project management and soft skills · prof. roberto verdone theory of two systems* brain stem...

Prof. Roberto Verdone www.robertoverdone.org

Project Management and Soft Skills Roberto Verdone

www.robertoverdone.org [email protected]

www.linkedin.com/in/roberto-verdone

+39 051 20 93817

Office Hours: Monday 4 – 6 pm,

Viale Risorgimento 2 (upon agreement via email)

How to find my office: check on my website

A.Y. 2019-20 Credits: 3


(Cognitive Processes and) Soft Skills


Theory of Two Systems*

brain stem

limbic system

neocortex (left/right)

cerebellum system 1

system 2

* Daniel Kahneman, “Thinking, Fast and Slow.”, 2011.


Theory of Two Systems


Theory of Two Systems System 1 comes first

System 1 is fast and inaccurate

System 1 uses associations (the process managing intuitions)

System 1 uses parallel computation

System 2 uses sequential and symbolic computation

System 2 is lazy

System 2 requires motivation

Switching on System 2 requires effort, fatigue

Storing in long term memory requires System 2


Theory of Two Systems System 1 and System 2 INTERFERE

System 1 uses information stored in memory of your past experiences

System 1 uses information stored in memory of human experience


Theory of Two Systems: Decisions System 1 is better when decisions involve complex situations (e.g. choose a job, buy a house, invest money)

System 2 is better when decisions involve controllable situations (e.g. use a procedure, a model, to design something)


Theory of Two Systems: Engi’s vs Humans

(freely taken from Kahneman’s distinction*: Econ’s vs Humans)

Humans tend to be dominated by System 1 -  to decide how to invest their money, time and energy -  to choose whom to vote at elections -  to choose their jobs -  …

Engi’s are dominated by System 2 in any situation in professional and personal life (except hopefully for choosing their partners!)



Theory of Two Systems: Engi’s vs Humans

(freely taken from Kahneman’s distinction*: Econ’s vs Humans)

Humans tend to be dominated by System 1 -  to decide how to invest their money, time and energy -  to choose whom to vote at elections -  to choose their jobs -  …

Engi’s are dominated by System 2 in any situation in professional and personal life (except hopefully for choosing their partners!)


Management roles

Engineering roles


Test S2 (via Google Form) www.robertoverdone.org à Teaching à PMSS à Test S2 DO YOU FEEL MORE •  ENGI or •  HUMAN

? In general, while assessing yourself, you have to wander: “if I had to motivate my own assessment, what situation/event could I tell regarding myself?”


Test S2 (via Google Form) www.robertoverdone.org à Teaching à PMSS à Test S2 DO YOU FEEL MORE •  ENGI or •  HUMAN

? In general, while assessing yourself, you have to wander: “if I had to motivate my own assessment, what situation/event could I tell regarding myself?”

TEST S1: ENGI 45% HUMAN 12% HYBRID 40%


B. Soft Skills


Soft Skills include the cluster of personality traits, communication, language, personal habits, interpersonal skills, ability in managing people, leadership, etc., that characterize relationships with other people.

Soft Skills


Soft Skills

C = 100 * (x*K + y*S + z*A) [%]

0 < K, S, A < 1 0 < x, y, z < 1 ; x + y + z = 1

K S

Competence (C)

A

Soft Skill

Knowledge (K) Skill (S) Aptitudes (A)


Soft Skills: Dublin Descriptors Cycle descriptors adopted in 2005 as the Qualifications Framework of the European Higher Education Area. A descriptor includes the following five components:

•  Knowledge and understanding à K •  Applying knowledge and understanding à S •  Making judgements à A •  Communication à A •  Lifelong learning skills à A


Soft Skills: World Economic Forum Top ten skills of the future (after 2020)

1.  Complex problem-solving 2.  Critical thinking 3.  Creativity 4.  People management incl. leadership 5.  Coordinating with others incl. communication, teaming 6.  Emotional intelligence 7.  Judgement and decision-making 8.  Service orientation 9.  Negotiation 10. Cognitive flexibility

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/07/the-skills-needed-to-survive-the-robot-invasion-of-the-workplace



1.  Complex problem-solving 2.  Critical thinking 3.  Creativity 4.  People management incl. leadership 5.  Coordinating with others incl. communication, teaming 6.  Emotional intelligence 7.  Judgement and decision-making 8.  Service orientation 9.  Negotiation 10. Cognitive flexibility



Soft Skills / Categories •  Cognitive:

problem solving creativity …

•  Managerial: multitasking project management …

•  Relational: communication leadership team working …

•  Personal: adaptability …


Soft Skills discussed in this course •  Elementary Soft Skills:

- ability to persuade - para- and non-verbal communication - assertiveness - emotional intelligence

•  Complex Soft Skills:

- inter-personal communication - public speaking - leadership - team working - precision and timeliness

... plus project management


4. Soft Skills: Ability to Persuade

Ref: Christophe Morin, Patrick Renvoisé, “The Persuasion Code”, 2018.

The ability to convince people. Very important in marketing roles, for sales engineers: if you sell something, you need to persuade your customer to buy.


The ability to convince people. Very important in marketing roles, for sales engineers: if you sell something, you need to persuade your customer to buy. However:

-  if you teach, you sell (your knowledge) -  if you design, you sell (your project) -  if you lead, you sell (your visions) -  if you do research, you sell (your achievements) -  …

4. Soft Skills: Ability to Persuade

Ref: Christophe Morin, Patrick Renvoisé, “The Persuasion Code”, 2018.


Para-Verbal Communication. The art of using voice: 1) tone, 2) rhythm, 3) volume, 4) timbre. Non Verbal Communication. The art of using the body: 1) gestures, 2) position, 3) gaze, 4) proximity.

4. Soft Skills: Para- / Non Verbal Comm.

Ref: Albert Mehrabian,“Nonverbal Communication”, 1972.


The ability to express your ideas clearly and efficiently while establishing good relationship with others. Assertiveness allows to build constructive relationships while you: -  express properly your feelings; -  choose how to behave in situations; -  grow your self-esteem; -  find the best way to say “no”; -  defend your rights; -  …

4. Soft Skills: Assertiveness

Ref: Domenico Di Lauro, P, “Manuale di comunicazione assertiva”, 2011.


Emotional Intelligence measures your ability to -  express, -  recognise, -  control emotions (yours, and of others).

4. Soft Skills: Emotional Intelligence

Ref: Daniel Goleman, “Emotional Intelligence”, 1995.


4. Soft Skills: Inter-Personal Comm. The ability to behave properly with others. Communicating efficiently. Being accepted by others. Attracting focus and trust. Mostly in face-to-face situations.

Ref: Paul Watzlawick and others, “Pragmatics of Human Communication”, 1967.


4. Soft Skills: Public Speaking The ability to present in public. Communicating efficiently. Attracting focus and trust. Convincing your audience. In any situation where you are talking in front of an audience: -  you are a teacher -  you are a trainer in a company -  you are called to present your ideas to the rest of the team -  …

Ref: Cesare Sansavini, “L’arte del public speaking”, 2018.


4. Soft Skills: Team Working The ability to work efficiently in a team. Having the “right attitude”: constant desire to achieve team (not individual) results


4. Soft Skills: Leadership The ability to be accepted as a leader. Articulating visions. Having the “right attitude”. Achieving visions.

Ref: Ben Horowitz, “The Hard Thing About Hard Things”, 2014.


4. Soft Skills: Precision and Timeliness The focus on quality of work, deadlines, scopes. A fundamental attitude for engineers A very useful attitude for all the others


Test S3 (via Google Form) www.robertoverdone.org à Teaching à PMSS à Test S3 RATE YOURSELF IN TERMS OF …

•  Ability to Persuade (PERS) •  Para-Verbal & Non Verbal Communication (PNVC) •  Assertiveness (AS) •  Emotional Intelligence (EI) •  Inter-Personal Communication (IPC) •  Public Speaking (PS) •  Team Working (TW) •  Leadership (LEAD) •  Precision & Timeliness (PT)

1 = VERY BAD 2 = BAD 3 = AVERAGE 4 = GOOD 5 = VERY GOOD In general, while rating yourself for any of these skills, you have to wonder: “if I had to motivate my own rating, what story/event could I tell regarding myself?”


The list of soft skills discussed in this course

•  PERS The ability to convince people. •  PNVC Para-Verbal and Non-Verbal Communication. •  AS The ability to express your ideas with good relationships •  EI The ability to express, recognise, control emotions. •  IPC The ability to behave properly with others. •  PS The ability to present in public. •  TW The ability to work efficiently in a team. •  LEAD The ability to be accepted as a leader. •  PT The focus on quality of work, deadlines, scopes.

Soft Skills


Soft Skills Interactive Session – Teams of up to 7 | 30 min

1.  You received via email Team Number, TN. 2.  Disconnect from this lecture at the end of presentation of this slide. 3.  We will keep the lecture alive on TEAMS, so that in case of need you

can re-connect with us and make questions. 4.  Join your team (identified through the TN) on TEAMS (button on the

left hand side of the tool). 5.  Each of you will justify his/her statements regarding self-assessment

to his/her teammates 6.  We will resume the lecture after 30 min from now. 7.  After the class I will ask you to fill a form where each of you will

state whether his/her classmate persuaded him/her regarding his/her self-assessment. BE HONEST!


*** Attendance Check ***

Fill the attendance form

www.robertoverdone.org Teaching

PMSS end of webpage

“Attendance Today”


C = 100 * (x*K + y*S + z*A) [%]

•  PERS x = 0.2 y = 0.4 z = 0.4 •  PNVC x = 0.1 y = 0.4 z = 0.5 •  AS x = 0.1 y = 0.3 z = 0.6 •  EI x = 0.1 y = 0.2 z = 0.7 •  IPC x = 0.1 y = 0.4 z = 0.5 •  PS x = 0.4 y = 0.4 z = 0.2 •  TW x = 0.3 y = 0.4 z = 0.3 •  LEAD x = 0.1 y = 0.1 z = 0.8 •  PT x = 0.1 y = 0.5 z = 0.4

Soft Skills


Which of the two systems dominate?

•  PERS System 2 over others’ System 1 •  PNVC System 1 •  AS System 1 •  EI System 1 •  IPC System 1 •  PS System 2 over others’ System 1 and 2 •  TW System 1 and 2 •  LEAD System 1 •  TP System 2

Soft Skills

project management and soft skills · prof. roberto verdone theory of two systems* brain stem...

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