Posted on

Vicarious Goal Completion

Bear with me…  Vicarious Goal Completion is a pretty obscure title, but there’s logic to it.  🙂

Psychologists have observed a strange human peculiarity.  And it relates directly to project management.  It’s called Vicarious Goal Completion.  Researchers first encountered it while studying fast food menus.  Can I get you to bite?

When fast food menus contain a “Salad” choice or other healthy food items, people purchase the junk food instead! 

Here’s why: People who see healthy items on a menu feel good about their weight loss goals and give themselves permission to indulge a little.  So, they eat the burger and fries instead.  In other words, they remember eating good and believe they have already attained their goals, so that gives them permission to splurge.  The goals are completed vicariously through the menu itself.

Obviously, this is just a slick way of tricking oneself into dodging responsibility.  They used to call this laziness.  Any excuse to pig out.

I’ve notice the same behavior with software downloads and project tasks.  The ratio of downloads to form-completions is pitifully low.  In other words, people take the time to fill out a download form, but never actually install and test the software.  Vicarious Goal Completion!  The person believes they have finished the job, when in fact, they have only just begun.  Filling out the form gives them a warm fuzzy feeling about the goal of procuring software, and that warm feeling is enough to satisfy them.  They don’t actually care if they download, install, and test.  They have met their goals and that’s all that matters.

The same is true of project management.  Beware of employees who start tasks, but never complete them.  Once a task is started, good feelings arise.  Those good feelings give the employee permission of quit because they feel they have already finished, or full completion is within sight.  Vicarious Goal Completion!  Nobody likes to take their project tasks to the uttermost level of completion – unless forced to do so.

 

–ray

Posted on

Technologies that Matter in a Slow Economy

Bare-bones hardware and software, and all things virtual dictate the game of computing in a slow economy.

A recent advertisement by Microsoft caused a stir among the Mac-loving community of tech workers. The ad shows a flame-haired Lauren looking for a 17-inch laptop for under $1,000. The challenge is that if she finds one that meets her specifications, she gets to keep the laptop and the change from the $1,000. And so she first goes to a Mac store where the only thing that falls within her budget is a 13-inch Macbook. Slightly dejected, she drives off and along the way says the line that struck a raw nerve among Mac fans and probably Apple itself: “I’m just not cool enough to be a Mac person.”

She enters another computer store where she finds two laptops that meet her needs on top of her 17-inch monitor requirement for only $699. The ad ends with the line, “I’m a PC and I got just what I needed.”

Ever since the TV spot came out, the Mac community has been up in arms, dismissing all things PC and the operating system that most of the time goes with it. However, pundits believe that no matter how “cool” Mac may be, the deciding factor for buying PC is price point. When things are tough and everyone is worrying about their finances, notwithstanding the availability of disposable income for some, people are conscious about the amount of money they spend on technology.

The same is true whether one is buying technology services, software, or hardware. As the world gets on with the current crisis, technology is responding at rapid speed to manage the needs of individual and enterprise tech buyers everywhere.

So what are the technologies that actually matter in this climate? Here are a few:

Virtualization – Video conferences, virtual meetings, and screen sharing are just a few of the ways the tech world is replacing bricks-and-mortar or traditional modes of conducting daily business. Virtualization makes it possible for workers to overlap work schedules across different time zones and collaborate on projects that are stored in different parts of the globe. Moreover, telecommuting becomes a trend even–or especially–among large enterprises who benefit from lower overhead costs and thankful workers who are happy to skip daily commutes and save on gas. Who needs to be physically present at the office when you can access your virtual desktop hosted by an outsourced data center?

Cloud Computing – Technology suppliers, from Microsoft to Sun to Amazon to startups, have embraced cloud computing as the next wave of business technology service. Buyers need applications and services that can be deployed as soon as possible and with as little maintenance required. Cloud computing also eliminates the need to build armies of engineers to create applications that can be “rented” anyway.

Enterprise Telecommunications – Businesses are getting savvier when it comes to enterprise communication, that any meeting, conference, or messaging that can be done via BlackBerry, VoIP, or company-supported IMs is welcome. Those that can invest in infrastructure requirements to put these technologies in place for two reasons: (1) to minimize the cost of or need for business travel and (2) to facilitate seamless communication among workers from different locations.

Open-Source – In early February, the British government released a policy that emphasized preference for open-source over proprietary software in order to cut down cost on technology spending. With proper due diligence, the move is surely to be copied by various industries everywhere in the quest to manage operating costs while remaining productive and responsive to customer demands.

Bare-Bones Hardware – The popularity of netbooks can be attributed to its portability, and a more so to a much friendlier price point. As software and file management move to the clouds and storage becomes cheaper, tech buyers, such as Lauren in the Microsoft commercial, realize that they only have to spend on what they need. Who cares about the cool factor when they have to spend their money wisely? In early March, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announced the company’s plans to deliver the “netbooks” of servers that sport features that meet minimal storage and network management needs of businesses.

By ExecutiveBrief

http://www.executivebrief.com�

Posted on

Let the Client Be Your Project Leader

Customer-driven project management uses the voice of the client as a guide at every turn of the project’s life cycle to achieve optimum quality.

Project teams that put the interest of their clients are assured of repeat businesses and long-term relationships. They know that at the end of the day, their processes and methodologies are established to meet clients’ expectations. And meeting clients’ expectations hopefully means satisfaction.

It has always been the goal of project teams to complete projects on time within cost and fulfill quality criteria, but it has often been the case that when projects are implemented, project teams focus on their tasks more and lose sight of their relationships with clients. Now, thanks to the current dynamics of an increasingly demanding business environment, the management concept of too much organizational and process control that on many occasions resulted in alienating customers is slowly giving way to a marriage of disciplined process implementation and customer satisfaction. And by satisfaction, it means giving more than what is required.

Customer-driven project management uses the voice of the client as a guide at every turn of the project’s implementation process to achieve optimum quality. According to Bruce T. Barkley and James H. Saylor in their book Customer-Driven Project Management (2001), this management approach involves the following items, which we expand to meet the more complex needs of today’s client-supplier relationships:

  • Cooperation between client and vendor through a structured process. There has to be a mutual understanding of every step of the process and what is required from either party. Such expectations are written down as requirements, roles and responsibilities, decision points, milestones, and metrics.
  • The customer drives the project through customer-driven teams. The customer’s satisfaction is the end-goal of all efforts, and this satisfaction is defined by continuous quality improvement of products and services.
  • A link among the customer, process owners, and suppliers. The link refers to the integration of all efforts and internal processes used to arrive at task completion and their integration. Furthermore, this link also means unlimited access to clients, sponsors, and their project counterparts through open communication to set expectations and facilitate feedback.
  • A customer-led team that is fully capable to accomplish and improve every aspect of the project. The client is involved in building and managing the project team. But while the client has a high level of involvement in managing the team, members are encouraged to identify key areas of improvement, and communicate this knowledge. Unless empowered to do so through open communication, access to the right tools and technologies and trainings, project team members will only focus on accomplishing their tasks without so much regard for improvements in products and services, and this does not spell a healthy competitive spirit in the grander scale of things. In other words, make consultants out of project teams because in the long run, their accountability for the project will result in competitive products.  Encourage creativity and innovation.
  • A disciplined project management methodology. Clients and providers should agree on a project management system and implement this agreement at every stage of the product lifecycle. Because of the nature of this approach, the project starts and ends with quality, which means that quality issues are identified at the start of the project and addressed throughout its course. How quality issues are addressed also largely depends on a well-designed systems and implementation plans.

    • Customer-driven project management does not veer far from many project management approaches. However, client leadership and continuous improvement through the team’s feelings of ownership of the project spell the difference between just finishing tasks and pleasing the customer. 

    By ExecutiveBrief
    Technology Management Resource for Business Leaders
    http://www.executivebrief.com

    Posted on

    Building a Project’s Business Case

    Forward-looking project managers realize that to avoid failure, they should build the business case for their projects by getting intimately knowledgeable about the reasons why sponsors approved their projects.

    Too many projects get the axe because of the lack of business cases that justify their existence. When project sponsors begin to see projects only in terms of costs instead of potential rewards, there are higher chances that the projects would be canceled.

    It is not the job of the project manager to build the business case. Ideally, project stakeholders and sponsors evaluate the business value and possible ROI from a project. If the project is seen in terms of generating income or reducing cost, the project will have the green light. This is the situation in the ideal world, but this scenario happens a lot less than one would like to believe.

    Forward-looking project managers realize that to avoid failure, they should build the business case for their projects by getting intimately knowledgeable about the reasons why sponsors approved their projects. A project manager should work closely with clients, sponsors and other stakeholders, and ask the following questions:

    What problems should the project address?

    By interviewing project sponsors, the project manager can determine their goals and discuss the issues that the project would solve. In addition to project sponsors, the ones who are dealing with the issues at the workplace, perhaps on a daily basis, are a good source of ideas about the extent and many facets of the problem. Looking at day-to-day challenges from end-users’ point of view enables the project manager to get a better handle of the requirements of the project in terms of design and technical upgrades, as well as in terms of how it will solve end-user problems.

    What are the strategic goals of the project?

    Is it an easier system? Increased productivity? Better networking? Conversion to a marketable product? No matter what it the goals are, they must also come from and supported by the end-users.  At the end of the day, it will all boil down to the business value of the project. And by business value, it means cost reduction, better productivity, and the possibility of selling the product or service to the wider public.  Make sure that the goals are clear and the project’s objectives must reflect these goals.

    What are the project’s basic requirements and what can end-users live without?

    Aside from building the requirements based on the needs of its users, the project manager should also build the projects’ technical and design requirements and ask what bells and whistles it should have. The project may have a lot of feature that do not have business justifications, resulting in features that took too long to build.  Separating needs from fluff allows the project manager to formulate requirements, identify scope, and allocate resources that are important in creating a working version of the project. The quicker the iteration, the better the chances are of project survival.

    What is the project’s ROI?

    Even at the early stage of the project, it is possible to envision ballpark ROI figures. Because all projects incur costs, a project manager should have a fair idea of when investments will be recovered and generate positive cash flow.

    By ExecutiveBrief
    Technology Management Resource for Business Leaders
    www.executivebrief.com

    Posted on

    New Years Projects

    I’m taking the first day back from vacation to survey my open projects.  I’ve got a video script to write.  And then the video recording, and producing.  The voice-over will occur later.  There’s a product update that includes nothing but maintenance bug fixes.  And a few web site updates.  That’s about all…

    Things are really slow.  Reeeeeeeaaaly slow.  I’m guessing it’s that way everywhere.  Our corporate web site gets only half the visitors and one-third the downloads.  Good time to write a short blog.

    But think about it…  This really is the best time to launch into some big architectural projects.  After all, nobody’s knocking the door down for product updates.  We have time to rethink things, and retool.  But who feels like doing that?  When nobody cares?

    My point?  Economic slowdown has a debilitating effect on product development and project management.  Human beings are motivated by interactions with others, not pure technology.  Product purchases, evaluations, customer demands…  All those intangible things are wrapped up in our management choices.  They are what move us.

     

    –newshirt

    Posted on

    What Agile Methods Mean to Your Process, People, and Products

    Studies show that most successful projects were those that followed agile principles, proving that model-driven methods are not always the best when it came to managing changes, fast-paced project implementation, or even meeting market demands.

    The concept of agile development is not new. However, many technologists still stick to the age-old notion that software development can be easily designed and the outputs predicted without giving much thought to the more dynamic factors of projects, such as communication lines, people, and change.

    Project managers eventually realized that a lot of projects failed because of rigid requirements, faulty design, and the inability of project teams to adapt to change. For the most part, clients or end-users’ requirements changed through the course of development lifecycles, that by the time applications were ready for deployment, the end products were a good degree different from what was initially planned. This would have been alright, except that towards the end of the development lifecycle, time and financial resources have overshot initial estimates by a good measure.

    Instead of pointing their fingers at development teams or clients, project managers learned to allow adjustments in their methodologies. In fact, many studies have shown that the most successful projects were those that followed agile principles, proving that model-driven methods are not always the best when it came to managing changes, fast-paced project implementation, or even meeting market demands.

    But before adopting agile practices, project sponsors and managers should ask how agile methods could impact their products, internal operations, and people.

    Impact on people and their roles

    A key agile principle, “individuals and interactions over processes and tools,” emphasizes communication and collaboration of project team members. Instead of defining the roles of team members, more importance is given to how well they can perform tasks as a team and create a working version of software. Teamwork cannot be overstated in agile processes, as each member can play the part of the end-user, leader, and engineer. To be truly successful, project managers should allow team members to wear cross-functional hats, communicate freely, and focus on team goals instead of individual—or role-based—functions.

    While it has been initially believed that agile method worked best with co-located teams, experiences of outsourcing service providers proved that this also worked—and perhaps better—with the offshore outsourcing development models. In the first place, collaboration and free-flowing communication is the norm, and not the physical set-up of the workplace.

    Impact on process

    Processes take secondary priority in agile methods. Instead of going through particular stages of the development lifecycle, rapid and short iterations move the project forward, allowing for flexibility in changing the course of the project. Moreover, instead of drowning in documentation as dictated by requirements and design, most documentation is in the form of information exchange among project members. Design and actual product are often inconsistent until the deployment stage.

    Impact on product and quality

    Instead of delivering software that has all the knots and bolts in place according to its original design, the highest priority is satisfying the need of the customer with a simple but working version. The adage, “in perpetual beta” also applies to agile method; software improves with every iteration until all the “nice to have” features are in place. Simplicity allows for more flexibility in change requests, especially because end-users and sponsors or clients eventually discover new requirements along the way.

    By ExecutiveBrief
    Technology Management Resource for Business Leaders
    www.executivebrief.com

    �

    Posted on

    Our Projects Are Always Late

    I talked with an IT professional over the weekend.  This person lamented over their constantly late projects.  I told them about Standard Time®, and how it tracks project time.  They loved the idea!  But continued the lament, claiming they would never use such a product.

    I just stood there stunned.  Why not?  I didn’t ask, but assumed it had something to do with the economy, frozen purchases, and what not…

    But I just kept thinking…  Wouldn’t Standard Time pay for itself?  Late projects, especially persistently late ones costs companies money.  Lots of it.  A few thousand dollars for software would tighten up those schedules and force the company into compliance.  The ROI would be 3X or more.  So, why not use it?

    I suspect it’s unfamiliarity.  People simply don’t know how to use time tracking and project management products.  No training.  No familiarity.  Nobody’s firing them for late projects, so they keep doing what comes naturally.  Oh well…  🙁

     

    –newshirt

    Posted on

    “We’ll Make It Project Management”

    Some time ago I created a list of different styles of project management (I should have added “don’t try that at home” disclaimer there). Anyway, recently I witnessed yet another flavor, which I’ll call: “we’ll make it project management.” Luckily I view the “stunning” details from a safe distance.

    The recipe is simple: no matter what happens we’ll make it. We’ve just cut a schedule in half and added a bunch of new features? But we’ll make it. One third of developers have just left? No problem, we’ll make it. Our engineers barely deal with everyday maintenance leaving aside new implementations? Dude, we’ll make it. We’ve just moved every developer from the project to do firefighting in other deals? We’ll make it, we’ll make it. A meteorite is heading right for our headquarters? You already know: We’ll make it.

    The strategy is simple – verbally repeat the “we’ll make it” mantra and do nothing to prepare for incoming failure. The great thing about this project management technique is you don’t stress at all. And you have an easy answer to each question from the project team. Yes, you guessed correctly: “we’ll make it.”

    A prerequisite to employ this technique is an overgrown ego. A success story from the distant past also helps. It doesn’t really matter that your project was a hundred times easier to complete and that you were a decade younger and it wasn’t really a glowing triumph at all.  Small details.

    So, if you’re a part of a project team where we’ll make it project management is used, well, I can only help with that famous quotation: “Run Forrest, Run!” I should have another story documenting usage of the technique shortly. I’ll share it with you for sure. After all it should be a nice story to read.

     

    Author: Pawel Brodzinski

    Posted on

    Interview: Warren Peacock from Scoutwest, Inc.

    The following text is an interview with Warren Peacock of Scoutwest, Inc.  They are the developers of Standard Time® and Standard Issue® – two leading project management products.  Project Team Blog wanted to hear from an authority regarding the status quo of enterprise project tracking and management, and learn what consulting and manufacturing companies face when attempting detailed time tracking.  We’re talking full-blown project schedules, timesheets to track task status, resource allocation, employee status, detailed reporting services – the whole enchilada.  Are most companies using these tools?  Or, do they attempt to roll their own with little in-house apps and spreadsheets?  Does the economy have a bearing on these choices?  One thing is certain; Warren Peacock has heard it all.  Let’s see what he has to say.

     

    Q: Warren, would you say most organizations are doing an excellent, poor, or fair job of tracking project status?
    A: Based on my experience I would say they are doing a poor-to-fair job, though well intended.

     

    Q: What tools are they using now?
    A: Some are using actual time tracking tools like Standard Time.  However, most companies are using Excel, shareware, or shabby little in-house programs.

     

    Q: Where do you see room for improvement?
    A: One word…Efficiency.   Time is our most valuable commodity and success starts with improving our use of it, regardless of the industry.

     

    Q: Aside from acquiring better tools for project  tracking, what are the other ongoing costs of tracking projects and employee status?
    A: Lost billable hours, unfortunately this is very common.  Also, which employees are most productive?  Standard Time has one simple report that gives you that type of data.  If you need to streamline costs where do you start, what do you cut?  Again, the right tools can give you that detail.  They will show you where you spend time as an organization.  What areas are over, or under allocated.  All of this is just a glimpse of improving efficiencies with project management and associated costs.

     

    Q: And the return on investment for these tools?  How do you get there?
    A: That sounds complicated, yet is very simple.  Most consultants and business owners I speak with estimate they are losing anywhere from 3%-10% of their billable hours.  Without question a conservative estimate is 1-3 hours per week, per employee.  Multiply that times their billing rate and you quickly realize how fast a time tracking tool like Standard Time pays for itself.  Not to mention the loads of reports and other information available to help guide any number of key decisions, regarding customers, projects and employees.  We don’t think twice about spending money on an employee’s phone, computer and any number of other items.  Time tracking is just as important.

     

    Q: Let’s talk low-hanging fruit…  What can a company do to get started cheaply?  Spreadsheets?  Paper time cards?  Smoke signals?
    A: Spreadsheets work to a certain point, but again the time spent managing, compiling and crafting reports will eat an employee’s productivity and provide very basic information at best.  Standard Time is less than $150 per user and easy to use.  You can place it on your own computers or we can host it for you.  No installation necessary.  Employees can be shown the basics in 5 minutes, no down time, no compiling spreadsheets and less user error!  Instantly you have more accurate information that will help propel and streamline any organization.

    Posted on

    Beginning of the End: Defining Project Closure

    When undertaking a software development project, an effectively designed closure plan serves as an outline of required tasks that must be carried out appropriately in order to result in successful project delivery, and adequate preparation is one significant element when it comes to ensuring a smooth transition to implementation. The closure plan must be considered at the outset of the project, as the client outlines their specific software requirements. With a detailed description of the desired end result communicated and understood, the expected capabilities and deliverables of the software are established. But as you enter the final stages of a software development project, what can be done in order to ensure that the program is completely suitable and fully primed for implementation?

    Key Components
    According to Joe Coley, independent software developer and member of Northeast Dataflex Consortium, “Projects that I’ve been involved with…have been very much subject to additional needs and desires of the user community.” In effect, this means that the end deliverable becomes the focus of the closure plan — that is, to ensure a high level of end user satisfaction with the software requested and therefore created. Coley has 20 years of experience in the information technology industry and offers much insight on the subject. When it comes to key components for successful closure plans, he highlights three main aspects to consider:

    • Assess the project requirements. In order to determine the best course of action throughout the cycle of a project, it is necessary to first consider the scope of the project. Establishing a clear outlook and complete understanding as to the required deliverables will greatly improve the ability to adequately determine exactly what tasks must be carried out in order to meet these deliverables in an efficient and timely manner.

    • Communication. While communication is always essential throughout the cycle of any project or initiative, it is imperative to establish a specific plan for obtaining end-user input, as needed and where feasible. Therefore, a key component to a successful close is establishing and maintaining open lines of communication with the appropriate groups. The end users comprise the group of those who will be utilizing the software in real-time business applications; they have the critical business knowledge as to ways in which the software can be created or functionality that can be incorporated so that the result will be a valuable tool with the capability to enhance their business functions.

    • Offer continuing support. When it comes to considering a focus on the continuing support needs of the end-user community, Coley cites a specific reason to do so, “There is always an expectation of continuing support in the form of application tweaks, bug fixes, and enhancements.” By extending continuing support to the end users, they have more confidence in the software program as well as in their chosen developer.

    Any components, however, are unique to each project and must be considered on a individual basis; while there may be similarities among projects, what may have worked well during a project in the past might not be best suited for a current project. Establishing and maintaining a plan with the end user in mind makes for a smoother transition and successful close of a software development project.

     

    Full text of the interview with Joe Coley is available here: http://www.executivebrief.com/article/the-beginning-of-the-end-defining-project-closure/.