February 27, 2002
I always thought it would be nice if we could earn a time raise. Like, if we use our time responsibly for the first 40 years, we get a 20 percent raise...4.8 more hours in each day. I could stay caught up on my e-mail. I could find more time to study!
Last week on my path to certification, I was scheduled to study Chapters 4 and 5 of the PMBOK, and this week it was on to Chapter 6, "Project Time Management." Are you with me? Need more time? Read on!
I recently reviewed a training video on time management, but I couldn't recommend it because it really had nothing new to offer. And in searching for help, I discovered a couple of sites with free time management tips: balancetime.com and timedesign.com. But sometimes time management is like stress management...we know what to do about it; we just don't practice the techniques.
I will see if the time management tips I signed up for are any help. I could certainly use the help right now, while trying to find work time, study time, writing time, kid time, husband time and time to ride the shiny new mountain bike I got for Valentine's Day (What a husband! Thanks, hon!).
For help managing time on our projects, the PMBOK's chapter on time offers serious tools. They might just make the difference between failure and success.
I keep reading statistics about the high failure rate of projects, and I am certain that failures in time management account for a good part of the problem. According to an article available at www.billingworld.com, many of these are "'failures of estimation' rather than 'failures of implementation,' according to David Frame, a pioneer in modern project management and author of one of its seminal works, Managing Projects in Organizations." The article refers to something I know my own department has been guilty of: The strong desire "to tell the customer we can do a 10-month job in six months, even though the laws of nature say it's a 10-month job."
While the techniques in the PMBOK can't help you reduce how strongly you wish your project would only need a couple of month to accomplish, it can give you some very solid ways to judge how much time you will actually need.
Specifically, the processes detailed in Chapter 6, "Project Time Management," are:
With a brief look at the tools and techniques for the above processes, you can see that this chapter offers a lot of hands-on measurements that will let you get a harness on your time-bucking project.
Tools and Techniques for Project Time Management (Partial List)
Duration Compression is my favorite, and as you can see, these tools will help you throughout your project, not just when establishing your schedule.
I promised you some details about the training I received, and I have to say that it was the best use of time for my current project and for solid assistance with PMP exam readiness.
With instructors who have some very interesting and high-profile project experience, International Institute for Learning, Inc. is very sensitive to the schedules of its students. They have created a very successful abbreviated course-length. I attended seven days over a three-month period that let me apply what I was learning to my projects right away.
Many of the courses I have seen that lead to certification are much longer, so I asked IIL's Elizabeth Gregorie for the reaction to their shorter class schedule. Here is her e-mailed reply: "Dr. Harold Kerzner developed our 7-day Certificate program to meet the needs of the more experienced project managers. Not all PMs need to spend time in the longer courses to learn the academics and theory of project management principles. Our program fits the needs of PMs that have been practicing project management over a period of 3-8 years.
"What they walk away with is a heightened skill set of formal project management practices and prepared to take the exam. We have found that the optimum learning experience is achieved by spreading the classes out over a 3-month time frame--this allows our clients to take back with them the new information they have learned and start implementing what they have learned back in the work place."
My favorite outcome from the class, given the low retention rate of us adult learners, is a CD-ROM they provide to students called Project Management IQ, also developed by Dr. Kerzner. It has several test exams with features that let you measure your progress. If you are studying along with me, why don't we start next week's article with some test questions to see how we're doing?
This coming week, I am scheduled to study Chapter 7, "Project Cost Management," which includes the painful math. This time, I won't be able to wait for the weekend to start studying. I might have to apply one of the laws of freelance writing to my study habits: "Apply the seat of the pants to the seat of the chair until drops of blood form on your forehead." Sorry, I don't know to whom to attribute that quote, but I do know that for me, math hurts a lot more than writing!
Donna Boyette is a project manager in a Web development group at a telecommunications company, and time is on her side, or so she optimistically thinks!