Last week I watched a very interesting series on Netflix. This show interviews legendary coaches of our generation where they share some of the rules they live by, which have helped them succeed in their lives and careers. Below are these legends:
I found it very interesting, and I could relate to some of my experiences with my career. In some way, a project manager is also like a coach who is responsible for the project’s / team’s success and is dependent on his players (resources) to deliver their best.
So with this analogy in mind, do read the below rules :
Doc Rivers – American professional basketball coach
Rule 1: FINISH THE RACE:
- Have/set a goal for yourself . It might seem unrealistic but as long as you stick to it and FINISH what you started, it will be worthed.
Rule 2: DON’T BE A VICTIM:
- You might fall, you might fail .. always be determined to get up and move on. (In project there are so many dependencies, from other teams , bureaucracy , technical / people challenges ) I always made sure the TEAM knows that “We are not going to be VICTIMS” of these challenges but will push through inspite of these problems.
- You don’t get everything right !! so what – just move on.. Ofcourse you learn and don’t forget , but MOVE ON and don’t be a victim!
Rule 3: UBUNTU IS A WAY OF LIFE:
- A person is a person through other people. I cant be all I can be unless you are all you can be. I can never be threatened by you because you’re good , because the better you are , the better I am . — I can directly apply this to my team.. My team should not be threatened with each other’s presence.. And the best from each member will make the whole team great and the project a success.
Rule 4: PRESSURE IS A PRIVILEGE:
- Do not run from pressure, expectation –> Instead run towards it.
- Very few occasions in life you face a pressure situation.
- You can spend your whole life and not face 1 pressure situation – who wants that kind of life ??
- Feel privileged that you have worked hard enough to put yourself in that situation.
- You should embrace it , enjoy it and understand that its hard ! – That’s the privilige
Rule 5: CHAMPIONS KEEP MOVING FORWARD:
- You will get hit also knockdown in life but the key here is to get up and keep moving forward !!
- Make small progress , but keep moving.. – There are times when we feel that we are not moving forward in our work, learnings and everything seems to be stuck and you feel like quitting. This message made me realize the important thing is to keep moving forward even if it is infinitesimal and things will gradually fall in line.
Jill Ellis: American women’s national soccer team coach
Rule 1: MOUNTAINTOPS ARE SMALL, AND THE AIR IS THIN
- You have to push the envelope, evolve, and get better. – You might have had a great success in 1 project and that does not necessarily guarantee you a success the next time. You have to keep improving .
- Success is never resting on your laurels, and someone is always gunning for your spot.
Rule 2: HOLD FAST, STAY TRUE
- This is a navy seal mantra – in stormy seas, they had to hold on to something that was connected and tied down to the deck, and the person at the wheel had to stay true to the direction even if he did not see the stars.
- As a PM you will be criticized, judged, and commented on your actions but you should always have a sense of “This is what you believe” and hold on to it.
- In life, there are gonna be a lot of storms, distractions, and disturbance and you have to hold fast and stay true to what you believe.
Rule 3: RISK IS OPPORTUNITY
- Don’t define risk as something that is scary.. In my case, all my recognitions, promotions, and achievements have come when I managed to take up a risky project and was able to complete them.
- Had I not taken them at that time, I would have missed out on so many good things that followed.
Rule 4: BE TRUE TO YOURSELF
- To be a leader it’s not always easy and you have to make hard decisions.
- As an IT PM you are constantly looking at the schedule, budget, scope, and taking decisions that are not easy. Be willing to take that tough decisions when the time comes.
- Being true to yourself not just liberates you from the unnecessary pressure but also strengthens you.
Rule 5: IF YOU WANT TO BE HEARD, MAKE A STATEMENT
- Making a statement means work hard so that people find it impossible to ignore your opinion. Let your work speak on your behalf.
- As a leader standup for what you truly believe in.
Jose Maurino : Legendary European Football Coach
Rule 1: UNDERSTAND YOUR AUDIENCE
- Understand the customers, the team, the technology that you are working with / for. It will help you take the right decisions .
Rule 2: IF YOU ARE PREPARED FOR THE WORST, YOUR ARE PREPARED
- Always think of something that can go horribly wrong with your project or team and be prepared for it and if that event does not happen you are good anyway !
Rule 3: THE UNDERDOG ATTACK
- Moments get tough, hold your nerve and wait for the right moment to attack.
- Pick the battles that are worth fighting. As a PM there are so many challenges that are going on simultaneously . You have to take a decision on which battle is worth fighting and which one to concede.
Rule 4: SOME RULES ARE MEANT TO BE BROKEN
- Some situations demand you to break/mend the rules. Take a cautious decision and stick to it.
Rule 5: THE TRAIN DOESN’T STOP TWICE
- I have experienced this rule time and again . Keep looking for opportunities bigger, better or risker. If you don’t grab them when they come, you will miss out on the best experiences you could have .
Rule 6: DON’T COACH THE PLAYER, COACH THE TEAM
- As a PM I don’t teach a Designer on how to do a UX research , a Developer to write logic or the Tester to build his test case. I have to help them work as a team so that the Requirements are delivered to users on time and on schedule with the right quality !!
Patrick Mouratoglou – Famous Tennis coach
Rule 1: YOUR GREATEST WEAKNESS CAN BECOME YOUR GREATEST STRENGTH
- Find out what is your weakness and learn how to turn them into Strength. For me personally , my weakness was not being consistent with my goals (like reading books, working out practicing music etc). I have made it a point that I track them and stay consistent to my goals and I can see how my weakness is turning into my strength.
Rule 2: NEVER BE AFRAID TO GET FIRED
- A good coach can never be afraid to do things, if he is afraid then his team would feel it. Similary as a PM if you are afraid to take a decision fearing consequence, you would not be able to achieve success that you are hoping for.
- Be direct in your feedback, if you are scared of getting fired, you can never be straight.
Rule 3: MISTAKES ARE INEVITABLE BUT DON’T LET THEM DEFINE YOU
- Failures are the best thing that can happen to you if you handle them the right way. In my first Major release as a Project Manager was a disaster. Couple of users had not cleared their cache and the application would show up all weirdly or worse would not open at all. I had series of users (executives ) asking what happend and how can I fix it. Well, I was able to fix most of the things in couple of days but that did not stop me from taking 2 more bigger projects right after it . So the point here is , dont let that mistake get in your head and continue to take bigger risks, ask for more and dont repeat the same mistake twice 🙂
Rule 4: EMOTIONS ARE THE WORST ADVISORS.
- Never send an email when I am angry, sad, or frustrated. — There have been many occassions where I wanted to be harsh on an email because a) the email I received was harsh or accusing b) the ask from the sender was stupid and could impact the project significantly , but the rule I have set to myself is to save the email in my draft folder. If my response is not time critical then I come back to it the next day and relook at it, and almost always I have re drafted the whole thing and mellowed down a lot but with this time adding more thought and data into it!!!
Rule 5: LET THEM KNOW THEY’RE NOT ALONE
- Each and every person in your team should know that they are not alone ! And you as a PM is with them throughout the journey.
- Great players/ team members sometimes have low confidence and self doubts which can spoil their game.
- Be real and talk to them about their fears , challenges and give them the confidence and truly , genuinely believe in them.
Rule 6: A GOOD LIE CAN BECOME THE TRUTH
- If you have to lie to give confidence to your team then go ahead. There is a good chance that will succeed with this its good for them as professionals.
- This lie (which you told for team confidence) can become a reality in near future.
Dawn Staley: American national basketball Coach
Rule 1: BRING YOUR OWN BALL
- Make people respect you not because of your position or your privilege but with your persistence.
- Have the desire in you to make people respect your play.
Rule 2: GROWTH TAKES PLACE OUTSIDE OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE
- After 8+ years of experience in the QA world I was comfortable as a QA Manager managing multiple teams and projects, but I knew that I could do bigger things and take on bigger projects. I stepped out of my comfort zone and took my first project to manage end-to-end delivery. That step was the single most important thing in my career which led me to multiple opportunities.
- Sometimes you have to take steps that make you uncomfortable to understand where you are and where you wanna be.
Rule 3: CREATE A HOME COURT ADVANTAGE
- Create an environment in your community such that people support you and want you to win. It could be reaching out to Higher-ups and leaders, showcasing your work or a casual catch-up with others in your larger team. This will gradually build you a home advantage. Very soon you will have people around you who want you to win .
Rule 4: THE 24 HOUR RULE
- 24 hours after a win or a loss you move on. This is such a great advice, you have 24 hour to bask in your victory or 24 hour to agonize your defeat.
- To be a champion at anything you must learn how to lose and move on.
- My first Delivery as a Project manager , I had this massive go-live and I did send out this huge communication email and beacause of a minor glitch in the system some users were not able to acess the system for few hours. Some “concerned” stakeholders replied to that email communicatio stating system is not working.. There were 100+ receipents with my immediate and extended team in that communication. I did feel extremely bad , infact did not want to get out of the bed the next day. But I was up, worked with the team and in no time fixed the issue. I kept moving ON, and eventually was appreciated for my resilience.
Rule 5: WHAT IS DELAYED IS NOT DENIED – Keep the faith
- The execution, the hard work, and the preparation – You can’t speed it up, you can’t slow it down. But if you are able to be patient, you’re going to be successful.
I hope you enjoyed reading this article, you can check out my other posts below or from this site.