Effective Project Management

Effective Project Management Barbara Stone & Jodie Mathies November 8, 2007

Agenda • Feedback on presentations and project docs • Scott Berkun • Controlling • Change management • Prioritization & ranking • Quality Assurance - metrics • Communication • Adaptive Project Framework (APF)

Comments from Status / Project Plan documents (1) Traffic Lights: • Need one for overall project status, not just individual milestones. • Overall project status color is not an average. When in doubt, choose the worst color. • If a task has not yet begun, it does not have a color, unless it was scheduled and is late. Marking things red or yellow when they are scheduled to take place at a later date puts management attention on the wrong things.

Comments from Status / Project Plan documents (2) Budget review: • The time people spend is part of your budget; often the greatest part. • When giving status, make sure to include the whole budget; your audience is very interested in whether the effort is taking more staff time than planned

Comments from Status / Project Plan documents (3) Gantt / WBS for Project communication: • A Gantt chart without the task names is essentially useless as a communication tool • and that goes for charts that extend over multiple pages; adjust the timescale to make it fit • Generally it is better to show a Gantt at a summarized task level than to have multiple pages or tiny unreadable font. • Choose carefully what to print; columns like id & predecessor generally don’t add anything to the presentation. If you have a column printed after the task on the Gantt, don’t include it as a column (ex: resource name).

Comments from Status / Project Plan documents (4) Communication Plan • OK to extend generic communication formation to include documents external to project group (though Jodie would not include documents that are product of the project) • If you do, need to include dates for delivery

Comments from Status / Project Plan documents (5) Formatting / Editing: • What story do you want to tell? You tell that story two ways: • Content: Simple, clear, and consistent information about the project • Format: Think about how the look of your presentation helps you tell that story. • Here are just a few of the world of articles on ‘bad PowerPoint’ out there: • http://www.plasticsurgerydr.com/rpp.html • http://www.communicateusingtechnology.com/articles/pptsurvey_article.htm • http://www.ispi.org/pdf/BadPwrpt.pdf

What phase is your project in? Probably still Execution. You, as a Project Manager, are probably still Monitoring and Controlling: • Tracking task and milestone status • Meeting with your team and stakeholders • Working issues • Working risks

Scott Berkun – Making things happen • Priorities make things happen – making lists, priority 1 & the rest • Say no • Keep it real • Know the critical path • Be relentless • Be savvy

Prioritization & Ranking - issues • What problem are we trying to solve? • If there are multiple problems, which are most important? Think Pareto. • How does the problem relate to or impact our goals? • What is the simplest way to fix this that will allow us to meet our goals?

Ways to say no • No, that doesn’t fit our priorities • No, only if we have time • No, only if you make <insert impossible thing here> happen • No, next release • No. Never. Ever. Really.

‘Savvy’ = Flexible: you adjust. • What communication style fits the situation? • What is the humor culture of the team? • How do arguments get won? (data? Force of personality? Etc) • Who is effective at what I need to have happen? • What values are most important to this person or group? • What is the overall organizational culture?

Know who has authority Go to the source Switch communication modes Get people alone Hunt people down Hide Get advice Call in favors, beg & bribe Play people off each other Stack the deck Buy people coffee & tasty things Guerilla tactics

Every team member should know: Most important: • Goal • Objective • Work item • Metric Stay focused on what’s most important Know the critical path

Team works on project deliverable • Strong sense of what they are doing • Why it’s the most important thing to do next • How it relates to what others are doing • How quickly it must be done

Team tries not to work on project ‘process’ deliverables Bureaucracy - An administrative system in which the need or inclination to follow rigid or complex procedures impedes effective action One of the jobs of the PM is to shelter the team from administrative process that does not further the work of building the product.

Why people get annoyed • Assume I’m an idiot • Don’t trust me • Waste my time • Manage me without respect • Make me listen to or read stupid things

Process Pros • Improves the odds of the project being completed • Has benefits that outweigh its costs Cons • Any idiot with authority gets to create them • Observations of the past emphasized over needs of the present

Accelerate progress Prevent problems Make important actions visible and measurable Include a process for changing or eliminating the process People impacted by them are in favor of them Checklist for good processes

The power of email • Communication • Weapon • Self-destruction

Meeting standards • Are the right people in the room? • Sit or stand? • Laptops & gadgets – “I have a strong bias against the use of gadgets and laptops during meetings. If the people in the room don’t think what’s going on is important enough to warrant their full attention, then they shouldn’t be in the room.” • Being on time • End with clear steps & owners

Adaptive Project Framework ‘Core values’ • Client-focused • Client-driven • Incremental results early and often • Change is progress to a better solution • Don’t speculate on the future

APF

Some key takeaways: Requirements: • High-level requirements early on; revisited and re-prioritized with each cycle • Detailed requirements only for the functionality to be produced in current cycle Budget: • Fixed; job is to create the most value for cost/time.

Prioritization & Ranking - scope • More requirements are not always better • Which are the most important – which provide highest business value? • Think Pareto – 80/20

Discussion: • How do you know ahead of time how many cycles you can do in this project? • What are some projects that require TPM (‘waterfall’) as opposed to an iterative approach? • Can you ever not revisit scope?

Discussion: • What approach have you used for your project for this class? Why?

Assignments for next class • Read Saying no, a short course for managers • Research the Pareto theory and write a few paragraphs on the implications for your project to hand in • Read Effective Project Management , chapter 11

Effective Project Management