![\"Toolbox](\"https:\/\/svapm.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/06\/toolbox-tray2.thumbnail.jpg\")
The second tray of my toolbox has two compartments, one for key components of various project management methodologies\/ approaches, and one for facilitation exercises.\u00a0 The number of variables per project ensures that every project will be unique: a standard methodology does nothing to change this, though most do their best to control them (control change? Good luck: ).\u00a0<\/p>\n
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In addition to\u00a0basic career development benefits, being familiar with the key components of several methodologies keeps me tuned with a range of possibilities for addressing uniqueness and creating best-fit solutions when:\u00a0<\/p>\n
How do you<\/em> create the biggest set of possibilities for project management processes?\u00a0 What do you <\/em>do when given no alternatives?\u00a0\u00a0 What’s your<\/em> decision-making process?<\/p>\n The methodologies\/approaches I currently work on keeping up with are: Agile principles and practices, Lean concepts and the PMBOK knowledge areas & processes.\u00a0 I spent some time with ITIL about ten years ago and have noticed a resurgence lately, so I’ll need to do some catch-up there.\u00a0<\/p>\n Because so much of project management involves working with groups, I spend\u00a0just about half\u00a0of my PM hours in some kind of meeting – something I didn’t expect when I first got started.\u00a0 Regardless of who’s involved, the project team, testers, QA, customer groups, management, sponsors, product owners, etc., I’ve learned that there are only a few meetings that need to be managed – controlling<\/em> the process toward a pre-established outcome.\u00a0\u00a0 I believe most meetings do better with facilitation – enabling <\/em>the group process so that whatever was going to happen happens anyway, faster and with more effectiveness.<\/p>\n There are thousands of exercises and activities available in books and on the web, the trick is matching the exercise to the situation, what you ultimately want to accomplish and your comfort in using it (just like any other tool). \u00a0\u00a0The exercises I use most frequently are for: decision-making, information gathering (some general, some meeting focus-specific), problem solving, prioritizing, creating a safe environment and dealing with difficult situations.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Five Whys<\/strong>.\u00a0 Here’s a short description of an easy exercise to help uncover conditions that contribute to a problem.\u00a0\u00a0 It was developed by Toyota and is used in their problem solving training, and\u00a0also used by Six Sigma.\u00a0 Participants work in pairs or small groups for a 15-20 minute period.<\/p>\n What do you<\/em> do when meeting participants defer to management or are uncomfortable\/feel unsafe saying what’s true for them?\u00a0 What options do you <\/em>provide for group decision-making? \u00a0What methods do you<\/em> suggest for building a shared understanding?\u00a0<\/p>\n My informal project management survey on essential tools produced a few replies related to facilitation: “seek to understand” (Stephen Covey), the appropriate way to ask questions, calm: a sense that we can get through it, team building skills, group decision-making.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n