My Caffeine Fueled Rant

People who know me know that I drink a lot of coffee.  I'll drink it hot.  I'll drink it cold.  I'll drink it from the pot, 9 days old.  OK, not 9 days old.  That's just gross.  One of the places I like to drink coffee is a diner.  9 out of 10 times, diner coffee is good.  It's simple, it's basic, and...did I say it was good?  Don't tell me it's organic, fertilized with bat guano from El Salvador.  I really don't care.  The other think I like?  It's usually $1 for endless refills, printed with pride on the menu. This post isn't about cheap coffee.  It's about a pet peeve of mine.  It applies to me ordering drinks at a restaurant.  Here comes the rant.

Today, my family and went out for lunch.  At the restaurant, I plainly saw the prices for everything on the menu but one thing.  Beverages.  Yes, drinks.  Where the hell are the prices for the drinks?  Is this some kind of trick or tactic? Am I to be embarrassed by the fact that I am unwilling to pay $3.00 for a fountain soda or $8 for a beer?  Chances are, if you don't post the prices for your drinks, I'm going to order plain old tap water.  Screw you and your clever lack of information.  It's not my job to ask you how much my drink is going to cost.  You are providing me with a service and that includes prices for the food and drink I'm willing to have with my meal.

If you leave the post at that, I think it stands on it's own.  If you want me to put a project management spin on it, here goes.  If you are a vendor, and you're doing contracted work, don't make your customer ask.  I hate the big reveal.  If you're going to do contracted work, and you fail to inform your customer what the cost is going to be, you should eat it.  Yep, eat the cost.  Why?  Did you promise to throw in a pair of Ginsu knives when you delivered that product?  I'm going to go out on a limb and say no.  Then why would you expect a customer to give you more money for services rendered or product delivered?

I know there are always exceptions.  What if you, as a vendor, don't know how much it's going to cost?  That's fine.  Communicate with your customer.  Treat them like the intelligent beings they are.  They were smart enough to hire you, right?  Then keep them informed and guide them through the options.  Don't sneak that $5 cup of coffee onto the final bill and expect a 20% tip.

Takeaway? Vendors:  Keep your customers informed and don't make them ask. Customers:  Don't let vendors get away with the big reveal.  It will just leave you feeling short-changed.

Why the game of Candy Land bothers me

Every child's first game, CANDY LAND is a colorful way for a preschooler to experience the joy of game play. The game teaches color recognition and matching while reinforcing the lesson of taking turns and being a gracious winner or loser. You will love to see the smile on a young person's face as they travel through CANDY LAND. That's what Hasbro has to say about it.  What do I have to say about it?

Every father's first game, CANDY LAND is a colorful way for a parent to tell his child that this is not how life really is.  The game teaches color recognition and matching while reinforcing an attitude that you can still succeed, even without a strategy.  It teaches the lesson of accepting an outcome, when nothing is within your control and everything is left to chance.  You will love to see the smile on a young person's face when you play your first game of chess.

I'm a loving father.  But I'm also insanely competitive.  I don't think we do our kids any favors by teaching them to just throw the dice or spin a wheel and let life hand them a destiny.  I'm going to raise my son to not expect a ribbon for just showing up.  I'm going to raise my son to not expect something for nothing.

I want him to know that there are risks is life but there are also great opportunities.  It might not start with a game called CANDY LAND but it sure will in the game called LIFE.

Do you think everyone should be rewarded for just showing up?

The PMP bubble may be about to burst

Steve Koger wrote a very insightful comment on one of my "Ask Derek" posts titled Required Experience to take the PMP.  In the post, I was trying to assist someone who wants to be a good project manager.  They want to get their PMP but they don't have the required experience to sit for the exam.  I do want to be clear of three positions.  [1] I don't believe you have to have a PMP to be a good project manager. [2]  Though the certification may be used more and more as a marketing tool, just to get to the interview, I would hire the person not the credential. [3] I see more people attempting to game the system and get a PMP by going to boot camps and saying they have experience that they actually don't. What is happening is an every increasing amount of non-qualified people becoming PMPs.  Unfortunately, I don't see PMI taking any action to stop it.

This is what Steve wrote:

...while the PMP is more recognized worldwide, I’m not sure it carries as much weight as it used to… is there a marginalization occurring with the PMP credential?

I absolutely feel there is a marginalization occurring with the PMP credential.  Because PMI is a “for profit” organization, they are motivated to get as many people certified as possible. I know they say they are trying to advance the industry of Project Management. I do believe that but I can’t ignore the marketing machine behind the credential. I’m worried there will soon be so many PMPs, the credential is becoming the next Dutch tulip.

I am of course comparing it to the Dutch tulip bulb market bubble of the 1600's.  This was one of the most famous market bubbles of all time.  Speculation drove the value of tulip bulbs to extremes. At the height of the market, the rarest tulip bulbs traded for as much as six times the average person's annual salary.  (Source: Investopedia)

I see the PMP credential adoption being part supply and demand and part good marketing.  Fact 1: Too many projects fail.  Fact 2: Having a qualified and empower project manager at the project helm "could" lower the risk of a project failing.  Assumption 1: If you have a PMP as your project manager, your project won't fail.

As with the economics of scarcity, the less there is of something where a demand exist, the greater the value. But scarcity and shortage are not the same thing. A shortage is when the demand exceeds the supply, usually meaning the price was too low and the market is not clearing. Scarcity always exists, but a shortage can be fixed. I feel the shortage of PMPs was fixed a few years ago. I see market conditions which indicate the PMP bubble is about to burst.

What I want to see is a limitation put on the number of PMPs certified per year.  I want to see PMI go back and require not only a 4 hour exam but also require everyone pass a practical exam.  I want to know that Project Managers are PMPs, not people collecting credentials.  I want to see the stop of Paper PMPs.

I certainly don't have the answer.  I want to do everything I can to help qualified people get the credential.  But, that will mean nothing if there is a continued devaluation by people who merely pay a fee and pass a test.

Creating Unnecessary Bureaucracy

I've rewritten this post several times now.  The catalyst for this toned-down rant was the company-wide distribution of a new dress code policy.  As background to this story, I was hired by a small business to support a Federal Government contract.  If you want bureaucracy, the Federal Government is certainly where you'll find it.  Where I don't expect to find it is with a small business.  I've worked for both large and small businesses.  The bigger they get, the more layers of bureaucracy there is.    It doesn't have to be that way.  I think some small businesses think you have to add a lot of crap to processes, in the hope someone will think there is value.  Draconian policies do not translate to value!  As I read the new policy, I became more and more incensed.   I come  from a military background, so if someone has anything to say about my appearance, they should say it to my face. This dress code policy was not necessarily directed to me.  That is where the problem rests.   When you feel the need to communicate TO and not communicate WITH your people, you have a problem. This situation could have been easily avoided by a superior and a subordinate having a conversation.   Instead, we get a vague policy that runs the gambit of  "no shaggy hair" to "hair color should be kept within the family of traditional hair colors".

Give me a break.   This is a failure of both communication and of leadership.  It doesn't matter if we're talking corporate, project management, or communication processes.  Take a big step back and ask yourself if writing that process makes sense.  Action and communication is what will become culture.  Processes just become a pain in the ass that slow things down.

Image from kailash.balnac.com