Managing the Manageable and the Knowable

P. T. Barnum of Barnum & Bailey Circus has been given the credit for saying, “There is a fool born every minute,” and while that may or may not be true, I would suspect that most of those fools end up becoming managers. And, while they certainly cannot be held to blame for what they want to do with their lives, they can be blamed for thinking they got the right training when they did not. As cruel and as heartless as that sounds, it is still true.

Nowhere in Undergraduate Business Schools either in the Majors of Business Administration or Management does it teach you about the PROFOUND KNOWLEDGE (suggested by Dr. Edwards W. Deming) that involves SYSTEM THINKING and the correct understanding of the need to and the how to in reducing VARIATION INHERENT IN THE SYSTEM. Although, in some Operations Management Textbooks there are several pages maybe 4-6 or 8-10 that talk about Improving Process but only as it pertains to improving the throughput of a product.

This kind of knowledge is not even taught in Strategic Planning Courses which are typically taught in one's senior year as Capstone Courses for the purpose of tying all their knowledge together. What these graduates don't know is that they don't know much about business or the management of business... even though they have a piece of paper that says they do.

Once a Business Graduate is hired, then it becomes the responsibility of that business to retrain that graduate in terms of what the world of business and management is all about. And, if that business entity has enlightened management, then this graduate will be sent for Deming based TQM training, followed by courses in SPC, QFD, and DOE.

And, what exactly do those 3 words mean?

• SPC – Statistical Process Control
• QFD – Quality Function Deployment
• DOE – Design of Experiments

But, I am not finished because enlightened management also knows that there is still:

1. Black Belt Training
2. ISO 2010 and 14000
3. Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award
4. Taguchi's Loss Function
5. Lean Manufacture
6. Process Reengineering and/or Improvement
7. Just In Time
8. Root Cause Analysis
9. Statistical Problem Solving
10. Various Quality Tools

And, the enlightened manager also is aware of:

1. Hiring (Interviewing) & Firing Training
2. On-the-Job Training Training
3. Train-the-Trainer Training
4. Supervisory Training
5. Supplier Certification Training
6. Control Chart Interpretation
7. Economic Forecasting
8. Contracts and Negotiations
9. Inventory Control
10. Logistics

However, if there is anytime left in your day, then you should know PMBOK which is:

Project Management Body of Knowledge.

PMBOK can be broken down into the following:

Process Groups

1. Initiating
2. Planning
3. Implementing
4. Monitoring & Controlling
5. Closing

Knowledge Areas

1. Integration
2. Scope
3. Time
4. Cost
5. Quality
6. Risk
7. Communications
8. Human Resources
9. Procurement
10. Stakeholders

The below illustration shows how these two areas overlap and interrelate and it is the understanding of this interrelationship and all of its components where the skill in management enters... which by the way is not taught to you in College for some reason.... and, for all the money that college students pay to become educated, I cannot figure out in my wildest imagination why this is omitted.

Between each Process Group (going across from left to right) and between each Knowledge Area (going down from top to bottom) there is supplier/customer relationship that is oftentimes missed even by experienced Project Managers because they lack the TQM experience and/or training.

For Instance...

Initiating supplies data/knowledge to Planning... therefore, Planning is the customer of Initiating and in order for quality to be achieved, Initiating must exceed (not just meet) the expectations of their customer... and, this can only be achieve by asking Planning what their expectations are.

Subsequently, Planning supplies Implement with data/knowledge and should therefore treat Implementing as their customer and exceed their expectations as well. And, this should take place throughout all Process Groups and SHOULD not only move right to left but left to right as well, just in case there is a need for something like that to take place within a project.

Obviously, if this explanation is true for the Process Groups then it should work the exact same way within the ranks and/or processes of all 10 Knowledge Areas. And yes, it should move top to bottom this way as well as from bottom to top.

And again, managing anything like this is not taught in Business Schools (Colleges or Universities) inside the Majors of Business Administration or Management. Maybe these schools are just trying to avoid an extra expense that they know will take place once these graduates are hired.

The most critical aspect of the Knowledge Area INTEGRATION is the development of a Management Plan which involves all the other 9 areas and the more detailed that one can be, the better one becomes when it comes time for implementation. Once you completed one of these on your own, you will become very good at developing TIME LINES.

If, I were to highlight SCOPE, then I would say the key here is understanding WBS or Work Breakdown Structure or who is going to do what and when which also involves logistics because all the proper resources have to be available in the right quantities at the right time which involves vendors, suppliers, subcontractors.

One must have a good understanding of how long a specific task will take as well as what tasks need to be done before another task can be started? How late can I start, leads to how late can I finish and how early can I start, leads to how early can a finish.... and, what has to be done first before any work can start?

For instance, if I want to build a deck onto the back side of my house and exactly where I want to build that deck, I have a bunch of “stuff” lying around. Well, before any deck tasks can take place, I will need to move that “stuff” to another location but if I have “other stuff” in that location then I need to move that “other stuff” first... and, I am pretty sure that you can see where I am going with this.

When one develops a Project Management Risk Plan, one must take a lot of factors into consideration here as well, such as:

1. How much will inflation change prices before the project has concluded?
2. Can I get all the supplies and/or resources that I need at the time that I need them?
3. Can I acquire all the workers that I need?
4. How much training of workers will be required?
5. What “red tape” will have to be cut through?
6. What environmental concerns will I have?
7. What Government Regulations will I have?
8. Will any of my supplies come from overseas?
9. Will political unrest in those countries jeopardize previous contracts?
10. What contingency plans need to be developed?
11. What delays can be anticipated like the weather?
12. How much padding should I put in my budgets?
13. Could there be any special interest groups blocking the way?
14. What support do I need from the local community?
15. Do I have any Nemesis Stakeholders?
16. What other company projects need my resources?
17. What will I do if my Cash Flows are not there?
18. What kind of “fires” can I anticipate having to put out?
19. Who else can I trust?
20. What barriers will be present that may restrict completion?

As you can see there are a lot of questions that will need answering and a competent Project Manager has a contingency plan for each one of those answered questions. Also, in preparing those contingency plans, a Project Manager must assess their own RISK PROFILE, that is to say, how do I or should I deal with each ones of these risks?

Should I,

• Avoid the risk
• Work around the risk
• Take the risk head on

and, in each one of those approaches, consequences can be calculated along with anticipated costs of those consequences relative to the IRON TRIANGLE of: Time-Cost-Quality.

Well, I have tried to present a little editorial on how to manage what is manageable and what is knowable, but guess what... realizing both of those for a manager is not always possible... and, this is what typically separates the men from the boys in the world of business... of course, it also separates the woman or ladies from the girls as well.