At Agile 2011, I had a great video conversation with Shane Hastie about agile project portfolio management. The chair is big, I’m not so short. The chair is big, I’m not so short. How many times do you think I have to say that to make it true? The chair is big, I’m not so short. That ought to do it.

Yes, in case you couldn’t tell, I am doing a series on project portfolio management, so that you do take a look at my Peer Project Portfolio Coaching. Several people took advantage of the early bird pricing. We’re in the not-quite-early-bird pricing now. And, if you sign up with a buddy, you can still get early bird pricing for the two of you. It’s a steal.

If you are struggling with too much to do, sign up. If you are overwhelmed with your workload, sign up. If you are trying to do it all, sign up. You cannot succeed. You are making yourself crazy.

We will use agile and lean approaches and help you overcome the guilt, the sunk cost syndrome, and the “you’re not playing with the team” nonsense that other people will pull on you. You’ll get the support you need from your peers.

Join us. You won’t be sorry.

I keep seeing people trying to make the transition to agile, still multitasking and not able to say No to all those projects–at all levels of the organization. Partly, it’s because they don’t have the tools, which is why we’re talking about the project portfolio. Partly, it’s because they don’t have the language, which is why we’re talking about how to say No. And, partly, because they have rules about should they even say No. Or, they have guilt about saying No. Or, any number of other reasons.

If you are one of these people who knows you can’t quite do it all, and are not sure how to organize or say No, sign up now and take advantage of the early bird pricing.

If you are a leadership team who has trouble with the sunk-cost problem (“we already spent so much money, surely we’ll see some return soon”), talk to me, and we’ll decide if group coaching is right or if you need your own private coaching.

Please join us.

I said, “Well, you have enough people if you have more time. Do you have more time?” He rolled his eyes, and said, “What do you think?”

“Then, don’t do the project. Management hasn’t committed to the project. Why should you?”

Now, you might feel as if you can’t say no. But if your management hasn’t committed to the project by managing the project portfolio and committing to the project in the form of committing enough full-time people to the project, why should you?

If you feel stuck between a rock (your management), and a hard place (your inability to say no), consider these options:

1. Tell your managers when you can start this project with the full-time people you need.
2. Tell your managers when you can deliver this project. Hint, the end date is much longer than you, your managers, or anyone else can imagine. Much, much, much longer.
3. Convince Influence, negotiate, beg, borrow, steal the people you need for one or two weeks and see what you can do with the people you need. Now, plan the rest of the project based on data.

Do not, under any circumstances, commit to an end date if you feel you must start a project with scarce resources of any kind. Do NOT.

You will have to learn to defensively manage the project portfolio–a difficult, but not impossible task for a project manager. You will have to coach your managers on how to manage the project portfolio. You may even discover your project is part of a program, which might make it easier to manage your project, once you understand the dependencies.

And, listen to my Spot On Projects” interview with Gil Broza on January 24. Sign up using this link, http://www.3pvantage.com/jrothman/opt-in.php?ver=RBL. To be honest, an agile approach, combined with influencing your managers to manage the project portfolio is the only way out of this mess. Do join us.

Keeping projects around that are not staffed, multitasking on several projects (committing to none of them), and running away from reality doesn’t help anyone. The projects don’t finish faster–they finish, if at all, slower. The people don’t have a sense of accomplishment, they feel as if they have a never-ending mountain of work.

Sometimes, transforming a project is as simple as asking “How little can we do and still have a valuable product?” Too often, we fall into “how much” thinking, instead of how little. Sometimes, transforming a project is much bigger.

Whatever you do, don’t blindly commit to projects. I’m in the process of drafting a post about that and will link it here when it’s done.

Have a great New Year’s everyone.

First, understand why your manager can’t hear no.

1. Is it because the business pressures are so great that the cost of saying no seems insurmountable? Managers are people too, and if the cost seems overwhelming, it may be that your manager can’t see how to make small steps that ease the problem.
2. Is it because your manager only thinks you and he/she are working when emergencies exist? If your work is invisible, use the project portfolio to make it visible.
3. Is it because no one else says no? Other people may not know how. You might be the first.
4. Is it because he/she does not believe you? Oh boy.

Once you understand why a manager can’t hear no, you can choose how to act. For the first three reasons, your manager may not know about how to or is not willing to manage the project portfolio. In that case, you can manage your project portfolio.

Gather all your work into your project portfolio. Break your tasks into small chunks, so you can complete something in a morning or an afternoon. If you finish some task, can you get to a wait state on that project, waiting for others to get back to you?

If so, you can repeat, ranking and reranking as you proceed. It’s better to have a one-on-one with your manager and make sure you are working on the most important work. If your manager cannot help you rank, don’t worry. Show your manager that it’s possible to make a decision, make some progress, and then re-evaluate that decision based on more data.

If your manager doesn’t believe you, you may have a different problem. Is it a case of Queen of Denial, or is it something more basic, such as lack of trust? If it’s the schedule game, eventually your manager will encounter reality. If it’s lack of trust, that’s another whole problem and another blog post.

Most managers can’t hear no if they literally cannot imagine how to work themselves out from under the pile of work. Show them.

No is the essence of project portfolio management, no matter who you are. If you don’t say No, your yes’s don’t mean anything.

As Seth says,

Saying no to loud people gives you the resources to say yes to important opportunities.