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All the managements


State capacity

Ask how and when the team utilizes different types of expertise.

  • Bad: Teams are not able to be staffed, are only staffed with one skill set/perspective (ex. only a PM), and/or do not include program expertise.
  • Meh: Teams are staffed with project and program expertise, able to pull in other experts when needed.
  • Good: Teams are staffed with project, program, technical, and other expertise.

What's this about?

A successful software project will have many people involved and those people will generally play different roles. In this lesson, we explore the kinds of management we might see in a long-running software project and how people in those roles can contribute (or take away from) the success of a project.

Lesson outline

Software projects are complex, creative projects that involve the orchestration of complex systems of hardware and software. This module highlights the kinds of skills and capacities states should have for managing these projects. This will help you, as an SO, better support and evaluate the projects you are responsible for.

Reflection: Products vs. projects (15m, pair)

Timer: (15m timer)Before you dive into the learning material for this module, grab a friend. Your challenge is to think about all of the work that goes into managing large, long-lived products/projects.

After checking in and saying hello, start a shared document (if you have access to something like Google Docs that allows for collaborative editing) and start making notes about all of the things you believe are involved in managing a large (software) project. If you don’t have shared editing tools, one of you can take responsibility for taking notes, and sharing them after the conversation. Remember: even if you feel you don’t have expertise in managing software projects, at the end of the day, they’re just projects. So do your best to generate a rich list of the management tasks that are likely involved in running such projects.

If finding time to work with a colleague is difficult, take 15 minutes to do this on your own and try to compare notes with a colleague when you’re done. The goal is to do some pre-thinking before we dive into the learning, so that you’re primed and ready for learning about product ownership/management and project management.

Program management

Watch: Product ownership (45m, solo)

In the previous activity, we blended project and product together. Now it’s time to start pulling those apart.

Let’s start with product ownership, or product management. The first video we’ll watch, What do product managers do? (Atlassian, 5m28s), is short, and provides a high-level overview of a product manager’s role.

The second video is a bit more in depth and is essentially a story. In this video, Agile Product Ownership in a Nutshell (Henrik Kniberg, 15m51s), we are walked through the life of a well run, agile product being developed by a vendor (and delivered to a state).

As you watch these two videos, take notes. In particular, think about what kinds of activities a product manager at a vendor might be engaging in, and how you, as a state officer, could gain insight into the work they are doing. What kinds of questions might you be asking your state? If you can talk to the product manager at the vendor as part of your oversight, what kinds of questions would you want to ask to assess overall health? If you can’t or are not talking to a PM at the vendor delivering solutions to the state… should you be?

Reflect: Program management (15m, solo)

Timer: (15m timer)

Before going on, pause. Breathe.

At this point, get out your notebook. You’ve just been introduced to a bunch of ideas about program ownership or program management.

Now think about a project you’ve worked with — it could be your current project or it could be one in the past.

  • Was program management evident?
  • Who was responsible for program management?
  • How effective would you say they were in that role?
  • What do you think was done well with regards to program management?
  • What do you think could have been improved with regards to program management?

These are the kinds of questions you also want to keep in mind when thinking about applying the tracker to the health of projects taking place in your state.

Project management

Read: Project management (10m, solo)

The Project Management Institute is a source for learning and training around the practice of project management. Therefore, it seems like a good place to start if we’re going to ask the question what is project management? The article (Project Management) is short.

Watch: Unpacking the jargon (15m, solo)

As a short list of terms, the PMI article leaves things to be desired. Mike Clayton goes a bit deeper, unpacking 12 terms that you’ll hear thrown around (in conversation, in reports) regarding project management. This video (Top 12 Project Management Jargon Terms Project Managers Use) is basically 12 one-minute videos back-to-back.

To assess project health, you’ll need to be able to keep up with the jargon. Frankly, jargon is a great way to bullshit someone. If I want you to 1) think I know what I’m talking about, but 2) confuse you along the way, I’m going to use jargon and words that I think you don’t know well. If a product manager or project manager wants to mislead you regarding the health of a project or otherwise mislead you as to how things are going, they’re going to hide behind the words of their trade and try and hide the realities of a project’s health in the details.

Watch: A day in the life of a project manager (12m, solo)

PMI tells us what a project manager does (in short) and Mike Clayton gives us some details about the terminology that you’ll hear with regards to project mangagement, but… what is a day in the life of a project manager like?

We chose Kristyn’s video because it is relevant in multiple ways. Recorded at the end of June in 2020, this video speaks to what project management is like for one woman while working from home during a pandemic. This is not an attempt to capture the depth and breadth of life during a pandemic, but it gives us some insight into the reality of what is now going on across the nation as vendors and states adjust to new ways of working.

(Of course, you’ve done the same, so perhaps this is redundant. Even if we think the Covid-19 angle doesn’t speak to us, it’s still the story of one person working in this role, and the kinds of work they do.)

Roleplay: Play the part (45m, group)

To close out this lesson, come together with your learning cohort.

  1. Checkin. (10m timer) How is everyone? Take a moment to go around the group, and offer up something that brought you joy this past week. Start with birthdays in December and work backwards throguh the year.
  2. Prep. (3m timer) Count off so that half of the group is an “Green” group and half the group is “Purple.” The green group should put themselves in the place of their state’s project and imagine themselves as a program manager for that project. The purple group should take this time and imagine they are prepping for a conversation with the program manager to work on assessing project health. Take three minutes to prep for the roleplay.
  3. Breakout I. (5m timer) Break into pairs. The purple group should be playing the role of a state officer talking to the project’s program manager, working to understand the health of the project. The green group should be playing the role of a program manager working on their state’s software.
  4. Debrief I. (15m timer) After 5 minutes, come back to your large group. As a group, discuss the roleplays.
    • For the purple group: What questions were particularly useful? What words/behaviors did you note from the program managers that were encouraging or inspired confidence?
    • For the green group: How did getting into the program manager’s head shape your thinking about the role of the SO? What mindset did you bring to the conversation? Was it collaborative? Evasive? Why?
  5. Repeat. Repeat steps 2, 3, and 4, but switching roles.
  6. Wrap. (5m timer) Take a moment, before leaving, to share what your favorite moments were from the learning activity. Go around the group, and offer one kudo to your roleplay partner—something they did that you thought was particularly wonderful, fun, or insightful.

Regarding roleplays

Roleplays are fun.

They are also a powerful simulation tool. When you roleplay the vendor-side, you're stepping out of your normal headspace and attempting to imagine the system that you are part of from another perspective. In terms of evaluation, this is a critical skill.

When you are roleplaying the State Officer engaging with the vendor, you're developing and practicing questioning skills that are fundamental to your work. But, you're practicing them in a safe environment where, if you make mistakes, you get to step back with colleagues and discuss what might have been a better approach.

The point being: regardless of which role you are in, you're developing a powerful set of skills and habits of mind that are intended to improve your ability to imagine and detect bullshit (Learning Goal #2) as well as improve your confidence in digging into the work of your states and their vendors (Learning Goal #4). And at the risk of being redundant, let's be honest... roleplays are fun. 

:)

Reflection (15-30m, small group)

After the full group activity, meet with your partner or small group to do the following activity.

CMS oversees large, complex projects that involve many people, lots of dollars, over a long period of time. The program and project managers on those projects are critical stakeholders in the process; they have leadership roles in the design and delivery of the software, and they are not without hopes, biases, and faults. As a SO, it is up to you to understand not only the projects they are overseeing, but these people and the roles they inhabit, so that you can better work with them and understand the progress being made on delivering excellent tools to the people.

Take some time to reflect on the roleplay, and the thoughts it inspired regarding your work with your state.

  • What questions might you begin asking going forward?
  • What processes do you think you might want change?
  • What processes are working well?
  • Are there more things you feel you need to learn to tackle this space better?

Those questions are offered as starting points only. You are welcome to take your reflection in whatever direction is best for you.

In the guides

This lesson is the beginning of a journey. If you're interested in learning more, there's material in the 18F Derisking Guide that you'll want to check out.

From the Federal Field Guide:

From the State Software Budgeting Handbook:

Wrapup (5m, solo)

Take a few minutes to share your reflections on this lesson.