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Craft "High-Quality" Requirements
Categories:
Project Planning
Categories: Project Planning
| Project requirements derive from concrete business needs or business-use cases and constitute the foundation for the project work. Without requirements, projects cannot exist. Incomplete and unclear requirements may result in project failure. Moreover a significant part of project rework is attributable to problems with the project requirements. On the other hand, requirements that are clear, complete and understood by all the parties are of "high quality." They build a solid foundation for the project work. Collecting high quality requirements can be a challenging endeavor for several reasons: • Stakeholders often don't speak the same language (business vs. technical) • Stakeholders have different understandings and views of the product • Stakeholders have different backgrounds and expertise on the matter It may not be the project manager's role to collect, qualify and write requirements. But he or she is often the one planning the framework and determining or approving the guidelines by which requirements are elicited, qualified and accepted. The following guidelines should help in collecting high-quality project requirements: 1. No requirements without a use case Usually, requirements can be linked to concrete business cases, which are generally task- and user-centric. Use cases help understanding the requirements' context and purpose. 2. Requirements language Pay attention to the wording. Avoid ambiguous words. Use words and terms consistently. You might consider using a glossary of terms to ensure common understanding. Avoid words that have subjective meaning (nice, substantial, safe, simple) and that enforce direction weakly or that undermine commitment (often, always, partially, usually). Use "shall" or "must" instead of "should" or "might." Remove any room for interpretation. Avoid the usage of "and/or" together or "including but not limited to." 3. Requirements characteristics checklist Build a checklist of requirements characteristics that are relevant to your project's quality standards. Evaluate each requirement against the checklist. Here are 10 characteristics that I successfully use to evaluate the quality of requirements: Atomic: Is this a single requirement or multiple requirements in one? Complete: Is this comprehensive enough to start working on it? Traceable: Is this related to a use-case or need? Logical and Clear: Does it make sense? Does it leave no room for interpretation? Consistent: Is this consistent with the project objectives and other related requirements? Measurable: Is this measurable once a solution is delivered? Compliant: Is this aligned to the current product features, system architecture and legal framework? Feasible: Is this realistic and doable given the complexity and the project context and constraints? Necessary: Is this really required given the project objectives and constraints? Or is it more of a want than a need? Prioritized: What are its criticality, urgency and priority? What best practices do you use to ensure that project requirements are of high quality? |
Inspire Your Multigenerational Team
Categories:
Generational PM
Categories: Generational PM
| Although the multigenerational team has always existed, project performance can be affected by the project manager's leadership style. The project manager must inspire the members of different generations while recognizing and reconciling generation gaps to develop a healthy environment within the team. To do so, you must: 1. Win the team members' trust and loyalty Successful leaders need people around them who share the same mission and vision, and are enthusiastic about it. As a project manager, you must win the trust of the people you are leading. Your experience as project manager and confidence in your ability to succeed will inspire and make people believe in your capacities as project manager, regardless of what generation they are part of. 2. Do things differently Think about new and different ways to approach a project or project tasks. Get feedback from your team members and peers to use different approaches, tools and techniques when addressing project tasks. This will motivate your team members to take a more active role in the project. 3. Thank those who help your project to succeed Project success depends on how well the project team performs. Great leaders know that showing appreciation is a great way to show people they are valued, which everyone appreciates. Say "thank you" and recognize publicly those who helped the project to succeed. Define and communicate to the project team a recognition system and, from time to time, let them know how much you value their efforts and how much they mean to your organization. As a project manager, what are you doing to enhance your leadership skills? How do you lead and inspire multigenerational project team members? Read more about acknowledgement. |
The "Other-Conscious" in Public Speaking
| In my last post, Contagious Enthusiasm in Public Speaking, I talked about how being overly self-conscious can inhibit your effectiveness as a public speaker. I also know that public speaking is a valuable way to enhance your career growth. I promised to explore the idea of being fully "other-conscious" a little more deeply. Communication, of course, is what we project managers spend the majority of our time doing. Public speaking is common enough for us. All communication is about sharing meaning. To be effective, we need to have a good understanding of whom we are talking to and what will influence his or her understanding of the message we are trying to communicate. The best communicators have a keen ability to be very attuned to the other person. It helps them develop a rapport that makes real understanding happen more readily. Effective public speakers bring this ability to the group setting. They master the ability to be dialed in, not to the group, but rather, to many individuals simultaneously. Some people who are extraordinarily good in "one-on-one" situations can be very ineffective as public speakers because they find it so distressing. Much of what people find distressing stems from self-consciousness -- they are overly concerned with how people perceive and react to them. Forget self-consciousness. Be other-conscious. If everything we do is focused entirely on the listener as an individual, it can help us have the kind of rapport essential for good two-way communication. The mistake people often make is to view public speaking as addressing an audience -- a nameless, faceless and even a potentially hostile audience. Rather, we should view our listeners as a collection of individuals with whom we need to establish separate relationships in order to effectively communicate with them. But don't ignore yourself in the process. On the contrary, because of the importance of the speaker's role, visibility, prominence and leveraged influence, the speaker must pay particular attention to him or herself. And that means, with a mind toward the other. What do you think? Does being self-conscious help you be other-conscious in all communications, not just public speaking? Read more about speaking in your project management career. Get more career help. |
Project Success: Elements of High Productivity
Categories:
Reflections on the PM Life
Categories: Reflections on the PM Life
| I've been in the project management profession for more than a decade. Admittedly, I've had my share of times when I was less productive than I would like to be. While I haven't figured out an exact formula for having superior productivity at all times, I have noticed what contributes to both success and failure in high productivity, for me. These four elements help me stay on track. Coachability When you are coachable, you can easily adapt. You are willing to learn something new and possibly change something about yourself in terms of how you work, react or approach tasks. Clarity of the overall goal When I'm working on a project, I want to be clear on what we are working on, what the ultimate goal is, or final result that is expected. With the clarity of the goal, it's easier to commit. With clarity, commitment and coachability, you're halfway there. What gets you to the end game is two other elements: discipline and self-control. I'm not perfect at either, but I've noted that when I am most successful, these two elements are present. When I fail or get close to failing, they are lacking. Discipline Discipline allows me to focus on the right activity and to motivate myself to do what needs to be done on a regular basis. While I might be good at "catching up" on what I'm behind on, if I have the self-discipline, most of the time, I'm on task. Self-control Self-control is an act of controlling one's impulses to do something other than the task at hand. I catch myself now getting distracted by some activities, but ultimately, self-control allows me to avoid the wrong ones. We have to remember that what we do is guided by how we think. Every day, I set a goal to have all of these elements in check for any specific project or task. It opens up actions and the things I need to do right away to either stay on track, get back on track or even outperform what was planned. How do you stay productive? Read more from Dmitri. |
What Does a Project Sponsor Really Do?
Categories:
Stakeholder Management
Categories: Stakeholder Management
| A recent commenter suggested I write a post to help clarify the project sponsor's role. Your project sponsor is the key link between the project management team and the organization's executive management. An effective sponsor "owns" the project and has the ultimate responsibility for seeing that the intended benefits are realized to create the value forecast in the business case. A good project sponsor will not interfere in the day-to-day running of the project -- that's the role of the project manager. But, the sponsor should help the project manager facilitate the necessary organizational support needed to make strategic decisions and create a successful project. With respect to the project, effective sponsors should:
It's important to flag the lack of effective sponsorship as a key risk to the project. It may not make you popular, but you have an ethical responsibility to clearly define risks that need management attention. Ultimately the organization's executive management is responsible for training and appointing effective sponsors. If this has not happened, as project managers, all we can do is help those sponsors who are willing to be helped and flag a risk or issue for those that are missing or unwilling to support "their project." Read more about project sponsors. |