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Keys to an Effective RFP

As PMs, we are sometimes asked to lead or participate in the RFP process. For those not familiar with this process, it is a formal process used to select a particular vendor (or sometimes vendors) for the purchase of specific products or services. So what makes an effective RFP process? Well, first we need to answer the question ‘What is the impact of running an ineffective RFP process?’ It is the same as making a bad investment decision, because you have to live with the consequences of your actions. The main reason for these ineffective processes is bad evaluation criteria. Too many companies spend little to no time up front in determining the appropriate evaluation criteria and identifying the appropriate team members to evaluate RFP proposals. An effective RFP process will lead to increased value for your organization and ensures that you are selecting the best strategic partners for your organization. There are three things to focus on to run an effective process:

Focus on Value
The biggest mistake most companies make is that they focus very heavily on cost. This mindset needs to be changed. That is not to say that cost is not an important element of any RFP decision, but it should not necessarily be the most important element. Would you rather have the cheapest product that is going to break in a few months, requiring another purchasing process to replace it, or a quality product that will last longer and work better?

Engage Your Stakeholders
In most cases where the wrong supplier is selected it is because the wrong criteria were used. Procurement departments are generally measured on unit cost savings and are not always have aware of the impact their decisions have on the rest of the organization (additional downstream costs, poor quality, lack of support, impacts on timelines), yet they typically determine the evaluation criteria. For items where specific requirements need to be met, the stakeholders most impacted by the decision need to have input into the decision-making process.

Formalize the Process
Too many companies have informal evaluation processes where changes are made as they go along. They do not follow the identified criteria; they do not formalize the scoring of the criteria, and they allow outside factors to influence their decisions. The evaluation process needs to be formalized and managed.

The RFP process can be a very complicated one and leads to important decisions, which is why I am staggered by the number of companies that do it so poorly. It requires a significant amount of resource time and effort so why not take the extra time to do it right. Too often organizations do not plan appropriately and need to rush through the RFP process. If you implement the success factors mentioned above, you will see increased value being driven from your RFP processes.

Good luck!

JOURNYX AND COGNITIVE TECHNOLOGIES PARTNER TO UNITE PROJECT PLANNING AND RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Austin, TX – Journyx, a leading provider of Web-based time-tracking and project accounting solutions has partnered with Cognitive Technologies, an IT consulting company specializing in project and program management for the federal government and Fortune 1000 companies. In the near future, Journyx and Cognitive Technologies will announce a resource management solution that enables Project Management Offices (PMOs) to manage hundreds of projects and people successfully, and can be rolled out and fully functional in just a few weeks.

 “Together, Journyx and Cognitive Technologies combine practical and pragmatic application of resource management best practices,”  said Bruce McGraw, CEO, Cognitive Technologies. “This combination of technology and services will integrate people, time and scheduling, allowing for more efficient conversations and decision-making. We’re offering a solution that takes away the daily burden of manual resource balancing, and alleviates bartering for the right person at the right time.”

 The partnership of Journyx and Cognitive Technologies means that PMOs will not just get a solution, but will learn the best practices for project management from experts in the field. Additionally, PMOs will learn how to make the solution work as best as it possibly can for their organization.

“The new solution will unite project and process planning with resource workload management, track execution, and alert you instantly when projects are in danger,” said Curt Finch, CEO, Journyx. “Journyx has more than a decade of experience solving difficult project time data collection problems for Fortune 500 firms. Cognitive provides excellent project management consultants who are the best in the world at rescuing projects from the abyss. We are integrating the talents of our companies and offering a combination of technology and services that enable PMOs to manage all of their projects and people successfully.”

Recession-Wary Employers Seek Better Ways to Find Star Job Performers

McLean, Va. – While many employers may be cutting back on overall staffing levels during the economic recession, companies also recognize this period of time as an opportunity to hire top-quality job candidates. The challenge, recruiters say, is managing tighter recruiting budgets and picking out top job performers in a flood of increased resume submissions. M

ore than three-quarters (76 percent) of in-house corporate recruiters say the recession offers an opportunity to bring in higher quality talent to their organizations over the first half of 2009, according to a Jobfox (www.jobfox.com) poll of 200 recruiters. At the same time, 53 percent of in-house recruiters expect their companies to hire fewer new employees during the first six months of 2009 compared to the same period a year ago.

“It’s the typical recession reaction whereby companies want to cut or freeze staffing levels, but not at the expense of losing good people or hiring top-flight contributors,” said Rob McGovern, CEO of Jobfox, the Internet’s first career site to bring precision matching to online recruiting. “The companies that will emerge victorious will be the ones that are most resourceful in managing cost-efficient recruitment activities.”

Despite the growing list of corporate layoffs, employers continue to post millions of new jobs each month. For example, there were 2.5 million non-farm job postings in November 2008, the most recent data available from the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics. That same month, 4.3 million non-farm new hires were made, even with overall unemployment at 6.5 percent.

While hiring continues, recruiting budgets are under closer scrutiny with 48 percent of in-house recruiters expecting to operate with decreased budgets during the first half of 2009. Meanwhile, recruiters say they are inundated with job seeker applications.

“Right now there’s a lot of unemployment and saturation of the job market, so we get a flood of resumes that don’t have anything to do with what we’re looking for,” said Kobie Drew, the account acquisitions manager for Citysearch, a leading online lifestyles guide. “There are more and more resumes to look over.”

“If Jobfox shows that a candidate has the qualifications we’re looking for, then I’m probably calling that person,” Drew said. “I spend less time reviewing and more time interviewing, which is what I need.”

The Jobfox 2009 Poll: Recruiting and Hiring in a Recession was conducted during the months of November and December, 2008. The poll was conducted using a random list of current and prospective Jobfox employer clients. More than 200 U.S.-based in-house recruiters, hiring managers and human resource managers with corporate recruiting responsibilities were surveyed using SurveyMonkey.com, an online tool for creating surveys and collecting responses. The bulk of the survey report focuses on the expectations and actions of in-house recruiters. 2/09

The Rules of Lean Project Management: Part 7

By Executing Your Small Promises on Single-tasking Mode

I continue here to expand my set of Rules of Lean PM, following Hal Macomber’s comments in his blog on my original four rules series (http://www.reformingprojectmanagement.com/2008/11/09/883/).

Another lean principle put forward by Hal “has to do with batch sizes of one or single-piece flow.” Hal, as do many Lean and Agile PM proponents, notices that: “Large batch production, whether it’s placing concrete, writing software code, doing design, or performing administrative work, misses the opportunity for learning, creates the circumstances for waste, and delays the completion of the project.”

I have already covered the part about very small deliverables (small batch size) in my blog entry on tracking small promises (http://www.projecttimes.com/content/view/180/92/). Unless I misinterpret Hal’s point, I might not have put enough emphasis on the need to deliver them as much as possible on single tasking mode. This is a very important principle to follow, on an individual level, to eliminate waste and accelerate the delivery of your own promises on any given project.

In my blog entry on tracking small promises I reported that, according to research by Goldratt and others, productivity is greatly improved when you deliver in small promises. Doing this reduces the set-up time required for the Last Planner to continue the work to be done after an interruption, thus increasing productivity dramatically. I omitted to talk about the single-tasking technique one can use to further accelerate individual promises delivery. Still, according to Goldratt, although you might work on many tasks in your multi-project environment, you will be more productive if you tackle those tasks one after the other, when possible (usually tasks on different projects that are independent of one another). So Goldratt proposes that you single-task those multi-tasks, that is do one after the other, to save further on task set-up time.

The productivity increases achieved through this single-tasking strategy can be quite impressive. Hal Macomber once wrote about a small experiment one can run in workshops that goes this way:

  • Split the workshop participants in pairs, one person executing tasks and the other timing execution time
  • Give the following tasks to perform: write three series of characters, namely 1 to 10, a to j, and I to X (roman numbers)
  • These tasks must first be performed in parallel, i.e. write 1, a, I, then 2, b, II , etc…while you time the work
  • The tasks must then be performed in series, i.e. write 1,2,3,4, etc., then a, b, c, d, etc…..while you time the work.

Try this. You will be amazed by the differences between the two ways of doing these tasks. I have tried that with more than 200 workshop participants up to now. The productivity increases come consistently between 20 to 50 %. If multitasking is this detrimental on such simple tasks as writing series of numbers or letters, imagine what is happening to your projects when you keep switching between more complex tasks, from one independent project task to another, in the hope of accomplishing more during your week.

So Rule number seven of eight of Lean Project Management is Execute your small promises on single-tasking mode.

Rule No. 7 of LPM – Once your deliverables are cut into smaller pieces, deliver them one after the other, as much as possible.

By cutting your project work in smaller pieces/promises, you will save on set-up time each time you are interrupted, thus accelerating delivery. This accelerating effect can be increased furthermore, if you also try to execute these promises, one after the other, this saving an additional amount of set-up time. In a multi-project/multi-tasking environment, the most productive strategy is to single-task, doing these multiple tasks in series, when possible.
02/09

Top 10 Project Management Trends for 2009

What are the top 10 project management trends to look for in 2009 that will impact both private and public sector organizations? Identified by a global panel of ESI International veteran consultants and senior management, their top 10 trends point to organizational need for expertise while coping with tighter budgets, fewer financial and human resources, and change. The forecast suggests where project management will focus in 2009 to drive project and organizational success.

  1. The Sandwich Generation: Middle Managers’ Emerging Role in Change
    Seventy-five percent of all change management programs fail because of a lack of employee support. Today’s economy will force organizations to confront the important roles middle managers play in the success of change efforts. Middle managers’ roles will shift from simple messenger of directives ‘from above’ to creating a positive environment to enable change, accountability and ownership of change initiatives, achieving the full benefits of change and ensuring return on investment.
  2. Navigating Virtual Teams through Change
    As budgets tighten, the role of virtual teams will grow along with the demand for the skill sets to manage them, especially through change. Powerful communication, key management strategies and new rules of engagement will be required to manage virtual teams as organizations seek to effectively shift with the turbulent global economy.
  3. Sharper Distinctions Between Project and Program Management
    Many global organizations have managed programs with the same methods used to manage projects, with predictably disappointing results. Programs are not merely “bigger” projects, and program managers aren’t simply professionals who are one step up on the organizational ladder. This year will see an increase in the understanding of the cardinal differences between projects and programs and the utilization of strategies to boost program managers’ effectiveness and increase program success.
  4. Leveraging Communities of Practice To Hone Skills
    The number and importance of project management communities of practice will increase significantly in 2009. These informal communities will be highly prized for the lack of bureaucracy that increase the sharing and use of best practices, enabling increased dialogue to overcome challenges and growing future leaders.
  5. Strategic Selling of the Project Management Office
    Although the project management office has gained wide acceptance, it still needs buy-in at the senior executive level. 2009 will see an increase in the importance of quantifying the PMO’s value and how to present that data to the CFO to ensure funding in what promises to be highly competitive arena for organizational resources.
  6. Back to Basics for Successful Project Portfolio Management
    More than any year in recent history, 2009 will be a critical year for ensuring project success. Project managers will increase their emphasis on the basics, taking a first-things-first approach and address fundamentals such as gaining and sustaining executive commitment, addressing gaps in the alignment of organizational strategy and projects, project selection, and efficient measurement process while leveraging existing resources to increase project success.
  7. Right-sizing Staff with Demand Driven Resource Management
    The adoption of Demand Driven Resource Management will increase significantly in 2009. Its ability to right-size internal staff and draw on outside contractors when demand requires will be viewed as an essential cost containment approach leading to greater organizational performance and efficiency.
  8. Improved Requirements Metrics
    The economic need to accurately assess and evaluate the organizational and cost impact of project requirements will bring a greater role for requirements management and development. Also known as business analysis, RMD’s ability to provide quality metrics that project and portfolio managers can use to assess the economic, performance and feasibility value of each project component will become essential to organizations successfully maximizing the ROI of their projects.
  9. People Will Come Before Technology
    Organizations will increase their demands for smart third-party guidance that ensures technology investments deliver enhanced performance. This will result in greater recognition of the critical role people play, leading to increased recognition that employees need the right skills and knowledge before applying processes for consistency, and adding technology to deliver increased efficiencies.
  10. Risk Management for Governance
    In 2009, many organizations will say goodbye to the ‘one number’ method for project outcomes and embrace a quantifiable range of potential results on which to base decisions. Recognizing that best governance hinges on the availability of quality information at the project level, education and leadership in risk management and best practices permeate organizations wanting to optimize project forecasting to deliver more effective governance.

While these trends are about doing more with less, they all speak to the concept of less is more. In 2009, more than at any time in recent history, empowering people with the right skills, knowledge and tools to pick the right projects, ensure support for change and effectively track progress for smart governance will be key to project success – saving time and money while driving organizational success.


J. LeRoy Ward, PgMP, PMP, Executive Vice President, ESI International, is responsible for ESI’s worldwide product offerings and international partnerships. Ward’s most recent book is Dictionary of Project Management Terms. He speaks frequently on project management and related topics at professional association meetings and conferences around the world. www.esi-intl.com