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Tag: Project Management

Transparency and 4 other key trend predictions for Project Management

Written by Brad Egeland on . Posted in Articles. 5 Comments on Transparency and 4 other key trend predictions for Project Management

One of the fun things we get to do is authors of project management content as experienced project managers in the marketplace is trying to predict where things will be next year or the next four to five years.

Project management isn’t boring and it isn’t static. Project management is actually dynamic.. it just isn’t moving at a rapid pace. It’s changing and advancing at more of a snail’s pace. Nevertheless there are trends that will emerge in 2018 and beyond. It’s hard to predict what those are, but I’ll do my best. Let’s consider five key tends I think will be emerging in 2018 and I’m anxious to see what you what you think of these trend predictions and any observations, suggestions or ideas you have on your own in terms of where project management is heading in the next one to five years. Please be thinking of your own list as you read this and comment at the end so we can discuss this further.

For now here’s my list to 5…

Full transparency.

As we seek out greater project success stories coupled with increased customer confidence and satisfaction, one key way we can do that is by incorporating complete transparency into our project management methodology. I’m devising my own PM methodology – 3D PM – and it’s built on… among other things… complete transparency. I’ve been watching too much political and news untruths and I’ve grown tired of the weak business individuals who must find their successes and control through lies, deceptions and omissions.

Extreme accountability.

I’m sure you’re all aware of the “Me Too” movement. Empowered and supported individuals are coming forward with admissions of being victims of all sorts of abuses and harassments – sexual, mental, physical, etc. it hard for them to do that…I can’t begin to imagine how hard, thankfully. But what it is also doing is creating a society of, and appreciation for, complete accountability. I would never want to belittle these revelations and experiences by comparing them to things in the business world, but this type of societal accountability is going to transfer to projects that we engage in with and for our customers. Be upright, be straightforward, be honest, be forthcoming, be of high integrity. It will be expected and it will be a better PM world for it.

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Earlier project manager involvement.

I think most of us realize that project managers need to be involved early in the project process. It’s a given that it would be helpful from a planning and customer delivery expectation setting standpoint, but most organizations still still tend to wait until
the project is developed conceptually before handing it off to the project manager. Well that’s fine in a perfect world but the project management world is far from perfect. So what happens is this: the project manager spends time in the first quarter of the project resetting customer expectations to what the real project management world can deliver as opposed to what account managers have sold the project customer. If we involve project managers at the beginning, treating them more as full scope engagement managers than project managers, then expectations can be set appropriately from the very outset of the engagement. I see this is an absolute necessary trend for 2018 if we want to continue to realize increased project management success stories.

Project teams of one.

Let’s see a project management team at one – what can I do? I say that a bit facetiously as the project team of one is really just the project manager, but he can’t do it alone. He may, however – in our new reality – be the only direct employee or contract employee of the delivery organization and the rest the team in many cases will be a distributed team of independents throughout the world as a virtual team but not employees of the root of the delivery organization. Rather they are outsourced individuals with extreme experience for the technology being used and specific project being undertaken. This sounds logical and this may sound a lot like of what we are doing now. I believe in many cases it will be the best case scenario in the project management world going forward – especially on high tech projects that are going to require the best of the best in 2018.

New, diverse project management tools.

As a consultant I worked with many small to medium size businesses who are developing project management software for many different uses. Most now like to advertise their wares as enterprise PM solutions. Many start small and try to grow too quickly. That’s unfortunate but strong ones last and I think we’re going to see new project management tools that do gain traction, stay in the game and offer stronger reporting, stronger task management, stronger risk management, and stronger financial management capabilities for project managers and teams. These will be more like ERP type or EWMS type solutions for the project and the organization so they can more efficiently manage all work and resources in 2018. It has to happen for success to happen regularly.

Summary / call for input

So that’s it…. nothing too earth shattering, but hopefully some thought provoking topics and trends. 2018 will be different… no doubt about it. It has to be – we can’t go on delivering success on less than 50% of our projects (according to most surveys and research).

Readers what are your thoughts and do you agree? Do you have your own list in five or ten trends that you think we might see in 2018? Project management has to change and software has to change in order for us to manage our projects better and engage our customers better. Of course, better customer engagement equals increased customer satisfaction. We must get there and that will be the overall trend for 2018, in my opinion. Please feel free to share your thoughts and your own lists and let’s discuss this… thanks for reading.

Leading Projects Can Be as Fun as Driving the Ultimate Driving Machine

Written by Brad Egeland on . Posted in Articles. 4 Comments on Leading Projects Can Be as Fun as Driving the Ultimate Driving Machine

I’m going for a stretch here… comparing project management to driving a car.

Not sure this will work for everyone, but hopefully you be able to see my point when I finally get to it – and I promise I will get to it. Now back to my BMW. My beloved 1992 BMW 3 series. My all-time favorite car I’ve ever owned. It had incredible handling, it looked great, was the perfect blue color, and fast. Perfect combo of everything…for the driver. The ultimate driving machine. Now read that last sentence again. The ultimate driving machine. No one said it was the ultimate riding machine. I drove it probably 98% of the time that I was in the car. But my wife drove it a few times, too. And those few times that I was the passenger and not the driver…I can agree with her assessment that it was not the best passenger experience – certainly nowhere near to the driving experience it delivered.

Along for the ride

In project management, much like driving versus riding in a 1992 BMW 3 series, managing the project is quite different from working on the project. I’m not saying it’s better. I’m not saying it’s the ultimate management experience. But I am saying that much like driving a BMW 3 series, if you’re organized and successful as a project manager, you do have a nice sense of control. You are in charge, you are making the decisions, and eventually you realize you wouldn’t have it any other way. Again, not saying it’s for everyone and not that it’s better than everything else. Some people like to drive a truck. But if you like that feeling of control and taking charge, there aren’t too many things like it. Yes, I’m talking about both – driving the BMW and managing projects.

Easy? No.

It’s not easy. If you want to be successful you can’t just phone it in and enjoy pushing people around and making powerful decisions. That’s not what it’s about at all. But, in spite of what others might think, it isn’t just playing “coordinator” and sending out project status reports, updating project schedules, begging people of task updates and sugar coating task descriptions trying to trick your project team into doing actual work on the engagement. For me, it basically comes down to this:

Project setup.

Planning out the project from beginning to end, putting together the initial project schedule, resource plan, budget, and kickoff with the customer to get everything off on the right track.

Task management.

Ongoing task management throughout. Next to overall project communication, this is probably the most important thing the project manager does. May seem mundane, but it’s an hourly – not daily – effort and without it, nothing gets done on the project. Doing the right work at the right time. That’s most of what project management is about.

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Communication.

Communication is a critical ingredient for project success and is – as I always say – Job One for the project manager, in my opinion. Without effective, efficient and very accurate project communication, project success is just luck. And we can’t replicate dumb luck on our projects over and over again.

Status reporting.

This is part of project communication. It must happen to make customer status calls meaningful and productive and it must happen to keep project customers engaged throughout the project. Enraged or engaged – your pick. But I prefer engaged so keep them informed.

Scope management.

Watch requirements and scope carefully. It’s easy to let a little extra work slip in while you’re trying to keep a customer happy. If you’ve had lots of issues on the project – especially if they were the fault of you, your team or your organization – then you may want to give a little work away for free. But be careful. Scope that is not managed closely can get out of hand…and that’s a fast track to budget overrun.

Negotiation.

Believe it or not, project managers must often be artful negotiators. You may often not even realize you’re negotiating, but you are. Every time you talk the client into switching a date or changing around the order of phases of the project to accommodate an issue or change, you are likely negotiating. There’s always give and take. Be smooth and your project will run smoothly.

Customer management.

Customer management, customer engagement… whatever you call it doesn’t matter, but it is a very vital piece of the project management puzzle. Customers often drift in and out of availability on the projects we manage for them because they are busy with their day jobs – not just overseeing the project they were tasked to sponsor. Because not all projects are their #1 priority. Some projects are forced on THEM, too – just like some are forced on you. Keep them engaged by keeping them assigned to tasks and then let them know you expect updates and progress reports.

Everything else.

Yes, and everything else that comes up. The target is on the head of the project manager. Wear it well and don’t back down.

Summary / call for input

Project management isn’t necessarily cool – and it certainly isn’t easy. I guess it can be somewhat cool – depending on the project and the industry and the technology you get to implememt. But it is important, it is critical, and being in charge can be fun – thrilling even. In my opinion it’s better than the ride-along. I like being in control.

Readers – what’s your take? Project manager or project team member? My genre has generally been IT and most developers on my teams have not aspired to be project managers. A few have and those that wanted it generally became good at it. The rest stayed on the full throttle tech track because they excelled there…it’s all good. Please share your experiences and add to this list of what’s critical about leading projects.

7 Tips on How to be a great Project Manager

Written by Jasmin Ali on . Posted in Articles. 70 Comments on 7 Tips on How to be a great Project Manager

Project management may sound easy, but taking up the role of a Project manager requires sword play with the right wit.

Many a times, when the Project Manager is at fault or does not abide to an employee’s needs, the company is bound to lose a valuable resource. A good Project Manager is hard to find, but a great Project Manager? It is harder. Understanding the goals of the company, project deadlines, managing time effectively and being a good boss to employees can be easy if these seven tips are followed:

1. AVOID MICROMANAGEMENT

Project managers tend to get extremely observant and controlling when a project is assigned to their team. It might be because of irrational deadlines, lack of time, underestimating the power of their resource and panicking about proving their position. This leads to constant micromanagement where Project Managers constantly nag or monitor employees and their work, breathing down their shoulders through the entire day or week, until the project is done and dusted. Sometimes, employees are never given an off and might be asked to work during the weekends which would eventually drain them out. A great Project Manager understands that every employee is human enough to have their own time and space to figure out how much they can deliver and how fast they can. Employees should be given their own freedom to work around schedules and plan out how they can deliver before deadlines. Micromanagement only demotivates employees and puts them in a position where they are rendered as incapable of deliveries unless monitored. A great manager avoids micromanagement like the plague and uses it when and wherever necessary.

2. EVALUATE PRIORITIES

Many project managers follow agile methodology where different parts of the project that have various dependencies are mapped out and listed in the beginning. With time, priorities change. Re-evaluating priorities in a periodic manner and changing work deliveries is important. Priorities are never the same throughout a project and it takes a great manager to find the loops and holes of it, to deliver projects on time.

3. MANAGE TIME EFFECTIVELY

Time management is a great manager’s number one priority. Maintaining a balance between being productive during the productive hours at work and allowing employees to have their free time is important. Project managers must make sure that employees get the work done on time, without stressing them out by pressurizing them. Any good resource would work efficiently when the work is handed over to them, without the need of a push. Figuring out the good and the bad egg from the team is crucial. Laying out tasks and targets for employees to meet during each day is a good way to start.

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4. COMMUNICATION IS KEY

Good communication is good project management any day. The ability to communicate to the stakeholders as well as the team effectively can drive a project to be delivered on time. Giving out broken promises to stakeholders and urging employees to complete their tasks as promised would cause huge problems to the team as well as to the clients. Being an effective communicator between the team and the clients is important.

5. UNDERSTANDING PSYCHOLOGY

They say that great project managers understand their employees. Keeping track of how much an employee is able to deliver, how fast they can and what fields and skills they are good at is important. The ability to drive employees to complete tasks they love accomplishing and are good at. Knowing your team’s strengths and weaknesses and allotting tasks similar to what they can and cannot do is vital.

6. EQUIPPING THE TEAM

Technology is an ever-evolving stream of today and to be knowledgeable in all kinds of software and technology is a challenging task. Being up-to-date on technology and exposing your team to the existence of such, is important. Project management training for employees to be knowledgeable on various fields that are emerging in the current technology-driven world can bring the company a lot of projects and profit.

7. GREAT PROBLEM-SOLVING SKILLS

When there’s a project assigned to you, there will be problems assigned to you as well. These problems can arise at any time of the project. Problems can vary from being related to the employees within the team, health-issues or emergencies that occur mid-way or at the time of delivery, misinterpreting requirements, missing out on SLDC processes, bug issues and problems that are completely unexpected. Being a great problem-solver by understanding what is to be done at such situations is the best trait of a great project manager. A great project manager works towards the success of the company and its products and it is vital to know how to handle unexpected situations in a witty way.

BEING PREPARED

Being a good project manager takes time while being a great project manager takes experience. Using the right kind of skill at the right time and handling organizational problems takes time in understanding what each member of the team is capable of. Believing that your team can perform better at every step of the project is crucial. Preparations for the worst can improve problem-solving abilities.

SUMMARY

Understanding the project strategy vision, bringing out the best out of your team, timely delivery of projects, being an effective communicator, solving problems, preparing, disclosing, bargaining and closing projects can go a long way in tuning your project management skills. Looking into administrative details of projects is also an area that can’t be missed out. Project management takes planning, leading, implementing and collaborating.

Any good project manager can become a great project manager any day. Taking a keen interest in your development, the team’s as well as individual development is an added asset. Keep your doors open for employees to put in their thoughts and worries that serve as barriers to meeting deliverables or taking up projects. Delegate tasks and sub-tasks to get work done in a simple and easy way. Finally, a great project manager works with the team and accomplishes their mission.

“You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great someday”.

2018 Trends in Business Analysis and Project Management

Written by Elizabeth Larson on . Posted in Articles. 6 Comments on 2018 Trends in Business Analysis and Project Management

Since 2009 we have enjoyed reflecting on what’s happened the previous year on projects and making predictions for the upcoming year. Here are some of the recent trends we have discussed:

  • Agile successes, challenges, and use beyond software
  • Organizations recognize the importance of roles that help maximize value
  • Scaling Agile
  • Certification trends in business analysis and project management
  • Implications of a changing workforce on projects
  • BAs and PMs in the gig economy
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Here are the seven industry trends that we have chosen for 2018:

    1. The Digital BA. Many organizations are anxious to participate in the “digital transformation.” They want to be able to mine data, use predictive analytics, and have apps for artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. Some are beginning to get a handle on the complexity of this transformation, and are turning to digital business analysts (BAs) to help them succeed. Digital BAs work with the organization to understand what it’s up against. They recommend the best process and software solutions to meet the business needs, help implement this solution, facilitate issue resolution, and work with business stakeholders to help them understand how various aspects of the digital transformation will affect them. The best way a BA can help the organization is by having a deep understanding of the digital world, so days of the business-only BA are over. The BAs who will provide the most value are those who understand the technology needed for the digital world and can communicate in business language how it will affect the jobs of all levels of business stakeholders.
    2. PMs on Agile Projects. As organizations continue to embrace agile, project managers are evolving their role to integrate into project environments with agile teams. Obviously, ScrumMaster or coach is one role PMs are moving into, but in many instances, the organization’s need for project management exceeds what the traditional agile team provides. Project management activities pertaining to contracting, communication with the larger organization, particularly senior management, and reporting beyond flip charts posted on team walls are all needs that that PMs logically fill and that may go unmet. The hybrid ScrumMaster/PM role is one many are taking on to address the agile team needs as well as the wider organizational need for a more holistic perspective and broader communication of the project.
    3. Business Architecture Gains Interest. Although business architecture started in 1980’s, it wasn’t until the mid-2000’s it became a formal profession with its own support organizations such as OMG’s Business Architecture Special Interest Group, Business Architecture Guild, and other architecture forums and guilds that have sprung up. Business leaders are starting to see the value of business architects who can help organizations build and maintain the business architecture knowledge base, help strategically align projects, and maximize organizational capabilities. According to Gartner Research 60% of the companies surveyed are planning to have business architects in the next few years. Plan to see this as a growing profession.
    4. Lean and Scalable Business Cases. We have seen increased interest lately in business cases, particularly leaner ones. Even with wider use of Agile approaches, and possibly because of that, the need to justify projects is greater than ever. The way that business cases are created is changing though. There will always be the need for detailed and extensive proposals, replete with cost-benefit analysis. But, not every proposal warrants that treatment, and leaner and more agile business cases are trending. In PMI’s newest edition of the PMBOK® Guide, business cases are defined as proposing projects or components. That is a clear reflection of this trend. Some examples include getting just enough funding to develop a prototype before launching a new app, developing a lean business case based on the product roadmap, or developing a business case on phase 1 of a large, traditional project.
    5. DevOps. Organizations are looking for ways to support continuous (or at least more frequent) delivery of software without throwing the production environment into chaos. One answer is DevOps, which seeks to balance frequent implementation of product increments with operational stability. To that end, organizations are expanding Agile teams to include other areas of IT, such as Operations, Security, Infrastructure, and Architecture. In addition, many recognize the importance of using a set of automated tools, known as a toolchain, to automate traditionally time-consuming and risky aspects of software development. BAs can help organizations develop a toolchain strategy, choose and implement appropriate tools, and facilitate meetings within IT silos for speedy decision-making and issue resolution.
    6. Sponsors Are Finally Getting It: Sponsors are stepping up to own projects at a rate that we haven’t seen in, well, ever. We are seeing them reaching out to have real, meaningful discussions about how to fill their role effectively and how to partner with the project manager and other key stakeholders. Considering the sponsor’s role in defining the value proposition for the project, this eagerness to own the project bodes well for the projects and the organizations in which they are happening, so this is a trend we are all too happy to see.
    7. Strategic Thinking as a Key Capability. Until recently strategic thinking was thought to be a skill exclusively used at the Director and “C” club level. Now more and more organizations are realizing that to ensure various key roles provide value to the organization, they either need to hire people who can think strategically or develop them. We are seeing this competency included in bodies of knowledge, such as IIBA’s BABOK® Guide and the latest edition PMI’s PMBOK® Guide, as well as a competency needed to pass certification exams like the PMI-ACP and Business Relationship Management Professional (BRMP). Many Agile and Scrum team members are also realizing that strategic thinking is a key to success. We predict that as business solutions become more complex, this need to think strategically will expand even more.

    About the Authors

    Elizabeth Larson, PMP, CBAP, CSM, PMI-PBA is Co-Principal and CEO of Watermark Learning and has over 30 years of experience in project management and business analysis. Elizabeth’s speaking history includes repeat presentations for national and international conferences on five continents.

    Elizabeth has co-authored five books on business analysis and certification preparation. She has also co-authored chapters published in four separate books. Elizabeth was a lead author on several standards including the PMBOK® Guide, BABOK® Guide, and PMI’s Business Analysis for Practitioners – A Practice Guide.

    Andrea Brockmeier, PMP, CSM, PMI-ACP, is the Director of Project Management at Watermark Learning. She has 20+ years of experience in project management and related practice and training. She writes and teaches courses in project management, business analysis, and influencing skills. She has long been involved with the PMI® chapter in Minnesota where she is a member of the certification team. She has a master’s degree in cultural anthropology and is particularly interested in the cultural aspects of team development, as well as the impact of social media and new technologies on organizations and projects.

    Richard Larson, PMP, CBAP, PMI-PBA, President and Founder of Watermark Learning, is a successful entrepreneur with over 30 years of experience in business analysis, project management, training, and consulting. He has presented workshops and seminars on business analysis and project management topics to over 10,000 participants on five different continents.

    Rich loves to combine industry best practices with a practical approach and has contributed to those practices through numerous speaking sessions around the world. He has also worked on the BA Body of Knowledge versions 1.6-3.0, the PMI BA Practice Guide, and the PM Body of Knowledge, 4th edition. He and his wife Elizabeth Larson have co-authored five books on business analysis and certification preparation.

    Dr. Susan Heidorn, BRMP, PMP, CBAP, is the Director of Business Solutions at Watermark Leaning. She is also an experienced consultant, facilitator, speaker, and trainer, with over twenty-five years of business experience. She provides project management, business analysis, strategic thinking & planning, leadership development, facilitation, process improvement, change management, and team development to her clients based on best practices in the industry. Susan has been a speaker at a number of IIBA and PMI conferences as well as local and regional organizations, boards and private client development sessions. She is a lifelong learner whose passion it is to guide people into achieving excellence in their personal and professional lives.

The New PMBOK® Guide – What It Means for PMP Certification and More – Part 1

Written by Andrea Brockmeier on . Posted in Articles. 5 Comments on The New PMBOK® Guide – What It Means for PMP Certification and More – Part 1

Here we are on the eve of another Project Management Institute Project Management Professional (PMP)® exam change following release of PMI’s new edition of the Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide).

This is the first in a two-part article in which I highlight some changes to the PMBOK® Guide. In the second part, I will suggest an approach to digesting the new version and share some thoughts about the exam changes.

PMBOK® Guide – Sixth Edition – What’s New

First, the changes to the processes and how they are organized is not changed substantially. A couple of processes have been renamed to create better consistency, and a couple of new processes have been added. But the overall structure with Knowledge Areas (KA) and Process Groups (PG) is the same. To be sure, details with inputs and outputs have been modified, but that would make for some very tedious reading, so I will talk about more interesting changes.

Three new sections are included at the beginning of each KA: Trends and Emerging Practices, Tailoring Considerations, and Considerations for Agile/Adaptive Environments. Each KA now addresses these topics with specifics pertinent to that KA.

Trends and emerging practices include tools like earned schedule in the Cost Management KA, which is not a new practice, per se, but is something that wasn’t mentioned in the PMBOK® Guide – Fifth Edition. Another example is use of multiple contractors and standard contract forms amenable to large, international megaprojects in Procurement Management. The idea of self-organizing teams is identified as an emerging practice in Resource (formerly called HR) Management. An expanded the view of who a stakeholder is and involving all team members in the effort to engage stakeholders is a trend in the Stakeholder Management KA.
Tailoring considerations make explicit what was more subtly implied in previous PMBOK® Guide editions. Questions help define how to make these processes work given the uniqueness of the organization such as constraints and stakeholders. For example, regarding Communications Management, how many languages are used among project team members, and are the team members geographically distributed? How much certainty is there around the requirements and how will that impact Scope Management processes? How will project size and complexity impact Risk Management processes?
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The idea of tailoring isn’t new to the PMBOK® Guide, but inclusion of these sections with questions specific to each KA brings tailoring to the fore and makes the document feels much more like the flexible framework that it is, and much less like a prescriptive methodology that it is often misunderstood to be.
Considerations for Agile/Adaptive Environments is the third new section in each KA chapter. These high-level, brief sections provide project lifecycle context for understanding the processes. The impact of uncertainty on the processes and the benefits of doing things like chunking work and getting regular feedback are touched on in these sections. This brief section is enough to keep the project type in mind for the reader who is evaluating how to apply the processes and tools. Of course, the details pertaining to projects in an adaptive environment are now covered in The Agile Practice Guide, developed in collaboration with Agile Alliance, which now ships with the PMBOK® Guide – Sixth Edition.

In addition to those new sections, some old concepts get new emphasis and some new concepts and artifacts appear. The role of the project manager, for example, gets emphasized more than in past editions. The groundwork for this was laid years ago with PMI’s Talent Triangle™. Leadership skills and soft skills like navigating politics to get things done get more attention. Also, business documents including the project business case and project business management plan get addressed and are springboards for emphasis on making sure that projects are aligned with the business and delivering business value.

Overall, I think the PMBOK® Guide has become more consistent with each revision. In addition, the diagrams are much cleaner and most are easier to understand. The grey-colored pages are not particularly pleasant to read, although I appreciate that it is due to preventing illegal copies and protecting intellectual property.

Whatever you have to say about it, there is no disputing that it continues to grow. It is now a whopping 756 pages long! My next article will suggest an approach to digesting the new PMBOK® Guide edition.

In the meantime, I’d love to hear what your thoughts are. What do you like or dislike about the PMBOK® Guide – Sixth Edition?