Quotes

The number of individuals working on a project needs to be commensurate with it’s size. Too few involved means overworked people and risks of delay and quality, too many involved means too many unnecessary hand-overs and too high costs. Large corporations sometimes impose large overheads and overspecialization upon smaller acquisitions, creating the unintended ‘twelve-eyes principle’: too high prices, slower throughput time and increased error rates through overcomplexity.

The four-eyes principle is (rightfully) imposed upon organizations to avoid abuse. Just keep in mind that this applies to certain specified authorisations, not necessarily to roles or functions. Inflexibility with respect to roles and/or functions leads to the much-feared ‘twelve-eyes principle’.

The number of contact person’s on the side of the client needs to be identical to the one’s on the side of the supplier. If the client has more representatives the supplier will never be able to provide sufficient attention, quality and expertise, if the supplier has more representatives the client will be confused by the difference between ‘blue’  and ‘light blue’.

There is a distinction between roles and responsibility. It is easy to assign somebody a full-time role for a particular client. The quality of the manager is determined by how well she can assess whether a person is better suited for one role for multiple clients or multiple roles for one client.

For a responsibility to be fulfilled properly it requires sufficient attention. In my experience, the minimum threshold was 20% of the time of a particular week if it was associated with a fixed day (e.g. a ‘grandmother’s day’) or 40% of the day if it was not attached to a fixed time or day.

Hate is nothing but anger that could not be expressed – or hope that was raised but left unfulfilled, promises betrayed.

In my experience, most employees need 8 hours of work just to keep up with all the changes in their work, required trainings, not-so-required gossip, team meetings, annual kickoffs etc. So reducing the working hours of a 16-hour/week contract to 8 hour/week would reduce productivity to null. However, increasing working hours per week from 16 hours to 24 hours would double productivity.

The first priority for a manager is to get to know her paylords, including their personal whims. The second priority is to get to know her people and tools – and their personalities too. The third priority is to combine these two into a one-page status report. Only then, progress can start.

Whenever a line manager withdraws resources from a project – sometimes very understandable if a ‘Prio 1’ emergency occurs – that can only be done professionally if the project/account/sales manager is provided with three things: an announcement that this withdrawal is going to take place (if possible), a valid explanation to be given to the client, and a proposal for an alternative planning.

If a man does not feel heard, he will insist on having his way. (M. Falger)

The simpler a valid explanation is, the closer it comes to the truth. (Ockham’s razor)

Each project contains one or more ´hard nuts to crack´. The quality of the project team determines – and is indicated by – the percentage of those ‘hard nuts’  that are dealt with before as opposed to after the ultimate Go/No-Go decision.

When assigning a task, one has the choice to either just select on skills and hand over responsibility, in other words appoint an administrative assistant, or really delegate, which comes with authority (inclusive of both legal and resources mandates) and credibility (inclusive of both personal reputation and position in the organization).

Hate is frozen – or helpless – anger. Freedom of speech allows for anger to be vented, to let it flow. This phenomenon applies to all relationships, whether citizens (/protestors), clients, employees or partners (amorous and business alike). A complaining customer is investing in the relationship and is less likely to leave than a quiet one.

Complaints are like blisters: ignore them at your peril, it is better to make an incision, remove the liquid and put on a bandage. And walk on.

So far,  I have noticed that ALL quotes of me have been incorrect unless provided by me in writing.

A plan shows who does what when. A project plan shows who has committed to do what when, including the ‘if’s, ‘but’s and ‘when’s. For ‘non-projectese’ speakers: the ‘if’s are the risks, both threats and opportunities, the ‘but’s are the countermeasures and the ‘when’s are the assumptions and preconditions.

‘As Soon As Possible’ is a national holiday in The Netherlands and celebrated with a day off every year on the first Sunday in September.

In my career I missed about 900 shots, I lost almost 300 games, and 26 times I was chosen for the game-winning shot and missed. And that is why I succeed, Michael Jordan

With the customer in the center, you always stand shoulder to shoulder with the client

On decisions without communication: If an orchestra plays in the woods without any audience, it is a rehearsal not a concert.

The best way to check if someone is listening is to say: “I do not think you are listening”. The response usually distinguishes between a heated re-statement of the last input registered and a simple counter-question: ” So what do you think I did not hear?”

Transparency of a leader, project, organization or society is the basis for predictability, which in turn is the foundation for confidence and trust.

Among friends their is only one taboo: not asking for help if it is needed

Some leaders who talk much and say little seem to reflect the business case of their companies

More than a reasonable number of tweets or posts per day is spam.

An evaluation of a ‘situation’ is best done after it has fully been worked out, during a crisis a premature evaluation even is counterproductive since it saps energy from problem resolution to response justification.