Hans RobbersSenior Director| SalesforceVlissingen, Netherlands
Vince
Interesting article I would like to add some observations:
If people need to estimate most of the times estimates below 2-3 days are pessimistic (all pitfalls are identified) 3-5 days are more or less accurate and above 5 they are optimistic, a lot of risks are not taking into the equation.
Saying this there is another phenomena which is the way people are productive. For 80 to 90% of the time people are underperforming but when a deadline occurs within the final sprint people will raise productivity to up to 120% and above.
One of the tasks of the pm is to find the justify and challenge the estimates and to break down the estimates to around 3-5 days of work and secondly to set deadlines in such a way there will be a challenge to reach it, to get people in time up to the max productivity and at the same time allow for a period to recover from the stress
Let me know what you think
Hans Saving Changes...
Mark Price PerryBusiness Driven PMO Evangelist| BOT InternationalOrlando, Fl, United States
Hi Vince,
Great article and I quite agree with the observation Hans makes about people productivity and the need for the PM to break down and challenge estimates. Consider the following:
Work will expand to fill the time available for its completion - Parkinson's Law
People will only start to fully apply themselves to a task just before its deadline - Student Syndrome
Now, consider the following two project schedules.
Which project (1 or 2) was better managed by the project manager? Many people would answer, project #1 because all of the status indicators are green!
Now, consider that both projects are exactly the same, which project manager did a better job?
In the first project, the project manager allowed the Student Syndrome to take effect:
All tasks were completed on time, though they could have finished earlier
Project completed in 125 days
In the second project, the project manager challenged the Student Syndrome.
Some tasks finished late and the project finished 10 days late
Project completed in 110 days
But there's more, the product of the project benefit stream is $1,000,000 per month. By finishing 21 calendar days early, the project manager for project #2 produced an additional $700,000 to the organization. Hence, the second project was better managed by the project manager.
The traditional point of view is that a project with nothing but "green" status indictors is a well manged project. And, many executives want to see nothing but "green" indicators on their dashboards. As Hans suggested, people productivity is an important consideration in the way tasks are undertaken and completed. This example illustrates that point and offers an alternative. That is, it would be wise for project managers, PMO managers, and executives to realize that too much "green" in a project schedule can be, and often is, a bad thing. PMs need to continually understand and challenge estimates as well as understand and challenge human behavior. Saving Changes...
Hans RobbersSenior Director| SalesforceVlissingen, Netherlands
Mark
Thanks for your extensive answer and your thoughts. I do agree with you project 2 is better managed.
One thing to add is when a project turns to red you must come up with a solution. If a project stays red for more than 1 week it is apparently not urgent.
Green means too comfortable
Yellow means healthy tension between the project parameters (Balancing TY 1 and Balancing TY 2)
Red means one of the parameters has to to change to become at least yellow again.
Let me know what you think
Cu Hans
Saving Changes...
Mark Price PerryBusiness Driven PMO Evangelist| BOT InternationalOrlando, Fl, United States
Hans, I totally agree with you. The actions, like what you prescribed, make it all work and ensure the integrity of the indicators and the actions in both managing the projects and performing the tasks. Saving Changes...
