WEBVTT

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So today we're going to be talking about how to be a brilliant project manager and with this

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you can quickly build trust and manage expectation as a project manager. But just before we dive in

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I just want to take a moment to give you today's pro tip and just remind you to take the time to

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reflect on what you have done and what you've accomplished in these 22 weeks and to celebrate

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the little wins. Those little wins over time will add up and they'll lead to one big one. So take

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the time to celebrate the little wins. All right is everyone ready to dive in? As a reminder as

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we're going through the material please put your questions in the chat and I'll keep an eye on that.

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Now I'm going to hand it over to you Dion. Thank you Jenny. So yeah I'm glad we're able to get

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together and talk about this. Actually this these conversations start to become more and more

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they accelerated because now we have all these weeks and we have a common language.

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We have concepts we understand together and so we're able to up level the pace at which we go

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through things because if I say you should shape up a project or create a thin slice or do a deep

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work session I don't have to explain what any of that means because you know. So now we can sort of

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speak more in concepts and we can start taking steps two at a time. So we leave this type of

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idea of how to be a brilliant project manager until we have a little more language and commonality.

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So when we go through this idea firstly how you manage a project can very powerfully build trust

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with your team or your customers by the way. If you are a company that provides project management

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level something for a customer all of what I'm about to share would apply to them and in fact

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would probably blow them away and really impress them. If you're just doing project management

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internally in your own company then in your own organization this obviously applies too.

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Just as a quick show of hands how many people do do project management of some kind or another for

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customers? Anybody just raise your hands. Okay there's a couple of you. Oh okay quite a few.

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All right so good I will bring some of that in. So one of the most powerful things I think as an

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individual and certainly as a project manager that builds trust is to become known for always doing

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what you say you will do when you say you will do it. And you know a lot of times people will say

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well I'll do this and I'll do this and if something goes wrong with that commitment

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it's amazing how quickly you can lose trust in someone who when you call them and say okay you

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said it's going to be ready on Tuesday are we still good for tomorrow for Tuesday and they go

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oh well and um and then and I forgot to call you and and so the next time they say it and then the

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third time they say it eventually you have no confidence you don't have no trust in what it is

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they say however it's not that milestones don't move it's how well you manage those changes for

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instance I say I'm going to have it on Tuesday and then it's Monday afternoon and something happens

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when that means I was nowhere I'm going to deliver to you on Tuesday I pick up the phone and I say to

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you here's the key piece of information say when you just found out I just found out 12 minutes ago

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this and this happened which means we can't do that thing for Tuesday I was on course to deliver

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it first thing so tell them when you knew then tell them what the impact is and then tell them

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immediately what the change is but I can have it to you for Thursday close of business how does that

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look people will build so it's not change that destroys trust it's how on top of it you're on

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how respectful you are I remember that we were building a pretty large project for an insurance

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company it was a big project it was a 15 million dollar project and we were building this project

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for this insurance group and I could see something was going to slip and I called the CEO of the

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holding company the insurance group they own 13 insurance companies at the time and I called the

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CEO and he was also 90 owner and I said to him oh you know I told him what the reason was we

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wouldn't be able to make it the first question out of his mouth was when did you know what what

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did what was he doing he was wanting to know can he still trust me do I know what I'm doing am I

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being respectful to him as the customer when I said I found out an hour ago or two hours ago

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you know I just met with my team and you were my first call do what do you think that did yes he

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was frustrated that the thing moved but he understood and his trust grew because he knew

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that so imagine the third time I've done that where I've called him and

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Every time you're when did you know an hour ago, whatever, he

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won't ask again, because now his trust is established. This is a

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person who always does what they say they will do. And this

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really de-stresses the projects, because it's not that things

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don't change. So the next thing is, as we grow as a project

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manager, this idea of being very simple and clear, and making it

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about the relationship first and the project second, is key to

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driving that trust. So, you know, we want to, when we do

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have change, another way to build trust is to give the team

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or the team leader, if you're managing somebody who's running

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a project, is to give them maximum time to respond and

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correct the situation. I've seen so many times people say, okay,

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well, I understand, but I have to have it by five o'clock

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Wednesday. And they say, there's no way it's going to take a

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week, I don't, I don't care, just do it, make it happen. And

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you might get something of an answer or something of a

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product. But what you've done is you've broken trust that you are

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unrealistic, while on the one hand, you risk, you appreciated

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them telling you upfront, but then you, you changed and you

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took away the margin they had. So, you know, so again, mistakes

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don't break trust, just how you own them does. So with all that

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sort of as a quick introduction, I wanted to talk

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about how you jump in and set up your project. So I want to go

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through just four M's, because that's an easy, sorry, three M's

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just to go through very quickly how to manage major milestones.

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And so the three M's I would give you if you're going to

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manage projects, and you're going to set up projects, and

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you're going to do, you know, these different elements, the

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first thing is that you must give this thing meaning, we must

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know why we're doing this project, or the customers know,

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and it's amazing, even customers don't always know why. And so,

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you know, I think that, you know, yellow ad can be very

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great, because you're describing all the possibilities. And what

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if we pull this off, and you're giving it all meaning, but what

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we're trying to do is set the project up so that right from

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day one, there's a very clear meaning. Now, that's different

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from the mission. The meaning is, you know, how does this move

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the organization forward? How does this change or reposition

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them or, you know, help them serve their customers or help us

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serve our customers? We have to give it very clear meaning.

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Second, then is the mission. What is the mission that we are

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on? So setting a clear mission means that we have to state the

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reality as it is not as we wish it, we wish it to be, right. So

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we have, remember, we, we call it out to call it up. So we have

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to state the problem in the most candid possible way. This is the

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problem. The problem is, you know, we need a million dollars

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of sales, and we've got 600,000. In this, you have to state it.

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And then the reason is, is because our customers don't trust

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us, or our customers are losing confidence, or the customers see

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initial value, and then it's falling away, we have to state

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the problem really clearly. And so the mission is, and that's

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why we've given it meaning the mission is now that we've stated

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the facts, now we set up the possibility, what we're going to

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do, so you tie the mission to the meaning. So as an example,

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we're going to increase sales by 30%, not because we need 30%

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more sales, but because we have an opportunity to go to our

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customers and give them a improved product. At the moment,

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they buy the product. And then over time, let's say you're

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doing a consulting agreement, over time, you know, you notice

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that the first 90 days, you're really useful as a consultant.

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And then you start, you know, it's less than this value. And

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the reason is, is that as a consultant, you know, you're not

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empathetic to all their issues, you come in, you're the fresh

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mind, the fresh voice, and you're saying things and asking

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quote, all the dumb questions. But in reality, you're bringing

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huge value, but then your value starts tapering off. And so you

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realize that if you broke, you know, you're consulting into

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three phases, for instance, and you're able to bring much more

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value to the customers. So the meaning is, back to the first M,

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we would give it meaning by saying, what if we pulled off

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way more value to our customers, by dividing it into these three

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phases, not just initial consulting, but then maybe

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product management, or even, you know, project management or

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whatever your three phases are, then the mission is to go and

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create the three phases, and to sign up the first three

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customers. So we would set the mission parameters really

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clearly.

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And the third, and it's at that point in the mission,

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now you're going to shape up your project.

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So you're going to shape up your project.

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You know how to do that, right?

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Start with the appetite,

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work through the process of shaping up the project.

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You would sit, you know, you would go through and say,

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what's the big idea?

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You know, where's 80% of the value for 20% of the effort,

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Pareto principle.

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You do a fat market design.

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You know, you would solve it at a very high level,

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50,000 feet.

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Again, you can get through a shape up in 20 minutes,

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30 minutes at the most.

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You'd see where all the risks and rabbit holes are.

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Where could we get stuck?

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How could we amend the solution if we had extra time

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and we could do better?

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So how would we cut it down?

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How would we extend it?

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What could we cut out?

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What could we add?

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So that's the normal shape up process.

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And then you would write the pitch.

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Now, this time you're not pitching your team,

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you're pitching your customer.

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Maybe you're not pitching your team.

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We're pitching your boss.

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And so now we're talking about,

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here's the problem we're solving.

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Here's the solution.

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Here's what it's not.

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Here's what it is.

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Here's where the risks are.

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And the minute we do it in that sort of way,

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what's happened is you have set the customer up

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for huge success because you put the risks

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and the rabbit holes and what you could add

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and what you could cut out

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is all being told to the customer upfront.

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So right up front,

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the customer is now in a very powerful position

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to set expectations.

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And they're thinking,

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well, at a minimum, I'm going to get this.

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I know that it does not include,

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because you've said what it's not,

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what's included, what's not included.

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Again, that's just the normal shape up process

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we've already gone through with the customers.

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So now when we're putting together the miles,

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we're putting together the mission

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and the shaping up the project,

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we know that it's really critical that we build in margin

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because margin to succeed.

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Now there's a difference between margin

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and what most project managers call sandbagging.

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Is everybody familiar with the term of sandbagging?

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Yeah.

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So sandbagging is you overstate the time,

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because you can charge by the hour or whatever it is.

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You don't want to do that.

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And that's what's wonderful about shaping up the project

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because you're telling the customer,

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we're going to do this in so many sessions.

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We're going to do this in three weeks.

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You're not telling them it's 10 deep work sessions

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or whatever, you know that,

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but you're just telling them the outcome.

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We're going to start on this date,

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we're going to end on that date.

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Hey, if things go well,

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we're going to add in these two things.

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If things go badly,

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we're going to cut out these three things.

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And so the customer right off the bat

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knows exactly what you're getting.

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Now you go to the next step and you tell the customer

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what makes the margin work

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is how they participate in the project.

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Now, if you need very clear deliverables from the customer,

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this is a time you laid out.

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This is true, by the way,

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I'm saying the word customer,

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but sometimes your internal team is your customer.

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Sometimes technology software house

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is building something for the sales team.

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The sales team is now the customer.

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So the customer can be internal or external.

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And at this point,

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we want to be really clear about what our expectations are

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in terms of deliverables.

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I need this by this date, this by this date.

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And so it's at this point,

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we put together a very clear project map.

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And so when we put together this project map,

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what we're doing is we're creating

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just a basic project schedule.

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Now, a lot of people will use very complex software

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for managing high-end projects with a lot of details,

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and that's all fine.

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You can definitely do that.

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But what I found is the best or brilliant project manager,

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the people who can keep the main things in their head,

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they already know that if there's three main things,

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and if this one main thing moves,

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the cost is going to go up,

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or we're going to miss the time.

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So knowing if you can reduce it down

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to the three main things that you need

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to manage the project,

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that will be the game changer.

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And it sounds so obvious,

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but when you're setting up a project

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and you ask yourself,

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what's the three main things?

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When you're starting a project,

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it isn't always immediately apparent

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what those three main things are.

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And later on, and of course,

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we're going to talk about a little couple

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of little modeling techniques

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and other things you can do to help you find that.

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But right now, we just want to go through this ideas.

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Okay, so we set the meaning, we set the mission,

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we shaped up the project,

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and now we want to talk about milestones.

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I would suggest in general,

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try to keep to no more than three milestones.

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Here's why three.

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Again, we've gone through the neuroscience

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of your brain can remember three.

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Five in your brain is just a three plus a two.

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So your brain doesn't like mapping five or seven or 12,

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or it understands conceptually what those numbers are,

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but three, it can directly visualize.

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I think you can you can memorize five but three is always a good number so even if you're doing a talk three so that's why we had three points right meaning mission milestones.

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The milestones here is, if you have three what you have to what we're trying to do is we're trying to predict and create predictability.

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In the process, what I mean by that, that means, as I'm looking through the process I'm building smaller margins into the overall margin.

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So for each milestone has its own margin, the project has its margin so overall what's happening is we're

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we're teaching our team what we're going to do with this model, so why do we have margin, well what drives margin.

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Margin is driven by the unpredictability of the project, so if you can ask yourself what part of this project do I have no control over.

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So, for instance, let's say you know, for you need some sort of government approval or you need the county to give you, you know, a permit or you need.

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Funding to come through for the second phase, whatever it is, so what you want to do is you want to isolate all the elements that make your project unpredictable.

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We'll set those aside and then we're going to on the predictability side we're going to say okay let's assume we get all those things and it all runs and we've built margin for each milestone.

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Now the unpredictability element, the part that you can't control, usually, if you dig into the unpredictability element there's usually just one thing that's causing it to be unpredictable.

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Like you know the county permit or whatever it is, do we know someone at the county, can we get ahead of this, can we apply for it early, so there's usually something or a series of steps, you can take to soften and give you a little more control and predictability around the unpredictable elements.

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So I know I'm speaking theoretically so just go through, so let's say we're doing a building project.

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And we have no idea when we're going to get the book we're going to get the building permit, but what we do know when we look into it.

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Is that in our county in general take six weeks to permit something like this, we don't have six weeks we've only got three and we needed we've got three weeks we've got to have and then we've got to start.

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Then the next question is, do we have relationships or does somebody have relationship with, can we hire a consultant, is there something we can do to add predictability and remove out the non predictable elements.

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And so, you know, having done big building projects, I can tell you that you know you can always find a way, if you put the effort and the detail and try to figure out how you can make your project predictable.

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So now that we've sort of laid out all those elements, let me just give you a couple of just.

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High points on how to become.

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So we've talked about you know, creating meaning the mission and the milestones and as you're going through this.

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I want to just talk a little bit about how to communicate with your team that's delivering the project and how to communicate with your customer, the internal or the external customer.

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So the first thing I just want to come up with three ideas and there's at the start of the project.

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Communicating very clearly to all the stakeholders, what do I mean by stakeholder, the stakeholders, anybody who's affected by this.

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It could be the owner of the company, it could be the person who's ultimately going to live with it, so we're thinking of stakeholders we're thinking about who's going to help us build this.

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Who's going to help us build this.

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I do the project who's going to end up living with it.

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And who's it going to financially affect.

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And does this have an impact on somebody else, even though they're not using it directly.

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So we want to know who does this impact and that so it doesn't just it's not just the people running the project.

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Or the people, the internal customers it's all the soft connections that involve everyone else, so we want to notify that whole group that the project has started.

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We want to tell that group we've confirmed roles, we have you know so and so is the project manager and we have this person doing the accounting of the project and whatever it is, whatever the roles are.

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And then number three, and since I don't have to this is all part of starting.

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State what done means done means this, so we know what done means, and we will consider it done when this happens.

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And so what will happen is you can see the amount of expectation management is very detailed and when you put.

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willing to put the detail into the expectation side,

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into the relational side,

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this is what makes you an amazing project manager.

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So that's at the start.

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During the project, keeping an eye on the milestones,

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like, you know, we're coming up for milestone number two,

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we're 10 days away from milestone number two,

304
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we're three days away from milestone number two, et cetera.

305
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Also during the project,

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remember the concept of good news travels fast,

307
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bad news travels faster, right?

308
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When you have bad news,

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let the stakeholders know immediately.

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Now, of course, you know,

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you can't have every little bump in the road

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and cause chaos.

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Oh, it's all gonna fail.

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Obviously there's discretion.

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And then immediately adjust expectations and reinforce them.

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Yeah, we're not gonna have a Tuesday,

317
00:20:50.040 --> 00:20:52.000
but we will have it on Thursday.

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And then make sure you do.

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So when you pick that second one,

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you may wanna add in even extra margin and say,

321
00:20:58.040 --> 00:20:59.560
you know, we can't do it on Tuesday,

322
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but we think we can do it the following Monday.

323
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And then when you pull it off by Friday, you're the hero.

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Whereas if you said Thursday and you pull it off on Friday,

325
00:21:07.560 --> 00:21:09.040
there you missed it again.

326
00:21:09.040 --> 00:21:11.720
So you can see how very quickly

327
00:21:11.720 --> 00:21:14.040
and how very easily it is to become

328
00:21:14.040 --> 00:21:16.040
or be seen as a brilliant project manager.

329
00:21:16.040 --> 00:21:17.920
Okay, so we talked about how to communicate

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00:21:17.920 --> 00:21:20.800
at the start of the project, during the project,

331
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and at the end of the project.

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Now, this might be one of the ones

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00:21:24.920 --> 00:21:29.240
where I've seen the worst execution of leading teams.

334
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The first is when you end the project,

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00:21:31.720 --> 00:21:34.840
declare it and make it official in some way.

336
00:21:36.720 --> 00:21:39.640
Gather the team together, gather the stakeholders,

337
00:21:39.640 --> 00:21:41.440
have a celebration, depends on the project.

338
00:21:41.440 --> 00:21:42.840
Get the customer together.

339
00:21:42.840 --> 00:21:45.240
Take your team to the customer's office if you can.

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Get on the Zoom call, make it a big deal.

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00:21:48.880 --> 00:21:50.880
As, and I would even give it a time.

342
00:21:50.880 --> 00:21:55.320
As of 2 p.m. this afternoon, we completed the project.

343
00:21:55.320 --> 00:21:56.400
Well done to the team.

344
00:21:56.400 --> 00:21:59.360
It's officially done, handed off, signed off,

345
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all good to go.

346
00:22:00.800 --> 00:22:03.760
Then give very specific recognition.

347
00:22:03.760 --> 00:22:05.960
We talked a lot about as a leader,

348
00:22:05.960 --> 00:22:08.120
you wanna give very specific recognition.

349
00:22:08.120 --> 00:22:10.080
So through the project you're tracking

350
00:22:10.080 --> 00:22:11.600
and tell those little stories.

351
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You don't have to say what every single person did,

352
00:22:14.400 --> 00:22:16.920
but what you wanna do is tell little vignette stories

353
00:22:16.920 --> 00:22:20.560
that move the elephant and the rider.

354
00:22:21.240 --> 00:22:23.800
You remember the elephant, the rider, and the pathway?

355
00:22:24.800 --> 00:22:25.720
Do you remember that story?

356
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The elephant's the emotion,

357
00:22:27.360 --> 00:22:28.880
the rider's the rational part,

358
00:22:28.880 --> 00:22:30.720
the pathway is where you want them to go.

359
00:22:30.720 --> 00:22:34.000
And stories move people emotionally and rationally.

360
00:22:34.000 --> 00:22:37.840
I remember the time that Mary said this

361
00:22:37.840 --> 00:22:39.440
and then we were running around

362
00:22:39.440 --> 00:22:41.640
and then she went out and got donuts for everybody

363
00:22:41.640 --> 00:22:42.920
and we all like caught our breath.

364
00:22:42.920 --> 00:22:44.960
And it can be the little stuff,

365
00:22:44.960 --> 00:22:46.840
but it makes people feel like,

366
00:22:46.840 --> 00:22:48.840
I love to be on your team.

367
00:22:48.840 --> 00:22:49.680
I feel so much recognition.

368
00:22:49.680 --> 00:22:51.880
I feel so alive when I work with you.

369
00:22:52.960 --> 00:22:54.040
It's this last piece.

370
00:22:54.040 --> 00:22:56.920
And then make it a celebration.

371
00:22:56.920 --> 00:22:59.320
Zoom out for a minute and say,

372
00:22:59.320 --> 00:23:01.520
here's all the things we did.

373
00:23:01.520 --> 00:23:04.800
Here's all the milestones we achieved.

374
00:23:06.080 --> 00:23:07.240
And even on small things,

375
00:23:07.240 --> 00:23:09.880
and we've talked about this concept before, right?

376
00:23:09.880 --> 00:23:10.800
We've talked about it.

377
00:23:10.800 --> 00:23:13.920
One of the great habits of a leader

378
00:23:13.920 --> 00:23:15.760
is that you hit the pause button

379
00:23:15.760 --> 00:23:18.280
and summarize what you've just achieved.

380
00:23:18.320 --> 00:23:21.040
Well, this is certainly true in a bigger project.

381
00:23:21.040 --> 00:23:24.360
You wanna hit the pause button and say,

382
00:23:24.360 --> 00:23:25.880
this is what we achieved.

383
00:23:25.880 --> 00:23:26.920
And you say, well, everybody knows

384
00:23:26.920 --> 00:23:27.880
they worked on the project.

385
00:23:27.880 --> 00:23:29.760
It's not actually true.

386
00:23:29.760 --> 00:23:32.760
Most people worked on a piece of the project,

387
00:23:32.760 --> 00:23:35.120
but they don't see the whole thing.

388
00:23:35.120 --> 00:23:39.200
And especially if you can celebrate the first impact.

389
00:23:39.200 --> 00:23:41.000
Remember we said we were gonna roll out

390
00:23:41.000 --> 00:23:43.200
our new consulting in three phases

391
00:23:43.200 --> 00:23:46.280
and we've got our first three clients signed up

392
00:23:46.280 --> 00:23:47.920
this afternoon.

393
00:23:48.560 --> 00:23:50.840
People are like, wow, we developed it.

394
00:23:50.840 --> 00:23:52.520
We got a new customer in.

395
00:23:52.520 --> 00:23:53.760
And so you've moved.

396
00:23:53.760 --> 00:23:56.160
So guess what happens the next time?

397
00:23:56.160 --> 00:23:58.440
If you go through what I just said,

398
00:23:58.440 --> 00:24:00.560
the next time you recommend we do a project,

399
00:24:00.560 --> 00:24:02.840
people wanna be on your team.

400
00:24:02.840 --> 00:24:05.080
Customers, everybody wants to be your customer

401
00:24:05.080 --> 00:24:06.960
because they know you're the person who does

402
00:24:06.960 --> 00:24:09.880
what they say they'll do when you said you'll do it.

403
00:24:09.880 --> 00:24:12.360
And you're very, very good at letting them know

404
00:24:12.360 --> 00:24:14.440
immediately when something's moved

405
00:24:14.440 --> 00:24:16.560
in one of the milestones.

406
00:24:17.560 --> 00:24:21.000
I have one or two closing thoughts until

407
00:24:21.000 --> 00:24:22.160
I see this chat going.

408
00:24:22.160 --> 00:24:24.240
Jenny, if you can check with me.

409
00:24:24.240 --> 00:24:25.080
I am, yes.

410
00:24:25.080 --> 00:24:25.920
No questions.

411
00:24:25.920 --> 00:24:27.920
Deb just pointed out and I like it

412
00:24:27.920 --> 00:24:32.520
that letting the stakeholders know when there's a delay,

413
00:24:32.520 --> 00:24:35.200
even if it means heading out into the facility

414
00:24:35.200 --> 00:24:38.720
in the middle of the night in February in Minneapolis

415
00:24:38.720 --> 00:24:40.680
to understand the issue and let the customer know

416
00:24:40.680 --> 00:24:42.600
within two hours of you knowing.

417
00:24:42.600 --> 00:24:45.720
So I'm sure that builds confidence.

418
00:24:45.840 --> 00:24:49.480
Confidence from the customer.

419
00:24:49.480 --> 00:24:50.320
Yeah.

420
00:24:50.320 --> 00:24:53.040
I once got on a plane, flew to Houston

421
00:24:53.040 --> 00:24:55.640
just to tell somebody that one of the accounts

422
00:24:55.640 --> 00:24:59.640
in our forex trading program had missed its goal.

423
00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:02.920
And he was the CEO of a petroleum company.

424
00:25:02.920 --> 00:25:05.960
He had 20,000 people reporting to him.

425
00:25:05.960 --> 00:25:07.680
He looks at me and he says,

426
00:25:07.680 --> 00:25:10.080
I'm sitting in his boardroom and he says,

427
00:25:10.080 --> 00:25:12.080
hang on, what did you come to tell me?

428
00:25:12.080 --> 00:25:14.000
I start telling him, he says,

429
00:25:14.000 --> 00:25:16.280
you could have picked up the phone and told me that.

430
00:25:16.280 --> 00:25:18.880
I said, no, not on a mistake of this kind.

431
00:25:18.880 --> 00:25:20.960
I got on the plane and came and presented myself.

432
00:25:20.960 --> 00:25:24.040
That was the most respectful thing I could think of doing.

433
00:25:24.040 --> 00:25:28.000
He said, in 30 years of having money managers

434
00:25:28.000 --> 00:25:29.000
and investment managers,

435
00:25:29.000 --> 00:25:31.200
I've never had anybody care about my money

436
00:25:31.200 --> 00:25:32.200
as much as you do.

437
00:25:32.200 --> 00:25:35.440
Notice how he translated my actions into caring.

438
00:25:35.440 --> 00:25:36.880
And so he said, well, with that said,

439
00:25:36.880 --> 00:25:37.720
but what do you want to do now?

440
00:25:37.720 --> 00:25:38.560
Let's go for lunch.

441
00:25:38.560 --> 00:25:41.200
And we just hung out and it was amazing.

442
00:25:41.200 --> 00:25:42.520
You know, it built the friendship

443
00:25:42.520 --> 00:25:46.240
because when you do this stuff, like you just said there,

444
00:25:46.240 --> 00:25:47.680
who made the comment, Deb?

445
00:25:48.880 --> 00:25:50.680
So I think that's it.

446
00:25:50.680 --> 00:25:53.240
So just a couple of closing thoughts.

447
00:25:53.240 --> 00:25:57.640
Never doubt your team's ability to deliver the dream,

448
00:25:58.240 --> 00:26:02.080
to deliver the mission, you know, make it meaningful.

449
00:26:02.080 --> 00:26:06.000
And when you close it all out and you connect the closing

450
00:26:06.000 --> 00:26:08.400
to the original meaning, the original mission,

451
00:26:08.400 --> 00:26:11.800
the original milestones, it all feels pulled together.

452
00:26:11.800 --> 00:26:13.920
I felt like you were in control of the process

453
00:26:13.920 --> 00:26:15.600
from the beginning.

454
00:26:15.600 --> 00:26:20.600
Second thought about this is keep the grace level very high,

455
00:26:20.880 --> 00:26:23.800
especially when it gets very pressurized.

456
00:26:23.800 --> 00:26:26.080
Humor, keeping it lighthearted,

457
00:26:26.800 --> 00:26:28.120
keep the grace flowing.

458
00:26:30.680 --> 00:26:33.040
And, you know, make deadlines super serious.

459
00:26:33.040 --> 00:26:35.200
We just don't miss deadlines.

460
00:26:35.200 --> 00:26:38.080
And if we do and we move them,

461
00:26:38.080 --> 00:26:40.600
it has to feel like an act of Congress.

462
00:26:40.600 --> 00:26:43.200
It has to feel super serious.

463
00:26:43.200 --> 00:26:47.280
And the reason is you develop decision integrity.

464
00:26:47.280 --> 00:26:50.000
Back to that, when we do something, we say, we'll do it.

465
00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:51.720
We don't miss deadlines.

466
00:26:53.560 --> 00:26:55.480
And as you know, when you build that into the culture

467
00:26:55.880 --> 00:26:59.920
of your team, then a team in crisis even

468
00:26:59.920 --> 00:27:03.240
will survive the process and they'll trust you as the leader

469
00:27:03.240 --> 00:27:05.280
because they'll watch how you pull them out of it

470
00:27:05.280 --> 00:27:07.480
milestone by milestone.

471
00:27:07.480 --> 00:27:09.160
And that is the bottom line.

472
00:27:09.160 --> 00:27:13.920
You know, I think that, you know,

473
00:27:13.920 --> 00:27:16.360
one of the things we instituted early on at Brilliant

474
00:27:16.360 --> 00:27:19.640
was if you do a pitch and you miss your deadline,

475
00:27:19.640 --> 00:27:21.840
you can't test that project for six months.

476
00:27:22.720 --> 00:27:24.760
No extensions.

477
00:27:24.760 --> 00:27:27.720
Because we talked about what could go right and go wrong.

478
00:27:27.720 --> 00:27:29.640
And you had all that.

479
00:27:29.640 --> 00:27:33.600
Unless it was completely and utterly out of your control,

480
00:27:33.600 --> 00:27:34.560
that's a different matter.

481
00:27:34.560 --> 00:27:36.440
But even then I didn't leave.

482
00:27:36.440 --> 00:27:38.800
Still, maybe we leave it for six months anyway,

483
00:27:39.640 --> 00:27:41.760
since it was such an unpredictable thing.

484
00:27:41.760 --> 00:27:46.080
So look, a lot of this is more as much art as it is science.

485
00:27:46.080 --> 00:27:48.160
But if you want to net it all out,

486
00:27:48.160 --> 00:27:50.960
it comes down to the relationship management.

487
00:27:50.960 --> 00:27:54.200
Great project managers are great relational managers.