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Soft Skills Software Assistance

Written by Cynthia Low on . Posted in Articles. 3 Comments on Soft Skills Software Assistance

When project management software is presented by their vendors these days, we tend to hear the ‘core’ subjects: critical scheduling, portfolio analysis, resource capacity planning, risk analysis, inter-project reporting and so on.  If you’ve not been in one of these demonstrations before, you’re missing something.  They’re a sight to behold.  The software sits up on its hind legs, barks and then runs out to get you a cappuccino.  Ok, maybe not quite.  But these enterprise project management system presentations are pretty impressive.

I’ve been in the background of preparing such demonstrations and I can tell you that an enormous amount of work goes into them.  It’s easily understood.  The software vendor doesn’t want to show what the software will look like when it’s delivered, they want to show what it will look like after it’s been adopted, used, updated, personalized and is delivering the great results the client is hoping for.  To be fair, that’s what the prospective client wants to see too.  They want to see a finished product looking like it would if they had completed their implementation.

To prepare such demonstrations an entire fictitious organization must be created.  It’s not enough just to imagine some tasks because, just like a real organization, all kinds of data must relate to all kinds of other data and this means assembling a story.  Once the story is written, the data must be created to match it and then installation and configuration of the software has to happen.  There are also reports, views, filters and such to be created, so that the prospective clients can see how everything fits together.

I bring all this up because what often happens during these presentations is that the prospective client gets very excited about the delivery of a solution that will solve all their problems; the “silver bullet” solution (of Lone Ranger fame) which will always reach its target no matter how far or how small.

The truth is, some of these answers are hard to come by.  I’ve found over the years that the most requested solution by organizations seeking an enterprise project management solution is “Resource Capacity Planning”.  This is unfortunately the first thing (and sometimes the only thing) they ask for and it’s almost always the last thing I can deliver.  It’s not that I’m being difficult, but creating a resource capacity planning solution implies a lot of underlying assumptions to be resolved.  First, you must have 100% of the resource availability. Next, you must have 100% of the resource load which must be organized by task.  These two items are just the collection of the base data required for a resource capacity analysis.  These items alone are so daunting for most organizations that just overcoming the cultural challenges required to get all the data will overwhelm the project.  If we overcome these, we’re still not done.  We need a prioritization process that identifies which work should get first access to restricted resources.  We need a process that will have everyone update the resource availability and requirements on a normalized basis.  We need analysis and reports that make sense of what may be an enormous volume of data.  We need metrics to determine what the reports mean and, finally, an action plan which fits into our process to take the appropriate action where the metrics indicate.

Whew!  I know… It’s daunting, isn’t it?

In a mid-sized organization, delivering this kind of EPM solution can take up to two years or more.  Some results can be produced much faster but there are some much more interesting aspects to software deployment in the enterprise project management context when we look outside of the core project scheduling functionality.

First of all, there is a huge range of online training in soft skills.  You can take courses in leadership, negotiation, assertiveness, communications and dozens of other subjects.

If we take a look at communications for a moment, the whole domain of online collaboration is a huge area of benefit.  You can use Microsoft’s Windows SharePoint Services to create online portals for project work.  Windows SharePoint Services is included as part of Windows Server and includes the ability to create event lists, lists of contacts, tasks, file sharing, document management and more.  If you’d rather not install software, you can look at services like Google Groups.  On Google, you can create a private group for your project team and store up to 100MB of files, start discussions, make announcements and share information no matter where people log in from.  You can tie Google Groups with Google Documents and Google Calendars to share a wider range of information.  If the group is small, the functionality may suit you rather well and you can’t beat the price.  It’s free.

If you’d prefer to do something a little more involved, there are a number of content management systems such as PostNuke, Joomla, Drupal, DotNetNuke, and DotProject.net.  These systems can be installed or hosted almost anywhere, and provide a rich environment for creating a communication and collaboration environment.  Data of almost any kind can be stored and, when it’s your own system, you can tweak it and customize it and even add on to it to your heart’s content.

For some the key is managing documents and there are a number of solutions for this challenge as well.  If the requirement is for a small team, both Google Documents and Google Groups offer a lot of functionality for no cost.  If you’re keen to go a little deeper and host the solution locally, you can do basic document management with Windows SharePoint Services.

There are also a number of free document management systems (dms) available for download which include a much richer level of document management functionality.  Examples would be OpenDocMan, Epiware (which also includes tasks and a Gantt chart!) or DocumentManagementSystem (on www.SourceForge.net)

If what you really need is a centralized location, where all your research can be compiled and added to and updated by different team members, then creating your own Wiki is the way to go.  Made famous by the Wikipedia folks, you can install your own Wiki software.  There are dozens of free versions.  Just search for “Free Wiki Software” to see the most current.

These aspects of your project management environment may seem like ancillary functionality but make no mistake about the potential for these aspects to deliver a tremendous impact.  Implementing an effective communications process where there was none before can seem like the difference between night and day. Introducing a collaborative commitment tracking system can deliver instant focus to a team that might not be co-located.

One of the most powerful things about these aspects of the enterprise project management environment is that it can be very, very fast to deploy compared, say, to resource capacity planning.

We’ve talked a range of alternative software systems for working on aspects of your project management environment that are outside the core scheduling capabilities but of course much of this kind of functionality can also be found woven within the major enterprise project management systems on the market today.  If you’re evaluating whether to use these commercial systems to work on these other aspects of the project management environment, then make sure the benefits of these areas can be delivered without first getting all the core scheduling organized as part of the same exercise.  Some EPM systems are schedule-centric.  They were designed around the notion that the schedule would be the key element around which all other data and all other functionality would be tied.  No centralized scheduling for these systems means no centralized anything.

There are many paths to delivering effectiveness in your project management environment.  You don’t have to settle for the most obvious.  With so many different tools and services available immediately, it is within your power to make an impact in a very short amount of time.

Chris Vandersluis is the founder and president of HMS Software based in Montreal, Canada. He has an economics degree from Montreal’s McGill University and over 22 years experience in the automation of project control systems. He is a long-standing member of both the Project Management Institute (PMI) and the American Association of Cost Engineers (AACE) and is the founder of the Montreal Chapter of the Microsoft Project Association. Mr. Vandersluis has been published in numerous publications including Fortune Magazine, Heavy Construction News, the Ivey Business Journal, PMI’s PMNetwork and Computing Canada. Mr. Vandersluis has been part of the Microsoft Enterprise Project Management Partner Advisory Council since 2003. He teaches Advanced Project Management at McGill University’s Executive Institute. He can be reached at [email protected].

Choosing the Best E-Learning Supplier for the Project Team

Written by Cynthia Low on . Posted in Articles. 3 Comments on Choosing the Best E-Learning Supplier for the Project Team

With the uncertain economic environment, many organizations are challenged by having to align shrinking budgets with their training and development needs.  While professional development remains an essential part of organizational health, it can be costly, too. Despite the economic crisis, or perhaps because of it, chief learning officers (CLO) are looking for a better cost-savings approach to learning. The virtual classroom and other e-learning opportunities provide just the solution.

For five consecutive years, we have seen a significant upswing in online classroom enrollment as companies shift from in-person to online instruction. According to current research, virtual learning, whether in real-time or at the learner’s own pace, differs little from live classroom training. Given the range of e-learning vendors available, it can be confusing at best to select the right online training program. What should a savvy CLO look for when evaluating Web-based training? How can he or she be sure that the program will be effective? These are legitimate questions, which this article seeks to answer.

According to Work-Learning Research, there are eight principles to which an effective virtual learning program should adhere. When evaluating various vendors, CLOs would do well to consider the following points: learning contexts, practice and testing, level of feedback, repetition, learning over time, diversified material presentation, exclusively relevant information, and focus. Below are various questions you should ask as you go about the selection process.

Aligning Learning and Performance Contexts

  • Does the program contain integrated case studies that bring elements of the job into the online classroom?
  • Does it contain a realistic scenario that provides context for each lesson?
  • Does the lesson evaluate understanding by posing a problem or challenge similar to one the learner may encounter on the job? Is there an opportunity to discuss, with an instructor/SME and with other students, how concepts apply to actual situations on the job?

Providing Retrieval Practice and Testing

  • Does the program offer a pre-course assessment to establish the learner’s knowledge baseline?
  • Does each lesson contain a problem that tests the learner’s understanding and ability to apply the lesson concepts?
  • Are assignments, with feedback, a requirement?
  • Is there a final exam at the end of the course? Note: Research shows that the very act of taking a test increases retention, even if the learner didn’t study at all!

Providing Feedback on Practice and Testing

  • Is there a feedback system in place in the event the student answers a lesson problem or final exam question incorrectly?
  • Do all practice exercises within the online courses also provide the correct answer and a complete explanation?
  • Do the students receive personalized feedback from an expert instructor/subject matter expert within 24 hours after submitting an assignment?
  • Do the instructors participate actively, on a daily basis, in online discussions, providing personalized feedback to the users’ postings?

Providing Repetition of Learning and Practice

  • Does every lesson reinforce the challenges the learner would experience on the job?
  • Are the assignments hands-on? For instance, do they just learn about the work breakdown structure, estimating methods, network diagrams, and earned value-or do they actually build a WBS, estimate a project, construct a network diagram and calculate earned value?
  • Do the exercises and instructional games, as well as the final exam, provide additional practice?

Spacing Learning and Practice over Time

  • Are the students given a timeframe within which they must complete the course?
  • Is the content “chunked” into a series of lessons, making it easy for the learner to complete a lesson at a time?
  • Is it a self-paced program that provides a guideline schedule is provided to help them to plan and budget their time nonetheless?

Presenting Learning Material in a Variety of Ways

  • Is the course material diversified in terms of its delivery format, avoiding the dreaded “next, next, next” sequence of a slide show?
  • Is the presentation of the content interactive and student-centered, allowing students to access content at will and to control at least some of the sequencing?
  • Is the interactive content supported with additional online text in printable, PDF format?
  • Does the course offer engaging and often interactive graphics to help learners visualize processes and relationships?
  • Do the courses also offer practice exercises, problems, assignments, and online discussions-all with feedback-to reinforce the content?

 Utilizing Relevant Information Only

  • Is all content relevant to the course content-or are there gratuitous animations and gimmicky flash?
  • When there are comics and games, are they clearly instructional and tied to specific learning objectives?

Helping Learners Focus on the Most Important Information

  • Does the course supply a syllabus that summarizes the major topics covered in each unit and identifies the specific learning objectives for each unit?
  • Do scenarios and problems emphasize the key focus of the lesson?
  • Are there opportunities to complete exercises that strengthen the emphasis?
  • Do the individual content resources incorporate sound design principles in order to clarify and emphasize important points, including screen layout, font size and type, and graphic design?
  • Are all the questions on the final exam tied to a specific learning objective, ensuring that the test itself continues the focus on core content?

If you answer ‘yes’ to every question, you can be confident that the program is instructionally sound and that users will retain and be able to apply their newly acquired knowledge and skills. But, if you see gaps in the program’s offering, move on until you find the most appropriate online course to match your needs. The selection process will be less arduous if you know what you are looking for. Evaluating the course offerings beforehand will improve your chances of success, strengthen your return on investment, and ensure a vibrant organization long-term.

Carolyn Pyrek is director of curriculum development at ESI International. A global training and development organization, ESI offers more than 80 courses delivered in 18 languages at more than 85 locations worldwide. For more information, visit www.esi-intl.com.  

Reprinted with permission from ESI International

Procurement and the Project Manager

Written by Cynthia Low on . Posted in Articles. 2 Comments on Procurement and the Project Manager

How much do project managers need to know about the procurement process in the organization? It depends upon whether they handle most of the procurement, some of the procurement, or none of the procurement related to projects. In some cases, the organization’s purchasing or contracting department deals with most of the procurement.

Regardless of the situation, when procurement results in hiring vendors who will complete all or some of the work on a project, project managers need to understand their role in the procurement process. This article summarizes ten important procurement concepts about which project managers must be knowledgeable.

  1. Procurement documents: Who develops the procurement documents? Procurement documents such as the requests for bids, requests for quotes, requests for proposals, etc., may be created by the purchasing or contracting department, by the project manager, or by a team that includes the project manager. In any case, it is the project manager’s role to ensure that the documents accurately describe the work to be completed by the vendor, the evaluation techniques to be used to select the vendor and the methods by which the contracted deliverables will evaluated.
  2. Scope: What will the vendor provide for the project? The project manager must ensure that both the product scope and project scope are addressed in the vendor’s contract. In other words, the project manager should be involved in preparing the statement of work (SOW) and the portion of the contract that includes what goods or services the vendor will provide. And, if the vendor’s work must be completed in a specific way, the project manager must also be involved in describing how the vendor should complete the job. If the vendor develops its own statement of work, the project manager must ensure that the SOW includes all of the necessary scope and that additional work has not been included in the vendor’s SOW.
  3. Staffing: Who determines what human resources the vendor will hire or use? As part of human resource planning, the project manager should develop the list of the roles and responsibilities for the members of the project team – both the internal team members and those provided by the vendors. This means that the project manager should also provide input for the staffing details of the vendor’s contract.
  4. Schedule: When will the vendor’s work occur, and how will it fit into the overall project schedule? Are other components of the project dependent upon the vendor’s deliverables? The project requirements for which the vendor is responsible will interface with other project components, so it is important for the project manager to request a copy of the vendor’s schedule and include that in the overall project schedule. The project manager must also track the vendor’s progress against the original and/or revised schedule.
  5. Costs: Who reviews the vendor’s proposed costs before the contract is signed, and who tracks the vendor’s costs to ensure that the vendor stays within the agreed-upon allowance? The project manager should be consulted before the contract is signed with the vendor, because he or she brings expertise in looking at the costs on prior projects, understanding the components of the WBS on which the costs have been estimated, and knowing the number and skill levels of human resources that will be needed for a project. When costs changes are proposed after the work has begun, the project manager and the project team may be able to provide cost-saving alternatives to the vendor’s proposed changes.
  6. Performance reports: Is the vendor completing the work on time? It is the project manager’s role to understand and review the vendor’s reports on the project work, because the overall scope and schedule are affected just as much by the vendor’s work as by the work performed by the in-house project team. Although the vendor manages its own work and schedule, the project manager must carefully monitor work and performance reports to ensure that the vendor’s work is being completed as scheduled; initiate discussions with the vendor when schedules are not being met; and/or notify senior management about unresolved issues regarding the schedule.
  7. Changes: Who receives, processes, and finalizes changes to the contract? When a purchasing or contracting department handles contract changes, it is essential that the project manager have ongoing communication with this department. As with any changes that affect the project, the project manager should be the first person consulted to determine the impact of the proposed changes to the project. Ideally, the project manager will be involved when the change request is submitted, so that the contracting or purchasing department can make final decisions about the change, based upon the input of the project manager. If these proposed changes involve additional costs, the project manager and the project team should be consulted, as well, because they may be able to generate less costly alternatives to be considered by the vendor.
  8. Deliverables: Who verifies and accepts the deliverables produced by the vendor? When these deliverables constitute all or part of the project, the project manager should be involved in the ongoing process of verifying that the deliverables conform to the defined requirements and that they truly are fit for use. These deliverables, like those in a non-contract situation, must be evaluated against any quality standards or metrics detailed in the vendor’s contract.
  9. Payments: Who established the payment schedule, and who approves the payments, by schedule or by deliverables? In most cases, it is the project manager who will verify and accept deliverables for a project. And, per most contracts, payments are made by the organization only after someone – typically the project manager- has accepted the deliverables and notified the appropriate department that payment should be made.
  10. Procurement Audits (or lessons learned about contracts): Who documents the lessons learned from dealing with vendors? In many cases, the purchasing or contracting department maintains a file on the vendor, but who documents what has been learned from a project perspective? Such documentation becomes invaluable to project managers who will deal with vendors on future projects. Project managers and the project team who have worked closely with the vendors have the best perspective on documenting lessons learned about procurement.

Although project managers have much to learn and share about procurement, they should be a key member of the procurement team. Even when they handle most of the procurements for projects, they must often rely on others with legal and purchasing expertise to develop and manage projects in a contract situation. When a purchasing or contracting department handles most of the procurements for projects, they must understand the value the project manager can bring to the process. Procurement for projects is ultimately the organization’s responsibility, but knowledge about the process is the responsibility of a successful project manager.

Gloria C. Brown, PMP, has more than forty years of professional experience and is a full-time instructor for Global Knowledge. Her passion for project management is expressed through her love of teaching, developing courses, writing white papers, and mentoring students. She is member of the Atlanta Chapter of PMI. Global Knowledge is the worldwide leader in IT and business training. Its more than 700 courses span foundational and specialized training and certifications. For more information, visit www.globalknowledge.com.

Five Mistakes People Make Reading Body Language at Work

Written by Cynthia Low on . Posted in Articles. 2 Comments on Five Mistakes People Make Reading Body Language at Work

Human beings are genetically programmed to look for facial and behavioral cues and to quickly understand their meaning. We see someone gesture and automatically make a judgment about the intention of that gesture. The gesture and our interpretation of its meaning can profoundly affect team dynamics.

And we’ve been making these judgments for a long, long time. As a species, we knew how to win friends and influence people – or avoid/placate/confront those we couldn’t befriend – long before we knew how to use words.

But our ancient ancestors faced threats and challenges very different from those we confront in today’s modern society. Life is more complex now, with layers of social restrictions and nuanced meanings adding to the intricacies of our interpersonal dealings. This is especially true in workplace settings, where corporate culture adds its own complexities and unique guidelines for correct behavior.

No matter what the culture at your workplace, the ability to “read” nonverbal signals can provide some significant advantages in the way you deal with people. You can start to gain those advantages by avoiding these five common mistakes people often make when reading body language:

1) They Forget to Consider the Context.

Imagine this scene: It’s a freezing-cold winter evening with a light snow falling and a north wind blowing. You see a woman sitting on a bench at a bus stop. Her head is down, her eyes are tightly closed and she’s hunched over, shivering slightly, and hugging herself.

Now the scene changes . . .

It’s the same woman in the same physical position. But instead of sitting outdoors on a bench, she’s seated behind her desk in the office next to yours. Her body language is identical – head down, eyes closed, hunched over, shivering, hugging herself. The nonverbal signals are the same but the new setting has altered your perception of those signals. In a flash she’s gone from telling you, “I’m really cold!” to “I’m in distress.”

Obviously, then, the meaning of nonverbal communication changes as the context changes. We can’t begin to understand someone’s behavior without considering the circumstances under which the behavior occurred.

2) They Try to Find Meaning in a Single Gesture.

Nonverbal cues occur in what is called a “gesture cluster” – a group of movements, postures and actions that reinforce a common point. A single gesture can have several meanings or mean nothing at all (sometimes a cigar is just a cigar!), but when you couple that single gesture with other nonverbal signals, the meaning becomes clearer.

For example, a person may cross her arms for any number of reasons. But when that action is coupled with a scowl, a headshake, and legs turned away from you, you now have a composite picture and reinforcement to conclude that she is resistant to whatever you just proposed.

3) They are too Focused on what’s Being Said.

If you only hear what people are saying, you’ll miss what they really mean.

A manager I was coaching appeared calm and reasonable as she listed the reasons why she should delegate more responsibility to her staff. But every time she expressed these opinions, she also (almost imperceptibly) shuddered. While her words declared her intention of empowering employees, the quick, involuntary shudder was saying loud and clear, “I really don’t want to do this!”

4) They Don’t Know a Person’s Baseline.

You need to know how a person normally behaves so that you can spot meaningful deviations.

Here’s what can happen when you don’t: A few years ago, I was giving a presentation to the CEO of a financial services company, outlining a speech I was scheduled to deliver to his leadership team the next day. And it wasn’t going well.

Our meeting lasted almost an hour, and through that entire time the CEO sat at the conference table with his arms tightly crossed. He didn’t once smile, lean forward or nod encouragement. When I finished, he said thank you (without making eye contact) and left the room.

As I’m a body language expert, I was sure that his nonverbal communication was telling me that my speaking engagement would be cancelled. But when I walked to the elevator, the executive’s assistant came to tell me how impressed her boss had been with my presentation. I was shocked and asked how he would have reacted had he not liked it. “Oh,” said the assistant, her smile acknowledging that she had previously seen that reaction as well. “He would have gotten up in the middle of your presentation and walked out!”

The only nonverbal signals that I had received from that CEO were ones I judged to be negative. What I didn’t realize was that, for this individual, this was normal behavior.

5) They Judge Body Language through the Bias of Their Own Culture:

When we talk about culture, we’re generally talking about a set of shared values that a group of people holds. And while some of a culture’s values are taught explicitly, most of them are absorbed subconsciously – at a very early age. Such values affect how members of the group think and act and, more importantly, the kind of criteria by which they judge others. Cultural meanings render some nonverbal behaviors as normal and right and others as strange or wrong. From greetings to hand gestures to the use of space and touch, what’s proper and correct in one culture may be ineffective – or even offensive – in another.

For example, in North America, the correct way to wave hello and good-bye is palm out, fingers extended, with the hand moving side to side. That same gesture means “no” throughout Mediterranean Europe and Latin America.  In Peru it means “come here,” and in Greece, where it’s called the moutza, the gesture is a serious insult. The closer the hand to the other person’s face, in fact, the more threatening it is considered to be.

So just remember: Body language cues are undeniable. But to accurately decode them, they need to be understood in context, viewed in clusters, evaluated in relation to what is being said, assessed for consistency, and filtered for cultural influences. If you do so, you’ll be well on your way to gaining the nonverbal advantage!

Carol Kinsey Goman, Ph.D., is an author and keynote speaker who addresses association, government, and business audiences around the world. Carol is the author of 10 business books. Her latest is The Nonverbal Advantage – Secrets and Science of Body Language at Work.

Project Management; Final Thoughts

Written by Andrew Miller on . Posted in Articles. 6 Comments on Project Management; Final Thoughts

This will be my final blog for Project Times. It has been a great experience for me to write monthly on various topics and various experiences in project management. Over the past two years, I have been fighting the urge to call myself a project manager because I did not want to be pigeonholed as someone that can only manage projects. I wanted to be known as a consultant who also does project management.

What I am beginning to realize is that consulting and project managing have many similar characteristics:

  • Each should have a desired outcome to be achieved;
  • Each requires management of expectations;
  • Each requires a discipline to make effective decisions; and
  • Each requires a strong relationship with the client and/or team.

I guess I am a project manager and a consultant and it does not matter which comes first.

My final thought is that project management is on the rise. Companies need to bring in the discipline that project managers are taught from the get-to: focusing on priorities; managing scope; managing people; staying on budget; and staying within timelines. I defy you to find me a company that would not benefit from people with the skills to perform the above.

As project managers, you should be excited about the future and what it might hold. Market yourself and let people know what you do. Not that you are a project manager, but what that means to your organization or your clients’ organization. It means discipline, fiscal prudence, the ability to prioritize difficult work packages and getting activities completed successfully. Sounds like a pretty appealing set of abilities, no? We are in demand and we need to keep working on advancing the profession of project management forward. So how do we do that? I will make a guest appearance on PT in the future and let you know.

Bye for now, it has been a pleasure!