07/16/2013 by Brad Egeland Tags: project communication pitfalls, project communication problems, project communication tips
In Part 1 of this two part series on project communication problem areas, we looked at the first two of four critical communication touch points that can potentially become weak links within the project communications infrastructure: between the project manager and his team members and between the project manager and department managers within the delivery organization.
Between PM and outside resources. Outside resources can be difficult because it’s rare that your priorities and their priorities are in sync. No matter how urgent your deadlines or how important the project is to the company – they may not share the same urgency and this can be quite frustrating for the project manager. This particular potential weak link can end up being of considerable consequence to the project if not managed closely and carefully.
Anticipate problems with these outside resources when planning the schedule and how and when you make requests and communicate information. Don’t wait until the deadline is upon you, but plan well ahead to eliminate the problem through communicating as clearly as possible.
Continue reading “Problem Areas in Project Communications – Part 2”
07/12/2013 by Jackie Dembinsky Tags: Dependencies, FastTrack Schedule 10, Linking, Logic Relationships, Tips and Tricks
As we are building our schedules we often take into consideration how one task may affect the behavior of the next step of our project. We can build the project so we can see that one task will occur after the other, however this won’t automatically account for events such as delays. In order to allow our project to flow and automatically reschedule as adjustments are made we need to create logical relationships between our tasks.
In FastTrack Schedule 10 we can do this by creating Links between our tasks. Links allow us to show the relationship of one task to another within our project. Once we’ve added links between our tasks we also have the option of changing the link style and account for lag/lead to modify how the links will act between tasks.
To start off, we can create links between any large continuous sections of tasks. To do this we can select the row number for our first task, then while holding down the shift key select the row for the last task we wish to create a link to.
Continue reading “Defining Dependencies Between Tasks”
07/10/2013 by Brad Egeland Tags: project communication pitfalls, project communication problems, project communication tips
I’ve always made it clear that communication is – in my opinion – the most important thing the project manager does on a daily basis. Everything they do is important, but without good communication skills the project has no real hope for success. Unfortunately, the project manager could be the best communicator in the world, but weak links in their network and with communication on the project overall could still cause problems for the project and key stakeholders.
Whenever work passes from one person or department to another, or from a project team to a department or other personnel, the opportunity for delay or misunderstanding is present. If we maintain an awareness of what those potential weak links are, then we can monitor those, verify understanding, and hopefully limit their potential effect on project success.
Basically, whenever the project manager must pass information to others, a weak link could potentially become an issue. In Part 1 of this two part series, let’s begin to examine these common communication touch points and discuss the potential problems and how they might be avoided in order to keep misunderstandings and miscommunications from happening and keep the project on the road to success.
Continue reading “Problem Areas in Project Communications – Part 1”
07/03/2013 by Brad Egeland Tags: managing project resources, micro managing resources, micromanaging the project, Resource Management
In Part 1 of this two part series on micromanaging on the project, I discussed what I felt are the definite negatives or downsides to micromanaging project your project resources. Most don’t like it, most don’t need it, and most will resent you for it. So be aware of how you’re treating your project resources, stakeholders, the customer sponsor, and any customer resources that you may be interacting with and assigning tasks to. They’re capable individuals…keep that in mind!
In this Part 2, let’s examine what a project manager can do to create a more positive and productive working environment for his project resources:
Keep tasks clearly defined. The best way to get the most productivity from your team is to give them clearly defined tasks to perform and make sure they understand what they are being assigned…and then let them work. If you don’t want to end up needing to micromanage them in order for them to do the work, then don’t make their work assignments vague or hard to understand. They should leave you knowing what to do, what’s expected of them, and what they’ll need to do in order to be successful. If they don’t know those things, then you’ve likely failed in providing them a clear assignment and your project may suffer as a result.
Continue reading “Avoid Micromanaging the Project – Part 2 – Proper Treatment”
06/27/2013 by PM Hut Tags: pm lessons learned, project management lessons, project management lessons learned, project management mistakes
By Chris Merryman
PM Hut
Being a Project Management practitioner is a choice many of us have willingly made (and enjoy!). Others may have joined the ranks due to necessity from their previous role being eliminated, outsourced or some other form of extinction. Regardless of our past experiences we’ve all made our share of mistakes and all have a unique relationship with the term “Lessons Learned”. In this article I share some of the lessons I learned the hard way. We can read as many books as we want, interview everyone we’ve ever known and read every Google article that exists on the topic of how to be a strong, influential and creative type person so we can thrive in the Project Management environment but nothing can truly replace being in the hot seat. Here are a few things I hope make sense to those either in the role already or thinking about taking on the role.
1) Never take outside influences for granted
This one I think we all take for granted. We assume that by providing regular status reports, staying on schedule, under budget and controlling scope creep is a sure way to ensure your Project makes it to completion. We sometimes forget about the outside forces that can turn a normal working day totally upside down and in the morning we have a thriving Project but in the afternoon we no longer have a Project! We need to ensure we fully understand our Sponsor and Stakeholders concerns not only for the outcome of the Project but what are we trying to accomplish in the first place? Is it competitive advantage over a product just released? Are we trying to claw our way to the top of the industry by providing the best in class service? Or is this a pet project of the Sponsor and when the signs of another Project are looking dire they redirect everyone to help get it back in good health? We need to keep our eyes and ears open and ensure we understand as much as possible as to why our Project exists.
Continue reading “6 Project Management Lessons Learned the Hard Way”
06/26/2013 by Jackie Dembinsky Tags: FastTrack Schedule 10, Presentation, Printing Schedules, Tips and Tricks
With almost every project that we create we need to be able to display the details to stakeholders, clients, and resources at some point throughout its progression. We’ve already taken a look at how we can easily create PDF’s, Images, and share our schedules in a variety of file formats. However, one of the most basic and often overlooked forms of presenting details is through a hard copy on paper. Printing is something we don’t always think about, so when it comes time to do it we may overlook a few key details that will make the presentation pop.
In FastTrack Schedule 10, there is a very straightforward methodology used to create print outs. FastTrack Schedule utilizes a method known as WYSIWYG, or What You See Is What You Get. This really means that whatever we can see in the selected view, whether it is Schedule, Calendar, or Resource, is exactly what we will get when we go to print our projects.
To start off, let’s take a look at what we currently see in the schedule view of our project. Here we can see essential details such as the Activity Name, Duration, Start Date, Finish Date and Timeline Graph.
Next, we’ll switch into Print Preview which is often considered to be a supplementary project view in FastTrack Schedule 10. In Print Preview we can see exactly what we saw in the Schedule View. We’ll also find a Page Status Indicator in the lower left hand corner, which will indicate the current number of pages your project will print across.
Continue reading “Printing Schedules in FastTrack Schedule 10”
06/25/2013 by Brad Egeland Tags: managing project resources, micro managing resources, micro managing the project, Resource Management
I don’t think anyone out there likes to be micromanaged. Well, I’m sure there are some very insecure individuals who need to and may even want to be told the very next move they should make. But those individuals are in the minority and aren’t likely to be part of a skilled, cohesive and successful project team so we’ll skip over them for the purpose of this discussion.
My preferences
I personally hate being managed closely by a supervisor (and I’m sure I’ve likely been a pretty bad employee when that has happened). It can drive me crazy. And, I’m not interested in, or inclined to, micromanage my direct staff or project resources. I never like to be overburdened with the task of resource management – it can make me a far less productive resource myself and can cause me to be too unfocused. That’s why I personally have always sought to hire employees and to staff projects with resources based on the skills and experience needed to do the job. I like to think that those roles have been filled by very competent individuals – I make that assumption until they prove me wrong. Thankfully, that has rarely been the case.
Continue reading “Avoid Micromanaging the Project – Part 1 – What Not to Do”
06/20/2013 by Brad Egeland Tags: adjusting project schedule, adjusting project scope, managing project resources, phased approach
Sometimes you run into an impossible situation with the project schedule and it must be adjusted. It can be for a number of reasons, but the two main reasons usually come down to these: resource usage or conflicts and the need to meet a forced deadline.
Adjusting the schedule for resource needs or loading
If you find yourself stuck resource-wise and you must make schedule adjustments as a result, there are few options you have and a few things to take into consideration.
- Change the scope of the project or add resources. You can possibly change the size of the project (up or down) and/or add project resources – but keep in mind that more resources always mean more cost. Approval from above will be required.
- Add time to a task. Give a task more time or spilt it in two, modifying resource utilization to make the process work. You can also adjust the basic finish-to-start precedence relationships (if appropriate) by adding lead or lag time to tasks that enable some of the work to occur in parallel.
- Move tasks around to when resources are available. Move a task to a time when more resources are free. This will mean calculating the entire schedule again to make sure the moved task doesn’t impact the critical path of the project. Continue reading “Adjusting the Project Schedule”
06/14/2013 by Jackie Dembinsky Tags: Collaboration, FastTrack Schedule 10, project management software, Sharing Projects, Tips and Tricks
Oftentimes when working on a project we find ourselves in situations where we need to collaborate with other team members. Sometimes these team members have access to the same software that we are using, and other times they do not. In FastTrack Schedule 10 there are a variety of options for easily sharing your project with other users. We’ll have the choice of sharing data in both editable, and non-editable formats based on who we are sharing the project with.
First, let’s take a look at some of the options we have for sharing non-editable versions of our schedule. Our first option is to share our project as an image. When we do this, the view (Schedule, Calendar, or Resource) and all data within it will be created as an image. To share our project as an image we can go to File > Export > Picture.
Continue reading “Sharing Projects from FastTrack Schedule 10”
06/12/2013 by Brad Egeland Tags: best practices for troubled projects, fix troubled project, troubled projects
Have you ever come home to something your dog tore up and you didn’t want to deal with it but you knew you had to? Maybe it was a box he shredded (at best) or possibly the garbage he got into (at worst), but you knew it had to be taken care of and no one else was going to do it (unless you have kids old enough to assign it to…which I do now).
That’s sort of how I have always felt about taking over someone else’s troubled project. It’s a bit of an honor to be handed a project that is failing and to be asked to try to resurrect it. But it still feels like dumping. I like the feeling of leading a project from beginning to end – true ownership of the entire solution and the ability to engage the excited customer from the outset (they all start somewhat excited) and try to keep them that way throughout the project. Taking over the unwanted mess usually means you’re dealing with a customer who is ready to kill you, cancel the project and move on. It’s like talking someone down from a ledge or trying to stop a bank robbery in progress. It takes guts, risk taking, and negotiation skills…and a fair amount of Tylenol.
And unlike the dog mess where you could reassign it or just ignore it, if you’re assigned this type of project you usually have no choice but to take it over and do what you can with it. It would be nice to say that it’s failing anyway so I can only win – I can’t lose. But we all know that’s not true…because if it still fails now you’ll be the last project manager associated with it. It will still – to some degree – be YOUR failure. You can’t avoid it and there’s no prenuptial agreement you can sign before you take it over…it all becomes your mess now.
How do you take over such a project? What do you do to hopefully give yourself – and the project, of course – the best chance for success? The couple of times that I’ve had to do this, I’ve generally followed this path (mostly on the 2nd occurrence because I was still ‘learning’ how to best take over something like this the first time around)….
Continue reading “Taking Over Someone Else’s Mess”
