Do you over-deliver?
by TMAB2003 via Flickr
It’s something that gets a lot of lip service.
But are YOU doing it?
You will get all you want in life if you help enough other people get what they want.
-Zig Ziglar
Rob from Singapore asked a question about how to gain experience in project management when starting from the role of an individual contributor on projects. I posted an answer to that on a new experiment I have going on at pmStudent.org and I’ll riff on that now.
Be known as a person who over-delivers
If you are an individual contributor on a project now, are you the kind of team member that everyone loves to work with? Do people trust that you will deliver and even overdeliver on the work you are doing?
Strive to be the person who inspires others to say “Wow! How does she/he get so much done?” or “I hope I get to work with her/him on this project coming up.”
I’m not talking about under-promising
No, don’t set the expectations low so you can come in with your cape waving in the wind for an early delivery. You’re not going to build any trust that way.
Expectations should be reasonable and realistic.
I’m talking about going above and beyond. Do a top-notch job while volunteering your own unpaid time towards helping a project manager compile data. It doesn’t have to be a lot, but it does have to be quality. Spend a few less hours watching TV and invest in your own personal growth and reputation with your co-workers.
It’s not just about time
You don’t have to become a workaholic. I once managed operations for a start-up wireless ISP, the first of it’s kind in the USA. I worked myself to death, and although the work was great the work-life balance just wasn’t there. It sucked.
Since then I have a 45-hour per week rule. I’ve gotten very focused at personal productivity at work so that I can get everything I need to get done within that 45 hour period.
When a crisis happens though, I’ll work whatever I need to get the job done. Sometimes it’s just a matter of staying a few hours late to finish a critical report for an early morning meeting the next day that JUST got scheduled a half hour ago. Flex the time or just donate it. Once it was a month of 60+ hour weeks to deliver a project on time that ran into a snafu towards the end.
Whatever it is, be the person who everyone knows they can count on when times get tough. When someone has to take a clutch shot they throw the ball to you.
Don’t expect anything in return
You will get lots in return, but don’t expect it. Many times you will not receive any recognition. You will be passed by for that job you wanted. It’s going to happen. Do it for its own sake and when something else happens see it as a happy bonus.
A small example when it comes to networking is LinkedIn recommendations. For every 10 sincere, time-consuming recommendations I write for others, I might get 2 in exchange.
So be it.
I still provided an honest and thoughtful recommendation for someone who deserves it.
And that’s enough.
Feb 3rd, 2010 at 3:28 am
Twitter Comment
Do you over-deliver? [link to post]
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Feb 3rd, 2010 at 6:12 am
I would start with two prerequisites:
1. Don’t over-promise.
2. Deliver.
Then it is time to over-deliver, but to be honest most of us doesn’t even make it to the number 1.
So yes, over-deliver if you can, but not at cost of failing too often. And even if you don’t over-deliver, regular delivery will make you special anyway.
Reply
Josh Nankivel, BSc PM, PMP Reply:
February 3rd, 2010 at 10:13 am
Thanks Pawel. Those are certainly prerequisites.
I advise doing that, and more than what’s expected in order to grow professionally and create opportunities for yourself.
The great point you bring up that I missed is that you can’t drop the ball on your commitments at any time. If you do, and you are volunteering your time elsewhere instead, it could backfire on you!
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Feb 3rd, 2010 at 7:21 am
It’s really important that you’ve included the importance of work/life balance and keeping it steady, IMHO. The 45-hour rule of thumb seems somewhere in that neighborhood balancing workaholic with personal fulfillment, and you’ve done us a great service to bring mention of it.
We made mention of work/life balance in the 2008 Arras People Project Management Benchmark Report, which you can review at http://www.arraspeople.co.uk/projectmanagementsalarysurvey/2008/Report/Arras_Survey08_Sector_Review.pdf.
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Josh Nankivel, BSc PM, PMP Reply:
February 3rd, 2010 at 10:25 am
Thanks Dan! It would have been interesting to see how many hours people work per week. Maybe next year?
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Feb 4th, 2010 at 2:20 am
Josh
Great post that changes the “Under-promise and Over-deliver” statement to “Promise, Deliver and over-deliver”.
The important point, from my perspective, is the “promise” part. We have to set the expectations very clearly on this. Additionally, once you over-deliver, the bar gets raised for you in terms of expectations. People start expecting you to put in 60-hour weeks every week and that’s where it stops becoming fun.
Having a firm 45-hour rule really helps as will learning to say “No” to things you know cannot fit into the 45-hrs.
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Feb 5th, 2010 at 2:46 pm
I know that when I’m the receiving end of collecting reports, I like it when the task owner over-delivers on the presentation of the data. In other words, write me a narrative or give me a visual summary I can quickly roll up or interpret. So what I like is not so much receiving more scope on a requested task (which I don’t always like because it can fuel unauthorized scope creep in other areas), but I always appreciate better quality on a task.
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Feb 15th, 2010 at 3:22 am
Hi Josh
On Dan’s point above about the work/life balance figures in 2008 for project managers, the latest Report shows;
Work/Life Balance. Is there a long hours culture in project management?
Over 28% of respondents claimed to have an unacceptable life balance, and this figure increases markedly for those who work more than 40 hours a week (34%), and more than 48 hours a week (45%).
Not only that, there is evidence that project managers are working longer. There is a significant increase- over 5% -in the number of Public sector workers working more than 48 hours, though this figure at 15% is still lower than the 20% in the Private sector.
This chimes with a recently published report from the TUC which led with the headline that UK workers are giving away £27 billion of unpaid overtime, a figure that has increased significantly since they last checked in 2008. The analysis suggests that this is partly due to the recession, with workers accepting additional hours as part of the package that protects jobs.
Anyone can view the press release and download the report at:
http://www.arraspeople.co.uk/blog/?p=107
Reply
Josh Nankivel, BSc PM, PMP Reply:
February 15th, 2010 at 9:34 am
Very interesting stuff Lindsay!
Here’s a rhetorical question for everyone reading this:
Does anybody know that person in the office who works a lot of extra hours (and may even complain about it) and yet can be seen at the water cooler, browsing the web, or doing other things that take away from their professional productivity?
I don’t want to insinuate that most people who work overtime do this, but many do. How much of that £27 billion of unpaid overtime is actually just extra hours, but not extra productivity? It’s impossible to know for sure.
So, do you know that person in your office? Is it you?
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