The Lazy Project Manager

What is productive laziness?

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

By advocating being a 'lazy' project manager I do not intend that we should all do absolutely nothing. I am not saying we should all sit around drinking coffee, reading a good book and engaging in idle gossip whilst watching the project hours go by and the non-delivered project milestones disappear over the horizon. That would obviously be plain stupid and would result in an extremely short career in project management, in fact probably a very short career full stop!

Lazy does not mean Stupid. No I really mean that we should all adopt a more focused approach to project management and to exercise our efforts where it really matters, rather than rushing around like busy, busy bees involving ourselves in unimportant, non-critical activities that others can better address, or indeed that do not need addressing at all in some cases.

Science behind the laziness – being focused

The Pareto principle (also known as the 80/20 rule) states that for many phenomena 80% of consequences stem from 20% of the causes. The idea has rule-of-thumb application in many places, but it's also commonly misused, for example, it is a misuse to state that a solution to a problem ‘fits the 80-20 rule’ just because it fits 80% of the cases; it must be implied that this solution requires only 20% of the resources needed to solve all cases.

The principle was in fact suggested by management thinker Joseph M. Juran and 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. The assumption is that most of the results in any situation are determined by a small number of causes.

So ‘20% of clients may be responsible for 80% of sales volume’. This can be evaluated and is likely to be roughly right, and can be helpful in future decision making. The Pareto Principle also applies to a variety of more mundane matters: one might guess approximately that we wear our 20% most favoured clothes about 80% of the time, perhaps we spend 80% of the time with 20% of our acquaintances and so on.

The Pareto Principle or 80/20 rule can and should be used by every smart but lazy person in their daily life. The value of the Pareto Principle for a project manager is that it reminds you to focus on the 20 percent that matters.

Woody Allen once said ‘80% of success is showing up’, I’m not so sure about that, I have seen projects where there was a physical project manager around but you would never have believed that looking at the project progress, or lack of progress.

No, better I believe to appreciate that of the things you do during your day, only 20 percent really matter. Those 20 percent produce 80 percent of your results.

So, you should identify and focus on those things during your working day.

Science behind the laziness – being smart

It’s no good just being lazy; you have to be better than lazy, you have to be lazy in a very smart way

Productive Laziness is not just about being lazy, it requires something more and that is a powerful and magical combination of laziness and intelligence. Smart lazy people have a real edge over others in society and are most suited to leadership roles in organizations.

This theory has existed for many years and applied in a number of interesting ways. One of the most famous of these was in the Prussian Army.

Helmuth Karl Bernhard Graf von Moltke (1800 – 1891) was a German Generalfeldmarschall. The chief of staff of the Prussian Army for thirty years, he is widely regarded as one of the great strategists of the latter half of the 1800s, and the creator of a new, more modern method, of directing armies in the field.

In 1857 Helmuth Moltke was given the position Chief of the Prussian Gro?er Generalstab (military staff), a position he held for the next 30 years. As soon as he gained the position he went to work making changes to the strategic and tactical methods of the Prussian army; changes in armament and in means of communication; changes in the training of staff officers; and changes to the method for the mobilization of the army. He also instituted a formal study of European politics in connection with the plans for campaigns which might become necessary. In short, he rapidly put into place the features of a modern General Staff.

Moltke had a particular insight to and approach to categorising his officer corps, something which lives on to this day within many armed forces, and something which can apply to all forms of leadership.

If you consider the two ranges of individual characteristics, those that go from diligent through to lazy, and those that go from non-smart through to smart (yes I am being politically correct here) then you end up with the four character types in the diagram above.

General von Moltke divided his officer corps into these four distinct types, depending on their mental and physical characteristics. He ended up with (and he never had to be politically correct being born in the 19 century and being chief of the Prussian army) type A: mentally dull and physically lazy, type B: mentally bright and physically energetic, type C: mentally dull and physically energetic, and type D: mentally bright and physically lazy.

Type ‘A’ officers, who were mentally dull and physically lazy, were given simple, repetitive, and unchallenging tasks to perform. They had reached their career peak in the army. That said, if you left them alone then they might just come up with a good idea one day, if not then they won’t cause you any problems either.

Type ‘B’ officers who were mentally bright and physically energetic were considered to be obsessed with micromanagement and would, as a result, be poor leaders. Promotion was possible over a period of time but not to the status of commanding officer of the German General Staff. These officers were best at making sure orders were carried out and thoughtfully addressing all the detail.

Type ‘C’ officers who were mentally dull but physically energetic were considered to be somewhat dangerous. To Moltke, they were officers who would require constant supervision, which was an unacceptable overhead and distraction, and because they would potentially create problems faster than could be managed, these officers were considered too much trouble and were dismissed. No career there then!

Which brings us to type ‘D’ officers; these were the mentally bright and yet physically lazy officers who Moltke felt could and should take the highest levels of command. This type of officer was both smart enough to see what needed to be done but was also motivated by inherent laziness to find the easiest, simplest way to achieve what was required. Put in a more positive way they would know how to be successful through the most efficient deployment of effort.

So, smart lazy people have a real edge over others and are most suited to leadership roles in organizations. The Lazy Project Manager is all about applying these principles in the delivery and management of projects. It is assumed that you are not stupid so you are already on the right hand side of the diagram, what you now need to do is hone your lazy skills in order to rise to the top right hand side of the diagram. Do this and not only will your projects be more successful, you will also be seen as successful and a safe pair of hands for future leadership roles.

‘Whenever there is a hard job to be done I assign it to a lazy man; he is sure to find an easy way of doing it.’ - Walter Chrysler

So how to apply the theory to become really lazy (and really productive)

Well let’s start with how you might view a project. The Lazy Project Manager’s Theory of Projects, from a Productive Laziness aspect, is:

'All projects are thick at one end, much, much thinner in the middle and then thick again at the far end.’

The point here is that, working by the productive lazy rule, a smart project manager should apply time and effort at the critical stages of a project, i.e. the start and the finish, and less time in the middle or the less critical stage. At this stage there are others in the project who should be doing most of the hard work and you probably deserve a bit of a rest anyway.

The Lazy Project Manager’s Second Theory of Projects, again from a Productive Laziness aspect, states:

‘If you want to get a project from ‘start’ to ‘finish’ then you hitch a ride as much as you can – you don’t carry it!’

And the point this time is that as a smart project manager you should be directing the project and not trying to pick it up and carry its heavy, heavy load on your back all the way to the delivery gate. That way only failure, backache and heartache lie.

It should also be remembered that it is as much to do about what you don’t ‘do’ as to what you do ‘do’. Do the things that will contribute to the ‘80%’ and avoid doing the things that won’t.

Where do you begin and with what, and after that what next?

So what is it that a ‘lazy’ project manager should focus on during this initial ‘thick’ front end to their projects? And by front end, if you happen to be following this is real project management terminology, then I am referring to initiation of the project. Well the back end of initiation anyway. There is a project, you are the project manager, and the project is kicking off.

So what is it that should get you out of the ‘comfy chair’ and rushing in to action?

Well firstly getting ahead, and then staying ahead, of the ‘game’. Then planning a strategy for managing the two critical ‘players’ in any project – the project sponsor, who should be known at this point, and the project creep, who will be unknown but could be anyone or everyone, including, if you are really unlucky, the project sponsor, or , if you are really stupid, you.

And finally, the project manager needs to be planning for zero communication breakdowns, a singularly significant activity since general guidance suggests that some 70 percent of your time as a project manager should be spent in some form of communication or other.

Three areas to focus on to ensure the project, that is your project, starts off in the right way, in the right direction, and at the right momentum, and with the right processes and controls in place.

There is a well known project maxim that says ‘Projects don't fail at the end. They fail at the beginning.’

Failure at the beginning is just harder to spot and hurts a lot less, for a while at least.

‘A bad beginning makes a bad ending' Euripides

Driving the project on auto-pilot, from the comfy chair

We are now in the ‘much, much thinner in the middle’ part now, so what should the smart but lazy person be concentrating on now?

The ‘lazy’ project manager now oversees the project work with as light a touch as possible. The planning was done at the ‘thick’ front-end of the project, now it is all about execution and control.

A number of aspects work well in the world of productive laziness – firstly ensuring that the project is conducted in a fun and enjoyable manner, and secondly being prepared to throw that newspaper down, leap off of the comfy chair and deal with problems as and when they occur but in a controlled and productive manner.

In addition it is always good to spread a little love across your project team to engender good spirits and a confident air of potential success. Such love is a good thing but you do need to avoid the trap of being swamped with attention, you need to learn how to operate an ‘open door’ policy but avoid getting dragged in to every little project detail.

‘A whole is that which has beginning, middle and end’ Aristotle

Time for one last effort, to make life easier in the future

Finally we arrive at the ‘thick again at the far end’ part.

Now is not the time to declare the project a success and rush off for a stiff drink at the bar, welcome though that may be.

No, now is the time that you can apply a small and final amount of effort but gain enormous amounts of knowledge so that future projects are likely to be even more successful and potentially with even less effort. And by less effort we know that means so much more time in the ‘comfy chair’ being lazy but in a productive way.

‘The world is round and the place which may seem like the end may also be only the beginning.’ Ivy Baker Priest

Top tips for success the lazy way

1. It is important for your to stay ahead of the game, start confidently, dress appropriately, get the upper hand and anticipate – keep your eye on the end game
2. Manage your sponsor, understand them and what they want from you and the project – make sure you know what’s in it for them
3. And manage the project creep, which is inevitable but manageable with a good and proven change process linked to an appreciative use of the ‘parking lot’
4. Avoid a communication breakdown through an open and honest, effective communication process that suits each individual
5. Have fun, it will help the project but be careful in your use of ‘fun’ – encourage a good level of humour amongst the project team
6. Breathe normally and stay calm, plan for project challenges and when they do happen make sure you filter problems, delegate what you can and prioritise what is left over in order to keep the project on track
7. Make your project attractive, get the best team and keep them feeling ‘loved’ by using others on the team together with yourself – know what ‘love’ individuals want
8. Avoid swamping yourself with communication and demands for your time, by all means have an open door, but be a good manager and close it some of the time for the greater good of the project
9. Always be open to learning more, from the project knowledge and history, by talking openly to project team members so that you can learn the lessons that are there to be learned and share everything by telling others what you now know

Projects are difficult, I am not suggesting that they aren’t, but there is a better way to approach these vehicles of change.

‘And it ought to be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things. Because the innovator has for enemies all those who have done well under the old conditions, and lukewarm defenders in those who may do well under the new.’ Nicolo Machiavelli

or

‘Find yourself a nice comfy chair, read The Lazy Project Manager book and then take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things in a ‘productive lazy’ way.’ The Lazy Project Manager

One final Word of Caution

Success is really defined by what you are looking for:

A project manager was out walking in the countryside one day when a frog called out to them. They bent down, picked up the frog and put it in their pocket. The frog called out again, saying, "If you kiss me I shall turn me back into a beautiful princess, and I'll stay with you for a week as your mistress." The project manager took the frog out of their pocket, smiled at it, and put it back into their pocket. The frog called out once more, "If you kiss me and turn me back into a princess, I'll stay with you for as long as you wish and do absolutely anything that you want. Again the Project manager took the frog out of their pocket, smiled at it and put it back. Finally, the frog demanded, "What's the matter? You can turn me back into a beautiful princess, and I'll stay with you forever and do anything you want. Why won't you kiss me?" to which the project manager replied, "Understand, I'm a project manager. I simply don't have time for a girlfriend, but a talking frog ....... that's cool."

And the moral of the story is: if you decide to not become ‘Productively Lazy’, and that is entirely your choice, then you will probably still think a talking frog is cool! And you won’t have a need for a nice comfy chair since you will be far too busy.

Blog Post Author: Peter Taylor is the author of two best-selling books on ‘Productive Laziness’ – ‘The Lazy Winner’ and ‘The Lazy Project Manager’.

In the last 4 years he has focused on writing and lecturing with over 200 presentations around the world in over 20 countries and has been described as ‘perhaps the most entertaining and inspiring speaker in the project management world today’. He also acts as an independent consultant and trainer working with some of the major organizations in the world coaching executive sponsors, PMO leaders and project managers.

His mission is to teach as many people as possible that it is achievable to ‘work smarter and not harder’ and to still gain success in the battle of the work/life balance.

More information can be found at www.thelazyprojectmanager.com and www.peterbtaylor.co.uk – and through his free podcasts in iTunes.