OK, this is a bit off topic, but I’m an Olympics addict.  In fact as I write this, I have the Olympic Games on in the background.  I don’t get much sleep during the two weeks of the Olympics. Watching the games on TV, I often stay up well past mid-night and turn on the HD television as my first task in the morning.  I have satellite TV and can watch two events at the same time on my split screen TV.

I’ve even attended two Olympics, one summer and one winter, and I still kick myself for not staying in China to see these Olympic Games (see my previous post).

In my youth, I had envisioned myself being an Olympic athletic having competed in track and field. I was never great in any one event but good at all of them. I once entered into a decathlon and won. Could I have been the world’s greatest athlete? No.

Over the years, I have competed in a number of sports including tennis, cross-country skiing, and martial arts. I know what it is like to come in first place and what it is like to lose to a judge’s score.

But like any big project, the Olympics have incurred serious scope creep. The first Olympic game was just a single foot race. Later another race was added and then another. Soon discus, javelin, wrestling and even chariot racing was included and the scope creep began.

It is now out of control. Some of the sports are really a stretch and a number of the events are just plain silly. Rhythmic gymnastics? Canoeing? Synchronized swimming? What’s next? Arm wrestling? Horseshoes? Heaven forbid, NASCAR?

It’s time to rein in the scope of the Olympics. So, if I was king, and at the risk of offending everyone who reads this, here are the sports and events I would eliminate.

First, I would jettison all sports that require judges to score an athlete’s performance. That would be boxing, diving, canoeing/kayak, equestrian, judo, rhythmic gymnastics, synchronized swimming, Taekwondo, trampoline, wrestling, and even gymnastics.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that these individuals are not athletes. I have the most respective for gymnasts and I love watching them - they are strong, flexible and have nerves of steel.

But, the Olympic motto is “Citius, Altius, Fortius”, three Latin words that mean “swifter, higher, stronger.” It does not mean “score more subjective points from a biased judge.” Look what happened with the Paul Hamm debacle in Athens, Greece. Enough said.

Second, I would remove all sports that are purely games of skill; archery, fencing, and shooting. I realize that these competitors train hard, but their sport requires more skill that athletic ability. If we include them why not lawn darts or chess?

Next, get rid of any game that you can play in your backyard. That means badminton, beach volleyball, and table tennis. I know I’m upsetting some men by scraping beach volleyball. But guys face it, if the young women were wearing gunny sacks, you wouldn’t be watching. And for the ladies in the audience, I apologize. The men volleyball players don’t wear skimpy outfits, so this is not an equal opportunity sport. Out it goes.

Speaking of unequal opportunity, and you may not be aware of this, but this is the last year for softball in the Olympics. It’s not fair to the women, so I say let’s remove baseball too.

Now it gets a bit more subjective. I would scuttle handball (people who couldn’t master football a.k.a. soccer?), field hockey (hockey should be played on ice), sailing (don’t make me get ugly on this) and the modern pentathlon (they couldn’t finish the decathlon?).

So what does that leave? Basketball, cycling, rowing, soccer, swimming, tennis, track & field, triathlon, volleyball, water polo, and weightlifting. That seems about right; however some of the events in these sports need to go such as any “team” event where each of the athletics simply performs in a serial fashion and not in unison. That means getting rid of all relay events in track and swimming.

Other silly events: triple jump (why not a quadruple or quintuple jump), the steeple chase (I thought that was for horses? Oops, I eliminated equestrian), and the hammer throw (versus the screwdriver throw?)

There you have it. The remaining is solid sports and brings the Olympic games back to a reasonable number. I’m probably not going to be popular with NBC or some of the Olympic athlete’s parents.

But now, maybe you understand why my project sponsors love me - I always finish within scope. How do my project stakeholders feel about me? Well, that’s another story. Time for me to get back to the TV - beach volleyball is on!

I just returned from China. No, I wasn’t there to attend the Olympics, but to witness a total solar eclipse. What does that have to do with project management? I’ll get to that in a moment.

First, a little background. I’m an amateur astronomer and an eclipse chaser. Many of you have probably seen a partial solar eclipse, but a total solar eclipse is a rare event and often occurs in the most remote spots of our planet. Total eclipses are the greatest natural spectacle that you will ever experience. Many first-time viewers become addicted and will travel the to the ends of the earth to observe them again and again.

This was my third total solar eclipse and my fourth trip to China. My previous China trips were business related, as I was invited to speak at various conferences on project management. However, this trip was purely for fun; a vacation.

Since the ideal spot to observe the 2008 eclipse was a remote spot in the Gobi desert, I decided to join a tour group that specializes in solar eclipse trips.

However, this vacation was not a vacation for all involved. This was a very serious project, put together by TravelQuest International. Planning for this trip started over three years ago. The target date was fixed and everything had to come together so that we were at the right location at the right time. The tour group worked with weather experts to forecast the ideal location for the eclipse.

The critical path was aggressive: arrive in Beijing, fly to Xi’an, four days on a train to Hami, and then a five-hour bus ride to the eclipse site located just a few miles south of the Mongolian boarder.

To make the tour even more interesting the tour group chartered, through the Chinese government, the famous Orient Express train. The entire trip would trace the historical Silk Road and we were to visit the Terra Cotta soldiers and other archaeological sites. Even a camel ride across the sand dunes to reach Crescent Moon Lake, an oasis in the middle of the Gobi desert, was included.

TravelQuest, assembled an experienced project team to ensure success: professional astronomers, national and local Chinese guides, bus drivers, physicians and even an attorney. Travel accommodations had to be planned to the minute detail: hotel, meals, ground and air transportation, porters, and daily activities.

Even the eclipse site demanded careful planning. In the middle of the Gobi desert, the temperature was forecasted to be 100 plus degrees. The team had to provide for shade, water, food, and even security.

And the project risks were significant: transportation breakdowns, medical issues, terrorists and weather. Some risks could be controlled, but most could only be mitigated.

Like all projects, nothing goes according to plan. A few months before the trip, terrorists were stopped from exploding a bomb on a plane flying from Urumqi to Beijing; the same flight we would be on at the conclusion of our trip. And because of the Olympics, the government was making the visa process difficult. Additionally, the government decided to cancel the contract for the Orient Express. Only intense negotiations reversed that decision at the last moment.

During the trip, the TravelQuest project leader did a fantastic job of insulating the customers of the endless issues that occurred. I became fascinated how he and his project team handled all the challenges. I could tell that the project team was under significant stress, but they handled the job professionally and quietly. I came to admire their project management skills.

Nevertheless, a tragic event did occur and the physicians and ultimately the attorney were put to work. An elderly member of our group became ill and ultimately passed away the night before the eclipse. Many of us reflected that life is indeed precious and fragile. We must approach life passionately. I could only hope that when my time comes, I leave this planet the same way; doing something I enjoy and love.

Finally, eclipse day arrived and we boarded the buses for the five-hour ride to the eclipse site. The moderate cloud cover concerned us, but that was out of our control. We arrived and set up our umbrellas, chairs, telescopes and cameras. As the eclipse started its partial phases over the next hour, our excitement built. But with only ten minutes to go before totality, a large cloud covered the sun. Some of the members of our group started to run across the desert, hopelessly trying to chase a sunny spot on the ground, only to quit in exhaustion.

However, the eclipse gods smiled on us and one minute before totality, the sun popped out. We could see the moon’s shadow rapidly moving our direction across the landscape. The lighting was turning to a strange orange hue and the temperature significantly dropped as moon covered the sun. We could see the last glimmer of the sun - the famous diamond ring. And then it happened!

Suddenly, we were bathed in darkness. The sun became a black hole in the sky. Around the sun, we could see the brilliant pearl white corona with long beautiful streamers. Even a large pink solar prominence appeared. The sky was about the darkness of twilight and we could see a beautiful 360 degree sunset on the horizon. The planets Venus and Mercury were easily visible to the upper left of the sun and moon.

Cameras clicked away, some people cheered, but most stood, jaws dropped, in stunned silence. The nearby clouds added to the grandeur and I decided that this was the most colorful eclipse I had seen yet.

After 1 minute and 58 seconds, it was over. The sun popped out from behind the moon and the process reversed itself. We all toasted our success with cheap Chinese Champagne minutes later.

Finally, we loaded back into the buses and headed back to Hami. Most people slept, some quietly reflected on their experience, while others discussed their plans for the next eclipse in 2009.

We continued our trip for another week visiting other points of interest in China and ultimately arriving in Urumqi for our flight back to Beijing. There, we saw the influx of athletes and visitors for the Olympics: a juxtaposition to our trip in the remote northwest portion of China.

So what lessons did I learn relevant to project management?

• Careful planning significantly increases your chances of project success.
• Risk management is crucial to contingency planning.
• Stuff happens. Be prepared for the unexpected.
• An experienced project team can overcome any obstacle.
• And the big lesson: budget for some contingency money. Money seemed to resolve many of our problems.

As for me, I have added another project to my portfolio: a future total solar eclipse vacation.

Last week, I was leading a project management training session for one of our clients.  One of the attendees told me a funny story that recently happened to him during the go-live phase of his project.  First, a little background. 

My client is a well know vendor in the healthcare industry.  When the company contacted me a few years ago to help their employees with the management of their implementation projects I was very excited.  Back in my corporate days as a CIO, I was very frustrated with healthcare vendors at the level of understanding (or lack of understanding) with the basic fundamentals of project management. 

Today, their implementations are going much smoother with a solid project management infrastructure.   It has been rewarding for me to make a small contribution to the success and growth of this vendor. 

Now, back to the story.  The vendor had just implemented their healthcare application which included new terminals and custom keyboards.  The vendor’s project leader responded to a call on a nursing unit during the go-live phase of the project.  The nurse was very agitated and the project leader asked what the problem was.  She responded, ” I have pressed the ‘Help’ key at least six times in the past two hours and nobody came!”

I wonder what she expects when she presses the ‘Home’ key!