Day 27: Agile Principle #2
Bexs Nelson, PMP, PMI-ACP, CSM
PMO & Operations Expert with Measured Results | PMP, PMI-ACP, CSM | I help Customer Service Reps transition to joy in Project Management Careers
Day 27: Agile Principle #2
Don’t you just hate it when someone changes plans on you last minute?
I play complex board games as often as I can. * It sharpens my brain and resource management goes hand-in-hand with project management. Summers get to be difficult because I am also a gardener and my radishes do not like the heat right now and take extra time and effort. So, when I get to arrange a board game playdate and arrange a sitter, the last thing I want to hear is that we must change the time to start 3 hours later because someone can't make it on time, which means that it will run past my child’s bedtime and make it difficult to do at all.
Similarly in a job search, when someone says in an interview you will hear from them next week and you don’t, it can drum up similar feelings of rage and angst.
Agile Principle 2: Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for the customer’s competitive advantage.
Let us do our rewrite thing again so we can see how this is applicable to us.
Welcome changing requirements, even late in the job search cycle. Agile processes harness change for the employer’s (and job seeker’s) benefit.
I did add to this one. In this application, it makes sense. A welcoming attitude is an attitude of gratitude. Gratitude for the experience along the way, for the chance to show your pivot skills or more. If we have a grateful attitude even when changes get thrown into our face, we wouldn’t see the benefits such a shift could have or how we can innovate. We get stuck in the mindset of complaining and can’t get there.
Sometimes employers don’t have the job available late game. Someone came in internally and they wanted to give their own people a chance to grow and move up. Sometimes, employers will last-minute want you to do some work to prove your worth before offering the written job offer. This is a late-game chance to drive home you are a value add you may not have been expecting.
Late in the job cycle game, things can get discouraging when they rapidly change. Things like when you are nailing every interview and you don’t get the offer. Don't let discouragement take over. Rapid changes can make you let you lose focus on the connection you have made with the company. Foster it. Maybe they did not need two Project Managers in that position that they gave to someone internally, but they will in 4 months, and you’re exactly the sort of candidate they want.
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That game session I was griping about? Turns out we all wanted to see each other more than we wanted to play the new game. We had a fantastic day getting ice cream and taking the kids to the park. Time well spent instead of frustratedly trying to hurry and move meeples about the board.
Harnessing change for mutual benefit is a skill. It is something that stock market investors aim to be wonderful at. The average everyday person can do it too. It is about having the agility in your mindset to think about the other person’s perspective, how it is going to benefit them, then building a bridge back to marry your view and their view.
This is why I made the addition of job seeker into the principle. For a job to be a fantastic fit, it must be mutually beneficial. You are a part of this process too and a very big part of it at that!
Bexs
*For those curious about what I play, the answer is easier said by what I don't. Feel free to write a question in the comment if I've played your favorite and you'll find out how big a nerd I really am!
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Past Articles in Job Search Like a Project Manager Series:
Note: This is a whole series that organically grew out of sharing an entire project on how to conduct a job search to both gain project experience and to give you a framework for how to conduct it. The earliest few days were posts before the newsletter format took off. Click below to get started!