One of the many factors in project cost overruns is due to setting unreasonable expectations. Whether working as a consultant outside a company or as a project manager within a company, all too often we become “yes” men to secure a deal or please superiors. We may win in the short term by getting the job or by delaying management’s wrath by telling them what they want to hear, but, in the long run, both scenarios are losers. As a consultant you land the gig and wind up with bad word of mouth advertising as being late and over budget. As an internal project manager you develop a reputation of being unreliable and/or overly optimistic. Instead, be real and upfront about duration and costs of expected projects. Give pushback to help set reasonable expectations. Maybe someone else will promise the moon? You should challenge competitors’ unreasonable assertions. You may still wind up losing the deal, but in the long run you will maintain your reputation and eventually land more deals because of it. Short term pain for long term gain is tough in this economy. What is your word worth and where do you go to get your reputation back?
Daily Scrum in 1910?
Warren mentions Henry Gantt’s desire to update project schedules daily (see post of Dec 27, 2011 http://www.projectteamblog.com/?p=190). He met with his team daily! I find that refreshingly visionary. Gantt is seeing a hundred years into the future, and doing things the right way. He’s staying on top of things in his own 19th Century way.
Sure, Gantt’s daily meetings were not the same as a Daily Scrum meeting — Scrum is not a warmed-over Gantt chart. Gantt was simply reminding his team of the project schedule and tasks ahead, and updating his new-style chart to reflect the conditions on the ground.
That effort alone — the daily meeting — probably accounts for 75% of the success of any project. Three cheers for Henry Gantt — 1861-1919!
–newshirt
The Gantt Chart and Daily Project Coordination
All project managers have used or at least heard of a Gantt chart. The Gantt chart was created by Henry Gantt around 1910 and still widely used today. It was used in major projects like the Hoover Dam. Henry Gantt designed the Gantt chart to help manage project scheduling and work progress. If you read his book, Work, Wages, and Profits (1916), you will note that Gantt believed it was imperative to communicate daily schedules to key players and by not doing so rendered schedules useless. Gantt thought it was important to be a project coordinator, to coordinate activities, and reduce conflicts. I think this is an important and often overlooked part of being a project manager. We often look at the larger picture and fail to identify “Daily” influences that cause project slowdowns. We should have daily expectations and identify barriers to those expectations each and every day.
Reference:
Gantt, H. L. (1916). Work, wages, and profits. San Diego, California: University of California Libraries.
Predictive Analytics
Predictive analysis uses historical records to predict future trends or outcomes. That got me thinking; could that be applied to timesheet records? The most common field for predictive analysis is credit reporting, where lenders hope to predict a buyer’s ability to pay.
Do you have a 900 credit score? Me neither…
So, back to timesheet data… What could we possibly learn from predictive analysis of timesheet records? Here are some possibilities:
- Cost and duration of certain projects in your portfolio
- Employee contributions to strategic projects
- Typical project contribution histogram overlaid on today’s projects
–newshirt
Project Documents
A project manager has many things to administer…time, scope and cost, to name a few. These items are always considered in the very basics of project planning. It’s second nature.
What about managing all the various documents involved with project planning? Some software will accommodate document management, while many others do not.
It is important to have critical documents available to key resources, or all resources. Standard Time allows you to attach files to tasks. This makes related documents easy to locate and available for viewing when necessary. Many document management companies utilize Standard Time for their time tracking and project management. When considering project planning, make sure you have a solid software system that will help you be more efficient with document management.
Why is it called ‘Waterfall?’
Warren has been expounding on project management methodologies lately, so I figured I’d throw in with him. Consider this explanation of the ‘Waterfall project management model.’ It might be useful to some.
Here goes…
Why is the old project management model named ‘Waterfall?” What, exactly, does that mean?
I believe the term stems from the notion that water falling over a dam is hard to scoop back up to the top. Virtually impossible, one might argue. The term ‘herding cats’ comes to mind.
So how does that apply to project management?
In real life, some projects are like that. Not all, but some. Consider building a skyscraper, for example. You absolutely have to get that foundation right the first time, because you cannot go back and work on it after the ironworkers have laid a million tons of infrastructure on top of it. In other words, reworking the foundation would be as hard as scooping up water that has already fallen over the Hoover Dam.
But are all projects like that? How about software?
No.
Software is malleable. You can work on any part at any time, even after the product ships. So the Waterfall model doesn’t apply as neatly. Or at all. But it’s still applicable to certain projects where it’s hard to rework ‘foundational’ stages.
–newshirt
Projects…Time…Projects…No Time
Talk with many PM’s around the world and, no matter the project or project type, properly allocating time and resources is a never ending critical part of the job. Estimates based on the most solid metrics are subject to change and cost overruns. So goes the life of a project manager.
What’s surprising is how many PM’s don’t take advantage of the software tools available to them and deployed in their environment. Sure, most PM’s use the resource assignments, task dependencies and many of the software features available, but many do not put the simplest of task items into the software’s calculations such as the estimated task start and end dates.
I have seen tons of project plans that include the basics…task hierarchy, resource assignments, and maybe…the tasks start date. Why not use the tasks due/end date too? It takes a few extra seconds to enter and will help better identify resource overload and task delays. Standard Time has a resource allocation chart (pictured below).
Standard Time also displays the inverse, Resource Availability (also shown below).
I know a good number of PM’s utilize these tools properly, it’s to their advantage. But, many do not. I have seen it a hundred times. Aside from the obvious project idiosyncrasies, why not take a few seconds and save hundreds of minutes?
Do you like Project Robots?
You just buried your mom and returned from the funeral. You’re a Project Manager on a high profile project for one of the largest tech companies in the world. It has only been one day since the funeral and you are still raw with emotion. Now imagine that you get an email informing you that you are not getting a break from the loss of your mom, but in fact, your workload has been increased. How about a spouse fighting cancer? Need a little time? No! Instead, how about an increased workload? Sound crazy? Well, imagine no more…these are true stories. This brings me to an important point.
In talking with a friend of mine with 26+ years of project management experience about Agile vs. Waterfall methods, he said, “You can have all the methods and processes you want but it all comes down to personal relationships and human intervention”. This gentleman was responsible for one of the largest SAP installations in US history. I was taken aback by the simple answer when he stated another simple cliché, “Take care of your team and your team will take care of you”, which means that they will take care of the project.
The examples given in the beginning of this blog are not meant to say that we shouldn’t be tough or suck it up. However, besides being in my opinion morally wrong, it is flat bad for business. Is the man whom just buried his wife still ready to climb that mountain for the team? Or, is he waiting for the first chance to jump ship?
All too often we pay lip service to our employees, “Let me know if you need any more resources”, while completely ignoring the realities of life.
I guess the bottom line is we can keep on pushing the machine, but what happens when the machine navigator gets ran over? Does the machine keep going and if so, who is driving…a robot?
Make sure when you ask someone if they need help that you don’t ignore the reality that is staring you right in the face — unless you like robots.
My list of project risks
There are at least a hundred reasons projects fail. Expect anything from vague requirements to budget shortages to waning passions to unreasonable project schedules. All novice mistakes… But we can’t all be experts on every topic. About the best we can do is identify the most common areas for failure, and discuss these with the team. At least the team will be aware.
Here’s a quick starter list. You’ll probably have to make it a little more diplomatic before presenting it to your group. “:)
1. Newbies don’t know how long things actually take.
2. Unfamiliar technologies need extra research time.
3. Virtual development teams don’t communicate the same as in-house.
4. Team members without a passion for the product won’t perform.
5. Vaguely defined projects either go on forever or burn up in debate.
6. Projects without top-level commitment get lost in the minutia.
7. If the company doesn’t need it bad enough, it will fail.
8. Pick only two: Cost, Quality, or Time. Let the third fall where it may.
–newshirt
Utilization Reports
In a Professional Services company, how do you know if you are billing enough hours to be profitable? One way is to check to see if you’re still in business. If so, you’re billing enough hours!
Okay, that works. But wouldn’t it be nice to tune your billable hours for maximum efficiency? That’s what a utilization report does for you. It checks the number of hours for billable vs. non-billable. the image below is a snapshot of one employee’s rates. Not bad, huh?
There’s an unofficial law at our company: Either find a way to bill 50 hours a week, or look for a job elsewhere.
That’s the hard reality at some companies. You can bet management is watching the utilization reports. Of course, if they don’t they’ll probably go out of business themselves.
–newshirt