Project Manager and O3

I'm not sure I caught that - you want to have a regular O3 with your peer (the manager of your temporary reports?). That's not an O3. A weekly lunch wouldn't be a bad idea or even a standing meeting, but isn't an O3.

Have O3s with the people working on your project for 50% or more of their time. They are yours during that time. When someone rolls on, make the O3 scheduling part of the roll on process. When someone rolls off, make an O3 part of the roll off procedure and use it to make sure everything the person had open is closed up.

I'd like to say that you should use the O3s to write a mini review for a person as they roll off and deliver it to them and their manager, but I don't do them myself (bad self!) :D

Brian

Your VPPD is giving you good advice. Why is the email so important? Why does this "not sit well" with you?

You can start them by having a short conversation with each of them (or talking about it in a staff meeting). Say "I would like to meet with each of you one on one to discuss how things are going. No big deal, just want to make sure we're in synch." Then schedule them. One off first, then recurring.

You don't need to "bounce some ideas" and then "get some sort of actionable plan going." You just need to do it.

John Hack

No one's recommending deceit. In your short conversation you tell them that want to meet to discuss how things are going. You can explain in the first O3 more about why you want to do this (although you don't need to). My experience is that directs are happy to meet and talk with their boss.

You want to know how they're doing so that you and they are more effective. It's simple, really. That's the expectation setting. Yes, folks will wonder if there is a hidden agenda. Your job is to be consistent and to use the meetings to help them. Over time, the suspicion will dwindle.

John

That's a little strong, Christina. And a bit of a value judgment you're making. Let's back up a bit.

O3's as presented in M-T sort of presume a formal manager-to-direct relationship. They talk a bit on the podcasts, and we post quite a bit in the forums about how to modify them for other types of relationships: with peers, in matrices, is distributed organizations, etc.

Even though you modified the email, your boss may have sensed from your presentation to him that this is still a little bit of a formal manager-to-direct tool, and he doesn't want to create any misimpressions about roles.

Your boss said it was OK to do O3's. Yay! If you've spent much time on these forums you've seen how many people get shut down by their bosses when they propose O3's. You've already got a leg up on them.

Your boss doesn't want you to send out an email to announce them. Rather, he just wants you to start doing the O3's.

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER:
So he doesn't have a problem with O3's, just doesn't want them announced by email. Have you considered why he might think this way? From his perspective as VPPD might there be some very acceptable reasons for not sending out a general email? Or maybe from his personal style there are reasons (maybe he's a high "D") that he just wants you to get on with it?

OPINION, BASED ON MY EXPERIENCE:
Project management is classic "matrix management" whether you work in a matrixed organization or not. And effective project managers learn how to manage people without role power and without depending too much on traditional hierarchies.

YOUR CHALLENGE:
Your challenge is to explain the benefits of O3's to people who don't report to you, and to do it on the basis of persuasion, rather than hierarchical power. It's a GREAT test of your skills as a project manager, and if I were your VPPD, I'd be watching to see how successful you are at working with people, and not just deadlines.

-Hugh