Project Management & Sports

The Story

The idea for this article came up while I was preparing myself for my PRINCE2 Foundation examination and while I was taking breaks to train.

As a daughter of a military father and part of a family that has always been practicing sports, a lot of military practices and books were thrown my way while I was growing up.

While reading the theory behind PRINCE2 suddenly things connected with one another and I started comparing the Project Management practices with all the sports practices I have stumbled upon while reading books or while training. Therefore, I decided to share my insights with you.?

In this paper you will read about:?

• Outlining the lessons learned from sports and project management
• PRINCE2 Fundamentals and why I chose PRINCE2 as a certification method
• Commonalities of the PRINCE 2 Structure &?Sports Principles?
• Project management, Leadership & Sports?
• Conclusions

Lessons Learned

There is a question that every manager got asked, if not on a weekly basis, then on a monthly basis for sure - "How do you find motivation to move on and how do you keep getting things done?"?

Every time someone asks me this, my answer is always "I don't know". What I can tell them though is that my punchline is: What would you do if you could just do it all the time?

My answer on this are two things: doing sports & being surrounded and communicating with people. I do not know how good of a PM I am but I can tell one thing for sure - I am good with people and I strongly believe that it is so because of the discipline and the team work sports taught me during the years.?

Everybody is the happiest when they get to be doing what they want to be doing. When you get to do what you want to do, you've won. However, there's naivete existing in the world that just because you do things and you tell people what to do (this is what all the PMs are supposed to be doing and are perceived to be doing), then people are going to listen. This is wrong. You actually have to be good. You have to be a good team player and you have to be a fantastic role model?when leading projects.

To lead and manage projects equals?taking ownership first of yourself and then on the others. This is the fundamental learning?point that training volleyball for 8 years has taught me - you cannot help the team win, without taking responsibility for:

• Showing up to trainings and being on time.
• Every time you train, give the best you could have done for you and to the team during the practice.
• Show up for your teammates not only while training but all the time. Be a team player outside the playground!
• Be consistent.
• Be patient.
• Show empathy to your team and to your coach. You need to look at your coach/leader with understanding and forgiveness that they can be wrong too.
• Build relationships on mutual trust.
• Winning is inevitable.?

Training volleyball for 8 years and practicing modern dances over 5 years gave me a lot. We've had many wins, we failed a lot, but guess what - the same fundamentals apply for the Project Management as well -?at the end of the day it is going to be what it's going to be. It isn't just results that matter but also your work ethic that is being built during the way. How did people around you feel about you? How much did you contribute??

One book that literally changed my perspective not only on sports but on leadership as a whole and has a huge impact on my PM actions, is the book by Jocko Willing and Leif Babin, "The Dichotomy of Leadership".?There are four Laws of Combat outlined there with which my volleyball coach was trying to lead the team.?

1. The first Law of Combat stands for: Cover and Move. This is teamwork - every individual and team within the team, mutually supporting one another to accomplish the mission.?
2. The second Law of Combat is: Simple. Complexity breeds chaos and disaster, especially when things go wrong. And things always go wrong. When plans and orders get too complex, the people charged with executing those plans and orders do not understand them. When team players/members don't understand, they can't execute. Therefore, plans must be simplified so that everyone on the team recognizes the overall "commander's intent" - the greater purpose behind the mission - and understands their role in achieving mission success. Orders must be communicated in a manner that is "simple, clear and concise". The true test for whether plans and orders have been communicated effectively is this: the team gets it. When the people on the team understand, then they can execute.?
3. The third Law of Combat: Prioritize and Execute.?
4. The fourth Law of Combat: Decentralized Command. With Decentralized Command - everyone leads. To empower everyone on the team to lead, team members must understand not just what to do but why they are doing it. This requires clear and frequent communications up and down the chain - and most importantly: trust. Juniors must have confidence that they clearly understand the strategic mission, the commander's intent of their boss, and the parameters within which they can make decisions. Senior Leaders must trust their junior leaders will make the right decisions and encourage them to do so. This requires training and frequent communication to implement with maximum effectiveness.?

Hard work is the first, second and the third part of the formula of everything you want to do and it doesn't matter whether it is for business, trainings or whatever. When you have the audacity to be the best part of yourself, you need to put in the work. Work is the variable of success in everything. Work.?The work trumps everything. It's the one non-debatable. You can debate talent, you can debate luck, you can debate circumstance but you can't debate if somebody's putting in the work. It's the same in business and in sports:

"Hard training and hard work are the solemn duty of trainers and leaders every day."

Why PRINCE2 fundamentals

When preparing for my PRINCE2 certification I found out that the PM practices look alike with the sport practices a lot! Let's see how so.?

But first, let's start with what is PRINCE2.?

The abbreviation of Prince2 stands for PRojects IN Controlled Environments.?

Why is Prince2 used so widely??

• Because it is based on experience?
• It's designed to be quite generic and modulable - it needs to fit in any industry in any organization and projects of any scale or time.?

Projects are the means of introducing a change in organizations. Compared to the sports, every competition can be looked over as a small project with an end goal and a timeline to be fulfilled.?

Structure of PRINCE2 & Sports Principles

The PRINCE2 Structure comprises four integrated elements:

Project Environment → Principles → Themes → Processes?

Fig. 1: PRINCE2 Structure

In project management, the project environment or tailoring is the approach to the project environment processed.?

The principles and the themes are the most important aspects of project management. But why?

• Because the processes trace progress from the start to the end of the project.
• Because the themes are the aspects of the project management that need to be addressed continually.?

Principles

In PRINCE2 they are the guiding obligations or the pillars of the project. There are seven principles in PRINCE2 which are (USE) - Universal, Self-validating, Empowering.?

In sports, the principles are the leading power of every athlete. In his book "Chasing excellence" Ben Bergeron has three principles of coaching as well: Awareness, Intention and Action.?

In project management these principles are:?

1. Continued Business Justification - the project must have a good business sense. There needs to be a clear return on Investment and the use of time and resources should be justified.?
2. Learn from Experience - Project teams should take lessons from previous projects into account. A lessons log is kept updated for this purpose.?
3. Define Roles and Responsibilities - Everyone involved in a project should know what they and other are doing. This includes knowing who the decision makers are.?
4. Manage by stages - Difficult tasks are better off broken into manageable chunks, or management stages.?
5. Manage by exceptions - a project running well doesn't need a lot of intervention from managers. The project board is only informed if there is or might be a problem.?
6. Focus on products - everyone should know ahead of time what's expected of the product. Product requirements determine work activity, not the other way around.?
7. Tailor to the environment - every process can be scaled and tailored.

Themes

Themes provide insight into how the project should be managed. They can be thought of as knowledge areas, or how principles are put in practice. They are set up at the beginning of the project and then monitored throughout. Projects are kept on track by constantly addressing these themes:

1. Business Case - Related to the continued business justification principle. This theme provides knowledge about whether a project is worthwhile and achievable.?
2. Organization - Related to the define roles and responsibilities principle. The organization theme requires project managers to have everyone's roles and responsibilities on record.?
3. Quality - Related to the focus on products principle. Quality can be an abstract concept, so defining it at the beginning of a project is vital to keeping the work on track.?
4. ?Plans - The plan describes how targets will be achieved. It focuses on the products, timescale, cost, quality and benefits.?
5. Risk - the purpose of this theme is to identify, assess and control uncertain events during a project, these are recorded in a risk log. Negative risks are called threats and positive ones are called opportunities.?
6. Change - this theme is about handling change requests and issues that arise during the project. The idea is not to prevent changes, but to get them agreed on before they are executed.?
7. Progress - is about tracking the project. This allows project managers to check and control where they are relative to the plan.

Processes

Each process is overseen by the project manager and approved by the project board. Here is a breakdown of each stage:?

1. ?Starting Up a Project (SU)?

• Create a project mandate, which answers logistical questions about the project. It explains the purpose of the project, who will carry it out and how to execute it?
• A project brief is derived from the mandate, lessons log and discussions with people involved in the project.?
• A team is assigned and with the brief, they should have all the information needed for the next process.?

2. Initiating a Project (IP) - this stage is about realizing what needs to be done to complete the project. The project manager outlines how the following performances targets will be managed:?

• Time?
• Cost
• Quality
• Scope
• Benefit?
• Risk

3. Directing a project (DP)?

• Project managers authorize work packages, which break the project down into manageable activities. These are assigned to teams and their managers. The project manager then has these tasks:?
• Overseeing and reporting on work package progress
• Stepping in to correct problems?

4. Managing Product Delivery (MP) - this is how the communication between the team manager and project manager is controlled. MP comprises these activities:?

• Accepting a work package
• Executing a work package
• Delivering a work package

5. Managing Stage Boundaries (SB) - Project managers and the board review every sage. The board divides whether to continue the project. The project manager meets with the team to record lessons learned for the next stage. In their book "the Dichotomy of Leadership", Jocko Willing and Leif Babin underlines that what makes the best leaders and best teams great (and the best executed project) is that when they make mistakes, they acknowledge them, take ownership, and make corrections to upgrade their performance. Which each iteration, the team and its leaders enhance their effectiveness.?

• SB comprises these activities:?

1. Plan the next stage
2. Update project plan?
3. Update the business case
4. Report the stage end or produce an exception plan?

6. Closing a Project (CP)

1. Decommission the project
2. Identify follow-on actions?
3. Prepare benefits and project evaluation reviews?
4. Free up leftover resources
5. Hand over products to the customer?

I practice CrossFit for over 3 years already. Ben Bergeron is one of the best coaches in this sport. When preparing athletes for CrossFit Games, he follows a hierarchy of development in the pyramid below. I deeply believe it is in the core of every project manager's principle as well.?

Fig. 2: Chasing Excellence Pyramid?

It starts with the development of the person, of the character traits necessary to achieve at a high level. These character traits enable the athletes to follow a rigorous process designed to use every minute of every day toward improvement and progress. The process allows to maximize every ounce of their abilities, which shapes the strategy.?

• Most people focus on the top two - ability and strategy. If you're a football team, ability is the strength and conditioning work in the gym and practice and drills out on the field. It's about increasing your speed, agility, and power. It's about running a faster 40 and increasing your bench press. For a football team, strategy is about getting better at the playbook; it's play calling, developing game-by-game battle plans, and executing on the field.
• The bottom two parts of the pyramid - person and process are typically less of a priority. Process is about defining the controllable that can make you a better performer and maximizing your capabilities in every single one of those areas with a commitment bordering on obsession.
• Committing to a process requires a unique set of character traits - things like grit, resilience, accountability, confidence, optimism, perseverance, and passion. Without these traits, it's impossible to follow a championship process, which is relevant to the bottom of the pyramid: the person.?

Project Management, Leadership & Sports?

Project Management and sports are interconnected in so many ways. Most of the times just the principles or the processes are not called in the same way, however their meaning is the same.?

Sports breed the leader in you and a project manager without leadership skills is doomed to failure.?In most cases, rather than extremes, leadership requires balance. Leaders must find the equilibrium between opposing forces that pull in opposite directions. Being aggressive but cautious, disciplined but not rigid, a leader but also a follower - it applies to almost every aspect of leadership (and in PM and in sports (being the mediator)). Achieving the proper balance in each of the many dichotomies is the most difficult aspect of leadership and management.?

Here are some points I can outline- these are of crucial importance for both Project Management & being an athlete.?

• Every PM must be "aggressive", meaning proactive. It doesn't mean that they can get angry, lose their temper, or be aggressive toward their people. Speaking angrily to others is ineffective. It's a sign of weakness. To be overly aggressive, without critical thinking, is to be reckless.?
• To stay cool under fire - a great quality that every leader (PM) should work toward.?
• Trying to navigate between leadership and followership was an example of the dichotomy of leadership, the balance that every PM must find between two opposing forces. Ready to lead but also knowing when to follow. Taking extreme ownership of everything that impacts the project, but also empowering others to lead. The recognition of the many dichotomies and the ability to balance these opposing forces provide a powerful tool that enables leaders at every level to lead and win.?
• Being a PM and being a team player is full of dichotomies of leadership - being confident, but not cocky. To be aggressive but still cautious. To be bold, but at the same time thoughtful.?
• While a PM must do everything possible to help develop and improve the performance of individuals on the team in order for the project to be successfully closed, the PM must also understand when someone does not have what it takes to get the job done. When all avenues to help an individual get better are exhausted without success, then it is the manager's responsibility to fire that individual so he or she does not negatively impact the team. However, it needs to be taken into consideration that most underperformers don't need to be fired; they need to be led.?
• When in doubt, ask. There is no shame in it - especially when compared with the shame of making a bad decision you were too egotistical to ask a question.
• You know what's the term of when things are going very badly for the project, and the PM has to step in and help them to solve the problems. If there are leaders who have felt they were above solving problems - this is an extreme form of detachment, one called "battlefield aloofness". An excellent term that comes from Jocko Willing and Leif Babin as well.?

Conclusions

If you have made it through the article so far, thank you and congrats! :)

Here is what you have gone through:?

• Outlining the lessons learned from sports and project management.
• PRINCE2 Fundamentals and why I chose PRINCE2 as a certification method
• Commonalities of the PRINCE 2 Structure &?Sports Principles?
• Project management, Leadership & Sports?

Based on my professional and sports experience so far, I have concluded the following traits as most important ones if you want to be a good PM, manager, leader, person:?

Hard work

Consistency

Right attitude

Everything else can be achieved in time. It's a process. And you know what, if you are good enough - nobody is stopping you? If you are a minority, if you are female, if you're transgender, even if you are an alien - the market and the business do not care! If you lead and behave the best out of you - you will win.?

Being good at something, let's say successful, has several variables. I think self-awareness is number one.?If you don't know yourself and you don't know what you are good at, you've got no shot because you are going to be spinning your wheels. Simple as that.

One of the biggest problems I observe in business and in sports is that people are afraid to deal with the reality of every situation. Dwelling, pondering and crying will not help you.

People are just scared to fail in front of other people.

However, the best part is that if you fail hard in front of everyone - you will eventually (and if you have the growth mindset) learn from your mistakes.

And hey, as Gary Vaynerchuk says in his book Crushing It!: How Great Entrepreneurs Build Their Business and Influence-and How You Can, Too,

"Battle scars are attractive!"

Beat that.

And as Matt Fraser's book states (and is on my sneakers, no joke here!) - HARD WORK PAYS OFF.?