The emotional finale is here! Don’t worry, this isn’t about curling up in a ball and crying – we’ve already done that. This final installment of my series on project estimating is all about navigating the emotions of everyone involved and trying to avoid frustration.

If you’ve been following this blog series on project estimations, you’ve probably noticed one key theme: People. Estimating isn’t just a numbers game, it’s full of opinions and feelings. So, let’s dive into how emotions can sway our final estimates!

Partners or Opponents

There are many battle lines drawn when estimating larger projects.

• Leadership vs Sales Team
• Sales Team vs Project Team
• Agency vs Client
• Agency Bid vs Competing Bids
• Quality Focus vs Time/Financial Constraints
• Us vs Ourselves

It’s no wonder we all feel like we’re up against the ropes! Every round brings new threats – real or imagined. How will they react to the estimate? What will they consider an acceptable range?

To make matters worse, everyone involved brings their own personality into the ring. Some see negotiations as a game to be won. Others approach it as a collaboration toward shared goals. And then there’s the age-old playbook: start high, counter low, meet in the middle.

Planning the Attack with Empathy

Feeling pummeled while estimating? Tempted to throw in the towel? Don’t! The best estimates aren’t decided in the ring – they’re made by stepping back, planning, and understanding the perspectives of your partners.

Empathy is your secret weapon. It’s a tactical advantage. When you understand what motivates others, new paths emerge to meet eye to eye.

How do you wield empathy? By asking real questions. Don’t steer people to what you want, instead ask open-ended questions that encourage discussion. How does the budgeting process work? How will you report on the project? How do you handle unexpected changes? Even “this-or-that” questions can help: Do you prioritize on-time delivery or staying on-budget? Do you want quality, or just want to get it done? Let them be heard.

Studying the Playing Field

The good news? Things tend to get smoother over time. If you’ve gone a few rounds with the same group, you already know some of their preferences. But when it’s your first matchup, you’ve got to learn their style quickly.

With answers in hand, it’s time to plan your strategy. But check your ego – this still isn’t about you. It’s about finding the sweet spot where both sides feel like winners. Strategize for the win-win.

If they have a North Star, then determine what it takes to follow that journey. If budget is their weak point, consider ways to creatively trim without losing the project’s intent. If the timeline is the pressure point, then consider simplifying and phasing out the approach to deliver quick wins sooner.

Becoming a Champion

Victory isn’t about knocking your opponent out. It’s about both sides entering the ring as a team and excited to start. The client needs to feel understood, with clear expectations for the project. The agency needs confidence that it won’t constantly trade quality to remain profitable.

Things happen though. It’s inevitable. As in life, projects are imperfect. Things will go off-script. Partnerships are tested when hit hard by the unexpected. Were there contingency plans? Were changes handled properly?

True champions rise to the occasion. Even if the result is no longer ideal, your empathy and tactical questions can guide everyone toward the next best outcome.

Conclusion

Emotional tension almost always comes from a lack of communication. Expectations were not aligned and people felt unheard.

Everyone is different. Personalities will either mesh or clash, but recognizing this helps you bob and weave with precision.

Focus on partnership. Ask questions that foster understanding, and strategize to find a win for both sides. With empathy, clear communication, and a plan for the unexpected, you’ll look like a champion – even when things don’t go perfectly.

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If you are looking for a sparring partner who can bring out the best in your team, reach out to your Perficient account manager or use our contact form to begin a conversation.

Let’s be honest – if you’ve ever thought that Quarterly Business Reviews (or QBRs) were a huge headache, you’re not alone! A QBR is an alignment meeting that’s held every three months between a company like Perficient and its clients.

When my director first introduced us to the idea, the team was skeptical. It seemed like just another box to check, and my first few QBRs felt more like a chore than an opportunity. No surprise when they didn’t lead to much account growth! Over time, though, I realized what a gift they are, and everything changed. Let me tell you why QBRs matter and how to make them work for you! 

There are three parts to a productive QBR – showcasing successes, offering recommendations, and reviewing goals. Let’s dig into each part individually. 

Part 1 – Showcasing Past Successes

The first step in any QBR is what earns that “quarterly review” name. This is where you get to show off the Perficient team’s accomplishments over the previous quarter. What were our big wins? What cool new features launched? Sometimes we have quieter quarters than others, but there is always something you can display as an achievement. Get creative and be sure to lean on other team members for suggestions!

When you’re showing off the team’s wins, make sure you keep in mind that not everyone on the call has the same role. One fantastic benefit of QBRs is getting to present to VPs and other executive leadership who may not be involved in the day-to-day engagement. However, they may not really understand the impact of a statement like, “We successfully implemented a multi-instance deployment strategy leveraging Sitecore’s xDB architecture, optimizing the content delivery network integration for enhanced latency performance.” 

There’s a reason that KISS is such a popular principle– keep it simple! Use non-technical language as much as possible and remember to tie your achievements back to how the client benefits. We all know Perficient teams deliver maximum results, but how does that really impact your client’s bottom line? Explain exactly how this past quarter helped contribute to their success, through wins like boosted site security or reduced costs.

Part 2 – Offering Thoughtful Recommendations for Improvement

Now we head into everyone’s favorite part – offering recommendations and driving new business! This is where you start looking ahead to the upcoming quarter and thinking about The Next Big Thing. Sure, it might be tempting to think this is your chance to push all those shiny upgrades and premium options that will help pad your pockets (kidding!). But in reality, that’s not at all what a good QBR is about.

What really drives success is understanding your client’s story. A sales leader I admire once said that you can’t be truly successful at selling unless and until you deeply understand someone’s story. What motivates them? What do they look back on at the end of the year and feel proud of? When you understand these things about your client, you open the door to making thoughtful recommendations that actually offer value.

It’s not about making the sale – it’s about taking care of your clients. It’s about understanding their business, their needs, what their frustrations are, and what will really drive their growth. Pushing that flashy new tool may net you a bigger commission check, but when you get to next quarter’s QBR, are you going to be able to show that it helped your client meet their long-term strategic goals? Or is it going to be something you sheepishly leave out of the QBR, because your client spent a bunch of money and had nothing to show for it? 

Part 3 – Aligning with the Client’s Business Goals 

By the time you get to this stage of most QBRs, you’ve been presenting for about 45 minutes straight. Now it’s your client’s turn to shine! You want to ensure that you’re aligned with their business strategy, so kick this part off by asking them what the future looks like. Some good example questions are –

• What specific outcomes do you hope to achieve in your business over the next quarter, the next six months, the next year?

• Are there any challenges you’re currently facing that you believe could impact your goals? 

• What does success look like for your business a year from now? 

What may surprise you is that if you’ve done your homework and put in the time to understanding your client’s story, this part of the conversation should be a close mirror of Part 2. If they bring up challenges, you should ideally already know about most (if not all) of them. When they talk about new initiatives, hopefully you’ve already considered those and included them in your earlier recommendations. 

What you don’t want is for the client to surprise you with goals or challenges that you’ve never heard before. This can potentially mean a misalignment in your understanding of their “big picture”. But don’t panic if this happens! Think of it as an opportunity to realign and dig deeper into their evolution. This is your chance to recalibrate and ensure your team’s work stays focused on what truly matters to your client. Sometimes, these surprises can open the door to even better growth and collaboration. 

Why QBRs Matter for Long-Term Success 

Here’s the crux of the matter – when you’re deeply aligned with your client’s story, sales don’t need to be forced.

They happen naturally. 

Once your clients see that you genuinely understand their business and aren’t just trying to make a quick sale, they start to ask for more on their own. Since adjusting my own frame of mind, I’ve had clients come to me directly asking for additional services, because they trust my recommendations and know I have their best interests at heart. Nurturing this kind of credibility comes from consistently delivering value and keeping the focus on what matters most to the client, rather than pushing unnecessary upgrades.

QBRs aren’t just a quarterly obligation. They’re a critical part of building lasting relationships with your clients. When done right, they help you showcase Perficient’s value, offer strategic recommendations, and ensure that both you and your client are in sync on the path forward. 

By shifting your mindset and treating QBRs as a tool for building trust, you’ll find that sales and client loyalty come naturally. And trust me, once you’ve experienced that shift, you’ll never look at QBRs as a headache again!

Meet Laura Pareja Pérez, a Senior Project Manager based in Colombia, who has been a valued member of the Perficient family for over eight years. With a diverse background in mechanical engineering, Laura embodies the spirit of innovation and mentorship that drives our company forward. 

A Day in the Life 

Laura’s days are anything but ordinary. Rising early, she dons multiple hats as a project manager, mentor, and co-lead of the Product Hub. Her primary focus is on nurturing emerging leaders, guiding them to refine their skills and reach their full potential. As the Delivery Manager for a Latin American portfolio, Laura ensures that projects exceed client expectations, maintaining top-notch engineering standards throughout the software development lifecycle. 

Her role involves collaboration with the sales team to craft proposals that connect with a variety of businesses. Laura thrives on mentorship, blending strategic problem-solving with a genuine commitment to her colleagues’ growth. 

Making a Difference 

Laura believes that true leadership involves creating an environment where everyone can learn and grow together. She emphasizes the importance of transparency and constructive feedback, recognizing that everyone has areas for improvement. By fostering a culture of support, Laura empowers her team to make a positive impact on clients and within the community. 

Proudest Accomplishments 

One of Laura’s proudest moments occurred during the pandemic when she, alongside ten dedicated colleagues, worked tirelessly to develop a digital tool for a client facing significant challenges. This effort was not just about the business; it was about supporting the single mothers who depended on that client for their livelihoods.  

Laura’s dedication to mentorship has had a profound impact on her colleagues’ careers. Hearing that she has inspired others fills her with pride, and her greatest achievement lies in knowing she has contributed to their personal and professional growth. Her commitment to the team and the community showcases her values, making her a role model for many. 

Lessons from Perficient 

Throughout her journey at Perficient, Laura has been continually inspired by the remarkable people around her. The support and mentorship she’s received have been pivotal in her growth, reinforcing her belief in the importance of collaboration and knowledge-sharing. 

Advice for New Colleagues 

For those starting their careers at Perficient, Laura offers invaluable advice: embrace feedback and focus on personal growth. Build strong relationships, stay curious, and view failures as stepping stones to success. She believes that every experience is an opportunity to learn and evolve. 

Why Perficient? 

Laura chooses to work at Perficient because its mission to shatter boundaries, obsess over outcomes, and forge the future aligns with her values. The company fosters a culture of growth and genuinely cares for its people. At Perficient, we value knowledge and experience, allowing everyone to contribute meaningfully to projects and client success. 

Outside of Work 

Laura treasures time with her family and is passionate about animal rescue, actively participating in initiatives to rehabilitate stray animals. Additionally, she enjoys exploring the world of wine and fine dining, a delightful hobby that complements her appreciation for culinary arts. 

Fun Fact 

Laura holds a degree in mechanical engineering, showcasing her versatile skill set that enhances her role in project management. 

Connect with Laura on LinkedIn to learn more about her journey and insights: LinkedIn Profile. 

At Perficient, we celebrate our talented team members like Laura, who exemplify our mission to push boundaries, deliver exceptional outcomes, and foster a culture of continuous learning. Stay tuned for more stories from the incredible people of Perficient! 

In this third installment of my blog series on project estimates, let’s dive headfirst into the murky waters of assumptions and uncertainty! Think of these as the gremlins of project planning – they are full of secrets and laugh along the way as they trip you up. If you’ve read my other blog posts, you’ll know that I’m a huge fan of transparency. Those gremlins are hiding behind your assumptions, and if you don’t shine a spotlight in the shadows of uncertainty you’ll have some BIG holes in your project plan.

Making a Fool Out of You & Me – Assumptions

Identifying and removing assumptions should be a priority for all project planners. Let’s face it, if you are running on assumptions, then you are flying blind. And if you allow those assumptions to remain, then your whole project is going to go into a tailspin. Project leadership is not a place for stunt pilots!

Unresolved assumptions can take many forms. You often notice them when someone seeks clarity but doesn’t receive a clear answer. “We’ll figure it out later” can lead to a crash landing for your project estimate. Take time to clearly outline what’s out of scope in the SOW. Clients may have unspoken expectations around best practices, while agencies focus on budget constraints. Be explicit about what’s not included.

With assumptions in place, your project plan will be incomplete. Your project estimates will be ripped apart. So how do you avoid this turbulence? Ensure you map out your flight plan! Use a “discovery phase” or a “sprint zero” to make sure you cover details early before the project implementation begins. During these planning sessions, your team and the client can get a clearer view of the skies.

The Uncertainty Paradox

Like the fate of Schrödinger’s cat, certainty in project management and estimation is elusive. If you don’t manage uncertainty, you might get scratched!

After your team provides their best estimates, you often hear, “They’ll never go for that.” Then you reduce the cost before showing it to the client. Congratulations! Now you’re negotiating with yourself – cutting scope or profit based on a gut feeling. Your uncertainty limits the project before the client even sees it.

Negotiations with the client can also add a layer of uncertainty. The agency gives an initial estimate, but the client has their own view of the final outcome. The usual approach of starting high, countering low, and meeting in the middle may seem straightforward, but it often undermines the project goals because it is based more on financial desires than on clearing up uncertainty in the project. Once the contract is signed, other choices arise and the limited budget weighs heavily. Schrödinger’s cat is still purring, and the outcome remains unknown.

Executive Summary

Executives love to start project requests and then pull a disappearing act until it’s time for final approvals. When you hand them the packet, they’ll flip right to the end to check the bottom line – skipping that executive summary conveniently placed on the first page. It wasn’t added as a diversion tactic! Yes, their time is valuable, but an executive’s decision to skip the details comes at a cost.

Savvy business leaders know how to interpret estimates. The best ones coach their teams to expect overages – there is no crystal ball for the real world. Ideally, you’d include contingency lines for those unknown-unknowns, but if the bottom line is shown without contingency reflected clearly, the busy exec will be left with assumptions.

Some business leaders push for “not to exceed” contracts to avoid surprises. But imagine the shell game the agency has to play when the funds run out. The team will scramble to figure out how to balance quality with on-time delivery and prevent the project from losing money. There’s no fluffy rabbit to be pulled from that hat!

The winning strategy is to keep it clear and concise. Transparency is best. Show the bottom line, add a contingency allowance, and note the change management process for when the project unexpectedly shifts.

Conclusion

Don’t let the gremlins of project estimation hide behind your assumptions. Kick off with a discovery phase to remove uncertainty, include what’s out of scope, and ensure everyone knows how contingency is being handled. Your SOW should be backed by a change management process because even the best-laid plans can change. And remember, executives are pressed for time, so make it easy for them to review what their team is signing up for!

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If you are looking for a partner who strives to remove assumptions for the sake of clarity, reach out to your Perficient account manager or use our contact form to begin a conversation.

Continuing our dive into project estimating, let’s talk about two more problem areas: dependencies and project creep. These two can turn your pristine project plan into a tangled mess.

No matter the size or scope of your project – whether you have just a few dependencies or tight integration with multiple systems – you’ll be faced with sneaky requests. They may start out as good intentions but they can erode your plan, leaving your project teetering on the edge of a sinkhole.

Everything and the Kitchen Sink – Dependencies & Follow-Through

In large digital projects, the possibilities for functionality and integrations are endless – but time and money aren’t! Your team may dream of a high-end Mediterranean cruise, but the budget says you’ll be camping in the backyard this summer.

Trying to squeeze in “everything and the kitchen sink” can sink your entire project! In a client/agency relationship, this tension is real. Palpable. Clients want as much as possible, while agencies have to balance the extra work required – not just to build it, but to test and support it too. This is why many digital teams opt for MVPs (minimally viable products) and agile project management! Focus on the must-have dependencies and save the nice-to-haves for later.

Tough conversations are unavoidable – dodging them only makes things worse. Nail down expectations early. Spend the time upfront to follow-through on unresolved discussions (making sure the client feels heard) and setting realistic boundaries (ensuring the agency isn’t expected to perform miracles).

I’m a Creep – Scope Creep Management

In the immortal words of Radiohead, “But I’m a creep, I’m a weirdo. What the hell am I doin’ here? I don’t belong here.”

As a project leader, you have to be firm when a request doesn’t belong in the project scope. This is tough! Most of us are people pleasers, and no one wants to be the department of ‘no’. But we all know that “just this one little thing” can unravel an entire project. Beware of the word “just” – it’s sneaky!

This is where SOWs (statements of work) and CR (change request) forms save the day! They set clear boundaries: this is what we agreed on, and any extras will cost time or money.

I have seen new team members join after a website launch, making demands for flashy UI/UX, extreme accessibility, top-tier security features. They always make it clear that they expect all new sites to have these things. Without a well-defined scope of work, the agency is left with a black eye. But with a clear SOW it can be understood that this is what we agreed on and anything else is out of scope.

Conclusion

To keep your project on track, start by broadening early discussions to cover all possible dependencies, then narrow your final scope to avoid project creep from sabotaging your success. Perfection may not be worth the squeeze.

It’s not easy, but avoiding conversations will only cause more pain. As Abraham Lincoln said, “If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend six sharpening my axe.” Enter every new project well prepared! It will save you time in the long run.

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If you are looking for a partner who is well prepared, reach out to your Perficient account manager or use our contact form to begin a conversation.

Estimating is a precarious business – part science, a lot of guesswork, and a bit of psychic magic! The goal is to forecast the effort, time, and cost of a project with enough accuracy to avoid disaster. Project managers use some go-to methods to estimate projects. Some approaches are scientific while others are based on gutfeel and experience. And if you know people…there’s a little humor in the chaos too!

Project managers (PMs) and business analysts (BAs) typically coordinate, and subject matter experts (SMEs) add their fears. These initial estimates get blended, adjusted for unknown surprises, and finalized – sometimes after fighting it out in a debate, or we might get fancy with an adjusted average from three-point estimating.

But everyone brings hidden biases to the table. The purpose of this series of blog posts is to dive into these hidden factors that shape estimates.

CYA – Sandbagging Estimates

Overestimating happens a lot. Sometimes it’s intentional, to cover your @$$ (CYA), which is known as sandbagging. But sandbagging throws a wrench in the system, messing up tracking and comparisons (as covered years ago by Perficient’s SVP of Corporate Operations and Global Delivery, Kevin Sheen). When multiple SMEs sandbag, you end up with a flood of unnecessary hours.

A better approach is transparently including contingency. This shows everyone the real estimate, highlights the allowances made, and gives better data for analysis.

Sometimes things just end up easier than expected, so the overestimation was not intentional. This is fine, it happens. But whether an agency bills for it depends on the contract. If it was written up as fixed fee (FF), then the hours may still get billed. But for time and material (T&M) agreements, the unused hours may get cut out before invoicing.

This’ll Be Easy – Lowballing Estimates

Underestimating is another problem. You’ve probably started to assemble some Swiss flatpack furniture, ignoring the instructions – only to realize it’s way more complicated than you thought. Even the Christian Bible warns against under estimating, with Luke’s tale of building a tower without counting the cost first. In this verse, it goes so far as to say you will be mocked for starting a project you can’t finish.

ERP migrations are a great example. Unfortunately, in the corporate world, many of us have seen an ERP project fall apart – the estimates blown out of the water! With past employers, I’ve seen multiple cases of this where the project is either scrapped entirely or drastically scaled back. If assembling a bookshelf can be tricky, imagine how off an ERP estimate can get! Millions of dollars spent before realizing it won’t work as expected. They should have used Perficient!

For larger projects, it is imperative to allow more time for estimating and built-in safeguards. You can do this by using the more scientific forms of estimation, gathering multiple perspectives, and allocating contingency time for those inevitable “unknown-unknowns.”

Conclusion

Early in my career, I felt terrible when my estimates weren’t accurate. I thought perfection was the expectation. But then a colleague who led our PMO group surprised me. He said he didn’t want all projects to come in under budget. He didn’t like to see his teams sandbagging. Instead, he aimed for half the projects to come in under and half over – reflecting honest, accurate estimating.

Speaking of honesty, I once had a client who overshared. He bragged about quoting a freelance project high – a yearlong engagement – which he finished in half the time and took the rest of the year off. He was proud of it! A few years later, he applied for a job at our agency, but we remembered that story. His questionable integrity caused us to pass on his application.

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If you are looking for a partner with integrity and honest estimating, reach out to your Perficient account manager or use our contact form to begin a conversation.

“Double, double toil and trouble,” is a line repeated by the witches in Macbeth as they lay out the ominous prophecies of greatness and dire consequences for the titular character. Macbeth’s ambition envisions a perfect ending though desperate actions and moral weakness ruin it. So too are the misguided actions in pursuit of perfection which can set expectations and pressure that lead to unwanted results.

The Tantalizing Idea of Perfection

Most of us love the concept of perfection. The idea that something out there can be perfect is comforting – the perfect diamond with the perfect wedding. We search for perfection in the world with symmetry, circles, triangles, and the golden ratio. Maybe you still try to stop the gas pump on a round number when you fill your car.

As a designer in my early career, I sought perfection. The dimensions in the design would be perfectly round numbers. The typography would be perfectly kerned, with hanging punctuation, and the proper quote marks and dashes! I’ve ruined my family members who now share the same disdain for sub-par designs we see. But honestly, no one else cares. Even many designers overlook the same nuances.

I remember hearing the story of a watchmaker known for exceptional craftsmanship. He would inscribe the smallest of gears with the words, “God is in the details.” This was seen by almost no one, left only as a testament to his meticulous nature. I had once admired this story – whether true or not.

A Perfectionist’s Agony

As we see in Macbeth, a desire for such perfect outcomes can turn sour. One can become so focused on perfection that the vision can’t be realized. If it is attainable, the cost may be too high.

An author, artist, or musician who endlessly adjusts their work and is never satisfied to release it to the world. It becomes a mental block where the vision is likely impossible to achieve.

There is always more to do and more that can be done. Perfection is a moving target, and the pursuit can be an endless endeavor.

Destructive Perfection

Much like Macbeth’s ambition leading to his downfall, a perfectionist can suffer the same fate if the pursuit gets in the way of the goal.

Apologies to Shakespeare for making a comparison between Macbeth (1606) and a goofy modern comedy, but I think it’s fitting here. I love the diner scene in the movie Tommy Boy (1995) with Chris Farley. Tommy is the main character who is trying to become a great salesman. In this scene, Tommy describes how he inevitably ruins his perfect sale. He destroys his chance of closing the deal because he loves the idea of the sale too much.

Here at Perficient, we do a lot of digital and web work, and the same can play out in this industry. I’ve seen groups focused so heavily on earning perfect scores from scanning tools like Google PageSpeed Insights, GTmetrix, Siteimprove, or other validation services. Someone on the client team wants to arrive at perfect front-end performance, accessibility, or security marks. Any site you put into these tools will fall short of a perfect score. The effort devoted to trying may prevent other improvements from being made.

Not Perfect Enough

That’s not to say we shouldn’t ever strive to be better. Of course we should!

You may be familiar with the frequently shared idea around 99.9%. Two million documents will be lost by the IRS each year if 99.9% is good enough. Over a thousand phone calls will be incorrectly routed every minute, and twelve babies will be given to the wrong parents each day. I have no idea if these numbers are accurate, but you get the idea.

There is a time and place where the goal is near perfection. Risk, regulation, and legal compliance, for instance, need to be near perfect. But in all cases, there should be checks and balances to make sure that the pursuit is justified. Does the level of effort make sense? Is the juice worth the squeeze?

The Happy Medium

We want to encourage healthy ambition but not let it become a destructive obsession. With the pursuit of perfection, you do not want to cause more harm than good.

Are there times when something can be perfectly imperfect? I think so.

There is a popular meme format that describes the cycle of a beginner, an intermediate-level professional, and an expert. The joke is that a beginner will be naïve and not understand something important that an intermediate-level person obsesses over. But as one becomes an expert, they realize the obsession wasn’t that important.

Conclusion

“Out, out brief candle! Life’s but a walking shadow…” is the line where Macbeth realizes the futility and limited extent of his achievements. Is the long path worth the result? Could the results be as sweet and sometimes attained more quickly if we let up on perfection just a little bit? Yes.

Facebook once publicly stated that they “move fast and break things.” But with more scrutiny around regulations, they’ve stopped saying that. There is a time and a place for both. Find your perfectly imperfect zone of success and ensure that you spend time where it makes sense (consider the Eisenhower Quadrants of Productivity).

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If you are looking for a perfect fit for your next project, reach out to your Perficient account manager or use our contact form to begin a conversation.

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In 1968, psychiatrist Stephen Karpman modeled what he called the Drama Triangle. With this, he illustrated dysfunctional mindsets that can derail social interactions. The three roles defined in this model are the rescuer (hero), persecutor (villain), and victim.

This is another view of the lies we tell ourselves. Since the dawn of history, we’ve loved stories. We entertain ourselves with fiction and non-fiction, dramas and comedies. Whether true or not, our imaginations search for these hero, villain, and victim storylines in our own lives – potentially to our detriment.

Sabotage by Projecting on Others

Things are seldom as dramatic as we see in books and movies, but some pieces align with real life from time to time. Occasionally we experience the angel who saves us, or we get to relish in satisfaction when the bad guy falls.

We end up projecting these roles based on what we THINK we should expect from others. Not often do we challenge our own assumptions or verify by asking the other party why they are acting the way they are. We avoid tough conversations that could otherwise lead to a true understanding of someone else’s viewpoint.

Our minds incorrectly associate brief snapshots of a role fulfilled as confirmation of our beliefs. However, people are multi-faceted and unlikely to always fill the same role we have attributed to them. We are complex creatures, and thinking we can understand without verifying is sabotage.

The Hero Role

In Karpman’s original examples he states that the rescuer role uses the line, “Let me help you.” However, he goes on to talk about how it can backfire. This role may remind you of the “I’m the Main Character” trope in modern memery [coining a new phrase here] – even the mental health industry references it.

When you label yourself as the hero in your story, then you run the risk of unfairly naming a villain so that you can:

• feel good about yourself
• always be considered “right”
• assume others are incapable
• receive most of the credit

If you label someone else as the hero in your story you avoid the responsibility of taking ownership yourself. You’ll wait for someone else to swoop in to save the day, but perhaps that day will never come. This is not good either.

The Villain Role

“It’s all your fault,” is the line that Karpman attributes to the persecutor role. Words associated with this might be controlling, critical, rigid, or even angry.

When someone fills this role in your mental story, they tend to be an authoritative individual, deemed superior in position but not necessarily intellect. This is a role that most people don’t assign themselves. If you are creating this role for someone else, it would be to:

• attack someone else
• avoid taking any blame yourself
• gain favor with peers and subordinates
• express pessimism (a safe way to always be right)

It is helpful to understand that the person you label a villain probably thinks of themselves as a hero or a victim. If they have a different goal or viewpoint, perhaps you are aiming at different targets. You can try to find a mutual North Star Goal.

The Victim Role

Karpman portrayed the victim role as saying, “Poor me!” Often viewed as helpless, avoiding risk, and incapable of affecting change (usually with multiple lackluster attempts). The victim will call out a specific villain and is likely waiting for a hero to arrive.

Most people don’t attribute this role to themselves. It’s not a desirable role and it’s a tough pill to swallow when you realize you are living in it. You might notice it in other lies we tell ourselves like the “us versus them” storyline. Here are some phrases you may hear from someone playing the victim:

• They would never agree to it.
• I’ve tried and tried, but it doesn’t work here.
• That is above my pay grade.
• Someone else is responsible for taking care of that.

Assigning this role to others can show a lack of confidence in them, even to the point of disdain toward them. You recognize a lack of intentionality with them. You don’t consider yourself part of that crowd, but you also aren’t willing to step up to be their savior.

Redemption Through Truth and Transparency

If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll notice that none of these roles are good ones. A hero is egotistical and searching for praise. The villain is likely fabricated or misunderstood. Victims are weak and disorganized.

Are you any of those? Not likely. There are probably times when you fill one of the roles for a season, but no one should be pigeonholed to a role. Most of us experience situational uncertainty. We have good days. We have bad days. And that’s the truth. Our actions vary based on the circumstances. We’re all imperfect. We’re all emotional beings.

These comfortable stories fill in the gaps in our understanding and our imaginations go off the rails. It’s the easy way out, but it is unhelpful.

An unending search for transparency is the only solution. You should regularly step back and reflect, spotting when your mind is running wild with a hero-villain-victim story – but recognition is not enough. You’ll still need to push yourself (and others) to have the tough conversation required to align with others. It takes time to ask questions, consider the responses, and properly debate toward consensus.

Start with Optimism

What’s called out in this article are three very pessimistic views of relationships. There is little good to be found by labeling people in your life as described in this model. But Stephen Karpman created it because we do it time and time again!

In my experience, most people (not all) view themselves as inherently “good.” Most people hope for win-win scenarios. There are times when we happily label ourselves as difficult or mean. Sure. But this normally happens after these stories have run their course in our mind and we feel like our actions are a response to someone else being terrible. We just spiral downhill.

Don’t sabotage your team with these stories. My personal principle is that, until proven otherwise, we should start with believing each person wants others to succeed. Don’t assume you know why someone has said something, instead ask them specifically so they can explain it. Start with trust. Push for transparency.

Mirroring is a Simple Method to Use

The book, “Never Split the Difference” by Chris Voss and Tahl Raz, suggests that mirroring people’s words is an easy way to get them to elaborate.

I love this approach! It aligns with my belief that we should be optimistic about someone’s intent and then verify that we understand. Best of all, mirroring is super-easy!

When you are surprised by something said to you, try repeating the words back to the other person. Example:

• Presumed Villain: “I need this by tomorrow, and you haven’t even started on it!”
• You: “You need this by tomorrow?”
• Presumed Villain: “Yes! I’m desperate here!”
• You: “Desperate?”
• Presumed Villain: “Look, it doesn’t have to be perfect, I know this is last minute. What I really need for tomorrow is…”

Can you see how an intense situation is diffused by simple mirroring? The book has other strong suggestions too, I highly recommend reading it.

Conclusion

I hope the Karpman Drama Triangle helps you recognize stories that may be sabotaging you or your team. I’ve shared suggestions on how to fight our natural tendencies by maintaining faith in others and driving for transparency. Give mirroring a try as a quick and easy step toward that goal.

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If you are looking for a hero partner to fight your villainous competition, reach out to your Perficient account manager or use our contact form to begin a conversation.

Agile is a Cliché, a widely used Phrase in today’s Industrial timeline. Evey Organisation, Group, Team wants to be Agile. But is it adopted in the name only???

Agile frameworks hold such promise. From focusing on value driven delivery to empowered investors or stakeholders, it is the time to be part of enthusing Software development.

There are fairy stories about what an Agile team should be like:

• It is a belief that an Agile team should not require a manager.
• The team should be able to forecast all scopes and delivery timelines up ahead.
• The team should always be self-sustaining all the time.
• Focus on the Tasks completion and make very little room for changes.

If you are agreeing to all or some of them, then it is time to change and consider the fact.

Here are some of the signs that backs-up the Agile is in name only but not a mindset

1. Requiring a large Document at the beginning

Being Agile is to choose Incremental Delivery, allowing team to learn adapt for new information and changes. Obtaining an exhaustive requirement document paves the way for traditional waterfall approaches and limits the team’s ability to think through, adapt and innovate

2. Marginalizing the Product Owner

For a consultant like us the Product Owner is the Client or the Client’s SPOC who provides the Product Backlog. Frequent and periodical communication empowers the Product Owner decide on the content and prioritizing the content in a Product Backlog, thereby giving an edge to the team for faster delivery. Remember empowering a Product Owner leads to the success of the team.

3. Micro-Management

Micromanaging the developers is contradictory to one of the principles of Agile; self-Organization, limiting the team’s ability to respond to change effectively.

4. Count of Ticket or Outcomes…Which one?

We often submerge ourselves into completing the listed Tasks than to really look upon the quality of the Outcome and value delivered. Agile success is measured not by the Volume of Tasks handled by the team but by delivering meaningful results.

5. Expecting a Project Plan Instead allowing team to adapt as more is learned

Agile frameworks prioritize adaptability and responsiveness to change. Rigid project plans do not allow for the iterative learning and adjustment that are core to agile practices.

6. Too many columns on your board

Using Tools such as Jira, Trello, YouTrack etc. are important to keep a track, however over-emphasizing on the usage and adding too many columns will only cause chaos and sometimes derail from actual collaboration and continuous improvement.

7. Lack of Continuous improvement

Agile team should constantly strive to reflect on their processes and seek ways to improve. The Agile process stagnates if there are no room for continuous improvement. It is necessary to create a feedback loop for continuous improvement through Sprint reviews. Agile methodologies promote frequent collaboration with all stakeholders to ensure the product meets the demand, undermining the same indicates shallow adoption of it.

Agile is all about finding what is the best for team for perform effectively.

For Example: A Team is forced to use the user story format to capture and document technical details in the Product Backlog when it doesn’t really make sense and perhaps extra efforts and Time spent. This is the sign the team is forced to use complementary practices when it is not needed.

Treating Agile as just a set of Practice rather than a mindset and change focused on flexibility, collaboration and continuous improvement misses the essence of being Agile.

Remember, Agile Transformation is a journey which cannot be obtained overnight. But as the wise say, every positive steps adds to the glory. Change takes time, and sometimes, a series of small improvements will get you there faster than trying to change everything at once.

Happy Agile

Do you ever wish you had more time to focus on strategic thinking, to wrap your arms around a long-term vision, instead of spending your days drowning in administrative tasks? Digging deep into your idea factory takes time and energy, and a never-ending cycle of burn reports, meetings, and timecard approvals can drain both – pushing innovation to the back burner. Recently, I watched a colleague receive glowing praise from a client for his track record of providing stellar strategic insights. This made me reflect on how often I get too busy with the nitty-gritty to focus on the bigger picture that clients value most. If you can relate, keep reading for 3 smart ways to reclaim your time, ditch the admin chaos, and get back to thinking big!

1. Recognizing The Problem

Recognizing the need for strategic thinking is the key to breaking free from the daily grind; as they say, the first step is admitting there is a problem! Lacking strategic thinking means failing to proactively identify risks and address root causes, leading to a cycle that can feel like a real-life Groundhog Day. If you find yourself constantly putting out fires or focusing only on immediate deadlines, it’s a clear sign you’re stuck in reactive mode! Inconsistent project outcomes, overwhelming task lists, and the absence of a clear roadmap are also red flags that you may have lost sight of your clients’ ultimate goals. By identifying these signs, you can acknowledge the need for change and begin shifting your focus from merely surviving each day to driving long-term success and value for your clients. 

2. Mastering Prioritization

To reclaim time for strategic thinking, mastering prioritization is essential. Patrick Lencioni (author of The Advantage) wisely noted, “If everything is important, then nothing is.” Start by prioritizing tasks using Eisenhower’s Principle, which categorizes your to-do list based on urgency and importance, ensuring you “reduce the unnecessary” and focus on what truly matters first. 

Where possible, leverage project management software to streamline admin work, and delegate the less critical tasks to your capable teams. (An additional benefit of delegation is that it empowers your team to make decisions and grow themselves as well.) If you’re anything like me, delegation can be HARD! But part of being a leader is learning to trust your teams; if you feel that you can’t for some reason, then your most urgent task should be whatever coaching is needed to get them to that place. Being able to delegate is a crucial part of freeing up more of your brainpower for big-picture planning. 

Next up? Carve out specific time blocks for strategic thinking – and guard this time like it’s the last cookie in the break room! Habits are built through repetition, so schedule these blocks on a recurring basis; preferably daily, but certainly at least once a week. Decline any meetings during this time and shut down Outlook / Teams! Whether you prefer to sit in silence or need music to boost your creativity, use this time to let go of the chaos and prioritize bold innovation.

3. Learning Continuously

Finally, cultivating a strategic mindset goes beyond just managing your time in the day-to-day – it also requires continuous learning and fostering a culture of innovation across your teams. It involves a complete mind reset and refocus, especially if you’ve spent months or even years stuck in reactive mode. Be your own champion! Invest in your professional development by attending industry conferences, taking relevant courses, and keeping up with the latest trends. Regular self-assessment and seeking feedback from client stakeholders can provide valuable insights into how well you’re aligning with their strategic goals, a key measure of success. 

Encourage your teams to think creatively and challenge the status quo; consider creating regular opportunities for virtual “coffee chats” or idea-sharing meetings. Conduct regular retrospectives so you can reflect on your most recent wins and challenges, and identify improvements for future sprints. By embedding strategic thinking into your daily routine, you’ll drive long-term success and inspire your team to do the same. You may even see a boost in team morale and cohesion, as everyone works together towards common long-term goals.

Balancing daily project administrative tasks with strategic thinking is no easy feat, but it’s essential for delivering real value to your clients. By recognizing the signs of a lack of strategic focus, implementing effective prioritization techniques, and fostering a culture of continuous learning, we can reclaim our time and energy for big-picture planning. Remember, it’s not just about getting through the daily grind and escaping the Groundhog Day cycle – it’s about steering our projects towards sustained achievement and wowing our clients with forward-thinking solutions. You’ve got this!

Quality innovation is not for the weak at heart! Innovation myths may have you thinking it is for the lucky or the extremely talented – that’s not true. Pablo Picasso said, “Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.” Thomas Edison quipped, “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”

In this blog post, I want to focus on a different quote with the same intent. Linus Pauling was an American scientist who was awarded a Nobel Prize not just once, but twice! You might not recognize his name, but New Scientist called him one of the 20 greatest scientists of all time. He once shared, “The best way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas and throw the bad ones away.” Pauling’s career overlapped those of Picasso and Edison and included the same concept that working hard generates quality innovation.

Let me walk you through how steady effort (work) creates a lot of possibilities (quantity) and then how you can churn out great ideas (quality innovation) through your idea factory (innovation system).

Working for Innovation Quantity

In my experience, the level of innovation correlates to the effort put in. There’s a reason for this. Lots of people (your competitors) are willing to put in a little bit of work. Far fewer are willing to put in significant work – most people won’t.

Furthermore, what I’ve found to be true is that your first ideas are seldom the ground-breaking ones. Your first ideas are the easy connections. The first-round ideas are often the same solutions everyone else can easily produce. Your goal is to connect the dots that others have not.

Significant innovative solutions come from stress testing the ideas and iterating. Not once. Not twice. But continually. Have a hundred ideas and throw away the bad ones. Things aren’t going to be perfect anyway. Take the best ideas and try to poke holes in them until you can evolve them to be strong.

When Quantity Goes Wrong

I wrote another blog post on lessons learned while managing corporate innovation. Lessons #1 and #2 explain what can go wrong when you have a large quantity of ideas being generated by a team. Either people toss out ideas they don’t intend to pursue themselves (they just want credit), or others won’t search if someone else has already shared the same or similar idea (redundancy).

You don’t want the quantity of ideas to become another barrier. You’ll be swimming in a sea of half-baked ideas with no connection between related concepts. You’ll drown. It needs to be managed in order to be successful.

In this blog post, I won’t focus on the management of team innovation – that’s what my lessons learned post was about – so instead, I’ll discuss what Linus Pauling was referring to when he said you should have lots of ideas.

Your Idea Factory

The benefit of having lots of ideas yourself, rather than as a team, is that your train of thought inherently has some relation from one concept to the next. One idea begets the next, and then you can mix-and-match and quickly iterate without considering outside opinions.

This form of “lots of ideas” is fantastic because you can move fast and throw away bad ideas without worrying about what others will think of the concept. You can have really bad ideas that are simply not feasible, but then those unrealistic thoughts can spur others that will work.

Free yourself to experiment. Suspend reality without fear of failure. You’ll surprise yourself with the ideas you generate! Have a bunch of these ideas, then throw away the bad ones. It takes work but you can then find the signal among the noise.

Quality Innovation

The quality of an innovative idea is measured against what else is out there (competition). The quality is perceived differently when it first comes out versus years later when your competition has emulated or evolved in response. It isn’t just an initial effort, but an ongoing one.

There are stories from Apple, Google, Facebook, Tesla, and many more about their crunch times, trying to separate themselves from the competition. Even Thomas Edison talked about working through thousands of iterations to land on one good one.

And for good reason…consider the story of Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Gray racing to the patent office, only for Bell to file mere hours earlier, locking his place in history as the inventor of the telephone. Quality innovation is valuable, there is urgency, and you want to iterate through ideas as quickly as possible.

Conclusion

Quality innovation is a rarity, but it is attainable for anyone. If you view it like winning the lottery, then you can appreciate how buying more tickets (generating more ideas) gives you an advantage in finding the one that wins.

So, give it a try! If you feel blocked, I have suggestions on getting unstuck. They say that practice makes perfect, so hop in and practice generating ideas!

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If you are looking for a quality innovation partner, reach out to your Perficient account manager or use our contact form to begin a conversation.

We’ve all heard of servant leadership. The concept of “being a servant” to your teams and treating employees as critical individuals to be cultivated and empowered, has strong merit. However, many organizations fall short, with those at the top of the hierarchy viewing employees as interchangeable cogs in the corporate machine.

Instead of diving deep into the theories, practices, and benefits of servant leadership, I will focus on a specific, related principle or mind-set: being unobtrusive. This can help managers support their teams, clear the path, and improve productivity by stepping out of the way as much as possible. Then I’ll provide five obtrusive blockers to avoid as a servant leader or manager.

Being Unobtrusive as a Servant Leader

The principle at play here is that managers, leaders, and business owners realize the importance of individual contributors’ time. The leader’s position can help reduce unnecessary load and help the employee focus on top priority business objectives.

Deloitte reported in 2017 that payroll accounts for 50-60% of Fortune 500 spending. With that, it seems obvious to realize that leaders should help maximize the time of their employees. The opposite side of that suggests that you should remove as much redundancy and unnecessary cognitive load on them as you can.

Reduction of obtrusiveness can be in all areas: technically, procedurally, managerially, and even within the set expectations for the individual. It applies everywhere.

Falling in Love with the Concept of Unobtrusiveness

In the early 2000s, while studying design and web development, I learned to love unobtrusive practices. “Unobtrusive JavaScript” meant separating interactive code from static HTML, avoiding cluttered event attributes like “onclick” and “onmouseover” throughout the code. With dynamic, data-driven sites, we also had query string variables which made URLs longer and less readable. Now, some sites are using URL rewriting practices for “pretty URLs” that are cleaner and unobtrusive to us humans who use and share them.

As I then transitioned into manager and director roles focused on digital sales and marketing, I became further convinced of the power of being unobtrusive. Tracking conversion rates for sales and marketing initiatives showed a clear incentive. Our team used data to convince clients to step away from ego-centric approaches of what the company wanted, and instead help them realize that some of that was unimportant and prevented prospects from becoming paying customers. The customers had their goals, and they just want everything else to get out of their way.

In all cases, the customer just wants their experience to be unobtrusive. Everyone prefers unobtrusive! For the love of all that is holy, don’t make them read their account number after already typing it into the phone system!

Five Obtrusive Blockers

There are several types of things that leaders often impose on teams that can kill the productivity of the team. As a servant leader and good steward of the time being used by your team, it is best to avoid these types of mental drains.

1. Micromanagement – When I interview potential candidates, I ask them what the main thing is that they want to avoid in a new role. Across the board, people always say they don’t want to be micromanaged. It’s obtrusive. For managers that feel it is necessary, you are likely avoiding a tough conversation that needs to be had.
2. Lack of Clear Goals – Not giving your team clear goals is a sure-fire way to cause rework. It is demoralizing to them if they try to address what they think you want, only to be told that they got it wrong. Don’t put it on them to read your mind, instead consider a strong North Star Goal.
3. Poor Communication – You’ve seen it before. You ask three questions in an email and the reply back answers only one. Don’t do that to your team. I tend to over-communicate. I once offended a business partner because they felt like I shouldn’t have to explain everything in detail to them. For me, I view it as removing ambiguity and adding detail for posterity. If one of my emails is forwarded to someone who isn’t familiar with the topic, it should be clear to them too.
4. Inflexible Policies – HR departments do their best to provide meaningful policies that protect the employees as well as the company. It’s a tough thing to get right. As a manager, you probably have some “policies” of your own. Just be aware that countless hours can be spent by the employee at home and at work fretting about their interpretation of the policy and how it affects their unique situation. All that time and cognitive load is wasted before they even mention their concern to you.
5. Menial Tasks – “Busy work” is rampant in businesses. Not just assigned busy work, but the little menial tasks you assign your team members that you might not even realize. Have you ever sent someone a list of dates and times and failed to convert them to the recipient’s time zone? Or maybe a list of tickets logged in your work management system, but you gave them ticket numbers without linking to the ticket detail page? You are micro-assigning obtrusive tasks to others.

The Benefits of Being an Unobtrusive Manager

I know… You’ve read this article and are thinking, “Great idea, but I don’t have time to do anything more than I already do.” Yes, being unobtrusive to others means you have to take on that effort yourself. Just like in our digital projects, making something “easy” for the user takes a whole hell of a lot of effort for the rest of us. We don’t attain excellence by taking the shortest path.

This is an exercise in empathy and understanding. If you want to clear the path for your team, then you must make the effort yourself. The good news is that there is direct benefit in doing so.

Your goal is to complete projects on time, within budget, and (hopefully) exceeding expectations. You have a team with varying levels of expertise, different personalities, and certainly some who are more diligent than others. By taking a little more time yourself, as a servant leader, you can collectively save the rest of the team an untold amount of cognitive load. This can keep others focused on the important work they are assigned and even prevent errors before they happen.

Conclusion

Being a servant leader is a wonderful thing to strive for. No doubt you want to help others be their best, and to make a difference within your organization. As part of that journey, I encourage you to try to watch out for those obtrusive blockers that can slow your team down. Some are large, some are very small, but the goal is to get things out of the way of the team so they can avoid stumbling and simply do great work!

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If you are looking for a partner who can help remove obstructions for your team, reach out to your Perficient account manager or use our contact form to begin a conversation.