Monday, October 19, 2009
Houston we have a problem!
(this was originally written as a comment within Klaus' latest entry, so I write in reference to his points about leadership and giving direction... but after writing, I decided this would be more prominent as an entry in its own right - given the message I am trying to convey, rightly or wrongly.)
IMHO, we need a clear direction (emphasis on "clear" as in clarity, and direction as in pointing out the way ahead) and assigmnent of specific action points to people.
My understanding - correct me if I am wrong - is that there are issues now with the Team Governance Agreement and also the project plan, and both are critical for us to start working. For team governance agreement, point men are the program managers; and for project plan, point men are the prog mgrs and the 3 project mgrs. Doesn't mean the rest of us are to just stand by and gawk, but for us to be involved, the prog mgrs/ PMs need to direct the action - what is the problem? what do we need to do to progress? who can provide what we need?
At certain points last week and week before, we had a cry for help from the prog mgr regarding getting the 2 documents up. But we did not have clear instruction on how to help... consequently the very people (e.g. PMs) who were in best position to help remained silent, while team members went in all directions with their emailed suggestions and opinions which did not help bring the team forward one inch.
Today we got in our emails, a call for team Transformer to stand up and be counted. Again, please issue instructions and give clarity.
As I mentioned in my week 2 blog (the main one): I am keeping quiet not because I am not concerned, but I think too many cooks spoil the broth. And as I implied in both my week 2 blogs, We need leaders to lead, and to activate specific people who could contribute, while deactivating people who can't contribute yet at this stage (de-activating does not mean throw them out, it means keeping them quiet for the time being).
I am all ready to contribute. But until I am summoned to do specific tasks, and until the leaders provide clarity, I won't add to the confusion.
So calling out to the prog managers (ditto for PMs at individual projects' level):
- what is the problem now?
- who has the information/ who is in position to help with the problem? Activate them.
- if the persons concerned are not responding, then badger them to submission or get replacements!
IMHO, we need a clear direction (emphasis on "clear" as in clarity, and direction as in pointing out the way ahead) and assigmnent of specific action points to people.
My understanding - correct me if I am wrong - is that there are issues now with the Team Governance Agreement and also the project plan, and both are critical for us to start working. For team governance agreement, point men are the program managers; and for project plan, point men are the prog mgrs and the 3 project mgrs. Doesn't mean the rest of us are to just stand by and gawk, but for us to be involved, the prog mgrs/ PMs need to direct the action - what is the problem? what do we need to do to progress? who can provide what we need?
At certain points last week and week before, we had a cry for help from the prog mgr regarding getting the 2 documents up. But we did not have clear instruction on how to help... consequently the very people (e.g. PMs) who were in best position to help remained silent, while team members went in all directions with their emailed suggestions and opinions which did not help bring the team forward one inch.
Today we got in our emails, a call for team Transformer to stand up and be counted. Again, please issue instructions and give clarity.
As I mentioned in my week 2 blog (the main one): I am keeping quiet not because I am not concerned, but I think too many cooks spoil the broth. And as I implied in both my week 2 blogs, We need leaders to lead, and to activate specific people who could contribute, while deactivating people who can't contribute yet at this stage (de-activating does not mean throw them out, it means keeping them quiet for the time being).
I am all ready to contribute. But until I am summoned to do specific tasks, and until the leaders provide clarity, I won't add to the confusion.
So calling out to the prog managers (ditto for PMs at individual projects' level):
- what is the problem now?
- who has the information/ who is in position to help with the problem? Activate them.
- if the persons concerned are not responding, then badger them to submission or get replacements!
Labels: LingShen
# posted by Ling Shen @ 10/19/2009 08:58:00 AM 
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