Tag: Skills

The Power of Decision Criteria

Written by George Pitagorsky on July 12, 2022. Posted in Articles.

Every decision is made based on criteria. Are you and your team conscious of your criteria?

Decision making is at the heart of project management. Doing it well requires skill and awareness of the process. This article addresses decision criteria and the need for up front and formal definition of them as part of a decision-making process. A previous article Get the Right Answers to Make the Right Decisions[1] discussed the need for the right questions to ensure high quality decisions. Among those questions is “what criteria will we use to evaluate options and decide?”

Poor decisions are made when people make them without consciously identifying their decision criteria. This happens at all levels, from individuals to decisions amongst project teams, executives, and members of boards of directors.

The Decision-Making Process

When decision makers are aware of their process it is less likely that they will overlook setting up mutually agreed upon decision criteria.

Being aware of the process means consciously recognizing that there is a set of steps for deciding. One of the steps is agreeing upon the criteria to be used.

There are many variations on the definition of the decision-making process. They share a common theme – consciously understand what you are doing and how you are doing it. Define your process and make it adaptable and flexible. Make it so that later steps influence earlier ones in an iterative refinement process.

Here are nine steps to sum up the process[2]

1) Define values, goals, objectives, and requirement specifications

2) Define the decision making and target environments

3) Agree upon decision criteria

4) Identify solution options

5) Analyze and compare solution options vis-à-vis the decision criteria

6) Decide

7) Implement the decision

8) Monitor and adjust

9) Reflect on the process for lessons learned.

The first step includes the definition of the desired outcome. The second step identifies who will make and influence the decision(s), levels of authority, process, tools, and techniques to use in decision making. It also makes sure that the decision makers have a good understanding of the nature of the environment that the decision will affect – the operational environment. Goals and objectives may be adjusted as step two is performed. Both steps one and two may be refined as criteria are identified. All three are subject to refinement as the process proceeds, as implied in step eight.

What are decision criteria?

Decision criteria are the basis for deciding. They “are the principles, values, rules, variables, and conditions that an organization or team uses to select an option or make a decision.”[3]

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Why Define Criteria

Consciously defining decision criteria improves the quality and rationality of decisions.

The criteria always exist. Every decision is made based on some criteria, which may be consciously known or not. Many are prone to subconsciously consider factors that skew their decision. For example, a bias towards reinforcing privately held values may get in the way of reaching a practical decision.

When decision criteria are consciously considered, prioritized, and agreed upon by decision makers, biases can be identified and managed, criteria that may not be immediately obvious can be discovered. Without consciously addressing decision criteria, decisions are suboptimal. They will take longer than necessary to make, and they are more likely to turn out to be ineffective.

Decisions take longer because criteria emerge over the course of discussions rather than at the onset. For example, a team charged with the design of the interior of elevator cars became aware after deciding, but before the design was implemented, that there were design options that were more likely to protect against damage. The team had not directly assessed damage resistance when making their decision. Once aware of the newly identified factors, the original decision was put aside while other options were identified and assessed, causing a several weeks delay.

The team had not explicitly stated their criteria. Informally, everyone had an understanding that aesthetics was the main criterion, with maintainability as a key factor. Cost and availability were also considered. They reviewed several options and selected one. If the decision had been acted upon the team could have made a poor choice that looked good but was easily chipped or cracked. The result could have been costly.

Time and Effort

Besides thinking it is unnecessary, a reason that decision makers do not spend adequate time and effort considering their decision criteria is the perception that it will take too long and that it is overly formal.

The time it takes to define decision criteria depends on the situation. With a team that often works together on similar projects, the criteria for choosing supplier, design, or plan options may be already available in a checklist. Little time would be needed to review the checklist and verify its fit for the decision at hand. If on the other hand the team was not used to working together, was operating informally, and had no checklist, setting decision criteria can be more complex, requiring convincing team members that some formality is needed.

In most cases all it takes to identify decision criteria is a brief brainstorming session among the decision makers, informed about typical criteria for the type of decision they are to make. Going further to evaluate the criteria, prioritizing them, takes more time and effort.

How Formal Do You have to Be?

A formal process improves performance. But how formal is formal?

The minimal degree of formality is to have a written list of criteria. If during the decision-making other criteria come up, add them to the list.

A next level of formality is to weight the criteria to identify priorities among them and then use the weights to score each option, so the score becomes a factor in choosing one.

In all decisions some criteria are more significant than others. Sometimes the degree of significance, the weights, are used informally or unconsciously. With more formality weights are used to calculate scores in a documented process. This brings a greater degree of objectivity to the process, though making decisions purely on the numbers can be unskillful. Do not underestimate the power of intuition, particularly among experienced decision makers.

The degree of formality depends on the complexity and impact of the decision, the team’s confidence in their decision-making process, and their accountability for their decision. In some cases, rules and regulations mandate the documentation of decisions, in other cases it is useful to be able to show others that a rational process was used to make the decision.

How to Set the Criteria

Identifying the criteria for a decision is not a particularly creative process. Use readily available lists via a quick web search for decision criteria lists. For example:

Performance
Appearance – look and feel, aesthetics
User experience
Stakeholder acceptance
Cost – of implementation, operation, and replacement
Benefits
Risk
Security
Maintainability
Reliability
Resilience and flexibility
Environmental, social and governance considerations
Sourcing and availability
Time to implement
Reviews.

Use this list or one that is more specific to your decision as a starting point to craft your criteria.

Bottom Line

Consciously agreeing upon and documenting decision criteria in the context of a defined decision process promotes high quality decisions and avoids unnecessary delays. To apply this principle most effectively tailor formality to the nature of your situation, with the minimum being a list of agreed upon criteria.

[1] https://www.projecttimes.com/articles/get-the-right-answers-to-make-the-right-decisions/

[2] Adapted from Pitagorsky, Managing Conflict in Projects: Applying Mindfulness and Analysis for Optimal Results

https://www.amazon.com/Managing-Conflict-Projects-Applying-Mindfulness/dp/193558958X

[3] How to Write Decision Criteria (With Tips and Examples) | Indeed.com Canada

How To Write A Data-Driven Resume

Written by Ron Boaz on July 6, 2022. Posted in Articles.

As business professionals, we know the increasing importance of data-driven decision making in our projects and operations.

This article will explain why we need to bring that same approach to resume writing, and how to level up your Project Manager/Business Analyst resume writing skills.

The Importance Of Data

In the business world today, it is hard to come by important decisions that are made in the absence of data to support them. Managers are, understandably, loath to not have evidence stacked up to support a claim or decision that exposes their organization to opportunity, but also risk.

This same perspective can be applied to hiring decisions as well. Are not employees a huge opportunity, albeit potential risk, for any business? A star employee can transform an organization for the better, resulting in a strong bottom line and happier customers. In a competitive job market, candidates need to sell their attributes and accomplishments to hiring managers, who increasingly need to base their hiring decisions on strong evidence, not unlike other operational or project decisions. Show me the data!

What Does This Mean For Your Resume?

For one, your resume needs to be quantitative. Most resumes list work experience and education in a neat table, sorted by date and organization. This is a good start. However, when you drill down into the details (the bullet points) underlying each previous job, the descriptions often leave something to be desired. For example;

“Compiled project analysis for company executives”
“Managed an organization-wide ERP solution implementation”
“Trained support teams on use of new software tool”

What these examples demonstrate is a lack of volume, scale, or size. How is a hiring manager to know if you managed the roll out of an ERP system for a staff of 10, or 2000? What does improved service delivery really mean? That each agent more consistently said thank you at the end of each call? Or were turnaround times reduced by 30%? Look for your ‘wins’ and highlight them with data.

What this can look like:

“Comprehensively analyzed and compiled dozens of address, routing, and fuel data points on a weekly cadence, to draft executive reports that could be quickly understood and acted upon”
“Managed a 1 year ERP implementation affecting 900 staff, resulting in time savings of 5 FTEs”
“Facilitated dozens of training sessions of 5‐25 participants each, achieving an average instructor rating of 4.5/5 from feedback forms”

There are 2 important take-aways from the above examples:

Fully use the real estate provided to you on the page. Your resume should only be 1-2 pages, so use up that white space as efficiently as possible.
The examples use specifics that are quantified.

Examples of other metrics you can use:

$’s spent, saved or earned
Time taken or time saved
Cadence or turnaround time of process or task
# of people impacted, trained or involved
# of computers/machines updated or provisioned
Volume or quantity of materials

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Is The Data Impressive Enough?

What if the numbers aren’t impressive, you may ask? When providing feedback on resumes, mentees often state they don’t think their accomplishments sound big or important enough if too much detail is given, as if keeping it vague somehow augments their work. If you don’t think an accomplishment is worth quantifying, remember that hiring managers can also revert to the lowest common denominator, if quantities aren’t provided. You may have concurrently managed 10 accounts worth an average of $10,000. In the absence of concrete numbers, a hiring manager may theoretically guess that maybe it was 4 accounts worth $5000 each.

Sometimes, exploring different ways of telling your data story can make your work history sound more effective too. Maybe you successfully negotiated a $100 savings on a monthly vendor contract. That’s great, but maybe you can re-word it as, “Negotiated a 10% savings on a recurring monthly expense, saving $1000s per year”. Explore absolute versus percent versus ratio metrics for each claim, as sometimes one will sound better than the other.

Internal- And External-Facing Data Points

You may notice 2 distinct metrics types, that we can call internal, vs. external. Often, when we are stuck in the weeds of our projects, we only think of our internal metrics. These could include things like # of stakeholders managed, dollars spent, or groups involved. What are often more impactful, in terms of convincing employers of the significance of your work, are metrics that speak to what your project ultimately accomplished; the downstream outcomes. Sometimes, these data points may not be known for months or years. These could include things like # of new clients, # of people trained, or incremental dollars earned or saved, directly due to actions you took while deep in the weeds of your project. Have a think about your last few projects. What were their downstream outcomes?

Quantify Your Interests

People differ on the utility of a personal interests or extracurricular section of your resume. I’m personally a fan, because hiring managers are hiring people, not robots, and want to know who the person is that they are hiring. Also, hiring managers, like all humans, are subject to nervousness around meeting new people in a formal interview setting. The personal interests section provide great small chat talking points to fill otherwise awkward pauses that can occur before and after the formal questioning part of an interview.

Just like with the other sections of your resume, be specific, and quantified, with your personal life! Instead of;

“Organizer of musical festivals”, or
“Love travelling and photography”

you could say

“Have organized 3 musical festivals with 1000s of participants each”, or
“Have traveled in 23 countries, and photographed the Taj Mahal to the fish & corals of the Great Barrier Reef”

Final Thoughts

Lastly, quantifying your resume is an exercise to perform not only once you are looking for your next contract or job, but on an ongoing basis, so that you can leverage the metrics you have formulated for yourself in conversations and informal networking chats.

Good luck on your next application!

Developing a PMBOK Inspired Career Plan

Written by John St. John on May 10, 2022. Posted in Articles.

Running Projects is Like Raising Kids – They Need Your Full Attention

So, we project managers move heaven and earth, ensuring project success happens.

By nature, we are happiest when projects are on track and green.

And as a fellow project manager, I know this work can be challenging with:

Constant organizational changes
Budget cuts fear or reality
Project team turnover
PMO demands for data or compliance
Seemingly aloof decision-makers (not purposely, just busy with their day jobs)
Technology issues

And, “We’re going Agile – eventually.”

So, you apply Agile tools and techniques for a lift on your waterfall project to manage current and future states of work.

Often, we work so hard on our jobs that we neglect our personal and professional selves.

The Best Time to Be a Project/Product Manager is NOW!

Let’s focus on ourselves and our careers for a moment.

Because our work is transformative and impactful, the demand for project managers is through the roof with no signs of stopping (Ex. Salaries, Challenges, Growth Opportunities, etc. – all rising).

FACT: PMI estimated project-oriented work may top $20 trillion by 2027 and put 88 million people to work (HBR.org Article Written by Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez)

However, it would help if you STILL asked yourself these critical questions about your work:

Do I feel like the work gives me Purpose?
Is this work fulfilling?
Do you love problem-solving?
Is organizing things in your DNA?
Do you look forward to aligning people’s strengths to do great things?
Are you excited to learn new technologies and concepts to get more out of your day?

Can you answer each question with an emphatic “Yes?”

If so, you are operating in or near your life’s big “Why” or Purpose.

Check out this video for more on finding your life’s big “Why.”

As project managers, the work we do should be an extension of our reason for existence, in service to others, at this moment in time.

If not, revisit your career path because there may be a far more lucrative and fulfilling path than project management.

Beyond Market Demand, Does Project Management Help You Fulfill Your Purpose?

Not sure?

STOP – Read John Coleman’s Article: To Find Meaning in Your Work, Change How You Think About It.

John’s article appeared on HBR.org, and it’s legit!

Here’s a key point John makes that will help you frame up your WHY:

Remember why you work. Please identify the person or group of people in your personal [and professional] life that your work is in service for, and keep them in mind when you work through even the most tedious of tasks. A purpose isn’t magic — it’s something we must consciously pursue and create. With the right approach, almost any job can be meaningful.

Yes – You CAN find Purpose in any work, but it does not guarantee fulfillment.

CAVEAT: However, the most fulfilling work emerges from a clear sense of service that transcends self and targets impacts for you and those you serve with what you do best.

Bonus: the most fulfilled, financially free, and divine aligned beings on the planet figure out their “Why” and then strike out to touch the sky!

Is Project Management an extension of your why?

Well, it should be!

Is Project Management Your Jam?

If you are still reading, you must love what you do, so here’s a question for you:

How would your career change if you applied Project Management rigor to transform your career?

Listen, Jim Rohn – motivational speaker and businessman, once said:

PMTimes_May11_2022 — *Credit: Google Images*

Do You Have a Job Or A Career?

Working on yourself means your life purpose gets integrated with your career.

A purposed career takes reflection, decision-making, and work creation that ensures work is more fun and lucrative than you could imagine.

Now ask yourself: Do you work harder on your job than you do on your career?

Wait – What’s the difference between a job and a career?

Simple: Careers are fulfilling because they work on you. Jobs are not fulfilling because you work on them.

You’ve heard of the great resignation.

The great resignation is partly fueled by retirement.

And, many post-pandemic workers slowed down long enough and realized their life and life’s Purpose was more doable with a flexible, remote environment where their best and most fulfilling work could be done.

And an unfulfilling job is like getting a root canal without anesthesia – it hurts too much and should never be done.

You need work that fills your heart, wallet, and purpose-driven needs for being alive at this point in time.

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Take a Page Out of PMBOK (Career Style)

Remember, we use PMBOK to transform our work.

Why not use the same rigor to transform our careers, too?

Let’s discuss the triple constraints as they apply to your career’s development.

You will focus on developing your first career phase, which takes approximately 6 – 12 months.

After that, you will revisit your plans, reassess them, and schedule another 6-12 month sprint until you reach career nirvana or something close to it.

Triple Constraints Blended with Project Phases

As with any project, the goal is to add value.

Your career project is no different. Your career project is about adding fulfillment and value-adding capability to your career.

Let’s start with your scope, which breathes life into your life’s big “Why” with “What and How.”

INITIATE AND PLAN

Scope: Start with a career project charter and plan to initiate/solidify your career project:

First, suspend all logic and hold nothing back, so you won’t get in the way of getting what you deserve!

BUSINESS CASE/OBJECTIVES:
1. What project work, people, places, and things give you the greatest fulfillment?
2. What would doing this work look like each day?
3. What short- and long-term benefits could you realize if bullets 1 and 2 came true?
  - Please be detailed with your descriptions.
4. Finally, write a DESIRED STATE narrative summing up bullets 1-3 or create bullet points using the same rigor and diligence you give at work.
CONSTRAINTS: How does your CURRENT STATE differ from your DESIRED STATE?
- Make a few notes about the key differences, then burn them! Acknowledging the old will help you move forward toward the new. Its history and focusing on it will keep you stuck.
RISKS: What things must change about YOU AND THE WORK YOU DO to achieve YOUR DESIRED STATE career?
- What must you change personally and professionally to reach your DESIRED STATE career?
- Create bullet points using the same rigor and diligence you give at work.
STAKEHOLDER ANALYSIS: What stakeholders must you assemble to gain clarity on your best way forward?
- List your stakeholders, the input you seek, and the input you receive. These stakeholders can be just about anyone you trust, like a:
  - Career coach
  - Mentor (video)
  - Someone further along in the career journey than you
  - A trusted advisor and Truth Teller
  - Spiritual wisdom from your Source

EXECUTE, MONITOR, AND CONTROL

Time: Develop your career project plan and time box your steps:

What three steps or tasks must you first execute, monitor, and control, to deliver on your 6 to 12-month career development project:
- Think Start, Stop, and Continuing certain behaviors related to:
  - Professional Development (Ex. Continuous Learning)
  - Personal Development (Ex. Mindset Management)
  - Networking (Ex. Real relationships with other doers – not just LinkedIn connections, meaningful conversations with people behind, beside, or ahead of you in their career journey).
- Distill your “Start, Stop, and Continue” into tangible steps:
  - Take a certification or online/live training course
  - Do volunteer work for experience
  - Watch personal development videos, so you are not the barrier to your success
- Add some details and time boxes.

Remember, the three steps or big things you must do will encompass no less than six months but no greater than 12 months.

As the phrase goes, “You must count the cost.”

Cost: Pencils down. It is time to revisit your scope activities and consider what it will cost you to deliver on this 6 to 12-month career project.

For example:

Have you determined how you fund your personal or professional development where needed?
Are you fully committed to making this project move forward regardless of the obstacles?
Have you accurately estimated how much time and effort you will expend each month reaching project completion?
How will you socialize your plan, gain support, and keep your career project on track?
Have you considered most likely project disruptions and accounted for contingencies to them?

You are compelled and equipped to navigate this massive career lift and shift ahead if you do your homework.

Fast forward.

You’ve successfully counted the cost and dove into your career project.

And you remain on track to complete your three initial steps.

You must properly close out those steps that transitioned from DOING to DONE.

CLOSEOUT

After completing all three steps, you ensure they delivered on your expectations or receive sufficient evidence to do something different next time.

Here are a few examples:

Did steps add work/life fulfillment? If not, what should have happened or been done differently?
Did steps add value? If not, what should have happened or been done differently?
What were your personal and professional lessons learned?
In what ways did the project grow you personally and professionally? If not, what should have happened or been done differently?
Did you connect and benefit/serve someone behind, beside, or ahead of you on the same/similar career journey? If not, what should have happened or been done differently?

If everything went according to plan, you close out your final step before moving on to the next step(s) in your 6 – 12 month career project.

Conclusion

Remember, project management isn’t for everyone, no matter how well you do the work. The work must be fulfilling, tie into your big “Why,” and help you thrive, not just survive!

After noodling your big “Why” and choosing a project management career desired state or path to begin leveraging the Career “Triple Constraints” concepts, develop your unique journey, and decidedly fulfilling career path.

Call to Action

The world needs us – get equipped for a world of projects producing exponential value! Finally, Global demand for Agile/Scrum/Product Management expertise is heating up for PMs with this experience and may be the key to you prospering in the new remote economy.

It’s only a matter of time before it intersects with your work or influences your opportunities.

About PMI Central Illinois Chapter

Visit PMI Central Illinois Chapter to Learn More. And check out a few more articles by other PMI CIC contributors.

The Art of Assertive Waiting

Written by George Pitagorsky on January 19, 2022. Posted in Articles.

Waiting is a fact of life. We wait because we want something to happen. We want the bus to come, to get to the front of the line, we want some work to be completed or some event to take place.

The way you wait effects your health, relationships, and performance. There are choices. You can be active or passive. And if active, you can be aggressive or assertive. You can make waiting for an opportunity to relax, do something productive, and cultivate mindful self-awareness. Or you can grumble, complain, and stress-out.

“Waiting is” is a quote from Robert Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land. It refers to waiting without wanting things to be different from what they are. The bus hasn’t arrived yet, there is nothing you can do to make it come. If you accept that and make the best of your situation, you are happily waiting for – stress-less peace caused by accepting things as they are and knowing what you can do to influence things going forward.

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Waiting in Projects

In the realm of projects, project managers wait for resources, decisions, and deliverables. Schedules predict task duration, the wait time to completion. The more critical the task, the more difficult it is to wait for it to be completed.

The art of waiting is in the way performance is managed. Your project control process makes a difference in the quality of your waiting and the way you wait for influences the way you control your project and manage your relationships.

Decisions and work by functional managers and contractors are often more difficult to manage than other kinds of deliverables. Decisions, particularly the more critical ones that can hold up a project, are made by powerful stakeholders like clients, sponsors, and regulators. These folks are not as likely as others to have a clearly stated due date, and even if they do, they are subject to dynamically changing priorities. Most often they are not held accountable for missing a target date.

The contractors and functional groups contributing to your project have conflicting priorities as they juggle your work and the work they do for others. Direct project team members may be late in completing their deliverables, and late and inaccurate in reporting progress for any number of reasons.

So, there is waiting and with waiting, uncertainty. Uncertainty anxiety and annoyance arise and they make waiting more difficult than it needs to be. You experience the stress of not knowing what is going on.

Waiting happily is up to you. The trick is to decide what to do (or not do) and how to do it while you are waiting. Do it, and be happy.

Assertive Waiting

There are choices – assertive, aggressive, and passive waiting. ‘Aggressive’ is sharp, there is a flavor of violent forcefulness. “Assertive” on the other hand is confident and connotes a softer active effort to achieve a goal. Both connote action, doing something to move things along. In “Passive” waiting, there is no action beyond observing.

Assertiveness implies confidently speaking up for a point of view while respecting others. Here we are using the term to mean being

skillfully active while waiting. Your action is motivated by the goal of assuring success. You respect others. You can choose to act or not act.

Project Control

Effective project communication and control procedures influence the waiting process. In an ideal world waiting for a resource, deliverable or decision is easy. People know what they have to do, by when, and they do it without prompting. A reporting process keeps everyone up to date. If people become aware that they can’t fulfill their commitments, they make that known. The project manager monitors progress and does not need to do anything if things are moving along well. If they are not, he, she or they would assess cause and impact and manage expectations – adjusting the plan and informing stakeholders.

But what if things are less ideal? For example, if the progress reporting process is not effective because it either does not exist or some players don’t update their plans or report inaccurately. Then greater assertiveness is required.

What can you do?

Ask questions with kind inquisitiveness, be gently assertive. Be sensitive to the other parties’ sensitivity to hierarchy and control issues, their fear of being judged for not performing to plan. Maybe they do not have the information needed to accurately revise their estimates. Maybe they just don’t care or they don’t believe in schedules and progress reporting.

Understanding others, you can craft the most effective response.

For example, you can call, email or message a contractor or functional manager to say something like,

“I am submitting a progress report to the boss/sponsor/steering committee/etc. and I need to give them a sense of where you are in your task and your estimate to completion. Let us know if there any issues that might get in the way.”

At first, there is no need to copy anyone besides the people with the information you need. Depending on the level of awareness of the players and the cultural setting, there may be sensitivity about letting others know that there might be an issue.

If there is no adequate response, then call. If still no response, you have a problem. Send a reminder of your request and cc someone to create accountability and an audit trail. Avoid exhibiting your frustration, remain calm and persistent. Make a resolution to fix the project control process to make waiting easier for everyone.

Be patient, persistent, compassionate, and, if you can, help others to get what they need. Be patient but don’t stand for abuse.

What Makes Waiting for a Challenge?

Antsy feelings – restless, nervous, impatient, anxious, a gnawing sense of worry – are at the root of aggressive behavior. With mindful self-awareness hard to be with feelings that can be observed and accepted, and you can choose the behavior that suits the situation best. You become responsive rather than reactive.

Without mindful awareness, there is a tendency to impatiently react. The opportunity to develop greater self-management is lost. You may get what you want but not what you need, and you lose the respect of those you work with. You may lose your best players. You lose the opportunity to rest peacefully at the moment allowing things to unfold while being appropriately active.

Happily Waiting

There is a time for everything. Projects rely on activity. But that doesn’t mean there is no place for inaction – not doing. You need time for rest and reflection. There are periods during project life when there is nothing for a project manager to do but wait.

When you are waiting, let go and trust in the process. Relax. Find your calm center and let your intuition and experience lead you. Respond mindfully and skillfully. Choose between anxiously waiting and happily waiting.

For more on waiting happily, see the article “Happily Waiting: What to Do with Your Impatience” http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs179/1102273237048/archive/1121285490509.html

5 Human Interaction Skills Needed for Effective Elicitation

Written by Elizabeth Larson on November 24, 2021. Posted in Articles.

In my previous article on Elicitation, I discussed many techniques for effective elicitation. Missing, however, were the human interaction skills[i] that are needed to be successful. Some, like Facilitation, are so large a topic that I’ll write about them in separate articles. In this article, I’ll describe five common human interaction pitfalls relating to elicitation and how to avoid them.

Pitfall #1 – Passive listening. In the previous article, I noted that elicitation is about asking questions and actively listening to the responses. A common misconception is that active listening means keeping our mouths shut and nodding our heads. However, that’s really a form of passive listening and it’s a common pitfall. We’re so afraid of interrupting that we rely entirely on those non-verbals to communicate that we’re listening.

Avoiding the pitfall. Active listening, however, involves making sure we understand what’s being said. That sounds easy, but it’s hard to be sure that we’ve understood correctly. Sure, we use those non-verbals noted above to indicate that we understand. They’re important, but not sufficient in themselves. Active listening requires asking clarifying questions, paraphrasing what we think we’ve heard, and asking related questions. These techniques help ensure that we understand and that we’re interested. They also provide an opportunity for the stakeholders to expand and change their thoughts and opinions.

Pitfall #2 – The prosecuting attorney. This pitfall happens when we ask the right questions in the wrong way, in a way that puts the person we’re talking to on the defensive. It’s difficult enough to elicit information when people trust us. If they don’t, it can be a very difficult process indeed. And there are many reasons why they might distrust us. When we sound like prosecuting attorneys, we risk having our stakeholders shut down or give us bad information or none at all.

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Avoiding the pitfall. Elicitation is where we learn, and one of the key ways we learn is by asking for the reasons behind statements. Most of us are taught to ask “why” to get at the true meaning, the cause of a problem, the steps in a process, or the usefulness of current information. However, asking why can be an easy way to bust trust, so we have to be careful how we ask it. So how do we ask “why” without asking “why?” I like the old “can you help me understand?” Or preceding the “why” by softening it with something like “I’m curious why…” Or “do you know why…?” Any words that put our stakeholders at ease can help build the trust we need to learn from them.

Pitfall #3 – Misconstruing non-verbals. As PMs and BAs, it’s important for us to pick up on both verbal and nonverbal cues. This can be tricky. Sometimes non-verbals can be misleading. And different cultures have different non-verbal cues. So relying entirely on non-verbals is a pitfall we need to avoid. Here’s a common example. If I bring up a tough topic and the person I’m talking to has their arms crossed, what does it mean? Maybe they disagree with what I’m saying. Maybe they agree but are struggling with the issue. Maybe my timing is off, and they don’t want to discuss the topic at that time. Or maybe they’re simply cold.

Avoiding the pitfall. It’s important not to make assumptions, but rather to ask for clarification. And don’t forget about the “pause/silence” technique. We ask a clarifying question and wait for a response. And wait some more if necessary. I’m the type of person who’s uncomfortable with silence. If the stakeholder doesn’t respond immediately, I have a tendency to jump in with another question. I find it more effective, as hard as it is for me, to count to ten before moving on.

Pitfall #4 – Boomerang conversations. How many people do we know who ask a question and use that as a springboard to talk about themselves? Chances are a lot. It’s important to show interest in what others are saying, and one way to do that is to share similar experiences. But when the discussion becomes a monolog instead of a conversation, it can build boredom and mistrust.

Avoiding the pitfall. Before we share our own experiences, we should ask questions about what our stakeholders are telling us. Even one or two questions can indicate that we value their thoughts. And again, it allows them to expand their ideas.

Pitfall #5 – Hidden agendas. It’s not uncommon for stakeholders to come to a meeting with something on their mind that they haven’t previously mentioned. There are many possible motivations, and we should not assume the worst. For example, perhaps an important new issue has just arisen and they haven’t had time to let us know. Perhaps it’s difficult to get stakeholders together and they don’t want to lose the opportunity to discuss a certain topic. Perhaps we’ve discouraged their ideas and they don’t trust us enough to notify us in advance. Perhaps they have gathered support from others prior to the meeting. Regardless, it is easy to feel that we have been blindsided. And let’s not forget that we may be the ones with the hidden agenda—for many of the same reasons. Even if our intentions are the best, our stakeholders might feel blindsided.

Avoiding the pitfall. I like one-on-one premeetings with an objective but without an agenda. I like to be open about wanting to meet to find out if the stakeholder is comfortable with the upcoming meeting and its agenda and to discuss issues individually. If need be, we can modify the agenda to accommodate additional needs.

In summary, elicitation is one of those critical skills that we all need in order to be successful. It involves not only core elicitation techniques, but also human interaction skills, without which all the great interviewing, business modeling, and other important techniques won’t suffice. This article presented five human interaction pitfalls and tips on how to avoid them. These tips will help us be more effective in doing our work as BAs and PMs.

[i] These are often referred to by other terms. They are sometimes called “soft” skills, but in my experience, they represent the hard stuff. While they can be practiced in a classroom setting, they can only be truly learned through experience, often in the form of a tough lesson learned. Also, I am not fond of the more current term “essential” skills, which implies that skills like interviewing and process modeling are not essential, but they are.