Author: Greta Blash

Should PMP Recertification be Modified?

Written by Greta Blash on March 29, 2011. Posted in Articles. 3 Comments on Should PMP Recertification be Modified?

Let me begin by saying that personally I would not want to have to take the PMP exam again – but as an instructor of certification courses, the changes that have been made to the PMBOK between version 3 and version 4 are extensive. I wonder how many, if any, of the PMPs who were certified 6 or more years ago are aware of these changes. If we were referring to professionals in the real estate, legal or accounting professions, would we want them to continue to provide their service to us if they only had to attend meetings to maintain their “certification?”

Why are we even talking about this now – three years after the new PMBOK version went into effect? I think part of this has been raised due to the announcement of a new PMP exam starting August 31st of this year. The new exam does not address new concepts but rather incorporates the professional responsibility aspects of project management directly into the processes – rather than standing alone.

Many of the changes to the PMBOK that were incorporated in version 4 have come from the impact of The IIBA organization and the recognition of the differences in IT, engineering and construction projects. With more and more PMPs coming from the IT area, the role of the business analyst (BA), and the incorporation of the BABOK framework, influenced changes to the PMBOK.

For those who have not studied the differences between the PMBOK version 3 and version 4, I will try and summarize those changes here. (If you are aware of these, I hope this will serve to re-emphasize those areas.)

Many of the changes in the first few chapters were made to integrate and compare projects, programs and portfolio management to align with other PMI Standards. Also a more graphical format was used to show the inputs and outputs for processes – for those of us who appreciate the combination of pictures and words.

The concept of Project Life Cycle was expanded in chapter 2 to recognize multi-phased projects that are prevalent in the IT project world. There is also discussion of how the multiple phases are related (i.e. sequential, overlapping, iterative). As a greater emphasis of Agile Project Management is adopted by PMI, this area will see even more emphasis and change in the future.

One other major change was to the concept of the Triple Constraint. It was changed to reflect the additional “competing demands” (Scope, Quality, Schedule, Budget, Resources and Risks) that should be considered. Whether the term “Triple Constraint” will ever go away, is yet to be seen.

Integration

In the Integration Knowledge area, the Preliminary Scope was deleted, removing the questioning of the difference between the Preliminary Scope and the Project Scope that is created later. The Project SOW, which could include a business case, was also added as an input to the Project Charter process. Approved change requests were combined into three categories (Corrective action, Preventive action and Defect repair).

Scope

Major changes were made in the area of Scope. The Scope Planning process was deleted and more specific requirements tools and techniques were added from the BABOK to a new Collect Requirements process. This new process has the inputs of project charter and stakeholder register (a new deliverable). The Scope baseline components were broken out to include the Project Scope Statement (which I personally think should be identified as a complete document – not a statement – since it probably is volumes), the WBS and the WBS Dictionary.

I would highly recommend that all PMs become familiar with the BABOK and especially the processes that pertain to requirements gathering.

Time

This area had very few changes except that the Arrow Diagramming Method (ADM), aka Activity on Arrow (AOA) was finally deleted. This was a long time coming, especially since there is not a single vendor that supports this method with an automated tool.

Cost

There were two new EVM forecasting metrics (for all those who are actually doing EVM). There is a new Estimate at Completion (EAC) with a new ETC calculation. In addition to the Schedule and Cost Performance Index there is a new To-Complete Performance Index (TCPI). Since I personally have not had the “opportunity” to utilize EVM on any of my projects, I can only memorize the new formulas and look for an opening.

Quality

The only changes in this area were minor adjustments to the diagrams.

HR

The major changes in this knowledge area have been to the techniques. Team building activities have been added to the Develop Project Team process. Conflict management and resolution methods as well as interpersonal skills have been added as techniques to the Manage Project Team process. This last process has also been moved from Monitoring and Control to Execution.

Communication

This area has increased its emphasis on stakeholders and the analysis of these individuals. The addition of an Identify Stakeholders in Initiation has moved this activity from an overview discussion in version 3 and a component of the Communication Plan to a standalone process, that is similar to a process in the BABOK. The management of stakeholders has also been modified to reflect the management of Stakeholder Expectations, rather than just the management of the stakeholders (which was probably never possible).

Risk

The only in this area was the verb-noun consistency in process names.

Procurement

As opposed to the risk area, procurement was completely changed (again). This area seems to change with each new version of the PMBOK, as identified in the appendix. In this version the processes were simplified and aligned more closely to the process groups. Obviously this is an area that every PM needs to review to ensure they are aware of the activities that are included in the Plan Procurement, Conduct Procurement, Administer Procurement and Close Procurement processes.

In addition to the changes in the main portion of the PMBOK a new Appendix (G) on Interpersonal Skills has been added. This includes sections that address the following areas:

Leadership
Team Building
Motivation
Communication
Influencing
Decision Making
Political and Cultural Awareness
Negotiation

The PMBOK is not meant to be a document that is read and studied in order to pass the certification exam, but one that should be reread and referred to frequently as projects are planned and managed. Each project we manage is different and therefore by returning to the PMBOK, as well as other project management references, we can find aides to help us in our efforts.

So should our recertification requirements be changed to at least make sure that we are aware of the changes in our profession and are performing under the latest best practices?

Don’t forget to leave your comments below.

Number 10: Determine the Type of Presentation

“A speech is an instrument which the speaker uses to get certain things done. He can’t build a bridge with a speech. But by a speech he can enlist the support and cooperation that will enable him to get the bridge built. Support, consent, cooperation, willingness, consensus, agreement, acceptance, understanding-these terms indicate real things that can be said to be true of groups after speeches have been made to them”

– Wilbur S Howell of Princeton University in “The Speaker’s Abstract: A Guide for Public Speaking (published in 1950).

The first consideration is determining the type of presentation that you will be presenting. This decision is usually dependent on the size of the audience, the venue and the expected outcome as a result of the presentation.

The first involves presenting to a small group within a meeting-like environment. In this instance the speaker or presenter has more personal contact with the group and is able to deliver a more interactive presentation. With this size group it is possible to elicit feedback and participation. These types of presentations usually are more of a persuasive nature and have an expectancy of a decision being reached at the conclusion of the session. This is a very typical presentation method for a project manager to deliver status or progress reports, project gate results or updates to steering committees and/or upper management.

At times a project manager may be requested to deliver a more structured, informational presentation to a large, mostly anonymous audience. Rather than being in proximity with the attendees, the presenter is elevated to a stage, often with bright lights which prevent any eye contact with the audience.

With the advent of technology, either small or large presentations may now be supported through virtual meetings or webinars. In these instances the same content may be presented but the audience may be scattered across the globe. Not only is personal interaction constrained, but in many cases, the actual size or composure of the audience is unknown.

Number 9: Know your audience

“There are apathetic, sleeping audiences that must be awakened; there are hostile audiences that must be defied and conquered; there are alienated or sullen audiences that must be won back; there are frightened audiences that must be calmed. There are loyal, affectionate audiences that must be further inspired. There are cool, skeptical audiences that must be coolly convinced. There are heterogeneous audiences that must be molded into some kind of unity.”

– Houston Peterson, author, A Treasury of the World’s Great Speeches

Audiences are made up of people and therefore come in many varieties. You must be able to determine the type of audience and then identify the best strategy for being able to relate to them most effectively.

Some questions to help analyze the audience are:

What are the demographics of the group (age, gender, economic status, education level, etc.)?
Why is the audience attending? (Be able to answer the question “What is in it for me? )
If this is an internal organizational presentation, where am I organizationally relative to the other attendees?
Who are the key decision makers in the audience?

There is no such thing as an unimportant audience. These people have taken time out of their life to come see you. You owe them the best that you have in you.

Number 8: Understand the logistics of your presentation

“Paying attention to simple little things that most people neglect makes a few people rich”
– Henry Ford

Hopefully the logistics of the presentation has been handled by someone else. As part of the planning, the time, date, location, room setup, and equipment required have been discussed, approved and in place prior to the event.

Even with the best planning, as Murphy reminds us “if something can do wrong, it will.”

The first concern is to arrive at the location in plenty of time to make sure that indeed everything is in place and working properly. With today’s transportation problems, whether arriving from a distance or just traveling locally, it is better to have time to spare than be running into the venue at the last moment.

When audio-visual equipment is going to be used, a test run is imperative. You want to remember to check the electrical connections, lighting, sound, and room temperature before the attendees start assembling.

Number 7: Determine the appropriate delivery method

“Speech preparation may be defined as the process of making decisions beforehand upon the content, the organization, the wording, and the delivery of a speech.”

The determination of which delivery method is most appropriate is based on the type of presentation, the knowledge of the audience and the logistics of where the presentation is to be held.

For large audiences and informative presentations a more formal presentation can be utilized. These presentations may be based on a previously submitted white paper and are scripted with carefully chosen visuals to illustrate key points. (More on visuals later).

For the smaller, more informal presentations, a more interactive speaking style may be more appropriate. These may still utilize visuals, but may incorporate more than one method (including slides, flipcharts, etc.). Because of the interactive nature of these presentations, less detailed notes supporting the content are often more appropriate.

Number 6: Organize the content of the presentation

“A speech has two parts. You must state your case and then prove it.”
– Aristotle

The first step, and probably the most important step, is to know the purpose and understand what you want to accomplish with this presentation. Once you have clearly defined the objective, then you can begin to do your research, make an outline or mind map, prepare any graphics and write your words.

Even though Aristotle was speaking about persuasive speeches having two parts, he later went on to say that most speeches have four parts:

Introduction – or “tell ‘me what you are going to tell ’em”
Statement – or “tell ’em”
Argument – or “tell ’em some more”
Epilogue – or “tell ’em what you told ’em”

This structure has withstood the test of time and can be helpful with the organization of the content of the presentation.

Churchill once said that a speech is like a symphony. It may have three movements but must have one dominant melody. Once the melody (or objective) has been finalized, it is time to “chunk” the middle.

There may be some psychological reason as to why series of threes are best remembered, but whatever the reason, but it probably best to limit your key points to three.

Above all it is important to remember that every part of the presentation concerns the audience. Never give a generic presentation. Personalize it, relate it to the news of the day.

Every presentation starts with an issue of concern to the audience and ends with “a call to action” or next steps towards resolution of the issue. From start to finish the presenter is guiding the audience through the presentation of ideas, data, and plans using the specific language of the audience. The best presentations are those in which the audience believes that the speaker is truly addressing their needs and issues.

Number 5: Determine the balance between pictures or words

“You’ve got to see it to believe it”
– Anonymous

Geri E. H. McArdle, PhD, author of Delivering Effective Training Sessions, notes that adding visuals such as graphs, charts, maps, or photos to a presentation increases the amount of retained information by as much as 55 percent. Using these percentages, people attending a presentation with visuals will remember about 65 percent of the content after three days, compared to about 10 percent who only listened to the presentation. Since many of today’s presentations are done virtually or electronically, the delivery mechanism must consist of both audio and visual components.

A study done by the Wharton School of Business showed that the use of visuals reduced meeting times by as much as 28 percent. This study also recognized the decrease in the time needed for participants to reach decisions and consensus through the use of visuals. Other results of using visuals as part of the presentation have shown an increase in the credibility and professionalism of the presenters over those who only spoke.

Even though visuals have a positive influence, a poorly developed visual can negate the results rapidly. Some basic pointers include:

Limit one basic idea per slide
Verify the text is readable
Be consistent with the look and feel of the text and the background (and ensure that the choice is appropriate to the logistics of the presentation)
Choose appropriate colors for the message and the audience
Combine visuals with text (remember “a picture is worth a thousand words”)
If you need to refer continuously to some information during your presentation, place it on a flip-chart, whiteboard or a paper handout. This will significantly help your audience to remember or recall the information without going back to the original slide and allow you to continue with your presentation.

Number 4: Elicit feedback from key stakeholders

“When there are two people in a business who always agree, one of them is unnecessary”
– William Wrigley, Jr

There are a number of points at which reviews must be incorporated into the preparation of the presentation.

After being asked to present, time should be allotted to discuss the expectations of the requester(s). This input will help guide the development of the purpose and objectives of the material. It will also reassure the requester that their needs will be met.

In order to make sure that you can connect with your audience you need to put yourself in their shoes. This may involve observing the activities in the work environment, or speaking with a few representative audience members. These activities will increase the credibility of the presentation and ensure that it is timely and addresses the current needs of the audience.

After you have completed your first version it is time to review the content with the subject matter experts. This will ensure that not only is the material accurate but also that it is understandable.

Number 3: Practice your delivery

“You ain’t heard nothing yet”
– Al Jolson

Some tricks to help ensure a smooth delivery through the use of a “dry run”:

Vocalize the speech aloud, making note of natural pauses
Rehearse in front of team members, preferably in a location similar to the final venue
Review the timing
Refine the materials, including both visuals and content, where necessary
Verify the required setup, including lighting and sound levels
Review personal presentation and voice tonality
Practice, practice, practice

Number 2: Make yourself “presentable”

“No one is more confusing than the person who gives good advice while setting a bad example”
– Anonymous

There are two main aspects that the presenter needs to consider on a personal level. One is appearance and the other is voice. Ignoring these items can distract and ruin an otherwise outstanding presentation.

Some hints for your appearance:

– Make sure that you are well-groomed, including the proverbial “shoes polished, suit pressed and clean fingernails”
– Dress appropriately, whether the attire is business or casual, but slightly more formal than the audience.
– The selection of the clothing should not be by chance. They should proclaim your professionalism.
– Adopt a style that suits you and that is consistent with the way the audience thinks you should dress.

There are a number of schools of thought regarding the colors that presenters should wear. The conservative view espoused by the editors of the Executive Guide to Successful Presentation suggests that grey and blue are the most appropriate suit colors for presenters while Dorothy Sarnoff of Speech Dynamics suggests that her clients wear standout colors. “When you are presenting why not be the center of attention? Have your color enter the room and claim attention with you.”

The quality of your voice is nearly as important as your message. If a voice is irritating, offensive, high-pitched, nasal, whining, or strongly accented in any way it will distract the audience from the key points of the presentation. A voice that is forced or too loud will sound strident, even aggressive. If a voice is too soft, the audience won’t get the point of the presentation because they may not even hear it.

Even though a voice coach is not a necessity, every speaker should spend time listening to their own voice. This may include recording your daily conversations and then playing those back at the end of the day. Many presenters have not heard their own voice, or not as the audience will.

John Connell, a voice-over actor heard on many commercials, says
“It all comes out in the voice. Joy, nervousness, anticipation, authority, boredom. The voice gives the audience its first real clue about you. Yet the voice is often neglected.”

There are several books on this subject, including Voice Power by Renee Grant-Williams that can provide assistance in this area.

Number 1: Showtime! Take a deep breath and smile

“Never bend you head. Always hold it high.
Look the world straight in the eye”
– Helen Keller

Here are some of our final tips to help you make a great first impression.

Release tension by loosening your muscles, especially your jaw and neck.
Breathe deeply but naturally. Don’t hyperventilate.
If you have butterflies in your stomach, have them fly in formation – (Author unknown)

Say some words out loud, such as “Let’s go” – to make sure that your voice is working. What you say should be enthusiastic and get your adrenalin going as well

Slowly, but confidently, walk up to the front of the room with your shoulders back and head up.
Stand tall.
Scan your audience, finding a few friendly faces and establish eye contact.
Smile.
Repeat your opening sentence to yourself. Each second you pause strengthens your opening words.
Channel your nervousness into enthusiasm and passion.
Go for it!!

Remember:

“Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Eighty percent of success is showing up!”
– Woody Allen

Don’t forget to leave your comments below.

Steve and Greta Blash are frequent speakers world-wide at conferences and seminars. They have spoken on topics including business analysis, project management, business re-engineering/process improvement, sytems development, and business intelligence.

A version of this article was published in allPM.com newsletter in Feb 29, 2008 and presented at a PMI-SN chapter meeting in July 2008.

Critical Chain Project Management

Written by Greta Blash on February 9, 2011. Posted in Articles. 4 Comments on Critical Chain Project Management

Perhaps the most arduous task that afflicts project managers involves keeping today’s aggressive project schedules on track. Because resources are continually restricted more and more and the highly skilled, high-priced resources are often required for multiple projects, resource constraints become one of the highest risks to the project schedule. To help ensure that project schedules are met, project managers have learned to concentrate on a project’s critical path. They have also learned that the resources used along the critical path—the critical chain of resources—especially those resources shared among projects, must be proactively managed.

This is where Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM) can aid the project manager—by planning and managing a project’s schedule through a unique optimization process that joins the task-dependent critical path with the critical chain—the resource-dependent tasks that impact the project completion date. The critical chain explicitly defines a resource-leveled set of tasks. If the quantity of resources is unlimited, the critical path and the critical chain are identical.

Unfortunately, the resource-leveling activity that identifies the critical chain often extends the project’s end date. To meet the original, predefined end date, the new schedule must be optimized. Critical chain optimization, just like critical path optimization, looks at individual tasks to determine which time estimates can be shortened. Critical chain optimization, however, also focuses on a project’s resources, keeping them levelly loaded through flexible start times and quickly switching among tasks.

Critical chain optimizing recognizes that the entire safety margin originally built into every project schedule might not be required and that all tasks, in theory, could be completed ahead of schedule. Keep in mind, though, that as long as the safety margins exist in individual tasks, the ability to shorten the overall project length is minimalized. Yet, if the safety margins are all removed and even one critical task exceeds its estimated length, the completion date for the entire project is jeopardized.

Scheduling Buffers

CCPM methodology places safety margins—buffers—in the project schedule while pushing individual tasks to completion in the shortest time possible. The project manager applies and monitors four specific buffers that allow for contingencies where resource risks have the greatest impact on a project:

The project buffer protects the project from missing its scheduled end date due to variations along the critical chain. It places a portion of the safety margin time that was removed from each task estimate into a buffer task, thus moving the times of uncertainty from individual tasks to a pooled buffer task. The project buffer is inserted between the final scheduled task and the scheduled project end date. The critical chain starts at the beginning of the project and ends at the start of the project buffer, not at the end of the project. Time is added to or subtracted from the project buffer as the actual time required to complete each task changes.

The feeding buffer minimizes the risk that late completion of a non-critical chain task will affect the critical chain. The project manager inserts an amount of time at those points in the schedule where inputs from non-critical chain tasks merge with critical chain tasks. The result is very similar to a relay race where the speed of the race, in general, is able to be maintained by the overlap in runners at the hand-off point.

The resource buffer is an alert that is sent to critical resources to ensure that they have time to complete their current tasks and begin to prepare for the critical chain task so that work can begin on the latter task as soon as the former task is completed. This buffer can be implemented easily and provides immediate benefit with little or no cost.

The capacity buffer places on-call resources that are available to avoid schedule delays due to unforeseen issues into the budget. Because this buffer adds additional cost to the budget, it is, unfortunately, seldom applied—such an expense goes against most organization’s cost control principles. Obviously, the capacity buffer makes more sense in a multi-project environment, where the cost can be distributed over multiple project efforts.

The project manager focuses on managing these buffers during the monitoring and control phases. Frequently updating the time-to-complete for individual tasks while closely monitoring the consumption and replenishment of the buffers allows the project manager to track actual project progress against the original schedule. The project manager can effectively analyze current progress, implement corrective actions, and maintain focus on the most critical aspects of the project.

CCPM Process

At a high level, the CCPM process for developing and controlling a project schedule is composed of the following steps:

Reduce individual task estimates dramatically. This is done either by slashing the estimate by 50 percent or by applying a three-point estimating process to each task.
Resource level the project to remove resource contentions. At this point, the critical path is transformed into the critical chain.
Aggregate a portion of the reduced task estimates into a project buffer, and insert this buffer at the end of the project.
Insert feeding buffers at points where non-critical chain paths intersect the critical chain. The subordination of non-critical chain paths allows continued focus on the critical chain.
Insert resource buffers where appropriate to reduce the probability that a critical resource is unavailable when scheduled.
Insert capacity buffers where appropriate.
Limit or eliminate multitasking.
Schedule tasks with no predecessors to start as late as possible.
Encourage tasks to be completed as quickly as possible. Emphasize the importance of start times and aggressive task completion rather than due dates.
Manage buffers to support preventive and corrective actions.

Multi-project Environment

Even though CCPM concepts are often applied in a single-project environment, they take on additional significance in a multi-project environment. The most loaded resource shared across projects, also called the drum resource, affects the overall completion date or schedule of the individual projects because each project is forced to progress at the pace of the drum resource.

Consequently, the critical chain and the paths that merge with it may result from resource dependencies outside the scope of a single project. Providing visibility to resource conflicts that exist outside the individual project is necessary to get a true picture of the overall project management environment within any organization.

Conclusion

If your organization is highly networked, has a large number of projects requiring a few critical resources or a drum resource, and primarily operates by using time as the dominant leg of the triple constraint, then CCPM can be a meaningful addition to your project management toolkit. But every organization, regardless of size and project management inclinations, should consider gradually incorporating into its current project management methodology the individual CCPM principles that are applicable.

CCPM may be the most important new approach to project scheduling in the last thirty years. It is a method that can be applied to meet the ever-increasingly aggressive schedule requirements that every project manager is facing while, at the same time, helping organizations to maintain quality and productivity. It has been proven to be an effective method to protect your projects from the inevitable slippages that occur in every project.

Don’t forget to leave your comments below.

Greta Blash, PMP has a broad-based information technology background in all facets of project management, training, systems integration and software product management. She has provided coaching and delivered training seminars for various companies in the areas of Project Management, Facilitation, Strategic Planning, Information and Data Modeling, as well as the Integration of Data and Process Modeling Techniques. She has written numerous articles and frequently speaks on the topics of Project Management, Business and Data Analysis, and Business Intelligence at conferences worldwide. She holds a Master degree in Information Management and a Bachelor degree in Math. She is the current VP of Education for the PMI chapter in Las Vegas.

Editors Blog – Intro for Bad Project Management (or Managers)

Written by Greta Blash on February 9, 2011. Posted in Articles. 6 Comments on Editors Blog – Intro for Bad Project Management (or Managers)

With all the award shows and Project Manager of the Year (PMOY) selections at this time of the year, it makes you wonder – What about an award, like the Razzies, for the Worst PM of the Year?

So what would be the characteristics of a bad project manager?

One who either allows scope creep – or has no idea of the actual scope of the project
One who creates a schedule but never tracks to it – or never creates a schedule in the first place and prefers to “shoot from the hip”
One who overlooks budget items – or never worries about the cost of the project
One who is more concerned about finishing on-time and within budget than providing a quality solution – or who leaves this area to the QA and QC teams
One who feels that the team is secondary to themselves in importance – or places all responsibility on the team and assumes none for themselves
One who only communicates the good news – or never communicates at all
One who identifies risks but never creates contingency plans – or never worries about risk because ‘*%#’ always happens.
One who pushes all responsibility to subcontractors for their delivery without oversight – or who is unethical in procurement decisions.

As Project Managers I am sure that none of these have applied to us personally, but we have seen these behaviors in other project managers. Are these some of the reasons that over half of the projects fail?

I am sure that each of us has our own horror stories of what could be considered bad Project Managers – or it is really just aspects of poor performance by project managers?

Over the next few weeks we have asked our contributors to share their thoughts about characteristics of a bad project manager. We encourage you to share your experiences on the subject.

Ups and Downs of a Project Manager / Business Analyst’s Journey

Written by Greta Blash on January 12, 2011. Posted in Articles. 1 Comment on Ups and Downs of a Project Manager / Business Analyst’s Journey

Blash_Blog_jan11 Today my job title is Project Manager but over the years I have gone from Systems Analyst to Project Manager to Vice President, while in reality nothing seems to have really changed.

After starting my professional career as a high school math teacher, I was hired into the training department for an insurance company. Having helped my husband with the “automation” of his sales reporting, I was quickly moved into the role of analyst/designer/programmer of a new system to support Insurance Agents. Over the years my title changed from a Systems Analyst, to a Data Analyst, to a Quality Analyst – depending on the role the software development project required.

Within a few years it became apparent that if I wanted to “move up” in an organization that I would have to take on additional management responsibility, while still being able to utilize my analysis skills on assignments. Depending on the size of the project, I might be lucky and the project would warrant an analyst as well as a project manager resource. Otherwise the task assigned would determine the role I would play. As software development was replaced by packaged software implementations, the analyst role was slowly eliminated. My choice now was either to take the technical route of a DBA or take on a management role.

Even though I spent many years working on technology-based projects in IT departments within insurance, health care, defense contractor, consumer goods and gaming organizations, I realized that I preferred working with people rather than machines. I also realized that the technical positions were limited in career paths options, whereas the non-technical IT positions were stepping stones to higher management.

After a few years of climbing the corporate ladder, within a number of organizations, I found myself as a Vice-President of IT with the responsibility of opening a new resort/casino property. On any single day I would spend my time as an analyst, a project manager, or a member of the executive team. I discovered through this experience that I would prefer the work of the BA and/or PM rather than the politics required of an executive. As a result of having reached what many would consider the “top” of a career path, I chose to return to the role of a practitioner, mentoring and training future business analysts and project managers.

BA and PM Roles

Even though the role of a BA has regained acceptance in many companies thanks to organizations such as The IIBA, with the limited resources available today, the BA is often a dual role played by the PM. This is especially evident on projects with aggressive schedules and limited resources. When the Statement of Work (SOW) or Scope is being developed, who is responsible for completing the task? Or maybe a better question — What role is assigned to the person doing the work – the BA or PM?

Obviously analytical skills are critical to both roles and this combination has been recognized in Version 4 of the PMBOK through new processes — Collect Requirements and Identify Stakeholders — and the expansion of the process Define Scope. The Stakeholder Register and the Requirements Traceability Matrix are new deliverables that are also the result of the recognition of the Business Analyst role on a project.

With the initial version of the BABOK many discussions, which at times became very heated, were held between BAs and PMs regarding the common processes that were included in both the PMBOK and the BABOK. These included stakeholder analysis, risk assessment, and planning of activities and communications. Confusion regarding the planning activities was clarified in version 2.0 to refer only to the planning of BA activities and communications. The similarity in the processes between the PMBOK and the BABOK is often only able to be resolved at the individual project and/or resource level.

Even though there is an overlap of the two roles as defined in the PMBOK and BABOK, there are a few personal qualities that differentiate the BA and the PM:

The Project Manager aligns closer to typical management positions with the responsibility of managing and tracking the various tasks and resources assigned to the project. Business Analysts are more akin to Independent Contractors, working across organizational boundaries as well as up and down organizational hierarchies.
The Business Analyst is responsible for “drilling down” to elicit detail requirements, while the Project Manager is responsible for staying at a higher level and concentrating on answering questions such as: “What percentage of the work is complete” or “How much longer will it take to complete?” The BA’s work is never complete (possibly why the term “analysis paralysis” may have caused the demise of the Systems Analyst of the past) – while the PM continues to try and move the effort forward.
The Business Analyst is often more people-oriented, being more concerned with the requirements of the business stakeholders. The Project Manager is more task-oriented, making sure that the project is completed within the time and budget constraints. The dilemma has always been though, “Is the project a success when it comes in under budget and ahead of schedule but does not meet the expectation of the stakeholders?” And who is really responsible for the ultimate success of a project?

Given these various similarities and differences in the same role, I personally believe that my experience has given me the ability to take on projects as a PM and/or BA that require thinking “outside of the box” and adding tasks and items that are not typically included in the standard project and deliverable templates. Understanding customer expectations and being able to easily adapt to those require the analysis skills of the BA as well as the management skills of a PM.

Next Step in the Journey

Regardless of the title on a business card, or the management level of a position, the skills acquired through the journey provide the building blocks required to meet the expectations of future assignments. Maybe progressing “up” the proverbial career path is not as important as doing the job that you consider enjoyable and yet challenging.