Four Project Management Keys from Benjamin Franklin : Part of the ColdFusion Project Management (CFPM™) Column

by Mark Phillips, Lead Spokesperson, Vertabase

Benjamin Franklin took on a lot of projects in his life. I have culled four key concepts for effective project management from his autobiography.

1. Deliver: Ideas are great but projects are all about delivery.
2. Do People Favors and Ask For Help: Favors have a psychological affect on people and can build powerful bonds that go beyond the politics of a project.
3. Solve Easy Problems: Great results can come from small easy changes.
4. Manage Bureaucracy: Understand and, if possible, change the rules of your environment. They determine the realm of potential outcomes and even the likely outcomes of your tasks and projects — before you even start planning.

The Concepts

Let's examine those project management concepts a little more:

1. Deliver.

If you don't execute, complete and deliver, you have misdirected your ideas and effort.

Some academic controversy surrounds the accuracy of Benjamin Franklin's portrayal of himself in his autobiography and how nice he may have been in his means of accomplishing projects. But no one can deny the impact he had. He delivered. Again and again.

2. Do people favors and ask for help.

Doing other people favors has clear advantages, which are magnified if you refrain from holding the favor over the other person or overestimating what you did for them. Remember, results are on the outside. What matters is the other person's perception of the favor.

Ask for help. When someone helps you out, this creates a dynamic where people see themselves as friendly to you. Depending on the favor and your reaction to their kindness, they might even see themselves as your protector.

Ben Franklin recounts an incident where he wanted to befriend a politician on the other side of an issue. He learned that he had a book in his library which Ben wanted to read. Ben, a voracious reader and super-considerate book borrower since his youth, saw this as a perfect opportunity. He sent a message to the gentleman asking if he could borrow the book. It had nothing to do with the issue they were debating. It was outside of work, as it were, and personal.

The gentleman felt touched that Ben Franklin overlooked the political issue and asked to borrow a book. He lent it to him. Ben read it and returned it promptly with a note expressing his thoughts and gratitude for the favor. This gave the guy warm fuzzies and kind feelings towards Ben Franklin. The resulting beneficial relationship lasted well beyond the issue of the moment.

3. Solve Easy Problems.

Hone in on the simple part of a problem and concentrate on changing that part. Avoid being distracted by larger "strategic" issues. All things being equal, the more problems you solve, whether in a project or in the organization, the more your reputation and opportunities will grow.

These problems often may fall into the category of administrative, process type problems, or problems with information flow. They are easily overlooked and decidedly not hip. But an improvement in these areas helps the whole team and can make a significant difference. These improvements make an impact on items like workflow, budget, task management, execution or interpersonal relations. These process improvements can themselves become internal projects.

4. Master Bureaucracy.

An innovative and effective administrator, Ben Franklin knew his way around process and bureaucracy. He used it to great advantage. He saw how administrative rules actually molded the potential outcomes of any project or issue and that changing the rules one way or the other could even make one potential outcome more likely then the other.

Understand the environment where you operate. Understand the origins of the rules and constraints on action. Once you do, work towards changes that increase the likelihood of positive, constructive outcomes like inspired team members and deliverables that emerge on time and within budget.

Mark Phillips is the product manager and lead spokesperson at Vertabase project management solutions. Vertabase makes the world's leading ColdFusion based project management software. Mark has been the project manager and creative lead on numerous web-based and rich internet applications. He has presented to ColdFusion and Adobe User Groups in the U.S. and Canada on software design, usability, project and time management. He most recently spoke at CFUnited 2009 on project management. He hosted a Birds of the Feather Session at Adobe MAX 2008 on CFML Language Development.

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