Know Your Myers Briggs Personality Type – But Beware of the Barnum Effect

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Myers Briggs Type Indicator

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is a widely used psychological assessment designed to help individuals understand their personality preferences and how they interact with the world. Based on Carl Jung’s theory of psychological types, the MBTI categorizes people into 16 distinct personality types across four dichotomies:

  • Extraversion vs. Introversion,
  • Sensing vs. Intuition,
  • Thinking vs. Feeling, and
  • Judging vs. Perceiving.

By identifying where you fall within these categories, the MBTI aims to provide insights into your natural tendencies, strengths, and potential areas for growth, ultimately fostering better self-awareness and more effective communication with others.

The Barnum Effect

The Barnum Effect on the other hand, is a cognitive bias where people believe vague, general statements about themselves are highly accurate and uniquely descriptive of themselves.

Named after the famous showman P.T. Barnum (made famous in the movie “The Greatest Showman”), the Barnum Effect explains why people might find personal horoscopes, personality descriptions, or fortune-telling surprisingly convincing. The Barnum Effect highlights how general statements can be interpreted as being uniquely specific to us as a person.

It shows our tendency as human beings to seek personal validation in open or general feedback.

Myers Briggs versus the Barnum Effect

So you can see that in getting a “personality assessment” or profile such as Myers Briggs Type Indicator, we might just be projecting our own personality onto the vague or general descriptions provided. But as long as we know that – let’s have some fun and get our own MBTI personality type!

Choose a single letter from each section to get four letters in total, then find your personality type at the bottom.

Introvert or Extrovert?

Select I or E – which ever you are MOST like:

  • Introvert: Reserved, private. Prefer slower time to communicate. Energized by time alone.
  • Extrovert: Outwardly focused, Work and think out loud, with others. Energized by people.

Select S or N – which ever you are MOST like for “Taking In Information”.

  • Sensing: Focus on reality, Facts and details, Practical applications, Make specific descriptions
  • INtuition: Imagine possibilities of how things could be, Big picture, how things connect, Ideas and concepts.

Select T or F for how you “Take in Information”:

  • Thinking: Impersonal, using logic, Value justice and fairness, Enjoy finding flaws in arguments
  • Feeling: Decisions through personal values, Harmony and forgiveness, Warm and empathetic

Select J or P for how you view your “Outer Life”:

  • Judging: Prefer matters to be settled, Rules and deadlines, Make plans, don’t like surprises
  • Perceiving: Prefer to leave options open, Improvise and make things up as you go
    Spontaneous

Now you should have a four letter combination, such as INTP or ESFJ. Find your combination below for your MBTI personality type!

ISTP – The Mechanic

ISTP - The Mechanic - Myers BriggsStrengths: You can remain calm while managing a crisis, quickly deciding what needs to be done to solve the problem.

Development Areas: You’re focused so much on what needs to be done immediately that you fail to see the big picture.

Characteristics: Analytical, practical, realistic but also logical and adaptable.

ISFP – The Creative

ISFP - The Creative - Myers BriggsStrengths: You’re a creative visionary who enjoys providing practical help or service to others, as well as facilitating and encouraging cooperation.

Development Areas: You sometimes put off making decisions, in the hope that a better opportunity will come along.

Characteristics: Cooperative, modest and adaptable and also gentle and loyal.

ESFP – The Performer

ESFP - The Performer - Myers BriggsStrengths: You’re adaptable, friendly, and talkative. You enjoy working with others and experiencing new situations.

Development Areas: You have trouble meeting deadlines, and do not always finish what you start.

Characteristics: Tolerant and spontaneous as well as playful, enthusiastic and resourceful.

ESTP – The Doer

ESTP - The Doer - Myers BriggsStrengths: You apply common sense and experience to problems, quickly analyzing what is wrong and then fixing it.

Development Areas: Being so focused on immediate problems may lead to you ignoring long-term systematic problems.

Characteristics: Analytical, outgoing and enthusiastic as well as logical.

ISTP – The Duty Fulfiller

ISTJ - The Duty Fulfiller - Myers BriggsStrengths: You enjoy working within clear systems and processes.

Development Areas: You can become set in your ways and can sometimes be seen as rigid and impersonal.

Characteristics: Thorough, conscientious, realistic but also systematic and reserved.

ISFJ – The Nurturer

ISFJ - The Nurturer - Myers BriggsStrengths: You apply common sense and experience to solving problems for other people.

Development Areas: You may be overly cautious, and risk basing your decisions on what you think will please others.

Characteristics: Organized, practical and patient, but also dependable and loyal.

ESTJ – The Director

ESTJ - The Director - Myers BriggsStrengths: You drive yourself to reach your goal, organizing people and resources in order to achieve it.

Development Areas: You tend to be so focused on the objective pursuit of your goal that you ignore the ideas or feelings of others.

Characteristics: Responsible and efficient but can also be assertive as well as logical and realistic.

ESFJ – The Caregiver

ESFJ - The Caregiver - Myers BriggsStrengths: You’re sociable and outgoing, understanding what others need and express appreciation for their efforts.

Development Areas: You are overly influenced by what you think others want, and may find it difficult to adjust plans in response to unexpected opportunities.

Characteristics: Warm and appreciative as well as outgoing and supportive.

INFJ – The Protector

INFJ - The Protector - Myers BriggsStrengths: You enjoy finding a shared vision for everyone, inspiring others and devising new ways to achieve the vision.

Development Areas: You’re private and may do your thinking in a vacuum, resulting in an unrealistic vision that is difficult to communicate.

Characteristics: Compassionate, idealistic as well as imaginative and visionary.

INFP – The Idealist

INFP - The Idealist - Myers BriggsStrengths: You enjoy helping others with their growth and inner development to reach their full potential.

Development Areas: You struggle to speak up in meetings, leading others to believe you have nothing to contribute.

Characteristics: Flexible, spontaneous as well as reflective and contained.

ENFJ – The Giver

ENFJ - The Giver - Myers BriggsStrengths: You’re able to get the most out of teams by working closely with them, and make decisions that take into account the values of others.

Development Areas: You often talk a lot, and may become discouraged if you do not receive a lot of feedback from others.

Characteristics: Warm, collaborative and supportive and organized.

ENFP – The Inspirer

ENFP - The Inspirer - Myers BriggsStrengths: You’re willing to consider almost any possibility and often develop multiple solutions to a problem.

Development Areas: You may not follow through on decisions or projects, and risk burning out from over-committing or following every possibility.

Characteristics: Friendly and expressive as well as innovative and energetic.

INTJ – The Architect

INTJ - The Architect - Myers BriggsStrengths: You’re able to define a compelling, long-range vision, and can devise innovative solutions to complex problems.

Development Areas: You may come across as cold and distant when focusing on the task in hand.

Characteristics: Strategic and conceptual as well as innovative, independent and logical.

INTP – The Thinker

INTP - The Thinker - Myers BriggsStrengths: You can adopt a detached and concise way of analyzing the world, and often uncover innovative approaches.

Development Areas: You may struggle to work in teams, especially with others who you perceive to be illogical or insufficiently task-focused.

Characteristics: Independent and detached, as well as skeptical and innovative.

ENTJ – The Executive

ENTJ - The Executive - Myers BriggsStrengths: You’re able to efficiently organize people and resources in order to accomplish long-term goals.

Development Areas: You may overlook the contributions of others and the needs of the people who implement your plans.

Characteristics: Structured and challenging, they also tend to be strategic and questioning.

ENTP – The Visionary

ENTP - The Visionary - Myers BriggsStrengths: You enjoy developing strategy and often spot and capitalize on new opportunities that present themselves.

Development Areas: You avoid making decisions and may become excited about ideas that are not feasible because of constraints on time or resources.

Characteristics: Emergent and theoretical as well as imaginative and challenging.

 

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“I just passed my PMP exam having AT on all three parts. David, your videos are the truth and I appreciate you Sir. Having the mindset of an Agile PM was such as important thing to make this happen. I appreciate your videos.” – Vensouv

This is yet another person working hard and passing their PMP with Above Target results. Getting these results are not easy, but they are worth it. If you’re working on your Project Management skills this year, you can do it. I believe in you.

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How to Find and Hire the BEST Project Managers

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Do you know how to pick and hire the BEST Project Managers?

Here are the three skills all the best Project Managers and Leaders have:

➡️ The Project Management Process

🏆 Knowing the right steps to take is so, so important. Find your Stakeholders, write or approve a Project Charter, then Plan Requirements, Scope, Schedule, Cost, Quality, etc. Miss a step and it could spell disaster. Know them all and win. The good news is you can learn the PM Process if you need to.

➡️ Knowledge of the Business

🏆 Having industry, system or business process knowledge will make things easier for you when managing change. You can sense-check decisions, costs, team-members, or vendors. You can help your team solve problems. The good news? There are ways to map out Business Knowledge if you’re starting from scratch.

➡️ People and Communication Skills

🏆 Knowing the first two is no good if you leave a trail of chaos in your wake. Know how to bring the best out of people. Know how to communicate effectively, how to influence and negotiate without being creepy. Know yourself, and know the arena you’re playing in. The good news is you can learn these skills too.

Use these three skills together to find the best Project Managers and win.

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How to Count Colored Cells in Excel (3 Ways)

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Excel doesn’t have a formula to count colored cells, so here are three fantastic, easy ways to count colored cells in Excel.

Way 1: Using a Filter

  1. Select the range of colors with the header cell included
  2. Go to Home > Sort & Filter > Add Filter
  3. Click on the down-arrow in the header cell, Sort by Color, and select the color you want.

Now you can count the sorted cells and see how many of that color there are.

Way 2: Using Name Manager

This way is more powerful, faster, but a bit more complicated.

  1. Select the cell NEXT TO the range you want to count color in (in this picture it’s C3)
  2. Go to Formulas > Name Manager > New Name
  3. Input the new name (something like ColorCount, but it’s your choice)
  4. Input the formula: =GET.CELL(38, B3)
    • (“38” checks the cell color attribute)
  5. Now in the cell next to your colored column, input your new formula: “=ColorCount” and drag it down the column. It will give you the “Numbers” that associate with the colors in the cell next to it.
  6. Now in a separate cell with the color you want to count next to it (E and F columns in the picture), input “=COUNTIF(E3, ColorCount)”
    • Where E3 is the color you want to count, and ColorCount is our Named formula from before.

This will count ALL the colors that match that color!

Way 3: Creating a Formula to Count Color Using VBA

The final, coolest, fastest and most automatic way is to create our very own Formula in Excel that does exactly what we need. We’ll do this using VBA, and you can see how easy it is to create your own formulas!

  1. Select Developer > Visual Basic
  2. In the VBA Window, Select Insert > Module
  3. In the Module window that appears, input the below VBA code, then close the window (it saves automatically).
  4. Finally, use your new formula in any cell: =COUNTINGCOLORS( Range of Colors, Cell with the color you want to count)

The code is:

Function COUNTINGCOLORS(MYRANGE As RANGE, MYCOLOR As RANGE)

Dim COLORCELL As Integer
Dim CURRENTCOUNT As Integer

COLORCELL = MYCOLOR.Interior.ColorIndex

Set CELL = MYRANGE

For Each CELL In MYRANGE
If CELL.Interior.ColorIndex = COLORCELL Then
CURRENTCOUNT = CURRENTCOUNT + 1
End If

Next CELL
COUNTINGCOLORS = CURRENTCOUNT

End Function

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Leadership versus Management – You Need BOTH

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Should You Be A Leader or a Manager?

Many people say you should focus on being a Leader, instead of a boss or a Manager. But when you look at the definitions for each you will begin to realize that you need both Leadership and Management in your skillset in order to get things done.

What a Leader Does

A Leader will focus on people and improvement with things like:

  • ✅ Inspiring trust in their people
  • ✅ Looking at the Long-term vision
  • ✅ The WHY behind what the team is doing
  • ✅ Ensuring their team are focusing on the right things to get where they want to go
  • ✅ Challenging the status quo in order to improve and innovate

What a Manager Does

Meanwhile, a Manager will focus on the numbers, administration and getting things done, such as:

  • ☑️ Using Directive leadership and their Positional Power to get things done quickly
  • ☑️ Maintaining the way things are and administrating the day-to-day work
  • ☑️ Focusing on near-term goals for the team to achieve
  • ☑️ Looking at How and When things will be achieved
  • ☑️ Doing things the right way
  • ☑️ Operational issues and problem solving
  • ☑️ Focusing on the bottom line

By combining both the skills of a leader and a manager, you will keep your team engaged and find success in working towards the right goals for your business and project.

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What Is A WBS Dictionary?

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Breaking Down The Work

A typical Work Breakdown Structure “decomposes” items, or breaks them down from a high level feature or deliverable, into smaller Work Packages or User Stories that a person can work on.

But once you’ve decomposed those deliverables, you need to add information to them to make them meaningful. And you do that with a WBS Dictionary.

What Goes In A WBS Dictionary?

A WBS Dictionary lists our deliverables, the work packages in those deliverables, and then any additional project information we need. It will usually include:

  • A Unique ID
  • Deliverable Name
  • Work Package Name
  • Description

And then Project attributes, such as:

  • Resources Required
  • Cost Estimates
  • Duration Estimates
  • Dependencies (what needs to be completed first)
  • Quality Requirements (tasks or acceptance criteria)

And lastly, the people involved, such as:

  • Who the item is assigned to
  • Who approved or signed off on the item.

Having all this information at a glance makes it easier to understand your project and see what is needed.

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“Great job on the course content and delivery. The mock exams were useful to build the project mindset. I aces the PMP on my first attempt with AT across all domains. All I needed was this intense 4 day crash course and exam style questions.” – Nosakhare – PMP Course on Udemy.

No matter where you’re starting from, you can improve your life.

No matter how small it starts, each small improvement you make will build on the previous one, getting bigger and bigger like a snowball rolling down a hill. Make the right choices.

Choose the study instead of television. Choose your family instead of social media. Learn something new every day. This is another person passing their PMP – it is wonderful to hear 😊 And YOU can do it too!

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How The Cost of Quality Increases On Your Project

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The cost to fix a defect increases as it gets closer to the Customer.

🤝 During Requirements: It costs very little to check, prototype and review requirements before we program them.

🤝 During Solution and Design: It costs relatively little to review and change a design.

🤝 During Development: It costs a bit more in time and effort to redo an item if it gets this far and there’s a defect. We may need to re-look at the requirements and design too, and re-code the solution.

🤝 During Testing: If we catch a defect during Testing, we may have to redo it in Development, or even go through the process from requirements again.

❌ But once a defect gets to a customer, we have the added cost of bad customer reviews, impacts to our brand or reputation, PLUS the time taken to review the customer complaints and address them, PLUS the waste of something we created that may have to be completely redone.

➡️ What else would you add to the Cost of Quality?

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How to Measure Business Value for Your Project (NPV, ROI and more!)

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Measuring Business Value

There are many ways to measure the business value you deliver as part of your project. Some of these ways are tangible (money, shareholder value, market share) and some are intangible (Brand recognition, goodwill, strategic alignment etc).

Ultimately the best value comes down to an improvement in some financial measure for your company, and these are measured in the following ways:

Cost-Benefit Ratio:

The cost-benefit ratio = the Total benefit of the project / Total cost of the project.

Choose the highest.

Return on Investment (ROI)

Return on Investment = the Project Return – Project Cost / Project Cost x 100.

Choose the highest.

Internal Rate of Return (IRR)

IRR is the return on your investment in a given time period.

Choose the highest.

Net Present Value (NPV)

Net Present Value = Today’s value of our expected return – Initial investment.

Choose the highest.

Payback Period (PBP):

The Payback period = The Cost of the project / Average Annual Return.

Shorter is better.

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Crowdstrike and Quality Management on a Project

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Why is Quality important in your project?

You probably heard about the Crowdstrike outage on the weekend of July 2024 that disrupted airports, banks and stores all around the world. It was caused by Crowdstrike pushing a system file full of zeros to production.

How can we avoid this sort of disaster as we manage our own Projects? There are many ways:

➡️ Peer review & Code Inspections: Checking the requirements with a user or reviewing the code with another Developer.

➡️ Continuous Integration: Merging changes into the main test system (often daily) with automatic tests.

➡️ Test Driven Development: Tests are written first, failed, then run again and passed after the solution is coded.

➡️ Unit Tests: Testing each small piece or User Story.

➡️ System Testing: Testing the integrated system as a whole.

➡️ User Acceptance Testing: Testing the system from the User’s point of view.

➡️ Regression Testing: Testing the existing system with the changes to see if they’ve impacted normal operations.

➡️ Production Verification Testing: Testing the change in the live environment after go-live then rolling the change back if it goes wrong.

➡️ Sprint Review: Demonstrating the actual change to the customer or senior users before release.

Quality is one of the 10 Project Management Knowledge Areas for a reason.

⭐ What are some of the ways you manage Quality on your own projects? ⭐

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