Tag Archives: Managing a Project

03-Planning the work of a team, 04-Managing a project team, team dynamics, team roles, work plans

MANAGE AND PLAN LIKE A FORMULA1 TEAM

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Manage and Plan Like A Formula 1 Team

“You don’t drive races on paper” – Kimi Raikkonen.

I have been a Formula1 racing aficionado since a kid. I would watch live telecast of a race hosted in any time-zone and also attended the Grand Prix at Austin. Their planning, strategy, risk management and precision has always amazed me. For once I saw the race from the eyes of a Project Manager and not a race car aficionado. There is so much that I have learnt which helped me in handling my projects much efficiently.

If we compare, Formula1 season is like a project and each race is like a milestone. The season has a Scope, Timelines, Requirements, Resources, Budget, Strategy, WBS, Quality assurance, KPIs and so does each race. Engineers, designers, mechanics, PR all work for the driver to help him minimize risk and increase the opportunities to win the race.

A race car driver is faced with competition, risk of crash, financial loss if any damage to the car and more. With all these, it is only imperative that the team provide an early identification and assessment of risks. The point is to know and stick to a threshold. We need to go through the hardship of taking the risk to either be successful or learn the lesson and move on.

“ I accept every time I get into my car, that there is a 20% chance I could die, and I can live with that risk – but not 1% more” – Nikki Lauda

Project management shall lead to the team success. Project plan which is monitored and updated as necessary, maintaining communication with all the stakeholders, maintain all the project documentation including meetings notes, technical reports, Analytics, diagnostic reports, KPIs and develop contingency plan for all the risks. All the above apply equally the same to Formula1 or software development or construction of a building or any other project. Any slight error to capture or communicate information would have an impact on the productivity and performance. Thereby posing huge threat on the budget or deadlines.

The project manager should be wise to have the technical resources working only on the dedicated project without having any internal pressure to work on other projects. If resources have to be shared project manager should plan to have the phase prior to entering the core of project work as switching projects would interfere with engineer’s concentration. All communication should happen at the discretion of the project manager, who in turn should be capable of knowing what to speak, when and to whom.

It is also very important to know who is responsible and who is accountable for what. During the race the Pit stop-team is responsible for changing the tires, cleaning driver’s helmet, replacing the damaged body parts, etc. It is the responsibility of one ‘lollypop man’ to control the car’s departure from the pit stop. The precise timing and millimeter perfect choreography plays an important role in the race. If a nut is loose, someone at the pit-stop is held accountable. If departure timing conflicts with another race car, the lollypop man is held accountable. In any projects RACSI (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Supported and Informed) plays a vital role to manage the roles and responsibilities of stakeholders and team members of a project.

I could writes pages and never give a closure to this article. There is a lot to be explored and learnt and every race gives me a new insight. 

01-Structuring a problem, 04-Managing a project team, 05-Creating & constructing good solutions, 07c-Telling stories, creativity methods, issue trees, problem statement, scoping

Dig Deeper to Solve the Underlying Problems

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For the sake of switching things up, I thought that I would share with you a show that really knows how to “dig deep” (pun completely intended) into the things that we often take for granted. If you have the time and are interested in finding ways to approach problems in a very different and unique way, I highly suggest you watch “Going Deep with David Rees” on National Geographic (the show just started airing a couple of weeks ago).

Why does this matter and how does it apply to this course? Sure, the topics may seem silly, ranging from learning how to tie a shoe to creating the perfect ice cube for your scotch, but the show does a great job at taking a simple concept and really understanding the components that go into it. Let me explain one of the episodes to help give you some better insight. The steps are rather detailed, but that’s really the point.

How some of us think about digging a hole:

    1. Grab a shovel.
    2. Dig.

How David Rees thinks about digging a hole:

    1. He first addresses the problem and what he’s looking to accomplish (he wants to build a “party hole”).
    2. David went to an experimental mine at the Colorado School of Mines to understand how these subject matter experts dig holes in the mine. From there, he determines that digging a hole into a rock is too dangerous for him and as a result the scope of his project changes.
    3. He goes to a soil biologist to figure out the best combination of sand, silt, and clay to dig the perfect hole (medium loom).
    4. David then goes to visit “Dr. Shovel” at Penn State University where he tests out a number of shovels to determine which ones are most efficient for him to use. From there, he learns that you actually need a couple of types of shovels for different stages of a dig.
    5. David learns that the hole he designed was actually flawed and potentially dangerous if he doesn’t “shore up the sides.” This discovery makes him adapt and change his original plans.
    6. So where does he go to learn how to shore up the sides? He goes to a golf course to learn how to keep his hole intact.
    7. From there, David goes to a cemetery to meet with a professional digger to learn better techniques on how to dig a hole. They first mark down the location and dimensions of the hole they are going to dig.
    8. He then goes to Harvard University to understand how the field mouse burrows a hole. There, he learns that these field mice dig much faster when they dig together instead of alone. As a result, David learns that he will be much more efficient if he has his friends help dig the hole with him.

Whether you’re a project manager, part of the product development team, or your manager asks you to give a presentation on the dynamics of your competition within the industry, you can use some of the analysis and problem solving skills that are utilized throughout this show. That, and you may get a good laugh out of the show as well. And you thought digging a hole was easy?

Spoiler alert. He ends up digging his party hole.