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From the Editor Featured Article Monthly Premium How-To Course Template Bundle – Summer Special! Project Practitioners Blog Where's ProjectConnections? Corporate Subscriptions & Licensing |
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July 22, 2010, Sponsored by RMC Project Management, Inc.
From the Editor There are some eternal truths in project management (as in any industry): Projects will be late. Budgets will be overrun. Communication is king, and people are your most valuable asset. Recently, our bloggers have done a great job of reminding us that whatever is going on with the project, the budget, or the schedule, in the end it's the people and the way they communicate that make or break a project and an organization. We've featured these powerful thoughts, along with a classic article from columnist Geof Lory, and some powerful tools you can use to keep your team talking, growing, and succeeding.Featured Article Suppressing Your Feminine Side May Be Bad for Business 
I am a big believer in the power of words and in fact receive a daily dose from A.Word.A.Day to keep my vocabulary challenged and fresh. What I find most interesting about words is how they can be used to optimally express my true intent when communicating. The more specific the word, the more specific the meaning, which hopefully better expresses intent. I find that it is easy to get lazy with the use of certain words that, over time, program beliefs and behaviors we might not consciously choose. While it may be true that many words are colloquially used interchangeably, I contend that the subtle differences in the undertones or implicit meanings of words set a framework for our actions and values. And when it comes to programming our core system, our operating system, we can't be too careful with the quality of our code. Read more » Monthly Premium How-To Course NEW – Communicating Up the Chain to Resolve Big Issues – 1 PDUAs project managers, we need to know about the roadblocks and challenges our teams encounter while there's still time to do something about it. We also need team members to think ahead to the little decisions and course changes they make that could have big impacts on someone else's work. In short, we need constructive ways to discuss issues so tough decisions can be made quickly and risks can be addressed before they're out of control. We need an escalation process. This 40-minute mini-course explains the importance of issue escalation processes and how they can help your team. PDU credit available for paid Premium subscribers. August Course Announcement – Risky Business The people have spoken! Every month we let our subscribers vote on the next course release, so we can be sure we're bringing you the material that's most helpful for the issues that are currently on your mind. Unsurprisingly, risk is apparently up there, so our course for August will be "Deciding How to Respond to Project Risks" with Carl Pritchard, our resident risk guru. Subscribe now so you can have access to Carl's course when it's available. You'll be able to access the current course (listed above) as well! Curious to see the survey results? This one was neck-and-neck. Go to to see the full tally, and stay tuned for another member poll coming up in a few weeks. Template Bundle – Summer Special! Ready… Set… Go! – Project Kickoff Bundle – 20% off until August 1!
What's the secret to a successful project? Last we checked, there were at least 356, but surely one of the top ten is to launch your team right from the very beginning. That's what this bundle is all about. Whether you're starting a new project or need to restart one that's struggling, these tools will help you get it done right: set expectations, define the scope, outline team roles, and understand where the wiggle room is so you can make the tradeoffs necessary to deliver. We know from experience how important these tools are, and we want to be sure everyone has them. So for a limited time, Members can get this bundle of 12 essential project kickoff tools for just $28.75 -- 20% off the usual price. The discount applies to our multi-user bundle as well, so if you've been considering this purchase for use by several of your project managers, this is a great time to get it, at a great price.
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Check out our other great bundles too! » Project Practitioners Blog Develop each team member as a person, by Alfonso BuceroBefore I share with you a few best practices about how to develop others, I need to make clear the difference between equipping people and developing them. When you equip people, you teach them how to do a job. Development is different. When you develop people, you are helping them to improve as individuals. You are helping them acquire personal qualities that will benefit them in many areas of life, not just their jobs. When you help someone to cultivate discipline or a positive attitude, that's development. When you teach someone to manage their time more effectively or improve their people skills, that's development. I observed that many project leaders don't have a development mind-set. They expect their employees to take care of their developmental needs on their own. What they fail to realize, however, is that development always pays higher dividends than equipping because it helps the whole person and lifts him to a higher level.
Project Manager Development Profile Form – MEMBER Use this powerful one-page form to create a comprehensive assessment and development plan for individual project managers across categories such as management skills, career ambition, and short- and long-term growth potential. Appropriate as an individual coaching/assessment tool as well as a guideline for personnel growth and assignments. Career Management as Personal Marketing and Business Development – MEMBER A comprehensive picture of valuable skills you should develop as you move through your career. This paper also explains how these diverse skills can provide incredible career leverage, and how you can develop and market those skills. An excellent resource for both career-minded technical folks and the people helping them develop and grow. Company Program for Ongoing PM Learning – PREMIUM Don't limit your development efforts to a single report. This example framework provides a comprehensive ongoing training and support program for your PMs. Designed to provide "just-in-time" learning opportunities for your PMs as they need support. Options include classes, brown-bag seminars, self-study, and project reviews. I've been discussing a lot of development philosophies lately, and I find it amazing how many people think that one methodology (theirs) is superior to all others in all situations. I agree that in the interest of efficiency and effectiveness there needs to be known structure throughout an organization, but is there really a methodology that is a "one size fits all"? I don't think there is. I have recently had a long conversation (OK, more like a debate), with another IT professional that believes that Agile can be modified for every situation. Of course what he described to me for a long-term software development Project was a Waterfall hybrid! Yes it still had morning "Scrum Master" meetings, but it was still attached to the daily tasks on the (Long Term) Project Plan, and the "releases" were just minor groups of functions that were sent over to QA for testing. So was this Waterfall with phased testing, or Agile? Tomato or tomahto, right?
Adapting Processes for Different Projects – PREMIUM Don't just tell your teams they have permission to be flexible with the process; show them how and where they can make changes (and where they really can't). This guideline shows how to adapt processes for different project lengths, risk profiles, and complexities; including different uses of project phases, levels of documentation, and use of detailed project planning and project controls. Development Process Quick Reference – PREMIUM Make your process easier to use, and you vastly increase the odds that it actually will be used. This excerpt from a company's "Development Quick Reference" shows a format and content examples for helping your team use your project management or product development process. As we drove to the airport, the CEO asked a seemingly innocent question, "Have you ever managed a distributed team?" Let's be honest, it is hard to work in IT without managing distributed teams so I gave my equally innocent answer, "Several times." The CEO paused for a moment and then asked, "What was the most challenging project you had to manage?" I then described the time a major product release involved two US-based development teams, a team based in Australia, and a team in India. After that conversation, nothing happened for three months. That was when the CEO asked me to lead the development of our next generation nano-catalysts. Not only is the team distributed (Utah, New Jersey, and Canada) but it involves something I know nothing about—nano-catalysts. In order to make sure that I delivered the project, I decided to get up to speed on best practices for managing distributed teams (this was also my excuse for why I didn't have the time to learn about nano-catalysts). This is what I learned.
Best Practices from Experiences in Facilitating Virtual Meetings – MEMBER You don't have to facilitate hundreds of virtual meetings to figure out what works and what doesn't. Instead, read this paper distilling the authors' lessons learned and best practices, after their extensive experience in this medium. Communication Plan: Status, Meetings, Information Access, and Reviews – PREMIUM Involve your team in planning how they will communicate, both with each other, and with external stakeholders. This outline shows you how, and covers everything from status and meetings to issues, access to deliverables, and design/document reviews. Team Member Status Report – PREMIUM Collecting regular status reports from team members can provide a window into the true state of the project work, but the focus should be on what's needed to finish, not on a blow-by-blow replay of every task. This template for a simple, 1-2 page report shows how team members can summarize their project status and work progress without getting lost in exhausting minutiae. When implemented correctly, it should take just a few minutes to complete. Recording Key Project Decisions – PREMIUM Especially in distributed teams, it's important to make sure that key decisions are recorded and reported where everyone knows what they are (and that they've been made). This file provides several examples of ways to record this information in various contexts, plus tips for maintain it as part of the project history. A few years ago I wrote about outsourcing considerations and another article on cultural considerations. These ideas still hold true and possibly more so, in our ongoing efforts to do more with less. Ensuring we meet organizational objectives for the lowest cost possible requires thorough analysis and due diligence when choosing a vendor. I strongly believe the devil is in the detail when it comes to numerous areas, including contractor selection. Proposals you may receive when going through an RFP process, likely include standard/marketing content prepared by those employed to close the sale through written promises. During the selection process, prospective vendors may allow you to meet with existing customers, participate in demonstrations and other activities intended to sell themselves. I've discovered some less formal, yet very telling areas to consider when choosing a vendor.
Vendor Assessment Checklist – PREMIUM A set of questions (checklist) to ask when assessing any outside contractor or third-party organization you are considering using for your project, aimed at ensuring you have a common understanding and good fit in goals, skills and experience, processes, and priorities. Consulting Contract – PREMIUM Guidelines for creating consulting contracts, including typical information covered (work description, payment terms, intellectual property ownership) and two sample contracts. For project contractors, consultants, or the project managers or functional managers hiring them. New System Request for Proposal (RFP) Outline – SPECIAL This Premium resource is free to registered Members until August 5, 2010 Make clear up front what your prospective partners should expect to show you. This template provides an annotated outline of an RFP seeking new system development (but it could be modified to seek a completely new solution or find a co-development partner). Where's ProjectConnections? Randy Englund and Alfonso Bucero present their seminar on "Creating Project Excellence" in Vancouver, BC, on July 28-29 for PMI SeminarsWorld. Participants receive a copy of Randy's book, Creating an Environment for Successful Projects. (Register using promotional code renglund for 20% off.) On August 5, Randy presents "The Complete Project Manager: Building the Right Set of Skills for Greater Project Success" for the Knowledge and Project Management Symposium (KPM).Corporate Subscriptions and Licensing Want your team members to have their own access to templates and how-to resources for their project work? Need to share documents and deliverables beyond your project team? We make it easier with affordable corporate subscriptions and licensing. Detailed information regarding corporate options is available online. Give your whole team, or even the entire organization, cost-effective access to our comprehensive online library of resources. You already know how helpful it's been for you. Now it's time to share with everyone else. Find out more »Not sure if corporate terms apply to you? Check out our licensing terms at the top of our Terms of Service page, in refreshingly ordinary, everyday English. |
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