manager should sit and consider what ‘inevitables’ they might expect to face.
Right here (on a fast train to Brussels) and right now, I can foresee some inevitables for my holiday. I do not mean the blatantly obvious such as; the need for hotels and meals etc, but more the side effects of the project, such as; at times I may get hopelessly lost, will certainly become overheated, tired and irritable, possibly even bored and most likely sick (headaches, upset stomachs, insect bites, muscle pain etc.). For the medical stuff I have the best contingency plan anyone can have, in that my only travel companion is a fully qualified and highly experienced doctor who just happens to speak very good Spanish.
In business projects it is important to try and anticipate the inevitable and to be sure that only actual unforseens, are just that and not something you could or should have anticipated. For example you should know in advance that there will be moments of extreme anxiety, moments where your client’s happy appreciative face will turn to disappointment or even anger. Your team will become bored (especially when everything is going smoothly) and suppliers will deliver late when they feel that the pressure is easing off. It is these inevitables that are never written down into any plan but yet, if planned for, can make a tremendous difference. (Any parent who has taken young children on a long car journey in the middle of summer will know what planning for the inevitable means).
So now I am busy planning for my inevitables; the hopeless search for a petrol station, a hotel receptionist who has never heard of the name ‘Lovegrove’ and can not remember any booking in my name, or dropping my bike on a remote road somewhere, or possibly a flat tyre. Of course I do not know exactly when and where these things will occur, but they will occur of that I am sure (if not on this holiday, then certainly the next) and when they do I will have a strategy for them. Now I am not suggesting that you can and should plan for everything but because good project managers and interim managers are often very optimistic people they need to take a few ‘sanity checks’ here and there. They need to think ahead and anticipate, without becoming bogged down with contingencies and risk analyses for absolutely everything. Life should be spontaneous, and within this contradiction lies the balance between megalomaniac management and the cool ‘everything’s going to be alright, just chill’ approach. The closer you are to the cool spectrum the more adaptive you can be, but on the other hand, you will need to be adaptive, because the cool approach will ‘ipso facto’ require on the spot constant planning because you will be dealing with the unplanned variances that this type of management brings.
I’ll let you know how it goes! If there is no blog next Monday, it might be that there is one inevitable that I missed….
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Dress code for interim & project managers
In the last two weeks I have covered the naming of our private businesses, the types of car we should drive and now I want to finish this lighthearted triptych with what an interim manager should wear. The article below is based for men mainly, because when it comes to what female interim managers should wear, the subject is mighty tricky! (If I pluck up enough courage by the time I make it to the end of the article, I’ll give my opinion on that too)!
Now I am of the belief that all interim managers should wear a white shirt, tie, and a dark suit – good quality, nothing cheap and badly fitting. Quality is everything, like the Audi A6, it needs to be quietly stylish. None of these flashy shiny Italian silk pajama suits that might look great in a yacht club, but frankly silly in a board room in Brussels, or any other European capital for that matter. With a suit, you really should have them tailor made, or at least ensure they fit perfectly. An ill fitting suit is far worse than no suit at all. Find yourself an Asian peripatetic tailor, who will fly over to measure you up twice a year. He will get to know you, your tastes and preferences. Whether you want a custom made mobile phone pocket in your trousers or jacket. He can balance your wishes with your partner’s expectations. It can be very tricky. The great thing about tailor made is that for a little extra fee they will sew your name into the label, very useful after a champagne reception, that somehow drifted on a little longer than expected and the last remaining jacket hanging over the back of the bar room stool is not yours!
Never have colored shirts. First thing in the morning when you are preparing for the day, you should be thinking about the meetings ahead of you, your clients worries and how best to tackle them, not whether this tie goes with that shirt, or whether the trousers you want are back from the dry cleaners or not. I knew of a blind person who always looked great. He was single, and as far as I knew had no one at home to help him out. So how did he do it? Simple, he had his sister label all his clothes with a simple numbering system. As long as the numbers fell into the right sequence, he knew the colors and styles would look good. Stray away from the sequence and he immediately risked ridicule (although, I guess no one would ever be that insensitive)? It’s the same for me, if I stray away from the usual combinations (and if my wife is suitably awake) I am likely to get something like “not going to work today”? or “are you going to work looking like that”? The truth is, she is always right, what might look ok in the dull, tungsten lit bedroom, does not always stand up to the judgment of harsh sunlight.
So here’s the dress code. Always a suit (or at worst, a smart jacket and trousers), white shirt tie, black (or possibly brown shoes, as long as they are not with a grey or black suit). Two clean handkerchiefs, one neatly ironed in the left or right trouser pocket, the other in the right hand pocket of jacket. The one in the jacket, is for unplanned accidents, emotional staff or other unforeseens.
Unfortunately, however, not everyone follows my code. Where I am working now, some project managers, look like they have stepped out of the shower and walked directly into the office! I guess it’s the style, but some of them have hair styles that look like they have been electrocuted. This is normally accompanied with shirts hanging out of their trousers and color combinations and clothing styles that one might like to risk over breakfast on Sunday, or by the pool in a holiday hotel, but never in a situation where your client might expect to take what you say seriously!
Some companies adopt a rule that on Fridays you can (read should) wear ‘casual’ clothes. I hate this. It takes me five times as long to get dressed on a Friday morning than on any other day. I really struggle, trying to select the right combination from a collection of clothes that I inwardly feel were designed for someone else other than me. I guess I am just not interested enough in clothes, I don’t like shopping for them and I don’t like selecting them either. I have a few favorites that I would happily wear every day but that is not acceptable either.
However, I can honestly say that my career began to take off, when I realized that how I dressed and looked had a direct effect on those choosing to do business with me. My idealistic, student notions of ‘people shouldn’t judge a book by its cover’ was scrapped and replaced by a brand new look, after some wise advice from someone far older and more successful than me.
Now for women’s clothing. As I write this my hands are shaking out of trepidation at the possible wrath I might face from my female colleagues, especially from the delightful variety of women that I find myself working with! As Robert Palmer sang “you’re a distraction to a man” and so it is for many of us men when confronted by attractive women wearing revealing clothes in the workplace. At a party, or on holiday, revealing clothing can be a very welcome diversion, but in the workplace it simply gets in the way of the message.
There are two ways of looking at the dilemma. Blending in, trying to be seen as equal among men or standing out to be noticed. In my view, if a woman wants to be taken seriously in what she says in a meeting, she needs to use the same tools as men, i.e. to communicate with her eyes, face and hands. She needs to pull her colleagues into her debate. Eye to eye contact is extremely important and this can be difficult if a man’s attention is being constantly drawn in another direction!
I have noticed that most women who have worked their way into higher levels of management, seem to dress in similar ways i.e. roll neck sweaters, or shirts and or jackets with collars that rise very high to just under the chin. This brings the attention directly to their face, which is exactly where they want it during a serious debate.
The English Victorian women with their high collars and long dresses made them look very formidable indeed, and you only have to look at images from the Victoria and Albert museum’s incredible collection of clothes in London to see what I mean. On the other hand there are also women who bring color and life into the board room, that the men’s dull white shits and micky mouse ties, simply can not replace. (By the way male interim managers should never wear comical ties, this is an absolute no, it does not matter who bought it for you)!
Today fashion is so varied that women can, more or less, wear anything, and that is exactly what they do! There is a trend (especially with younger staff) to wear more than one T shirt and jumpers; multiple layers straddled over one another. I find these a distraction because I wonder what the thought process is that goes into the selection of each layer. I am a classical person, I like simple shapes and forms, blouses with jackets and trousers or skirts, clothes that don’t shout out ‘look who I am’ but allow the woman to stand alongside her male companions and be taken seriously as an equal and not an outsider trying to attract attention.
Although in some parts of the world it is getting better, for many women in business, life is still tough in comparison with men. A woman who feels the need to get their male colleagues to take them more seriously should do what I did twenty years ago, step into the mainstream business fashion way of life. They should realize that how you look is how you are perceived, and there is no way around it. At home or on holiday is one thing, work is something different entirely. For female interim and project managers, no jeans, no combat trousers, no gothic beads, no low cut T shirts with, or without, meaningless slogans. In fact nothing too original apart from colors, fabrics and shapes. It may sound dull, but it is what we do as professional managers that matters, not trying to show glimpses of who we prefer to be, outside in our private lives.
Now I am of the belief that all interim managers should wear a white shirt, tie, and a dark suit – good quality, nothing cheap and badly fitting. Quality is everything, like the Audi A6, it needs to be quietly stylish. None of these flashy shiny Italian silk pajama suits that might look great in a yacht club, but frankly silly in a board room in Brussels, or any other European capital for that matter. With a suit, you really should have them tailor made, or at least ensure they fit perfectly. An ill fitting suit is far worse than no suit at all. Find yourself an Asian peripatetic tailor, who will fly over to measure you up twice a year. He will get to know you, your tastes and preferences. Whether you want a custom made mobile phone pocket in your trousers or jacket. He can balance your wishes with your partner’s expectations. It can be very tricky. The great thing about tailor made is that for a little extra fee they will sew your name into the label, very useful after a champagne reception, that somehow drifted on a little longer than expected and the last remaining jacket hanging over the back of the bar room stool is not yours!
Never have colored shirts. First thing in the morning when you are preparing for the day, you should be thinking about the meetings ahead of you, your clients worries and how best to tackle them, not whether this tie goes with that shirt, or whether the trousers you want are back from the dry cleaners or not. I knew of a blind person who always looked great. He was single, and as far as I knew had no one at home to help him out. So how did he do it? Simple, he had his sister label all his clothes with a simple numbering system. As long as the numbers fell into the right sequence, he knew the colors and styles would look good. Stray away from the sequence and he immediately risked ridicule (although, I guess no one would ever be that insensitive)? It’s the same for me, if I stray away from the usual combinations (and if my wife is suitably awake) I am likely to get something like “not going to work today”? or “are you going to work looking like that”? The truth is, she is always right, what might look ok in the dull, tungsten lit bedroom, does not always stand up to the judgment of harsh sunlight.
So here’s the dress code. Always a suit (or at worst, a smart jacket and trousers), white shirt tie, black (or possibly brown shoes, as long as they are not with a grey or black suit). Two clean handkerchiefs, one neatly ironed in the left or right trouser pocket, the other in the right hand pocket of jacket. The one in the jacket, is for unplanned accidents, emotional staff or other unforeseens.
Unfortunately, however, not everyone follows my code. Where I am working now, some project managers, look like they have stepped out of the shower and walked directly into the office! I guess it’s the style, but some of them have hair styles that look like they have been electrocuted. This is normally accompanied with shirts hanging out of their trousers and color combinations and clothing styles that one might like to risk over breakfast on Sunday, or by the pool in a holiday hotel, but never in a situation where your client might expect to take what you say seriously!
Some companies adopt a rule that on Fridays you can (read should) wear ‘casual’ clothes. I hate this. It takes me five times as long to get dressed on a Friday morning than on any other day. I really struggle, trying to select the right combination from a collection of clothes that I inwardly feel were designed for someone else other than me. I guess I am just not interested enough in clothes, I don’t like shopping for them and I don’t like selecting them either. I have a few favorites that I would happily wear every day but that is not acceptable either.
However, I can honestly say that my career began to take off, when I realized that how I dressed and looked had a direct effect on those choosing to do business with me. My idealistic, student notions of ‘people shouldn’t judge a book by its cover’ was scrapped and replaced by a brand new look, after some wise advice from someone far older and more successful than me.
Now for women’s clothing. As I write this my hands are shaking out of trepidation at the possible wrath I might face from my female colleagues, especially from the delightful variety of women that I find myself working with! As Robert Palmer sang “you’re a distraction to a man” and so it is for many of us men when confronted by attractive women wearing revealing clothes in the workplace. At a party, or on holiday, revealing clothing can be a very welcome diversion, but in the workplace it simply gets in the way of the message.
There are two ways of looking at the dilemma. Blending in, trying to be seen as equal among men or standing out to be noticed. In my view, if a woman wants to be taken seriously in what she says in a meeting, she needs to use the same tools as men, i.e. to communicate with her eyes, face and hands. She needs to pull her colleagues into her debate. Eye to eye contact is extremely important and this can be difficult if a man’s attention is being constantly drawn in another direction!
I have noticed that most women who have worked their way into higher levels of management, seem to dress in similar ways i.e. roll neck sweaters, or shirts and or jackets with collars that rise very high to just under the chin. This brings the attention directly to their face, which is exactly where they want it during a serious debate.
The English Victorian women with their high collars and long dresses made them look very formidable indeed, and you only have to look at images from the Victoria and Albert museum’s incredible collection of clothes in London to see what I mean. On the other hand there are also women who bring color and life into the board room, that the men’s dull white shits and micky mouse ties, simply can not replace. (By the way male interim managers should never wear comical ties, this is an absolute no, it does not matter who bought it for you)!
Today fashion is so varied that women can, more or less, wear anything, and that is exactly what they do! There is a trend (especially with younger staff) to wear more than one T shirt and jumpers; multiple layers straddled over one another. I find these a distraction because I wonder what the thought process is that goes into the selection of each layer. I am a classical person, I like simple shapes and forms, blouses with jackets and trousers or skirts, clothes that don’t shout out ‘look who I am’ but allow the woman to stand alongside her male companions and be taken seriously as an equal and not an outsider trying to attract attention.
Although in some parts of the world it is getting better, for many women in business, life is still tough in comparison with men. A woman who feels the need to get their male colleagues to take them more seriously should do what I did twenty years ago, step into the mainstream business fashion way of life. They should realize that how you look is how you are perceived, and there is no way around it. At home or on holiday is one thing, work is something different entirely. For female interim and project managers, no jeans, no combat trousers, no gothic beads, no low cut T shirts with, or without, meaningless slogans. In fact nothing too original apart from colors, fabrics and shapes. It may sound dull, but it is what we do as professional managers that matters, not trying to show glimpses of who we prefer to be, outside in our private lives.
Sunday, June 10, 2007
What kind of car should an interim Manager drive?
Following on from last weeks blog on the naming of your business, I thought this week it might be a good idea to take a look at the other aspect that fills our mind when we move away from being an employee and take the plunge into a self employed interim management world. Suddenly the restrictive company car list has disappeared and every car you may have ever wanted to own is suddenly an option – or is it?
Many years ago I was working for a marketing department in central London, when a freelance photographer drove up to the office in his brand new Range Rover. He didn’t park it in the car park, or even at a parking meter, he simply parked it half on the pavement, right outside the main entrance.
He was making a deliberate statement, ‘see what kind of car I drive.’ and ‘I don’t care if I break the law, after all it’s only a fine.’ What he may not have reckoned on is the amount of jealousy he stirred up. The marketing manager, who actually commissioned him, drove a 2 liter company Opel. The photographers’ Range Rover was the last straw. So when it happened that the photographs turned out to be not so spectacular, the photographer was dumped immediately.
It was an important lesson for me (I was still a junior marketing assistant), I never forgot how quickly my boss’ opinion of the man turned when he saw the photographers car. The fact that they had been laughing and joking together, only a few weeks earlier, you could be excused for thinking that they were the best of friends.
So the rule is, always drive a car to your client that is not going to upset anyone. And certainly not one that says this guy is a show off. Choose one that says ‘this person is careful with their money yet they obviously appreciate quality.’ For an interim manager there is only one car in the world that suits this purpose, an Audi A6, anything else just won’t do! Make sure you go for the 2.0L version. If you want a bigger engine, then pay more and ask the garage to put a 2.0L badge on the back. You’ll get the car you want and your clients won’t get upset.
A BMW is too brash and a Jaguar too flash. A Mercedes might be ok, but somehow they have gone off the boil and there is always the risk (especially in the UK) that they might be seen as more expensive than they really are. For the family man a five door Audi A6 brake (estate car), is acceptable. But no people transporters, they need to be reserved for young family managers, perhaps for project managers and engineers, but an interim manager does not want to radiate the fact that there is anything in the world that is important, apart from the needs of their clients. So no baby seats or any other signs of domesticity!
I once knew a guy who, when he left home in the morning, parked his car around the corner and took out the child seats and hid them under a blanket in the boot, just because he didn’t want his client knowing he had children! Now this maybe going way too far, but I hope you get the gist of what I am talking about?
If you fancy an Audi A8 or even a TT, keep it in the garage at home and only take it out when your client is not looking.
This may seem silly but cars and clothes say much about a person and clients pick up on them. On an ending note, never ever have a more expensive, flashier car than the Chairman, otherwise you are doomed. After all, life is tough enough as it is, why make it harder for yourself?
Many years ago I was working for a marketing department in central London, when a freelance photographer drove up to the office in his brand new Range Rover. He didn’t park it in the car park, or even at a parking meter, he simply parked it half on the pavement, right outside the main entrance.
He was making a deliberate statement, ‘see what kind of car I drive.’ and ‘I don’t care if I break the law, after all it’s only a fine.’ What he may not have reckoned on is the amount of jealousy he stirred up. The marketing manager, who actually commissioned him, drove a 2 liter company Opel. The photographers’ Range Rover was the last straw. So when it happened that the photographs turned out to be not so spectacular, the photographer was dumped immediately.
It was an important lesson for me (I was still a junior marketing assistant), I never forgot how quickly my boss’ opinion of the man turned when he saw the photographers car. The fact that they had been laughing and joking together, only a few weeks earlier, you could be excused for thinking that they were the best of friends.
So the rule is, always drive a car to your client that is not going to upset anyone. And certainly not one that says this guy is a show off. Choose one that says ‘this person is careful with their money yet they obviously appreciate quality.’ For an interim manager there is only one car in the world that suits this purpose, an Audi A6, anything else just won’t do! Make sure you go for the 2.0L version. If you want a bigger engine, then pay more and ask the garage to put a 2.0L badge on the back. You’ll get the car you want and your clients won’t get upset.
A BMW is too brash and a Jaguar too flash. A Mercedes might be ok, but somehow they have gone off the boil and there is always the risk (especially in the UK) that they might be seen as more expensive than they really are. For the family man a five door Audi A6 brake (estate car), is acceptable. But no people transporters, they need to be reserved for young family managers, perhaps for project managers and engineers, but an interim manager does not want to radiate the fact that there is anything in the world that is important, apart from the needs of their clients. So no baby seats or any other signs of domesticity!
I once knew a guy who, when he left home in the morning, parked his car around the corner and took out the child seats and hid them under a blanket in the boot, just because he didn’t want his client knowing he had children! Now this maybe going way too far, but I hope you get the gist of what I am talking about?
If you fancy an Audi A8 or even a TT, keep it in the garage at home and only take it out when your client is not looking.
This may seem silly but cars and clothes say much about a person and clients pick up on them. On an ending note, never ever have a more expensive, flashier car than the Chairman, otherwise you are doomed. After all, life is tough enough as it is, why make it harder for yourself?
Friday, June 1, 2007
Naming your business
Over the years many people have come to me for advice with regards to setting up a private company, taking the break from being an employee to a stand alone self employed professional.
It is a worrying time, with feelings of uncertainty and what if’s. But among the mixed emotions that many feel, much useless time is spent on thinking up a slick name for the new company, and aimlessly searching to see if the web address is still available.
For most interim or project managers, the new business will only ever be a one man band. Although for some strange reason, so many of us want to give the impression that our business is somehow much bigger than it really is. This is possibly because we have taken the step away from being a manager of many and find it hard to resist the title of Managing Director or CEO, as a compensation for not having been one in ‘real life’?
But how can you be a managing director, if you do not have any directors to manage? And how can you be a chief executive officer, if you are the only officer? The problem, as I see it of giving your new found company a grandiose name, is that you cause disappointment and confusion in the eyes of your potential customers.
For example: Call your business Executive consultants Ltd. And you immediately give the impression that there are many of you. The first question a potential client will ask is, “how many employees do you have?” Unless you lie, you will end up saying things like ‘we are very small at the moment, but we have plans’. Who has plans? Only you have plans, unless you include your life partner, dog or family parrot!
The other risk of a grandiose name is that potential clients may even see you as a threat, especially if you are likely to obtain your assignments via agencies and supply companies. They may worry that you are out to steal their business or recruit their employees and contractors away from them. Another problem can be that a client may not be able to get your company onto their short list of suppliers.
In the interim management and project management line of business it is best to build your career based upon the quality of your work and not on your business itself, unless that is your companies objective. Mixing the two can be dangerous.
When you go self employed as an interim manager, consultant, project manager or IT consultant the best thing to do is to set up your own private bvba. Give it your own name. Unless you are called John Brown, or Mike Smith or Mr. Patel or De Smit (or any other very common name), no one will ever confuse your correspondence or forget your company name. Your client will also not feel inferior to you and will enjoy ‘patronising you’ by giving you loads of work! And when your invoice comes in, your client will instantly recognize it and because you are a small ‘one man band’ they will have more sympathy for you and make sure that you get paid sooner than your grandiose competitors. If you look as if you can afford a lawyer, soon or later your client will cause you to use one!
Later on, if you have a really good business idea, you can always set up another company, with an appropriate name and invoice into it from your own private company. This has many tax advantages and gives you the freedom to do many things, as you wish. In Belgium, when you set up a business you have to state what it is your business will do, so it is important to get as broad a brief as possibly. You need a description that encompasses almost everything. In my private Belgian bvba (similar to a Ltd. Company in the UK), I can do almost anything apart from taxidermy and cooking – two things that I simply can never imagine ever wanting to do!
So my advice is: give yourself a simple private business name. If your real name is Jean-Paul Schot, call it Jean Paul Schot bvba or Ltd. Give yourself an e-mail or web address (if you really need one) with the same name - www.jeanpaulschot.com. Everyone will recognize your invoices, letters, e-mails and faxes and you will never cause confusion. People will never be able to tell if you earn 3 million Euros per year or 300,000 or 30,000 – unless they bother to check the public records.
One last tip – never, never try and be cleaver with the name by mixing half your wife’s name with yours, it will end up sounding like a small yacht, moored on a cheap quayside in Blankenberg or Brighton and everyone will grown when you proudly explain the background of the name. And (God forbid) if you ever get divorced, you will regret the name so badly and your accountant will curse you for having to set up a new business, when you had a perfectly good one before. And al because you just couldn’t resist a one night stand with the receptionist of the Holiday inn, Madrid.
End note:
I would like to start a collection of the worst named companies ever, if you know some, please feel free to share them, if they are yours, you can always submit them anonymously!
It is a worrying time, with feelings of uncertainty and what if’s. But among the mixed emotions that many feel, much useless time is spent on thinking up a slick name for the new company, and aimlessly searching to see if the web address is still available.
For most interim or project managers, the new business will only ever be a one man band. Although for some strange reason, so many of us want to give the impression that our business is somehow much bigger than it really is. This is possibly because we have taken the step away from being a manager of many and find it hard to resist the title of Managing Director or CEO, as a compensation for not having been one in ‘real life’?
But how can you be a managing director, if you do not have any directors to manage? And how can you be a chief executive officer, if you are the only officer? The problem, as I see it of giving your new found company a grandiose name, is that you cause disappointment and confusion in the eyes of your potential customers.
For example: Call your business Executive consultants Ltd. And you immediately give the impression that there are many of you. The first question a potential client will ask is, “how many employees do you have?” Unless you lie, you will end up saying things like ‘we are very small at the moment, but we have plans’. Who has plans? Only you have plans, unless you include your life partner, dog or family parrot!
The other risk of a grandiose name is that potential clients may even see you as a threat, especially if you are likely to obtain your assignments via agencies and supply companies. They may worry that you are out to steal their business or recruit their employees and contractors away from them. Another problem can be that a client may not be able to get your company onto their short list of suppliers.
In the interim management and project management line of business it is best to build your career based upon the quality of your work and not on your business itself, unless that is your companies objective. Mixing the two can be dangerous.
When you go self employed as an interim manager, consultant, project manager or IT consultant the best thing to do is to set up your own private bvba. Give it your own name. Unless you are called John Brown, or Mike Smith or Mr. Patel or De Smit (or any other very common name), no one will ever confuse your correspondence or forget your company name. Your client will also not feel inferior to you and will enjoy ‘patronising you’ by giving you loads of work! And when your invoice comes in, your client will instantly recognize it and because you are a small ‘one man band’ they will have more sympathy for you and make sure that you get paid sooner than your grandiose competitors. If you look as if you can afford a lawyer, soon or later your client will cause you to use one!
Later on, if you have a really good business idea, you can always set up another company, with an appropriate name and invoice into it from your own private company. This has many tax advantages and gives you the freedom to do many things, as you wish. In Belgium, when you set up a business you have to state what it is your business will do, so it is important to get as broad a brief as possibly. You need a description that encompasses almost everything. In my private Belgian bvba (similar to a Ltd. Company in the UK), I can do almost anything apart from taxidermy and cooking – two things that I simply can never imagine ever wanting to do!
So my advice is: give yourself a simple private business name. If your real name is Jean-Paul Schot, call it Jean Paul Schot bvba or Ltd. Give yourself an e-mail or web address (if you really need one) with the same name - www.jeanpaulschot.com. Everyone will recognize your invoices, letters, e-mails and faxes and you will never cause confusion. People will never be able to tell if you earn 3 million Euros per year or 300,000 or 30,000 – unless they bother to check the public records.
One last tip – never, never try and be cleaver with the name by mixing half your wife’s name with yours, it will end up sounding like a small yacht, moored on a cheap quayside in Blankenberg or Brighton and everyone will grown when you proudly explain the background of the name. And (God forbid) if you ever get divorced, you will regret the name so badly and your accountant will curse you for having to set up a new business, when you had a perfectly good one before. And al because you just couldn’t resist a one night stand with the receptionist of the Holiday inn, Madrid.
End note:
I would like to start a collection of the worst named companies ever, if you know some, please feel free to share them, if they are yours, you can always submit them anonymously!
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Coping with that hollow feeling of success...
(The morning after the project launch party)
This week I was having lunch in the Krasnapolski Hotel in Amsterdam with the marketing manager of a large multi-national, discussing the launch arrangements for my book 'Making a Difference', when the conversation turned to the last step of my nine step approach to problem solving: ‘coping with that hollow feeling of success’. She asked me exactly what I meant by it and did I really believe it (she had read the title in the table of contents on the book’s website)? I replied that nothing could be closer to the truth, and sure I believed it, after all I had felt it often enough.
When you have been sweating over a project for over a year, and you have pulled your team through all kinds of troubles, motivating and re-motivating them into action beyond the norm. And when you have fought off all the politicians in the company that would pull your project this way or that, battled with suppliers to get them to simply deliver what they promised, within time and on budget. And when you have broken nearly every rule in the book, to ensure that your client gets exactly what they need and in the form that they want it, it’s really no surprise that after the champagne reception, when the last sandwich has been eaten and all there is left over, is a half full bowl of potato chips (that somebody accidentally spilt red wine into), then yes, you might well go home feeling down or depressed.
“It’s normal”, I told her, “you and I are the kind of people that push the boundaries, that put all our passions into our work. When we finally get the result we want, it can only be too short lived. There is no amount of ‘thank yous’ that can compensate for all the effort invested”.
In my book, I give an analogy with climbing a mountain and indeed, there are similarities. I once met a professional mountain climber at a dinner party, and he spoke of exactly the same sunken feeling, once he reached the summit – but then he had to climb back down again. At least for us, we only have to walk from the bar to the waiting Audi A6! The worst we have to face is a possible parking ticket.
However, wait for a few days after the party, and someone around you will say something that sparks off an idea. A thought that makes that small part, way back in the back of your brain that says, ‘hey, now that sounds like a challenge!’ The next thing you know, you are right back at step one of my nine steps, analyzing the real problem to be solved and beginning to write a scope document for a brand new project challenge! Some of us are just built like that, and our partners have to put up with it, we can not change – it’s just the way we are.
In time, you can look back at projects gone by and remember with fondness their ups and downs. In fact, what the client said or didn’t say at the launch party event, is completely immaterial, they like you, couldn’t find the right words either.
An after thought:
In the UK there are special retirement homes for musicians, perhaps we should build some for interim and project managers (the interim managers will have the luxury apartments on the upper floors and the project managers, smaller ones on the ground floor and in the basement).
I can imagine every night, the ex-managers telling more and more exaggerated stories of projects that were delivered in the most unlikely circumstances and in the most impossible of timeframes!
The only real downside to the retirement home would be that there might not be enough women residents. For a reason unknown to me, there simply are not enough of female interim and project managers. Oh well, I suppose I will have to make do with the female nurses. Hopefully they will be young and pretty and sit with me, listening to all my stories with great interest and attention? Or perhaps we could let marketing managers in as well? ;-)
This week I was having lunch in the Krasnapolski Hotel in Amsterdam with the marketing manager of a large multi-national, discussing the launch arrangements for my book 'Making a Difference', when the conversation turned to the last step of my nine step approach to problem solving: ‘coping with that hollow feeling of success’. She asked me exactly what I meant by it and did I really believe it (she had read the title in the table of contents on the book’s website)? I replied that nothing could be closer to the truth, and sure I believed it, after all I had felt it often enough.
When you have been sweating over a project for over a year, and you have pulled your team through all kinds of troubles, motivating and re-motivating them into action beyond the norm. And when you have fought off all the politicians in the company that would pull your project this way or that, battled with suppliers to get them to simply deliver what they promised, within time and on budget. And when you have broken nearly every rule in the book, to ensure that your client gets exactly what they need and in the form that they want it, it’s really no surprise that after the champagne reception, when the last sandwich has been eaten and all there is left over, is a half full bowl of potato chips (that somebody accidentally spilt red wine into), then yes, you might well go home feeling down or depressed.
“It’s normal”, I told her, “you and I are the kind of people that push the boundaries, that put all our passions into our work. When we finally get the result we want, it can only be too short lived. There is no amount of ‘thank yous’ that can compensate for all the effort invested”.
In my book, I give an analogy with climbing a mountain and indeed, there are similarities. I once met a professional mountain climber at a dinner party, and he spoke of exactly the same sunken feeling, once he reached the summit – but then he had to climb back down again. At least for us, we only have to walk from the bar to the waiting Audi A6! The worst we have to face is a possible parking ticket.
However, wait for a few days after the party, and someone around you will say something that sparks off an idea. A thought that makes that small part, way back in the back of your brain that says, ‘hey, now that sounds like a challenge!’ The next thing you know, you are right back at step one of my nine steps, analyzing the real problem to be solved and beginning to write a scope document for a brand new project challenge! Some of us are just built like that, and our partners have to put up with it, we can not change – it’s just the way we are.
In time, you can look back at projects gone by and remember with fondness their ups and downs. In fact, what the client said or didn’t say at the launch party event, is completely immaterial, they like you, couldn’t find the right words either.
An after thought:
In the UK there are special retirement homes for musicians, perhaps we should build some for interim and project managers (the interim managers will have the luxury apartments on the upper floors and the project managers, smaller ones on the ground floor and in the basement).
I can imagine every night, the ex-managers telling more and more exaggerated stories of projects that were delivered in the most unlikely circumstances and in the most impossible of timeframes!
The only real downside to the retirement home would be that there might not be enough women residents. For a reason unknown to me, there simply are not enough of female interim and project managers. Oh well, I suppose I will have to make do with the female nurses. Hopefully they will be young and pretty and sit with me, listening to all my stories with great interest and attention? Or perhaps we could let marketing managers in as well? ;-)
Sunday, May 20, 2007
"If it's what the client's asking for..."
Scope Change, allow it at your peril!
Last week, in my article ‘Project Overspend, don’t worry about it’ , I focused on budgetary control, but this week an intervention with a new project manager at my client’s site, got me thinking.
There is very little more risky for an interim or project manager than having a project under control, i.e. running on time and within budget. Sooner or later a team member is going to get bored and with boredom comes the number one enemy to any project, Scope creep.
In fact scope creep is born out of three circumstances, one (as mentioned above) boredom, and the other two arrogance and laziness (the total absence of, or, a poorly written scoping document).
Boredom:
An under utilized engineer, is a potentially serious risk for scope creep. Engineers need something to do, problems to solve, their world is complexity. Thus a bored engineer, in the absence of a challenge, needs to create one. I have witnessed several occasions where an engineer has 'created' (thought up) a problem for themselves to solve. Coming up with a soliution to a problem that might not exist is a great past-time and is often born at the coffee machine, in a heated debate with another engineer. It gives the engineer new purpous and the chance to shine and be noticed.
The first thing the project manager knows about the 'problem' is when he finds himself in copy of a plethora of e-mails, flying around, warning of impending doom unless an urgent issue is tackled immediately. Crisis meetings are set up by the engineering team, and e-mails are often sent over the head of the PM, directly to the project sponsors.
Even when the ‘issue’ is analized as being quickly resolvable, the founding engineer can take the claim for having saved the project from immanent disaster – even though many other engineers, would have just solved the minor problem, without even bringing it to the attention of his or her entire community. Now to be fair, it has to be said that, this phenomonum is not restricted to only engineers, it can be any under utilized team member, sometimes it can even be the project manager himself!
Arrogance:
Arrogance shows its ugly face, often when a new team member comes on board. Rather than reading the scope document (assuming there is one), they make a few quick observations, notice something that is ‘obviously missing’ or overlooked and immediately act in much the same way as the bored engineer above.
It is an unfortunate aspect of human nature that we always believe that we are somehow better, cleverer than most other people. And nothing demonstrates this better than a project manager or consultant during their first few weeks with a new client; “how is it possible that you can run without X or Y” or “In my last company we always did it this way or that…”
The Scope Document:
The most important part of any project has to be the definition of the scope, get this wrong and disaster sooner or later takes hold.
Imagine that your client asked you to put together a team to produce a device that allowed people to speak with one other anywhere in the world (for the sake of this metaphor, we’ll assume that the mobile phone has not yet been invented, but the network is there). The scope will need to be pretty strict to ensure the project meets its objective and we will only know if the project meets its objective if we know, in advance, what the fixed criteria are by which it will be measured. In the case of the mobile phone, it needs to broadcast and receive spoken conversation, nowhere in our imaginary scope document, does it say anything about short message texting, playing games, surfing the internet, buying buss tickets, paying for parking, playing music, watching TV or adult content channels or whatever else today’s mobile telephones can do.
Consequently, a project without a very strong and clearly written scoping document, signed off by all the stakeholders, is on the road to disaster before it even starts. The project will end up being ‘designed’ in the BREQ (Business requirements document). I have noticed that it is at BREQ stage that everyone comes out of the woodwork to have their say on what they want included and what is needed, especially those who are not paying for the project! These people will tell us why our mobile phone can not just be a phone but needs to be a PDA and computer as well. Six months go buy, instead of six days, and still the project is not ready for pricing estimates. And when the estimates finally come in, it is more often than not, a shopping list of nice to have’s that the timeframes and budgets simply can not support.
So my advice to any new project manager is; 'ignore the scoping document at your peril, otherwise throughout the project people will invent important new features and functionality that ‘somehow must have been overlooked’ and the next thing you know, you (the PM) are going back to the sponsors announcing delays and the need for more cash'.
I believe that it is the personal responsibility of the project manager to get the scope under control from the beginning and defend it rigorously until the end of the project. The scope document also needs to clearly state what the project won't deliver, expectations need to be measured and controlled.
If your client decides they don’t want the project, or its deliverables, after all – then obviously you simply need to stop and cut your loses. On the other hand if your client keeps changing their minds about exactly what is required, then you had better put the project on hold and force the client to taking seriously exactly waht their requirements are before another day or Euro is wasted. Putting a project into ‘pause’ mode is very handy, it’s not as dramatic as 'on hold' or 'stop'. Pausing a project is about creating a brief time out to go back to basics and to be sure that what was originally asked for is actually what we need and going to be delivered.
Last week, in my article ‘Project Overspend, don’t worry about it’ , I focused on budgetary control, but this week an intervention with a new project manager at my client’s site, got me thinking.
There is very little more risky for an interim or project manager than having a project under control, i.e. running on time and within budget. Sooner or later a team member is going to get bored and with boredom comes the number one enemy to any project, Scope creep.
In fact scope creep is born out of three circumstances, one (as mentioned above) boredom, and the other two arrogance and laziness (the total absence of, or, a poorly written scoping document).
Boredom:
An under utilized engineer, is a potentially serious risk for scope creep. Engineers need something to do, problems to solve, their world is complexity. Thus a bored engineer, in the absence of a challenge, needs to create one. I have witnessed several occasions where an engineer has 'created' (thought up) a problem for themselves to solve. Coming up with a soliution to a problem that might not exist is a great past-time and is often born at the coffee machine, in a heated debate with another engineer. It gives the engineer new purpous and the chance to shine and be noticed.
The first thing the project manager knows about the 'problem' is when he finds himself in copy of a plethora of e-mails, flying around, warning of impending doom unless an urgent issue is tackled immediately. Crisis meetings are set up by the engineering team, and e-mails are often sent over the head of the PM, directly to the project sponsors.
Even when the ‘issue’ is analized as being quickly resolvable, the founding engineer can take the claim for having saved the project from immanent disaster – even though many other engineers, would have just solved the minor problem, without even bringing it to the attention of his or her entire community. Now to be fair, it has to be said that, this phenomonum is not restricted to only engineers, it can be any under utilized team member, sometimes it can even be the project manager himself!
Arrogance:
Arrogance shows its ugly face, often when a new team member comes on board. Rather than reading the scope document (assuming there is one), they make a few quick observations, notice something that is ‘obviously missing’ or overlooked and immediately act in much the same way as the bored engineer above.
It is an unfortunate aspect of human nature that we always believe that we are somehow better, cleverer than most other people. And nothing demonstrates this better than a project manager or consultant during their first few weeks with a new client; “how is it possible that you can run without X or Y” or “In my last company we always did it this way or that…”
The Scope Document:
The most important part of any project has to be the definition of the scope, get this wrong and disaster sooner or later takes hold.
Imagine that your client asked you to put together a team to produce a device that allowed people to speak with one other anywhere in the world (for the sake of this metaphor, we’ll assume that the mobile phone has not yet been invented, but the network is there). The scope will need to be pretty strict to ensure the project meets its objective and we will only know if the project meets its objective if we know, in advance, what the fixed criteria are by which it will be measured. In the case of the mobile phone, it needs to broadcast and receive spoken conversation, nowhere in our imaginary scope document, does it say anything about short message texting, playing games, surfing the internet, buying buss tickets, paying for parking, playing music, watching TV or adult content channels or whatever else today’s mobile telephones can do.
Consequently, a project without a very strong and clearly written scoping document, signed off by all the stakeholders, is on the road to disaster before it even starts. The project will end up being ‘designed’ in the BREQ (Business requirements document). I have noticed that it is at BREQ stage that everyone comes out of the woodwork to have their say on what they want included and what is needed, especially those who are not paying for the project! These people will tell us why our mobile phone can not just be a phone but needs to be a PDA and computer as well. Six months go buy, instead of six days, and still the project is not ready for pricing estimates. And when the estimates finally come in, it is more often than not, a shopping list of nice to have’s that the timeframes and budgets simply can not support.
So my advice to any new project manager is; 'ignore the scoping document at your peril, otherwise throughout the project people will invent important new features and functionality that ‘somehow must have been overlooked’ and the next thing you know, you (the PM) are going back to the sponsors announcing delays and the need for more cash'.
I believe that it is the personal responsibility of the project manager to get the scope under control from the beginning and defend it rigorously until the end of the project. The scope document also needs to clearly state what the project won't deliver, expectations need to be measured and controlled.
If your client decides they don’t want the project, or its deliverables, after all – then obviously you simply need to stop and cut your loses. On the other hand if your client keeps changing their minds about exactly what is required, then you had better put the project on hold and force the client to taking seriously exactly waht their requirements are before another day or Euro is wasted. Putting a project into ‘pause’ mode is very handy, it’s not as dramatic as 'on hold' or 'stop'. Pausing a project is about creating a brief time out to go back to basics and to be sure that what was originally asked for is actually what we need and going to be delivered.
Sunday, May 6, 2007
“Project overspend? Don’t worry about it”
The Triple Constraint and why not to ignore the cost (even if your client does not mind).
Any project manager will tell you that the ‘triple constraint’ is the most important part of managing any kind of project. Namely: ‘Scope, Time and Budget’. This week, I have been mulling over the third constraint, budget. Why is it that so many large corporations, take their eye off the budget? For many large companies, over spending is not ‘welcome’ but it is not a serious misdemeanour either, especially if the over-spend has occurred ‘in-house’.
For whatever internal political reasons, it is still hard to come to terms with and understand how this comes about. Is it because so many companies have Hey Grade type rewarding systems? The kinds where staff are ranked and rewarded by the numbers of employees they have reporting to them, or indeed, how large their departmental budget is? If there is a link, then perhaps it is little wonder that budget is so often over-looked (assuming that their end of year assessments are allowed to sweep away the issues of over spend, after all maybe their boss is not so interested in reducing departmental budget either)?
As an interim manager, a relaxed attitude to budgets annoys me profusely. Mainly because I know that it is not good for the long term of the business and also for the shareholders (who ultimately, I like to feel I report to). Of course running a massive project with hundreds of reports, with a seven or eight figure budget is great fun, but if you discover that it is just a game for the management team and big ego trip for you, then you get a sour feeling, that this is simply not right.
Working for small companies with cash constraints and limited resources maybe frustrating for a host of reasons, but their need for ‘value for money’ and on time delivery is strong revision lesson for us all. I always think of all the things the business could do with the over spend money, especially when it could have been avoided.
The difficulty often lies in not being able to control the budget adequately. Whether it is an external supplier increasing prices, or internal departments dumping booked man-hours onto projects that are under budget, the result is often the same for the well performing project manager. Those around you are screwing up big time, while you can the financial can. “Even if the management team, say don’t worry, it’s only an internal budgetary issue, for a passionate interim manager, it really is a kick in the guts.
I feel it is the duty of all interim and project managers, no matter what project they are on, to take a serious interest in the spend rate, and to continually report back progress versus budget, no matter how unwelcome the news might be. This has the additional advantage of ensuring that if your budget gets dumped upon, near the end, you can demonstrate that all the way through the project you were on track. After all at the end of the project, the management team will remind you exactly how much the project cost and memories are very short when it comes to exactly why the project ended up 35% overspend.
The day after a party, it is usual to moan about the bill. What gets me is that it is often the good old interim, or project manager (whatever title he or she has) that is the easy target for blame.
Any project manager will tell you that the ‘triple constraint’ is the most important part of managing any kind of project. Namely: ‘Scope, Time and Budget’. This week, I have been mulling over the third constraint, budget. Why is it that so many large corporations, take their eye off the budget? For many large companies, over spending is not ‘welcome’ but it is not a serious misdemeanour either, especially if the over-spend has occurred ‘in-house’.
For whatever internal political reasons, it is still hard to come to terms with and understand how this comes about. Is it because so many companies have Hey Grade type rewarding systems? The kinds where staff are ranked and rewarded by the numbers of employees they have reporting to them, or indeed, how large their departmental budget is? If there is a link, then perhaps it is little wonder that budget is so often over-looked (assuming that their end of year assessments are allowed to sweep away the issues of over spend, after all maybe their boss is not so interested in reducing departmental budget either)?
As an interim manager, a relaxed attitude to budgets annoys me profusely. Mainly because I know that it is not good for the long term of the business and also for the shareholders (who ultimately, I like to feel I report to). Of course running a massive project with hundreds of reports, with a seven or eight figure budget is great fun, but if you discover that it is just a game for the management team and big ego trip for you, then you get a sour feeling, that this is simply not right.
Working for small companies with cash constraints and limited resources maybe frustrating for a host of reasons, but their need for ‘value for money’ and on time delivery is strong revision lesson for us all. I always think of all the things the business could do with the over spend money, especially when it could have been avoided.
The difficulty often lies in not being able to control the budget adequately. Whether it is an external supplier increasing prices, or internal departments dumping booked man-hours onto projects that are under budget, the result is often the same for the well performing project manager. Those around you are screwing up big time, while you can the financial can. “Even if the management team, say don’t worry, it’s only an internal budgetary issue, for a passionate interim manager, it really is a kick in the guts.
I feel it is the duty of all interim and project managers, no matter what project they are on, to take a serious interest in the spend rate, and to continually report back progress versus budget, no matter how unwelcome the news might be. This has the additional advantage of ensuring that if your budget gets dumped upon, near the end, you can demonstrate that all the way through the project you were on track. After all at the end of the project, the management team will remind you exactly how much the project cost and memories are very short when it comes to exactly why the project ended up 35% overspend.
The day after a party, it is usual to moan about the bill. What gets me is that it is often the good old interim, or project manager (whatever title he or she has) that is the easy target for blame.
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