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Author: Brad Egeland

Brad Egeland is a Business Solution Designer and IT/PM consultant and author with over 25 years of software development, management, and project management experience leading initiatives in Manufacturing, Government Contracting, Creative Design, Gaming and Hospitality, Retail Operations, Aviation and Airline, Pharmaceutical, Start-ups, Healthcare, Higher Education, Non-profit, High-Tech, Engineering and general IT. He has been named the “#1 Provider of Project Management Content in the World” with over 7,000 published articles, eBooks, white papers and videos. Brad is married, a father of 11, and living in sunny Las Vegas, NV. Visit Brad's site at http://www.bradegeland.com/.

Transparency and 4 other key trend predictions for Project Management

Written by Brad Egeland on . Posted in Articles. 5 Comments on Transparency and 4 other key trend predictions for Project Management

One of the fun things we get to do is authors of project management content as experienced project managers in the marketplace is trying to predict where things will be next year or the next four to five years.

Project management isn’t boring and it isn’t static. Project management is actually dynamic.. it just isn’t moving at a rapid pace. It’s changing and advancing at more of a snail’s pace. Nevertheless there are trends that will emerge in 2018 and beyond. It’s hard to predict what those are, but I’ll do my best. Let’s consider five key tends I think will be emerging in 2018 and I’m anxious to see what you what you think of these trend predictions and any observations, suggestions or ideas you have on your own in terms of where project management is heading in the next one to five years. Please be thinking of your own list as you read this and comment at the end so we can discuss this further.

For now here’s my list to 5…

Full transparency.

As we seek out greater project success stories coupled with increased customer confidence and satisfaction, one key way we can do that is by incorporating complete transparency into our project management methodology. I’m devising my own PM methodology – 3D PM – and it’s built on… among other things… complete transparency. I’ve been watching too much political and news untruths and I’ve grown tired of the weak business individuals who must find their successes and control through lies, deceptions and omissions.

Extreme accountability.

I’m sure you’re all aware of the “Me Too” movement. Empowered and supported individuals are coming forward with admissions of being victims of all sorts of abuses and harassments – sexual, mental, physical, etc. it hard for them to do that…I can’t begin to imagine how hard, thankfully. But what it is also doing is creating a society of, and appreciation for, complete accountability. I would never want to belittle these revelations and experiences by comparing them to things in the business world, but this type of societal accountability is going to transfer to projects that we engage in with and for our customers. Be upright, be straightforward, be honest, be forthcoming, be of high integrity. It will be expected and it will be a better PM world for it.

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Earlier project manager involvement.

I think most of us realize that project managers need to be involved early in the project process. It’s a given that it would be helpful from a planning and customer delivery expectation setting standpoint, but most organizations still still tend to wait until
the project is developed conceptually before handing it off to the project manager. Well that’s fine in a perfect world but the project management world is far from perfect. So what happens is this: the project manager spends time in the first quarter of the project resetting customer expectations to what the real project management world can deliver as opposed to what account managers have sold the project customer. If we involve project managers at the beginning, treating them more as full scope engagement managers than project managers, then expectations can be set appropriately from the very outset of the engagement. I see this is an absolute necessary trend for 2018 if we want to continue to realize increased project management success stories.

Project teams of one.

Let’s see a project management team at one – what can I do? I say that a bit facetiously as the project team of one is really just the project manager, but he can’t do it alone. He may, however – in our new reality – be the only direct employee or contract employee of the delivery organization and the rest the team in many cases will be a distributed team of independents throughout the world as a virtual team but not employees of the root of the delivery organization. Rather they are outsourced individuals with extreme experience for the technology being used and specific project being undertaken. This sounds logical and this may sound a lot like of what we are doing now. I believe in many cases it will be the best case scenario in the project management world going forward – especially on high tech projects that are going to require the best of the best in 2018.

New, diverse project management tools.

As a consultant I worked with many small to medium size businesses who are developing project management software for many different uses. Most now like to advertise their wares as enterprise PM solutions. Many start small and try to grow too quickly. That’s unfortunate but strong ones last and I think we’re going to see new project management tools that do gain traction, stay in the game and offer stronger reporting, stronger task management, stronger risk management, and stronger financial management capabilities for project managers and teams. These will be more like ERP type or EWMS type solutions for the project and the organization so they can more efficiently manage all work and resources in 2018. It has to happen for success to happen regularly.

Summary / call for input

So that’s it…. nothing too earth shattering, but hopefully some thought provoking topics and trends. 2018 will be different… no doubt about it. It has to be – we can’t go on delivering success on less than 50% of our projects (according to most surveys and research).

Readers what are your thoughts and do you agree? Do you have your own list in five or ten trends that you think we might see in 2018? Project management has to change and software has to change in order for us to manage our projects better and engage our customers better. Of course, better customer engagement equals increased customer satisfaction. We must get there and that will be the overall trend for 2018, in my opinion. Please feel free to share your thoughts and your own lists and let’s discuss this… thanks for reading.

Leading Projects Can Be as Fun as Driving the Ultimate Driving Machine

Written by Brad Egeland on . Posted in Articles. 4 Comments on Leading Projects Can Be as Fun as Driving the Ultimate Driving Machine

I’m going for a stretch here… comparing project management to driving a car.

Not sure this will work for everyone, but hopefully you be able to see my point when I finally get to it – and I promise I will get to it. Now back to my BMW. My beloved 1992 BMW 3 series. My all-time favorite car I’ve ever owned. It had incredible handling, it looked great, was the perfect blue color, and fast. Perfect combo of everything…for the driver. The ultimate driving machine. Now read that last sentence again. The ultimate driving machine. No one said it was the ultimate riding machine. I drove it probably 98% of the time that I was in the car. But my wife drove it a few times, too. And those few times that I was the passenger and not the driver…I can agree with her assessment that it was not the best passenger experience – certainly nowhere near to the driving experience it delivered.

Along for the ride

In project management, much like driving versus riding in a 1992 BMW 3 series, managing the project is quite different from working on the project. I’m not saying it’s better. I’m not saying it’s the ultimate management experience. But I am saying that much like driving a BMW 3 series, if you’re organized and successful as a project manager, you do have a nice sense of control. You are in charge, you are making the decisions, and eventually you realize you wouldn’t have it any other way. Again, not saying it’s for everyone and not that it’s better than everything else. Some people like to drive a truck. But if you like that feeling of control and taking charge, there aren’t too many things like it. Yes, I’m talking about both – driving the BMW and managing projects.

Easy? No.

It’s not easy. If you want to be successful you can’t just phone it in and enjoy pushing people around and making powerful decisions. That’s not what it’s about at all. But, in spite of what others might think, it isn’t just playing “coordinator” and sending out project status reports, updating project schedules, begging people of task updates and sugar coating task descriptions trying to trick your project team into doing actual work on the engagement. For me, it basically comes down to this:

Project setup.

Planning out the project from beginning to end, putting together the initial project schedule, resource plan, budget, and kickoff with the customer to get everything off on the right track.

Task management.

Ongoing task management throughout. Next to overall project communication, this is probably the most important thing the project manager does. May seem mundane, but it’s an hourly – not daily – effort and without it, nothing gets done on the project. Doing the right work at the right time. That’s most of what project management is about.

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Communication.

Communication is a critical ingredient for project success and is – as I always say – Job One for the project manager, in my opinion. Without effective, efficient and very accurate project communication, project success is just luck. And we can’t replicate dumb luck on our projects over and over again.

Status reporting.

This is part of project communication. It must happen to make customer status calls meaningful and productive and it must happen to keep project customers engaged throughout the project. Enraged or engaged – your pick. But I prefer engaged so keep them informed.

Scope management.

Watch requirements and scope carefully. It’s easy to let a little extra work slip in while you’re trying to keep a customer happy. If you’ve had lots of issues on the project – especially if they were the fault of you, your team or your organization – then you may want to give a little work away for free. But be careful. Scope that is not managed closely can get out of hand…and that’s a fast track to budget overrun.

Negotiation.

Believe it or not, project managers must often be artful negotiators. You may often not even realize you’re negotiating, but you are. Every time you talk the client into switching a date or changing around the order of phases of the project to accommodate an issue or change, you are likely negotiating. There’s always give and take. Be smooth and your project will run smoothly.

Customer management.

Customer management, customer engagement… whatever you call it doesn’t matter, but it is a very vital piece of the project management puzzle. Customers often drift in and out of availability on the projects we manage for them because they are busy with their day jobs – not just overseeing the project they were tasked to sponsor. Because not all projects are their #1 priority. Some projects are forced on THEM, too – just like some are forced on you. Keep them engaged by keeping them assigned to tasks and then let them know you expect updates and progress reports.

Everything else.

Yes, and everything else that comes up. The target is on the head of the project manager. Wear it well and don’t back down.

Summary / call for input

Project management isn’t necessarily cool – and it certainly isn’t easy. I guess it can be somewhat cool – depending on the project and the industry and the technology you get to implememt. But it is important, it is critical, and being in charge can be fun – thrilling even. In my opinion it’s better than the ride-along. I like being in control.

Readers – what’s your take? Project manager or project team member? My genre has generally been IT and most developers on my teams have not aspired to be project managers. A few have and those that wanted it generally became good at it. The rest stayed on the full throttle tech track because they excelled there…it’s all good. Please share your experiences and add to this list of what’s critical about leading projects.

Helping an Aspiring New Project Manager

Written by Brad Egeland on . Posted in Articles. 8 Comments on Helping an Aspiring New Project Manager

Recently, I received an inquiry from an aspiring PM. He was in his mid-20’s, thinking about getting a bachelor’s degree in project management and was asking questions about getting into the field and what to expect.

I have no idea what the rest of his work background looks like. He had just read one of my articles and liked it and decided to start asking questions.

I thought they were pretty good questions so I’d like to post a bit of a summary of his questions and my responses here. Anything readers here can add or discuss would be great – I’d be happy to pass more information along to him.

The questions…

I am thinking about getting into project management. I wanted to ask you about the first few years after school and what to expect. I guess I’m just looking for some advice. I am really interested in the field. Here are a few questions I have…

  • What to expect after I acquire my bachelors in project management?
  • What is the day to day life like as a project manager?
  • Any advice to the extreme novice? (Perhaps things you might have done differently scenario.)

My responses…

I thanked him for contacting me and said I thought I could help. First, I directed him to a couple of articles I had previously written on the subject.

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I told him that I’m not sure I can help you on that first question. You’ll need to search and without relevant experience (again, I wasn’t sure what his background experience was like) cracking right into project management will be difficult. You’ll need to start at the ground floor and get involved in projects – probably mentor with an existing PM if you get hired in a PM role.

As for day to day….usually – depending on the type of project and the organization – I said you could be managing several projects at once. You will be having weekly project meetings with your team, a formal weekly meeting with your project customer, putting together project schedules and revising them weekly for each project, assigning tasks to you team, preparing and producing weekly status reports, running through and running down issues on projects, etc. A PMs job is a lot about communication – that’s probably the most important thing you bring to the table. The better you are at communicating, the easier it will be and the better you’ll be at it because your team will understand you and understand what’s expected of them and your customer will have more confidence in your ability to successfully deliver as the PM because you are thoroughly communicating with them. Leadership is a key skill to have – it helps get your team to follow you and your customer to stand alongside you through the good and bad times.

As for advice for the PM novice….charge ahead. “Fake it till you make it” is a line I like to use. The one thing about project managers is this – no matter what level you might be at in terms of experience, training or mentoring, you have to come across as confident. A needy customer or high tech team or difficult solution will eat you alive before you ever really have a chance to fail or succeed. Make bold decisions when you have to and be ready to back them up. Bold failure is not as bad as it sounds and it’s better than meek failure and possibly even meek success. L

Learning from your failures as a PM – and you will have them as more than 50% of all projects are consider failures to some degree (missed too many dates, went too far over budget, customer not happy, etc.) – is critical. You will likely learn more from your failures than you successes. Learn and you’ll do better next time. And don’t be afraid to ask for help. Trust me – we all do from time to time. And the novice PM who asks for info (like you’re doing now) gets noticed and finds a mentor.

Real world project management

The bottom line is experience in the real world of project management is the number one key to success as a project manager. Nothing can replace actual hands on experience. You’ll have successes and failures, but you learn a lot from both. In fact, as I stated above, you probably learn more from the failures and poor decisions than the good ones. And nothing replaces actually working face to face with a customer and team members – or if you’re remote just working with a real team and customers not something in text book.

But, you have to start somewhere. And since you can’t really start with certification. So a bachelors degree in project management is the next best thing for the new project manager to have in their pocket as they head out on the job search. But once the proper training and job related hours are satisfied, get your project management professional certification (PMP) through the Project Management Institute (PMI). Because if you don’t have 10 years or 15 years of good project management experience, then being certified is one good way to stand out early on from others with similar levels of project management knowledge and experience.

Summary / call for input

Anything to add? This individual – with no prior project experience – certainly has a long way to go before he’s successfully leading projects on an ongoing basis. Being new, without experience, getting a more general business degree and then focusing on acquiring PM certification may be a better route than a bachelor’s degree in PM. I’m not sure on that one – do any readers here have experience with the PM bachelor’s degree and if it helps in the project management world? I know he’ll be reading this so any advice you can give will be helpful. Let’s be supportive and see if we can give him some good advice.

Why Project Managers Shouldn’t Wear Man Buns

Written by Brad Egeland on . Posted in Articles. 8 Comments on Why Project Managers Shouldn’t Wear Man Buns

I swear this has absolutely nothing with to do with the fact that I don’t have enough hair anymore to pull off the man bun.

Man buns should go the way of mullets, skinny legged jeans, Romphims (nothing should ever be touted as “The world’s favorite male romper”… like there’s more than one of them?), man purses, and safe spaces… but that is solely my opinion and not necessarily the opinion of Project Times, BA Times or another other entity I write for. Just me.

But come on. I see man buns on college students. I see man buns on creative types trying to start an art business in their parent’s basement. But a project leader managing projects for large multi-million dollar clients? I don’t see it. A consultant going into and organization trying to help them best figure out how to create their project management infrastructure for their company culture and industry? No… I don’t see that either. Why…not because man buns are bad or evil or ugly. No, it’s because they are trendy and likely to go the way of the boy band and “bro country” – offering no staying power. To me, they simply don’t exude leadership and stability.

Project managers need to appear to be in charge. Not caught up in whatever might influence them tomorrow or next week. They need to be steady, stable and… well… probably more boring than anyone who is going to wear a Romphim.

What does a project manager need to be? If you are staffing a project, are you looking for the leader who is trendy or the leader with stability, successes and a winning attitude? If it’s me – and I have been through this PM hiring process many times – I’m looking for these qualities and attributes (newbies take note)…

Calm enthusiasm.

You can be enthused… I that is an excellent quality. But over enthusiasm about being a project manager may be a sign of issues somewhere else. It’s not a job you usually will go wild over – it’s challenging and rewarding but you’re not likely going to be giddy and giggling over the concept. Calm enthusiasm and confidence is what the project manager should be displaying. It’s what will likely best manage a corporate customer and best manage a large project budget and project team.

Stubborn decision-making. 

I’m not saying that a project manager can’t change his mind if he finds that he’s made the wrong decision. If that is they case, then he needs to admit his mistake, and hope it’s not too late to change direction. However, without any evidence to indicate it may have been the wrong direction to take, he needs to stand by that last minute decision he had to make and show stalwart leadership going forward. Customer confidence is at stake. Team cohesion is at stake. When nothing is really telling you to do anything different, stick to your guns!

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Honesty and integrity.

Not that guys with man buns aren’t honest with a high level of integrity. I’m sure most of them are. The project manager must look it from the outset and then prove it daily as they lead a diverse team and client on long term technical and highly complex project engagements. Doing what you set out to do and say you’re going to do… that’s what is important. And that’s what will keep your team following you when times and issues get tough. And trust me, they will get tough.

Someone who can successfully manage the customer and their needs.

I look for some who can handle a corporate client and their hundreds of thousands of dollars to be spent on projects that we will need to lead and keep them happy and confident for a year-long implementation. This means someone who is steady, stable, confident and usually with a track record of success though everyone has to start somewhere. With newer project managers you just have to take a chance on those who seem to have the qualities to perform and give you the right answers in the interview. So interview well and clip off the man bun.

The resume needs to show you know what you’re after.

For me, quantifiable information that shows you have either managed projects and understand the importance of financial and resource and time management that project management brings or you don’t necessarily have that experience but can provide something quantifiable from your past work history and responsibilities.

Project management is a lot about soft skills. But it is also a lot about managing the hours, the tasks, and the financial resources of the project. If your resume says you’ve managed projects up to $1.2 million, project staffs of a dozen resources and more, and projects with schedules that include as many as 600+ tasks then I understand you’ve tracked your numbers and you realize how important that information can be to manage on a daily project basis. If you haven’t done this before, but you’ve managed a department budget of $65,000, budgeted supplies for a business unit staff of 30+ people and helped forecast and manage a task order of $11,000 and 125 hours of effort then I know the money, time and effort side of the coin is something you have been responsible for and you know it’s important to show that success. That’s a good chunk of what project management is about. It’s about a lot more than that, but that’s part of the puzzle. Certainly if you can’t manage that aspect of PM, you will struggle immediately.

Summary / call for input

I realize that freedom of expression is important. But the need to look the part and act the part is also important. I don’t care if your hair calls for a man bun, but I’m not sure leading a multi-million dollar project for an important corporate client is the environment for displaying that chosen individuality. I am certain that PM of this nature is not the right environment for the Romphim… not even on casual Friday. In fact, look them up… I don’t think they are a product that should even have been conceived. Period. But I’m sure somewhere someone is wearing those right now. Unfortunately. Where they got their angel investor or venture capital I just don’t know.

Readers – what is your opinion of this list? What are your thoughts on the PM needing to show a certain amount of professionalism? And what does that mean to you and your workplace? Where are the lines? Are there lines?

You’ve got to stand for something or you’ll fall for anything

Written by Brad Egeland on . Posted in Articles. 7 Comments on You’ve got to stand for something or you’ll fall for anything

Any project manager or PMO director will tell you that successfully managing a project takes a lot more than a little luck and common sense.

It does take a lot of common sense and logic. I believe that experience and logic are the two key principles behind the application of project management best practices. But it takes accountability, dedication, persistence, patience, and solid leadership qualities to experience project management success on a regular and ongoing basis…the kind of basis necessary to keep you in the PM profession for the long term. No one steps into the role of successfully managing projects again and again through shear luck…no it takes experience and the qualities and soft skills and characteristics to actually be able to repeatedly pull that off.

The title of this article comes from a song by Aaron Tippin. I heard it for the first time the other day and it made an impression on me. It contains lyrics like this …

“He’d say you’ve got to stand for something or you’ll fall for anything
You’ve got to be your own man not a puppet on a string
Never compromise what’s right and uphold your family name
You’ve got to stand for something or you’ll fall for anything…”

My first thought was, “this is a good song and very applicable…now how do I apply this to the project manager profession?” I know it’s real and it is saying “be a leader and follow your gut” but how do I translate that to this type of article?

I think it goes like this… If you’re going to be a successful project manager or consultant or whatever, you have to have some goals, integrity and missions. Mine, personally, is to succeed for my customer. My motto is, “You’re only as successful as your last customer thinks you are..” If you don’t have a plan then many things on a project or through others actions or wishes can cause your potential success to fall apart. If you aren’t in control, then someone else will be and you will be subservient to whatever that is and whoever that pleases. So for me, it comes down to three key things…

Make solid decisions and stand behind them.

The project manager who can gather information, ask questions from available subject matter experts (SMEs), and make good project decisions and stand by them without being swayed by those with other agendas will have greater chance at ongoing project successes. Meeting challenges head-on and making the best informed decision possible – even if it’s made with less than optimal information – it’s the best decision that could be made in the moment. Stand by it unless adequate new information becomes available, then of course assess and change directions, if needed. Once you know differently, there is no real honor in standing behind the wrong decision if you know better.

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Lead the team and don’t waiver easily on the principles that make you a good project manager and leader.

This is another one about stubbornness. There are those – even senior leaders in the company – who will try to sway you away from actions you are carrying out on the part of the customer and the project. They may ask you to knowingly go down a path that may not be best for the project’s goals and mission in the name of more revenue or even just making the delivery organization “look good.” I had this happen to me a couple of times that I know of and realized… and possibly more times earlier in my career when I was not aware of the situation. Has anyone reading this had this one happen to you?

Boldly lead the customer and don’t back down when the turbulence hits.

When the turbulence hits. On a project. And it will hit. Every project has issues. The key for the project manager is to stay the course, with both eyes on the budget and resource forecast, of course because hitting a patch of issue laden work can mean the need to call out to some additional experts or maybe even switch out resources to get back on track. Both of these scenarios take valuable time and money which is why the budget and resource forecasts must both be watched and managed carefully.

Summary / call for input and feedback

Leaders are stubborn, unwavering, ruthless even. Don’t be ruthless, but do stand behind your principles, decisions, and actions. Stand for something so you aren’t swayed by anything. Others are going to offer their opinions. Others are going to want you to go down their path. Listen – because that’s half of the good communication equation. But if it’s not the right thing for the project, for the customer, for the team, and for you…then don’t be swayed. I realize that is much easier said than done. Most of us are affected by peer pressure. I know I am. And to leadership pressure. But I’ve had leadership steer me wrong twice and it caused two of my projects to fail – both million dollar+ projects. That was painful. So, I still stand by my motto that “You’re only as successful as your last customer thinks you are…” Keep that in mind and you’ll likely make consistent, forward thinking decisions and actions for your customer and project. Stay the course. Be stubborn… it’s ok. At the end of the day you’re the one who has to take whatever comes on the project, positive or negative. And you’re the one who has to look the customer in the eye and explain the good or the bad. You can give that task to someone else, but the best leaders don’t delegate this.

Readers – what is your take on this? What principles and goals have you built your project management reputation and practice upon? If pressed real hard to choose…do you go with the customer or the leadership when you know they are in direct conflict with each other? Touch questions… sometimes career defining situations and decisions.