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Volume X - Issue XI - November 2008
PM Tips and Techniques
Risk in Projects - Impact of Risks on Perceived Project Value By Glenn R. Koller With the writing of this fifth article, I consider that our journey down the risk road is about half over. So, this seems a reasonable time to review the road we have already traversed. Review In article #1 I defined critical terms, outlined how risks can be identified, described and managed, and introduced the fundamental drivers for observed human behaviors related to risk assessment and management. I concluded that article by proposing steps that might be taken to modify behaviors. In article #2, I delineated in detail many of the behaviors that, in a company, impede the introduction and implementation of a comprehensive risk assessment/management process. Article #3 centered on communication and the importance of establishing a common risk-related set of terms and definitions. Tips were given regarding how to establish such a glossary and the importance of doing so. The theme of article #4 was metrics. I reviewed the disparate views of risk taken by various parts of a corporation, the different formats that can be used to express risk, and the fundamentals of the risk monetization process. In this fifth article I attempt to elucidate how risks can individually and in confluence impact the perceived value of a project, how risks can be displayed, and will introduce the concept of how the entire risk assessment process can be the cornerstone of the risk management decision making process. The risk management process will be the focus of article #6. Read complete paper in English
Project Management & Volunteerism:
By Michelle LaBrosse, PMP® As a PMP® and project manager, I see volunteerism as the perfect win-win. You get to stretch your wings and grow in a low-risk environment, gain experience that is relevant in the private sector, network and meet new people, and give back to a cause that you care about. The non-profit organization you’re helping gets your time, expertise and passion for contributing. You get to show the time-tested Project Management techniques that can have a lasting impact on the organization. From establishing project agreements at the beginning of a project to capturing lessons learned at the end, basic Project Management approaches can make a big difference to any organization. For you, it’s an accessible and inexpensive way to grow personally and professionally. For the non-profit, it’s a way to make the organization more efficient and effective without paying a consultant. Read complete paper in English | Spanish
From Planning to Execution: A Crucial Step By Curt Finch CEO of Journyx, Inc. Why do your best laid plans often go unfulfilled? You have put the right people in the right jobs, empowered them to achieve, drafted an excellent plan and got the necessary buy-in and funding. Yet somehow things went into the ditch and now the project is late and over budget, delivering a poor return on investment. The fact is, knowing the path and walking the path are not the same thing. For example, many of us know how to lose weight (exercise, eat better, etc.) Yet knowing how to lose weight and actually losing it are two totally different things. Likewise, knowing what needs to happen to execute a project successfully and actually executing it are different things. The latter is much harder. If you've had trouble in this regard, you are not alone. The following is a true story. I happen to know one of the principals involved very well. The names have been withheld to protect the guilty. Read complete paper in English
The Post Mortem You Never Want
How to Determine By Bob Prieto Senior Vice President, Fluor Project closeout reports, reports from turn-around managers on troubled projects, audit reports and project post-mortems all seem to have recurring findings. These findings can be used to help establish strong, sound project management procedures and act as a guide for effective management of a project. Alternatively, the lessons of the past can be ignored and these findings can serve as a checklist for the auditor or manager looking at a troubled project. Clearly an ounce of prevention is the desired course of action. While the “findings” that follow are not all encompassing, they provide a framework for project managers, functional leads and corporate management to assess whether a project is experiencing one or more of the findings common to many troubled projects. Used preventatively, it can help catch problems as they are emerging and before the real damage has been done. For turnaround manager’s and project auditor’s, this list will unfortunately give them a head start in structuring their report! Read complete paper in English
Execute…Or Be Executed By Lonnie Pacelli Talk about your character-building experience... I was a young hot-shot project manager on an engagement that I had sold to a client. I had it all planned out and had delusions of completely delighting my client with an issue-free project. It all seemed so simple, then the project started...and never finished. I'll spare you the gory details of my harrowing experience but what I can tell you is that I put more focus on selling and planning the project than I did on its execution. I took a naive attitude of the project being able to pretty much run itself with some junior analysts running the day-to-day aspects of the work. It blew up in my face and I got booted from the client never to return again. It was my inaugural visit to the project management guillotine. Read complete paper in English
Applying Little’s Law to Agile Project Management By Tathagat Varma, PMP® Little’s Law states that inventory in a process is the multiplication of throughput and the flow-time. While this seems intuitive, it helps us establish a mathematical relationship between basic factors that govern performance of a production process: arrival rate (or the flow-time or the cycle time), manufacturing lead time (or the throughput) and the inventory present in the system at any point of time (or the work in progress). The law has been found to hold good as long as these three parameters represent long-term averages of a stable system and they are measured in consistent units. Little’s Law has its origins in manufacturing, but it also very relevant to a project manager in non-manufacturing setup. An in-depth understanding of Little’s Law will help a project manager to improvise on critical ideas in scheduling project activities to minimize the risk of schedule variance, improve accuracy of tracking and provide more usable status reporting. In this first paper of the two-part series, we will explain what is Little’s Law using an example, and conclude with what it means for manufacturing and for software development. A second part of this paper will explore in details how Little’s Law is not only conceptually akin to the Agile way of managing project, how well its mathematical principles could be used to improve project management using Agile philosophy. Read complete paper in English
The Communication Key of Program Management By Ashwin Amin, PMP Introduction As per the definition given by PMI (Project Management Institute, USA) “Programme Management is a process of effectively managing multiple on-going inter dependent projects, in order to produce an overall system that work effectively along with deriving expected outcome for the organization”. It means that Program Management is very important to the organization in terms of its working, growth, financial aspects and dealing with client to meet their expectations. Meeting these expectations and achieving the outcome makes the job of Program Manager extremely important. It is expected that he/she should have required skills, knowledge, tactics and tools to make an effective use of communication. Read complete paper in English
Implement Your Strategy Successfully By Bill Birnbaum, CMC When it comes to implementing strategy, project management professionals have a significant advantage. For the skills and the discipline inherent in project management are directly applicable to implementing strategy. It’s unfortunate that too many managers finish their strategy sessions, and only then consider the question of implementation. Clearly this is a mistake. By waiting until after their strategy sessions, they miss earlier opportunities to encourage successful implementation. Project management professionals know not to commit this error. They realize that to encourage successful implementation of their strategy, they should take specific steps before, during and after their strategy sessions. Read complete paper in English
Managing and Leading Technical Teams in IT Projects:
By Melvyn Lee In the first part of the series I have delved into an important foundation to team management - Knowing Your Technical Team. It is equally important to know how subcultures are being developed when different groups and subgroups begin to integrate and relate with one another, which then determines the health and vitality of the overall project team. No individual or group can survive and thrive in discreteness. The ever changing ecosystem will either push you to the cutting edge or fade you into obsolesce. True growth and team maturity is determined through organic relationship, infusion of cultural, value and belief, tolerance ability and adherence to guiding principles of the corporate organization. Fitness is the key answer. When a team fails the fitness test, they would end up like a driftwood bobbing without direction on the sea of fate. This applies to any technical team as well. Read complete paper in English
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