Sept 2010 Issue: Creativity & Innovation

Welcome to Our September Issue

This month, we’ll be looking at Creativity & Innovation, and their place in project management. Often, the best opportunity to approach a project creatively is by motivating yourself and your team to think differently at the very beginning – before time pressure and stress encourage you to take the “easy way out.”  It may be helpful to take a “creativity pledge” to look at issues, challenges and approaches in a novel way, considering other perspectives and new options, even at the cost of a little time. In the end, it will be well worth it.

Included in this issue:

• Don’t Let Negativity Crush Creativity
• Project Management Q&A
• Going Green: Looking at Scope & Risk from a Different Perspective
• Take Time to Be Creative
• Developing an Innovation Culture
• Creative Block? You Don’t Have to Look Far for Inspiration
• Reading Room: Creativity & Innovation
• How to Ignite Good Ideas
• Brainstorming: When to Use It (& When Not To)

Next Month’s Topic: Initiating Projects

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pmPractitioner is published as a service to the project management community. Each issue provides practical project management solutions and tips adapted from a variety of business publications and resources.

Don’t Let Negativity Crush Creativity

We’ve all been there – in a rut, drained, blocked, stressed – however you want to define it. Sometimes you find yourself trapped in a lethargy that makes it difficult to tackle a problem in a creative way. What can you do about it?

You can start by taking charge of your own energy, becoming more aware of your attitude and moving yourself from the negative towards the positive. Think about these words: contracting, taking, pulling back, criticizing. Wouldn’t you prefer to associate yourself with expanding, giving, contributing and appreciating?

Think about a time in your life when you were under severe stress and a time when you were really doing well.  Answer these questions from the point of view of both times:

• Did you feel yourself contract/pull back or expand/contribute?
• Were you aware of doing this and what helped you become aware?
• What was the effect on your work and relationships with your co-workers and with clients?
• How was your energy? How did this affect your leadership and problem solving abilities?
• What are you biggest learnings about yourself from these times?

Compare your answers to these questions from both sides of the coin and always keep them in mind. Self-awareness is a key factor in maintaining the open, positive energy in which creativity flourishes. When you find yourself slipping into the “dark side,” do something that breaks you out of it. It’s your choice and your responsibility to those you work with. Regardless of all the stories you hear about angst-filled artists, creativity blossoms most often when people are surrounded by great energy and good attitudes. 

From Action for Results, Inc., 2008

September Project Management Q&A

Test your project management knowledge with these questions or use them as an exercise to help prepare for your PMP certification exam.

1. Scrap and rework are examples of what type of cost?

2. Your project is using Sensitivity Analysis as a tool for Quantitative Risk Assessment. You are likely examining all of the following EXCEPT:

Answers appear at the end of the newsletter.

Going Green: Looking at Scope & Risk from a Different Perspective

With their soon-to-be-released book, Green Project Management, Richard Maltzman and David Shirley are taking a new and innovative look at project management and how it can (or should) relate to the environment.

Here’s an example on the topics of scope and risk:

Understanding and controlling the project’s scope is a well-known core of project management responsibility, and project managers who do this well are the ones that succeed.  Is there such a thing as “environmental scope”?

Really, this equates to life cycle thinking. In thinking about the environmental scope of a project, it is important for the project manager (and the team) to use an environmental lens—and a life cycle view—to which we’ve referred before. Thinking about both the project itself and its processes (especially the resources it consumes), and the product of the project in operation and the resources it will consume during operation, the environmental scope can be fully determined, right.

Well, not quite – there’s a little more. We also assert that the PM must expand their view to even that eventual time at which the product of the project will be disposed. What environmental considerations from that time in the perhaps distant future (from a PM’s viewpoint, anyway) may work their way back to the present and affect project scope now? For example, even if the project is a wind farm or other green endeavor, has the team thought through to what happens when that wind farm is decommissioned? Considerations such as this may “feed back” into project scope because it could change what materials are used in the construction of the turbine towers and blades.

Recall first and foremost that risks are defined as both threats and opportunities—negative risks being considered threats and positive risks being considered opportunities. With that in mind, the project manager can see that many environmental aspects and their impacts on the project are really project risks (threats and opportunities). It is important, however, not to lose sight of the environmental risks during all of the project’s phases. It is also important to note at this stage that there is one other “phase,” sustainability, which, though traditionally outside the PM’s thinking, must be considered in project life cycle thinking.

Note: Full definition and the tools and techniques to manage project environmental impacts (risks) are covered in Green Project Management.

Adapted from Green Project Management, Richard Maltzman and David Shirley, CRC Press, September 2010

Take Time to Be Creative

It’s not difficult to slip into habitual approaches to a project – if it worked before, it will work again. In fact, our brains work to make life easier by making things routine. Because of this, we can also establish a routine of “creativity.”

A great tool is the “creative pause.” This is a simple technique that can be used with powerful results. It works on the assumption that if you don’t pay attention to something, you are unlikely to think about it. The pause forces you to stop, think and pay deliberate attention.

The creative pause is an important habit to get into – to take the time to say to yourself:

“I want to notice that.”
“Is this the only way to approach this task?”
“Is there another possibility here?”
“That needs thinking about.”

The pause does not have to be long. In fact, interrupting your flow of thought for even a short time can cause new lines of thought to open up immediately. However, don’t be concerned if new ideas don’t immediately pop up. It’s enough to stop for a moment, knowing that you can return to that point at a later time to ponder it further.

Adapted from Serious Creativity: Using the Power of Lateral Thinking to Create New Ideas, Edward De Bono, Harper Business 1992.

Developing an Innovation Culture

Innovation is the fuel that feeds organizational growth and drives future successes. To develop an innovative environment, the focus must be on three equally important areas: people, management and attitude.

People
To create the proper atmosphere to foster innovation among your team:

• Identify the Right Talent: Bring together the right mix of people with the required competencies for the project.
• Build Trust: Create an environment where innovation feels ‘safe.’
• Expect Accountability: Occasional failure is a natural part of the innovation process and all innovators must accept responsibility for those failures.

Management
Because building culture starts at the top, management must:

• Define Purposes, Objectives and Strategies: Use clear, concise language that is meaningful to all levels of the organization.
• Seek Opportunities: Direct attention to breakthrough improvements in performance, strategies and processes.
• Make Timely Decisions: Decision delays create frustration and decrease motivation.
• Anticipate Future Events: Watch for any developments that may impact future needs and directions.

Attitude
To develop the right attitudes, both organizationally and individually, an innovation culture will:

• Foster Creativity: Much more than implementing a company-wide suggestion box, true creativity requires action.
• Motivate Through Example: Managers must recognize that motivation depends on them – set an example by taking innovative action.
• Give People Freedom to Act: Allow people to reasonably question rules and procedures without fear of reprisal.
• Manage Inadequate Performance: Evaluate performance against objectives.

Adapted from Innovation by Design, Gerard H. Gaynor, AMACOM, 2002

Creative Block? You Don’t Have to Look Far for Inspiration

Creativity and innovation seem to have been replaced by logic, time constraints, forced deadlines, and tired brains or, sometimes, a very suppressive work environment. There never seems to be time to think about options and new approaches to solve a project problem, just the pressing need to produce something quickly and as inexpensively as possible.

Just as creativity can become a victim of time pressures and stress, the perception of a project being “routine” and “boring” can also squelch creative impulses.  However, all projects should be considered unique and important and the project manager must approach the project with a sense of commitment, enthusiasm and purpose. He or she must develop that same enthusiasm within the team and provide guidance, encouragement, confidence, and stress reduction to allow ideas to flow and grow. A “crazy” idea may be the start of something truly feasible.

It is important for the project leader to keep his or her creative talent sharp and ready. Looking for new ideas is actually enjoyable and can be very educational as well. You never know where the next idea may be hiding. Sometimes you just need a place to start looking.

Here are a few places where creativity and innovation can be nurtured and come alive and they are easy to get to:

• Browse Book Stores and Magazine Racks: Read book titles and try changing the title to fit your work environment. Pick up a few magazines and read the ads as well as the articles for imaginative takes on selling or positioning products.
• Take a Long Walk: Walking helps reduce stress and lets the mind daydream a bit. Try walking in a park or rural area, if you can. Limit distractions – keep the mp3 player at home!
• Surf the Internet (and Television!): Pick your topic, do a web search, read the various views on the subject and draw your own conclusions. View television channels that specialize in history, technology or discovery. Learning how something works can spark solutions to a wide variety of issues.
• Quiz Colleagues, Mentors and Experts: Ask questions. Become more inquisitive. Find out more about a lot of different things.
• Talk to Artists, Writers and Hobbyists: Ask them where they get their ideas. Question them on their methods for breaking out of a creative “block.”
• Go to Seminars to Listen: Really listen. Many speakers have a very inspiring effect on their audiences. Seek out dynamic, innovative speakers even if they have a different career focus or are in an unrelated industry.

An open mind, a different view about a familiar subject, and few “what if” questions and you are on your way to the next big discovery. Remember, there are always risks with new ideas but that is actually part of the excitement of innovation and creative thought.  “Lead the way” sometimes means “create the way.”

Adapted from Creativity and Innovation: The Leader’s Edge, Frank P. Saladis, PMP, International Institute for Learning, Inc., 2008

Reading Room: Creativity & Innovation

The Big Book of Flip Charts, Robert Lucas, McGraw-Hill, 1999

How to Get Ideas, Jack Foster, Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2007

The Other Side of Innovation: Solving the Execution Challenge, Vijay Govindarajan, Harvard Business Press, 2010

Rapid Problem Solving with Post-It Notes, David Straker, Da Capo Press, 1997

Think Better: An Innovator’s Guide to Productive Thinking, Tim Hurson, McGraw-Hill, 2007

Thinkertoys: A Handbook of Creative-Thinking Techniques, Michael Michalko, Ten Speed Press, 2006

How to Ignite Good Ideas

Do you greet suggestions from your team members warmly and openly? Or do you point out the faults of every new concept (even if you can’t help yourself)?

Here are some phrases that can either ignite or extinguish an idea:

Ignite: I like that.
Extinguish: The reason it won’t work is . . .

Ignite: We can do a lot with that idea.
Extinguish: It’s not a bad idea, but . . .

Ignite: What else do we need to consider?
Extinguish: You haven’t considered . . .

Ignite: How can we make this work?
Extinguish: Let’s be practical.

Ignite: How can we get support for this idea?
Extinguish: The stakeholders won’t buy it.

Ignite: Go ahead and try it.
Extinguish: I don’t see the need to change.

Adapted from Communicate Like a Pro, Nido R. Qubein. Berkley Books, 1986

Brainstorming: When to Use It (& When Not To)

You are looking to solicit lots of great ideas. You have the time to explore them all to find the very best ones. If this describes your situation, then ‘brainstorming’ may be the perfect technique for you.  Brainstorming is certainly the best way to tackle open-ended or unclear challenges and it’s a great way to generate new ideas.

However, brainstorming is not equally effective in all situations. While it is important to know when it can serve as a useful tool, it’s just as important to recognize situations where brainstorming is probably not a good choice. Generally, if you need a formal action plan, or if you are facing a critical problem that requires a quick correct answer, then brainstorming is not appropriate in most cases. In these situations, it will likely prove to be too time-consuming and inefficient.

Here are three situations where you should consider alternative methods that will be quicker and more efficient than brainstorming:

• Planning: If you know where you are and have a fairly good idea of where you want to go, then hold a formal planning session to map out the details. No brainstorming needed.
• Crisis: Crisis situations need quick decisions and clear leadership. Brainstorming is not the appropriate tool here.
• Fixes: If you need to fix something and you know what went wrong, then it is more effective to assemble a repair team than to facilitate a brainstorming session.

Adapted from 30 Minutes to Brainstorm Great Ideas , Alan Barker, 2001

Answers to September Q&A

1. The correct answer is (a) “Cost of nonconformance.”

If you chose “Cost of appraisals” (c), that is incorrect.  “Appraisal cost” is one of the costs of quality (COQ), but it is considered a cost of conformance.

[Executing], PMBOK Fourth Edition, p. 195

2. The correct answer here is (a) “Absolute cost of each available choice.”

Examining the cost of each choice is something you would do with Decision Tree analysis, not Sensitivity Analysis.

Answer “d” (Tornado diagrams) is incorrect. Tornado diagrams are indeed a graphical Sensitivity Analysis tool, which facilitates the visualization of the impact of each objective as you maintain the others at their default values.

[Planning], PMBOK Guide, Fourth Edition, p. 298