5 Minutes Podcast with Ricardo Vargas

This week, Ricardo presents part 2 of 3 about the engineering culture created by Spotify to manage and deliver projects. The Spotify model aims to shape a culture of self-organized, autonomous teams, where independence and alignment combined with a strong focus on people and motivation aim to bring agility at scale with fast decoupled releases and an incredible sense of mutual trust. For more info about the Spotify engineering culture check at https://engineering.atspotify.com/2014/03/27/spotify-engineering-culture-part-1/

This week, Ricardo kicks off a series of 3 episodes about the engineering culture created by Spotify to manage and deliver projects. The Spotify model aims to shape a culture of self-organized, autonomous teams, where independence and alignment combined with a strong focus on people and motivation aim to bring agility at scale with fast decoupled releases and an incredible sense of mutual trust. Part 1 of 3. For more info about the Spotify engineering culture check at https://engineering.atspotify.com/2014/03/27/spotify-engineering-culture-part-1/

In this episode, Ricardo addresses the problem of creating complex management systems to manage complex projects. This kind of mistake is very common. As things become more complex, you add more layers of controls, reporting, etc. That is where bureaucracy is born. This is when your project or initiative goes to the Intensive Care Unit… It becomes crucial to understand that simple and effective management is the best way to respond to complex challenges.

In this episode, Ricardo shows how to use the 7R process to plan and drive change. The 7R’s process was primarily focused on IT initiatives, mainly using ITIL Change Management Process. However, every single change initiative can benefit from it, regardless of area or sector. The 7R’s are (Raiser, Reason, Return, Risk, Responsible, Resources, and Relationships).

In this episode, Ricardo reflects on five aspects that could explain why some intellectually gifted professionals have such a hard time working in teams. He discusses aspects related to confidence, education, ego, EQ, and IQ, among others, and their impact on a “smart” person’s desire and effectiveness to work together.

In this episode, Ricardo discusses the connection between our desire for adaptability, creativity, experimentation and innovation with common human feelings like fear and safety. Providing a psychologically safe environment is becoming a critical success factor in surviving and thriving in the current scenario.

In this episode, Ricardo comments on a recent LinkedIn post comparing “Project Management Thinking” with “Scrum Master Thinking”. The post clearly presents one side as a controller, authoritarian, centralizer, etc. and the other as a team player and an enabler. On a rare reply to posts, Ricardo mentioned that this is not the right comparison. This is a comparison between competent and incompetent professionals. There was an implicit desire to connect the method with a competence profile. Competence and leadership go above and beyond the tool or technique you use. Take a look at several capital projects failing despite utilizing the state of art project management plan. Note that 70% of all Digital transformation fail… Pretty much all of them using Agile methods. If the method were the solution, the COVID-19 crisis would not be a leadership crisis like we see today.

In this episode, Ricardo explains the fundamental difference between the scope you define for the project, the procurement documents you may use to source products and services, and the requirements you identify to set the boundaries of the work you need to do. It is essential to highlight that Ricardo does not restrict these documents to waterfall project management. They are useful for any approach you may use, and they can be presented in extremely different ways with different names.

In this episode, Ricardo reflects on our innovation and creative process. Recently he reviewed some concepts related to the “Blue Ocean Strategy” created by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne from INSEAD, and one aspect raised his interest: nondestructive creation/innovation. This podcast is his reflection on whether it is possible to innovate and create/deliver projects by expanding the market through new products and services and not necessarily by killing old products. The MIT Sloan article Ricardo references can be read at https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/nondisruptive-creation-rethinking-innovation-and-growth/

In this episode, Ricardo discusses the organizational and individual behaviour that shapes the concept of agility: rapid decision making, flat structure, decision close to the execution, adaptation to change. He also discusses the Agile methods or approaches that intends to help organizations embed the concept of agility inside their organizations. However, the problem goes above and beyond a technique. If you do not incorporate the Agile mindset and behaviour in the whole organization, you will only have a speedy process in a very incompetent organization. This is why people are now talking about Business Agility.

In this episode, Ricardo demonstrates his concerns about the blind use of templates everywhere. Despite being a reliable source of inspiration and ideas, the templates can make you think that your management work is just filling forms while, in reality, you should be thinking, deciding and acting.

In this episode, Ricardo reflects on our desire for control and how the lack of control can create all sorts of psychological threats which could culminate in poor results for the project, for the organization and for you. Ricardo also talks about mechanisms of acceptance, reaction, adaptation and learning that you should put in place to be effective and deliver positive results in an environment where you do not have control.

In this episode, Ricardo introduces the Post Mortem Analysis, one of the less used and most relevant collective learning activities that project and program teams can do at the end of their project, program or initiative.

In this episode, Ricardo tries to define what making progress really is. Many times even brilliant people get trapped thinking that movement = action = progress. Movement for the sake of proving you are doing something is pointless, consumes energy and resources and will not take you and your organization anywhere.

In this episode, Ricardo talks about the free ebook he just released. The book was written alongside Vince Molinaro, one of the top names in leadership research. It discusses how leadership became paramount to delivering actual results in these turbulent times. The free ebook can be downloaded at https://rvarg.as/regainingcontrol

In this episode, Ricardo talks about the nightmare of trying to get things done and while managing a lot of works in progress that consume money and effort and do not deliver any value to the organization or project.

This week Ricardo talks about some unimaginable examples of how the current crisis accelerated the business and digital transformation dramatically.

In this episode, Ricardo reflects on how the current disruption may affect employment, as we recognize it today.

In this episode, Ricardo talks about three skills he believes are critical to be successful in these current times.

In this week's episode, Ricardo discusses how you can benefit from planning a potential return to the office during the COVID-19 pandemic. With conditions improving in several countries, and people going back to work, it becomes imperative that we address 3 different fronts in our approach: Leadership, Operational/Tactical, and Business/Liquidity/Sales. Ricardo presents some examples of actions you can implement to have a safer, less turbulent, and more effective return to your projects and initiatives.

In this week’s episode, Ricardo introduces the concept of ROAM Risk (Resolved, Owned, Accepted, Mitigated / Minimized). The process of traversing (ROAMing) risks is a quick way to categorize and act on the relevant risks. This process is widely adopted in agile models such as SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework), mainly during the planning of increments or PI Planning.

In this week's episode, Ricardo talks about being optimistic in a pessimistic work environment. He addresses that one of the leading causes of pessimism is our inability to understand that what we are not able to control much, and this uncertainty is often counterintuitive. This inability to control everything usually generates an ever more distorted and pessimistic view of reality.

In this episode, Ricardo discusses the concept of organizational and personal resilience. In this sense, the rapid recovery capacity becomes a critical factor for companies, governments, and professionals. The issue becomes even more critical when faced with the uncertainty of an unprecedented crisis that we are having with the coronavirus. The infographic referred to this episode is available for download here.

In this episode, Ricardo explains the assessment he developed to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 Outbreak in your project. He shares a 20 statements assessment that helps the evaluation of the potential exposure of your project to the implications of the COVID-19. He also shares actions we should put in place to protect the team and the reduce the damage in the project work. The video and the assessments are under the Creative Commons licence and can be shared and used freely. You can watch the video and download the assessment at http://rvarg.as/covid19

In the second episode of the series, Ricardo discusses the 5-step approach he takes when he needs to decide and act to eliminate a project that is bound to fail.

In this episode, Ricardo discusses four aspects that make the work of deciding and acting to cancel the project a real nightmare. It shows how fear, ego, and inertia play an extremely negative role in decision-making.

When leading transformation projects and massive changes within an organization structure, you need to be mindful about the changes that will happen on the social structure that is entwined with it and that is based on people's personal and cognitive values, not on formal roles.

In the third and final episode of the cognitive bias series, Ricardo discusses two types of opposed behaviours: the Dunning Kruger effect and the Impostor Syndrome. Both are related to the actual competence x competence that we think we have. At Dunning Kruger, we find ourselves more competent than we are. In impostor syndrome, we have a hard time admitting the real competence we have. Both generate a loss of connection with reality that hinders and alters our decision making and perception of reality.

In the second episode of a 3-episode series, Ricardo provides the example of the birthday paradox, a simple probability exercise that demonstrated that the perceived probability of matching birthdays in a group tends to be much lower than what it is in reality.

In the first episode of a 3-episode series, Ricardo discusses the main concepts of cognitive bias and why we often suffer from poor decisions that are made according to irrational criteria, disregarding knowledge and analytical thinking to make decisions.

In this episode, Ricardo explains the ADKAR method, developed by Jeff Hiatt. The model suggests a 5-step process, centered on the human change that, in consequence, becomes able to change organizations and society. ADKAR and the acronym of the stages of Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability and Reinforcement.

In this episode, Ricardo discusses a surprising tradition of one of the most respected educational institutions in the world, the Caltech (Californian Institute of Technology). At Caltech, students usually take their exams home, in a clear demonstration of the level of confidence and responsibility given to students by themselves, their professors, and the institution. Ricardo also makes some reflections about what we can learn from this example to apply to how we conduct and report our work, and to what extent each of us is committed to truth and honesty in assessing deadlines, budgets, risks, and even results of our projects. A point to be reflected by all.

In this episode, Ricardo presents a simple visual tool to explore and understand future scenarios. The Futures Wheel is a form of a mind map that associates causes and consequences of events or decisions, allowing you to evaluate future scenarios from the present and evaluate the best options to take.

In this episode, Ricardo discusses the responsibility of the work project in coordinating the multidisciplinary work of the project. He also discusses the issue related to the role "Project Manager" and in the effectiveness of the title in transforming ideas into results.

In this episode, Ricardo talks about one of the biggest obstacles to any transformation initiative: the fear of change. Fear is one of the fundamental principles of survival itself. However, when fear blocks the ability to progress, it becomes one of the worst enemies of projects and natural evolution.

In the first episode of the year, Ricardo approaches the main trends he sees for 2019. This time he talks about his impressions about exponential technologies such as artificial intelligence, energy, transportation, genetics and their implications on our lives, our work as a manager of projects and in our society.

In this episode, Ricardo addresses the current challenge of planning and executing projects in chaotic environments. He uses some of the concepts presented by Nassim Taleb in the book Antifragile to give you five tips to use in your projects today: developing options, proactivity and paranoia, flexibility, having your skin in the game, and getting energy out of failures.

In this episode, Ricardo discusses the work done by the Brightline Initiative and its partners to address one of the greatest assets for organizational transformation: the people. Ricardo addresses the 4 essential points of the manifesto that raise questions around universal concepts of leadership, collaboration, culture, and interest. To download the manifesto, visit https://www.brightline.org/people-manifesto/

In this episode, Ricardo discusses the characteristics, advantages and disadvantages of more detailed planning versus more generic and agile planning. It also presents the 3 criteria that it usually uses to define how well it generalizes and how detailed it is.

In this episode, Ricardo explains what VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity) is and what its implications for the current environment. He reinforces the concept he posted in a recent article on LinkedIn that most organizations are not structured for this environment, and that's one reason why new organizations born with this perception of volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity end up taking advantage in the innovation, business and project environment.

About a year ago, Ricardo was approached by a young project manager whose appearance did not reveal his age. Physically he seemed much younger than his real age (28 years). A few days later he received an email from this young man talking about the challenges he had for appearing so young. A year later Ricardo decided to record this episode to respond to the email and also to reflect the importance of self-esteem and self-respect in a world that is now dominated by bullying.

In this episode, Ricardo discusses his recently published article on human behavior in the face of change and how safety nets need to be replaced by ropes to allow advancement. He discusses the paradox we live in today where change is the natural condition of organizational survival and, at the same time, one of the things we most fear as individuals. The original article is available at www.linkedin.com/pulse/you-must-g…ns-viana-vargas/

In this episode, Ricardo talks about a concept of psychology that seeks to address professional (and life) challenges by reinforcing the positive aspects of the challenges rather than the negatives: Positive Psychology. Video mentioned: Positive Psychology / Author mentioned: Tal Ben-Shahar

In this episode, Ricardo talks about two additional dimensions in risk assessment, going beyond traditional probability and impact. He gives examples of how the assessment of the urgency and the tendency of a risk can increase the quality of the risk mapping.

In this episode, Ricardo discusses the drama that many project managers feel when the end of the project approaches: the fear of the future and the consequences of unemployment. Unlike in previous episodes where he spoke to the project managers, Ricardo now gives a direct message to executives and sponsors about talent management and how to turn project management into an organizational career.

In this episode, Ricardo shares his impressions on TED2018, an event held in April this year Vancouver, Canada. He talks about what struck him in each talk presented during the four-day event.

In this episode, Ricardo explains a very important concept on product design called Design for X (DfX). Fundamentally, design can be driven by several different objectives and by giving priority to one element (X) we can simplify, improve control and refine the product development process. Largely used in engineering and product development, the term "X" can mean different aspects of the product like Cost, Safety, Disposal, Usability, Manufacturing, among several others.

In this episode, Ricardo returns to talk about the concept of ethics among the project environment and recommends the work of the Project Management Institute (available at www.pmi.org/about/ethics) and the Institute for Global Ethics (www.globalethics.org).

In this episode, Ricardo explains how to read the PMBOK® Guide 6th edition in a more productive way, so you can better understand the project management knowledge areas and their processes. Many people believe that the Guide should be read as a traditional book, from the first to the last chapter, but by listening to this episode you will discover that this is not the best way.

In this episode, Ricardo goes back one more time to the diversity topic. After all the news around sexual harassment and all sorts of people’s discrimination because of race, sex, sexual orientation and religion, Ricardo comes back to explain one more time how diversity contributes to creativity, to unlock new ideas and help the project to succeed. On the top of this discussion, he reinforces that the acceptance of diversity does not mean that you will change your beliefs, but instead, you will see others opinions as a valuable set of insights to develop a better product or service and ultimately, serve better the society.