PM Stories from the Front War is hell, and not something any sane person plans for (outside of the government, that is). As the events of late have unfolded, the need for wartime planning of projects (military or not), has come to roost across most of Europe and beyond. Another black swan has landed, just a few years after the last. Even non-military project managers are prepared for every eventuality, right? Our force majeure clauses in all risk assessments lay out what to do in the event of war, no? If not, wouldn’t the PMI PMBOK Guides™ definitively lay out the best practices and methodologies needed under these circumstances? Well…actually no, they do not, nor do very few others outside of government and humanitarian agencies have procedures, techniques, or plans for the unfortunate event of an all-out war within a country or region. Yet during wartime, the work goes on and projects get completed (even for those who have never heard of a force majeure clause). For this reason alone, I wanted to follow up on a past article, PM, CEM, and Covid-19: Reflections, since what is unfolding now could be thought of as the wings of an infamous mother-of-all bad geese: large regional conflict within the farmlands of Europe. I’ll begin with an interview I had with a small software development company based in Kyiv. I was able to conduct a Zoom call directly with PMs who have been successfully managing projects during the first month of the war there. Then, I’ll follow that up with my own words, since much said during the interview was unspoken. Other war stories will follow in this series, my editor permitting. I hope that these interviews, commentary, and “tips & techniques” will benefit any PM who finds themselves in the ultimate Black Swan situation, an all-out war or any other form of violent conflict. First, a Little Background… I had not meant to write any of this, but while vacationing in the jungles of Nepal (long needed after all this COVID stuff), I received an email from my favorite photo app developers, letting me know that since Ukraine was at war with Russia, software support might be slow. Huh? Slow? War with Russia? (I had my YouTube turned off.) Since then, SKYLUM Software has put out two new updates for its most popular app NEO, and has continued to provide lightning-fast support as always… as if nothing at all was going on. I have also been getting a steady flow of marketing emails (as one does when you subscribe to an app), but now with notable differences. They included a donation request for commercial drones to be used for the war effort and discounts on add-ons, whereby the proceeds would be donated to humanitarian groups helping refugees leaving Kyiv. Not at all run of the mill offers from a run of the mill software house! I had to figure out how they were doing it, as my first thought was: how is a software company still functioning whilst artillery shells rain down over their heads and their city is otherwise being invaded by another country? Just what PM methodology are they using to handle that? Is there a template in MS Project for war? Here is what I found out from the Skylum team. Names, faces, and details have omitted, for obvious reasons. Interview with Skylum Software, Kyiv Me. First, how are you? What is the status of your employees and your company at the moment? PM #1. We are all doing okay, just fine. Everyone is safe. [said in a tone as if discussing a bad storm outside] Me. Can you say a few words about how the company started? Where did you see the company headed before the war broke out? PM #1. Yes, we started with our Luminar AIproducts a few years back, and after launching that we set to work on another, NEO, which we released in late 2021 as beta, and we are now updating the first version released this year. Me. After war broke out? PM #2. Yes. Me. How many project managers (or people who manage workers) do you employ? PM #1. Just three PMs, but we have both product managers and projectmanagers whose tasks are different, but connected. Our product managers work closely with our PMs. Me. What PM model/method do you follow? Agile, Waterfall, hybrid? Are your PMs certified through PMI or another organization? PM #2. None, and no. [I felt the unspoken answer was, “we have our ways.”] Me. Do you use Microsoft Project, by chance? Teams? Excel? Anything? PM #2. No. No. No. No… it is proprietary. [I so wanted to press on and find out more, but I didn’t.] Me. What was your risk assessment for conflict disruptions five years ago, one year ago, and three months ago? PM #1. We don’t really do those. There has been a risk of war like this for almost a decade now. Me. So, no mitigations in place, even for Covid? PM #1. No. Me. What advice, business-wise, do you have for managers of projects in conflict zones? PM #3. Don’t ever get in this situation is the best advice that I can offer. Me. You put out a plea for drones from your users. What was the response? PM #1. Yes, we received over 100, and we are very thankful to our users for that. [I wanted to send mine, but it’s in bits now after crashing during Covid times.) Me. What would you like to say to western business leaders of companies like yours? PM #1. To help Ukraine in the effort, and support the country in any way that you can. Me. Thank you all so much for sharing your story, and may God watch over you all. My Reaction to the Zoom… In addition to my questions, the lead PM in charge of product design took the time to ask me questions, as a user of their apps. A user review, so to speak, they watched me go on about how great their products are while listening for an air raid siren or another signal of attack while. That blew me away! The calmness and professionalism throughout the entire meeting was remarkable. The word poise comes to mind, which this team has in droves. This reminded me of times I’ve been under fire (with less poise, I must admit)—from being a Sarge during the Nam days to working on projects in the Congo, Pakistan, and Nepal during civil war and unrest. Yes, I worked within much larger structures than are found with your typical app developer, such as Skylum, but still, it’s worth comparing…. In larger organizations, there is a tendency to shift from normal chaos planning to some form of hyper-chaos planning. Those may or may not have the terms laid out in a risk matrix or other form of force-majeure document, but you get the idea. In some cases, the shop just shuts down until further notice (think headless chickens running). None of that was done in the case of Skylum. There, the day goes on, the work forwards to schedule, as if bombs are just part of the weather. If they aren’t falling near you, you are working. If something goes wrong, fix that, but stay focused on the end game. In the military, there is a term for this method of working. You “work the problem,” and don’t let the problem work you. Simplistically, it sounds like a one-step-at-a-time series of actions, and in a way, it is, but with layers. Layers of act or react, observe, access, correct (if needed), and then move to the next issue. Microsoft Project might not be useful for planning in this way, nor may an Agile workflow be fast enough (as wartime compresses time), but your sheets and charts are useful nonetheless, even if only to remind the team of what has worked, and in what general direction they are going. During wartime, you need a compass, in whatever form you can find it. During my Zoom call with Skylum, I saw folks with a strong sense of no-nonsense direction. It was indicative of what we all see on the news these days from Ukraine: stories of people pitching in doing what they can, hardships or not, all pulling together as a unit, and then units of units. Another example of this no-nonsense work-around for war is detailed in this interview by Ex-marine Mark Turner, involved right now with getting supplies and training to Ukrainian Territorial Defense brigades. He speaks of working the problem when trying to get across borders, through red tape, and other standard bureaucratic barriers, as his team delivers urgent medical supplies and front-line military training. (You can find out more about his organization here.) The point is that sometimes project managers may be required to adopt the military approach of tactical teamwork, instead of the traditional corporate one that we all know and love. This military tactical team approach has been embraced at Skylum, as well as adopted by the entire Ukrainian state, where moral and national convictions are running high despite the circumstances. I’ve seen this ad hoc super-Agile approach work before on other projects. For example, in Nepal during their bitter civil war. Here are some takeaways I’ve found synced to all war zones: Next Time… In Part 2 of this series, I look forward to bringing you a few more stories from the frontlines (current and past), along with more specific correlations between tactical planning and normal project planning, for those times you may find yourself on a war footing. If you have some of your own stories that relate, feel free to send them to me or post in the comments below. To donate funds to humanitarian-aid organizations in the Ukraine, go here.
Automation – What’s in it for us? Automation is a historically-significant concept, understood around the globe by most in modern business since the ‘60s. Yet automation has meant many different things for a wide variety of professions and trades, with definitions changing over time. Take for example robotics, which went from a simple arm-flipper of widgets back in the 80’s, to the near fully-autonomous and completely-automated factories we see now. As 2021 closes out, perhaps it’d be a good idea to think on what we, as project managers (PMs), get from automation. After all, we are professionals that are all about efficiency, cutting costs, and thinking outside the box, right? Sure, the machines on the factory floor are saving time and money stamping out more widgets than ever before, but is that all that we, as PMs, can count on during 2022? Perhaps, we can garner clues from Chinese manufacturing, since it seems they do an awful lot these days. Manufacturing in China was never really about producing widgets faster, for less money, to feed the capital machine; there has always been a focus on the human side of making things ever since Chinese businesses began to flourish – way back in the 1500s. Take, for example, the Chen Liji Pharmaceutical Factory in Guangzhou. Since 1600 AD, they have been pumping out pharmaceuticals, with not much to automate, but the workers themselves…until now. With today’s technologies, this translates into gait-counting, digit and eye movement-tracking, and a host of other physical “human” automations that most of us don’t even consider. But, let’s consider something else … Personal Automation In a recent interview in the Economist, Byron Reese, CEO of Gigaom, said: “In 2021…. Individuals need to ask themselves, ‘What drudgery do I engage in that I can use technology to destroy? What new opportunities can technology give me that I didn’t have before? Where can I buy back my own time?” Byron, who runs a technical wisdom think-tank, is talking about “personal automation.” Personal automation, I think, can be summed up by the following diagram: We all face challenges everyday: puzzles to solve, problems to sort out, and tasks that need getting done are endless. The key to personal automation is this: do it once, and then forget about it (until you need to do it again). When next faced with same said challenge, there’s no need to put on your thinking cap to puzzle on through or rework the problem. One tap, or a shout out to Siri or Alexa, and your AI overlord takes over, whomever that may be. That’s the trigger part. Yank the chain, and let the beast take over! In business terms, we call this RPA, or Robotic Process Automation. RPA is all the rage for 2022, as shown by a recent polling in the Economist, where CEOs were asked to rank high or essential technical priorities for their company’s future: Side note: some old-schoolers amongst us might be shouting right about now: “Hey, aren’t we just talking about fancy macros?!?” Well, yes, kind of – but smarter. Personal automation uses AI, and all the other technologies we never had while gritting our teeth and writing macros back in the day, with only the author of the macro language being able to troubleshoot our laughable attempts (think VBA). Budding Automations for 2022 Moving on (in hopes we never have to write another macro again), software houses are already gearing up in 2022 to meet CEO demand for more RPA, and releasing better apps to help the bottom line (as well as us, the worker bees and drones). Without a lot of buzz, Microsoft released its interpretation of software automation, Power Automate, way back in 2018. With aid from the acquired RPA firm, Softomotive, in 2020, we see them delivering this RPA platform: Within Power Automate, you find packaged and tested workflows for… well, not much yet, except for things like “automatically sending emails when a project is opened,” or “automatically notifying resources when a project task is assigned.” There are the more obscure tasks, like “Run sentiment analysis on tweets and push results to a Power BI dataset.” Sure, someone has to do that, right? I’m sure others within the MPUG community are reviewing the updated Power Automate platform. One such article was Erik van Hurck’s recent Can I use Power Automate with Project for the web? My first impression is that Power Automate is not personal automation at the moment; however, the platform is on the path to becoming that someday. This attempt does show what I see as most important in the evolution of automation: a recognition that the user is not going to code these automations, someone (or some machine) will do that for us, behind the curtain, devising the best ways to accomplish common repetitive tasks and then provide them, as needed. One key point in order for personal automation to really take off this year, is that we the people don’t even want to think about the challenges or problems – or even the automations themselves – we just want to pick from a library of already noodled solutions. We want to ask the bot to get it done – whatever the issue, just make it so. Think Roomba-level interaction… just turn the key and let it suck up the debris. No need to tell the bot not to disturb the Christmas presents under the tree – it knew right out of the box to pick up the needles without bumping the gifts. Our software needs that level of automation in 2022, as well. Another company that is making great strides, is a more personal one: Apple just released a new version of its Shortcuts app, which adheres more to the vision of personal automation than the MS offering, and includes a capable voice interface to boot. (Power Automate does not support a natural language interface at the moment). With an Apple device, you (or another more proficient human) can create Apple shortcuts and have them added to your personal library of time-is-money savers, awaiting your command. And better still, app developers are now in the process of creating these shortcuts for you (so you don’t have to). It’s slated to be great for common, repetitive tasks that we hate doing whilst inside these apps. In this case, you just tell Siri what to do… However, like Power Automate, Shortcuts has some ways to go before being ready for prime time, or even considered essential personal automation. In fact, we users may not be quite ready for it! Consider this quote from Tom Clancy, senior vice president of UiPath, a consulting firm for automating future workplaces: “In an automated future, the ability to work alongside robots [bots] will be as important as the skills people bring to bear.” Now ask yourself this: how conversant are you with robots or bots today? Are you comfortable working alongside your devices, having conversations with them, and getting them to do things that you don’t want to? For many of us, that’s the first hurdle to overcome: our past horrible experiences with voice-assistance. Yes, it’s time to try again, now that we all have super computers in-hand and feel secure letting Alexa take care of the shopping. Practice Exercise To take Tom Clancy’s advice on developing your personal bot-skills, try this: all that’s required is a working MS Project file, an iPhone, and 15 minutes of learning time. Download Project Plan 365 (here or here) and activate the free trial. Follow these linked instructions to initiate and use the built-in automations made for .MPP files. (Note, as of writing, there are only two shortcuts to choose from: Open Project and Report Status; however, the app’s developer says more are on the way.) Then, use your test file and give it a go – you’ll get a quick peek at what’s coming! Then, leave your thoughts in the comments below, and let me know what you think about one of 2022’s first hacks at personal automation for MS Project. Note to Self… In conclusion, let me share a recent note-to-self: Dear Jigs, In 2022, please hone my interactions with all my robotic devices so they do as much of my drudge work as possible, freeing me up to automate any new work challenges, thus making my workflow part of a perpetual-efficiency machine, instead of an endless aggravation generator. Signed with love, Me
A Brief History of Project Management Ethics Almost every profession has one—mantra or coda that expresses the ethical intent to do better, both morally and for the benefit of civil society. For example, in the medical profession, it’s “Do No Harm,” and for legal eagles, it is “To Protect and to Serve.” Ethics for artificial intelligence (AI) development is similar, only the decision maker for doing something either morally right or sinisterly wrong is an algorithm. Human coders are responsible for the original decision trees and are ethically bound by the idea of not letting the AI overlords destroy the human race. These phrases and the intent behind them represent the combined work of Socrates, Hobbes, Kant, and many other philosophers, who have tried to define an ethical framework within which we can all “live long and prosper.” For project managers nowadays, the most common resource for figuring out ethical behavior was laid out by the PMI Institute in 2011. PMI gave us a toolkit, that includes a Code of Ethics for Professional Conduct, as well as an Ethical Decision-Making Framework for individuals and teams. Also published online is a PMI tribunal, set up to collect digressions from the code and adjudicate as needed (apparently, for members only). PMI offers no over-arching slogan for the project management profession, like the medical industry has “Do No Harm,” but instead gives us cue cards that read like this: Responsibility is our duty to take ownership for the decisions we make or fail to make, the actions we take or fail to take, and the consequences that result. Respect is our duty to show a high regard for ourselves, others, and the resources entrusted to us. Resources entrusted to us may include people, money, reputation, the safety of others, and natural or environmental resources. An environment of respect engenders trust, confidence, and performance excellence by fostering cooperation—an environment where diverse perspectives and views are encouraged and valued. Fairness is our duty to make decision and act impartially and objectively. Our conduct must be free from competing self-interest, prejudice, and favoritism. Honesty is our duty to understand the truth and act in a truthful manner both in our communications and in our conduct. As a distillation of thousands of years of thought on the matter, these cues sound as good as any others, but I have a few questions. First, are they enough? And secondly, are these slogans motivational today when the world is sick with a pandemic, and on the brink of a climate collapse? A Few Personal Experiences Back in the 80’s when I was just starting out as a project manager (PM) within a big corporation, I knew little about ethics other than what we were taught in college, yet I always considered myself an ethical person and someone dedicated to service. That said, I had no training whatsoever to guide me through the morass of corporate morals (and immorals) that ruled the day. As a Quality Assurance PM, in charge of testing the code for one of the first Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) sold, it was brought to my attention that there was a bug in the code that had the potential to bring down the production line and cause millions in rework. As a newly minted manager, I still held onto the notion that I was in charge and could summarily halt production and see that the bug got fixed. Ha! I soon was informed by the C-levels that the code would be fixed during the next iteration, not to worry, that this is the “nature” of software, and, oh, by the way, would you like to take a cushy position in our new office on the other side of the country (with the subtext being to just go away and shut up). Torn, I didn’t know for sure if I was doing the right thing by taking the miraculous offer, or if it was wrong to NOT have stayed to fight harder for the customers who were about to have their transactions mangled by an automated juke box. Haunts me to this day… Then there was my largest project ever, whose project goal was to collect data for a super INGO that spanned decades, and then incorporate all the project’s success/fail information into a searchable and transparent application that represented the collective work of the enterprise over time. To my dismay, I found most all of the PMs that held the data to not be forthcoming with failure data, yet blushing full of success data. In short, I was given the task of showcasing failure at the same level as institutional success, and the project managers were not having any of it. Even if there was a PMI tribunal back then (or any other kind), it wouldn’t have been large enough to contain the dishonesty of the resulting database. Based on the culture and history of that organization, this was mission impossible. In short, I’d been asked to be a whistleblower in a room without oxygen while holding a hand grenade about to go off. The Role and Plight of the Whistle Blower Whistle blowing has a long and checkered history of improving society, as well as destroying the blowers; often concurrently. Every day, we see examples of folks trying to do the right thing and then being mercilessly destroyed (both mentally and physically). Take for example (just last month), the politically charged case involving Gabriel Sterling. Gabriel was the Georgia Election official who had enough and could not abide attacks on his younger project managers, so he stood up on national TV and screamed much in the style of Howard Beale (from the 1976 Sidney Lumet classic, Network), “I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!” As was the case with Howard Beale, Sterling’s life was threatened and his higher-ups dismissed him. Historically, whistle blowers are both revered and terrorized. Truth be told, this seems to be the nature of ethical behavior in general. The list of blowers is endless, from the beloved Ralph Nader who gave us seatbelts in the 70s, to Edward Snowden who gave us a peek into a surveillance state we were never supposed to see. Speaking up about ethical violations has always been problematic; most so for the revealer than for the transgressor. Take the case of Timnit Gebru, co-leader of Google’s Ethical AI team, who was first acclaimed for heroism in the line of duty by highlighting the inherent biases of face-recognition algorithms, and then summarily fired for bringing the problem to light. This case portrays the ethical heroism of a project manager fighting against racism / sexism / isms-in-general, yet at the same time illustrating the most common consequences of ethical action – unemployment! Global Ethical PM… Looking at the Bigger Picture One last case I feel is worth looking at comes from the oil-rich coast of Ghana. It’s described in the recent DW documentary, Oil Promises, the Dream of Ghana’s Black Gold. Here we find a classic battle of environment vs. development, but with a twist. In addition to a new oil refinery, residents of a local fishing village are promised new roads, a sewage plant, a new hotel, thousands of new jobs—the whole shebang really! Yet, a decade after the refinery is built, the people of the fishing village have nada, zilch—just a lot more pollution and a lot less fish. One could surmise from the historical data (of which there is plenty), that this was always going to be the outcome. Yet planners planned away… This illustrates perhaps the crux of the ethics problem for 2021 and beyond: we may have thousands of years of ethics training and treatises, but do we have a way to say, no, this entire project is not ethical (and I’m not going to manage it)? Of course, one can say they have personal ethics. For example, I won’t work on defense-related contracts, as my desire to never produce weaponry exceeds my love of god and country. This personal ethic is subjective, whereas most project conceptions are more nuanced than that with the ethical consequences of the completed work hidden and not so easily determined as with a national defense contract that makes bombs. From the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines to the development of housing and infrastructure projects in climate-changing hot zones, these 2021 projects present far more ethical challenges than any current personal (or team) ethics framework can solve. So, do we continue to produce products with labor coming from children or enslaved religious refugees? Should we continue to build luxury homes on land destined to burn or otherwise slide into the sea all the while the homeless live outdoors in tent cities or under bridges? As a professional group, like doctors or lawyers, do we have any responsibility to the overall well-being of the sick, indigent, or discarded amongst us? Here is One Idea (Please Contribute Yours) While this bigger question of global ethics in PM is well above my PM cum philosopher’s pay-grade, I propose this: a project-level ethical rating system, that could be applied to each project and be robust enough to burn down into the task level. This would give the PM a final scoring of the project’s ethical risk at the “go/no go/needs improvement“ level of project planning. Much like a standard Risk Management matrix, values could be assigned based not on risk to one’s own individual project or portfolio, but instead, based on the risk to the community, country, or world at large. Sure, we already have environmental impact studies and tons of mitigation planning for any given project, but do PMs have a way to judge / evaluate / mitigate the ethical validity of the project as a whole? I think not, at least not today, but it’s easy to see how such a system could be incorporated into MS project using basic fields and calculations, or automated in the future using an ethical AI agent. Yet here we are, at the brink of 2021! Who is it that will say what is ethical, and what is not, on both a grand and granular scale, and for each case within our daily workflow: The C-level team? The project stakeholders and/or investors? Our government officials? PMI? All of the above? This ethical Gordian Knot might tax our brains, but someone (or something) must step up, and take true responsibility and firm accountability. I suggest that be the collective PMs of the world, at least until some unbiased AI learns how to do it for us. “The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch without doing anything.”— Albert Einstein Well, let me know your thoughts / solutions / ideas in the comments below, and best of ethical luck in 2021.
Download Jig’s Presentation Download Sorin’s Presentation Event Description:This panel explores the impact of the current pandemic on planners and project plans, and discusses best-practices and software solutions that help planners during black swans and other critical events. Agenda:• Review topics raised in this MPUG article by Jigs Gaton.• Review results from these two surveys: MPUG and Agility & Curiosity• Discuss the intersection of Critical Event Management (CEM) and Project Management.• Discuss AI, and how new tools can help PMs during disasters.• Openly discuss ways forward, vis-a-vie critical events past. Learning Objectives:At the conclusion of this webinar, participants will better understand the meaning of black swan and other critical events (CEM), as well as have better insight into how other PMs are coping during the age of COVID-19. Don’t Miss Out:Check out Jigs’ first and second articles on this topic. Presenter Info: Claudia Dent is the Senior VP of Product Marketing for Everbridge. She previously served as Senior VP of Product Management for over 7 years, leading the company’s rapid product expansion and diversification to become the global leader in critical event management. Claudia has over 20 years of experience in the technology industry and has held executive positions in product management, marketing, business development, and general management at companies such as IBM, Rational Software, Interleaf, Compuware and Gomez. Sorin Fiscu is CEO of Housatonic Software, a company that develops software solutions for project managers, such as Project Plan 365. Renowned for apps that work with Microsoft Project data, Sorin leads a team of software developers that are well-versed in PM methodologies & practices. Sorin is also working on ERIX, an AI-assistant for building MS project plans, and one that helps PMs in their day-to-day activities. Jigs Gaton is CEO of Phoenix Consulting and Training Worldwide, a company that helps developers design and implement better programs and build capacity with training and other resources. Jigs has over 30-plus years of experience in both the private and public sectors working as a project manager and PM consultant. He’s currently based in Kathmandu, helping organizations with post-earthquake reconstruction and other disaster-relief efforts. Have you watched this webinar recording? Tell MPUG viewers what you think! [WPCR_INSERT]
In my previous article, PM, CEM, and Covid-19: Reflections – Part 1, we left off discussing project management, a pandemic, and Critical Event Management—the perfect storm for one whopper of a lingering challenge. From within the eye of this storm, I hope to bring a bit more insight into the situation that we all find ourselves in today; that of, looking for management solutions and ways forward. Before returning to our interview with Claudia Dent, Senior VP of Product Marketing @ Everbridge (we were discussing her company’s efforts at combining AI with CEM), I wanted to make a few observations regarding remote work during the age of Covid-19. I’ll begin with the status here in my own household. I can’t imagine what remote workers are going through right now, but as I overhear my wife’s zoom call meetings from two floors away, I am starting to get the picture of what life must be like for so many managers and their teams. My entire family is now intimately aware of the corporate world during a crisis—even the cat is on edge from these endless zoom debates and emergency rings. The stress of 2020’s rapid change of workflow and environment is jarring, and employee emotions are running high as many struggle to communicate and produce while physically disconnected from their offices, all while tethered at the hip to devices that incessantly ping and ding with 24×7 notifications. Jes, my stressed-out spouse, is struggling with her planning duties within a multi-national enterprise. She is someone in charge of administering such sweeping changes such as hundreds of staff members going from working in offices to working in their bedrooms. From what I gather, this abrupt transition from office to home work is technically working, but generating enough friction within the enterprise to wear down steel. The friction being generated needs to be addressed, before burn-out ensues. One way that this friction is being done at Jes’s enterprise, is by the implementation of an inward focused management. They are trying to apply a compassionate, more relaxed approach to deadlines and reaching milestones, as well as roll out new plans to ensure employee well-being. The work-life balance of employees has flipped during Covid-19, so internal programs and previously well-working encouragements have changed. If they haven’t, they need to. For example, instead of staff needing to get out of the office and have more family time, employees now need to find more work time away from their families. Folks have to figure out ways to productively work amid all the wonderful distractions of family life—a reversal of the pendulum if you will! I’ve listed just a few of my own observations, but as you may recall from Part 1, we posted a survey to find out how PMs-at-large are coping. 75% of survey participants identified as experienced project managers of 10 years or more: Over 90% of respondents replied that they had risk mitigation measures in place before the pandemic hit, but just 50% said those measures were actually activated. Examples of risk mitigation measures taken clustered around initiating work-at-home programs, limiting work hours in the office, and the implementation of PPE and social distancing at the office. One PM commented that their PMO had put everything on hold for the moment. When asked if risk mitigation measures taken were successful or not, 2/3rds replied yes, while 1/3rd of respondents were not sure if measures were working or not. When asked if risk mitigation measures were fully funded, 17% said nay, while a few were unsure if efforts were funded or not. When polled about whether efforts/responses to the pandemic were prompt and efficient, the breakdown was about the same; most respondent’s efforts are going well, while a few said efforts are not on track, and still, 25% were not sure. When asked if critical plan inputs (staff, materials, etc.) were identified in the plan beforehand, again the breakdown was similar, most responding in the positive, a few negatives, and 25% not knowing one way or another. When asked if any project-plan simulations/drills had been run before the swan struck, less than 10% said they had drilled, while everyone else did not, with most indicating that they wish they had. So far, PMs are reporting that the overall impact on plans-in-motion is serious, with only 8% seeing no Covid-related impact on projects, and the rest seeing either major and/or significant impacts playing out within their ongoing plans. Resources and costs are being impacted more than changes in the planning schedule, with workforce outages playing a part. Perhaps this reveals a ray of light; it certainly indicates that despite the impacts, schedules are being maintained to some degree. The overall mental health of responding PMs; however, did not appear good. In fact, 2/3rds of folks reported they are either going nuts or stressed in some way. In contrast, the overall physical health of PMs seems better, with 2/3rds indicating they are healthy, and only 8% reporting that everyone is down. When asked about lessons learned so far, several interesting observations were noted: “Keep an open dialogue with all stakeholders. Listen, and if you can help them plan, do it!“ “Go slow; be patient.“ “Anything can happen–yet everything can be addressed.“ “Never take anything for granted.“ “Good planning is not about doing the impossible, but about doing the possible in an impossible situation.“ Noting the last lesson, let’s assume for a moment that software, the all-saving grace of modern business, can help turn the impossible into something more manageable. Some software suggestions from participating PMs came in as follows: The obligatory suite of Zoom-like communication tools Tools that focus on refining a WBS and recording milestones Microsoft Teams and other online workspace tools Of course, our beloved MSP and Project Plan 365 What I found striking about these mentions, is that they are all traditional tools used during traditional times—times unlike those in which we find ourselves today. In addition, based on the results so far in the survey, one can conclude that while our actual schedules may be fine as they stand, our mindsets are in a state of chaos no one can predict what’s coming next. Like the airlines, it seems we planners are in a global holding pattern, focusing inward for the moment, waiting for the next bomb to drop, and maintaining our plans accordingly. I can’t help but wonder, where our own version of an Early Warning and Control System (AWACS), such as found in most commercial and military aviation today, is? It seems to me we need to better detect the inevitable unknowables on the horizon. Perhaps highly sensitive fuselage-mounted radomes attached to our risk mitigation plans? An aircraft radome allows for critical event signals to register within an onboard computer (from sources outside the plane), and for corrective action to be automatically taken, before disaster strikes. If we’ve learned nothing else, it seems we now can see we need for that aspect in our planning methodology! Expert Opinion We humans refuse to deal in advance with Black Swan events, arguing that these scenarios are too expensive and rare to plan for, even if the ultimate cost to humanity is extinction. However, lots of money is spent on AI when computing the probabilities of an alien invasion, or the current size and makeup of the known Universe. Sorin Fiscu, CEO Housatonic Software (makers of Project Plan 365) We are led back, uncomfortably perhaps, to Part 1 of this article, and the question of whether or not artificial intelligence (AI) can be deployed as our virtual radome serving our enterprise planning systems. Additionally, we might ask how to effectively use algorithms to sort out problems not yet registering on our PM radars. Here is more of what Claudia Dent of Everbridge has to say on the possibility of AI becoming our planning radome of choice. Q. Claudia, can AI save us? A. First we need to save ourselves by following safe Covid-19 protocols. And, let’s add an effective vaccine into the mix! Seriously, AI brings significant breakthroughs to almost every discipline we can imagine across life sciences, engineering, and technology. AI is being used today to accelerate the development of vaccines, treatments, and testing methods. Just as in all of these use cases, AI can only be successful if the underlying foundation is solid. It’s the same for Critical Event Management—the possibilities are endless for AI including historic analysis, understanding of what and why something has happened, and predictive analysis to provide foresight for better preparation and resolution guidance. Q. In your words, what is CEM, and what is your company doing with it? A. CEM, Critical Event Management, is the ability to automate your response to any critical event that impacts your business whether it be a natural disaster, active shooter, major system failure, and yes, a disease outbreak. The ultimate goal is to respond quickly to save lives and keep businesses running. Many organizations have detailed emergency preparedness programs and up-to-date business continuity plans, but with an increasingly complex and unpredictable threat environment, it has never been more imperative to act faster. Often these plans are “static” and rely on a number of disjointed silos and systems to execute resolutions. Furthermore, they do not account for compounding events such as a hurricane or cyclone impacting in an area already under coronavirus quarantine. Everbridge’s CEM solution provides an automated platform covering the full Critical Event Management lifecycle. With more complete intelligence, you’ll be able to increase your speed and decisiveness in order to assess risks and prevent them from harming your people or disrupting your operations. Amplifying ad hoc data feeds to provide richer intelligence and correlating threats with locations of assets and people, ensures more rapid and comprehensive incident assessment and remediation. Q. Can MSP data (.mpp files) be incorporated into the Everbridge early warning systems in order to help planners see evolving critical events world-wide and allow for adjustment of plans accordingly? A. Yes, the data can be overlayed onto our dashboard systems, giving planners insight into how evolving events correlate to task information and overall scheduling. Everbridge has the ability to manage dynamic task lists during a critical event. The starting point for these task lists can be imported from other tools via our open platform. Note: To see a demo of Everbridge AI solutions including MSP integration, watch the on-demand MPUG webinar. Q. What new skills and tools do PMs have to have to properly perform CEM? A. As I see it, there are four skills and areas of focus required to dive into this brave new world. BUILD PARTNERSHIPS WITH LEADERSHIP Critical events can impact different areas of business, and often impact more than one. Building alliances with your leadership is essential. These may include the Chief Security Officer (CSO), Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), and Chief Information Officer (CIO). This is dependent on your organization somewhat, but regardless, combining the experience, insights, and intelligence from across the organization makes it possible to quickly understand the root cause of an event and ensure a rapid response and operational continuity. ASSESS YOUR SOURCES OF INFORMATION It’s time to pull all of your risk information together into one place and streamline your threat assessment process. Align sources and information, and evaluate the risks and the impact to your organization across five key asset types: People, Buildings, IT Systems, Supply Chain, and Brand/Reputation. Your data sources should be vetted and verified, involving geo-targeted intelligence related to weather, terrorism, and other potential disruptions. Verified sources and analysis eliminate the noise and enable you to generate the most impactful information while eliminating false positives. IDENTIFY AND LOCATE CRITICAL ASSETS During every event, a resilient organization will know where employees, travelers, visitors, offices, manufacturing facilities, and other critical assets are located. It’s also critical to know how they are interconnected and the dependencies between them. Beyond knowing the location and interdependencies, organizations also need an idea of how much it will cost if these assets are impacted by an event. For instance, perhaps a critical business application goes down resulting in thousands of dollars in losses every minute. It’s important to calculate losses based on the overall use case, such as how many employees are going to be impacted. QUANTIFY AND ANALYZE RISK It is critical to determine what is critical and what isn’t. Answer the big question: “What is the impact and exposure?” An effective approach is to differentiate between threats and risks across the board and to then quantify risk based on the threat, the threat’s nature, the organization’s overall vulnerability or exposure, the overall impact, which may go beyond the immediate assets, people, and the overall timeline, which is often dynamic. For instance, it’s not sufficient to ask, “How many employees are in HQ right now?” since employees are constantly on the move. Perhaps a geopolitical issue or event is going to cause a disruption to the supply chain, but the organization won’t feel the impact for two months. Q. Is there anything else you would like to tell the PM community? A. We are entering a new age and taking automation of critical event response to a whole new level. Look for opportunities in your own areas of Project Management where rapid response to an event can have a marked business advantage to keeping your projects on track. Also, I wish you and your families safety during these times. I’d like to express my thanks to Claudia for her time and interest in Project Management during this difficult environment. In conclusion of this ongoing reflection and in order to support ourselves as planners during these trying times, let’s say that the party is not yet over. Whether that be a more detailed discussion of AI solutions, new employee wellness plans, or more, a nature of fostering our valuable resources (people), will do us all well as we plan ahead for current and future swan attacks. One way to continue this reflection, is to join me, along with Claudia and other industry experts, to further discuss what can be done with AI—now and into the future. We hosted an MPUG webinar (available on-demand) for just this reason and hope you’ll watch. Additionally, hit the comments below to let us know your take. I’ll be sure to reply. Until then, safe and healthy planning to you all! Check out Part 1 of this article Watch the on-demand webinar