PM Insights: Communication Concerns

Over the next few weeks here on the Project World blog we're going to be featuring some of the insights shared at the 2011 Your Space session at the ProjectWorld® & World Congress for Business Analysts® event.

A repeat favorite, Your Space offers PW&WCBA attendees a chance to debrief on topics covered, come up actionable plans for their return to the office and share in the collective knowledge and expertise of other PW&WCBA attendees and speakers


 This week's topic comes from Table 6: Communication—between all groups 

So many projects are delayed or break down altogether due to miscommunications. Why is this?

Our team at Table 6 identified some common causes of communication breakdown, including:
- Silos: Left hand is unaware of what the right hand is doing 
- Over use of acronyms and terminology 
- Overlooking a communication need
- Problems with information data source and usability

As well as some steps towards improving communication:
- At the start of your project, identify your communication timing and details (how much/when)
- Find the appropriate use of technology and human touch for your stakeholders
- Remember the cost of not getting it right the first time
- Lead by example:
         - Define goals and set communication strategy. Ownership- Buy In continuous communication
         - Customize delivery approach and audience (explain how and why)
         - Train your team and direct to info source. Provide responsible leadership on usability
         - Use accountability, agreements and commitment
         - Encouragement, websites, develop, sharepoints, generic, servers, guidelines, byu in, WITFM,
           Support stories
- Use a stakeholder roster, org charts, or a communication tree

What would you add? What are your best practices for communication?

Michelle LeBlanc is a Social Media Strategist at IIR USA and the voice behind the @Project_World twitter. She may be reached at mleblanc@iirusa.com

PM Insights: Resource Management

Over the next few weeks here on the Project World blog we're going to be featuring some of the insights shared at the 2011 Your Space session at the ProjectWorld® & World Congress for Business Analysts® event.

A repeat favorite, Your Space offers PW&WCBA attendees a chance to debrief on topics covered, come up actionable plans for their return to the office and share in the collective knowledge and expertise of other PW&WCBA attendees and speakers

This week's topic comes from Table 4: Resource Management


As we discussed last week, there is often a conflict on project teams that occurs as a result of limited resources. In many cases, there is nothing to be done about these resource constraints, but conflict can be lessened or avoided entirely through good resource management.

Our attendees at Table 4 had a lot of questions when it came to achieving common disciplined resource management, such as:
- With 1000s of resources to manage, how do we stay effective and efficient with project resourcing?
- Vendor resources: how to have control over quality?
- How do we forecast resource demands at different phases of a project?
- How do we deal with resources being informally reserved for “pet” projects?
- What tools and processes are best for effectively managing assignments and notifying stakeholders?
- At what level of granularity should resources be measured?
- How to manage availability/contention for key resources?

It wasn't all unresolved questions, the team also came up with a number of ideas for addressing this issue such as: "Solution: use capacity management tools and best practices (Not a trivial task!)" and "Solution: Strong portfolio and pgm management best practices and tools," as well as managing vendor quality issues at the contract level, and using a PPMtool or Access database for notifications and managing assignments.

Still, there are some lingering issues here, how do you manage resources? What advice would you give? Let us know in the comments or contact me if you'd like to contribute a guest blog on this issue.

Michelle LeBlanc is a Social Media Strategist at IIR USA and the voice behind the @Project_World twitter. She may be reached at mleblanc@iirusa.com

PM Insights: Managing the tension between projects and operations

Over the next few weeks here on the Project World blog we're going to be featuring some of the insights shared at the 2011 Your Space session at the ProjectWorld® & World Congress for Business Analysts® event.

A repeat favorite, Your Space offers PW&WCBA attendees a chance to debrief on topics covered, come up actionable plans for their return to the office and share in the collective knowledge and expertise of other PW&WCBA attendees and speakers


 This week's topic comes from Table 2: Managing the tension between projects and operations

• The attendees at table two identified a number of issues that can cause tension between project teams and operations. Those included:
• Resource constraints
• Team members assigned to support both operations and projects
• Poor communication between stakeholders and operations
• Disruptive stakeholders
• Operations staff not engaged in project team – no buy-in or ownership
• No funding for operations to support the project outcome (during and after the project)
• Operations resistance to prescribed solutions.

Ultimately these sources of tension boiled down to four root causes: Lack of Communication, Not involving right people at right time, Resource allocation, and Prioritization.

Our team at table two suggested that ultimately many issues came down to resources or funding, which can be a difficult (if not impossible) problem to solve. However, re-prioritization of resources or improved communication could lead to improvements in some areas.

How would you address these issues? Have you ever faced conflict between projects and operations?

Michelle LeBlanc is a Social Media Strategist at IIR USA and the voice behind the @Project_World twitter. She may be reached at mleblanc@iirusa.com

PM Insights: Agile Best Practices

Over the next few weeks here on the Project World blog we're going to be featuring some of the insights shared at the 2011 Your Space session at the ProjectWorld® & World Congress for Business Analysts® event.

A repeat favorite, Your Space offers PW&WCBA attendees a chance to debrief on topics covered, come up actionable plans for their return to the office and share in the collective knowledge and expertise of other PW&WCBA attendees and speakers 

This week's topic comes from Table 8: Agile

Given our always popular Agile summit, and this year's presentation on the new PMI-ACP certification, Agile is an important and growing topic for PW&WCBA attendees.  Attendees at this table identified a number of sub-topics within agile that merited further discussion.

These included:
• Earned Value
• Virtual Team
• Risk Management
• Documentation (interpretation that Agile = No Docs)
• Buy-in as a PM practice
• Multiple methods of agile (Kanban, scrum, XP, ect)
• How do you know when you’re done
• Metrics for executives
• No good basis for estimates
• Best practices

When it comes to best practices, the team at table 8 identified some key takeaways for running a successful agile project:

• Have a dedicated team
• Make sure the type of project is the right fit for agile
• Get a solid commitment from leadership
• If you have a virtual team, invest in some onsite meetings
• Do not allow extra discussion during daily stand-ups
  

We'll continue to check back in on the other agile topics identified between now and PW&WCBA 2012. Are there any topics not listed here that you'd like to see covered? What about best practices?

Michelle LeBlanc is a Social Media Strategist at IIR USA and the voice behind the @Project_World twitter. She may be reached at mleblanc@iirusa.com

Last Chance: Call for Papers 2012 ProjectWorld® & World Congress for Business Analysts Conference

Last Chance: Call for Papers 2012 ProjectWorld® & World Congress for Business Analysts Conference 
Disney’s Contemporary Resort Orlando
September 10-12, 2012

Speaking Opportunities
We are seeking high caliber program managers, portfolio managers, PMO, engineers and business analysts who have run or are currently running complex projects especially high profile projects. Specific presentation topics of interest include: Agile // Running a PMO // Earned Value Management // Tools & Techniques // Communication // Innovation. These topics are best covered in a case study format where the topic is illustrated by sharing learnings from a real world project.

Time is running out
If you would like to present or if you would like to nominate an industry leader to present, please email Rachel McDonald at rmcdonald@iirusa.com.

This year’s theme shines a particular focus on Accelerating Innovation Across the Enterprise. What distinguishes PW&WCBA apart from similarly themed conference events is the practical nature of the presentations which leads to richer, more productive dialogue.

PW&WCBA is 100% designed around utilizing real world examples to illustrate key themes and topic areas. The event evolves year on year to be reflective of what’s happening and what matters most. This means incorporating top trends and new advancements to develop the manager into a true leader.

PM Insights: Managing stakeholder expectations

Over the next few weeks here on the Project World blog we're going to be featuring some of the insights shared at the 2011 Your Space session at the ProjectWorld® & World Congress for Business Analysts® event.

A repeat favorite, Your Space offers PW&WCBA attendees a chance to debrief on topics covered, come up actionable plans for their return to the office and share in the collective knowledge and expertise of other PW&WCBA attendees and speakers  

This week's topic comes from Table 5: Managing stakeholder expectations

This is obviously a huge topic for PW&WCBA attendees. The main problem that we saw emerging was that stakeholders get missed or overlooked or are otherwise not engaged or participating in the project, and this leads to overruns on time or budget or conflicts that derail progress.

The group at table five identified some strategies for preventing this and managing expectations more effectively:
• Using methodology or diagrams to identify all stakeholders
• Keeping stakeholders informed and engaged  with regular status updates on milestones & deliverables
• Define scope, define the project upfront, including risks and end date and educate the stakeholders on cost, time and materials.
• A lot of and clear communication
 • A documented approval process
• Prioritizing what is included in each release and understanding what a stakeholder is wanting a certain feature
• Stakeholders coming together in agreement on prioritizing issues as an outcome of testing or what is not in release
• Staying proactive to prevent reactive
• Be brief in your presentations, 3 min elevator speech
• Present stakeholder with all information about project steps
• Spend time to understand requirements, include end steps

What would you add to this list? Have you found a particular tactic effective for managing stakeholder expectations?

Michelle LeBlanc is a Social Media Strategist at IIR USA and the voice behind the @Project_World twitter. She may be reached at mleblanc@iirusa.com

PW&WCBA Call for Submissions Deadline Extended to 2/22

CALL FOR PRESENTERS: LAST CHANCE ProjectWorld® & World Congress for Business Analysts® 2012 
Email rmcdonald@iirusa.com by Wednesday, February 22, 2012 

The Institute for International Research (IIR) is currently seeking corporate practitioners, authors and experienced facilitators to present at the 2012 ProjectWorld® & World Congress for Business Analysts® conference. 

The event will take place September 10-12, 2012 at Disney's Contemporary Resort in Orlando, FL.

About this unique event: 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, including the Annual PMO Forum and the Annual Portfolio Management Forum.

Who and what are we looking for? We are seeking high caliber, unbiased program managers, portfolio managers, PMO, system engineers and business analysts. Experienced corporate practitioners, industry experts and qualified facilitators sharing innovative case studies, techniques, templates that attendees can implements as soon as they get back to the office. Each presentation should demonstrate at least three tangible takeaways.

Please note: Decisions will be based on the alignment of the content with the 2012 agenda content, feedback from the event advisors as well as on industry recognition and/or personal references.

We expect our speakers to move beyond the fundamentals.
2012 Presentation Topic Areas include, but are not limited to:
• What's New in Agile?
• Agile, Tools and Metric Tracking
• Cloud Risk: Managing the Risk and Rewards of Cloud Computing
• Defining and Developing the Next Generation of PMs
• Improving the Value of Your PMO
• IT Portfolio Management
• Soft Leadership Skills
• Risk Management
• Building Program Management Expertise
• Motivating Teams and Increasing Team Performance
• Creating a Center of Excellence (Both BA and/or PM)
• Demonstrating the Current Value of Project Management and Business Analysis to Your Organization
• Career Paths for the BA and PM - Where Do You Go After 5 Years?
• Using Six Sigma and LEAN to Improve Project Management
• Requirements Management and Communication
• Funding Models in a Tight Financial Market
• Leading Global Teams
• Change Management
• Reading Verbal and Non-Verbal Cues
• Virtual Engagement
• Lightweight Project Management Tools vs. Heavyweight
• Enterprise Analysis
• Enterprise Architecture
• The Mechanics of Business Process Modeling
• Negotiation Skills for Dealing with Suppliers
• Improved Elicitation Techniques
• Developing Excellent Scoping Skills
• Agile Project Management
• A Systematic Approach to Increase Business Process Performance
• Improving Service Levels with Your Stakeholders
• Business Analysis Planning and Monitoring
• Developing a PM Toolkit: The Essentials
• Implementing a Portfolio Management • Risk Management • Estimating and Identification of Requirements
• Business Rules: An Important Technique to Capture and Discover What You Need
• Green Practices for the PM and BA
• Getting the Benefits of Consolidating, But Without Doing So
• The Current and Future State of the BA
• Identify and Retain the Best and the Brightest
• Agile: Governance and Decision-Making
• Sustainable Portfolio Management Practices
• Development Techniques that are Flexible and Responsive
• SOA Governance
• Integrating the Business Architecture with Human Performance

BONUS: In addition to the exposure and honor of being a speaker, speakers will also receive FREE admission to the conference, access to the post-conference web seminar series as well as any pre-conference activities ($3,000+ value).

How to Get Accepted: Priority will be given to presentations that highlight NEW case studies on pushing beyond the PMBOK and BABOK, presenting new skills, techniques and best practices for today's PM and BA worlds.
ONLY corporate/client-side speaker will be considered.
If you are a consultant, solution provider, technology provider, analyst or consultant, please see sponsorship/exhibit section below.

Interested in sponsoring or exhibiting? If you are a vendor or solution provider and are interested in showcasing your organization's expertise - Please contact Jon Saxe, Senior Business Development Manager at jsaxe@iirusa.com or 646-895-7467 for more information.

If you were not selected to present and are a vendor or solution provider, you may qualify for additional speaking opportunities available through sponsorship.

CALL FOR PRESENTERS: For consideration, please e-mail rmcdonald@iirusa.com with the following information by Wednesday, February 22, 2012:
• Proposed speaker name, job title, and company name
• Contact information including address, telephone and e-mail
• Title of Presentation (one line, benefit focused)
• A brief summary of content to be delivered (no more than 75 words), followed by 3 bullet points of what the audience will gain from your presentation (key audience takeaways)
• Previous conference speaking opportunities for the last 3 years
• Short bio of speaker (50-75 words)
• Two references with contact information

NOTE: If your proposal is selected, portions of this submission will be printed in the brochure.  

Additional Details:
• Commercialism and self-promotion are NOT permitted or tolerated. If this happens, you will NOT be invited to return as a speaker.
• Travel, lodging and other expenses are the responsibility of the speaker.

PM Insights: Overcoming Challenges with Leadership

Over the next few weeks here on the Project World blog we're going to be featuring some of the insights shared at the 2011 Your Space session at the ProjectWorld® & World Congress for Business Analysts® event.

A repeat favorite, Your Space offers PW&WCBA attendees a chance to debrief on topics covered, come up actionable plans for their return to the office and share in the collective knowledge and expertise of other PW&WCBA attendees and speakers  

This week's topic comes from Table 1: Overcoming Challenges w/Leadership
An ongoing topic in the PM & BA world, and certainly one well covered at ProjectWorld® & World Congress for Business Analysts®, this was a popular table. The first takeaway from this group?

"When it comes to politics & group segregation: Build positive relationships, know who to approach and when"

Across a company in leadership (or even within your team,) individuals are coming from different backgrounds with different perspectives. They may be working towards different goals or have differing understanding of the same goals. The company may be working in different silos that have conflicts, and the conflicts between those silos may be causing roadblocks for your project. Before conflicts arise, get to know your stakeholders. Build those relationships so that you have a clear understanding of how to approach certain team members, or when to address a problem.

What strategies have you used to overcome internal politics or group segregation?

Michelle LeBlanc is a Social Media Strategist at IIR USA and the voice behind the @Project_World twitter. She may be reached at mleblanc@iirusa.com

Friday Flicks: Agile Scout's Peter Saddington

The Project Box has launched a new series of videos called "Meet The Experts" and we were excited to see PW&WCBA favorite and former guest blogger Peter Saddington of Agile Scout has been selected to participate.

They're not launching the full video until  the 17th of February, but why not catch the clip below for a taste:
 
Want more? PW&WCBA held a webinar with Peter back in May of 2011, entitled "10 Key Characteristics of a Great Agile Product Owner." You can watch the replay of it here.

Michelle LeBlanc is a Social Media Strategist at IIR USA and the voice behind the @Project_World twitter. She may be reached at mleblanc@iirusa.com

Can innovation and project management coexist?

I recently had the pleasure of sitting in on a webinar presented by SmartOrg, "Assessing the State of Innovation: How Does Your Company Rate?"

This session, presented by Dr. David Matheson, President and CEO of SmartOrg was a great look at some trends in innovation and innovation buzzwords like “Design Thinking”, “Idea Management” and “Voice of the Customer.”

You can view a replay of the session here:


While I was watching, I was struck by a few interesting comments about the conflict between innovation and project management. Can you "allow innovation to challenge your strategy" while still maintaining your project management methodologies? Can project management and innovation ever peacefully coexist?

My key take-away? Yes. While true innovation may exist at the fringes of strategy, it needs to align with overall goals and serve the needs of customers/users to succeed. Using iterative strategies can actually work quite well with innovation as the team reevaluates, learns, and changes with each iteration.

In this White Paper on the topic by SmartOrg, they use Google as an example:

"One example of the iterative approach is extended beta periods for new ideas. You create a product and try it in the market. If people like it and use it, then you improve it. If not, you drop it. Google has built much of its success on this approach, for example. Google maps and Gmail were both created using this framework." 

What are your thoughts, can innovation and project management strategy work together?

Michelle LeBlanc is a Social Media Strategist at IIR USA and the voice behind the @Project_World twitter. She may be reached at mleblanc@iirusa.com

CALL FOR PRESENTERS: ProjectWorld® & World Congress for Business Analysts® 2012

INDUSTRY ALERT: OFFICIAL CALL FOR PRESENTERS
Papers are being accepted on a rolling basis,
we suggest you submit your proposal as early as possible.

The Institute for International Research (IIR) is currently seeking corporate practitioners, authors and experienced facilitators to present at the 2012 ProjectWorld® & World Congress for Business Analysts® conference.

The event will take place September 10-12, 2012 at Disney's Contemporary Resort in Orlando, FL.

About this unique event:
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, including the Annual PMO Forum and the Annual Portfolio Management Forum.

Who and what are we looking for?
We are seeking high caliber, unbiased program managers, portfolio managers, PMO, system engineers and business analysts. Experienced corporate practitioners, industry experts and qualified facilitators sharing innovative case studies, techniques, templates that attendees can implements as soon as they get back to the office. Each presentation should demonstrate at least three tangible takeaways.

Please note: Decisions will be based on the alignment of the content with the 2012 agenda content, feedback from the event advisors as well as on industry recognition and/or personal references.

We expect our speakers to move beyond the fundamentals.

2012 Presentation Topic Areas include, but are not limited to:

• What's New in Agile?
• Agile, Tools and Metric Tracking
• Cloud Risk: Managing the Risk and Rewards of Cloud Computing
• Defining and Developing the Next Generation of PMs
• Improving the Value of Your PMO
• IT Portfolio Management
• Soft Leadership Skills
• Risk Management
• Building Program Management Expertise
• Motivating Teams and Increasing Team Performance
• Creating a Center of Excellence (Both BA and/or PM)
• Demonstrating the Current Value of Project Management and Business Analysis to Your Organization
• Career Paths for the BA and PM - Where Do You Go After 5 Years?
• Using Six Sigma and LEAN to Improve Project Management
• Requirements Management and Communication
• Funding Models in a Tight Financial Market
• Leading Global Teams
• Change Management
• Reading Verbal and Non-Verbal Cues
• Virtual Engagement
• Lightweight Project Management Tools vs. Heavyweight
• Enterprise Analysis
• Enterprise Architecture
• The Mechanics of Business Process Modeling • Negotiation Skills for Dealing with Suppliers
• Improved Elicitation Techniques
• Developing Excellent Scoping Skills
• Agile Project Management
• A Systematic Approach to Increase Business Process Performance
• Improving Service Levels with Your Stakeholders
• Business Analysis Planning and Monitoring
• Developing a PM Toolkit: The Essentials
• Implementing a Portfolio Management
• Risk Management
• Estimating and Identification of Requirements
• Business Rules: An Important Technique to Capture and Discover What You Need
• Green Practices for the PM and BA
• Getting the Benefits of Consolidating, But Without Doing So
• The Current and Future State of the BA
• Identify and Retain the Best and the Brightest
• Agile: Governance and Decision-Making
• Sustainable Portfolio Management Practices
• Development Techniques that are Flexible and Responsive
• SOA Governance
• Integrating the Business Architecture with Human Performance

BONUS: In addition to the exposure and honor of being a speaker, speakers will also receive FREE admission to the conference, access to the post-conference web seminar series as well as any pre-conference activities ($3,000+ value).

How to Get Accepted:
Priority will be given to presentations that highlight NEW case studies on pushing beyond the PMBOK and BABOK, presenting new skills, techniques and best practices for today's PM and BA worlds. ONLY corporate/client-side speaker will be considered. If you are a consultant, solution provider, technology provider, analyst or consultant, please see sponsorship/exhibit section below.


For consideration, please e-mail rmcdonald@iirusa.com with the following information by Friday, January 30, 2012:
• Proposed speaker name, job title, and company name
• Contact information including address, telephone and e-mail
• Title of Presentation (one line, benefit focused)
• A brief summary of content to be delivered (no more than 75 words), followed by 3 bullet points of what the audience will gain from your presentation (key audience takeaways)
• Previous conference speaking opportunities for the last 3 years
• Short bio of speaker (50-75 words)
• Two references with contact information

NOTE: If your proposal is selected, portions of this submission will be printed in the brochure.

Additional Details:
• Commercialism and self-promotion are NOT permitted or tolerated. If this happens, you will NOT be invited to return as a speaker.
• Travel, lodging and other expenses are the responsibility of the speaker.

Interested in sponsoring or exhibiting?
If you are a vendor or solution provider and are interested in showcasing your organization's expertise - Please contact Jon Saxe, Senior Business Development Manager at jsaxe@iirusa.com or 646-895-7467 for more information.
If you were not selected to present and are a vendor or solution provider, you may qualify for additional speaking opportunities available through sponsorship.

Thank you for your interest in PW&WCBA. Please visit www.projectworld.com for more information.

Holidays Happier with Project Management?

With the holiday season fully upon us, I have to wonder, how many of our readers find themselves putting their project management skills to use for personal projects?

Be it planning your gift choices or organizing a holiday party, there are many moments during this busy season when those skills can come in handy. For example, do you find yourself identifying your holiday requirements say, sometime around Thanksgiving? What about having a daily scrum over breakfast with family members ("Yesterday I purchased stamps, today I'll be writing and addressing cards.")? Certainly project cost estimating and cost management skills can be extremely useful during this period and New Year's resolutions look a lot like retrospectives to me.

This post on Project Management Essentials links to a more in-depth exploration of this concept, with diagrams and all!

So, do you project manage your holidays? Or does the idea seem too cold to you, and you would rather use this time as an opportunity to relax and let go of the reins? Share with us in the comments and happy holidays to all of our readers here on the ProjectWorld® & World Congress for Business Analysts® blog!

Michelle LeBlanc is a Social Media Strategist at IIR USA and the voice behind the @Project_World twitter. She may be reached at mleblanc@iirusa.com

Let's go ROWEing

This recent study by two University of Minnesota sociology professors looks at the effect of the the Best Buy headquarters switch to a ROWE, or "Results Only Work Environment."

The study found that, as a whole, employees working in the ROWE format were overall more invested in their work and had a lower turnover rate.

Reading the piece by Fast Company, I couldn't help but be reminded of our PW&WCBA presentation by Terri Dickson, "Soft Skills in a Virtual Team Environment." In this presentation, Dickson discussed ways to work with a team when you aren't meeting in person regularly: specifically how to maintain accountability and avoid trust issues or project slippage.


In her experience, when the team used specific strategies for maintaining good communication working virtually was as or more effective then working on site and meeting in person. Much like an environment where employees have more freedom with their hours, working remotely can allow team members to have better work/life balance, and feel more in control of their work.

Would you ever consider moving to a Results Only Work Environment? Do you think this would have a positive or negative effect on your overall ability to accomplish projects? How does this approach mesh with Agile methods?

Michelle LeBlanc is a Social Media Strategist at IIR USA and the voice behind the @Project_World twitter. She may be reached at mleblanc@iirusa.com

Creating Magic for your Project Team!

Disney's Approach to People Management - The Magic Behind Great Teamwork

Ah, the magic - this session started off just with that - a montage of clips from Disney movies, ABC shows, ESPN, Disney Parks, Pixar, Marvel comics (all part of the Disney family)........if I wasn't so interested in hearing what we could each do to create a piece of magic within my own teams, I might have been next in line for Splash Mountain!

The Disney Institute was created to share Disney best practices - and, our speaker, did just that. Each cast member (employee) at Disney, has the responsibility to all other cast members to help them "deliver the magic". The Disney Chain of Excellence - since a for-profit organization, works to achieve financial results by ensuring guest satisfaction. This is done by cast excellence - which is driven by leadership. The magic of teamwork is woven together through culture, selection of cast, and training.....for the guests (customers), value and satisfaction is based on guest experience - setting the common goal for cast members "to create happiness".

Food for thought - though we can't all have a fairy godmother to sprinkle success into our projects, by focusing on our team members - the folks who really get the job done - to understand their role, why it is important, and how they contribute to the vision, to respect each team member as if they were our customer/guest, and to help each team member realize that he/she has value/information to share, we are well on our way to creating that magic within our own teams.

Recap #PWWCBA - Measuring Learning, Not Activities - An Orthogonal View of PM

Next up, Dr. Terence M. Barnhart, R&D from Pfizer - or, Dr. Terry as we came to call him. He sure called it right when he identified at the start of his talk that "projects are complex problems - alot of people are moving in the same direction" so that to make this happen, "you've gotta write 'it' down" - and, to make this work "you've gotta find a method to get it done --- project management". Boy, is he singing my song - Project management is not about document management, but it is about people management. Finding out what our stakeholders need and managing a group of individuals to make all of that happen. Talking to the right people to get the information and decisions necessary - and, then writing it down so that we don't forget (because it is complex). It is the conversations that add value; following the process so that we get it done in an efficient and proficient way.

Key points - as project managers, a structure needs to be created so that people can do the work. Dr. Terry challenged us NOT to identify the activities first and shared three flaws in activity based planning:

1. The future is unknown (work can be defined and the project still fails)
2. Activities are defined (plan flex is gained through contingencies)
3. Activities are statements that lock orientation (so that when failure occurs, it is hard to think up alternate paths to success)

His fix to us is to approach the plan by asking questions vs. identifying activities. This opens up our orientation to different things and ways of thinking.

Okay, let me try this - or, rather he had us try this by having us (individually) write down some steps of a project we are working on. I am creating a new PM workshop for a client, so I wrote down:

1. Identify need
2. Identify what exists
3. Collect requirements
4. Create course map
5. Build content
6. Build exercises/case studies
7. Run pilot
8. Revamp

(Okay, not a great list, but we only had a few minutes.....)

Now to the new paradigm - write down the questions that each step answers:

1. Why are we doing this training? What problem are we trying to solve?
2. What do people already know? What other training/tools/processes exist to support the problem
3. What do people need to know/do different/not do as a result of this training?
4. How are we going to meet the need?
5. What information to people need to know to meet the need?
6. How can we ensure people can apply the knowledge?
7. How well does our solution meet the need?
8. How can it be even more effective?

Insight (and highlight too!) - By identifying activities first, it seems analogous to building a solution before requirements. We need to start with the "What?" (Questions 1 - 8) vs. the "How?" (Steps 1 - 8). This ensures that we are focusing on the real work that needs to be done - that if we first list our questions (what the intent of the project is about) and then take any template WBS (or start from scratch) to develop how we answer those questions, then we can arrive at a task list geared to the real need of the project. The What, not the How. Ask questions, then convert into activities.

Answered questions are yet another way to communicate status - in a way that our stakeholders can connect. Unanswered questions represent clear gaps in the project. And, these questions, like any template, are durable and reusable. Risk management is integrated in how the question is answered - low risk way to do it by thinking through question, alternatively, the medium and high risk approaches. Each question can also be analyzed for the level of risk it introduces to the project - perhaps breaking a question into more detail can help us better manage the risk!

My takeaway - Dr. Terry's "Critical Question Mapping & 'Organic PM'"

1. Identify a Strategic problem/opportunity
2. Brainstorm questions that need to be answered to solve problem or create opportunity
3. Arrange in Categories (Project Phases!)
4. Order/sequence with arrows
5. Answer questions (by breaking into activities, doing work)
6. Project complete!

My highlight - the quote he shared (source unknown) - "As I get older, passes me by." The < >; could be replaced with many other facets of our lives - don't let Project Management pass you by - integrating both Chuck and Dr. Terry's presentations - professional development is key - step back from how PM is being done and look at what questions you should be asking....or answering.