May 5, 2008

 

Dear Editor,

Another winner by Lee Lambert!  To so clearly and concisely identify a deficiency in the practice of project management by us “certified professionals”. 

I have known Lee for a number of years, and have always respected him, his views, and certainly his work in support of PMI and Project Management as a profession.  On this occasion however, I am wondering if his informal survey analysis is perhaps missing some components. 

While his conclusion is absolutely on target … practitioners must use a WBS and PDM if there is to be any hope for success on the project (from a time and cost perspective).  His “survey” indicates that very few project management practitioners use the above tools in project management ... consistent with my views from both consulting and training experience. 

Perhaps part of the contributing factor to these results is the way he asked his “informal survey” questions.  Perhaps these results aren’t reflective of the state of the professional, but rather a reflection on PMI’s Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge®: 

• Lee’s first question … “1) how many of the PMPs were consistently utilizing the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) as described in PMBOK on their projects?” includes a very major difference between PMI’s theoretical world and real-life project management.  With that difference, there is absolutely no surprise in their answer that Lee observed.  You see, according to the PMBOK Guide®, there is no executable work shown on the WBS.  Rather, the WBS contains “Work Packages”, which are summaries of executable work.  The real work of a project (according to PMI) is included on the “Activity List” in Schedule Activities.  Does anyone really know someone that produces the “Activity List” on their real-life projects, or rather do we show tasks or activities as the bottom level of the WBS?

• Lee’s second question … “2) how many were implementing the Precedence Diagramming Method (PDM) using the WBS Work Packages to determine logic relationships/work flow” contains a trap carried over from the first question.  If practitioners does use the WBS the PMI way, there is no way to develop the PDM from the “WBS”, they would rather do it from the “Activity List”.  Again, the results are not surprising! 

I for one believe that Lee has uncovered a real problem, but perhaps not to the degree reflected in his “informal survey”, and perhaps not with the practitioners practices.  Rather, within the body of the PMBOK Guide®. 

On another matter, Lee included two equations in his article … Duration Impact: (Effort/Productivity) divided by Resource Availability, and Cost Impact: Effort/Productivity X Resource Rate.  I would suggest the following revision to these equations: 

• Duration = [(Effort/Productivity)/Resource Availability]/(Utilization Factor * hours per day paid)

• Cost = [(Effort/Productivity) * Resource Rate] * hours per day paid

If you assume a standard eight hour day … we pay for eight (cost), but get less than eight hours of productive work (duration) … two different standards for real life estimating. 

AC Fred Baker, PMP
Principal and CFO
Baker Barnes Associates, Inc.
www.bakerbarnes.com
acbaker@mindspring.com
North Carolina, USA

Founding Member of the NC Chapter of PMI
Former PMI Board Member

• Sponsoring Board Member of PMI Student Chapters
• Sponsoring Board Member of PMI’s Educational Foundation
• Sponsoring Board Member of the PMI Student Scholarships

Recipient of the Distinguished Contribution Award from PMI
No published books, but a few published papers

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On the Subject of your May Editorial on Future Energy

May 10, 2008

 

Dear David,

This extremely informative editorial -- which obviously represents a major investment of your time and interest -- should be read by all who are concerned with the future of our planet and our civilization.

It is obvious that good, effective project management methods and project managers will be needed in increasing numbers for the foreseeable future.

Do we want to continue to let "market forces" drive our policies and strategies for energy, or should we figure out how to apply sound "strategic project management" concepts to the development of international strategies, followed by identification, selection, prioritization, authorization, and funding of programs and projects?

We can then apply our well-known "operational project management"

concepts to make sure that these programs and projects are well planned, scheduled, and executed. But which national and/or international agencies will hold responsibilities for these efforts at the strategic and operational levels?

Russ Archibald
San Miguel de Allende, Mexico