Not your typical project control office, the Operations Control Centre of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority.
Today I’d like to talk about project control inside a fixed priced project. I’m writing this on a flight from Hobart to Melbourne, sitting right up the back with my knees around my ears - you know the drill. Thats why they say that economy seats are the quietest on the plan, as your knees against your ears block out any sounds. Anyway, I digress. Project control is about identifying and monitoring specific metrics about your project and using those to put in place management interventions to ensure that your project is delivered within your constraints of time, cost and quality.
Sometimes the hard part is identifying the metrics that are useful in their insight, present for the whole project lifecycle, and not overly burdensome to collect. I also try and find a primary metric that the whole team can focus on, one that means the most to the majority of stakeholders. I’m a proponent of keeping it simple and efficient.
When I talk about a metric being useful in its insight, I’m talking about tracking a quantifiable measure that is meaningful in what it tells you. For example, tracking the number of meetings required to finalise user documentation or requirements specification, whilst useful as an aside, isn’t the best primary metric. Tracking a metric like this can help identify documentation churn, the amount of effort being used in this area, it isn’t useful as a whole of project metric.
The metric needs to be present for the entire project lifecycle to allow for tracking from start to finish. It’s not useful to identify a metric only to have the goal post moved part way through the project which essentially renders the metric meaningless.
Likewise the metric shouldn’t be overly burdensome to collect. Keep in mind the effort required to track the metric versus its usefullness as a project control tool. Most useful metrics are ones that require little or no physical intervention to collect and store.
I guess these are some of the reasons why we track costs and revenue. We’ll always do that of course on well run projects, but keep in mind other candidate metrics. On infrastructure projects, for example on an operating system rollout, measuring the quantity of machines upgraded over time is very useful and on software projects I always keep the quality criteria, defect raise and fix data, on my dashboard.
There are many other ways to measure projects, please don’t hesitate to make comment (the registration system is working again).
Hello all and all the very best for the New Year. I’m back at work now and powering on for a very successful 2009.
For me this week, it has been another day and another airport. I’ve been contracted to deliver Project Director services to a client in Canberra and find myself commuting from Hobart to Canberra each week. This type of life has its ups and downs obviously, one of the ups is being able to work with absolutely amazing and committed people, professionals who just want to get the job delivered with a high degree of quality. When you work with people like that in a project, it’s not about developing motivation and drive, it’s about controlling it and directing it to be used for good instead of evil. I’m not sure which job is easier, but the latter task is definitely not boring.
The project I’m on has had, it would be fair to say, its share of challenges. It’s about 12 months behind where it was planned to be, so there is a fair bit of work to get through until we see the light of day and can get it to performing stage.
I’m a firm proponent of Tuckman’s Stages, what I like to call the theory of teams. Forming, storming, norming and performing phases of team development is absolutely fundamental team theory that every aspiring and experienced project manager should either have an awareness, if not a total understanding of, as it can help identify and attribute cause to some of the behaviours witnessed within the full lifecycle of projects. In my humble opinion of course.
I know that most projects don’t get to the utopian level of performing, but its still possible to have a successful project without a high level of performing. This project won’t ever reach utopia, but it will raise to a level of performing that is sufficient for it to be delivered successfully and reach a good outcome for the customer and vendor. On some projects, that’s the best that can be achieved.
Anyway, I’ll write more later, this post is just about getting up and going again and to say hello for 2009.
If you happen to be in Launceston, Tasmania, on Thursday the 20th of November 2008, feel free to drop in and listen to my presentation to Australian Institute of Project Management members and their guests. Details on how to register for the event are on the flyer, or you can register online through the AIPM website.
Seats are limited so ensure you book early, and don’t forget to confirm your booking with the organisers prior to attending.
We’re currently researching the possibility of running one day workshops based on Dr J. Martin Hays excellent text “Building High-performance Teams: A Practitioner’s Guide”. We’re contacting Jay to see if he will provide us the licence for his IP, and in the meantime we’ve put together a survey to gauge the level of interest for the workshop.
Please click here to take part in the survey, thanks in advance.
For those of us interested in finding out what is happening across the Australian Government ICT industry sector, the Gershon Review is available for reading by clicking on this link: Gershon Review
There is also articles about it in AustralianIT here and here, there are some interesting comments from the Australian Government Finance Minister, Lindsay Tanner, especially his suggestion that “the drift to contractors simply reflects a lack of internal controls.”
On the ground it’s more likely to be driven by an operational requirement that can’t be met via a Public Service Act that doesn’t always deliver the required skill sets.
I know, I’ve been there, the Public Service Act simply doesn’t deliver resources in a timely fashion, nor does it always provide resources with the required skillsets. Don’t get me wrong, Governments of any persuasion are filled with talented individuals working under their Public Service Acts, however the private sector ICT industry as a whole has surpassed the earning capacity provided by the public sector and their engagement processes are way quicker. This translates to a more efficient method of acquisition and remuneration, coupled with a higher output capacity expectation.
Anyway, I’m going to have a read of this review over the next few days and I’ll provide some input to the public debate in due course. Your comments are welcome.
Don't forget to factor in the total cost of a project when estimating its budget.
Every now and again we have interesting discussions in my office and more often than not I end up attempting to convey my ideas or position on my trusty whiteboard. Here’s a picture from my whiteboard today.
Here I’m explaining that the total cost of a project isn’t just the cost of the widget.
1. Project Management
One of the simplest ways to increase the likelihood of a successful project is to build in the cost of the delivery mechanism, dedicated project management staff. Whether you have in-house project management staff or you buy them off the street, there is no better way to guarantee project delivery than to allocate the appropriate level of project management resources. After all, projects don’t deliver themselves, so depending on the amount of effort required, you will most likely need dedicated, knowledgeable and skilled project management resources.
2. Contract Variations
On larger projects, you may find yourself delivering a project in partnership with a private sector partner. Contract variations are where changes to the baseline contract have occurred. Variations can occur for any number of reasons. For software projects it’s generally due to scope increase because of changed customer requirements or effort that was not estimated at the project setup stage, it can also occur to decrease scope - where a piece of work is found to be no longer required. However a variation surfaces, they more often than not cost money, so allocate a portion of your total budget to paying for the variations.
3. Change Management
All projects deliver change but not all projects need dedicated resources to particularly manage the change, as distinct from managing the project. You may need dedicated resources to communicate the project ambitions to a wider stakeholder audience or to handle inbound enquiries. You may also need to consider preparing and releasing formal publications containing project information, or writing articles for publishing on websites or in the industry magazines. Running an endless array of workshops to help any change resistant stakeholders through the pain also takes time and resources, so consider allocating a portion of the budget to dedicated change management resources.
4. Training
So your going to deliver a new software application or surgical centre. Do your customers need training on how to run it efficiently? You may even consider training when training isn’t, in your view, even required. yes I know, a total waste of time and money, but don’t tell me everything you deliver in a project is intended the way it seems on the surface. Sometimes you may need to offer training and no one takes up the offer. If you’re going to offer training, make sure your budget supports it and remember to design the training with the trainee in mind and in consultation with the business owner.
5. Widget
I use the term “widget” a lot nowadays as I often talk to people about project management who are from very different sectors. Your widget could be a changed business process, a day care centre, a bridge, a new road or a software application, all projects deliver either one or more widgets. Please don’t make the mistake of thinking that the cost of the widget is the total cost of the project. If you take one thing away from this post, that’s it. You need to consider all the items which are needed to ensure that the widget is delivered within the constraints, and the preceding four items include a lot of them.
What about costing risk?
What about the cost of risk I hear you say. Well costing risk is its own post one day, but you should consider building the costs of your risks in to each of the above subject areas. Anyway, more on that at a later date.
When assessment candidates visit my office to discuss their assessment plan or to deliver their evidence, I generally talk to them about their continued professional development. Of course I will tell them to complete the PM qualification and I’ll probably mention obtaining PM certification through the AIPM, but I’ll also recommend a few excellent books that I have read.
Remember that our futures are completely determined by the people we meet and the things we read. Any comments?
So here’s my booklist. I’ll edit this post as I add new books.
Hays Martin, Joe, 2004, Building high-performance teams: a practitioner’s approach, Argos Press, Canberra, Australia
This is an excellent book written by a former lecturer of mine at ANU, J. Martin Hays. He taught about transforming teams to a point to which they are delivering their full potential, and a notion called glorious leadership. One of the artifacts he used in his class was Glorious Leadership! A Holistic Approach to Achieving Leadereship Mastery and Worklife Balance, by Steve Morris. Check it out if you are looking at ways to develop your own leadership skills and knowledge, and that of your team. UPDATE: I have now found the link to the book and added it to the title of the book above.)
Berkun, Scott, 2008, Making Things Happen, O’Reilly, California
This is an update to his original The Art of Project Management. I haven’t finished it yet, but so far I categorise it as a must read for those seeking insight in to the softer skills required in project management.
Johnson, Spencer, M.D., 1998, Who Moved My Cheese, Random House, UK
This is another must read for project teams tasked with delivering change in a change resistant environment. It’s one of those quick reads, in the vain of the Two Minute Manager series, that provides a metaphor which allows the reader to understand how to deal with change, both in their own project teams and within the customer’s teams.
Stay tuned via the RSS feed for updates to this post.
Here’s a great way to obtain free project management training and information by using the power of the Internet. Google Reader allows you to subscribe to blog sites and newsfeeds anywhere on the web, and brings them all together in to one place to let you easily read them.
I read a ton of blogs and news sites and when I find a good one, I click on the RSS feed symbol and a few more clicks and I add it to my Google Reader account. Inside my account I organise them in subject areas such as World News, Local News, Project Management and Technology.
Try it yourself, sign up here for a free Google Reader account, or use your existing Gmail account if you have one, then click on the ‘Subscribe’ button at the top left corner of this website and after a few clicks the content should show up in your Google Reader.
Add more sites as you surf the web and you will end up with a great source of contemporary thought and commentary on project management from around the globe.
Enjoy, and let me know in the comments how you go.
I know this is probably going to spark either some thought or a barrage of comments, either is good, but I have a theory about the types of project managers that are out in the marketplace today.
Unfortunately this isn’t an original theory of mine, and I can’t remember the source but here goes.
There are essentially three types of PMs.
One eyed
The first type is the one eyed PM who strictly adheres to their chosen methodology. Whether it be the latest fad or a tried and true method that’s withstood the test of time is irrelevant, they won’t budge from it and they won’t use words that aren’t from it. Even if their project is heading for a nose dive, they still stick to it like flies to err a rubbish bin.
Methodologically challenged
Then there is the PM on the other side of the spectrum for whom paperwork or planning are both dirty words to be banished from your vocabulary upon entry to their offices. These types run by gut feel (which is a good quality and one I’ll comment on in another post) and don’t take the time to articulate their plan on paper. This is fine I guess on a small project, of say about a days duration, but any longer than that they are a nightmare to work with. Making themselves the font of all knowledge and disabling any of their team from making their own decisions in accordance with a formal plan.
Mixture of both
The third type is a mixture of both. These are the good guys in my book, who have an appropriate level of project formality through their paperwork and who have the skill of running with gut feel. They’re often more human and pragmatic in their approach to issue management and are more palatable to work with.
Hello and welcome to the All Things Project Management forum.
I guess I’ve set up this forum as a way to help both students of Project Management and my fellow project managers share ideas and information about our profession. It’s also an efficient way for my students to obtain mentor advice to help them along with their studies.
About me.
I own a boutique project management company, AdvancedPM Pty Ltd, based in Hobart, Tasmania. We service clients in both the public and private sector and across many different industries. Whilst the company is very young, about a year old at the time of writing, I’ve been involved in project management, formally for about seven years and informally for about 19 years. I assess TAFE students from TAFE Tasmania undergoing their Diploma of Project Management, and I’m also an Assessor for the certifications available through the Australian Institute of Project Management. I hold a Master of Management from ANU, an Advanced Diploma in Project Management and I’m a Certified Practising Project Director through the AIPM.
A special note.
My intention is to keep this site light hearted and I don’t intend to take myself too seriously. Too many other people around us do that, so I’ll leave it to them. Please do feel free to post and challenge my comments and theories, I’ll learn just as much from you as you’ll hopefully learn from me. Please play nicely in the sandpit, if you don’t I’ll just take down your post and ban you, then try and arrange a ritual hanging in the town square.
Please contribute.
If you have something to say, say it, don’t hold back. If you want me to cover a topic which isn’t already included, just let me know, I’ll see if I can have a crack at it. If not, I’ll try and point you to an existing expert in the field.
Anyways, thanks for reading and enjoy the project management journey.
We've put this blog together primarily to help our assessment students, so please drop by and contribute snippets from your experiences delivering your own brand of project leadership.
I’m back at work now and powering on for a very successful 2009.
When assessment candidates visit my office to discuss their assessment plan or to deliver their evidence, I generally talk to them about their continued professional development. Of course I will tell them to complete the PM qualification and I’ll probably mention obtaining PM certification through the AIPM, but I’ll also recommend a few excellent books that I have read.
