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Insider Tips from the Project of the Year Award Winner and Finalists
Categories:
PMI Global Congress 2013 - North America
Categories: PMI Global Congress 2013 - North America
| It's a simple reality: All projects should serve a need. And SA Water Corp. had convinced stakeholders the solution for Australia's lingering drought was an AU$1.4 billion desalination plant. As the drought deepened, the government even increased the project budget by AU$450 million, pledging to double capacity and begin production 12 months early. But then it rained. And as the water flowed, support for the project ebbed. The team quickly responded -- a case study in how outstanding project management and stakeholder communication can turn the tide. The team completed the project 19 days early and within 1 percent of the original budget, earning the 2013 PMI Project of the Year Award. "This means a lot to everyone in this project who made such a huge difference in my state and to the nation," said Milind Kumar, SA Water's project and operations director, at the awards ceremony held at the PMI® Global Congress 2013 -- North America in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. "We made our state much better off for now and forever." SA Water was honored along with two finalists: Nemours Children's Hospital Project, Nemours, Orlando, Florida, USA: To design and build a US$397 million pediatric hospital, Nemours specifically sought out the feedback of children and their families. The project team also relied on rigorous change management processes to handle the many viewpoints of the 700 physicians and other employees hired in the final months of the project. The team completed the project on time and within budget in October 2012. Savannah River Site Recovery Act Project, Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, Aiken, South Carolina, USA: In 2009, Savannah River Nuclear Solutions launched a US$1.4 billion project to reduce the contaminated footprint and clean up the radioactive waste at Savannah River Site. The team surpassed its cleanup goals while bolstering the local economy by retaining 800 workers and hiring 1,400 new ones. In a panel discussion, representatives from all three organizations each offered up one piece of advice for project practitioners working on any kind of project: Don't be afraid to air some dirty laundry, said Susan Voltz, PMP, senior director, strategy and project management, Nemours. Creating a culture in which raising red flags is good helps avoid unpleasant surprises. Take the time to plan before you dig into delivery, said Paul Hunt, project manager and senior vice president of environmental management operations, SRNS. There can't be just one leader, said Mr. Kumar. There should be a network of leaders who will tell the truth -- good, bad or ugly. Check out videos of all the finalists on PMI.org and read full case studies in upcoming issues of PM Network. |
Getting Out of Trouble
| Project trouble can hit from a blind spot, even though you tried as much as possible to prepare for issues. You did a risk analysis when you took the project on, and even tried to be ready to mitigate unknown issues. As I advised in my previous post, do an assessment to determine the problem. Figure out what needs to be fixed, or if the situation is even fixable. If the project seems to have reached a point of no return, here are some tips on how to pull it out of trouble:
Finally, keep in mind that not all trouble devours all. Before panicking, calmly look to areas that will guide you to a solution. You may even find your project is more sound than it seems. How do you confront trouble on your project? |
Best Weekly Status Meeting Ever
Categories:
Project Delivery
Categories: Project Delivery
| Many project team members prepare for weekly status meetings with a sense of dread and resignation. These meetings often subject people to long motivational speeches, an overly detailed review of project tasks and even the unpleasant prospect of speaking about their specific progress in front of project leadership. Sometimes these meetings last hours, causing team members to rush to complete project activities. No wonder they make excuses to miss these meetings! How can you, as project manager, structure a weekly status meeting so team members are engaged, informed and willing to contribute to the project's next steps? Here are some tips: 1. Start with the answer. The worst question to ask is, "What did you do this week?" It invariably generates unnecessary, time-consuming dialogue from team members. Plus, you should already know what everyone on the team did during the week. Avoid this time-waster by starting with a "project answer," such as:
Starting the meeting with a project answer produces confidence in team members and allows them to focus on remedies for schedule, budget and progress variances. 2. Structure discussion around risks and issues. After presenting the project answer, lead a group discussion on risks and issues. You should have a list of the current risks and issues along with their assigned "owners." Make clear before the meeting that risk and issue owners should come prepared to share the status of their item. In addition, they should have a path to resolution. If they do not, this is a clear signal for you to escalate the risk or issue to the leadership team. 3. Clarify and confirm upcoming milestones. As the last agenda item on the status meeting, you should highlight the upcoming two to three weeks of milestones and the path to completion for them. In addition, share your expectations on the progress toward these milestones by the next status meeting. This agenda item also serves as an excellent opportunity for team members to identify new risks or issues that may impair the team's progress. 4. Schedule the status meeting the second workday of each week. Project managers have varying opinions on the best day to conduct status meetings. Some prefer the first workday, thinking it will provide a head start on the workweek. Others prefer the end of the workweek, believing this maximizes the project manager's visibility to recent project activities. Personally, I find that holding the meeting on the second workday is the most beneficial. It allows time during the first workday to gather information for the meeting. In addition, the project team then has three full days to act on the milestone guidance from the last portion of the meeting. These tips have worked well for me in leading effective status meetings. What's your number one tip for conducting successful status meetings? |
Navigating Complexity
Categories:
Complexity
Categories: Complexity
| Complexity is ever-present, and while it means different things to different organizations, some common traits do emerge. Nearly three of five respondents reported multiple stakeholders as complexity's defining characteristic in PMI's Pulse of the Professionâ„¢ In-Depth Report: Navigating Complexity. Ambiguity came in at a close second, with nearly half of organizations reporting it as a key trait of complexity. But as complexity takes on many forms, so do the ways to harness it. The Pulse complexity report revealed that among high-performing organizations -- those that complete 80 percent or more projects on time, on budget and within goals -- effective communications to all stakeholders had the most impact on projects with high complexity. SA Water is a prime example of how rock-solid communications can pay big dividends. When the 2013 PMI Project of the Year Award finalist launched an AU$1.4 billion project to build a desalination plant in the middle of a global economic meltdown, it faced a tough sell. So the Australian government agency identified key stakeholders -- which included everyone from business leaders to aboriginal elders -- and then tailored communications to each audience to gain buy-in. And when the severe drought -- the very reason for the project's existence -- ended, the agency built on the trust it had forged to showcase the continued value of the investment to a skeptical public. The team highlighted project facts on a dedicated website, held public meetings and met with community business groups. Drought or not, stakeholders are well aware of the project's ROI: long-term water security. But effective communications is just one way to wrangle complexity. According to the Pulse complexity report, an engaged project sponsor is a powerful ally for highly complex projects and programs. When Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, another 2013 PMI Project of the Year Award finalist, began its project to clean up aging stockpiles of nuclear waste, the details were still ambiguous. Before the team could get to work, it had to figure out what "clean" actually meant. To hammer out a definition, and thus a project scope, the team collaborated with the project sponsor, the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE), a PMI Global Executive Council member. The agency also relayed project progress to the U.S. government, which funded the project through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. In the end, the DoE's ongoing participation in the project pushed it toward the finish line -- under budget and more than four years ahead of schedule. Complexity is no doubt difficult to define and control. But according to the Pulse complexity report, a project with high complexity has an average budget double that of a project with no complexity -- putting that much more money on the line. And no organization can afford that kind of risk. For more on how to turn complexity into dexterity, read PMI's Pulse of the Professionâ„¢ In-Depth Report: Navigating Complexity. |
Taking Competitive Advantage of External Change
Categories:
Change Management
Categories: Change Management
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In recent posts, I've discussed how project managers can become agents of change, and how managing change can drive their organization's business goals. In this post, I'll focus on the external events that can affect business -- and how project practitioners can help their organizations derive value from these changes.
Over the years, I have witnessed organizations incorporate external forces, such as fluctuating market conditions or the advent of new technology, into their business planning process to much success.
A few years ago, I was part of a project team that helped harness external change. I was employed at an organization at the top of its industry, but one that was also facing shifting customer demands across its portfolio of products. The organization had to consider how to meet the demand changes, increase revenue and address the variability of the business plans.
The organization defined a new strategy that would allow us to weather economic headwinds, advance our value creation by integrating new products and services, and increase shareholder value. That strategy relied heavily on investing in a multi-year journey to execute mergers and acquisitions. And to succeed in this strategy, we needed to adapt internally to incorporate newly acquired companies into our operations.
That led to the creation of a Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) integration team, and I was invited to participate in building up this capability. Management selected a core project team that included high performers, particularly those who demonstrated strong IT skills and solid project management experience.
Right from the beginning, our core project team focused on setting clear goals, based on how we would provide benefits to our organization's customers -- and shift the market demands back to our favor. We drove several goals-setting sessions to establish a project timeline and identify opportunities for synergy savings (syncing expenditures to reduce administrative costs).
Then, we selected the rest of the M&A integration team members -- mostly various subject matter experts and business analysts who were well versed in project and change management. This helped us deliver multibillion-dollar integration on time and closely aligned to strategy. We were able to do so because of our team members' clear roles and expertise, but particularly because of these standout team characteristics:
Over the next three years, this same project team was called upon to develop knowledge and competence in the area of internal change. My organization dedicated a small M&A office to develop integration tools and codify our knowledge. We were even asked to continue to work together to build on the initial strategic goal: to help the company maintain its leadership position in the industry. That required us to support post-merger integrations by leading work streams and mentoring junior teams. Our competence increased in managing people across matrix teams, and the use of change management prepared us to lead and sustain other major initiatives of the organization.
How do you identify external change and help turn it to your organization's advantage? For more on change management, download PMI's Managing Change in Organizations: A Practice Guide, currently available for free download for a limited time only. Explore PMI's Change Management Resources.
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