Mark HipwellSr. Project Manager| Jaguar Land RoverAshby De La Zouch, Leicestershire, United Kingdom
Which PM tools and techniques do you always make a point of using that bring about the most amount of benefit to the project? Is it a communication technique, risk analysis, an estimating technique ... or something else?
Don't miss out the obvious ones! Saving Changes...
It will be interesting to see who has a “killer” technique response. In my experience (and everyone’s experience is different) I find that I almost always have to employ all of the essential project management processes at my disposal. However, some projects may require a lesser or greater emphasis on a particular process, template or technique. Or stated another way, the process, template or technique has to be adapted to each project. Therefore my killer technique, if I actually had one, may result in a dismal failure if used your project. Saving Changes...
Senior Advisor to the CEO| PMISterling, Va, United States
This is not really an answer to your question, but there are a number of them in gantthead's techniques wiki area. Saving Changes...
Mark Price PerryBusiness Driven PMO Evangelist| BOT InternationalOrlando, Fl, United States
Obviously, project management is about more than just the project schedule. But since you said, "don't miss out the obvious ones", I will throw the project scheduler into the "tools" mix. Whether MS Project, Primavera, Open Workbench, or any of the other fine tools, a good project schedule, at the appropriate level of detail for the project, can be of great value in managing and communicating the project. And of all of the many important techniques, dynamic scheduling would be at the top of my list as well.
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Randy Bennettsr proj mgr| fiservCollegeville, Pa, United States
Like Rich pointed out, "killer techniques" depend on the person, the status of the project, the organizational climate, etc. That said, there is one technique I've used with much success in projects that were in trouble (out of scope, over budget, missing schedule). It's a 30 minute meeting every morning, focused entirely on obstacles and roadblocks. Oh, and I have the tables and chairs removed from the room where we meet -- helps keep it focused and limited to 30 minutes. Saving Changes...
Mark Price PerryBusiness Driven PMO Evangelist| BOT InternationalOrlando, Fl, United States
Randy, great "meeting technique". Years back, one of the EDS executives I worked with employed this technique. He would never have (allow) chairs in the meeting room nor the meeting to exceed 30 minutes (some meetings were even kept to 15 minutes). The end result - extremely effective meetings and not just time, but content and communication as well.
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Mark HipwellSr. Project Manager| Jaguar Land RoverAshby De La Zouch, Leicestershire, United Kingdom
I also like that meeting technique ... I've heard of it being done in 6-sigma kaizen type events but never before in PM. Maybe I'll start off without tables first though and see how it goes ... at least that will stop people doing their email in the meetings! Saving Changes...
Randy Bennettsr proj mgr| fiservCollegeville, Pa, United States
yeah mark, that's a good point. I'm now scouting conference rooms to see if we have one that is in a wireless dead-zone. I am not sure I want to try collecting Blackberrys and laptops at the door. Saving Changes...
Be careful not to alienate your projerct resources by taking away their chairs. I think it does depend on the team as to wether a stand up meeting is best or not. It also might not suit every meeting type.
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George JucanManaging Partner| Organizational Perfomance Enablers NetworkWoodbridge, Ontario, Canada
Hi Mark,
My “killer” technique is personal communication, both within the team and with major stakeholders. Starting with my personal belief that the project success lies more “in the eye of the beholder” and less in meeting the limits on triple constraint dimensions, I always maintain direct relationships with all people involved in the project.
Constant interaction helped me proactively identify concerns and resolve them before they became issues and needed a formal (time-consuming) approach – and this works both with the team and with executives etc. I also discovered that people that are and feel involved are more likely to understand an issue and support adequate corrective actions when needed. And this is extremely valuable with the client(s), as they will more likely tolerate a small delay or price increase to get what they actually need, rather than getting what they thought they need when the project was started at the committed price and deadline.
While I apply all the “engineering” tools and techniques, my experience says that personal interaction is the one that enables a project to achieve real success.
Hope it helps,
George Jucan
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Randy Bennettsr proj mgr| fiservCollegeville, Pa, United States
George --
You remind me of a technique I learned from some research into school violence, that I apply during my work as a pit marshal for sports car racing, and have tried in my PM role. It is a less direct versionof your technique.
Always make some kind of contact with people in your area. Even if the contact is to say, "Hi, how area things going?" or "Hows the work on this coming along?", or my favorite, "Has anybody checked to see how this new approach (or whatever) is effecting you?" The point is to establish some form of relationship or acquaintence well before you need to have serious communication with that person.
As a lecturer I once heard said, "The 3 most important things in project management are: People, People, and software tools. But I'm not so sure about the software." Saving Changes...
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