Process for Project Management

By Cristina Lee, COO, The Tatham Group Phils

 If you think managing a project is all about using good techniques and tools, think again. There is a process for managing a project, more than just using tools!

A lot of instances (and I have seen this happen so many times), there is a tendency to start out building a GANTT – and project management software prompts this behavior – without considering the fundamental purpose of the project, or even have any clear idea of how to systematically go about it. In other words, the project management tools drive and manage the project.

It should be the people driving the project.

Three Simple Questions

By John Munce, Deployment Executive, The Tatham Group

Last week I went in for a little outpatient procedure.  To me, any surgery is major surgery.  But to the doctors it was minor, routine, no big deal.  

When I arrived for the pre-surgery checklist with the three nurses and the anesthetist the clerk handed me an admissions packet.  I flipped through it.  The contents were much more interesting than I expected.

Error-Proofing Healthcare

Michael J. Tatham knows a thing or two about safety. As a pilot with over of forty years of experience and the owner of his own airplane, he has been in many dangerous situations. Yet each time he faces a critical scenario, he successfully pulls through by applying one simple principle: the principle of process. In the following story, Tatham recounts how process can improve safety in any industry.

“Three years ago, as part of the routine re-certification for all pilots, Transport Canada required me to put together a formal Safety Management System for operating my aircraft. The federal agency even withheld my private operators certificate until I could prove that I had implemented a system that passed their test. When they finally inspected my system, they said it was the best one they had ever seen submitted by a private pilot in Canada, and they issued my Private Operator Certificate immediately.

Manage risk in any industry using one simple tool: a checklist

Great story in the Globe and Mail yesterday about how a simple checklist could save the entire Canadian health care industry billions of dollars in medical errors. While we’re pleased to see more people paying attention to this concept, these findings aren’t new. A similar study was done in the U.S. to assess and triage cardiac patients in the ER. This study found that using a checklist significantly reduced the number of patients who were improperly diagnosed, and thus increased the likelihood that those who truly were having a heart attack got treatment faster.

At The Tatham Group, we believe that using checklists to follow a process is paramount – and this concept is built directly into our method. In fact, our work with The Credit Valley Hospital points to the benefits of applying a systematic method to ambulatory care. However, there are two small details that seem to have been overlooked. The first, is that a checklist will only be successful if it’s based on a good process. What we mean by this, is that if the process itself is broken – no checklist will make things any better. And secondly, unless people are being measured by how well they can follow this checklist, it will fall by the wayside. But a well-designed process and checklist for following it, with measurable goals is the best way for hospitals to manage the risk. Or any industry for that matter.

What’s your ripple effect?

They say if a butterfly flutters its wings in Brazil, it creates a breeze, then a wind, eventually fuelling a storm on the other side of the world. Commonly known as “The Butterfly Effect”, it suggests that everything is connected to everything; where even the smallest change can have enormous consequences.

“Anyone who runs a business should see where our garbage goes,” says Remi Cormier, president of R.Environs, a sustainable landscape design company. “It will change the way you manage waste forever.” On a cold, rainy afternoon, we’re driving through mounds of debris. The smell is so putrid I clamp my nose to suppress my gag reflexes from actually doing their job.

Six months ago, the young entrepreneur challenged me to visit the city’s landfill so I could see what happens when my trash lands at the curb. He argued that, “Even though we’ve found creative ways to deal with waste, it’s not enough. Real change happens when we see how all of our actions are connected.”

Here’s a tip about customer service…

Last December, I was whisked off to the Caribbean for a week-long birthday vacation. Truly – there was no better way to celebrate my birthday than sipping a Corona on a pristine white beach off the coast of Mexico, while listening to waves crash.

There was, however (and there always is a ‘but’), one small detail that put a damper on things: all the extra hidden costs!

We signed up for a promotion that touted this great deal: for the bargain price of $800 USD, two people could stay in Florida for two nights, take a four-day cruise to Mexico and then spend one more night in Florida. The only catch was that we had to get ourselves there and listen to a time share presentation. “No sweat,” we thought, and off we went.

I hate to dissappoint you, but…

“…I don’t have a solution for you. My suggestion would be that you come up with it yourself.”

That was this gist of my conversation with an acquaintance this weekend at a holiday party. I realize this answer is not terribly polite, but before you decide it’s because I had too much spiked eggnog, allow me to explain. The preceding conversation – like most party small talk – went something like this:

There’s nothing like real life to remind you of the importance of process

A month ago, my partner and I moved into a brand new home. We decided that to help pay off the rather daunting mortgage, we would rent out the top floor as a separate apartment. After carefully assessing the extent of the renos, we decided that we could probably do it ourselves. (If you feel like this is foreshadowing, you’re right!)

The first challenge was finding a tenant…which was surprisingly easy. An advance preview in the classifieds gave us a deluge of responses. One reliable tenant: check. The second challenge was configuring a tiny space into a kitchen. Thanks to Craig’s List and IKEA, we retrofitted a small nook. One cozy kitchen: check. And finally, the third challenge was putting together a spiral staircase to create the separate entrance. (You might be wondering, “why a spiral staircase?” The space was less than ideal for a regular set of stairs and we didn’t want a shared front entrance, so this was the best alternative.) One separate entrance: check.

The dreaded “P” word…

I have a confession to make: I’m addicted to finding new words.

Not just any words, but rather ones that are simple and elegant – like ‘august’, ‘brisk’ or ‘misanthrope’. They bring colour and life to any sentence without complicating it.

Yet despite my love affair with the thesaurus, I’ve managed to develop a strong disdain for pompous jargon. Among these words are “distribution channels” or “undertaken” or “procedure”. They sully our perfectly good language and provide little value to the message.

With a strong aversion to jargon, you can just imagine how I felt when I first started working for The Tatham Group. All day long I would hear the word “business process” and each time someone said it, I would cringe at the thought of having to discuss something so bureaucratic. I mean, could there be anything more…boring?

You’ve Got Mail!

Late one morning in the dead of summer, I checked the mail at the front door of our Madison Avenue office. Strewn among letters, flyers and magazines was a mysterious little black book with a bold claim: “Master your Whole Life” by Bob Reed.

Master my whole life in 120 pages? Yeah right. I can’t even master my day in 120 pages! Nevertheless, curiosity got the better of me and I flipped open to the first page.