Project Management - Getting Better or Worse?
| Situation: You occasionally wonder whether we're moving forward as a profession.
PMI's mission, roughly speaking, is to have business leaders view project management as essential for businessresults. Obviously, the best way to do that is to show increasing success over time. That's why I found this particular PMI research report interesting. Are we getting any better? Comparing project management in the years 2000 and 2008 was a report produced by Erling S. Andersen and present two weeks ago at the PMI Research conference. Mr. Andersen was kind enough to answer a few questions for us recently about the research he conducted.
Q. Your research was conducted using the X Model, could you tell us a bit about how that works? (both at the micro and macro level)
Q. You concluded that some areas of project management have shown improvement, saying specifically that team members are more knowledgeable about project work, project objectives are more clearly expressed, project organization is more appropriate, most work processes are improved, team members experience project work as rewarding and are more motivated for future projects, and the results of the project are more balanced. Why do you think this is true? Do you credit PMI? Better Training? Stiffer performance requirements from employers?
Q. You also talk about areas for improvement, specifically, in achieving the project mission and goals or keeping to the project schedule and budget. Why do you think this is the case? Q. Do you know of other recent and important research in this area? Do you know of other studies being conducted now that might be of interest?
|
What's Interesting to You?
| Situation: You Like to Get Your Head Around the "Big Questions" in Project Management. Hey PM Thought Leaders >> Take a look at the list below and let me know if one of the topics could really help you tackle the challenges you face every day.
Earlier this week I attended PMI's Research & Education Conference 2010. The event has asubtitle - "Defining the Future of Project Management". While I'm not sure that anyone can "Define the future" of anything, I think there were some interesting presentations. I plan to interview some of the researchers, but I was hoping to get some feedback (either here as a comment or via email, whichever is easier) on what you might find interesting. During each interview I'll be attempting to identify who the research findings might be interesting to and what practical actions you can take based on their findings.
PMI presented awards for work in the following areas:
The 2010 Project Management Journal® Paper of the Year Award
Topics presented at the conference
Anything jump out as just what you were looking for? Let me know and I'll drill down deeper for you.
pplications of positive psychology to teaching project management and leadership.” J Davis Clark School of Engineering, University of Maryland, USA 2. “ Supporting interaction in the classroom – Using personal response units.” A W Gale School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering, The University of Manchester, UK
3. “The use of Skype and other communications technologies to deliver international project management education.
pplications of positive psychology to teaching project management and leadership.” J Davis Clark School of Engineering, University of Maryland, USA 2. “ Supporting interaction in the classroom – Using personal response units.” A W Gale School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering, The University of Manchester, UK
3. “The use of Skype and other communications technologies to deliver international project management education.
|
Are You a Mac?
| Situation: You're a serious Mac user with serious project work to do.
Macs are gaining traction in many business environments, yet there aren't that many choices when We recently had the opportunity to interview Dennis Bilowus, CEO and president at AEC Software. Here's what we found out...
Q. Thinking about what your software does - Do you feel that the projects that Mac users generally work on are different (or require different functionality) than PC users? A recent Macworld review offered the following Pros and Cons for your product (see below). Are these driven by the needs you see as specific to Mac users? Can you tell us a bit about your approach to development? A: We here at AEC Software have been developing project-focused software for Mac since 1986 and for Windows since 1993. Because of the close contact that we maintain with our users, we know that Mac users generally work on the same types of projects as Windows users. Sure, there is a bit more emphasis on media and graphics by Mac users, and we definitely have some Mac-specific features. The core features provided by FastTrack Schedule 10 are cross-platform, Mac and Windows. However, we take advantage of the strengths of each platform and provide some features that are unique to each system. For example: FastTrack Schedule 10 has a different User Interface on Windows than it has on our Mac version. On Windows, we provide the user with a choice of 2 interfaces, the new Ribbon interface and a traditional Menu-based interface. The user can select the interface that they are comfortable with. Interesting side note, FastTrack Schedule 10 was the first PM scheduling application to adopt the Ribbon interface (released a few weeks ahead of MS Project 2010). On Mac, FastTrack Schedule 10 provides a Mac UI complete with a context-sensitive Format Bar and parity with the UI look and feel of Apple’s iWork Suite. Every project encounters delays that affect the schedule. The ability to easily make adjustments is important on any project. Both Mac and Windows users would like to have expert-level controls over their projects, together with the means to easily make adjustments. The new features and enhancements in FastTrack Schedule 10 provide a better workflow experience for our users as they track and manage their projects. The software is easy to use for both experienced project managers as well as the PM newcomer. We did a lot of research on the needs of users and incorporated their feedback into the way default layouts are built into files, and we developed an extensive set of project templates to help them get started quickly on their projects. For example, the default file has 40 built in Layouts. For ease of use only 15 of the 40 are displayed in the menu. We simplify the interface, but provide our users with accessible pre-set functionality should they want to utilize more powerful features of the program. After all, if we can provide our users with a great template for their project we can make them more productive. Communication of the project details and team involvement are paramount in successful project management. As such, we also build-in great visual reporting features such as summary graphs, image fields, and enable graphics, logos, and pictures to be placed into project plans which adds a lot of life to a schedule. Too often project schedules are presented as drab spreadsheets – where key project messages and data are lost as they blend into the schedule background. With FastTrack Schedule 10, communication is clear and vibrant. Graphs, images, and graphics foster a sense of involvement and accountability. Schedules are organic: living, breathing, and changing. Users can create fun, visually appealing schedules that bring out the creativity in all of us (and when was the last time the words ‘fun’ and ‘creativity’ was used to describe a project management tool or technique). Our Resource information form provides a Resource Image for a picture of the resource. Resources are not just names or employee numbers they are people. They are team members, and they are accountable for their performance. If everyone on the project buys into the project schedule, if everyone is involved with the schedule creation and schedule updates, then there is more transparency and accountability by all team members. That leads to successful projects. With our Project Consolidation feature, team meetings and stakeholder updates are a snap. It allows for the easy merging of various sub-projects into a single master schedule and provides a comprehensive view of overall project health, insight into potential bottlenecks, and promotes proactive decision-making. The power of this feature is that the users of the sub-project files never need to stop working and close their file. The consolidation occurs with live files. This provides an excellent tool for a manager to accurately monitor all project activities, costs, and resources. It is really powerful, but at the same time easy to use. Improving and streamlining workflow is one of our primary objectives when developing new versions of FastTrack Schedule. One such feature we’ve had great response to in FastTrack Schedule 10 is our Automated MS Project save option. With this feature, your project schedules are automatically saved as both a FastTrack Schedule file and MS Project file. This is a great time-saver when it’s implemented as part of a company’s standard template.
Another innovative feature is our drawing layer in Print Preview. With the drawing layer in Print Preview users can place company logos, legends, or schedule titles that enhance the presentation-quality of their project plans—thus, leaving their primary workspaces (the Gantt, Resource, and Calendar views) uncluttered.
Q: Who is the ideal user of your software? Is there a project-size, industry, or other attribute that it's particularly good for? Who is it not good for? A: FastTrack Schedule is uniquely positioned as an easy to use project management solution—one that’s ideal for both the PM newcomer as well as the experienced PM who are frustrated with complex, enterprise-level PPM tools. For both these types of project managers, FastTrack Schedule is simple to learn and use, provides more flexibility for customization, and offers superior presentation and reporting capabilities. FastTrack Schedule users range from the largest of companies with deployments in the thousands, to single person companies. Projects range from multi-year space exploration plans to advertizing campaigns; residential and commercial construction to entertainment/feature film special effects productions; manufacturing to pharmaceutical clinical trials, governmental planning to defense industries, IT to higher education as well as sustainability initiatives. Well…you get the picture! FastTrack Schedule is used by all types of industries on all types of projects. That’s the great thing about the project management space – everyone can use our software, because everyone is touched by a project, some way, some how. No matter if you are a distant or hands-on stakeholder; accidental project manager or experienced PMP, everyone can make use and be productive with an easy to use and flexible project management tool. It is not appropriate if someone needs project management software that is fully integrated with customer billing or has portfolio management requirements.
Q. How does your software compare to other PM players in the Mac market, such as Merlin or MindManager? A: FastTrack Schedule 10 is a tenth generation product that was originally developed on the Mac first (before our Windows version a few years after). As it stands, FastTrack Schedule is the longest running project management application on the Mac platform. Unlike other Mac only project management tools, FastTrack Schedule offers a compatible Windows version. After all, project team members can be Mac-based or Windows-based and there should be no barriers to collaboration and achieving project objectives. We have put careful consideration into the design of this version, balancing an easy to use interface with enormous flexibility and powerful tracking tools. With each release of FastTrack Schedule, we have always included features that are firsts for any project management tool on the Mac. With features such as Image Columns, an iMedia Browser, Resource Contouring and the Format Bar (to name a few) this version is no different than its 9 previous versions in its offering of innovative features. There is the unsurpassed flexibility and style of creating a project schedule that communicates all of your project/task details – which not only makes your schedule stand out, but also provides a unique sense of ownership in the schedule. The clearest example that I can think of, is the creation and modification of your bar styles. In FastTrack Schedule, not only are you provided with an unlimited number of milestones, bars and bar points to choose from, but you can create your own! If you want to use a company logo as a project delivery milestone, then import the picture in and watch it become part of your selection of customized bar styles.
Many of our customers work with mind mapping programs to brainstorm during the project planning phase. FastTrack Schedule integrates with the leading mind-mapping program, MindManager, providing an ideal “Concept to Completion” process model. FastTrack Schedule 10 provides full integration with both the Mac and Windows versions of MindManager enabling users to open MindManager files and automatically converts the maps into a traditional Gantt chart. Once in FastTrack Schedule, project plans can be adjusted as needed and rounded out with dependencies, resources, and costing details and then effectively tracked during the execution phase. And FastTrack Schedule will also export a schedule as a MindManager file.
Q: Why would a PM use your software versus a SAAS offering? Wouldn't that be a better choice in a mixed PC/Mac environment? A: No SaaS software offers the speed, sophistication, flexibility, security or unparalleled presentation-quality of FastTrack Schedule 10. Many SaaS solutions are rigid and do not allow for much customization. When you purchase licenses for FastTrack Schedule 10, you pay one price. There are no recurring monthly fees. FastTrack Schedule 10 provides the UI appropriate for each platform. Users are not dependent on having an Internet connection to manage or update their projects – which is a large downside for project managers on the go. We have desktop speed; users are not at the mercy of their Internet connection and their confidential schedules are stored on local computers or secure corporate servers.
Q: How do you see your software evolving over the next year? A: We have some interesting concepts in the pipeline. As with most software companies, we are not at liberty to discuss specifics about future products. We’re excited by the opportunity that amazing mobile devices such as the iPad, iPhone and Android phones offer for project collaboration. Stay tuned. |
Are You a Hero or a Zero?
| Situation: You like to play games. I rarely plug advertorial here, but this game that CA has produced is kind of neat.
The ‘PPM Hero Challenge’ has contestants navigate a series of PPM questions, So if you have a minute to run around a virtual office trying to solve problems (like you're not doing that now), you check it out. In the end you get to see how you rank against your peers. |
PMI Standards - How Would You Do It?
Categories:
Certification
Categories: Certification
| Situation: You know how to please most of the PMs some of the time.
If you think about it, PMI has a pretty tough job on their hands. Every time they create a new standard, they have to build something that:
- works with the PMBOK (really alignment across all of their standards) - adheres to a rather complicated set of rules set out by ANSI - is general enough to be applied across every functional area of an organization. - is validated by a volunteer consensus-based process. (a pretty tough screen) - gets them closer to achieving the mission outlined on their web site
"It is the mission of the PMI Global Standards Program to improve the understanding and competency of project management practitioners and customers worldwide by identifying, defining, documenting and championing generally accepted project management practices and a common project management lexicon. Through the program, PMI works to develop standards for the profession that are valued by our members, the marketplace and other stakeholders. By doing this, PMI hopes to achieve worldwide excellence in the practice of project management through standards that are widely recognized and consistently applied."
Some standards, like the Standard for Portfolio Management have been accused of being uneven and of failing to address the needs of specific functional areas, like IT. However, the focus is really to "champion generally accepted project management practices", rather than best or perfect practices. They've been described to me as "practices that have stood the test of time" rather than what is cutting edge today. It's also just the ones they can validate through volunteer consensus. For some of these same reasons, some describe a friction between Agile approaches and the PMBOK and there's been a great deal of talk about whether PMBOK V4 goes far enough in integrating Agile methods. I think we all "get" that PMI is well intentioned in the approach they are taking. I also know that that it's much easier to be an armchair quarterback and poke holes in something that already exists. However, there are a lot of smart people out there and sometimes the best ideas come from unexpected sources. So with that in mind, I have two questions for you.
1. Is the mission above the right one for PMI's standards organization? 2. If it is, is there a way to improve the approach they take to developing standards?
We'll pass on any suggestions posted here or sent to us. Or if you like, you can contact the Standards Department directly by email. |
