Part 3: Adaptations

Projects

Overview
Letters and Memos
Collaborative Documents
Oral Presentations
Telephone Calls
Projects


Goal

Rationale

The approach to writing and speaking we have described is really an approach to thinking. Creatively exploring a content domain. Considering the people you will be dealing with, who they are, what they know, how you want to change them. Clarifying your intentions and then organizing your ideas into a visual form in which you can see your project whole. Encoding your ideas and then following a structured, top-down approach to verifying and revising your document. These steps represent different kinds of thinking -- using your mind in a variety of ways to accomplish meaningful work.

In this step, we will point out how these same basic procedures for writing and speaking can be further generalized. We'll do this by describing a modified procedure for planning and carrying out projects. Almost any professional task can be viewed as a project. With a little imagination and further adaptation to your own special circumstances, you can use these methods across the whole spectrum of your work-related activities.

Product

Procedure

Comments With any project, there are always five things to consider: a plan of action, the situation, the problem or issue you are addressing, the people you are working with, and your own intentions. Let's look at them in reverse order.

Before you do anything else, clarify in your own mind exactly what you want to accomplish. In many cases, you will inherit your charge, leaving you with responsibility for implementation. But you must also be prepared to identify objectives. To do that well, you have to step back, mentally, and sort out what is important. Go to the heart of the issue and pull out a simple, clear statement of the goal or problem. That statement usually makes the solution obvious.

To do this, you have to think about who you will be dealing with. Who will be affected by the project? How will they react? Will your work help or hinder them? Do they have a vested interest in your success? Your failure?

You also need to analyze the situation. What event(s) led to your task? What parts of the organization will be affected. Again, do these units have an interest? Is the issue routine, sensitive, potentially explosive?

Once you have thought the situation through and have anticipated as much as you can the most important consequences, then bring other people in and devise a plan. The most important people to include are doers. People who are not just competent, but people you can rely on to do their share of the work, do it right, and do it in a predictable amount of time. For many tasks, you will also need people with specialized skills. Assemble them or gain access to their expertise like you would assemble a jigsaw puzzle. If it's a large project, you will need staff support. Be sure you have commitments before you begin. If your organization is unwilling or unable to provide adequate support, either drop the project or decide in your own mind that the project is sufficiently important for you to invest the additional time that will be required. Finally, consider the politics of the situation. Are there people who must be included to get the support the project needs to succeed? A beautiful solution that is never put in place doesn't do anyone much good.

Finally, develop a plan. Follow the same basic steps as those used for collaborative writing, just substitute the project objectives for the document objectives. Have your team explore the issues together, consider who will be affected, and either write or analyze the overall project goal. Then use a Tree and a top-down strategy to lay out the tasks. For each task, identify the product that will mark completion of that task. That way you can tell when each is completed. Otherwise, the project may spend months, if it is a large one, 90% complete.

Next schedule the tasks and divide up the responsibilities. When you do this, make clear that you will monitor the project and expect to talk with team members about how their tasks are coming. During those subsequent conversations, keep your focus on the products that mark the completion of each task and be clear about whether that product, in fact, exists or not. Mark actual progress against the schedule. If you fall behind, be sure to let the appropriate people know. Don't wait until the due date to announce that you will not be through for another three months.

Finally, prepare the necessary reports, presentations, or other final products, using the by-now familiar methods. Good luck, and let us know how they work for you.


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