MyProjectTracker – The Blog

Project managers often have contention with line management when it comes to the allocation of project team members. The skill of the project manager to overcome this contention will directly effect the overall success of the project planning process and indeed the project as a whole.

If the project manager can get a line manager “on-side” from the off-set through early engagement and active communication, in turn the line manager will ensure that the project manager gets the right information needed to resource plan correctly.

Why is this important in project planning?

Simply put, the project manager is reliant on the line managers resources to make the project a reality. The line manager understands;

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Your business has survived the first couple of years and is still viable (well done, that’s a great achievement). You were a one man show and now there are three of you and the odd sub-contractor when things get really busy.

But, everything is still done in your head. Your business is still small, so you are getting by like this where you seem to intuitively know how things are going – what’s been done well and those things that perhaps aren’t.

You also know that it’s time to expand and perhaps keeping all of the business processes and operational information in your head is not such a good idea.

So, decision made, you need to put some decent business processes into place.
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When I was up at the dojo training yesterday evening, the sensei were running a grading for a few of the group. One of the guys was totally unaware that it was on as he’d been missing for a while. When he arrived, he was presented with the statement that he would be grading at the end of the class.

He could have reacted badly. Total panic could easily have ensued and he could have gone to pieces. Thankfully, he had far more presence of mind and did exactly what he should have done. He asked one of the senior members to run through the possible grading routines with him and focused on the things that he needed help with.

It got me to thinking how we, as business owners and managers, react in a work or business environment when stuff hits us from the side that we were not expecting.  Take the recent volcanic episode and the differences between how different airlines have reacted.  Some have excelled and some have failed to really get off the plate in dealing with the challenge that they and their customers face.

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Scope creep is simply when changes are allowed to the  original project scope that are not controlled in any shape or form and lead to project failure. It’s a great term. Creep is exactly what it is – the silent killer that takes you totally unawares and is the undoing of your customer project.

It applies to any of size of project in any business that delivers services to a customer. Whether it’s a single person consultancy or a larger consulting organisation, scope creep affects each without exception.

How do I know if my business projects suffer from scope creep? Well, in a nutshell, you will find yourself delivering a scope that is different than intended.
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We were contacted one afternoon by Des from Contrast to make the decision on the payment solution for MyProjectTracker. Payment Server Provider or Payment Bureau.

Myself and Barney sat down one afternoon to trash out the pro’s and con’s of using a Payment Server Provider (RealEx) or a Payment Bureau (PayPal). To be honest, Barney favoured PayPal and I favoured RealEx.

A well formulated guide that helped us make sense of the online payment choices was www.webpayments.ie. This should really be the first port of call for anyone creating a website that will be required to take payments.

Here is a summary based on our discussion that day and our discussion of this topic with others who have setup website that require payment:

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Project managers are consumed with processes and complex tools to help their projects along. Project management is described as an art form and a huge industry has grown out of this whole space.

Our project managers are producing report upon report, continually seeking to learn the “latest trend” in project management thinking and talking in a language often lost on the customers with whom they are dealing.

They are acting like this because, in my view, the whole system has completely lost focus on what being a project manager is all about.

Sure, process is good (when it delivers benefit and is not a hindrance) and the latest thinking can indeed bring those benefits. Tools are prevalent and offer varying levels of capability and function but cannot cover weakness in the area of communication. Process and tools are a means to the end, not the end itself.

We need to re-focus. (more…)

I was reading a post about the fascination certain business managers/owners have with the spreadsheet and how dependant on it they are to run their businesses. This got me thinking to how dependant project management has become on the processes it uses rather than the actual delivery of a project.

Project management is about delivering a quality end-result. To deliver the project, the manager has a list of things that need to be done, a timescale and a budget in order to produce that end-result. That’s it!

The problem with project management is that it spends too much time looking at itself rather than what it is trying to achieve. Methodologies and processes are created by project managers – which is correct, but they produce them for themselves and not the end recipients i.e. the customer of that project.

Project management theorists will tell you that the customer is at the forefront of all the thinking behind the processes. I would disagree. To a large extent, project management methodologies and the endless reams of documentation that come out as a consequence are, by in large, designed to elevate the status of the project management function. Ouch(!).

Before you jump down my throat, a project manager is an extremely valuable member of any organisations. They need to be effective communicators, highly organised, budget and quality focussed, team leaders, decision makers and thick skinned! Where my “beef” is that the constantly updated theories and practices being touted as “best in class” do not necessarily contribute anything extra to the projects effectiveness from the customer standpoint.

The most effective project managers that I have worked with know how to manage their team and clients through superb communication. More often than not, the dreaded Gantt chart is only produced to satisfy the needs of the internal management team and most of the effort is managed from a simple spreadsheet or indeed a notepad with a list of to-do’s. A simplification, but designed to drive the point that it does not need to be as complicated as it has become.

Project management should be accessible by everyone in every field where the high level concepts can be applied. It has some really great operational practices, but needs to be pared back to make sure these are obvious and adopted by all.

Project management – It’s just a list of things to do! Oh – and its for everyone, not just project managers!

As someone who has worked in the world of project and program management, it never ceases to amaze me on how complex project management has become. I often think that many in the field have lost sight of the end game through the continued re-invention of the wheel. This will be subject of many a post but to get started, I thought I’d take the opportunity to de-mystify some of the more common project management terms and put them in plain English by applying them to a business context.

These are a few of my favourites – there are plenty more. All of these are relevant to businesses of every description but the language of project management has made them seem removed and exclusive which I find frankly unnecessary and frustrating!

Do you have some more to add? Do you feel project management principles apply to your business or seem to daunting to tackle? I’d love to know your thoughts.