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How Project Managers Can Execute Force Majeure Clauses
Categories:
Best Practices
Categories: Best Practices
| The revolutions and demonstrations last year in the Middle East and North Africa, dubbed the Arab Spring of 2011, was a trying time for project managers in the region. As we near the first year anniversary of these historic events, we face more uncertainty. We have witnessed the evacuation of expatriate staff, the relocation of operations, and an unmotivated local workforce. Project managers still see strikes, riots, civil disobedience and tension. Some projects have been derailed, failed to meet their objectives or are late. Customers have faced contractors, suppliers and developers absolving themselves of their contractual responsibilities by pleading "force majeure." "Force majeure" is a common contractual clause that frees parties, bound by a contract, from liability or obligation if an "act of god" happens. Unless these acts are clearly defined, they are assumed to be extraordinary events with an extremely low likelihood of occurring. If used, force majeure clauses shift risk allocation from project contractors to their customers or other contractual stakeholders. Organizations with projects in regions where force majeure events have taken place should prepare for ongoing conditions. To reduce the potential for conflict and ambiguity, organizations should add more contractual detail and definition to force majeure provisions in existing and new contracts. It eases tension and increases the prospect of sharing the responsibilities of cost and impact from these events. Project managers can follow these good practices to add detail and definition to force majeure clauses in the following way: Define what circumstances and events constitute a force majeure. What constitutes force majeure in my region seems to be open to interpretation. My advice to project professionals is to provide as much clarity to this clause as feasibly possible by listing examples and inclusions. Depending on the project's nature and location, the list might highlight political unrest, riot, war, invasion, terrorism, civil war, rebellion, revolution or insurrection. Other events could be radiation leaks, nuclear accidents, toxic explosions and natural disasters. Define what constitutes the end of a force majeure. A demonstration or strike would have a start and end time, for example. However, this event may have ongoing implications that could disrupt project work. This may include changed work conditions, reduced resource and productivity, or loss of utilities, materials and equipment. The force majeure clause should detail whether these impacts are the reasons for non-performance and non-liability for damages. Agree on a formal process in the event of a force majeure. There should be additions to the clause on:
Project managers should identify risks and responses associated with continuing the project work such as:
Read more posts from Saira. |
Project Goal Management: A Film Maker's Experience
Categories:
Portfolio Management
Categories: Portfolio Management
| This year, "Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale," a Taiwanese film, was submitted for a nomination for a 2012 Academy Award, a top movie prize in the United States, for best foreign-language film. Although the film industry is a particularly challenging and unpredictable way to attain success, the process of making the film provides a lesson project professionals in any industry can learn from. Creating this film was like any project -- it faced unique challenges. To start, the Taiwanese box office is small, and the director, Wei Te-Sheng, needed financing for the film. But how could he find sponsors when he was a "no-name" director with a low budget? The answer was obvious: Make a simple, yet successful film to create a good reputation and attract investment. To fulfil this goal, Mr. Te-Sheng directed "Cape No. 7" in 2008. It generated box office returns of more than NT$500 million (US$16,900,249) and won multiple awards. He was now in a position to begin producing his historical epic film. Financing opportunities came easily, and the end product was an film worthy of a submission for nomination to the Academy Awards. Mr. Te-Sheng's progress should be recognizable to any business strategist as adhering to the principles of program management. The goal of Mr. Te-Sheng's program was to make "Seediq Bale," but he had to complete smaller projects to achieve it:
This example reveals a lesson in terms of organizational strategy: Always remember to ensure the benefits of programs and projects align with the company's ultimate objective. Don't be distracted. Have you ever completed smaller projects to prove to sponsors you could make a bigger project work? Read more posts from Roger. Read more on portfolio management. |
Ask Good Questions to Ensure Project Governance
Categories:
Stakeholder Management
Categories: Stakeholder Management
| Effective project management governance is becoming an important topic at all levels of many organizations. Project governance focuses on making sure the whole of an organization's project management system is effectively supporting its strategy. Good governance requires that the governing board sets the strategy and provides direction -- and not become involved in the day-to-day management of the organization. It's up to the organization's managers to implement the strategy and provide the board with the necessary assurances, information and advice needed to support the governance process. Good governance and optimum performance should be synonymous. And developing an efficient structure to ensure both is a subtle art. The directors need to ask their executive managers the right questions and the managers need to develop efficient systems that deliver the right answers. Paul A. Samuelson, an American economist said, "Good questions outrank easy answers." In other words, if you don't ask the right questions, you are unlikely to get the information you need to make good decisions. The governance processes need to focus on the aspects of project delivery that really matter. Some key questions to ask include: - Are we doing the right projects? - Do we have the optimum risk profile? - Do we have the resources and capability to accomplish the selected projects? - Are we properly supporting our project teams to encourage success? The challenge we face as project professionals is that most directors and senior executives have had limited exposure to effective project management systems. Concepts such as project portfolio management are relatively new and are still evolving. PMI is providing strong leadership in developing these concepts, but I find that execution of the work is largely occurring at operational management levels. The challenge we face as project management experts is educating our senior executives and directors to ask the right questions in order to help move the organization forward. We must encourage them to invest in developing the ability to effectively manage the organization's project management so the executives and directors can get meaningful answers. Effective project governance structure provides the optimum environment to allow project and program managers to deliver successful outcomes, so encouraging its development is in everyone's interest. How can you and your colleagues work to encourage the "right questions" in your organization? |
Rediscover Project Management Knowledge
Categories:
Reflections on the PM Life
Categories: Reflections on the PM Life
| Do you ever notice how after learning a concept many years ago, when you come across it again, you understand it either differently or better? As we experience "life" in project management -- managing various projects, working with new teams and wearing different hats on those teams -- we get to see various aspects of project management in action. We add to that knowledge from our own successes and failures. We usually refer to those experiences as growth and development. The experience alters how we see things and how we communicate with people: our teammates, suppliers, third party partners, customers and clients. It also alters how we perform work because we gain a new point of view or change in our current point of view. As such, it's valuable to review what you already know by reading through chapters of A Guide to Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) to focus on the key areas that you work in, be it in risk management, scope management or resource scheduling. When you review the material after having had some experience, you not only remind yourself of what you learned initially, but you see it differently. You catch some elements that you didn't see how to implement before, or you recognize how to relate to something in a way that you didn't before. Having that "life" experience in project management alters how you see the material and how you apply it in everyday work. This happened to me when I reviewed the PMBOK® Guide recently. After reviewing the chapter on risk management, I realized that my company needed to include additional steps for how we handle a backup or restore operation. While many companies have testing strategies, ours only documented this step conceptually. I may not have noticed this if I hadn't reread the PMBOK® Guide. I challenge you to review the knowledge in the PMBOK® Guide and see how you can apply it to your active projects. Areas that you can improve on will turn up and will add value to your project management practice. How do you rediscover your project management knowledge? Have you rediscovered practices from the PMBOK® Guide recently? Editor's note: From 17 February - 20 March 2012, the exposure draft of A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) -- Fifth Edition will be open for public review. Find out more and provide your recommendations and comments on the draft. Read more from Dmitri. |
Contagious Enthusiasm in Public Speaking
Categories:
Career Development
Categories: Career Development
| A few years ago, I was at a PMI chapter professional development day to give a presentation and attend some sessions. Between sessions, I saw a young man who worked for one of the conference sponsors reading something. I asked him what he was reading, and he said he was going over his notes for his upcoming presentation. "Excellent," I commented. "What will you be talking about?" Our product," he replied. Then he added, "I'm probably going to bore everyone." "Why would it bore everyone?" I asked. "Well," he said, "because it's a boring presentation." Now I was really intrigued. I asked again why it's boring and got a similar response: "It's just not very interesting." I kind of felt sorry for the guy, but thought maybe I could help him out. I continued, "Certainly, it's interesting to you. You must have some enthusiasm for the topic -- the product you are here to sell! How can you share that enthusiasm with the folks who will be listening?" "No," he replied, "I don't really find the topic interesting at all. I don't have any enthusiasm for it." You can't give what you haven't got -- and the most important thing you can have when speaking is your enthusiasm for your topic. But having enthusiasm isn't enough. You have to be enthusiastic, and you have to be able to share your enthusiasm with others. But the biggest inhibitor to sharing enthusiasm is self-consciousness. Therein, I believe, lays the great secret to effective public speaking. Public speaking is a giving act. You are giving of yourself - your insights, your experience, your enthusiasm, your knowledge, your stories, your being. The effective speaker is fully tuned in to the people he or she is speaking to - fully conscious of their presence, their reaction, their needs - fully other-conscious. This leaves no room for self. No room for self-consciousness. Next post, I'd like to explore this idea of being fully "other-conscious" a little more deeply. In the meantime, I'd be interested to hear your thoughts about how being "self-conscious" can inhibit a speaker's effectiveness. Get more career help. |