The ngGONG project is a design project. At the end of our three-year PoP (Period of Performance), we will (hopefully) have fully fleshed-out preliminary-level designs and specifications of the observatory and all of its subsystems. These designs won’t be “shovel-ready” but will be sufficiently developed to allow accurate and complete cost estimates and plans for the next steps, including a ~1-year design completion effort and, ultimately, a full-blown, multi-hundred million dollar construction effort.
With a few exceptions, we will do the bulk of this design work internally via a team of expert scientists and engineers. We will also have other personnel working on the project, including an administrative assistant, business support, a technical writer, and drafting help. The bulk of these people will need to be hired, which means job descriptions (JDs) have to be created.
Hiring the right people is the number one secret to project success. Don’t believe me? My long-running (now over one decade-long) survey of project managers bears this truth out. By far, the most commonly cited response to the question “what is the most important thing a project manager can do to ensure project success?” is “hire the right/best/most-competent/most-capable/most-enthusiastic people you can.” Yes, I’m paraphrasing a bit, but over 2500+ survey responses, and over 115 in-depth interviews with high-level project managers bears this truism out; hands down, project managers point to the quality of their team members as the single-most important key to success. (Click here if you’ve not yet taken the survey!)
Writing JDs is the first step in hiring the right people. And over the past few days, this task has risen to number one on my urgent-and-important list. So, how am I tackling this job? Answer: mind maps!
Those of you who know me will recognize that I’m a mind-map guy. Pretty much any big (and often small) job I’ve tackled begins with a mind map. For instance, I have to create two presentations for an upcoming review in November, and before firing up PowerPoint, I’ve begun with outlines created in a mind map. But I digress; let’s talk about how I’m creating job descriptions for ngGONG via mind maps.
The Process:
Open a New Mind Map. Before I work on a JD, I open a new mind map so I have an immediate place to capture all my thoughts and ideas. Sure, I could start with a text file or a word document or spreadsheet, but I know I’ll eventually end up in a mind map, so that’s where I start. I’m on a Mac, so I’m limited to mind-mapping applications that work on that platform. The good news is that one of the best applications is Apple-centric: MindNode. This software has a very clean interface and is simple to use. I’ve used the software for so long that it becomes an extension of my brain when in use. But there are many other similar applications out there that work equally well. Find one that works and then take a little time to learn how to use it.
Think Deliverables. For an engineering position, I like to start with deliverables. I think through the things I want this person to create and/or provide during the project. These all get listed in a giant, unorganized list in the mind map; i.e., my first goal is to simply brain dump and capture my thoughts. For example, I’m currently working on the JD for our Systems Engineer, so I write down things like turning Science Requirements into Subsystem Requirements, creating Optical Error Budgets, producing a Description of our System Architecture, and establishing a list of System Interfaces. For positions like our Admin Assistant, I think of things like managing Travel Plans, creating Meeting Agendas & Notes, and fully organizing and hosting Design Reviews.
Categorize & Organize. The next step is to drag related deliverables around in the mind map into logical categories and groups. Combine, delete, split into sub-elements, etc… This is one benefit of a mind map; you simply drag and drop—and then re-drag and drop until you’re satisfied. For my Systems Engineer JD, I started with over 100 individual thoughts about the position. After organizing the list, I ended up with five primary categories of functions and duties, each with 3-6 sub-elements (see image below).
Seek Input. Lone wolves fail in project management. Talk to your stakeholders and others in your organization and ask their opinions on what you’ve put together. I promise you that you’ve forgotten something important; I always do the first time through. I’ve also started relying more and more on AI to help; I create a snapshot of the mind-map and upload it to my AI of choice, asking it to review and comment on what I’ve produced, and to suggest any missing elements or possible re-organization of what I have. It’s surprising to me just how good these “assistants” have become. You can’t rely on them to just “write me a JD for a Systems Engineer,” but you can/should have them “review my JD and suggest improvements to it.”
Hand-off to HR. In my organization, we have a superb HR person who is fully onboard with my crazy mind mapping methods. She can/will take the file I produce and turn it into HR-approved job description, wrapping all the required legalese and sanitized language around my structured lists, and putting it all into the template that our organization requires. She also reviews/combines my requirements with similar JDs that she already has in her files, bolstering and improving the end product.
Review & Finalize. The last step in the process is to put the JD aside for a day or two, and then come back with fresh eyes to review it. Circle back to deliverables and duties. Imagine a day, a week, and a month in the work life of the person you hire on the project. Think through all the things you would expect them to perform, create, and provide, making tweaks to the JD as required.
Then we move on to finding, interviewing, and hiring the perfect person to match the JD. How hard can that possibly be? It’s only the single-most important ingredient to project success:-)
