In This Issue:
From the Editor
Burning Questions:
What Do You Get When You Cross an Executive?
Show Me the (Different Kinds of) Money by Kent McDonald
Featured Templates:
Can't We Just Go Do It?
Everybody's Got to Have a Hobby
We Didn't Budget for Testers… Use an Intern
Maybe It's OK Not to Be Perfect
I Thought We Only Needed to Buy Tissues
Step 1: PMO. Step 2: … Step 3: PROFIT!
Project Practitioners Blog:
The Perfect Task List
The Dangers of Multi-Tasking
Where's ProjectConnections?
This week: Vermont, Frankfurt and San Francisco
Corporate Subscriptions
From the Editor
Last issue we highlighted what we call the FrankenProject WBS—a massive and massively detailed schedule for a hardware/software development project. We got some feedback from users who were simply astonished that anyone would ever draft a schedule like that, let alone keep it. Your huble editor shares the shock-and-awe reaction. Schedules like that leave me gibbering in a corner, asking for my blankie. But I am assured by others far more experienced it's sometimes not only necessary, but also reasonable and achievable. (And for the record, the team that project came from absolutely did hit their major milestones and meet the delivery date.) Teams may not actually track to schedules like these once they're built, but they absolutely do plan to them.
Nevertheless, I thought this week should include mention of the other end of the schedule spectrum—task-level WBS planning that doesn't kill trees or institutionalize PMs. Our chosen example applies project processes to the least threatening project we could think of: holiday shopping. (It's a lot scarier in December than it is in June.) And then, to bring the conversation around to something less intimidating than Big, Scary Charts, we decided to talk money for a little while. One of the primary functions of a well-developed WBS should be creating reasonable budget expectations. This week, we've got tools and examples to help you get a grip on your own project funding. Plus, we've got a whole rack of answers to new Burning Questions, with dozens more on the way; more about that exciting new resource below. Read on (blankie in hand)…
Burning Questions
One of our soft spots here at ProjectConnections is what we call the hair-on-fire PM—the one handed a flaming pile of project and told, "I'd like a status update by Friday, thanks." But burning questions can come from all angles. How do I get people to stick to the agenda in meetings? How do I make our action items really mean something?
Our revamped burning questions index links you to answers like these, so you can get in, get a focused answer from real project managers who have been there, and get back to your project with a clear head and a flame-retardant suit. This week you'll find a few answers broken out across a baker's dozen of categories, along with several sample questions and answers available for your review. This library will grow rapidly over the coming weeks, so stay tuned. Here's one of our favorites from this week…
What Do You Get When You Cross an Executive?
Q: Once again, we've been asked to do too much in too little time. How do I balance features with time-to-market?
Balancing Features Against Time-to-Market – PREMIUMA: The mantra of "get more done in less time" is all too common from executives and management. How do you determine what is doable and what's the right thing to do? Coming up with a set of product features and attributes that we can get done in the time we've been given is probably the toughest part of project planning. No executive wants to hear "No," nor does any project manager want to deliver that answer. What executives expect is…
Click to continue and find out 4 things you can do to make it easier to strike the right balance and 3 ways you can make the trade off process less painful for everyone.
Featured Article
Show Me the (Different Kinds of) Money by Geof Lory
I first found out about the concept of different kinds of money shortly after I was married. I don't mean different currencies or different denominations. I'm talking different types of money based on where it came from, how it should be spent, or what "pot" it is tracked in. My wife and I received some cash for a wedding gift. Even though I was responsible for managing our finances, she told me in no uncertain terms that the gift money we received should not be mixed with our regular "spending cash" or deposited in our checking account. It was given to us as a gift and it should be specifically on gift-like things. I found this annoying and irrational at the time, but being one to pick my battles I let it go and merely grumbled under my breath about it. It years before I recognized why different kinds of money exist, and the importance of understanding this concept when managing projects.
So why does it matter to you as a project manager where the money came from or how it is handled? As long as you don't blow through it faster than you said you would and have to go and ask for more, it's all the same, right? Well, if times are good and your project is relatively small and low risk, chances are it probably isn't that relevant. Unfortunately, times are not the best right now, and there seem to be a lot of expensive, high risk, bet-the-company projects going on right now. (At least, I have seen a lot more, but that may also be a function of my personal experience.) Either way, the kind of money funding your project heavily influences decisions made about your project. Read more »
Kent McDonald is laying low for the moment, but he'll be popping up at Agile 2009 in Chicago August 24-28. He has a session on "Barely Sufficient Portfolio Management" with Todd Little (one of the co-authors of Stand Back and Deliver) and one on Feature Injection" with Chris Matts. Niel Nickolaisen also has a session with Chris Matts, charmingly titled "First, Kill All the Metrics."
Featured Templates
Can't We Just Go Do It? - Project Processes Applied: Holiday Gift Shopping – MEMBERProject management isn't about creating the big impressive chart, it's just about thinking things through so you can get the project done. If you or your team has seen the FrankenProject Gantt charts and decided there's no way that kind of effort can be worth it, try this instead. It's a light-hearted, only slightly silly explanation of how project management processes can be applied to any important effort, without causing anyone to break out in a paperwork allergy. This guideline (used by our founder Cinda Voegtli in some of her workshops) breaks an annual, often chaotic project into distinct project phases, shows how to create the timeline, and explains how to build the right framework for your project. Bonus: plan your holiday shopping now and use Father's Day specials and mid-summer (or mid-winter) sales to get a head start!
Everybody's Got to Have a Hobby - New Product Business Plan – SPECIAL
This Premium resource is free to registered Members until June 24, 2009
Unfortunately, "because it will be loads of fun" isn't enough justification for launching a project that will take resources away from other ventures. (Especially in this economy.) Sound projects begin with a sound business justification, which is where this template comes in. Using a consistent, repeatable format across all new product or project submissions to the portfolio makes evaluation faster and more objective. Thinking through the business rationale for (or against) a project also makes the organization as a whole less susceptible to Shiny Object Syndrome.
We Didn't Budget for Testers… Use an Intern - Budget & Cost Tracking Formats – SPECIAL
This Premium resource is free to registered Members until June 24, 2009
Sometimes there's no substitute for experience, so it pays to make sure you've included that in your projected costs. One of the best ways to use your work plan is making sure your team won't have any unpleasant and expensive budget surprises that keep them from achieving it. This spreadsheet provides prompts of typical expense categories (staff and non-staff) and two example budget formats you can use to organize and present your thoughts on what the project will cost and why. For those who also want to keep a running tab on the burn rate to plan, we've included three increasingly detailed examples of cost tracking (depending on how torturous your financial monitoring requirements are).
Maybe It's OK Not to Be Perfect - "Help! The Testers Want to Break the Bank!" – GUEST
The testers say they have to have three times as much time to ensure a quality product, and claim your project is doomed to failure if their demands are denied. Who's right? Do you really have to choose between delivering late and delivering poor quality? This article by Alan Koch discusses four possible strategies for improving quality on your project. But, even more helpful for those stuck between the test lab and a hard place, he also offers guidance for deciding when additional quality activities may not even be worthwhile. Once you've defined "good enough" you can draw a line in the budgetary sand.
I Thought We Only Needed to Buy Tissues - Budget for Project Management Support Group – PREMIUM
It's not that kind of support group. (We're not going to talk about that last, unfortunate post-review lunch-and-learn.) If you want the best results from your project managers, you need to give them at least some support toward learning and skill development. This example budget was originally created for a 2-person group supporting 30 project managers. The detailed breakout illustrates how their non-salary expenses supported their charter to provide training opportunities, self-study resources, coaching, recognition, and other support for their varied experience levels. Easily customized, it provides a great starting place for brainstorming, budget discussions, or even initial conversations about whether a PM support group is "worth it" and what it might do.
Step 1: PMO. Step 2: … Step 3: PROFIT! - How to Get Value Out of a PMO – MEMBER
Yes, your project managers are customers of your PMO. But in your zeal to serve them, don't forget your other customersâthe executives. They are paying attention, and they're looking for results. Do you really understand what they're after? This paper by Gerald Kendall and Steven Rollins, from the International Institute for Learning and EPM Solutions, takes an executive-level look at the elements of the PMO that can dramatically increase the probability of your organization meeting its goals. It focuses on four major processes: Choosing the right projects via a new kind of strategic planning, permanently linking strategies to projects, managing the project portfolio correctly, and measuring the PMO correctly.
Project Practitioners Blog
Sinikka Waugh lists her essential requirements for the perfect task list and how to manage to the list for project success.Josh Nankivel decries the dangers of multi-tasking and shares his key methods for stopping the madness.
Where's ProjectConnections?
Cinda Voegtli is wandering the recently frozen tundra of Vermont this week. (We hear that Mud Season is over, at least, and she's really enjoying the view.
Kimberly Wiefling is conducting a weeklong workshop in Frankfurt, Germany for the Global Leadership Program, following on the heels of the Women in Business luncheon in Santa Clara, CA. Next week she's back in Osaka for another workshop. Never a dull moment!
Randy Englund is in San Francisco this week to conduct a workshop on "Improving Your Project Management Skills" for the AMA, June 10-12. Next week, he'll present "Powering Up your Interaction Quotient" for the PMI San Francisco Bay Area Chapter (June 19).
Corporate Subscriptions and Licensing
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