Overblown or Underrated

Overblown: The Champ, hugely popular, the one to beat. Think: Patriots, Yankees, Lakers, Tiger Woods.

Underrated: The Challenger, endearing, in pursuit. Think: Chargers, Cubs, Nuggets, Phil Mickelson.

How do these roles apply to you in the workplace? Do you want to be the Champ? Challenger? What happens when you are Overblown? Underrated?

Perhaps another way to look at it: Is it better to have to deliver a peak performance at all times or consistantly exceed expectations? Would your co workers admire you if you were a Champ? Or would they resent you? How about your boss?

Think about the loyalty of your fan base if you are a Champ vs. a Challenger. As a company, how do you best build loyal customers? Think about the competition. A Champ begs to be challenged. Is this good for business or not?

Each company and each person decides if they will be the Champ or the Challenger. Both have a place. The key is understanding which is your place and behave accordingly. No one likes a false Champ.

Fronts and Behinds aka Junk and Trunk

The way I see it, as is with everything, you can manage the front end and you can manage the back end. Front ends are usually more attractive then back ends - although back ends are essential and can be elegant as well...hmmmm.

...as it relates to the Project Management of money, front end management means budgeting your time and managing your team's productivity to meet or exceed those budget and schedule expectations. This translates into both profitability and predictable cash flow - the two most critical metrics of the good project management of money.

Back end management means adjusting your costs to preserve profitability and moving or delaying the application of costs to smooth out cash flow dilemmas.

Clearly, managing the front end is preferable, but there are certainly times where managing via the back end is essential to the health of the organization. After all, it takes all kinds to make the world go around.

The problem with front end management is that it requires effort to set up a system that will provide reliable and meaningful information to the team, as well as a leader who is capable of taking that information and successfully augmenting the team's future efforts.

The problem with back end management is that by definition it is after-the-fact. The costs have hit and the team is forced to react to the associated profitablity and cash flow problems.

The key is to be able to go both ways. Efforts should be focused on the front in order to produce the most positive impact, but don't neglect service to the back, or you could raise quite a stink.