Project Management in Real Life

Job Shadowing in the Project Initiation Phase will provide a good view of a day in the life of a department. Business Analysts use job shadowing to gather requirements and document the workflow processes. You don't have to be a Business Analyst to job shadow; project team members need to wear many hats at times. 

Process Improvement is the goal of job shadowing when you are replacing a system. Information that is collected from job shadowing will be used to compile your project requirements to achieve the defined deliverables. This is also a good time to start defining Key Performance Indicators that will be used to validate that process improvement is being achieved. Start making notes on Test Cases that will be used to validate the KPIs.

The Project Plan should have the defined KPIs evaluated at the appropriate time in the project timeline when results can be measured in a controlled environment. If all KPIs meet expectations, then a project Milestone is truly earned. If KPIs do not meet the expectations, then it's time to stop moving forward on the project so an evaluation can be done to address the failing KPIs. That's why you need good Test Cases to flush out any possible issues. 

My Final Thoughts on Job Shadowing that is a valuable project activity that should be used as much as possible to avoid disappointed Stakeholders after a project is delivered and it cosmetically looks good, but that's it, no improvement achieved. 

Project Managers can learn from watching a mother hen taking care of her chicks. It's a neverending job keeping watch over those chicks to make sure they are safe and don't wander off and get lost or into trouble.

The Project Team needs a good leader. The Project Manager needs to always keep an eye on the team to make sure everyone stays on track. You need to be involved, but do not micromanage your team. Let them be independent like chicks so they can develop and become valuable team members. Be there to steer the team members back on track when you notice that they are lost and need some guidance.

Having good intuition is a plus. The picture I snapped illustrates the mother hen being concerned because she has a feeling that one chick is missing because there are only five chicks around her so she takes to higher ground to get a better view of whats going on.

The Wild Wild West environment that is just focused on completing projects with no regard for an approach with standards works for many companies. The question is how long can a company operate efficiently with the Wild Wild West mindset.  

Bringing in Project Management professionals to run projects in an environment that has been operating in a "let's just get it done" approach will be a challenge. There will be resistance and a waste of my time attitude given. 

Leadership skills to win over the staff and management will be crucial. The Project Manager needs to show confidence and control without intimidating the staff and management. A company that has not practiced structured Project Management will need to be educated on the value it delivers. 

Baby steps, one step at a time will be the approach to get staff and management onboard with practicing structured Project Management with defined approach and standards. Select small projects to start off with. Have a kickoff meeting to go over the expectations of the team when there is a Project Manager running the project. Ask for input from the team so you can make appropriate adjustments to the approach that will be used. Create the project timeline with tasks and distribute to the team. 

Completing a few small projects will provide valuable insight into how well the staff and management adapted to a Project Manager running projects. It will also show the staff and management the value of a project that is run by a Project Manager.

It's ShowTime for the staff and management to be presented with a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation from the Project Manager. The presentations will give an illustration of examples of the approach, standards, and reports. The presentation should be done after you completed a few projects to allow appropriate tunning for approach, standards, and reports. 

I recommend a Hybrid or Hybrid-Plus method to be used. It will be a continuous work in progress to fine-tune as you get to learn more about the company. A hybrid-plus will provide more flexibility.

I have two posts on my blog here on projectmanagement.com for the Hybrid-Plus approach.

The Lean / Agile / Waterfall made to order Hybrid-Plus for software projects

The Hybrid-Plus called The LAW

It's going to be an adventure to go from an unstructured Project Management environment to a well-tuned structured Project Management environment. This is your time as a Project Manager to become an even better Project Manager. All your skills will be tested and tuned. You will be a better Project Manager after you tame the Wild Wild West in the company.

Lean Agile Waterfall

A Lean Mind

The entire team needs to have a lean mindset of working efficiently to deliver defect-free deliverables to avoid wasting valuable time that could be spent on other tasks to get ahead.

Being Agile

The project could have some requirements that are still being finalized. Do not let missings requirements holdup the project start date if the missing requirements are not needed in the beginning. Create an Under-Construction task at the anticipated point in the project timeline. The team members need to be ready for new tasks to be assigned to them once the requirements are finalized. The Project Manager needs to keep a close watch on Under-Construction tasks in the project to ensure the project timeline stays intact. 

The Waterfall

The project flows like a waterfall. Each team member has important tasks in the waterfall. The timing for a team member to complete their tasks on time in the project is imperative to give other team members adequate time to start their tasks on time. Always keep the project flow in mind on how you affect other team members. We are all in it together as a team. The Project Manager is the safeguard to monitor progress and guide the team along the waterfall. 

The LAW

The ability to deliver any project on time by reducing waste and being flexible with the task assignments. Having a map of the waterfall (aka project timeline) will ensure you don't miss anything. The Project Manager is the architect of the map. 

The Project Team Members is an important risk on a Risk Register, there are many other risks to add to the register, but my focus on this article is Team Members. 

Project Managers need to focus up front on the availability of team members for a project. The Risk Register should include team members working on different projects, especially concurrent projects. We often assign key staff to multiple projects which is fine if their key dates and implementation have breathing room for safe multitasking. 

The Risk Register will provide valuable insight into how your project team is spread out. The reprioritizing of project dates might be needed to address overallocated staff. It's good to know up front that you are working with overallocated staff so you know the potential risk that could be a showstopper.

Roll the dice or play it safe. Just make sure that management understands all the risks that are involved with overallocated staff.