Ground assumption #1 – there is a team (if there isn’t – let’s brainstorm how to get one). Then – team is more or less advanced in their life-cycle, maturity and the comfort zones are now getting formed.
As long as team is a group of individual talents, here’s assumption #2 – they need attention. (Assumption #2 in macro scale – everyone needs attention). Not the same attention, not the same level off attention and not the same way of the attention, but the ultimate need remains the same. Realizing this fact is what makes the difference between successful and unsuccessful outcome.
Those managers who forget this (this is so easy to forget), they’ve just created a residual risk of lost engagement and team direction. And this is just beginning of the end. But let’s go back to the default (positive) scenario.
How to pay the attention? There are many ways to Rome and i even can’t imagine what those could be – but attention at minimum has two team dimensions:
- quantitative (frequency of interactions)
- qualitative (why you pay attention to me; or different: why do you care)?
Guess which one is stronger? From the project management perspective, we’re always goal-oriented. Can be nice but without results, sonner or later won’t be nice.
Frequency and belonging (Maslow and the others) is important, but assuming an every (wild guess) team individual wants to provide a value, so qualitative dimension is much more stronger in the end if properly understood and applied.
Assumption #2, people have to be recognized about they roles. Are team team members or the experts? Subject matter experts (SME)? Are they new with a fresh out the box ideas or experienced senior professionals who’ve seen almost everything. Whoever they are they have to be named correctly and recognized for they role they’re playing and feel strong (or not yet) about. Successful project manager creates a space in the team for everyone to be successful. Then successful program creates a space for every its project to be successful. etc. This has to be well balanced, and space has to be balanced too. Proper balance between stage and the backstage (foreground and background) – or being in front of the team or behind the teams – is what matters and isn’t very much available in the common learning courses. Let’s park this for a moment and come back to the brainstorming.
Assumption #3 – brainstorming helps to let experts speak. Why? The now got a space and the floor. And you know what: they’re now invited to talk, they’re asked, their opinion matters. Downside? By definition, in classical brainstorming everyone can speak (not only the experts – and sometimes it is painful). What other benefits frequent brainstorming brings to the team and why remote brainstorming is so essential in remote project management?
- it connects the team together, as a best practice habit to talk fairly often and creates problem-solving culture
- it drives innovations (any kind of innovations)
- it helps to have a creative conflict, difference of opinions and possibly the best outcome from the others
- it builds the self confidence in the team and team members about their presence and value added. They opinion matters and they deliver project success.
- It helps with visuals and structured approach, reducing (not increasing) time for setting objectives, reducing unknown and creates ultimate deliverables and way to execute them (action plan).
- it provides a good balance of formal and informal ways of working. too official projects and their team behaviors do not sound like a best idea always. Brainstorming (as well as DSUs) create the space to be just yourself.
How to make this remotely and again why:
- Session has to be moderated – no moderation, no results of brainstorming (even brainstorming still would take place). No results, no return of investment (or the low return), project goals move away from the radar
- Session has to be visually focused – effective moderator holds the focus, this can be with the Notepad, Document of Spreadsheet opened, but has to be opened and notes (best case – diagrams) have to pop up – while brainstorming is progressing. Same as with the old school whiteboard in the room. If this is not a case, all idea basically is lost before started. Keep the habit of the opening tool, and creating notes in front of the team ad hoc.
- Session has to be wrapped up, action-ed and dispatched for the execution. Otherwise brainstorming will become of habit of ‘virtual coffee talks’ (or the famous tea club). No way. We brainstorm to unlock the value and create the results.
- Not everything has to be (should be) brainstormed. Situation has to be balanced otherwise the PM would be seemed as the ignorant with no real idea how to use this tool (there are so many PM-ignorant probably more than in the SME community). We typically brainstorm strategic decision, difficult problems, what if scenarios and the best in class solutions. We don’t brainstorm how to create a project charter, provide a list of activities for the individual project plan or mitigate the risk of upcoming bank holiday etc.
In the end it’s all about the individual PM style and ways of working, but ultimate goal is to crate a project think thank culture with a strong expertise residing in there, and clear segregation of duties what PMs and SMEs they bring to the table.
Project think thank idea to be continued.
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