From a very informative preparatory article on CNN.com...

​On Wednesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said a new case of novel coronavirus, Covid-19, in California could be the first instance of "community spread" in the country. The news came a day after the CDC warned an outbreak of Covid-19 in the US is inevitable, stating that it's not a question of if, but when, it will happen.

At this point, the train has left the station for trying to contain the disease, and the CDC and other public health experts are preparing the US to switch to mitigating its impact.

Covid-19 will test our government's response and resiliency. How we weather the outbreak also hinges on our trust that the government has our best intentions at heart.When Covid-19 was first discovered, US public health officials worked to contain the outbreak with quarantines and travel restrictions. This was an aggressive approach that some have criticized, but it has been effective in delaying disease transmission within the US. To date, only a very small number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 have been diagnosed in America.

The recent worldwide escalation of coronavirus cases has made clear that the containment approach alone will no longer work. There are now over 40 countries with Covid-19. Many have fragile health systems that are already overburdened. Community transmission is occurring within multiple countries—meaning that it's not just travelers bringing back the disease, but people in the community who are transmitting it to others.

There is also growing evidence that Covid-19 can be found in people with minimal or no symptoms, and that asymptomatic people can be contagious. Very likely, there are far more cases than are being detected all around the world. This will almost certainly get worse. Harvard University epidemiologist Dr. Marc Lipsitch provided a startling estimate: within the coming year, 40 to 70 % of people around the world could be infected with the virus that causes Covid-19.

Shutting down borders will no longer work. In fact, they can have unintended negative effects in the form of disrupting supply chains of medical equipment and life-saving medications. The initial containment efforts were necessary—and they worked. But when the disease reaches a much larger scale, the US will run out of capacity to keep on imposing quarantines, which won't be effective then either.

So what happens next? The CDC warned that "disruption to everyday life may be severe." We have seen this play out in China, Japan, Italy, Iran, Korea, and other countries with significant numbers of affected people. Mass gatherings have been postponed or changed, with conferences canceled and sporting events played with no live audience. Workers are telecommuting and students are staying home from school. If there are sudden clusters of Covid-19 community transmission in the US, these measures could be implemented here too.

Whether they do depends on our rapidly evolving understanding of the disease. New data are coming out every day about Covid-19, and one critical piece of information is exactly how deadly this disease is. At the moment, it appears that Covid-19 has a 2% fatality rate—lower than SARS and MERS (10% and 30-40%, respectively), but higher than influenza (0.1%). Given the lack of ongoing surveillance and high numbers of people who are not being tested and diagnosed, some public health experts predict that the actual fatality rate of Covid-19 is much lower than 2% and may be closer to 0.1%.

If that's the case, Covid-19 could be treated as we treat influenza. The flu is a serious seasonal illness that we work hard to prevent and treat. We develop flu vaccines and encourage everyone to obtain them. Those who get the flu and have mild symptoms self-isolate at home and avoid spreading it to others. Those who have much more severe symptoms get hospital care. There are some treatments available that reduce the severity of flu. Some people die from the flu, while the vast majority recover. It's a serious illness, but we don't close schools, restrict travel, and stop global economy because of it.

We don't yet know if the trajectory of Covid-19 will be mild, moderate, or severe. The CDC warnings are appropriate at this time, because our institutions and the American people need to be prepared for the next stage of this outbreak. Health departments and hospitals have pandemic response plans that they need to be reviewing and testing now. The federal government needs to make funding urgently available for local health departments, who are on the frontlines of the epidemic. Local public health does the work of outbreak preparedness and response every day. They know how to handle epidemics, but they need the resources to do their work. And all these institutions have to protect healthcare workers, without whom we have no chance of combating any epidemic.We as the public can prepare ourselves too.

Businesses and schools can prepare contingency plans. Families can formulate plans about telework and think through options for caring for the young and the elderly, should self-isolation be needed. Those with chronic illnesses can prepare to have a three-month supply of medications on hand. (Stockpiling other supplies is not recommended; the run on surgical masks—which have no proven value for everyday citizens—is making it hard for healthcare providers to access them.) Everyone can practice good hygiene: a simple measure like handwashing with soap and warm water reduces the likelihood of contracting respiratory viruses. And we should continue to follow the expert guidance of the CDC and local public health officials.

Finally, the US government must continue to be transparent. Outbreaks are quickly evolving situations. Constant reevaluation is the bedrock of good public health response, and changing course is actually a good thing—it means that officials are responding to new evidence and being nimble with their plans. Public health depends on public trust, and people must be able to trust that our government is following the guidance of experts and that they are being transparent and open with us.

Hiring people for positions in the organization is not fun, easy, or stimulating. The interview process is scary from either side and can end in a bad relationship if you hire the wrong person. Wouldn't it be great if we had some fail safe ways of weeding out a few bad candidates that might otherwise slip through? Yes. And now with my sure fire list here, you can. Ok, it's not sure fire, but it will help – I know because it has helped me and I've even further tested a few of these tips on and with others. Please read on...and good luck with the hiring process!...


No quantifiable answers on the resume. I always say that good job applicants who really want the job should put forth a nice resume that shows they've accomplished something. And quantifiable information gives the interviewer some information that says, “this guy knows the industry has some knowledge of numbers” rather than just some strong but meaningless adverbs and adjectives like “very”, “highly”, and “substantial.” If I see one more resume or LinkedIn bio that says “seasoned” I am going to gag. Substantially.


Positions with no months, just years that are the same or one off...and lots of them. I know about this one because, unfortunately, my resume looks like this and it's been pointed out to me by interviewers. Because have been independently consulting for quite awhile but have accepted some direct hire work in between as well AND due to a series of unfortunate job acceptances with organizations that weren't as stable as I thought, I have held several great jobs for a very short period of time. So, I long ago abandoned months on my resume and just went with years. But when you have held 5 of those types of jobs over a two year period, it makes you look either like a job hopper or a frequent firee. And if you're the interviewer, this is going to be a red flag. Interviewers... if the candidate seems otherwise like a great catch...proceed with caution. If not, then move on to the next applicant...fast.


A candidate who has no questions to ask you. It's a question you almost always ask...”do you have any questions for me.” If the drone on the other side of the desk can't come up with one single thing to ask, then completely disregard this individual. Obviously they've done no homework on your company and are not generally an interesting or good communicator. If they really wanted the job – or wanted to show that they want the job – then they can come up with at least one question.


Eye direction and little to no eye contact. I won't lie. I like shows like Criminal Minds and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. One of the things I learned early on with those shows...it is a general perception that when someone is being questioned if they are looking to the left they likely to be lying. I've tested this a bit on my own – I won't say on who – but it tends to generally be accurate. Blank stares and little to no eye contact are also bad signs. They don't necessarily indicate lying, but do you really want to hire someone who just gazes blankly at you or can't maintain eye contact with you? I don't.


No follow up. The great applicant that doesn't at least follow-up with a thank you email isn't the great applicant you thought he or she was. Move on. It shows that they either...

• don't really want it
• are too busy with something else (like consulting work that will ultimately get in the way with what they would be doing for you)
• are poor communicators
• just have poor manners

If any of these four are true...do you really want them in your organization? No.


Summary


It is never easy dredging through the pool of applicants for the right candidate. More often than you'd like to think, you'll probably end up with a bad hire. But if you use some tips and cues like what I've listed here, at least you may be able to weed out some duds that you might otherwise let slip through the cracks and into the corner office. Don't do it!

We all make mistakes. We may act on incorrect or insufficient information when making our mistakes. Or we just may act on our own poor judgement. Or we may get bad advice from someone else that results in mistakes. We may also just act irrationally or make a rash decision that leads to mistakes. Whatever the cause, mistakes are likely our own fault – at least in terms of how I'm looking at it for this article. Even if we are acting on bad information from others, the steps forward we take are still our own mistakes and we must own them. Especially if we are in a position of authority – such as the project manager leading a major project engagement. Passing blame really isn't an option. Not for a true leader.


There are literally hundreds of mistakes we could consider for project managers. For me, I've narrowed most down to three key underlying factors or sources and that's what I'd like to focus on for this discussion. Please think about your own experiences as you read this and feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions...


Poor communication. Good, effective, efficient communication is the number one responsibility of the project manager. I'm not sure you'd find that in every text book or how-to on project management, but you would if I wrote it and you'll find it mentioned in a few hundred of my articles, eBooks and videos. The communication buck starts and stops with the project manager. If communication on the project is poor, sporadic, inconsistent or going to the wrong people, then the project manager is at fault and needs to change his own practices. Or, if it's happening with someone else on the project – he needs to regroup the team and set a new, corrected communication plan in motion. Ideally, a formal communication plan would be put together at the beginning of the project identifying the PM as the main point of contact and the primary source of information gathering and dissemination on the project. This plan would also identify all the key stakeholders on the project and list their email, phone and Skype, etc. contact info and would also document when, how and where ongoing key project meetings would be happening. Short of that – because something like this is not usually a deliverable on smaller projects – a spreadsheet will do the trick...as long as it's made available to all key project stakeholders and revised as needed.


Letting the customer get away. If the project customer is not available then problems can mount on the project. The PM needs to make sure that the customer is engaged from beginning to end on the project. When the project sponsor - or whatever key point of contact has been determined on the customer side of the project - is unavailable for periods of time, they may be getting sucked into their day job responsibilities. We have to remember, this project is a one-off task for them – they likely have other major responsibilities to worry about and be involved in. Don't let them get away – they are needed for project information and decision making. Keep them engaged by keeping them assigned to tasks on the project. And it's ok if you make things up along the way...you must ensure that you have at least some of their attention throughout. Give them tasks that they are expected to report on at every weekly status call. No one likes to look like they are dropping the ball, so that should keep them more frequently engaged on the project and available to you when needed.


Lack of budget awareness. The project manager who does not stay on top of the project budget is in for a big surprise down the road. I've never known a project to stay on budget unless some significant effort and oversight is put into it. I always say that a project budget that is 10% over is much easier to fix than one that is over by 50% and going out of control. Once you've reached that status, it's probably too late. But if you stay aware and review and revise the project budget with project actuals every week you are far less likely to lose control of the budget. And going over budget is one of the key failure points in project management – don't let it happen to you.


Summary / call for input


This is my list...these three are the primary mistakes that I've seen or experienced to cause major problems on projects. These are underlying problems, but still very fixable if corrective action is taken early on.


What about our readers? What do you personally see as major mistakes that project managers make? Let's make a list and discuss...

In this age of cloud computing, web-based project management and collaboration software, and large corporations with geographically dispersed employees and customers, more and more projects are being run by virtual teams with project managers and team members working from home or satellite offices. While these can be very green and cost saving options, they are not without their challenges. Delivery team and customer time zones must be considered, communication must be streamlined, the right collaboration tools must be in place, and the project team must be staffed with experienced professionals who are self-motivated and focused on project delivery.


I recently led a team of like-minded and focused professionals on an entirely remote analysis and selection project for a large public-sector entity. At the end of the first key six month phase of the project, I had sent and received more than 4,000 emails, conducted 112 conference calls, had vendors put on more than 40 online demonstrations, and not one dollar was spent on travel or printing or delivery of materials of any kind. Green? Yes. Economical? Very! My new Macbook got initiated the hard way, but it’s still working just fine….


Virtual teams sounds like the way to go, right? Organizations could be saving millions of dollars and everyone can be working in their shorts and t-shirts all day. But there are the challenges that I’ve already mentioned above plus more. The bottom line for the project manager is this – how do you keep your globally dispersed team working together and staying focused on like-minded efforts to bring the project to a successful end while they are also still facing the challenges of often working on multiple initiatives at once? How do you garner their complete cooperation? How do you ensure they don’t go off on tangents with you not constantly looking over their shoulder?


I generally use the following five techniques or methods to keep my remote projects and teams running smoothly:


Setup a communication plan from the start


As much as we all hate producing the formal plans during the initial planning phases of the project, they can be beneficial. And since I firmly believe that efficient and effective communication is the top responsibility of the project manager, I likewise believe that a formal communication plan is a key document to have in place as the project kicks off. The communication plan says when and how key communication will happen on the project, when status meetings will take place, and it identifies who is responsible for each type of communication or meeting. It keeps all parties accountable for good, effective communication and lays the ground rules for the entire engagement.




Use a collaborative PM tool


The next step in building a cohesive team is selecting and using a PM collaboration tool that promotes participation, updating of tasks that team members have direct responsibility for, and serves as a quick communication tool that allows for status updates and discussions among team members beyond the usual email experience. That can be a web-based, cost-effective tool or a combination of a PM tool and a social media offering with a private group created for your project team collaboration. Whatever works for your project is fine, but it must promote ongoing communication and cooperation among team members.


Hold weekly internal team meetings


It’s not all about status meetings with the customer. Before that can even happen you need the most up to date information from your team that you can possibly get. To that end, I always conduct weekly internal team meetings 1-2 days in advance of a formal weekly meeting with the customer. That allows me to get status info from each team member, prep everyone for key discussion points during the customer call, and have all the info I need to get the customer a revised project schedule and current status report that will drive that formal weekly discussion. No surprises and a smooth customer meeting is usually the benefit from this effort.


Expect participation from each member on formal customer calls


The internal meeting gets me everything I need for the customer status call, but it also prepares the entire team. And expecting everyone to participate on the call in their area of expertise keeps everyone focused on what the tasks at hand are at any given moment.


Meet for major phase kickoffs


Finally, on most remote projects it’s wise to bring the entire team together for major phase kickoffs. Certainly the initial project kickoff is important – though the entire team may not be fully assembled at that point. Large, long term projects usually have several major phases where you have an opportunity to bring the team together with each other and the customer. It’s a good time to regroup and refresh and gain new focus on the next phase of the project.

I know this question sounds like a crazy one to ask on the surface. Every project – in it’s details – is different, I know. Even two projects implementing the same technology – maybe even with the same PM and technical team involved - will be different to some degree. But my real question is this – are all projects basically and fundamentally the same? From a project manager standpoint, do we really run project A different than project B? Do we do the same things – just in different detail – on each project (or at least the things we know are helpful and successful and aren’t contributing to ongoing project failures once we learn our lessons)?


The answer, I’m afraid, at least for me, is still not clear cut…but it is one I’m curious about and would welcome everyone’s thoughts and input.


Here’s my take… There are some fundamental things we SHOULD do on every project. Period. These are…


Gather initial project info. Get what you can from whoever initiated the project or closed the deal or whatever. An account manager, the project sponsor (or both), executive management, your PMO director…whoever might have meaningful information, requirements, estimates, mockups, etc. You need that critical information to start the real planning on the project and putting together a useful project schedule.


Get a team together. Now, if the project is small…like maybe a data transition and you have the knowledge and capability to do it all yourself, this may be a one-person team. Otherwise, you’ll need to gather resources based on the skill sets you need.


Hold a project kickoff. Sometimes this has to happen before you’ve assembled a team and sometimes after and sometimes it may just be you and the project sponsor. However, this meeting is critical to set proper expectations, finalize milestones, understand assumptions and plan for more planning and plan for the when and how the work will happen on the project.


Weekly status meetings and reporting. I don’t care how formal you make your status meeting – it can be a one-on-one call with the project sponsor that last for five minutes if that’s all it takes, but it must happen every week like clockwork. If communication falters, that’s when the project can start to come unglued and project customer satisfaction can begin to decline. Don’t skip the regular meetings and status reporting, even if there isn’t much to report. Of course, on larger projects this status meeting and reporting process will be more formal, but it still needs to happen…every week.


Communicate well and often. Effective and efficient communication is job one for the project manager no matter how big or small or detailed the project is. It’s not just about the status meetings and status reporting either – it’s about all project details, task management issue management, risk management and anything relevant to the project that needs to be efficiently disseminated to the project team members…and customer…in a timely fashion. And that must start with the project manager.


Conclusion


So I’ve convinced myself through this article that yes, all projects are basically the same at the core. You may toss out some steps along the way depending on the size of the project and the budget and the length of the timeline. But the things that are listed in this article are the building blocks to a successful project – some basic best practices. And they need to happen – even if they are brief on small projects or take weeks on large projects – they need to happen on every project to keep the team and customer engaged and the project moving forward.

As project managers we all have those times that come up where one project or activity takes up most or all of our time. It’s a PM way of life – it can’t be helped. And when that one project jumps up and takes all of our energy, resources and available time, it becomes so difficult to keep track of the other things going on and the other work we have on our plate – which is often other important projects leading other team members who need us and engaging other project customers who are looking to us for project leadership and direction. Yes, it would be nice if we could shut out the rest of the world and focus on the one project that needs 110% of our attention right now, but we can’t do that. We must still provide adequate oversight of the other projects we have going on – otherwise we run the risk of failing at every project we are currently leading.


So, when one project is looming so large and experiencing issues that require just about everything we have to give right now, what can we do to ensure that we aren’t dropping the ball on the other projects we are managing?


Generally, I employ one of these three actions or steps – depending on the overall state of each project and depending on how dire the situation is for the main project in question…


Assign someone as a temporary point person on the troubled project. If the best thing to do is to offload the problematic project, then assign a trusted resource from the current team to take over for a couple of weeks or so while you focus your attention on the several other projects on your plate to get them back up to date and in good standing with the project customer. I don’t recommend offloading the problematic project, though, if the needs or issues are big. By doing so on such a project, you may send a very negative message to the project customer and risk losing further ground on the project by turning project management duties over to individuals who aren’t PMs and are busy just trying to fight the current issues on the project. In this case, the next option is a far better choice.


Assign temporary leaders to the projects in good standing. Likely, this is the wisest choice and this is the one I’ve actually used the most when faced with this type of situation. Ideally, meet with the project team on each project and brainstorm on the best way to attack the situation – possibly even incorporating the use of mind mapping software to help you plan the temporary move of responsibilities. Then take action by offloading the regular weekly PM oversight duties to someone else on the project team – often it’s the business analyst. Stay involved as much as possible to make sure day to day management of the project is happening, but by assigning someone else to be the primary PM contact and point person for a couple of weeks or so can help you free up enough time to focus on the big issues facing the project in question and help you get it through the valley that you’re going through with it at the moment.


Get temporary outside help for the troubled project. This is my least favorite of all three because it is costly. And, it brings in someone new to the project who the customer is unfamiliar with and it can send a message to the customer that things are really bad – when they really may not be that bad. Anything that causes the customer concern or unrest is bad. But if you have no other choice, this may be the proper action to take. Go to senior leadership or the PMO director – whichever is appropriate for your organization – and get an additional or temporary PM assigned to the project to assist. And if the issues are such that what you really need is more of a different position – say a business analyst or technical lead – then go for that type of resource. But don’t keep them onboard any longer than necessary because they will be a fast drain on the project budget.


Summary


No one likes to admit defeat on a project and we usually won’t have to even when times seem the darkest on a project engagement. Recognize early enough that you either need a little extra help or you need to re-focus more time to a given project and shift resource responsibilities accordingly. Done strategically, you can help ensure that you cause the least amount of project and customer disruption. The key is to make sure the customer sees that any change is positive and that you’re still focused on the success of the project.

Most of what I like to write about is from the project manager’s perspective. And I always maintain that communication is the #1 priority of the project manager. Project success, customer management, team oversight, leadership, budget management, and scope management are all very key responsibilities of the project manager – but each one of those starts with communication. But what about those individuals who aren’t part of the immediate project team?


Equating the project management structure to our own familial dynamic…what about our cousins, our nieces and nephews, aunts and uncles...those ‘family members’ who aren’t necessarily part of our daily lives. How do we need to communicate with them? How much do we need to communicate? How often? To what level of detail? And can/should some of them be excluded? I’m talking about our project stakeholders as a whole…and some of those aren’t the ‘involved daily’ type of stakeholders. They’re more like the distant cousin or uncle you see once a year. What do they need to know?


You’re immediate ‘family’


There’s no question that certain project stakeholders need to know everything. These individuals need access to the latest and greatest project information whenever you can provide it – and that should be weekly for most of them and daily for a small handful. Your team and your project sponsor and their close team/contacts need regular weekly project communication and updates and as needed updates when you or they deem them necessary. Usually the internal weekly team meeting with your project delivery team and the weekly status call/meeting with the project customer and your delivery team will handle most of the communication that needs to happen with these individuals. Of course, the weekly delivery of a project status report, a revised project schedule showing how the project looks ‘today’ and any revised issues lists, risks status, and budget information that was deemed necessary at project kickoff time needs to also happen as part of this regular communication to this close knit project stakeholder group. Don’t worry, if the communication process is in place as it should be, any project stakeholders who are this close to the heart of the project will feel very comfortable reaching out to you for any project status information they need at any given time.


The distant relatives


After that you have your ‘extended’ family. The stakeholders who have an interest in the project and are potentially affected by its success or failure in some way or may have employees involved in the project. These individuals are on more of a ‘need to know’ basis. They don’t need every update and will feel overloaded with information if they are getting a weekly email with a revised project schedule and status of all issues, risks and financials. They don’t want that, they don’t need that, and won’t know what to do with it. They will ignore it and then likely miss something that you would have otherwise liked them to pay attention to. For this group it’s better to provide them with a customized, high-level project status report that goes out once a week or maybe even just once a month that greatly summarizes what’s been accomplished, what’s in progress, and what significant tasks are scheduled for the next week or month (depending on the reporting period you’ve decided on for communication to this group). Be sure to include an ‘alerts’ section if there is anything significant that you want them to pay close attention to. You will essentially be ‘training’ them to look there first so they will be sure to see right away what you definitely want them to see.


Summary


Many individuals need access to status updates from our projects – especially the high priority highly visible projects. But not everyone wants or needs the level of detail that you give to those who are heavily involved on a daily or weekly basis. And to give them too much information will cause them to pay little to no attention to your regular ‘knowledge dump’ of everything important on the project – which is not what you want to happen. Be creative in how you communicate the essential information on the project and you may find that – as I described here – it is best to tailor it a little to different sectors of your project community to make sure that the information has its desired affect.