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Voices on Project Management
by Cameron McGaughy,
Lynda Bourne, Kevin Korterud, Peter Tarhanidis, Conrado Morlan, Jen Skrabak, Mario Trentim, Christian Bisson, Yasmina Khelifi, Sree Rao, Soma Bhattacharya, Emily Luijbregts, David Wakeman, Ramiro Rodrigues, Wanda Curlee, Lenka Pincot, cyndee miller, Jorge Martin Valdes Garciatorres, Marat Oyvetsky
Voices on Project Management offers insights, tips, advice and personal stories from project managers in different regions and industries. The goal is to get you thinking, and spark a discussion. So, if you read something that you agree with--or even disagree with--leave a comment.
View Posts By:
Cameron McGaughy
Lynda Bourne
Kevin Korterud
Peter Tarhanidis
Conrado Morlan
Jen Skrabak
Mario Trentim
Christian Bisson
Yasmina Khelifi
Sree Rao
Soma Bhattacharya
Emily Luijbregts
David Wakeman
Ramiro Rodrigues
Wanda Curlee
Lenka Pincot
cyndee miller
Jorge Martin Valdes Garciatorres
Marat Oyvetsky
Past Contributors:
Rex Holmlin
Vivek Prakash
Dan Goldfischer
Linda Agyapong
Jim De Piante
Siti Hajar Abdul Hamid
Bernadine Douglas
Michael Hatfield
Deanna Landers
Kelley Hunsberger
Taralyn Frasqueri-Molina
Alfonso Bucero Torres
Marian Haus
Shobhna Raghupathy
Peter Taylor
Joanna Newman
Saira Karim
Jess Tayel
Lung-Hung Chou
Rebecca Braglio
Roberto Toledo
Geoff Mattie
Recent Posts
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The Technical Program Manager: How to Stay Relevant in 2025
5 Things Your Operational Plan Should Do
5 New Project Guardrails for Adaptive Leaders
The Leader's Voice: Respect It, Protect It, and Use It Properly!
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Date
| The project schedule plan is probably one of the most important project management assets a project manager has to develop, maintain and manage throughout a project. Why? Because compared to other planning documents -- such as the resources plan, costs plan or risk management plan -- a project schedule will generally have widespread visibility within the project's environment and among stakeholders.
For instance, your project sponsors will want to see your project schedule and understand whether you are on track to deliver it on time. The beneficiaries of your project will want to see it to understand your next deliverables or key milestones. Your core project team will seek it out to find out how work activities are planned and relate to one another, and how resources are allocated. And, probably most important, you as the project manager will need it to be your map throughout the project, guiding you to drive the project to its target.
Now, if your project schedule is incomplete or flawed -- for example, it's missing work tasks or it features wrong dependencies between project tasks -- you will most likely steer your project into a wall. And even if you put everything right into it (i.e., all work activities, the right durations, right resources assigned, right dependencies), that still might not be sufficient for a successful delivery. That's because, as you know, a project schedule is not a linear sequencing of work tasks that perform exactly as initially planned.
In addition, your project schedule will be subject to the project's challenges and constraints, such as resources scarcity, work overload, aggressive milestones or delays. It's these unexpected or imposed factors that will constrain your project schedule and demand that you react quickly, applying various tactics and techniques, to adapt the project schedule and make it ultimately work.
There are several techniques that can help in analyzing, adapting and improving a constrained project schedule. Among these, three stand out for their effectiveness:
- Resource leveling, to be used when you have resource constraints or are aiming for more efficient and effective resources utilization
- Schedule crashing, for reducing tasks' duration by applying multiple or better resources to the same tasks
- Fast-tracking, to reduce the project duration by overlapping tasks that otherwise would have been sequential and dependent on one another
In my next post, I'll dive deeper into what these three techniques are, when to apply them and how to do so.
How do you manage constraints to your project schedule?
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Posted
by
Marian Haus
on: February 19, 2014 10:17 AM
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Permalink |
Comments (1)
| We all agree that projects need things. These things can run the gamut, from pencils to gas turbines. In the past, the corporate function that acquired things for projects was called "purchasing." Its sole role was to do what the title implies — purchase things. As corporate governance evolved, so did the purchasing department into what we now know as procurement.
Today, procurement has to orchestrate the acquisition of hundreds, if not thousands, of things for projects on a daily basis. In addition, this department puts in place policies that keep project managers from purchasing a gas turbine when they need only a pencil. Traditionally, project managers have viewed procurement departments as a barrier to progress and a constant source of frustration. However, this friction can sometimes be the fault of the project manager, who's not practicing good stakeholder management with procurement team members.
As with any other stakeholder, team members from procurement need to be an integral part of the project team. Let's look at ways to make this happen, as well as the benefits of doing so:
- Share the big picture. Project managers tend to assume that procurement team members already have deep knowledge of the things they need to acquire for the project. Even with procurement departments dividing acquisition activities into product categories, it's nearly impossible for procurement team members to know everything about their product category. To enable a smooth acquisition process, share the objectives, scope and schedule for the project with them. By clearly understanding the needs of the project, the procurement team can be more effective in acquiring things for the project in a timely and effective manner.
- Clear division of responsibilities. As part of the project, procurement team members need to understand their roles and connection points with other team members. This understanding of others' roles is essential so that the procurement team members know what and with whom to execute acquisition activities. In addition, it is also essential to discuss the best way to engage suppliers with procurement team members, as a poor supplier engagement process can adversely impact the project budget, costs and resulting benefits. A good side effect of discussing vendors together is that the project manager and procurement team members work closely and keep each other informed of acquisition progress and potential issues.
- Recognition as a key team member. Acquisition activities on projects can involve both short-term consumables (e.g., printer paper, temporary office space, etc.), as well as long-term capital investments (e.g., software and hardware). Especially in the latter case, the activities of procurement team members can have a substantial influence on the outcome of the project. When organizing the project, ensure that procurement members are a visible and engaged part of the team that reports to the project manager. They should also be included in project team meetings and project work plan, and contribute to the project status report.
By adopting these practices, you can better leverage the specialized skills of procurement team members — and you just might be able to acquire both pencils and turbines in a manner that will keep your project on schedule.
What methods can you recommend to help integrate procurement into your project team?
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Posted
by
Kevin Korterud
on: February 12, 2014 05:31 PM
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Permalink |
Comments (0)
| I often say that establishing a project management office (PMO) is not for the faint of heart. It is a very difficult endeavor -- not just because it involves advanced knowledge, but also because it challenges status quo in the organization.
In my previous post, we discussed The Must-Haves of Establishing a PMO. Now we are going one step further by laying out an implementation plan. Implementing a PMO involves five basic -- but essential -- sets of decisions:
1. Current State Assessment
- How many projects do we have today, and how are they being managed?
- Are their results satisfactory?
- Do we really need a PMO?
- What type of PMO?
2. Future State Vision
- What functions will be performed by the PMO?
- What results do we expect from the implementation?
3. Gap Analysis
- What do we have right now in terms of project governance, methodology, infrastructure, human resources and software?
- What do we need to implement a PMO that delivers the expected results?
- How are we going to handle change management, stakeholder expectations and cultural aspects?
4. Implementation Strategy
- What is the scope of the implementation?
- What are the barriers, enablers and risks of this implementation, and how are we going to deal with them?
- Are we going to hire a consultancy?
- Do we start a small pilot and grow it through quick wins? Or do we set up for global, company-wide implementation?
- What are the implementation's critical success factors?
5. Implementation Plan
- What is our roadmap for implementation?
- What are the implementation's phases and key milestones?
- How many resources do we need?
- How much will the implementation cost?
- How do we guarantee the PMO's sustainability? How are we going to measure its performance and improve it?
Not following these steps can result in serious problems. For example, if we don't conduct a gap analysis, we will probably end up with an unfeasible plan, disconnected from reality.
I once participated in a PMO implementation that was doomed to fail under the original plan. The future state vision was nearly impossible to reach, considering the current state of the organization. While conducting the gap analysis, it became clear that we should lower our expectations to implement that PMO. In that particular case, it was necessary to implement a rudimentary PMO to kick-start a cultural change to embrace project management. That was the chosen implementation strategy, which led to a feasible implementation plan supported by key stakeholders.
In my next post, we'll dive deeper into these five steps with best practices and examples on how to carry them out.
What other questions do you think are helpful to ask of your organization when building a PMO implementation plan?
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Posted
by
Mario Trentim
on: February 06, 2014 10:13 AM
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Permalink |
Comments (5)
In my last post, I discussed the benefits of learning to listen. Here, I will share easy, actionable steps to help develop your listening skills. While going through the steps below, please remember, listening more and talking less are two sides of the same communication coin.
- Start your discussion by praising the other person who has just finished talking, even if you disagree with him or her. Normally we do not disagree with all the points of the other person, but we tend to ignore the points of agreement. Starting with praise will help you listen to the other person completely, and you will be compelled to try to find points where you agree rather than disagree.
- Remember that more talkative people spill more information, and that can be used against them. As talkative people listen less, their questions also often go unanswered. When you are aware that you may be providing unnecessary information to others, you'll make an effort to speak about only what is necessary.
- Better listeners get more information from others, which they can use to fine-tune their point of view and present it more effectively. When you're eager to improve your thoughts, you listen more carefully, because that helps you strategize. Listening will make you a better negotiator.
- Write down points of agreement and disagreement. When you write down the points, you have little option but to listen.
- If you do not get the opportunity to talk, the sky will not fall. Moreover, it is of little use talking in a forum that does not give all participants an opportunity to present their point of view. Most of the time, when someone says, "Listen to me," the opposite happens.
- Don't try to win the speaking contest. Instead, focus on winning the hearts of the people by understanding them. Many times, more talkative people appear to win the battle, but they lose the war. More talkative people do not converse, but instead force their viewpoint on others. This creates a negative perception of such a person that sustains beyond the conversation and impacts the overall relationship.
- Establish simple, fair rules. In a group, ground rules help create an environment of listening. For example, solicit opinions one at a time, give everyone two minutes to put up their points in round-robin fashion, or ask that everyone reiterate the previous speaker's point of view before making his or her own.
- Take an example from the deaf. I will leave you with a thought from A Comma in a Sentence by Indian businessman and author R. Gopalakrishnan, in which he gains a valuable perspective from hearing-impaired teacher Bruno Kahne. The book paraphrases Mr. Kahne: "Deaf people look at the speaker in the eye and make sure they are fully present in the interaction. They absorb more and retain more. In many management situations...there are simultaneous and multiple conversations. That will never happen with deaf people. They follow a strict protocol of one person speaking at a time. Consensus and agreement are reached faster than out of a heated and overlapping conversation. In the long term, slower is faster. Deaf people are direct and they communicate with their thoughts and feelings.... They are economical about the way they communicate. For the same reason, they listen well, too."
What is your top tip for becoming a good listener?
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Posted
by
Vivek Prakash
on: February 02, 2014 09:22 PM
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Permalink |
Comments (1)
| "You cannot manage what you cannot measure" is a common mantra of today's business world. But to really make a difference on projects, you also have to make sure you're measuring -- and communicating -- the right things.
A policy introduced to measure the performance of our local hospitals a couple years back offers a salient lesson. Our state government decided to incentivize hospitals by rewarding good performance and penalizing poor performance using a standard set of KPIs.
The plan created many vested interests:
- The government's desire to look good by reducing patient waiting time
- The hospitals' desire to achieve the maximum budget income for the year
- The administrators' desire, both in the hospital and the government, to avoid rocking the boat
But an audit found KPI-induced behaviors, in many cases, were worse for patients than if nothing had changed in policy.
For example, one key measure was the time patients wait in the casualty/emergency area before being admitted to the hospital. So to avoid a fine for failing to admit the patient within the prescribed maximum time, some administrators were transferring patients from emergency care to the operating theater's waiting area.
The action meant a reduction in the level of care, with the patient being moved to an area with little monitoring capability. Throughput in the operating theater was also diminished due to overcrowding and skilled staff having to spend time on patient care rather than surgery.
The government had its data and the hospital system responded to the stimulus of the KPI, but everyone forgot the key objective: enhanced patient care.
There are a number of important lessons in this story to consider when setting up project dashboards and the like:
- The KPIs you choose communicate to stakeholders what you think is most important. What is easy to measure is not necessarily important.
- What you choose to measure will change behaviors. Focus on things that matter, such as value and benefits, not easy-to-measure statistics, such as time and cost.
- Make sure the data is validated.
- A KPI system cannot solve the problem, but it can be a powerful facilitator of solutions if it's set to measure the right statistics and ask the right questions.
Simply identifying a problem and creating a KPI is not enough! Work with the project team to make sure an effective solution is crafted and then measure the effectiveness of the solution. This is far more challenging than simply processing monthly reports on easily accessible information such as schedule performance, but it can really contribute to the overall performance of your organization.
Finally, remember that if you pick the wrong KPI, you will get behavior changes, often times for the worse. It's better to have an informed conversation with key stakeholders over value and what really matters.
What messages are you sending with the metrics you choose to measure success? |
Posted
by
Lynda Bourne
on: January 29, 2014 11:24 AM
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Comments (0)
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