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Deliverables Are Only the Beginning
Categories:
Teams
Categories: Teams
| Simply supplying a project's deliverables is not enough. Project managers must understand the goal of the project, the objectives to support that goal and the deliverables needed to fulfil those objectives. Goals describe a project's overarching purpose. They tend to be wide-reaching and related to senior management and client expectations. A project's success depends on achieving its goals. Objectives fall into two broad categories: • Objectives achieved by undertaking the project work in an appropriate way, such as addressing safety, sustainability, work force development and stakeholder management. • Objectives achieved as a consequence of completing the work of the project -- successfully creating the deliverables transferred to the customer to meet the requirements defined in the project's scope statement, for example. Objectives are the direct responsibility of the project manager, and he or she should be assigned the authority, responsibility and resources to achieve them. Deliverables are the final product from either the project management processes or the performing organization. A successful delivery hinges on achieving the specified requirements of time, cost and scope while satisfying the key stakeholder's requirements. There's more to project management than just deliverables. Focusing on them exclusively to the detriment of the project's objectives and the organization's goals is counterproductive. Project managers must understand how their deliverables will contribute to overall goals of the organization. |
If You Can't Keep Your Word, Honor It
| We often talk about keeping our word -- making a commitment and sticking to it, no matter what. But we don't often talk about honoring our word -- acknowledging when we can't meet a commitment. There will inevitably be times when we can't keep our word as circumstances change for one reason or another. Say you've committed to meeting a milestone on a specific date, for example. To keep your word, you have to do whatever it takes to make that date. But to honor your word, you only need to follow up with the person you made the commitment to and clarify why you can't meet the deadline. I'd also recommend recommitting to a different date, time or scope. This way, you're not simply hiding and hoping that things will work out, or that you won't be asked about a deliverable. Be confident enough to raise the issue directly, knowing that it will maintain a workable relationship. Even if you're unable to deliver as promised, you can at least be relied upon to raise red flags early enough, without downplaying the severity, to allow the client or team time to align their activities accordingly. And that saves time and money. To maintain a healthy relationship on your team, you must honor your word. It impacts the results of your work, your reputation, and your ability to earn a renewed trust from your clients and project team members. Honoring your word restores your integrity and creates workability. But the better you assess estimated target dates for the project tasks and milestones and your ability to manage your day-to-day activities per your own commitments to others, the easier it will to keep your word and "do it right the first time." |
Organizations Are Recruiting Project Talent—Finally
Categories:
PMI Global Congress 2010 - North America
Categories: PMI Global Congress 2010 - North America
| The buzz at PMI's Global Congress 2010--North America was that organizations are finally looking to hire. And that's good news for project practitioners at any level. |
Great IT Projects Demand Great Governance
Categories:
PMI Global Congress 2010 - North America
Categories: PMI Global Congress 2010 - North America
| As CIO of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Richard A. Spires oversees 91 projects, each with a budget of at least US$50 million. And the first thing he did was conduct a review of each one of them. "It took a while but it was extraordinarily useful," he told the audience at PMI Global Congress 2010 -- North America. To transform great ideas into great project outcomes, you need great governance. But that only comes with the support of empowered executives who understand their role in keeping projects on schedule, said Mr. Spires. It also helps to have a strong governance board that draws on the expertise of business, IT, procurement and finance leaders. "I want them all in the same room, and I want them to buy into this program," Mr. Spires said. "A dynamic of trust and interrelationships are formed that can really help. You need governance to keep things moving, to get decisions made, and this way they're no longer working against each other." In a bureaucratic setting that sometimes seems designed to slow progress, Mr. Spires likes to keep the entire process open. "I always tell project managers, I want you transparent," he said. "I want the major risks brought up at the governance sessions so they can be dealt with." Good governance goes hand-in-hand with good execution -- which means establishing an authoritative project management office with full-time, in-house leadership. As with many presentations at congress, there was talk about agile. Mr. Spires said people don't always know what they want when a project launches. So project managers should get projects out fast -- but be ready to shift. Mr. Spires recommends IT programs incrementally deliver operational capabilities with a first release within the first 18 months after funding. But he also conceded implementing agile requires some attitude adjustment -- especially given that DHS is comprised of 22 separate government agencies. Sometimes that sets off a "culture clash" between individuals who came up through the traditional large program model and those more comfortable with agile processes. If executed well, IT can be a transformational agent, Mr. Spires said. That sounds like pretty good advice whether you're working for a massive government agency or a small startup. Let the transformation begin... |
Bill Clinton Says Project Managers Help Tackle Global Challenges
Categories:
PMI Global Congress 2010 - North America
Categories: PMI Global Congress 2010 - North America
| Former U.S. president Bill Clinton sent out a powerful message: Project managers will play a significant role in taking on the toughest global challenges. "If you're a project manager and you're a professional, there's always going to be something you can do for the next 50 years in the 21st century," Mr. Clinton told the audience Sunday night at PMI Global Congress 2010 -- North America. Saying he was "fascinated" by project management, Mr. Clinton saw how the profession played a role in his own career. "The more I thought about coming here, the more I thought about how much my life [in politics] and my work now revolves around good, or not-so-good, project management -- how to allocate money, time and people in a way that achieves the desired objective," he said. Since leaving office in 2001, Mr. Clinton has headed up the William J. Clinton Foundation, which works to " strengthen the capacity of governments and individuals to alleviate poverty, improve global health, strengthen economies, and protect the environment.." Mr. Clinton said in six years, the Clinton Global Initiative, one of his foundation's separate initiatives, has raised about US$63 billion in commitments over a 10-year period while impacting the lives of 300 million people in more than 170 countries. "All these things require establishing and executing projects -- and recognizing when they don't work, because not everything does," he said. Even projects aimed at the greater good must have a solid plan of action. You have to prove sustainability projects make economic sense, he said. Turning good intentions into positive outcomes -- that's what project managers do, Mr. Clinton said. Mr. Clinton identified three specific challenges facing the world today: • Global instability • Growing economic inequality between rich and poor countries • The need for change in the way energy is produced and consumed in the world "We've got to do something about these three things, and we have to decide who is going to do it and how," Mr. Clinton said. Mr. Clinton also highlighted the challenges facing Haiti and the projects his foundation launched in the wake of the massive earthquake that rocked the country in January. Calling his efforts in Haiti "the hardest thing I've ever done in my life," Mr. Clinton encouraged project managers to do their part. "Anybody that wants to come help me develop building standards to make sure that everything we do is both earthquake- and hurricane-resistant, I would be happy to have your help," Mr. Clinton said. "The good news is, every day I live I become more convinced that intelligence, ability and hard work are equally distributed [throughout the world]. Organization and opportunity are not." As the world begins its economic recovery, Mr. Clinton says he remains hopeful and that "the process of digging out of it will be somehow purifying for us." Updated October 19, 2010: Ricardo Viana Vargas, PMP, past Chair of the PMI Board of Directors, shares interesting details of President Clinton's remarks at congress in a podcast on his website. |