Skip to main content
Professional Communities
Project Product Management

"Just Keep Swimming"

“Just Keep Swimming" -Definition

“Just keep swimming” refers to a person in the workplace’s ability to handle stressful situations out of his/her control with empathy, enthusiasm, and motivation. Project/product management is full of simultaneous projects with driving end dates and a constant need to adjust and re-prioritize. Some skills included in this skill-set are:

  • Personal Autonomy
  • Momentum
  • Priorities and Boundaries
  • Time Management
  • Roadblock Management
  • Ability to say “No” or “Not Now”
  • Personal Investment in Organization Vision/Mission
  • Embracing Change
  • Delegation
  • Learning from Perceived Failures

Assistant/Associate: Facilitates getting the work done without coercion, assigning, or dictating the work. Improves productivity of the team in any way possible within sphere of influence. Facilitates discussion, decision making, and conflict resolution. Assists with internal and external communication, improving transparency and radiating information. Raises concerns about organizational misalignment or any other issues. Assists Product/Project Manager with roadblock management, and assists with time management during meetings. Begins to make autonomous decisions as becomes more familiar with responsibilities and project flow. Studies the organization mission and vision, seeking to understand how it applies to role and responsibilities.

Senior Associate: Is driven to set and reach aggressive but realistic team and project goals. Seeks to deliver above-standard work. Seeks and learns new methods to grow themselves and others. Is capable of working without direct supervision in multiple key technology areas. Mentors and instructs others.In Agile methodology, teaches the Product Manager how to most effectively manage the work of the Scrum team using the Product Backlog, Sprint Planning Meeting and the Sprint Review Meeting. Can adequately juggle multiple responsibilities by appropriately training and delegating to others. Regularly conducts postmortem meetings to discuss pain points for future improvement.

Professional: Builds excitement in colleagues and those whom they coach and supervise. Stays motivated to accomplish organizational goals/vision. Works autonomously and provides consistent and valuable direction to others. Can recognize roadblocks before they significantly impact progress and knows appropriate methods for clearing those roadblocks. Is reliable to meet commitments within agreed upon time-frames, and is trusted by customers and team members. Can prioritize and recognizes when more cycles are available and when the team is at its limit. Is fully invested in the organization vision and mission, and actively seeks out ways to personally apply the principles in ongoing work. Is the champion for changes rolled out by organization leaders.

Senior Professional/Principal: Introduces quality changes to workflow. Determines priorities and assigns workload to team members. Recognizes when something proposed is outside of accepted guidelines, products, processes, etc. Actively explores new avenues and innovations to improve workflow and increase productivity. Encourages autonomy in team members, and recognizes signs of burnout. Knows stress and time management techniques and shares them with team members. Is willing and approachable about high level roadblocks that need additional assistance to clear. Keeps the team moving forward, even through stress and failure.

Just keep swimming –How to Develop

University Courses:

  • STDEV 247—Performance Psychology

Training / Other Courses:

  • University HR “5 Choices” course
  • OIT training (found in YTrain in the OIT section): Problem Solving Productivity
  • OIT training (found in YTrain in the OIT section): Collaboration
  • OIT training (found in YTrain in the OIT section): Emotional Intelligence
  • OIT training(found in YTrain in the OIT section): Motivating and Engaging Teams
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2X7c9TUQJ8(Rory Vaden, How to Multiply Your Time)

Professional Associations / Certifications:

Books / Publications:

  • The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers by Ben Horowitz
  • Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek
  • Inspired: How to Create Products Customers Love by Marty Cagan
  • The Innovator’s Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail
  • When: The Scientific Secrets to Perfect Timing by Daniel Pink
  • 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think by Laura Vanderkam
  • Coaching and Mentoring at Work: Developing Effective Practice by Mary Conner and Julia Pokora
  • The New Managers Hypothetical Situation Guide by William Robinson

Experiences:

  • Keep a time journal for a week. Analyze how you spend your time, both work and personal, and identify two areas of improvement. Implement changes that will make your time usage more meaningful and productive.
  • Read three books about time and/or stress management. Identify a few key areas that you want to improve.
  • Learn the mission and vision of the organization, and find ways to personally apply it in your work life.
  • Take part in a 360 degree evaluation to identify critical weaknesses and powerful strengths so you can improve your job performance.
  • Find something about your job that you can automate or delegate but haven’t made the time. Automate or delegate that job function.
  • Make a goal to deal with whatever you touch the first time you touch it for a week. If there is a post-it note on your desk, take care of whatever is written on that post-in note the first time you touch it instead of moving it. Handle the email when you read it instead of leaving it in your inbox. If you read the item on your to-do list, take care of it.

Just Keep Swimming –How to Demonstrate

DO: Describe what you did in completing / achieving your development plan

  • Read three time management books and implement at least one lifestyle change from each book.
  • Automate one job process you have been meaning to automate.

ASSESS:Share, if applicable, any assessments that were taken / provided related to your activities. Indicate whether assessment was part of the experience and to what extent;-

  • What 360 degree assessment did you complete? What did you learn from that assessment?
  • Complete a time journal for one week. What did you learn about yourself in that time?

LEARN:Explain what you felt that you were able to learn during your journey / experiences. Discuss the specifics of the developmental experience, including the specifics regarding the knowledge acquired;

  • Study best practices for stress management
  • Share your successful time and stress management skills with your team members. Let them share with you some things that have worked for them as well. What did you learn in the process?
  • Be fully engaged with your family when you are home. Put your phone down. Leave your computer at work. Disengage from work while you are not at work. How has that helped or hindered your progress, stress, etc.?

APPLY:Give specifics examples where you have / plan to make direct application to your work. Explain how the experience and knowledge gained has helped you (or is expected to help you) in your responsibilities.

  • How have you applied the lessons learned from the 360 degree assessment?
  • What new time management skills have helped you manage your workflow better?

REFLECT:Review / consider things you would have done differently had you had this experience earlier. Describe what went well and what was different than you expected. How your experiences were or were not transformational (eg. how are you a different person because of the experiences you had).

  • How will this experience/learning opportunity change the way you view your time?
  • How can you better support other team members who are teetering at burnout levels? How can you recognize the signs of burnout in yourself and others?