People sometimes always encounter sad bottleneck, as if unable to break through as troubled you, mental level under great pressure, poor appetite, lack of sleep, trance. Looking back on my experience as a project manager many years ago, I still remember it vividly. At that time, without the support of my direct leader (Lao Liao for short here) and my project brothers, IT would be impossible for me to lead a good team and grow up. That was the most stressful job I’ve ever had in my career in more than a decade.

Pictured above from unsplash

Today, the reduction of the experience at that time, appeared to say, but also to see the article you set a negative textbook.

Let’s briefly explain the background of the project at that time:

  • The team was formed AD hoc, with members who didn’t know each other before

  • The team members were quite new to the new technical solution

  • Personal team management experience is almost blank

  • Lack of agile project experience

  • The online time is urgent

Before I took over the whole project, I only had some knowledge of project management. At most, I had led two or three brothers to work. It was the first time for a team leader to take charge of the project.

There are about 15 people in the team, with Me and Bin as the AB corner of project management. Most of the team members are drawn from other project teams. We are not familiar with each other, so we can only fit in during the project process, which is not a big problem. As it turned out, the brothers got along very well together, and the staff remained relatively stable until the end of the project.

The technical solution is provided by Party A. When I took it over for the first time, everyone was blindsided and had no experience at all. Moreover, the team members had little work experience (about three or four years on average), so it was a little difficult to learn.

Back to management ability of the individual, is really lacking a lot, because of the traditional project management, do more extensive, recommended by party a using the Scrum agile way to carry out the project, more fine, time granularity is fine to hours, because the old ratio is also less embrace agile, is traditional + agile projects implemented, both, So we don’t adapt when we do it.

Because it is a bank project, the security requirements are relatively strict, and there is no network in the working environment, which is quite bad for most people who “face network programming”. When there is a problem, they can only rely on interpersonal communication and mobile phone search to solve it, which creates a kind of pressure virtually.

All these add up, and then set a big frame of time node planning, the team sense of urgency arises suddenly, the right time, geographical location, and people are not occupied, I have no bottom in my heart, external expression is more severe to the team members, I hope to see the effect as soon as possible.

If the technology is not skilled, the work will be delayed, the plan can not reach the standard, and when the node is reached, the pressure will reach the extreme: Mind is almost all day at work, before you go to sleep, after wake up, sometimes in a dream has a preoccupation with work, mental pressure big some overwhelming, continue for more than half a month, every day is such, although I also want to adhere to adhere to the fight, but finally I still find the old ratio, willing to quit, who love who do do is I can do.

The helplessness that I felt at the time urged me to wrap things up and get back to development (it was a lot easier to go back to development and just be responsible for features).

There are several reasons for my decision:

1. The contract has been agreed in advance, and the task plan has been confirmed. No progress has been made for more than half a month.

The old man was also very crisp:

1. The list of management personnel of each project team has been reported to Party A, and it is impossible to withdraw it for change, which will affect the image of the company.

After a communication, I was pointed out that there were serious problems: all the problems were on my own and I didn’t look for help outside. That’s a good point. I’m stuck in a dead end and I can’t get out of it, I can’t connect with people, I can’t look for outside forces, and that’s not how management works.

(A few months later, SELF-reflection: I didn’t learn to achieve my goals with external forces, didn’t take the initiative to communicate with others to relieve inner pressure, and didn’t deeply integrate with the team to convey my goals to the team.)

The knot seems to open, I do not have to accept the reality: no matter how difficult to insist on, no one for their own stem. A few days later, I seemed to feel more relaxed, and Lao Began to help me lead the team, making plans, arranging personnel, training and learning, and tracking progress. As the team gets better, it starts to produce tangible results, and the sense of pressure fades, but it never lets up.

Behind and members into high frequency communication, understand each person’s disposition, occasionally dabbled in team building activities (project team internal and external), increase the emotional communication, project teams to help each other, better emotional bank account is established, work up easily, will the team together positions, goals, efforts to advance. (Although some people later said THAT I pushed them too hard, I guess I still feel unsure and dare not relax)

After the completion of the project, the team started two or three new projects in succession, and they no longer felt awkward, helpless and at a loss when working together. Technology, or management, is just a tool to help people better communicate with the world.

People need to grow up with the help of nobles, the old is nobles, although not together for many years, or more grateful for the “oppression”, also have my calm today. Some problems have not been solved, the next time around you, can not escape. People do not force themselves once, some potential is untapped, and do not doubt people’s ability to adapt to the environment.

-End-

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