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From the Founder Featured Article Monthly Premium How-To Course PM in 10 Pages or Less Project Practitioners Corporate Subscriptions & Licensing |
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August 19, 2010, Sponsored by RMC Project Management, Inc.
From the Founder In any given week, when you find yourself sucked down into the vortex of tasks, meetings and emails — are you sure you're spending your time where it really matters?Over my career I've learned to actively seek out and ruthlessly focus on "leverage points" — high-return actions that really matter most. There are a million things I could spend my management time on. But what should I spend it on (and what's in the way of doing so)? Lately, as everyone I talk to feels more and more bounced around and overwhelmed, this pair of questions is very much on my mind. So in this and upcoming newsletters I'll explore different aspects of this theme. As we all end our summers and enter the fall project push (and those of us with kids getting all those schedule demands back onto our plates too!), I'm starting with one of our favorite reminders about what matters - our take on "project management in 10 pages or less." The 10 items are simple but crucial for ensuring the right project goals, the right people, and the desired results - and therefore are very worth our time. Take a look for a quick personal sanity check - are there items here that deserve more of your high-leverage attention? And check out our latest Premium how-to course from Carl Pritchard on responding to risks, Alan Koch's words on estimating effectively, and the latest from our bloggers. — Cinda Voegtli Featured Article How to Estimate Program Size 
In my last article on Cost of Quality, I started out by blithely proposing, "Let's say we're going to write a system of 25,000 Lines of Code." Teri (a perceptive reader) called me on it! She wrote:
Monthly Premium How-To Course NEW – Don't just sit there… Do something! – Deciding How to Respond to Project Risks – 1 PDUCarl Pritchard of Pritchard Management Associates 
Once you know the risks the risks to your project and the potential value of dealing with them, you have to figure out what to do next. Should you spend money on it now, or wait to see if something happens? And how much money is reasonable for dealing with the potential problem?This course by Carl Pritchard of Pritchard Management Associates explains how you can make smart risk decisions for your project, and get the execs on your side. In this session, Carl illustrates the different risk strategies you can employ on your projects and recommends ways to select the best approaches for your situation. Then he shows how you can present alternatives to management based on a thorough assessment of the risks so they can make an informed choice. PDU credit available! There's still time to vote for the next Premium how-to course! Which course would you like to take next month? We have 4 waiting in the wings. Vote for your favorite and the most popular one will be released in September.
PM in 10 Pages or Less These deliverables are the essence of successful projects, but none requires more than a page, and many can be completed in less than an hour on smaller projects.1. On a Clear Day… - Project Definition - Vision Document - GUEST Your project goals shouldn't be a vague haze on the horizon. Bring clarity with a simple document capturing team agreement on why you're doing the project, what the customer needs, and the overall scope. Easiest/fastest way to complete it: Draft it yourself first, then review and update it in a room with the person paying for the project and the most important "customers" of whatever your project is producing. Clear things up » 2. Who's On First? - Team Roles and Responsibilities List - PREMIUM Keep your team straight with a simple roster that outlines who is doing what, even if there are just a few of you. Who's testing? Who's writing the documentation? Who has to agree the project is done? Easiest/fastest way to complete it: Draft the list, then review it with other known team members and ask, "Who are we forgetting? What work are we forgetting and who do we need to do it?" (I don't know—Third base!) Get the template » 3. Didn't You Get That Memo? - Action Item List Formats - GUEST Dash off all the emails you like, but what gets tracked gets done. Track actions with one of these simple formats, without digging through your inbox for task ownership and deadlines. Easiest/fastest way to complete it: Just start writing things down as soon as there is even one other person working on this project! Bonus points: Use the list as a springboard for creating your team meeting agendas; your meetings will move faster and take less prep work. Get the template » 4. Unless You've Got a Three-Sided Coin - Project Flexibility Matrix - MEMBER Even on a small project, you'll have to make some choices; and the shorter the project, the less time to stall. This matrix will help you manage and record tradeoff discussions. You'll make faster, better choices, and be able to back them up when questioned. Easiest/fastest way to complete it: Get your key stakeholders into a room or on a call and ask them to pick between two factors at a time. Most people will say that all three are important, but if they are forced to choose they'll be able to decide between, say, scope and schedule. Once you've done that twice, pick between the two winners and rank accordingly. Bonus suggestion: Resist the temptation to handle this one in an email thread. A synchronous conversation will be much more efficient. Get the template » 5. Do You Feel Lucky? Well, Do Ya? - Risk Assessment and Mitigation Tables - SPECIAL This Premium resource is free to registered Members until September 2! If you're not thinking about project risks, then you're relying on luck—not exactly reassuring. Tackle risk head on by thinking about it and monitoring it, even on small projects that seem like sure things. Easiest/fastest way to complete it: It's not worth rushing this one, but you don't need every format in this document to think things through. Pick the form or two that best suits your situation and think it through with the team. Remember to keep it updated and refer to it throughout the project to be sure you haven't just listed risks, but are also responding to them. (See this month's downloadable course on deciding how to respond to risks for more on this critical topic.) Get the form » 6. Phenomenal Cosmic Powers, Itty Bitty Living Space! - Milestone Table with Driver Tasks - PREMIUM Managing a project doesn't require complicated charts or graphs. You just need to agree on what must be done when, why, and how you'll measure progress. Streamlined project tracking keeps your driving tasks highly visible and shows how they are related to the critical milestones. Small projects will probably be most interested in Format 2, which includes space for completion criteria and success factors so everything you need is in one place—a lot of planning wallop in comparatively little space. Get the template » 7. Show Me the Money - Project Budget - PREMIUM Project budgets, even for small projects, should be drafted while you're making project scope decisions, not in the middle of the hallway as your manager is suddenly questioning the spike in department expenses this month! The examples in this file take only a page, but the project triangle is not complete without a budget. Easiest way to complete it: Begin drafting budget estimates as soon as you start outlining scope and continue refining it as you build the plan. Include your high-level driver tasks in the left column to ensure that all project work and associated costs are included. Get the template » 8. All Things Trite and Trivial - Team Meeting Agenda - PREMIUM Good meetings can make a project, and bad ones can break it. Keep your meetings on track and on schedule by creating usable agendas—and sticking to them! This sample agenda emphasizes using meeting objectives and time slots to keep your meetings effective. Easiest/fastest way to complete this document: take your best shot when you need to have your first project get-together. (Consult your Action Item List if you've started one.) Review the objectives for each item during the meeting and make sure you've got agreement from the team. Then stick to your guns and don't get mired in trivia that can be handled outside the meeting. Get the template » 9. Test Your Deliverable, Not Your Patience - Project Overview Test Plan - PREMIUM Even if your project doesn't require testing in the technical sense, the idea of a final deliverable overview—"testing" against the customer requirements and original vision—is something every project lead should think through. This template outlines at a high level how your deliverable will be examined and who will be involved. Bonus points: If you're running a small technical project that does require testing, this may be the only test document you need; just keep it updated as the project progresses. Get the template » 10. And On Page 37 You'll See Our Current Action Items… - Project Status Reports - PREMIUM Status reports are the bane of many PM's existence, but you don't need to suffer through an excruciating five-page weekly report (and neither does your manager). This template provides several formats and levels of detail for summarizing and communicating project or portfolio status at a more useful level. Small projects will probably most appreciate the one-page document formats for getting the true picture for a project at a glance. Get the template » Bonus Suggestion: Like My Cubicle? I Just Re-Papered - One-Page Project/Release Summary - PREMIUM Every project can use this one-page summary of key project information. Record your project's purpose, deliverables, and key team and schedule information, then post it on your cubicle wall. Easiest/fastest way to complete it: capture the information from your Project Vision Document and Team Roles List (above). Bonus points: Every team member should have a summary page like this for every project they're on. If your team leader hasn't created it, do it yourself and post it. If you're insanely productive—or insanely overloaded—it will quickly be apparent to anyone who visits your workspace. Get the template » Project Practitioners Brian Irwin explains the use of nominal group technique to get silent, non-participatory team members engaged, and to make sure their ideas and suggestions are heard.Randy Englund provides advice and some thought-provoking questions all project managers should ask when negotiating with a sponsor at the start of a project, as well as a script illustrating the process in action (on both sides of the table). Niel Nickolaisen shares his suggestions for staying above the whirlwind by separating activity and accomplishments in a strategic plan, based on his own successful efforts in this area. Alfonso Bucero reminds us that every project manager is born happy; we have more control over our attitudes and reactions than we like to admit, even as beleaguered project managers. Margaret de Haan learns a lesson from a pill about how the changes we are touting so enthusiastically can make our users feel, and how to make the adaptation to a new system or process less painful for our stakeholders. Mike Aucoin has been thinking a lot lately about the parallels between project consulting and disaster aid, and the need to learn before we lead. Ann Drinkwater reminds us that (repeat after me) the schedule is not the plan, no matter how appealing that simplicity sounds. (Preach it, Ann!) Have you considered all the details that can impact a project's success without showing up on a schedule? 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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