07/02/2014 by Brad Egeland Tags: missing leadership, project leadership, project leadership tips, signs that leadership is missing
Leadership, not just project management, is critical on all projects. Whether it comes just from the project manager – where it must be prevalent – or from others on the project team … leadership is very important.
And by leadership, of course, I mean true leadership. Not somebody to lead meetings, produce status reports, update the project schedule and send off a few emails every week. No, I mean true leadership. Make key decisions. Lead a skilled team. Engage the client. Negotiation strategic issues. Handle key financial situations. Network and connect as needed for the project. True leadership.
The problem is, true leadership is often lacking on some of the projects that need it the most. The reasons for this are many, and are worth noting…
Senior management is starting to micro-manage. They treat the project as a pet, smothering it with attention, thereby killing any initiative by the project manager or the team. An example is requiring any action, even the smallest, to have approval from senior management. Such an oppressive atmosphere makes it impossible to exercise project leadership.
Continue reading “10 Signs that Leadership is Missing – Part 1”
06/26/2014 by Jackie Dembinsky Tags: FastTrack Schedule 10, Information Form, Resource Information Form, Resource View, Tips and Tricks
When working with resources in our project, there is often a large amount of information that we wish to manage for each resource.. When working with our resources we need a quick and easy way to view and modify their data. FastTrack Schedule 10 allows us view and work with this data in several ways but probably the most efficient way would be using the Resource View Information Form.
The Information Form allows us to access a wide range of resource information including three main genres: Resource Information, Resource Work Calendars, and additional Resource Column Data. To access the Information Form while in the Resource View click in the Information Action Column beside the resource’s row number. You can also access the Information Form by selecting any item with the resource’s row then going to Project > Resource Information. When we do this, the Resource Information Form will open to the Information tab.
Continue reading “Resource Information Form”
06/25/2014 by Brad Egeland Tags: managing project conflicts, project conflict resolution, project management conflict types, project management conflicts
Conflict. A word we usually all try to avoid. Our regular project management work keeps us busy enough without trying to manage the various kinds of conflict that can arise on our projects. Conflicts between team members. Conflicts between our organization and a third party vendor. Conflicts between our organization and our customer. The list can go on and on. The reality, of course, is that we encounter conflict on nearly every project – dare I say EVERY project – that we manage. A project manager who says they never have conflict to deal with on their projects just isn’t paying close enough attention to what’s going on. Or they’re in denial. There is no burying your head in the sand either….when conflict arises it must be dealt with before it threatens to take the entire project engagement down with it.
As I think I made my case above, conflict rears its ugly head on just about every project we oversee or work on. The project manager must always be working proactively with all staff to avoid possible conflicts that may arise. In the event of a conflict, the project manager should be aware that talking can only resolve so much. For situations where conflict cannot be resolved through negotiations or arbitration, it is recommended that the identified individuals be separated or be removed from the project.
It is important to understand that project staff react differently to daily situations and that during the project life cycle, these members all experience various emotions such as joy, sadness, jealousy, anger, frustration, and stress – to name but a few. Many conflicts can be reduced or eliminated by constantly communicating the project objectives to the project team members. Some of the most common conflicts are:
Continue reading “Managing the Dreaded Project Conflicts”
06/10/2014 by Brad Egeland Tags: PM infrastructure, PM practice, project management benefits, project management strategic pluses
Most 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.
Customers realize the advantage Continue reading “Project Management: Strategic Pluses”
06/06/2014 by Jackie Dembinsky Tags: Effort Driven, FastTrack Schedule 10, Fixed Duration, Resource Management, Resource 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.
Continue reading “Effort-Driven vs. Fixed Duration Scheduling [Video]”
06/03/2014 by Brad Egeland Tags: learning moments in project management, project leadership, project lessons learned, project requirements
Turning 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:
Continue reading “The Learning Moments in Project Management”
05/27/2014 by Brad Egeland Tags: project deliverables, project requirements document, project sow, project statement of work, sow
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.
Continue reading “Do We Really Need the SOW?”
05/22/2014 by Jackie Dembinsky Tags: Column Summaries, FastTrack Schedule 10, Summaries, Summary Data, Summary Rows, Tips and Tricks
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.
Continue reading “Summary Rows and Column Summaries”
05/21/2014 by Brad Egeland Tags: outside consultants for projects, project outsource, project outsourcing, should you outsource
Usually 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….
Continue reading “Should You Outsource?”
05/14/2014 by Brad Egeland Tags: project authority problem, project authority responsibility, project manager problem
Sooner 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.
Continue reading “Authority Does Not Always Equal Responsibility”
