ESI’s Top 10 Project Management Trends of 2015

ESI International, a project management training company, recently released its top 10 trends in project management for 2015. This year’s trends reveal that project managers (PMs) will be impacted by many changes this year including more hybrid environments, an increasing demand for talent management, and a growing need to align project outcomes with organizational strategy.

In 2015, the PM’s role will continue to evolve, according ESI VP of Marketing and Strategic Intelligence Mark Bashrum. Improving interpersonal skills, learning the discipline of strategic execution, and becoming well versed in change management practices should be on every PM’s list of New Year’s resolutions.

“All too often people talk about strategy and execution independently,” said Bashrum. “In the coming year we will see a heightened focus on managing the critical links connecting the two, as more organizations begin to view strategic execution as a core discipline.”

ESI’s top 10 trends for project management include:

Lofty Expectations: PMs need to become adept at managing gaps between the constraints of cloud-based platforms and the business’ expectations.

Out-of-Whack: Talent management within the PM community comes back into focus.

Fuel for the Hybrid: As the pace of change continues to accelerate, hybrid project methods will become the norm.

A Day Late and a Dollar Short: The ability to find and hire top PM talent is dwindling.

Bottom’s Up: Organizations must build bottom-up processes to link project outcomes to organizational strategy.

Ignore Them at Your Own Peril: Project managers will continue to be ignored and not get the coaching and mentoring they are screaming for.

Run!: Project managers continue to sacrifice project transparency as they flee from conflict and avoid difficult conversations.

Change is Coming: The disciplines of change management and project management continue to merge as PMs become responsible for delivering project and business outcomes.

Knocking at the Door: Project management and business strategy better align to the benefit of the organization.

Culture Shock: Organizational culture becomes a bigger consideration in risk management practices.

“The impact on project management is substantial,” he added. “Project managers, who are typically held accountable for delivering project outcomes, will now also be responsible for how those deliverables impact the business. This will require a retooling of their skillsets, but in the end it elevates the PM’s role as a critical enabler of business strategy, and that’s a very good thing for project managers who can make the jump.”

About the Author: Amanda Ciccatelli, Social Media Strategist of the Marketing Division at IIR USA, has a background in digital and print journalism, covering a variety of topics in business strategy, marketing, and technology. Amanda is the Editor at Large for several of IIR’s blogs including Next Big Design, Customers 1st, Digital Impact, STEAM Accelerator and ProjectWorld and World Congress for Business Analysts, and a regular contributor to Front End of Innovation and The Market Research Event,. She previously worked at Technology Marketing Corporation as a Web Editor where she covered breaking news and feature stories in the technology industry. She can be reached at aciccatelli@iirusa.com. Follow her at @AmandaCicc.

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Leadership Lessons: Dr. Alicia Aitken

I recently interviewed Dr. Alicia Aitken , managing director Asia Pacific, Human Systems International (HSI), to talk about the ins and outs of leadership in today’s competitive business landscape.  Aitken is a keynote speaker at the upcoming ProjectWorld & World Congress for Business Analysts 2014 conference in Seattle. She will be presenting a keynote session entitled, “Benchmarking Risk Management: What Good Looks Like.”

Check out what Aitken had to say:

IIR: How do you, as a leader, stand out in a crowd in this competitive business world?

Aitken: Being authentic. Today’s world is full of leadership models, business school taught methods and processes. Leaders stand out by being authentic and true to who they are and who they are leading.

IIR: What are characteristics of a GREAT leader?

Aitken: For me, great leaders are those that are not only visionary but are able to bring people on the journey with them to share and understand the vision and inspire them to want to work towards a better future state. Great leaders take the time to know themselves as well as their team and work to leverage each team members’ strengths on the journey.  Great leaders lead with authenticity and courage.

IIR: How does a successful leader communicate?

Aitken: Often and in many different ways. People hear and understand in different ways, it’s important for leaders to work hard to find and use all the different communication techniques, one-on-one, group messages, email, notice boards, texting and most importantly, listening. 

IIR: Can you name a person who has had a tremendous impact on you as a leader? Maybe someone who has been a mentor to you? Why and how did this person impact your life?

Aitken: Dr. Lynn Crawford has been the most influential leader in my life. She has taught me not only about project management but how to succeed in life by following your passions, having the courage to live by your values no matter what, constantly reflecting on your own practice to ensure you’re always improving, to open doors for good people along the way and to have the courage to walk through doors opened by others for you and the good grace to thank you as you step through. 

IIR: What are the most important decisions you make as a leader of your organization or team?

Aitken: Who joins the team.  

IIR: As an organization gets larger there can be a tendency for the “institution” to dampen the “inspiration.” How do you keep this from happening?

Aitken: Encourage all team members to voice ideas and try new things and have the self-control when some of them inevitably fail not to get angry but talk through how we can learn from the lesson.  

IIR: How do you encourage creative thinking within your team or organization?

Aitken: I try to hire people with diverse backgrounds and diverse education paths so that my teams are mixtures of different ways of thinking. The mix of people generates ideas that spring from different origins which fosters creativity simply by coming at problems from different perspectives.

IIR: Which is most important to your organization or team? (mission, core values or vision?) How do you communicate the “core values” to your team?

Aitken: Core values are most important as they are the stable. The core values underpin the delivery of changing missions and visions over time. The core values are communicated both implicitly (I model them) and explicitly (I talk openly about what the core values are, how they manifest in behaviors and why we have them).

IIR: How do you help a new employee understand the culture of your organization?

Aitken: I talk to them. We are small enough that I can talk to everyone one-on-one. As we grow this will become less one-on-one and more through group sessions.

IIR: What is one characteristic that you believe every leader should possess?

Aitken: Self awareness.

IIR: What is the biggest challenge facing leaders today?

Aitken: I’m not sure there are challenges that relate to today in particular. Leadership is a base human need. It has been around for millennia and will continue into the future.

IIR: What is the one behavior that you have seen derail more leaders’ careers?

Aitken: Hubris.

IIR: Can you explain the impact that social media has made on you as a leader?

Aitken: It has given me one more mode of communicating and bonding with my team. It has slipped into the mix along with everything else we do.

IIR: What advice would you give someone going into a leadership position for the first time?

Aitken: Asking questions shows you care not ignorance – listening is one of the best skills you can employ with team members, clients and co-workers.

IIR: What are you doing to ensure you continue to grow and develop as a leader?

Aitken: I am constantly looking for people I think are good at things I am yet to learn and try to model from their example

Aitken will be speaking at ProjectWorld & World Congress for Business Analysts 2014, taking place in Seattle, Washington September 22-24th at the W Hotel. The 2014 program is designed with courses for all training levels, a robust agenda, and most importantly tangible lessons which you can begin implementing the day you return to your office, making you even more valuable to your organization. PW&WCBA offers attendees 36 PDU/CDUs - that's more than half of the required credits necessary to maintain your certification in just one place.

To learn more or register for the event, click here:  http://bit.ly/1kA3cjq 

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Leadership Lessons to Live By

In virtually every industry that exists today, leaders must set aside more time to reflect and assess their thinking, capabilities, and strategies. It is crucial that they evaluate how their leadership brand is being perceived by others and whether or not it requires a tune-up.  

According to Forbes, here are leadership lessons to help you accelerate your career as a leader.

Opportunities Are Everywhere

Leadership requires circular vision and when you begin to grow complacent, you only see the obvious details before you.  In fact, your mindset becomes stagnate because you are not stretching your perspectives enough to see more than you want to. When you fall into this trap, it’s time to reshuffle the deck, and map out the factors that are influencing your thinking. You must begin to identify areas that can be improved – such as relationships, culture, networking, how you are investing in yourself, etc.

Without Strategy, Change Is Substitution

Change management is the unwritten rule in every job description and a key success factor in your workplace performance.  Rather than wait for change to come your way, be proactive and identify patterns of change so you are prepared to manage it head-on.  As a leader, you must always have a strategy for change.  A change management strategy is the ultimate form of leadership accountability, because it forces you to think critically about what you need to do as a leader to minimize risk and maximize reward.

Embrace an Entrepreneurial Attitude

An entrepreneurial attitude that is centered on continuous renewal and reinvention of yourself as a leader and your business is what allows you to sustain success and reach for significance. The entrepreneurial attitude is a mindset; it must be an operating standard that is embedded in the minds of everyone in the organization. It’s a challenge to reinvent within industries that have been in place for decades – but you can start to employ the entrepreneurial attitude by injecting new talent, new perspectives, and new resources. 

Refresh Your Thinking

Great leadership is about keeping refreshing the way an organization thinks.  It may be a lot of work, but the marketplace demands it. This is why leaders must keep themselves refreshed with new knowledge, skill-sets and aptitudes. Time is your most valuable asset and it’s up to you to determine how to best maximize it. Be courageous, refresh your thinking and implement what you learn. 

Trust Yourself

Trusting yourself is the ability to know your strengths well enough that they allow you to navigate your workplace successfully.  It’s the ability to trust your gut and know that when preparation meets the opportunities that are in front of you, your natural talents, capabilities, and skill-sets will get you through any situation.  How many times does your gut tell you to take action but you don’t?  Instead, you wait for those around you to take the calculated risks that you are hesitant to take yourself. Effective leadership is about timing and when you don’t trust yourself, oftentimes you miss the opportunities to create impact and influence – and disrupt momentum along the way. 

Manage Your Brand

Leadership branding is the new normal for organizations seeking to operate at optimal efficiency and profitability.  When an organization’s leaders can’t define their leadership brand identity for their executive team, senior leadership team, silos begin to form and the organization begins to lose its competitive edge. When you don’t manage your leadership brand – someone else will.  When this happens, you become vulnerable to what others expect from you because you have not set forth any precedence for those expectations.  As a result, the balance of power and influence sways away from you; your own identity crisis makes it easy for others to question your capabilities, and decisions.

Adversity Can Make or Break You

Adversity management reveals you. What others might see as a big problem – you might see as a situation that is easily manageable.  When you see adversity through a lens of opportunity, it gives you a leg-up and a powerful competitive advantage.  How you manage adversity will shape the way others see the real leader that you are. 

A Leader’s Success Is Never Won or Lost in an Instant

The significance of your leadership tenure is defined by your complete body of work.  It is the culmination of the work you do — how it all ties together and how you handle the rough patches along the way — that forms your legacy. If you cannot sustain consistency, you begin to lose value for your brand and the platform you are trying to create to influence outcomes.

Give to Others in Faith, Not in Expectation

Leadership is about sharing the harvest of the momentum that you are building with others. Leaders must recognize that it is their responsibility to inspire and unite – and in doing so they expand their influence through others. Amongst many things, leadership is about making those around you better – by being a great teacher, investing in relationships, and making sound decisions.  One day they may give back to you more than you ever expected – but don’t go into it expecting others to reciprocate.

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4 Key Characteristics of a Great Leader

As Shakespeare said, "Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them.”

There is no simple answer to leadership: it takes devotion, hard work, time and patience. But, most importantly, it takes a great deal of knowledge and practice. Here is a list of traits that sales and marketing headhunters look for in leaders, according to Entrepeneur.com:

Strength - People are drawn to confidence and shy away from nervousness, lack of authenticity and insecurity. How you feel about yourself will dictate your ability to lead. Essentially, if you don’t feel you’re important and deserving, don’t expect your co-workers to.

Image via roseburgphoenix.com

Positive Energy - Leaders show positive energy and optimism, showering their people with a can-do attitude. This outlook draws co-workers to them and paves the way for influence, respect and admiration from others. When you’re positive, you think in terms of solutions, not problems, you inspire risk taking, tend to be more resilient and think more clearly.

Passion - Being passionate about your job means possessing a heartfelt and authentic excitement about work. This excitement is infectious and will draw others to your way of thinking. People follow positivity, effectiveness, intelligence and resiliency. Until you learn to love work, you can’t hope to display the necessary positive energy leadership requires.

Selflessness - Leaders are more interested in group achievements as opposed to their own goals. By pouring out encouragement, caring and recognition, your co-workers will be more drawn to you.

Ultimately, leadership is all about the idea that the most significant things at work and in life require work, and most importantly, practice. 

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Change is the New Normal for Successful Leadership

With the hierarchical silos of the workplace these days, change management is the new requirement to be a successful leader. Now, more than ever, leadership takes more patience, poise, and the ability to connect the dots of opportunity. 

Change management has become a bigger part of the business fabric – an embedded leadership requirement that plays into everything that we do, every day, and how we go about getting things done, regardless of hierarchy or rank.  Leadership  not only requires the ability to manage change – but also the vision to see beyond the obvious in order to anticipate unexpected circumstances.  

According to  Forbes, here are 10 things that will become defining moments along your journey to successful leadership.

Multigenerational Influence. Connecting the dots of talent and experiences requires leaders to change their attitude, and style to accommodate the needs and seize the opportunities that lie within a broader multigenerational reach. So, get out of your comfort zone and learn how to multiply the opportunities for innovation; invest time to understand the insights in the broader field of talent and customers that lie in front of you.

Cultural Intelligence. The opportunities embedded in the rapid demographic shift are endless, but the lack of cultural intelligence is making it difficult for leaders to understand the new business models and best practice requirements that lie right within reach. Success in today’s global market requires a leader’s ability to see the talent and consumer landscape as two sides of the same coin. Today, a leader must be culturally intelligent about others in order to realize the value of the demographic shift.  Culture is the new currency for growth and leaders must change their perspectives about diversity from being a cost center to a profit center.  

Global Market Wisdom. Business outside of the U.S.  respects wisdom equally to knowledge, as well as proper conduct, tact and executive presence.  Conducting business abroad is about the total experience a leader can bring to the table that is consistent, original and true.  Self-promotion, lack of values and sensationalism will get you nowhere. While your organization’s brand carries weight, just as important is getting to know who you are as an individual, and the intangibles that help you earn trust.

Consumers Demand More. As leaders, you must touch the business just as much as you lead it.  Leaders can never forget about the customers that contribute to the growth of their business and must never grow complacent about understanding their changing demands. Today’s consumer is more fickle; they are drowning in the noise and clouded by the choices that are in front of them — that are attempting to  sway them and influence what they  buy.  Leaders, regardless of hierarchy, are affected by consumer behavior; therefore, they must change the lens that they see through in order to be more mindful and educate themselves about consumer demands.

 Women Leaders Are Ready to Dive In. More women will assume senior executive leadership roles in the next 10 years, and if you are a male leader, be open to the new opportunities this represents.  Women are ready to command the leadership space by diving in, not just leaning in — to solidify their influence in the business world. Women see through a different lens then men and thus interpret the requirements of leadership differently.  Leaders must assess their approach and challenge themselves to think differently about how to best align their leadership attributes to the needs of the business.

Entrepreneurial Attitude. The competitive marketplace has made it mandatory for leaders to be more entrepreneurial, connect the dots of opportunity and find non-traditional ways for their business to grow and prosper.  Beyond creativity with the existing business at-hand, leaders must be prepared to get involved in new ventures that may require them to open up new markets, launch new products, and/or be involved in merger and acquisition activities.

Technology. You may not be technologically savvy, but you must get to know the role that technology plays in the evolution of your business.   As a leader in your business, change your mindset and educate yourself and those around you.  If you plan on being in a leadership role for the rest of your career, the 21st century demands   that you be knowledgeable enough about technology to test it, engage with it and use it to harness the profitable evolution of your business.

Crisis Management. Businesses are dealing with crisis management issues because their leaders didn’t have the circular vision to anticipate the unexpected.  The advent of social media – and a national media hungry to sensationalize any misstep – requires more leaders to have the necessary preparation, and technologies to respond to a potential crisis in a timely fashion whenever needed.

Thought Leadership. Today’s leaders must be visionaries that are not afraid to speak-up and change the conversation and/or introduce new ideas. Being a constructively disruptive leader is important and if you are not pushing your organization, its employees and the industry at large to think differently, you will not only grow complacent – you will forget how to think like a leader and as a consequence your organization will become more vulnerable to its competitors.

 Evolution of the Business Model. The result of these changes is the natural evolution of a company’s business model that now demands that its leaders serve as change agents to lift and lead the entire company. As change agents, you must know how to sell change and this requires a set of skills that you may not have been asked to have when you first got the job. 

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Six Rules Every New Project Manager Should Follow

These days, being a project manager can be a rewarding career, but without the proper training, you could be underprepared for all the tough tasks and decisions that can arise in your day. The core of project management is about setting and meeting business goals and when these goals are broken down into designated steps, they become projects to be completed. So, managing these projects requires not only intuition, but also learned project management skills.

According to Project Accelerator, every new project manager should follow these six rules in order to have a successful career:

Communicate. Communication is key to a successful project completion. Communicating comfortably with executives, team members, and shareholders is the top-needed skill for PMs. A PM needs to be able to tailor their message to the various levels of the organization. Whether it is business or personal, PMs need to take interest in whatever the executive talks about, which allows them to utilize this information later. Communication with stakeholders is critical early on in projects, building trust and gaining invaluable insights on project success.

Speak in Public. Even though the main role of a PM is to lead the team to a successful project completion, PMs also need to be proficient in presenting their project ideas. PMs should be able to put the project information in an engaging format, which will increase the positive engagement of those impacted by the project. Most public speakers are not born with this skill, but need to invest in the time and practice needed to present their message clearly and confidently.

Implement Earned Value Management Systems (EVMS).  Implementing an EVMS helps PMs keep track of the data to answer questions and keep their team on track while increasing their credibility with stakeholders. PMs need to understand how to read the metrics on the EVMS; otherwise, the information will not be conveyed correctly, affecting the project at all levels.

Find the Right Resources. Implementing the right resources for effective project management takes a tremendous amount of work, requiring PMs to get to know people, and tap into the correct networks for experience and knowledge. Resourcing works hand in hand with communication, involving conversing and connecting with people every day. Once project managers build a rapport with clients and stakeholders, these people will want to help to get the job down within the designated timeframe and budget.

Acquire the Right Skills. Applying a balance of technical focus, verbal and written communication and decision-making skills is imperative to doing this job effectively. These skills help PMs cross organizational boundaries when forming decisions and obtaining support.

Hold Regular Meetings. When taking on new projects, PMs need to make sure to hold regular team meetings to allow for project information distribution, time line setting, resources allocation, feedback solicitation, and stakeholder updates. 

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ProjectWorld & World Congress for Business Analysts Date Changed to September 22-24, 2014

ProjectWorld & World Congress for Business Analysts 2014 is now taking place September 22-24, 2014 in Seattle, WA.

PW&WCBA is the industry's year-round resource for gaining cutting-edge insights through C-Level case studies & corporate best practice presentations, exclusive Web Seminars, Learning Labs, and facilitated sharing sessions.   

PW&WCBA bridges the gap between theory and practices by championing and celebrating the role of the PM and BA as true contributors to the overall business with specific examples of how and why, and new ideas to help you achieve more.

Thank you to all who joined us at PW&WCBA 2013. Your enthusiasm for exchanging new practices by engaging with industry leaders and your peers made it a success.

To continue the discussions well into 2014, we encourage everyone to join us on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, and subscribe to our Blog. These social media communities are global networks of professionals from all industries who share a common goal to develop and innovate towards the best project management and business analysis landscape. 

Join us and know that you are investing in yourself and your career. 

We hope to see you in Seattle!

Cheers,

The PW&WCBA Team

@Project_World 

pwwbcablog.iirusa.com

Sign Up for The ProjectWorld & World Congress for Business Analysts Web Seminar Series

ProjectWorld & World Congress for Business Analysts is providing several upcoming webinars as one of many educational programs for project management and business analysis professionals. PW&WCBA is the industry's year round resource for project managers, portfolio managers and business analysts who wish to move beyond the fundamentals and learn leadership, strategy and enterprise wide information in order to be more valuable for their organization.

Register for these upcoming webinars:

Agile Requirements Toolkit: Essential Techniques for Business Analysts on Agile Projects - Wednesday, January 22nd, 2014

1:00 – 2:00 PM ET, Elizabeth Larson, Principal, Watermark Learning

Attendees will be able to:

• Describe common misinterpretations of Agile projects, including the role of the BA 
• Explain why business analysis work is essential to the success of Agile projects 
• Discuss how business analysis tools and techniques are used on Agile projects

Register here: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/881389688

Shifting From Century-old, Unruly Gantt Charts to Simple, Flexible Workflow-based Project Management – Tuesday, January 28th, 2014

1:00 – 2:00 PM ET, Sanjeev Gupta, CEI of Realization

Attendees will be able to:

• Get away from ad hoc project management caused by inflexible Gantt Charts;
• Create “what if” scenarios that address changes to scope, schedule and resources;
• Simplify planning, turning it into a repeatable process; and
• Create flexible plans that support popular techniques such as Agile and Kanban.

Register here: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/732010073

Information Technology Global Collaboration Services – Thursday, March 6th, 2014

1:00 – 2:00P M ET, Vicki Hendrix, IT Project Manager, The Boeing Company

Attendees will be able to:

• Make Global Virtual collaboration possible
• Work together as an integrated team allows us to minimize roadblocks and oversights, and ensure close communication and efficient handoffs.
• Follow common documented processes ensures lean operations and ensure that we are in compliance with government regulations, such as export, and information security policies and regulations.
• Integrate suppliers/partners as efficiently and quickly as possible.

Register here: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/718977400

We invite you to participate in our ongoing PW&WCBA Webinar Series! Interested in presenting during one of our PW&WCBA webinars? Contact Kacey Anderson at kanderson@iirusa.com.

Best,

The PW&WCBA Team

@ProjectWorld

pwwbca.blogspot.com

Get Ready for Enterprise Project Management

Many high-growth organizations find themselves outgrowing their existing project management practice and tools. With a growing portfolio, project information becomes more and more scattered pushing the capacity of resources beyond their limits. The project management leader inherits the responsibility of project delivery without the appropriate tools in place to deliver the desired results demanded from their stakeholders. So, these organizations arrive at a fork in the road and are faced with the decision to either scaling back their project intake to align with their current capabilities or change their approach by adopting an Enterprise Project Management (EPM) system.

For project-centric organizations looking to incorporate an EPM strategy in their practice, it is recommended to adopt an approach in which the organization as a whole is plugged into the improved ways of tracking, accessing and sharing project information. EPM takes a holistic approach to managing all projects with great consideration given to their impact on the people, processes and corporate objectives. The idea is to develop a project management environment where projects are treated as a group of interrelated goals that are linked to a single group of people with finite availability and talent.

EPM focuses on a single project’s success within the context of other competing projects and resources, which means the focus on successful scheduling, planning, execution and delivery must consider the success of all projects impacting an organization. At the core of EPM, project-centric organizations need to implement a holistic approach of managing projects within the context of all the activities performed. So, a successful EPM strategy includes enterprise wide buy-in, inclusive processes and a far reaching EPM platform to deliver the 360 degree view across the organizations. The goal of EPM should be to transform your project management practice into a formalized process with a well-defined framework and best practices guidelines.

Many organizations are too late in discovering they are ready for EPM. Like many businesses, initially project management is a means to an end to either deliver what was sold to customers or to deliver the infrastructure to keep up with a growing business. In a typical reactive mode, those “running” the projects realize that they cannot keep up with the pace and are faced with the reality that a change to their processes need to mature in order to deliver the quality results that customers demand.  Although recognizing their growth and taking this first step toward a more mature practice, technology is only one piece of the EPM puzzle.

In order to take a more proactive approach to streamlining your project management practice, consider a EPM Readiness checklist, according to The Project Management Hut:

• Does your organization have a growing portfolio of projects impacting the bottom line?

Do not wait until your project pipeline becomes unmanageable. If you are in a high growth industry where projects are central to your success, you should incorporate an EPM strategy earlier.

• Does your project pipeline exceed the abilities of your current resources?

The moment your pipeline of projects is approaching your capacity of resources and EPM strategy needs to be considered. People are the cornerstone to successful projects and preparing your EPM resource plan before it becomes an issue can avoid future losses.

• Do you leverage any industry best practices?

Getting ready for EPM means you need to build a project management best practices approach to delivering projects. Formalizing your approach builds the ideal culture for the success of EPM in the organization.

• Do you have a formal process in place?

Establishing a formal process builds the structure to support an EPM strategy. A framework should engage the whole organization so that the holistic philosophy of EPM is setup for success.

• Are your existing tools falling short?

The best indicator you need to look at EPM solutions is when your existing tools lag in delivering the information to hit project timelines and manage your distribution of work among resources.

• Do you have executive buy-in for change?

With the introduction of any new EPM process or technology the change management question cannot be ignored. Including a change management component from the top down can mean the difference between the success and failure of EPM.

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20 Reasons Your Project Planning is Taking Too Long

"Project planning" is one of the most misunderstood terms in project management. It is a set of living documents that can be expected to change over the life of the project. Like a road map, it provides the direction for the project. And like the traveler, the project manager needs to set the course for the project. Just as a driver may encounter road works or new routes to the final destination, the project manager may need to correct the project course. 

These days, many organizations spending too much time in project planning. If you want to be agile, you need to deliver software. Planning helps get you there but it can also get in the way if you over do it. According to Founder and President of DAMICON Vin D’Amico, here are 20 ways to tell if your company is spending too much time planning the project, and not enough time delivering it.

1. The business stakeholders are asking “Is the software done yet?” and you’re still planning.
2. The requested delivery date for the software passes and you’re still planning.
3. You spend more time in planning meetings than you do with your family.
4. Every time you go to a planning meeting, you meet new people.
5. You have to schedule meetings to plan the planning meetings.
6. You call meetings but no one shows up any more.
7. You’ve revised the planning documents at least 5 times.
8. The planning documents are so complex you create a taxonomy to organize them
9. The planning document set is so large you can’t use email to distribute it.
10. Everyone answers “I’ll get back to you.” to information requests yet no one ever does.
11. Writing the code is expected to take 4 weeks yet the planning has dragged on for 6.
12. People assigned to work on the project are being re-assigned.
13. Writing your risk management plan has become a project in itself.
14. The name of the project has changed at least twice.
15. Your email distribution list is so long you need Constant Contact to manage it.
16. Every time you print your planning documents the printer runs out of toner.
17. The same issues, discussions and debates occur over and over again.
18. The development team spends more time playing video games than writing code.
19. The business, tired of waiting, shows you prototype software they are developing on their own.
20. You’ve been planning for so long that the original project goals are no longer valid.

You have likely witnessed at least one of these patterns in your projects. What’s the cure? D’Amico advises to just stop, test it, and deliver it already!

Related articles

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How do you develop openness to change?

Encountering resistance to change within your company?

Check out this great video produced as part of Fast Company's 30-Second MBA program featuring Mark Langley President and CEO of Project Management Institute.

An ongoing video “curriculum” of advice from the trenches from business leaders, the 30-Second MBA series is a treasure trove of quick, inspirational ideas.

The gem in this video? "Change happens, and it's going to happen with you or without you."

Project Management Versus Change Management

The Lamarch and Associates, Inc, blog has recently put together a series of blogs looking at the differences between change management and project management.

Read the series here:
What Are the Differences Between Change Management and Project Management?
What Are the Differences Between Change Management and Project Management? (Con’t)
What Are the Differences Between Change Management and Project Management? (Con’t)
What Are the Differences Between Change Management and Project Management? (Con’t)

Meet Some of Our Presenters

Being on hand to document this year's event, I have a chance to meet with our presenters, get them to share some highlights of their presentation, as well as record some of their discussions for everyone to share in. Yesterday, I had the chance to meet with some and here they are for you:

Alora Chistiakoff, Change Management Executive, presenting 'You Gotta Walk Before You Can Run: Getting Started with Portfolio Management'



Alain Arseneault, Chief Strategist, and Julian Sammy, Chief Architect at the International Institute of Business Analysis. Here they discuss their presentation, 'Requirements Management Planning for Success.' You can visit their blog to learn more.



Lisa DiTullio of Lisa DiTullio & Associates who is presenting 'Expected Behaviors: Road Rules for Project Team Performance - Not Road Rage.' You can read more about this here.



Amy Nichols, Sr. Vice President, Director of Systems Development Optimization for Wachovia Bank and Glen Brulé, Director of Client Solutions of ESI International held a Learning Lab: Creating a BA Center of Excellence.