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It

Written by Cynthia Low on . Posted in Articles. 4 Comments on It

Folks, if you can’t communicate properly – get out of the project management business!

It is imperative that we learn how to get a message across to an individual, a group of people or a community. We have to understand how to package the information that someone requires or that we need them to have.

Now, that last sentence carries a big wallop. It means that before we send out a message we need to think about what they need and what they want – two very different things to a project manager. As well we need to think about what we want them to hear – very important.

I think the biggest rub against project manager is that we don’t know how to get the message across succinctly and quickly. We are too detailed and we want to spew way too much information.

One of the most important tools any project manager can carry with them is a communication plan. Look it up if you don’t know what this is. A matrix that forces a PM to think about who gets what, when, why and how. More importantly… who can make or break my project within the life cycle of the project.

Communicating properly is much more than a plan and more than a report well written.

Communicating well is:

  • A report well written for the right audience – note that we do not all have to get the same information all the time
  • Understanding how people receive or want to receive information – email reader or not; the right font size for the elderly baby boomer; the hard copy versus electronic version; the Friday night report versus the Monday morning report – these issues all make a difference.
  • Good presentation skills – crisp, clear, to-the-point and no jazz and pizzazz if it is not called for – this includes your Powerpoint slides. Take a course! Please!
  • Good verbal skills – worth re-training for many of us.
  • Good email skills – THIS IS SCREAMING! – long-winded email message are uncalled for.
  • Good phone skills – leave a message but please repeat the number twice – speak up and slow down please – I am deaf!

If you can’t say you are proficient at most of these skills – get some training. It is well worth it and your audience will appreciate it.

 

David Barrett is publisher of Project Times, Conference Director, ProjectWorld and BusinessAnalystWorld, and Program Director of The Masters Certificate in Project Management, Schulich Executive Education Centre.

 

Managing Someone Else

Written by Andrew Miller on . Posted in Articles. 4 Comments on Managing Someone Else

How many of us have been brought on to manage a project where the contract for the product or service was signed just before we started? Many of us, I imagine. And how much fun is it to review the contract on your first day and realize what your client or organization has agreed to? Then it is even more fun once you realize that, as the PM, you will be responsible for managing that contract. Happy days are here to stay!!!

Well, not really. It puts the PM in quite the dilemma. Once you have reviewed the contract and other documents to “get you up to speed,” if you spot a shortcoming, what do you do? No one wants to be the person identifying problems in their first week on the project …but that is our obligation. If you realize that the scope of the contract is lacking in certain details, that issue must be raised. If you think that the timelines that were agreed to are not realistic based on the budget, then that issue must be addressed. Not having been involved in the initial negotiations and development of the statement (or scope) or work, you are left to clean up the mess. But we love to clean up the mess, don’t we? That’s why we became project managers, right? Sure, we love to assign and manage tasks and budgets; we love to see progress and work being done; we love giving status reports but, in the end, don’t we really just love to solve problems? I know I do. But I digress…back to the contract thing.

My advice is that if you are brought on to manage a project, one of the first things you should do is read the contract (if there is one). You need to understand what has been promised, what is expected to be delivered, any penalties or incentives that are included, any service levels, etc. You also need to ensure that any concerns are brought to your project sponsor as soon as possible. My motto is that I would rather take a few bullets up front to toughen me up: but give me a chance to heal before the next set of bullets gets fired. Taking too many at once is bad for your health.

The moral of the story is…clients and companies, please, please, please include the PM in the contract negotiations, even as an innocent bystander. At least then they will have insight as to the motivations for some of the deliverables and service levels.

Also, when firing, please use rubber bullets. They hurt less!

 

Andrew Miller is President of ACM Consulting Inc. (www.acmconsulting.ca), a company that provides supply chain and project management solutions. Andrew is PMP certified and has led a variety of clients through complex systems implementations and organizational changes. He is an Instructor of the Procurement and Contracting course, part of the Masters Certificate in Project Management program through the Schulich School of Business Executive Education Centre (SEEC) in Toronto. Andrew has an International MBA from the Schulich School of Business with majors in Logistics and Marketing. He can be reached at [email protected].

Former Gold Rush City Aligns IT Plans with an Eye on the Future

Written by Cynthia Low on . Posted in Articles. 7 Comments on Former Gold Rush City Aligns IT Plans with an Eye on the Future

The Challenge

Roseville, Calif., is a progressive city with its eye on the future. What started as a town developed by disappointed miners from the famed Gold Rush has blossomed into a thoroughly developed, independent city boasting an estimated population of 104,655 residents. Approaching its 100-year anniversary, Roseville is a charter city operating under a City Manager-Council form of government. Out of 199 cities in the United States with greater than 100,000 citizens, 112 use this form of government, where the council focuses on the community’s goals, major projects, and such long-term considerations as community growth, land use development, capital improvement plans, capital financing, and strategic planning.

As a full-service city with 17 different operational organizations, the City of Roseville’s IT department has more than 180 projects in the works to support critical city services such as the city’s electric department, public works, fire department and police departments. As a result, the city’s CIO Thomas Freeman is faced with daily decisions that impact residents. For example, he may be asked to approve and implement an enterprise asset management software solution to improve the city’s infrastructure, while at the same time he’s being asked to review and approve a system that directly impacts the safety of the city’s residents – a computer aided dispatch system for 911 calls.

“Human nature is to move forward with the projects that are perceived to have the highest sense of urgency. In many cases, sense of urgency is defined by the departments pushing the hardest for action,” said Freeman. “We were lacking a technology solution that enabled us to assess and prioritize the projects that are most important to the city council and Roseville citizens.”

Freeman and his team were under pressure from the city council to get a governance model in place for technology, and they didn’t have much time to do it. The city council identified five organizational goals for 2007 to continue the city’s economic growth, and they expected the IT projects to map to these strategic initiatives:

  • Safe and Healthy Community 
  • Transportation Planning & Investment 
  • Enhanced Community Services 
  • Economic Vitality 
  • Downtown Revitalization

“To make decisions about where to spend dollars, and to understand workloads, we needed to look at the city as a whole,” said Freeman. “To determine which projects took priority – whether it’s a homeland defense surveillance system or a voice communications system that seamlessly integrates with surrounding public safety agencies – we needed to break down the silos and gain a big picture overview of the needs of our city government.”

The Solution

PPM solutions from leading solution providers were reviewed and eliminated due to cost, time to implement and functionality. The City of Roseville selected the Innotas PPM solution because the functionality was well aligned with the city’s requirements. Plus, Innotas’s on-demand delivery model enabled the city to implement the PPM solution in days instead of months. Additionally, the Innotas PPM Starter Kits, which offer a step-at-a-time approach for implementing the Innotas on-demand solution, closely resembled the governance model laid out by the city council.

“This was no accident,” said Innotas CEO Keith Carlson, “We’ve researched the various scenarios in which PPM is needed, and have designed our on-demand PPM solution with best practices built-in. Our PPM Starter Kits closely align with these scenarios, helping customers start where they need to, bring the organization along, and then later move on to solve their next IT challenge.”

Innotas provides customers with a PPM Starter Kit to help them get Project Portfolio Management software implementations up and running in days, instead of months. Innotas’ PPM Starter Kit addresses three key PPM areas, or PPM Domains, in managing IT project portfolios: managing supply and demand, prioritizing projects, and delivering projects and applications. Customers can begin with the Domain that matches their biggest IT challenge, quickly and easily implement a project management software solution to begin resolving that challenge, and then expand their PPM implementation to the next Domain.

The City of Roseville’s most pressing pain point was prioritizing its 180 projects, and aligning them to the overall goals and objectives of the city. Next, Freeman is focusing on resource allocation. The Innotas PPM solution provides him with a consolidated view of all projects, teams and resources. He can now show the city council and management where the IT department is spending its time and moving toward accomplishment of desired results.

“We have accountability to the constituents,” said Freeman. “With Innotas’ PPM solution we’re able to quickly and easily prioritize the projects that are aligned with the city’s strategic growth plan, while best serving its residents.”

The Results

By selecting the Innotas on-demand solution, the City of Roseville was able to get its governance process in place six months ahead of schedule, and achieved a 6.68 percent savings on existing and planned projects for the year. “We were under pressure to get an IT decision-making process in place, fast,” said Freeman. “Not only were we able to get things up and running in just days, we were able to immediately begin using the on-demand PPM solution to prioritize IT projects.”

The City of Roseville now has a structured approach in place for acquiring information technology. Departments now identify needs, submit proposals, and present a business case before projects can begin. All of this critical information is captured in Innotas’ PPM solution, enabling Freeman and his team to make more informed IT investments. “We are able to capture time and attendance information for our payroll system,” stated Freeman. “We are now more accurate in our indirect charge out allocations for resource usage because the guess work of what projects the staff is working on is taken out of the equation.”

“We now have a technology governance process in place, along with the Innotas on-demand PPM solution, which enables us to track progress and accountability,” said Freeman. “By streamlining the process, we’ve been able to reduce technology projects that have minimal impact on the city’s overall growth, and we’re now focusing our resources on projects that are aligned with the city’s strategic objectives.”

For example, the number one goal of city council is to provide the residents with a safe and healthy community. “A project that got pushed to the top of the list was a public safety project giving police officers high speed wireless transmission in their patrol cars,” said Freeman. “Meanwhile, we moved a downtown revitalization project lower on the list. Although it’s still a key priority and remains on this list, it falls below the public safety projects in terms of priorities.”

The ROI

By using an on-demand solution, the city saved approximately $400,000 to $500,000 in hardware and set up costs. The city has also saved money by not having to dedicate administrator resources to keep operating systems, databases and applications patched and working properly. Training time and start up costs were significantly reduced. Additionally, Freeman projects an estimated savings of $250,000 during the next five years in annual maintenance fees.

Additionally, says Freeman, “Now, we have real-time visibility into, and control over, IT projects on our calendar. We can track both the progress of, and accountability for, each IT project and intelligently redirect resources so that we give priority to the initiatives that align most closely with the city’s goals for safety, enhanced transportation, revitalization and economic vitality.”

Demian Entrekin is the founder and CTO of Innotas (www.innotas.com), a leading provider of on-demand PPM solutions. A recognized thought leader on Project Portfolio Management and SaaS evangelist, he has published numerous papers on PPM and writes his own blog (PPM Today) that explores important issues related to successful PPM implementation. Prior to Innotas, Entrekin co-founded Convoy Corporation, a provider of Enterprise Application Integration products, which was acquired by New Era Networks in 1999. During his 18 year career, Entrekin has also assumed leadership roles as a consultant and as an entrepreneur, delivering commercial and corporate database applications. Demian Entrekin holds a B.A. in English from UCLA and an M.A. in English from San Francisco State University. He can be reached at 415-814-7700.

The Last of the 2008 New Year

Written by Cynthia Low on . Posted in Articles. 4 Comments on The Last of the 2008 New Year

As we get going in 2008, it’s a natural point to reflect on our achievements and challenges in the past year as well as to contemplate what lies ahead. Specifically, at this point, I’d like to touch on strategic planning and the role of the PMO in supporting the organization. I thought it appropriate to encourage the PMO to set aside some ME time. The PMO is much like a builder for the rest of the organization; we put most of our energy and effort into serving others.

But, every good builder knows that at the end of the day, tools must also be kept clean and sharp, if they are to continue to do their jobs well. So, for a change, lets put some time and energy into ourselves.

Something a colleague pointed out in a recent presentation bears repeating; the efforts of the PMO constitute a journey, not a destination. As we continue on our adventure, we have a responsibility to look at the landscape before us and consciously choose a purposeful path.

For PMO managers, there always seems to be a never-ending list of improvements we could make. This can easily become overwhelming and fracture focus so that we end up wandering aimlessly through a forest of half done initiatives. So, let’s explore a few things that we can practically achieve in the coming months, and resolve to select a handful that can really make a difference. Review your own portfolio of potential investments, and practice some of that balance and scope discipline that we ask of others.

Considerations such as your staff, tools and level of service should be analyzed, discussed with sponsors and stakeholders, and tuned up as appropriate. Allow me to toss out some ideas for 2008 resolutions for PMO managers to consider:

  • I will ensure everyone on my staff gets an opportunity to enrich their career and skills, either through continuing education, training, user groups or by attending industry PMO events
  • I will personally get out as well, and attend at least two peer events a year to broaden my own perspectives and re-energize my determination
  • I will (send someone to) get ITIL Foundation certified, and foster discussion with operations managers around how the PMO can help improve service management
  • I will ask the CFO to send over someone to educate my team about financial management and accounting
  • I will do a formal audit of the business applications we use to manage work and resources and push for improvements, if they are required
  • I will go to lunch twice a month with someone in the groups I support so I stay in touch with what they are doing and what they need
  • I will review the reports we are producing and verify with recipients that they are still relevant, useful and needed
  • I will review the PMO meetings and mandates we place on our organization and verify that they are still relevant, useful and needed
  • I will initiate a regular PMO Customer Satisfaction Survey
  • I will sit down with my sponsors and stakeholders to review results of that survey and take action
  • I will benchmark our processes and level of maturity to industry standards, leveraging objective external assistance from peers and/or consultants
  • I will fund the purchase of one business management book a month, actually read it, and then create a reference library to share with others
  • I will quit doing that combination throat-clearing wheeze thing I do just before I speak in meetings that everyone finds so irritating

I’m sure you can add many more. Once you get a good list together, pick five of them, print them out and post them on your corkboard so you keep them in the forefront of your mind.

Share your personal PMO resolutions by commenting on mine!

Terry Doerscher has more than 24 years experience in practical process development, project management, PMO, business strategy, and work and resource management in construction, nuclear and IT fields. Mr. Doerscher is the Chief Solution Architect for Planview, an Austin-based software company dedicated to creating project portfolio management solutions. Mr. Doerscher also writes a blog, Enterprise Navigator, where he frequently discusses issues pertaining to portfolio management and IT, http://blogs.planview.com/tdoerscher/.

What

Written by Ilya Bogorad on . Posted in Articles. 7 Comments on What

I find it amusing that the two words, “Project Manager”, mean such different things to different executives. After all, with the staggering success and proliferation of the PMI’s PMP designation and the highly projectized workplace of today, arguably, it should be as clear as a description of most organizational roles out there.

Not so! One day I will do a proper write-up on this, but here are the initial thoughts. It seems that there are roughly three categories of perceptions, ranked as per the amount of responsibilities implied:

The Facilitator Project Manager is there to keep the project plan updated, to schedule meetings and take minutes, and to remind people that their deliverables are due.

The Taskmaster Project Manager is there to run the project on a day-to-day basis, to be the person-in-the-know when it comes to anything to do with the project, to make decisions within the limits of the project scope, and to escalate upstairs when necessary.

The Mover and Shaker Project Manager is there to make things happen and the project succeed, with whatever “moving and shaking” is required.

Of the three perceptions, only one, in my mind is accurate, and that is the second. The first is ridiculous yet widespread. The third requires further discussion.

As a consultant, I never take on an assignment without a full understanding of my client’s perception of my role. And, in my view, neither should any project manager, whether in a consulting capacity or full time employee, if personal well-being and the success of the project means anything.

How would you like to be seen and why? I’ll tell you where I stand in the next entry.

 

Ilya Bogorad is the Principal of Bizvortex Consulting Group Inc., a management consulting company located in Mississauga , Canada . His 14-year professional career has been devoted to the field of Information Technology. Before starting Bizvortex, Ilya served as a Director of Application Development and Maintenance at Mytravel, Canada . Prior to that, he lead IT projects, designed business applications and managed complex system implementations in the travel, retail and transportation industries. Ilya can be reached at [email protected].