Project Management: Strategic Pluses

project management strategic plusesMost of us know – especially those of us in the project management world – that a solid PM practice that is truly running smoothly in an organization can bring great benefits to the company, the employees and, of course, the project customers. However, not everyone sees it and sometimes executives want to deny that this is the case…choosing to fund different areas of the organization with the limited budget available because they just don’t see the benefit.

In these cases, what the PM practices are left with is struggle to survive, a lack of ability to show a consistent “face” of PM to the organization and the clients they serve on projects, and the reliance on more luck that best practices to bring ongoing success to the projects they manage. Not good. So what we always need to do is tout the pluses of project management and why the funding of a solid PM infrastructure is a good thing…not a frivolous endeavor.

Therefore, let’s look at some of the real pluses to the organization of having a professional project management infrastructure and practice in place.

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Effort-Driven vs. Fixed Duration Scheduling [Video]

effort-driven vs fixed duration scheduling

In FastTrack Schedule 10 there are two types of scheduling methods that can be used to control how activities will function within projects.  These methods are known as Effort-Driven and Fixed Duration scheduling.  Using these methods will allow you to define how activities function as resources are assigned to them.

The first method, Effort-Driven scheduling says that the amount of Work (Hours) needed to complete a task will always remain constant, no matter how many resources are assigned or how much effort each resources applies to that task. As resources are assigned to Effort-Driven tasks the duration of that task will automatically be calculated based on the user defined Work (Hours) and the number of resources assigned.

The second method, Fixed Duration scheduling says that the Duration needed to complete a task will always remain constant, no matter how many resources are assigned or how much effort each resources applies to that task. As resources are assigned to Fixed Duration tasks, the Work (Hours) will automatically be calculated based on the total duration and number of resources assigned.

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The Learning Moments in Project Management

the learning moments in project managementTurning it all around is what project management is all about right? The excitement, the adrenaline rush of jumping in and saving the day. Or saving your own project from near disaster and ending up with a favorable outcome. Well, most of us would rather not have all that excitement if we can avoid it. But the truth is most projects fail in some way or another – more than half of all projects do by most counts, studies and surveys.

So while we would like to talk about the project successes out there…and we often do talk about best practices, how to succeed and what ‘x’ number of steps might guarantee success (which can never really be true), the reality is that we must also talk about the failures and what we can learn from them so we turn today’s failures into tomorrow’s success stories. What we need to do is learn as much as we can from history so that it doesn’t repeat itself. We need to make the most of our’s and others’ bad situations.

As I see it, there are two things we can do. Look at some of the reasons why projects frequently fail. And make sure we incorporate lessons learned into the project management process. First, let’s look at a few key reasons that I’ve come up with as to why projects fail:

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Do We Really Need the SOW?

Do we really need the Statement of Work?Can one document make or break a project engagement? Seriously…we do lots of planning and lots of prep work, but no two projects are the same and some projects have certain documents and some don’t. What makes one document that much more important than another?

For one thing, requirements are extremely important. I always say they are the lifeblood of any project. How do you build a solution without requirements? But roll back a little farther. What gets you to those requirements? What helps to even kick the project off right in the first place? How do you know what the project is about? Word of mouth? See how far that will get you.

I consider the project statement of work – or SOW – to be probably the most critical early document the project manager can have in his possession. A good statement of work can tell the project manager so much. In fact, on most of my projects I find myself going back to the SOW as a point of reference first whenever questions come up about deliverables, assumptions, or even requirements. Because if it isn’t in the statement of work, then it didn’t exist when we first started to put the project together. It’s like the birth of the project…if it’s done right, then it is where it all started for the project. The statement of work gives you everything you need to start building your project from – if it exists and it’s done right.

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Summary Rows and Column Summaries

Throughout our projects we will want to and need to keep an eye on certain types of data at a high level. For example: we may want to know the total time a group of tasks spans, or when that group of tasks start and finish. FastTrack Schedule 10 can display this information in 2 ways: with Summary Rows and Column Summaries. These sets of Summary Data will allow you to easily monitor the higher levels of your project. By default, Summary Rows are enabled for the Duration, Start Date, and Finish Date columns but we can also easily add these to almost any column in our project.

Our first set of summary data, Summary Rows, will appear in line with high level tasks which have other tasks or rows indented within them. FastTrack makes it easy to spot these by displaying the data in a bold font in each Summary Row.

 

Default Summary Rows

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Should You Outsource?

should you outsourceUsually we want to do things on our own. It is the easiest thing to do, produces the least paperwork, requires the least amount of planning, and the least amount of legal interference (which most of us wish to avoid like the plague). It’s what we’re used to, it’s where our product and project expertise lies, and it’s usually the path of least resistance.

Next in line is the concept of bringing in outside consultants to work on the project as needed. For example, you may need a particular software expertise on your project and everyone in your organization with that expertise is booked on another engagement. Since you need the work performed now – not in two months – you bring in an outside expert for, say, five weeks to get the task completed and you move on.

The third choice you have is outsourcing the needed work. Outsourcing is always an option. And it is often a good option. And sometimes the ONLY option if you want to meet a certain deadline or odd customer requirement that implies a certain expertise that your organization and resource pool lacks. There may be times in the life of your projects or during your project management career, where the best alternative is to outsource an entire portion of the project to an outside vendor to perform, say, all of the development work or all of the testing of the system prior to user acceptance testing. It may be faster and cheaper than hiring individuals and getting them up to speed.

Let’s look at this option further….

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Authority Does Not Always Equal Responsibility

authority does not always equal responsibilitySooner or later you’re going to run into this issue yourself if it hasn’t already presented itself as a problem on one of your engagements. You have a project, you have a team. You are ultimately responsible for the success of project and you are ultimately responsible for the work of the project team. You assign the work, you oversee the work, and you report all progress on the work. Sounds like a typical project, correct?

Now also consider where each individual team member stands. Each one of your team members has three or four other project managers that they are working for on other engagements and they even have a resource manager who is their ultimate authority, who is responsible for their performance reviews and raises, and who also is assigning them work from time to time that has nothing to do with your project. You have the work you need them to do. You have the assignments that you’re making. Beyond that, you have to hope they are understanding the meaning of the project and their role in its success to perform the work you need them to perform and to do it well. But you truly lack the authority to ‘make’ them do it.

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Setting the Project Start Date

Every project that we work on has a specific date that it needs to start by. Setting and tracking this date can be an important aspect of our project because from the very beginning it will let us know if we are going to potentially make or miss our deadlines.  Sometimes you may know the Start Date when you begin planning the project but in other cases you might not know the Start Date until right before the project begins.

In FastTrack Schedule 10 we can easily set or modify the Start Date at any point in time. After this is done the schedule will automatically account for this change and update to reflect exactly how the entire project should occur. First we’ll take a look at how the Project Start Date is set in new files; then we’ll take a look at updating the Project Start Dates of your existing files.

By default when we open a brand new blank file the Project Start Date is automatically set to match your computer’s System Date. For example: if you open a brand new file on May 8th, the Project Start Date is automatically set to match this same date. The Project Start Date will be visually represented in our Timeline Graph by a green dateline, which appears on the current system date.

 

Project Start Date Dateline

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The Best Resources Aren’t Always Best for Your Project

selecting best resources for your projectsI’ve always been of the mindset that my project is the most important project, and I want the best resources I can get for each skill set. The best of the best to offer my project client…that should keep them satisfied. That should work, right? Wrong! And let me tell you why…at least why I think so and you can give me your opinions.

Always the best for me!

When you’re running a project and you know that it’s a high profile project and you know that you’re on a tight schedule and that everyone’s eyes are on the project and on you – you want your best resources available for the project, right? You want the most skilled and experienced resources that money can buy. You want the best resources your organization can offer.

In reality – at least from my own experiences and from what I’ve witnessed on colleagues’ projects – sometimes the best is not always the best for your project. Having the best in each resource category can sometimes be a huge plus for your project, but it also usually means these high-level resources are in high demand and are probably playing key roles on one or more other projects.

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The Other Role of the Project Manager

role of project managerProject management isn’t all about just leading projects. I like to think that if I’m not leading different types of projects along the way and using those different experiences to become a better project manager and share those experiences with other PMs then I’m not really growing in this role. Nor am I increasing my value to my organization, my colleagues and my project customers.

Much of what I write – and other PMs write – when we share our opinions and experiences through articles like this can often seem like logic or common knowledge. But if it helps, affirms, or provides guidance to just one project manager faced with an issue, problem or confidence gap, then it has served its purpose. As project managers we all need to understand some of the pitfalls that can affect a project manager and their teams as they strive to bring a long project engagement to successful closure. And since, thankfully, we all haven’t experienced every success and every failure and every issue known in the project management world, it’s good that we educate and mentor each other along the way. That is what I’m referring to as the other role of the project manager. And that educating and mentoring includes the project team members as well – as they could become the next project managers…or at the very least they provide daily project management input and are often expected to take leadership roles and make critical decisions as part of a small and highly focused engagement team.

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Schedule View Information Form

As we work on our projects there is usually a wide range of data that we need to manage.  Being able to quickly and easily access that data can be vital when trying to make updates to an existing project or entering data into new projects.  FastTrack Schedule 10 offers numerous avenues to easily access all of the data in your project.  We’ve already taken a look at some of the various Columns that FastTrack Schedule 10 offers, today we will focus on a tool known as the Information Form.

The Information Form will allow you access a wide range of information including: Dates, Durations, Progress Tracking, Dependencies, Resources, and many additional types of activity information. To access the Information Form while in the Schedule View simply double- click on any Activity Bar, you can also access Information Form by clicking in the Information Action Column located by the row number.  As soon as we do this, the Information Form opens to the Bars tab displaying various Tracking information.

 

Open Information Form

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What if Your Contractor Flakes on You? – Part 2

legal action against contractorIn Part 1 of this rather unfortunate discussion concerning project contractors or consultants that bail on our engagements, I discussed my own unfortunate recent situation and began to look at ways we try to combat, mitigate, or avoid such situations. Certainly open and frequent communication can help pave the way to less eventful project manager-team situations, but that won’t guarantee that you avoid all scenarios. You may still eventually find yourself in one of those situations where your contractor or consultant turns out to be someone you didn’t realize they were…no matter how well you think you knew them.

What we’ve discussed so far are two key steps in resolving an unfortunate scenario where your project contractor leaves you in the lurch…sometimes taking the money and running, as was the case for me. #1 – you try to work with them, bring them back into the fold, reason with them, understand their situation, etc. Why? Because usually it is in your best interest to do so and almost always it is in their best interest to just get back on the job and eliminate the risk of facing monetary action, legal action, and governing/sanctioning action and fines. #2 – you can go to a trusted 3rd party who may be able to intervene and clear the situation up – talk sense into one or both parties and help them to move forward together and get back to work on the project.

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