UF Postings Past: Sweat the Small Stuff
May 18, 2008 – 9:03 amIn project management, it is often the commonplace that trips us up. Why is this?
People overlook easy things when faced with challenges. Some do it because they fear the difficult task, and thus their focus is on it and not the simple tasks before them. Some relish the challenge of the difficult. Those folks will overlook the simple stuff just the same.
Tough and difficult tasks in your projects will usually be done well- at least, to the best that your staff is capable of. They will bring their ‘A’ game, think, and pay attention. The tough tasks will draw attention and praise if done well. You don’t have to sweat these things- if your staff can do them, they will. Just put the right people on it and give it the right amount of attention.
The small things, on the other hand, can kill you. People assigned to the tough jobs will often slop their way through the easy tasks to get them out of the way. They’ll guess wildly at estimates, do the work too quickly, forget basic details and costs. Don’t let this happen to you. Sweat these details. Get the small work doublechecked, including the estimates. If possible, keep as much of the small work away from the people doing the heavy lifting on your project- not to help them do the hard work better, but to insure that the small work it done well.
Remember, a car will fail faster if you forget to tighten the lug nuts as it will if you don’t get the compression ratio of the engine just right. Always sweat the little things.
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