Show Your Appreciation
| Acknowledging people for the contribution they make to a project team or to their organization is such a simple matter. It's something I say repeatedly wherever I can get on my "soapbox": We can acknowledge people at any time, at no cost, without having to buy anything, install software or study an instruction manual. Last night my soapbox was a live webinar attended primarily by project managers from all over the world, including Hong Kong, China, India, Brazil and the United States. During the seminar I asked participants, "How do you feel when you complete a project that you put your whole heart, soul, body, mind and spirit into for the past several months, the users love the end result and your manager gives you nothing more than a quick 'thank you?" This was the response via text chat: Thomas: discouraged Tanya: feel used Srikrithiga: not interested to work James: discouraged Suganthi: Discouraged James: feel indifferent Sanjib: feeling of being empty--what was I doing all the time? Ravindra: No motivation Tanya: I won't give my best effort Linda: lack of loyalty Linda: feeling insecure, not as interested in working so hard Fabricio: lack of motivation Jade: feel not being valued, lack of respect Then I asked, "How do you feel if your manager tells you what a difference your work made to the project team, how your contribution made the project a success, how much the users loved it, that she was getting wonderful feedback on it, and that the next time you would get more resources so you didn't have to work so many nights and weekends?" And they answered: James: I would feel appreciated; that motivates me Shelley: Motivated...willing to give an even greater effort Linda: enthusiastic Ravindra: I would make extra efforts Mariano: I would feel like a giant Jade: more loyalty Linda Benedict: my confidence would be boosted by the acknowledgement Srikrithiga: I would give 200% for work Performance, loyalty, engagement, confidence, motivation, self-worth are all functions of acknowledgment rather than compensation. Especially during these challenging economic times--when everyone is working harder and having to do more--let's do our best to create a culture of appreciation in which people know their value and their worth. There could be nothing simpler and more satisfying and with greater results. |
Project Controls & Communication
Categories:
Communications Management
Categories: Communications Management
| Describing scheduling, earned value management (EVM) and financial management as "project controls" is, I would suggest, dangerous! The steering mechanism on a car is a control system. You move the steering wheel, and the front wheels turn and if the car is in motion, its direction of travel is altered. Control systems cause a change. Altering the duration of a task in a schedule, or calculating the current cost performance index and estimate at completion for an EVM report changes nothing. All you have is new data. If the data is going to cause a change, it needs to be communicated to the right people. They need to receive, understand and believe the data--this changes the data into information. Then they need to use this new information to change their future behaviors. This is a communication process. The challenge facing schedulers and other controls staff is recognizing their primary role is communication not controls. Certainly they need to be able to gather and process information effectively but this is wasted effort without equally effective communication. Other challenges include: • Identifying the right people to communicate with--the project manger is the only one • Formatting the data in a way that can be easily understood by the receiver. Without understanding, there will be no action. • Focusing the information on what matters in the future No one can change the past and it's always too late to change the present. The only value a project control tool can offer is to influence future actions and decisions. This requires making schedules, cost plans and the like as simple as possible to improve communication and facilitate understanding by the project team. Only after the project team fully understands the information can you expect them to use the information to make wise decisions about future actions. |
Preventing Project Fraud
| Have you ever experienced project fraud? Examples include: Time theft: Team members charging for time they didn't spend on a project or overlapping time on multiple projects Resource theft: Loss of physical resources, such as software or hardware, or use of project resources for activities not in the project scope Conflict of interest: Any kind of subcontracting to or employment of resources based on friendships or connections rather than skill sets required for the project So how can project fraud be prevented? One way is to have clear policies and procedures for resource utilization, and processes for timesheet management, recording, charging and justifying time. Implementing internal controls for managing and reporting on project progress and utilization of resources can also help. Many elements of fraud cease to exist when you use weekly report cards on key project reporting elements: budget, time and scope. Reporting on resource usage based on project activities can show and account for time charged quickly and with clarity as to where and how resources are used. Keeping track of the entire project inventory with a systematic approach can reduce or eliminate resource theft. Sometimes it's a matter of implementing processes that simply do not allow for resource misappropriation. For instance, sometimes it can be easier to manage consultants than members of the permanent staff. Why? Because there's a forced process to account for time spent. Some organizations also require permanent/full time staff to report time spent on projects. This allows for a more controlled use of time, as resources, regardless of what field they are working in, will be accountable for the time they put in. What other types of project fraud have you seen and what are your recommendations for combating them? |
The Double Paycheck
| Organizations always seem to be looking for ways to keep major talent engaged and loyal. Simple as it sounds, they need look no further than making sure that they have created a culture of appreciation. I have heard acknowledgments referred to as "the double paycheck," which I think is very fitting. Even people who earn less than they feel they should, will dig in and engage fully if that other "paycheck" comes regularly. After a presentation I made to the PMI Information Systems Specific Interest Group last year at its Professional Development Day, a woman came up to me and told me that she had just left a high-paying, senior-level job, with no other job lined up. She left it, she said, because she hadn't realized that her former job at Booz Allen Hamilton was really a dream job. Although it probably wasn't the best job in the world, there was a culture of appreciation at that company that made it a pleasure to come to work each day. "I am going back there," she said emphatically. "Even if the job pays less and the level is lower, I don't care. I didn't realize what a difference the atmosphere of a company makes. At the job [after Booz Allen Hamilton], I didn't know my worth or my value and I didn't feel appreciated for anything that I did. I'm going back to Booz Allen Hamilton, no matter what." I later discussed this example with a Booz Allen Hamilton partner. "Oh," she laughed. "We call those the 'come-back kids' and we welcome them back once they realize what they were missing." And yes, it is a part of the company's philosophy and its mission to have a culture of appreciation. They most certainly seem to be doing something right. So what is that double paycheck worth? Everything! |
Practitioners Versus Accountants on Earned Value
Categories:
ROI
Categories: ROI
| Most of my regular readers know I like to take accountants to task for pretending to be able to deliver cost performance or estimate-at-completion information to decision-makers based on generally accepted accounting principles. But that door swings both ways: Earned value practitioners are also guilty of trying to further their technical agenda using the resource managers' arguments and analysis, which, in my opinion, is profoundly flawed. The most prominent of these tactics is to try to justify the cost--or even the existence--of the project management office by running some sort of ROI analysis. This is simply illogical if for no other reason than the ROI calculation pertains to assets, not capabilities. Less notorious but every bit as pernicious is the tendency of earned value practitioners and accountants to compare the time-phased budget's basis of estimate document with its associated actual costs at the line-item level. In the earned value world, comparing budgets to actuals is worse than useless: It's actually misleading. And yet, some practitioners seem to think that if such an analysis were simply done at a very detailed level, it would suddenly become relevant. It doesn't. Oh, they may try to make some lame argument about the need to benchmark the estimators' work, but this assertion lacks validity that can be demonstrated in the following scenario: A US$100,000 task is estimated to require US$25,000 in heavy equipment and US$75,000 in labor. At task end, US$74,000 was spent in heavy equipment and US$25,000 was spent in labor. An earned value management system correctly--would not raise the red flag for cost performance, but the system that compares budgets to actuals would erroneously report a severe problem--never mind that the task came in under budget. Any management information system that reports a phantom cost performance problem isn't good for very much. Next up: The absurdity of maintaining milestone lists in lieu of real schedules. |
