germanflores’s posterous

We get caught-up and jump from one thing to the next and often forget to acknowledge and recognize the efforts others have to go through.

When do say thank you? When it's deserved. Only say thank you when you mean it, if it's not sincere your being dishonest to the person your saying thank you to and to yourself. No good comes of this.

Should I say thank you in public or in private? It depends. If the person receiving the thank you needs to be publicly recognized for their efforts then go public.

In person, phone, or in writing? It depends. In person is the best way and meaning isn't lost, phone second but not if your in the same building! If the thank you message is to be shared with others email works well, if it's personal a short thank you note will do great (keep some simple thank you notes on hand).

Should I just say thank you? Yes! Note the action you are thanking them for, give your thanks, and move on. When giving something never expect anything in return.

We expect people to do their jobs and complete the tasks we assigned them but people like to be acknowledged for the work they do. A thank you goes a long way.

"Understand your users and then ignore them"
Robert Hoekman Jr.

This is a profound statement and without context it could anybody fired. When looking at user experience and usability you should perform a usability study. A component of a usability study is a user and task analysis. In this user and task analysis users are identified, along with their typical tasks.

Understanding and knowing your users is paramount in providing a positive user experience. Ask them who they are, what they want, what are their tasks when they visit or use your products but also observe them. What users tell you and what they do might be two different outcomes.

How to tackle the situation? Rely on the understanding you have of your product and your users to provide them with the best experience while still being aligned with your organizational goals. Sometimes the usability expertise might be in-house sometimes you meed to rely on the expertise of vendors to achieve this.

Conclusion
User experience and usability are vast topics that this short post doesn't do justice. If you remember anything make sure your organizational goals align with your web strategy and that you understand your users by interviewing them but also observing them.

Resources
The 7 Rules for Great Web Application Design - Notes
Usability.gov Templates - Great resource of templates

One of the qualities of a project manager is confidence. Successful project managers let their team know that they are confident in the course taken. Confidence is not about lying to your team. If a project is going to fail, the best course is to acknowledge the difficulties, rally around the team, come-up with a good strategy, and stand behind it. These actions show confidence.

A project manager shows-up to meetings first, when appropriate takes the lead, supports the team's ideas, and fosters discussion. The benefits of a confident project manager mean that team members will focus on the job at hand instead of second-guessing the project manager's approach.

At a previous job there was a management change that shook the status quo. Some team members got nervous and suddenly lost focus of their work. The project manager in charge gathered everybody for a quick meeting.

The team held two views in this meeting; the management change was no cause for concern and that their jobs were on the line. The project manager acknowledged the situation, expressed the same concerns that some had and was confident in re-assuring the team that this would not have an impact on their jobs. A positive net result was gained from those 15 minutes. People that were anxious and lost their focus were re-assured that everything would be okay. The teams focus switched back to the project at hand and countless productive hours were saved.

As project managers we walk confident and not much shakes us but we have to have empathy to be able to react to situations where the team needs re-assurance. Being a confident project manager and projecting confidence will make you a strong leader.

"Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life" Steve Jobs

http://twitter.com/kallo/status/5123681918

As a project manager your job entails talking to people, they might be clients, developers, executives, all with different communication approaches. There's one behavior that's hard to deal with; when people don't let you talk. Well, maybe that should be re-phrased as: when people love to hear themselves talk.

Let's identify the behavior and talk about approaches to dealing with them:

After the individual has expressed their ideas you try to interrupt them but it sounds like they didn't hear you interrupting and keep talking. This behavior when encountered the first time might be interpreted as the other person not hearing your interruption, after the third time it's time to in a firm and polite tone interrupt them, until they stop and let you talk.

Another behavior that I encountered is that they have decided not to let you talk, in this case interrupt them in a firm and polite tone and start with: I have listened to your thoughts and I would appreciate time to express my ideas. would you allow me that courtesy?

Your mileage might vary with the approaches above and context of course is important. If you have identified other types of behaviors from people that don't let you talk share your expertise with others via the comments on this post.

Scenario:
Your customer calls and notes that he has been trying to log on to your website and they can't log-in, the password changer doesn't work, and why is he being asked to change his password in the first place. All this in a confrontational, angry tone.

The Call:
Have the facts on-hand, don't make any assumptions, be ready to:
- Introduce your self (full name)
- Apologize for the inconvenience that has been caused
- Thank him or her for calling and sharing their experience
- Listen. You'll be tempted to talk after a few words from the customer, don't. Continue to listen
- Correct the issue or promise to correct it and follow-up

Your results may vary but this usually yields good results.