The People, Process, & Progress Podcast - How I Would Build My Project Management Superteam | PPP #50

Episode Date: September 7, 2020

This one was fun as I shared what I think are parallels between Marvel's Avengers members to key Information Technology project team positions.

Welcome to the People Process Progress Podcast, where we understand that people are our most important asset. We emphasize and share examples of the importance of shared process so that we can move ourselves, our teams, and our organizations toward progress. I'm the host of the show, Kevin Pinnell. To learn more about me and the show, go to peopleprocessprogress.com. But for now, let's get on with another great episode of the People Process Progress Podcast in 3, 2, 1. Episode 50, Project Teams Assemble. We made it. Thank you all so much for getting us to 50 episodes. As you heard, peopleprocessprogress.com is the contact. Today we're going to have a little fun.

I am a comic book lover. I mentioned that in episode 49, Comics, Cancer, and Heroes Brought to Life, a little tribute to Chadwick Boseman, and the whole, you know, comic books, Marvel Universe that I think we've all enjoyed and benefited from. So as I mentioned at the end of that episode, if you haven't listened to it, please give that a listen. It's pretty short. I am comparing some of the Marvel's Avengers characters with key project team member equivalents for information technology projects in particular. That's the space that I work in, healthcare IT. And I thought, you know what, that's going to be a fun thing to celebrate us making 50 episodes and to share my love of comics with, passion for project management and

just bringing teams together. So that's what I'm going to get into. I'm going to talk about the Marvel's Avenger character, right? A little bit about them and then talk about the project team equivalent that I think that equates to and then, you know, how the Avengers are successful because of how they work together across different power levels, right? Folks that are, you know, demigods or gods down to folks that have no powers, right? And then similar on project teams, folks that are in that C-suite in the really high levels down to folks working at the code level, right? And how they need each other to succeed, right? And work off the strengths and weaknesses of each other. So let's jump into this. So the first one I'm going to start with on the Avengers side is Thor, right? He's got tons of power, super powerful, especially at this point he's inherited Odin's powers. In the last end game, he had gotten lazy, great writing again,

sitting around eating there, but then now he's got two hammers, the axe, all that kind of stuff. But he has a ton of power and influence, kind of a regal guy, right? He knows he's important, gets a little humbled along the way. But that's what he brings to the Avengers team. And he's very influential with his world status. And so I equate that on a project team to the sponsor, right? A sponsor is typically an executive level person who can help you with organizational buy-in, right?

By leading the way and saying, yep, we are gonna do this project, this is the best for our organization, this is how our team's gonna work, and has the authority, right, so equivalent to that influence part, they have the authority to make change and to influence change, and projects have to have that org buy-in and authority

from a good sponsor to be successful. That's just a key standard there. So I think just as Thor's influence and his power and his status as a member of a royal family help guide the Avengers and get them resources, so too does the status of a sponsor and their ability to get us organizational buy-in and their authority help projects kick off, get through barriers and escalations, and close as we need them to. So that's my first one. Second, Captain Marvel, right? Captain Marvel, supercharged being. She is actually from Earth, but then went to space, got all charged up, right? So she, to me, brings perspective and

adaptability. And I say that because Captain Marvel in the Avengers is in space a lot and so has perspective. And she mentions in the movies, coming back to help. There's other worlds that have problems too. She's out there to help. So she has the view of the entire landscape of the universe, not just Earth's problems. And she's adaptable, right? She adapted from being a normal person to then learning how to use her powers and then learning that she has, you know, she's mega powerful and she's adapted to the missions that she's been given. To me on a project team, that's our business owners, right? Those are the folks that are closest to the ground that have ground truth and that insight. So equivalent to perspective is they know,

say we have a business owner from a division, let's say nursing. And so those business owners that are in that area, that retail something, they know what's going on in that area. They have their perspective to know which direction that area is going in the business or in the hospital or somewhere else. And they have the insight to give us, help us navigate as project managers, our relationship with people, which direction we should or shouldn't head with

somebody, what workflow changes may or may not be successful based on the environment. And so just like Captain Marvel has a universal perspective, I think business owners, if we develop that relationship with them and with their knowledge of their specific work areas, can really give us that feedback that's going to help us support the project better and bring the team together a little stronger. Third of the Avengers, Iron Man, right? Kicked it off the Marvel Universe movies for us before the whole run of all the other great ones over the past. That was 12 years ago. We just looked up the other day. Iron Man is well known, right, for his technology and his innovation. He's got the super suits.

He's super smart. He helped develop the time machine in some of the later movies. If you haven't seen those, the Avengers Infinity Gauntlet and the Endgame, check those out. So Iron Man is a technology and innovation person. And to me, this is where we get to our folks that we're going to ask to help us complete the project. That's our programmers and our analysts, right? They know systems, they know integrations, they know their craft. So we have to have those experts that have a lot of administrative power in the system. And technically, they are going to come up with the solution to some of our most complex problems, just like Ironman does for the Avengers, our programmers and our analysts or insert whatever technical ground truth type expert you have tech expert. That's what we really need to have on our teams. And so as we as project managers, we're not going to make that stuff up unless you happen to be a programmer. And even then, if you're working as a project manager, you're doing that to facilitate the team's success and

to bring them together, not to sit there and be a programmer. Let those folks that have the most recent view, the best in-depth knowledge of your systems or how to connect other systems, guide you and let them, just like Ironman gives us technology and innovation, let our programmers and analysts let us know what systems and what integrations that we need to go to and get that knowledge from them and work together. Fourth from the Avengers team, I picked out Black Widow. So Black Widow, secret agent, she's from Russia. Then she came to work with S.H.I.E.L.D. on the Avengers team. And so she's all about stealth, right? She's a secret agent. She can sneak around and intelligence, meaning she gathers intelligence, turns information into intelligence. That's what she does. She's a stealthy spy, right? And so

the equivalent of that to me, not that they're spies, but are resource managers. So these are the folks we're going to ask for those programmers and analysts to help fill the roles on the charter that we made with the sponsor and the guidance we've gotten with the business owners. We're going to ask the resource managers, just like Black Widow is an information broker and understands what's going on behind the scenes. Our resource managers know the view of what's going on behind the scenes. Our resource managers know the view of what's going on with their people, what's the vision of their staffing plan so that we cannot maybe bump into other staffing plans on other projects. But they know who on their team has the most experience, who has less experience, who do they want to blend in to get more experience. So they have the intelligence about their resources that can best answer our requests as project managers to get going down the road the best that we can for the project.

And the vision that they have is what is the roadmap for my staffing levels, for my capabilities or bandwidth of my people look like or do I have none? Only the resource managers, meaning the direct managers or leads of the folks, the resources when we say that on a project, that's people. From one standpoint, it could be equipment and things, but here I'm talking about people and staff. Our resource manager is going to have that stealth or that intelligence for us and let us know, here's what I can do.

Here's what I can't do. Here's the roadmap I'd like for these people. Hey, can they have this opportunity on the project to maybe work with a more senior person? And we'll have that discussion as we do as project managers with our resource managers. Can't have an Avengers comparison or discussion without Captain America, right? One of the early members there, Captain America is leadership Captain America, right? One of the early members there, Captain America is leadership and tactics, right? He's not the most powerful Avenger, but he is a great leader. He inspires. He knows the tactics, right? He is, you know,

was from the army. Then he's been highly trained. He's got the super soldier serum, all that. So it's probably no surprise the equivalent is the project manager. And so we are not the most powerful in the project team, right? We have some level of power, but we're not like a Thor or a Hulk or someone that's super powerful or on the project team. We're not the level of a sponsor or even business owners that can be directors or high level folks as well. But for us, and we are doing leadership and to some extent helping with tactics, but that's really through to me, facilitating and process, right? We are facilitating discussions, we're facilitating effective meetings, documentation, project

management system use, and we are certainly facilitating, supporting, and advising on the process. So just like Captain America, both in the field leads the team, and when they're back doing some strategic planning and working together and training, project managers are doing the same thing. At a go-live, sometimes we're out in the field with our folks, seeing what they need, seeing how the environment is. Very often, obviously, we're in meeting rooms. Now we're on Zoom and whatever. You're, obviously, we're in meeting rooms, now we're on zoom and whatever you're using teams, whatever project, but we are facilitating and providing leadership,

not as the most powerful member of the team, but you know, one of the most influential, and one of the most looked towards members of the team on how we get from, hey, we think we want to solve this problem, make a new work throw, put this new system in place to the end of, hey, we did it. We're done closing out. Right. And so quick rundown, pretty short episode, short episodes these days. Hopefully you all like that. There's no commute. Right. So no one's driving very far from perhaps their their bedroom or living room to their office area or space is, you know, Thor has that power and influence, just like I believe the sponsor has organizational buy-in and authority capabilities for our project teams. Captain Marvel understands the perspective of the universe beyond just the earth or the tactical look and is adaptable. Our business owners on our teams can give us that

ground truth and that insight on what's happening in the department that we're going to help with this project. Iron Man's technology and innovation is a huge asset to the Avengers team in many different ways, solves many problems, provides them transportation, a whole bunch of stuff. Our programmers and analysts, the folks that are going to get it done for us with our systems and integrations and coding and anything are the equivalent to me as a Tony Stark character. Black Widow is all about stealth and intelligence on the Avengers. She knows what the real scoop is with the team, with the environment they're in, how to make things happen, just like our resource managers. So when we ask for two, three people in these skill sets, they may know better than us. Actually, you might want this

skill set and let me talk to this person who's got a lot more experience with that and the vision that they have for their teams. Captain America leads the Avengers largely in the field, outside of the field, during training with his leadership and tactics. As a project manager, we need to do the same by facilitating discussions, communication, meetings, anything we want to be efficient and effective building those relationships and getting getting folks through an effective project process whether you're doing agile waterfall waggle combination doesn't matter what it is we as project managers are for sure leaders we not may not be the leader on the project team but it's a huge part of being a project manager and you all have been a huge part of keeping this podcast going.

So I really appreciate that. Episode 50, we did it. Thank you so much. Please subscribe. Please share the show. I'd really appreciate it. Maybe get this message out. Be interested to hear other people's take on things on, you know, your equivalent superheroes to project teams or any other tips and tricks you have. Again, peopleprocessprogress.com. There's links there for shirts, stickers, if you choose to, or be on the show or share your story or just get in touch with me and connect. So again, everyone, please stay safe out there.

Wash those hands and Godspeed.