Motivation

[Kilen]

Hi!

I'm our Project Administrator at work and I have someone who has just been
told to formally write up their projects in MS Project. They aren't too
thrilled with that, because of the time and effort that it takes. But, upper
management has asked that his projects be managed this way. He willingly,
yet so unwillingly, is allowing me to spend time with him, but I've ended up
sitting at his computer and entered his tasks for him - he doesn't seem to
want to know even what buttons to push to do certain things - I don't feel
that he is learning at all - he needs to physically do it himself, or allow
me to spend more time with him to show him the basics and have him ask
questions. It may be too early in the game, but I predict the evidence of no
more information flowing through his project will reveal his lack of interest
in doing this, despite what he has been told. How do I motivate such a
person? How do I train them sufficiently as well? The little time that I
did spend with him, he kept asking, "Are we done yet?" I'm sure this
scenerio is not new to any of you out there. When change comes people tend
to resist. I must add that he is in our Research and Development Department
- that department is very dynamic and he has a lot on his plate, but I
believe that he chooses to put a lot on his plate, and hasn't been told to
take on all that is there.

Any ideas or feedback welcome!

Thx!

 

[JulieS]

Hi Kilen,

At the risk of sounding uncharitable (or worse), I think you have
already gone far beyond what I would have done. It seems to me that a
couple of things are clear:

1. He is *not* interesting in using MS Project and there is little you
can do to change that. Whether the problem is that he doesn't have
time, doesn't want to or whatever, is moot.

2. You have gone above and beyond by offering to sit with him, even gone
so far as doing his work for him. He does not appear to recognize that
you are being helpful and in fact appears to resent your aid.

3. In my opinion, he's not a candidate for "motivation" from you. About
the only person who has a prayer of motivating him, is his boss.

4. He was given clear direction from his boss (upper management) about
entering his project into MS Project. He choses to not participate.
I'd let his boss know (perhaps through your boss if appropriate) what
you have done and offered to do and let it go.

It sounds as though there may be problems beyond just using Project that
I wouldn't even try to address were I you.

I hope this helps. Let us know how you get along.

Julie
Project MVP

Visit http://project.mvps.org/ for the FAQs and additional information
about Microsoft Project

 

[Jim Aksel]

One of the MVPs, Mike Glenn, has some great tutorials that will get him up
and running. Here's a link to them:
http://project.mvps.org/mike's_tutorials.htm

There is also an outstanding book available by MS Project Experts. Here's a
link on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/193424...&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=278247201&pf_rd_i=507846

As for teaching, I tell you what I learned from several years as an adult
leader in Boy Scouts of America. First, your tools are your mouth and your
knowledge. You do not have hands. If you make a request, under no
circumstances what so ever are you to do the task for him unless directed by
your management.

If you show him an example, do it in a Project1.mpp file but not in the
actual file he is working.

The nice part about Dale Howard's book is that the assignments are baby
steps. It has all kinds of samples and exercises for everything --- they
take it one step at a time with easy examples for learning. I think the book
is fantastic for that type of thing.

For motivation, well I don't know what motivates this guy. He is probably
scared that he will look stupid or that it will be way more work than he can
handle with all his other assignments. See if you (or he) can get his
calendar cleared. Tell the management that Project has a steep learning
curve so you want him to be able to stay focused and not distracted or
stressed. Give him the URL or buy him the book and let him work it on
company time.

What motivates me is seeing results. Have him do a few things and then show
him how changing the duration of a task automatically ripples through his
schedule. Have him setup the Resource sheet (with costs) and then tell him
he'll not have to do that often now that it is established.... you saved him
work already. Look, it automatically costs this stuff for us.... Try
praising him into success. Start with baby steps. Confirm his understanding
and praise it.

Tell him my tag line .... he's smarter than the software.

 

[DavidC]

Hi,

His your colleague 'threatened' by being made to put his work into MS
Project? This is used by management often to see employee loadings, but can
also be used in a negative way to track peoples performance.

Maybe management are looking to identify his overall workload, see if any of
his work can be re prioritised, or perhaps provide assistance to him.

Is it that management are looking to ensure projects are being kept to time?

Before you can even start to motivate him, there will be a need to find out
the reasons behind requiring his projects to be put into a schedule. Then it
needs to be sold to him in terms of how it will help him. At the moment I
bet he does not see any advantage to him, and any advantage to him doing his
work. This is a common issue with those who do the work. Lets face it a
schedule has never actually produced anything tangible. It helps keep things
on track and identify critical tasks, or overloaded resources, but it never
actually produces the end product. That is the trick, to get those doing the
work to understand how the schedule will help in their work.

Being in research, my guess is that your colleague is what is commonly
refered to in motivation as in the 'star' group, that group of people who
are difficult to control and in fact work best by doing their own thing. It
is a well known trait of researchers and hence the need to tread carefully
when trying to get them to do anything other than their research.

Not an easy task I grant you, but it probably needs your management to
communicate more and possibly better to your colleague over their wishes and
expected outcomes.

Hope this helps a little.

Regards

DavidC

 

[Steve House]

Sounds like there's maybe a bit of "I'm a MANAGER and MANAGERS don't type,
keyboards and computers are work for secretaries and data entry clerks!"
going on with him. Try to sell him on the idea that it is a tool to help
him in his decision making, allowing him to analyse possible project
structures and resource assignments and their resulting schedules in the
same way a financial analyst uses 'What If" tools in Excel to determine an
optimum strategy. (And you won't be off base because forecasting of
outcomes during strategic planning by the decision maker is exactly what
Project is most useful for anyway.)

 

[Kilen]

Thx Julie for your insight! Much appreciated! You hit it right on the nose.
I realize that it is beyong my control.

Sorry I didn't get back to you earlier. I was having problems getting on to
this discussion group for the last month or so.

 

[Kilen]

Hi Jim,

Thx for your advice. It is very insightful and helpful. Sorry that I
didn't reply earlier, but I have been having problems logging on to this
discussion group for the last month or so.

Kilen

 

[Kilen]

Hi David,

No, he hasn't been threatened to enter his work in Project, as far as I am
aware of, as I am only administrating the roll out and not in the know of
what discussions happen between him and his manager. Upper Management has
communicated that they don't want this tool to seem like they are doing a
"Big Brother" kind of thing. They want to track costs, help keep the project
on task, make sure that all necessary steps have been taken in the project,
and use it as a tool to know how much time resources are spending on
different divisional projects so that appropriate division is billed for
their time. We've had situations in the past where diffferent salesmen
within the divisions abuse the research department to do projects that they
want done but management hasn't been aware of them. By billing them, it's
making them see how much it is costing them to have research work for them
and ultimately affects what the company pays them.


Yep, I see him as a 'star' type. You can't blame him, though. He has to be
on his toes, come up with the lastest solution and keep everything on his
plate rolling.

Thx for your input. It is much appreciated!

 

[Kilen]

Thx for the advice, Steve!

Sounds like there's maybe a bit of "I'm a MANAGER and MANAGERS don't type,
keyboards and computers are work for secretaries and data entry clerks!"
going on with him. Try to sell him on the idea that it is a tool to help
him in his decision making, allowing him to analyse possible project
structures and resource assignments and their resulting schedules in the
same way a financial analyst uses 'What If" tools in Excel to determine an
optimum strategy. (And you won't be off base because forecasting of
outcomes during strategic planning by the decision maker is exactly what
Project is most useful for anyway.)

--
Steve House [Project MVP]
MS Project Trainer & Consultant
Visit http://www.mvps.org/project/faqs.htm for the FAQs

Hi!

I'm our Project Administrator at work and I have someone who has just been
told to formally write up their projects in MS Project. They aren't too
thrilled with that, because of the time and effort that it takes. But,
upper
management has asked that his projects be managed this way. He willingly,
yet so unwillingly, is allowing me to spend time with him, but I've ended
up
sitting at his computer and entered his tasks for him - he doesn't seem to
want to know even what buttons to push to do certain things - I don't feel
that he is learning at all - he needs to physically do it himself, or
allow
me to spend more time with him to show him the basics and have him ask
questions. It may be too early in the game, but I predict the evidence of
no
more information flowing through his project will reveal his lack of
interest
in doing this, despite what he has been told. How do I motivate such a
person? How do I train them sufficiently as well? The little time that I
did spend with him, he kept asking, "Are we done yet?" I'm sure this
scenerio is not new to any of you out there. When change comes people
tend
to resist. I must add that he is in our Research and Development
Department
- that department is very dynamic and he has a lot on his plate, but I
believe that he chooses to put a lot on his plate, and hasn't been told to
take on all that is there.

Any ideas or feedback welcome!

Thx!

 

[JulieS]

You're most welcome and thanks for the feedback. Good luck in your
endeavors

Julie