It has been quite a while that i was presenting at a conference. February 2009 at the PMI Congress in Kuala Lumpur. Now this years first presentation is about a chapter in my new book ‘Kompendium fuer ITIL V3 Projekte‘ released as the 2nd edition in January 2010.
Within this book we are talking about a model that we have identified and developed to visualise complexity, put the complexity into context and be able to adapt measures that help you in your day to day life as a project manager.
How ever, I will talk about this Model in a future Blog Post. At this point in time I would like to refer to the video taken and the slides presented. Please see below and feel free to comment on the model and the approach itself.
To do that you need to be capable in understanding German as a language.

And here are the slides:

In projects we often to conclusions, by unconsciously making incorrect inferences based on the facts given. Making implicit information given to explicit facts.

Especially when it comes to Business Analysis and Testing this skill is essential. For these roles you need people that are making the correct inferences without any implicit assumptions that are not explicitly been given.

What I do, during the selection process I give them a little test. The test is called ‘The Uncritical Inference Test’ and was invented by William V. Haney (if I am informed correctly).

This test tries to show how we jump to conclusions, by unconsciously making incorrect inferences
based on the facts given. It will also test the ability to evaluate accurately.

The test follows these steps:

1. You read a story in which you should treat all the information in the story as true and
   accurate.
2. You need to read the statements and work out whether you find them: True, False or unsure.
   True = A definitely True statement about the information given in the story.
   False = A definitely False statement about the information given in the story.
   Unsure =  A statement that could be true or false but based on the information in the story, you
   cannot tell which, for certain. So you are unsure to some degree.
3. Once you have answered a question, please do not go back and change the answer once you see
   later questions.
4. Note: There is no time limit on this test and you may refer back to the story as often as you like.

Here is a sample test (you can find many more on the internet) to get the idea:

Story:

A white van parked in the drive of 70 Higg’s Road has “Ruddenklau Electrical Nelson Ltd” painted on the side of it in large red letters.

Statements

1. The colour of the van parked in the drive of 70 Higg’s Road is white.
2. There are no red letters painted on the side of this van.
3. An electrical appliance has broken down at 70 Higg’s Road
4. The van belongs to Mr Ruddenklau.

This test its pretty simple, but as I said, on the internet you find many more and far more complex story and statement combinations.

In assessment centre for the above mentioned roles, we used this concept a couple of times and it was great to see the difference between the applicants. The ones you found not to bad during the interview failed big time in that test and others that went through the interview quite OK have been outstanding during that test. Of course its no the only criteria you should make your selection on, but its one important item by finding the right people for the job.

What kind of tests or methods do you use to prove the inference capability?

About one and a half years back I managed a project in Australia for Virgin Blue. A vendor selection had to be undertaken and a tender process was kicked off. The objective of that project was to identify the vendor who delivers the best fit for purpose software system to replace the 8 year old legacy system managing most of the operations of that airline.

The project was staffed, executed and delivered its objective and a vendor was chosen at the end. How ever, about 50 people have been involved in that selection process and a team got formed like in any other project. A great team that went through tough times and a great experience overall.

So what I was always thinking in my career, to build a board game after the project got delivered, where all the funny moments, challenges and great achievements are incorporated. Situations like:

• The project manager misses his status meeting again. The stakeholders are upset - Go 2 steps back.
• Your team worked the whole night to meet the milestone - Go 3 steps forward.
  

So I thought about using the ‘Snake and Ladder’ Game and enhanced it with actions cards. Built a theme around it with the companies identity, poshed it up to make it look nice, thought about action cards and the rules of the game and put all this in powerpoint to print it on A3 and as PDF. A process that took me weeks at that time. So her is the result, which you can download by clicking here (PDF) or on the picture (PDF):

Virgin Blue Board Game

I think its a great way to create something that will remembered by every team member. We still play this game today and can’t stop laughing about the situations we went through.

I sent this game via email to my team mates, it got leaked to the press, the intention misinterpreted  and my name was all over the place in Australia. But that’s a different story.

So my final advice: Make sure that the companies culture is ready for it and your bud is not being kicked.