Skip to main content

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/.

5 Reasons Why a Great Project is Like Good Chicago Style Pizza

Written by Brad Egeland on . Posted in Articles. 6 Comments on 5 Reasons Why a Great Project is Like Good Chicago Style Pizza

Comparing project management to a Chicago style pizza may be quite a stretch, but you need to first understand how much I like pizza.

When I’m in Chicago, I always need Chicago style pizza like Giordano’s, Pizzeria Uno or Lou Malnati’s. Once when I was in Boston for a week long training session with my manager who happened to like pizza as much as me -early in my professional career ended up eating at probably 5-6 different pizza places… In a week. So, when people say “I could eat that morning, noon and night”… With pizza I literally would be ok with that. When we first moved to Las Vegas I came first and stayed in the Luxor Hotel and Casino for a month and looked for a house for us while working in the IT department managing the corporate IT application development team, I ate at the food court every day in there. And there was a pizza place… So, I did literally have pizza very nearly every day for a month. I was ok with that.

Let’s take this very odd analogy a step further and consider these five ways or reasons why a great project is like a great Chicago style pizza… bear with me here… you may or may not enjoy this – who knows but please do let me know through feedback.

The crust is the foundation of a good project.

The crust sort of makes the pizza, right? Bad crust is hard to overcome. Everything else can be great, but on soggy crust it’s still just a bad, unsatisfying pizza. And sometimes crazy good crust can bring a pizza back from the dead if the other ingredients are so-so. You know what I’m talking about. For me, the crust is the leadership of the project. Yes, an easier project can have a “fake it till you make it” project manager who is still barely experienced at leading teams and projects. Everyone has to start somewhere. But not many organizations – unless they are so startup or so startup with their PM infrastructure – are going to put a brand new project manager in front of a $1 million project customer. You need experienced project managers in your infrastructure or project management office (PMO) to lead most of your projects – especially the more visible and high priority or complex projects. You can’t just phone in the leadership of these projects… They require the solid leadership and communication skills of the seasoned and proven successful leader of projects to keep those important customers satisfied and happy and coming back for more work and adding more revenue to the organization.

It’s all about the sauce.

For me, the sauce is a critical ingredient of the pizza. Bad sauce, bad pizza. In this scenario, the sauce is like the project communication. Communication is Job One for project leaders and poor communication can and will definitely bring down any size project. The project manager must be an effective and efficient communicator for the project and the team and the customer. That’s meetings, email, adhoc calls, regular weekly status meetings, team meetings. Any and all communications and follow up on key communications is very important so as to ensure that everyone that was part of that communication is on the same page afterwards. If a weekly status call with the team and customer happens, then follow up afterwards with notes asking them to respond with feedback or changes within 24 hours to ensure everyone understands and received the same information. One mis communication can lead to missed last assignments, tasks not being completed or even worked on when you thought you had everyone on the same page, but they weren’t. Never take understanding for granted.

Advertisement
[widget id=”custom_html-68″]

What toppings do you like?

The toppings are big because each pizza has different toppings and add different flavor to the pizza. The toppings are the project team members because they vary with each project and with the skill needs for each project. Some projects actually need two business analysts – I’ve had several projects like that – so that’s like double pepperoni, right? Seriously though, some ingredients are just critical on nearly every project and I believe that – especially on tech related projects – cyber security is becoming one of those ingredients… At least as an input to risk planning and management. So that may be the cheese – hard to have a good Chicago style pizza without cheese! And yes, some teams always have the same types of skill sets because they are similar projects, but the great thing about projects is you can have a huge variety of skill set needs – you just need to understand the needs of the project and obtain the right resources and associated skill sets accordingly.

Perfection takes time.

The perfect pizza takes time to perfect and then it takes time to plan for and repeat that success. Likewise, with projects. Planning is a critical aspect of any good, successful project and lessons learned – just as you learn to make the perfect pizza – must be part of the process if you want to add to your skills and become better managers of the projects, customers, and teams you lead along the way.

Better than the imitators.

The best Chicago style pizza is going to be better than its imitators through hard work, great ingredients, a good team of workers, and a proven recipe of success. And there will be imitators just as there will always be competitors for the work you do or the software you make or the products you build or whatever you are doing for your project customers. You must work toward excellence and remain better than your imitators – your competition. They will always be trying to gain on you and take your customers away from you. Stick with your proven best practices, always be learning and improving and perfecting, and you’ll keep your customers and keep winning on your projects.

Summary / call for input

Building great pizza takes skill… And building the perfect project for your customer and their end users takes skill, planning, learning, time and the right teams. Very different yet very similar. But both take key ingredients to come out great at the end.

Readers – what’s your take – what would you add to this or do you even agree with my pizza obsessed comparison. I know it’s a stretch, but thanks for reading and let me know your thoughts on this.

5 Secrets to 5% Increased Profit on Your Next Project

Written by Brad Egeland on . Posted in Articles. 2 Comments on 5 Secrets to 52 Increased Profit on Your Next Project

All resources matter on the project.

Without all resources working cohesively and effectively together, it can become nearly impossible to effectively and successfully deliver on the project. But beyond that – looking to the revenue level and the profitability on the project… everything affects it, but close management and oversight of it comes down to the project manager. No one entity on the project has the insight, access to info, and overall project knowledge from that standpoint to effectively manage how healthy the project financials are.

Also, not only can the project manager help keep the project stay on track financially, they can also help increase project revenue and profitability through effective financial management, scope management, and customer and team management. Many things do affect all of this – well beyond my list below, I know – but for me it starts with regularly performing these five tasks… my secrets to keeping project revenues high and project profits hopefully higher than expected. Let’s discuss…

Discuss financials weekly with the project team.

One of the best ways to get the team aligned on managing their own time charging well and accurately on the project is to just let them know it’s very important to you and to the bottom line of the project. Many don’t realize that and they’re just trying to account – usually at the end of the week – for all their time. They know they put in 65 hours on various projects and they are tired and throwing hours down on a time sheet that means very little to them other than a task that is due Friday afternoon or Monday morning. It’s not daily tracking as it should be – in reality it’s Friday afternoon guess work when they would rather be doing anything else.

So, discuss the project financials at each weekly team meeting. Make sure they know how much time charging is expected of them for that week and the following week from your resource forecast and ensure that the two match up. I realize this one action may not add to the profitability of the project very much – but it can keep it from being the rollercoaster ride it often is and can definitely keep the project from unexpectedly going 50% over budget leaving the project manager wondering what went so horribly wrong.

Limit PM travel.

Believe it or not, not all project customers see PM’s as a vital expense on the project. I had one project client in Texas who just didn’t see the need or value from Day One. Even my lead tech – who was mostly working onsite with the client – said “how can you not like Brad, you don’t even know him?” I got to the bottom of this PM disdain on their part and they were mostly concerned about budget and questioned the need for my $150 per hour project hit. So I immediately looked for ways to manage from afar. I eliminated my travel and reduced meetings to conference and video calls and they loved it. Best of all it added to the profitability of the project without affecting my management of the project or our performance level on the project.

Limit team travel.

Beyond the PM travel, look for ways to limit team travel as well. If the plan calls for onsite quarterly meetings with the customer re-think that. Does the customer care if you do it with a video call, thus saving thousands and adding to the profitability of the project? I realize that some travel can’t be avoided and the customer will need it to maintain a level of confidence and overall happiness in most cases. But it can be kept in check – I’ve worked too many projects where it seemed we were traveling way too often and making the rest of our “productive time” and effort on the project suffer when we could be effectively delivering on the next phase instead of wasting important dollars on what has already been accomplished by traveling just to review it.

Advertisement
[widget id=”custom_html-68″]

Manage the project scope.

Scope management may be the best overall way to help ensure project profitability. Too many projects go by with extra work added without the necessary change orders in place to cover the work, add the necessary revenue for that work and keep the profitability of the project in place. Those change orders can add nicely to the project profits – I once added $100k in revenue with a high profit margin by selling the need for an onsite business analyst to the project client. The customer loved it, project revenue skyrocketed and profitability took a nice jump as well. Look for ways to do things like this when managing scope.

Tighten resource management and forecasting.

Making your team aware, watching scope, limiting travel, etc. are all great ideas. But the real profitability boost comes from you – the project manager – effectively, efficiently and relentlessly forecasting resources accurately throughout the project engagement. Don’t just come up with a resource forecast and let it sit. Revisit it weekly. Maybe you no longer need an expensive business analyst during weeks 32 and 33 on the the project. Discuss removing the resource from the project for those 80 hours – thus possibly saving the project as much as $12,000 during that downtime for the resource. If you are working on a time and materials basis with the client it may not help revenue and profitability much. But if you are charging more on a fixed price or deliverable basis, your profits could increase dramatically

Summary/call for input

You’re the project manager. No one else can keep costs on track and profitability high like you can. Never just phone it in when managing anything that affects the project $$ bottom line. Even one hour a week spent analyzing project financials and re-forecasting the project financials and resource usage can reap huge dividends in the long run in terms of profitability on the project.

Readers – what are your thoughts? Do you agree with this list? What are your secrets and tricks for keeping project revenue and profitability in check and adding to it throughout the project? What frustrates you the most with revenue planning and profitability on the projects you manage?

The Sick and Twisted and Evil Truth of Project Transparency

Written by Brad Egeland on . Posted in Articles. 5 Comments on The Sick and Twisted and Evil Truth of Project Transparency

I saw this funny cartoon of Luke Skywalker and Princess Leah getting a Father’s Day card for their dad – Darth Vader.

It reads “You’re sick and twisted and evil, but you’re still our dad!” Wow! What honesty and transparency.

Darth Vader fathers day card

What came to mind afterwards in terms of managing a project (because you know… everything eventually comes back around to leading projects) was the idea of complete transparency on the project. I believe in it and I think anything short of complete transparency is likely to only cause problems. But can we sometimes be too honest? Can we be too transparent? Should we try to fix the problem first and then go to the client? After all, don’t we want to avoid delivering bad news to the project customer at almost all costs?

The answers to all those questions are no, no, no and no. We really can’t be too honest. We really can’t be too transparent. We should not try to fix the problem first. What if it takes a long time and they find out about the issue through other means and contact or CEO to complain? You’ll wish you would have had that sit down with the customer to update him on the issue long before that happened, right? And no, we do not want to avoid delivering bad news to the customer at almost all costs. It’s their project, their money and they can sometimes provide great input into the solution or workaround to get back on track. Involve them in the decision process.

It’s not always fun being honest and transparent with your project client. Good news is great, but you know that’s not what I’m talking about here. So how do we go about the process of relaying the bad news and working with the project client to move forward. I’m not going to come up with any specific scenarios – rather we will just consider concepts that drive planning, discussion, decision making and implementation of a chosen resolution. Consider these…

Fully identify the problem.

First – again… if there is time and don’t take too much of it – gather the full project team or as many of them as possible and discuss the problem or issues being encountered. Look for the root cause – is it the technology, a requirements issue, a software performance issue? Figure out what is going on as much as you possibly can so that you can productively discuss and hopefully come up with some resolution scenarios to eventually present to the project customer. Let’s move on to the next step.

Quickly come up with 2-3 resolution scenarios to present.

You need to go to the project client as quickly as possible, but it’s also usually best if you can present some solution options with the bad news. It definitely softens the blow and keeps customer confidence in the project performance and delivery team high. It shows fast action and dedication to the project as well as accountability as the true leader of the project initiative. Narrow it down to a couple of options, if possible, and be ready to take them to the client next to discuss how to proceed.

Advertisement
[widget id=”custom_html-68″]

Contact the customer.

This must all happen within just a few hours of problem discovery. We are not talking days or even a week here. If it’s going to go much beyond that to ballpark the problem and potential solution scenarios, then you must immediately contact the customer. If you take too long, you risk the customer finding out from someone other than the project manager – and that is never a good thing. If the customer doesn’t find out from the project manager, they can quickly lose confidence and be suspicious of project activity going forward. Once you’ve lost that customer confidence, it is never easy to get it back. So quickly reach out to the customer, present the issue along with the resolution or workaround options you have devised with the project team and discuss with the customer to decide which path to take or which solution to implement.

Implement the chosen solution or workaround.

I know just saying “implement” makes it all sound easier than it ever really is. It’s like those flowcharts that have a box that says “something happens” and it works. Sure. But seriously, you can’t take long and with the customer by your side you work through the few scenarios you present and jointly come up with a plan of action. Draw up any change orders necessary – if the problem was created on your end, you’ll probably need to eat the resolution work for free. Now, with confidence, move forward with the chosen solution and work through the problem or issues. If it doesn’t work, then rinse and repeat.

Summary / call for input

Bad news is never fun to share. Whether the problem is on the delivery side, the customer side or somewhere in between – it doesn’t matter. What is important is transparency and fast action. Be honest and upfront with your project client and be fast to deliver the news. But it is equally important that you try to present the solution or some options to discuss when bringing the bad news. It will show rapid response, and it will soften the blow of the bad news you are relaying. Issues happen – on every project. But you always need a team plan on how you’re going to respond to issues when they come up in order to avoid or mitigate most of the damage… quickly. And never take too long to include the customer. They will find out – and it needs to be from the project manager and team, not from someone on their own staff or from your CEO. Not if you want your company tenure to be long and prosperous.

Work with people, not projects

Written by Brad Egeland on . Posted in Articles. 7 Comments on Work with people, not projects

In the end, what you will remember about the projects you managed and the teams you lead are are the people not the products or projects.

My mother once told me that the friends you make in college will be your lifelong friends, not the ones you make in high school. I love my mother God rest her soul, but she didn’t anticipate Facebook and her concept of friends wasn’t necessarily the same as most.

My Facebook thread is full of high school friends, college friends, work friends, marriage friends and believe it or not even most of my ex girl friends – at least 8 or 9 of them, I think. I’m fairly easy going and don’t seem to leave behind a trail of burned bridges and angry acquaintances or disgruntled clients.

So as the title suggest, it’s about the people we work with to make the project happen and turn out successfully, not the processes we try to force the project through. Not every project is the same or created equally and not all project customers want and need the same things. I’m not saying I’m the best project manager on Earth – far from it. But I remember who was on my team for my projects and who my primary customer contacts were. In fact, many of both of those are Facebook friends as well.

So as we try to focus on people rather than projects, there are a few things, concepts and best practices we should keep in mind as we work to deliver successfully with our project time. As I write about these, be thinking of your own projects and acquaintances – both personal and professional – and how you’ve been managing those relationships? Are they successful? Do you have some room for improvement?No matter how successful each relationship has been, we all have some room for improvement I’m sure. Let’s consider…

Communication is always the first priority.

Effective and efficient communication – Speaking, writing, reading and listening… all forms – is Job One for the project manager and remains the number one link between project delivery and project success. It’s really no surprise that communication is the basis for most relationships and it is also logically one of the biggest and most common determiners of project success.

Advertisement
[widget id=”custom_html-68″]

Treat others as you would want to be treated.

That’s the golden rule, right? You want to always be respected, acknowledged for your successes, get direction when you need it and be treated more as a friend than a resource directed to just get things done. I guarantee that those you are directing and leading on the projects you are managing feel the exact same way. If you are always treating your team and customers this way then congratulations.But if you take a hard look at how you treat people in your personal and professional life there are likely some areas where you are taking others for granted and treating them more as task masters than people. To often we look at what they can be doing for you rather than what do they need and what can you be doing for them to help them accomplish what they need to do and get to where they are going.

Your customers are people, too.

Your customer is your customer – on the other side of the fence. But they are really part of your team, too, and all they want is for you to all succeed together. No matter how demanding they may be, always be looking out for their best interest – kill them with kindness. You might be very surprised what happens with a difficult customer when you work with that mindset. They are people too. They care about their budget and their project, but they know you and your team do also and that you are the experts.Sometimes you do have to remind them of that but that’s life, right? We all get in each other’s way from time to time. You’re no more special than anyone else. That’s probably a phrase we should repeat to ourselves every morning before starting work. We might approach each day and each relationship a bit differently. And don’t forget to treat those at home with the same love and respect. It can be easy to kick the dog when you’ve had a tough day. Don’t kick the dog, he did nothing to you. Your work and your relationships and your actions are your own responsibility. Own that and always remember that.

Summary / call for input

The bottom line is this: if you focus on collaborating well with your team, developing relationships with your team and with the customer and work hard to keep everyone on the same page and working toward the same goals with recognized roles of equal importance and accountability, you and your projects will be more successful by default. By focusing on the people on the project and not so much the processes, those individuals will take more complete ownership of their tasks and be more participant and accountable and you will all achieve a higher level of success. The processes, which are actually fairly logical in nature, will take care of themselves for the most part. Especially if the team and customer are on the same page and working together to the same ends and goals. If you get off track, call a meeting and discuss. Transparency is a great thing and you’ll only gain more respect from the team and the customer by recognizing the need for such a discussion. And what you’ll be left with are strong working partnerships and relationships that will conform project to project and team to team. The best part may be that your project customer will see it and experience it as well.

Readers – what are your thoughts? People vx processes – what do you think is the most important part of managing projects? What works best for you? Please share and discuss.

I can work from anywhere! And other remote work myths…

Written by Brad Egeland on . Posted in Articles. 8 Comments on I can work from anywhere! And other remote work myths…

I will be the first to say that remote work works for me. It works great, and I’ve been doing it productively, effectively and successfully for years.

But I realize that is not necessarily for everyone, it may not work on all types of projects, and it may not work in all companies, countries and industries. But it works for me in Las Vegas, Nevada.

To make a broad statement like “I can work from anywhere” is simply not true. It’s like Green Eggs and Ham. Would you really work a project in a boat, with a goat, in the rain, in the dark, on a train, in a car, in a tree, in a box, with a fox, in a house, and with a mouse? Probably just “in a house.” But not with a mouse. Although I have performed project work in several of those other places listed above. But not knowingly with a mouse… So many of the others are fallacies, but they make a great story.

No, not everyone can work remotely and from anywhere. There are many things to be considered…

Where is your team located?

Is your team co-located with you? If not, then there may be no need to work onsite and remote management may be the best route to take. There are many benefits as I’ve pointed out in articles along the way. But if your team is mostly co-located where you are, then you should be there as well. I worked for a Las Vegas based tech organization leading projects for many Fortune 500 organizations. I worked remotely about 95% of the time during my tenure because me project teams were dispersed across the US and around the world. But for two of my projects, most of my project team members were located at the Las Vegas headquarters and it just made good sense to work side by side with them. And it was by far the best call to make as we developed great working relationships and pulled off two highly successful implementations. I’m not saying we wouldn’t have even if I had continued working from my home office, but since we could all be together and there were some stressful issue laden times on both projects, it was good that we could have project team meetings most of the time with a majority of the team side by side in the same room.

Do you have an escape route?

You can’t just have a great home office setup and call yourself a remote project manager. It won’t work. What happens when you’re on that critical weekly status call with the customer and your 5-year-old son runs in the room begging for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? No matter what agreement or arrangement you’ve worked out with the rest of your family “team” as far as watching children and keeping them at bay especially when you’re on a call or they themselves avoiding calling out for you to fix something, someone can and will slip through the clutches like a catastrophic risk you forget to plan for. It’s not that big of a deal usually, but depending on the discussion, the nature of the call, and the way the project is going with the customer, it can cause issues or concerns – especially if it happens repeatedly. The solution? Have 2-3 more go-to locations where you have something setup or you can get to quickly if an emergency should arise. For me it’s our library above the garage. Has great wi-fi reception, is very bright with lots of windows (and great mountain views) and has lots of workspace – I’d work from there all the time if my wife would let me, but she is my home office manager and that isn’t going to happen. I also have a downstairs guest bedroom I can go to if needed and between those two places I’m usually covered. There’s always Starbucks for most of us, but since the closest to me is over 3 miles away, I need advanced notice to head over to that office away from home.

Advertisement
[widget id=”custom_html-68″]

Does everyone approve?

Does your senior management approve? How about your PMO Director, if that’s applicable. You may say it’s the greatest thing in the world and you’re most productive working remotely – and I’d certainly buy in to that – but not everyone does. Many bosses think that if they can’t see you work, then you’re not actually working. Yes, that’s silly – especially in the 2010’s and current technology – but it happens and those “leaders” are still out there. You can do some cost benefit analysis’ or provide other documentation to back you up, but if you can’t change their mind then it’s not going to happen. You’ll either have to comply or move on.

What does the customer need?

Think about the customer. I can’t really think of a need from the customer’s standpoint unless they tend to spend a lot of time at your organization’s headquarters or if you mainly lead internal projects for business units in your own organization. But it happens, and you may not be able to work – without customer concerns or issues – remotely. Thankfully, this one would likely be rare and only on a project by project basis so as the next project rolls around you probably won’t face the same issue or concern.

Summary / call for input

The bottom line is this – I feel that remote work and remote project management is the best way to go if you are managing clients in different time zones, overseeing project staff in different time zones, and have the dedication, organization and office and equipment setup to pull this off. You are then flexible in your hours, able to meet with staff and customers at 2am if needed and may be willing to work for a bit less if it’s that important to you because the life benefits – depending on your circumstances – can be huge. But it isn’t for everyone.

Readers – please share your thoughts and opinions. Does it work for you? Were you denied remote work options if you requested them? Please share your experiences and thoughts on the topic.