Welcome to the asapm December 2010/January 2011 Newsletter!Welcome to the asapm December 2010/January 2011 Newsletter!
This combined December/January edition of our Opt-in Newsletter is from asapm, the American Society for the Advancement of Project Management. We are IPMA-USA, the USA member association of the International Project Management Association. Enjoy!
In This Issue
1. Change Agents: President's Message, by Stacy Goff
2. Master-Class in Managing Projects with Microsoft® Project and Earned Value, by Simon Harris
3. asapm Certification Announces REACH Program, available January 1, 2011
4. Another Article Triple-Play By Hamilton, Hodgkinson, & Byatt... plus one!
5. Press Release: Shailesh Nepal Wins IPMA’s 2010 IPMA Young Project Manager Award
6. The Lazy Project Manager Introduces The Lazy Blogger; Proceeds go to Cancer Research
7. Announcing the 1st Call for Papers for 25th IPMA World Congress in Brisbane
8. Dr. Gary Klein Reports On, Interprets Certifications Survey Results
9. 2010 asapm Dialogue Series Wrap-up
1. Change Agents: President's Blog, by Stacy Goff
Our Change Agents blog embraces the change that the practice of Project Management brings to the USA, and to Society. We post below the teaser from this month's blog posting; click the bold linked heading to see the whole posting.
The First 10% of a Project: 90% of Success, part 1
We have long asserted that “doing the right things” in the first 10% of any project is 90% responsible for project success. There are over 250 unpublished “Goff’s Laws,” that provide insights on key parts of this first 10%, and beyond. Those insights include: “1. You can get away with anything, on the first day of your project.”
The dialogue around this law (really just a common-sense observation) assures that you can move any deadline, ask for any budget, obtain unobtainable talent, or anything you need, if you identify that need on the first day of the project–especially if you have not yet said, “Yes! I will do this project!” There is a corollary to the above Goff’s Law, that can be of some comfort to those who are assigned somewhat later in the project: “1a. You can get away with almost anything, on the first day you are on the project.”
Of course, the next 10-15% of the project is important, too, because that is where most project teams establish great business requirements. There is another Goff’s Law about this; this one has been borrowed from other, more-experienced folks: “12. You will spend 25% of total project effort getting good business requirements. Competent project teams spend most of that 25% in the first part of the project.”
But when is this first part of a project? What is it, that great project teams should assure that they do, during this first part, to assure project success? And, why are these important actions and key results so often skipped? We will begin to touch on these questions in this multi-part (it will require several sections, over time) Change Agent posting ... More
The First 10% of a Project: 90% of Success, part 2
If you have not reviewed part 1, with the project scenario, go do that before continuing here. Hopefully, you analyzed the scenario and answered the question, at least for yourself, about the additional take-aways from the scenario. They include:
And those are just the obvious ones, from our scenario. There are more things to achieve in the first 10% of any project; or, as we discussed in our corollary to Goff’s Law #1, that you should verify on the first day you are on any project. Let us take a look at more of those precious early ingredients of success ... More
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2. Master-Class in Managing Projects with Microsoft® Project and Earned Value, by Simon Harris
Editor’s Note: Simon is a frequent contributor to asapm's newsletter and website, and this article introduces a free self-study four day workshop that he has developed, and is offering for free for personal (and modest terms for pre-agreed commercial) use--arrangements are within the downloaded .pdf). Simon is giving us his full four-day instructor led class course materials. You can access the workshop by signing up at his website, then going to the Free Down-Loads section. Those who would like to use the class in a commercial offering can contact Simon to arrange to do so. Simon is from the UK, thus some of his favoured spelling and terminology may be less familiar to you. Thank you Simon!
Microsoft Project (MSPJ) is a tough thing to use well! When well used it’s a great asset. Many is the time I've sworn in exasperation at the screen as something I didn't understand, nor could see happen wrecked the last hour’s work. So I taught myself to use it, and then later when I had to show a client how to use it I wrote a training course for others in the situation I had been in.
I explain my start point for the course by analogy with the instruction book that comes with a new car. It tells how to turn on the lights, the right pressure for the tires but nothing remotely useful for teaching me how to go and get my weekly groceries (well it explains how to open the boot – Stacy, that’s ‘trunk’ to you folks, OK? – as if I needed that piece of advice!). Every thousand page book on MSPJ I’ve looked at is at about that same level.
I run projects and to do them, I use flip-charts, yellow sticky notes, breakdown structures, critical path analysis, Monte Carlo simulations, body language, Earned Value Management, one-to-one meetings, stakeholder mapping and MSPJ. Each has their place. MSPJ can not, repeat CANNOT plan a project, but it is very handy for calculating the budgeted cost of the work scheduled (BCWS) for the third time based on the boss’ latest update on who is or isn’t available to join the team. (BCWS is also known as PV depending on whether you use the vocabulary of MSPJ or PMBoK® Guide).
Planning Is A Non-Software Activity
As I’ve written for asapm before: Planning is a social activity in which groups of people develop a shared understanding of an end-point. The first social group is the ‘sponsoring, left with the results’ group who must do their best to say what impact on yesterday’s way of doing business is wanted and its acceptance criteria plus their risk attitude. The second group must do their best to translate that “What” into tasks that define "How" in a way that meets acceptance criteria.
"How" includes tasks, dependencies, materials needed and effort to be expended. Often functional managers are a third group who constrain who will do the tasks when. Properly deployed, MSPJ is a great documentation aid: it is purpose-built to record task-over-time, dependency between tasks and resource-available-over-time. It is also a great calculation engine. All that power is a killer if unleashed without comprehension of the interacting nature of project variables of time cost scope risk quality resources.
Course Construction
To put the course together I first of all structured it around the idea that planning is people based. E.g.: Scope is built in workshops, with white-boards and then transcribed to the software. I also took a fairly complex case-study as the core to create a baseline for. Then I lead you through tracking it over 7 months of "things not going to plan." Examples include events such as when people claim progress they haven’t made, then quit. Or when, people need to be borrowed from task to task; and when finance changes the charge rates between budget approval and resource acquisition: I hope this lot sounds familiar as I would hate to think its only me that gets ‘messy projects’!
The Whole Story (minus the details) First
The course’s journey actually runs a couple of ‘projects’ from start to end. The first has 5 tasks (T1-T5) and one resource (Simon) at one charge rate (£10/hr); it takes only about 20 steps to set-up, track to completion and examine the EV. It’s the whole journey but in microcosm and ignoring hundreds of options. Even that is not something we can embark upon until the basics of what the elements of screen layout are or how the data related to time, task and resource are held internally. Nor is it realistic to ‘manage’ this project before knowing how to select a task, move a task, add a task (or resource). A later session even covers replacing a resource who is half-way through work on various tasks with a replacement person or changing the resources calendar from European weekends to Middle Eastern (I’m writing this while waiting for a flight out of Riyadh KSA).
Here is a brief Course overview as a full description of the contents would be quiet long. The course is a demanding four days when instructor led. Since the whole course is available as a freebie for personal development it is easier for me if you just download it to see its full contents. My only restriction is if you use it for commercial purposes then tell me and we will negotiate a deal (and I’ll supply animated slides, exercise templates and more) ... More
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3. asapm Certification Announces REACH Program, available January 1, 2011
Bill Duncan, asapm's Director of Certification, provided some details on the new REACH program which will be available starting January 1, 2011. REACH stands for Resume Enhancement After Career Hiatus and it allows project managers who have been out of work for at least 4 months to obtain an advanced IPMA certification (Level A, B, or C) at 50% off standard pricing.
The objective of the program is quite simple: to aid those in the PM community who have been hurt by the financial crisis. As well, asapm hopes to get the program qualified for coverage under one or more State and Federal unemployment programs.
Duncan noted that the assessment process for REACH candidates will not be compromised. They must still satisfy the experience requirements. They will still submit documentary evidence of their work as a program or project manager. And they must still pass an intensive 2-hour interview with two assessors.
Editor's note: What better way to "Stand out from the crowd!", a phrase recently picked up by others who recognize its power. But, we have been using this distinction since we began offering our Advanced Performance-competence based certification series, offering a family of role-based advanced certifications that clearly help differentiate you from all the rest! Among our distinctions: Our advanced Project and Program Manager certifications are administered by professional assessors, who verify your ability to perform as a PM (as a pm = asapm)!
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4. Another Article Triple-Play By Hamilton, Hodgkinson, & Byatt... plus one!
A. Going Green, by Hamilton, Hodgkinson, & Byatt
Today’s society is prevalent with organizational and social campaigns to “go green”. This is for good reason. It is, after all, our social responsibility to reduce our carbon footprint, to reduce our dependency on non-renewable energies, and to recycle – not to mention the potential financial benefits associated with going green and green products. There are many things that Program and Project Managers of all industries can take to contribute to this worthy cause as part of following good program and project management processes and practices, but what are the “big ticket items”?
#1 – Direct your outcomes towards efforts such as Energy efficiency, Emissions (Carbon) reduction, Water efficiency and Waste minimization: there are many actions that program and project teams can take to achieve any of these four overall targets. For example, in IT the implementation of software that automatically turns off monitors when not used can lead to carbon reductions. If you work in manufacturing, construction or heavy industry the options for tackling these four factors are many and varied. ... More
B. Rescuing Troubled Projects, by Hamilton, Hodgkinson, Byatt, plus Brian Munroe
You are not impervious to having troubled projects in your portfolio. Any project can fail. Even the most seasoned and skilled project manager may, at one time or another, find themselves at the helm of a troubled project. Having a project in trouble does not necessarily signal the Project Manager is doing a poor job. Projects can go off course for a variety of reasons; some reasons are outside the span of control of the Project Manager. What are some of the common causes for projects to fall into troubled waters and what are some prudent steps to get the project back on course?
If you poll a group of seasoned project professionals with the question, “What are the chief causes of Troubled Projects?” you are likely to receive a variety of responses, though quite possibly there will be some commonly attributed causes. At the macro level, we put forth that projects generally fall into trouble for one or more of three reasons; 1) Poor Planning 2) Misaligned Expectations 3) Ineffective Risk Management. Let’s elaborate on each of these points.
Poor Planning: Planning is a foundation of project management. Within the context of this article, planning is not limited to the development of the “Project Plan”. Having a well defined Project Plan, with realistic estimates and work packages covering each necessary activity to achieve the project objectives, does not inoculate a project from falling into trouble. Proper planning includes identifying all project stakeholders, understanding their attitudes, influence levels, and communication needs, and ensuring the plan covers these needs. Additionally, proper planning for your project should include defining, gathering and properly documenting all of the project requirements ... More
C. Communication Risks Within and Around a Virtual Team, by Hamilton, Hodgkinson and Byatt
In recent years, the way that projects take shape has evolved at or near the same pace as the information and communications technology we use in our business and personal lives. Not long ago, a project team was either co-located (all team members in the same close proximity), or connected together via express couriers and air travel (regular travel to meet face–to-face was reasonable, prudent, the best method, and acceptable in cost).
Then came the email revolution. Project teams could readily and efficiently communicate in an asynchronous manner, ‘virtual’ team members were welcomed and new ways of achieving productivity were discovered. Project productivity certainly benefited from this approach, but risks also became apparent (which we will elaborate on below). Nowadays, video conferencing, application sharing technologies, and other technology advances have enabled project teams to be assembled with talent from anywhere, regardless of location, while minimizing location costs. Communications technologies are so readily available that the virtual project team member is now commonplace in today’s working environment.
Depending on the industry in which you operate, the percentage of virtual team members on a project will vary and in some cases your entire project team may be virtual – meaning no two members geographically reside in the same location, nor meet often (if at all). The Linux development was a classic example of such a team. For sure, projects where something physical is being put together always require people in the same physical location to coordinate it (such as construction of a new building, or a new mining development), however these projects also have many more virtual partners than before (such as designers and offsite manufacturers working remotely). Regardless of the percentage allocation of your team that is “virtual”, communication risks exist. What are the key risks and how can the project manager effectively mitigate them? ... More
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5. Press Release: Shailesh Nepal Wins IPMA’s 2010 IPMA Young Project Manager Award
Editor's Note: asapm has multiple ties to this award. Our own Jhaymee Wilson, of the IPMA International Young Crew Board, has managed this award, and has done a great job in doing so. Congratulations Jhaymee! As well, Edward Logan, one of asapm's earliest members, has been the International Young Project Manager for over two years. Both Jhaymee and Edward attended the awards ceremony in Istanbul. Our congratulations go to Shilesh Nepal, and to all the Finalists! We also encourage all young asapm members and friends to watch for the 2011 Young Project Manager Award, with details to be available late first quarter, 2011, with the award to be made in Brisbane, Australia, in October.
IPMA Young Crew, the premier global organization dedicated to supporting future leaders in project management, is pleased to announce that Shailesh Nepal is the 2010 IPMA Young Project Manager Award reipient. A citizen of Nepal, he was honored for his contributions to the China Engineering Railway Corporation Project as the Deputy Contract Manager and Senior Construction Engineer.
Mr. Nepal was presented with the prestigious award at the IPMA Global Young Crew Workshop and Gala Dinner on October 30, 2010 in Istanbul, Turkey. In addition, he received a 350 euro stipend from Rambøll, a leading engineering, design, and consulting company, to commemorate his achievements in project management.
“Shailesh Nepal embodies the traits of a dynamic emerging leader that is dedicated to advancing project management” says Jhaymee S. Wilson, IPMA Young Crew Board Member and coordinator for the 2010 award. “We are excited to honor Mr. Nepal and all of our finalists on their accomplishments in the field. Their dedication and impact to the project management profession proves that our finalists are leaders and influencers on a global scale.” See the entire Press Release.
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6. The Lazy Project Manager Introduces The Lazy Blogger; Proceeds go to Cancer Research
Editor's Note: Peter Taylor, our popular writer and speaker, has added to his repertoire, with a new electronic book (pdf), The Lazy Blogger. We offer an except below. One of the aspects of this book is that the majority of proceeds are guaranteed to go to Cancer Research. The recipient organization is in the UK, but every little bit helps. Thank you Peter!
You have reached your destination. These days I use a satellite navigation system in my car. Not all of the time though since it is not built in to the old Saab but has to be stuck on the windscreen and connected to the power from the lighter socket. So ‘2006’ I know but that is the way it is.
But it is a comfort and I do enjoy the calm, unruffled and dispassionate advice that she hands out to me by voice and by graphical display. I say ‘she’ of course since I have selected the voice of ‘Carol’. My wife on the other hand has selected ‘Ken’ the Australian for some bizarre reason. Each to their own.
The old days of map reading and general direction guidance was an instant recipe for marital strife since neither the driver nor the guide would ever agree on the need for information, the speed of supply of this information, the accuracy of the information or anything really. A simple trip to new location for a convivial lunch with relatives or the delivery of a small child to the house of one of his new friends could escalate the likelihood of divorce proceedings being initiated as easy as match ignites dynamite.
These days it is so much better. ‘Carol’ (let’s assume that I am driving) asks me where I want to be, and when, and then brakes the route down in to small work packages and off we go. The great thing is that when ‘Carol’ is wrong (I do occasionally obviously know better that her – and her satellite friend) and I drive past the turning she asked me politely to take she quietly acknowledges my superior intelligence with the phrase ‘recalculating’ and then gives me the right directions. She can be wrong many times but just appreciates the lessons learned and recalculates. I am told that ‘Ken’ does this as well ... More
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7. Announcing the 1st Call for Papers for 25th IPMA World Congress in Brisbane
Courtesy of our friends at PMForum, the official Press Partner for the IPMA World Congress, we are pleased to report that the organizing team for the 25th IPMA World Congress in Brisbane, Australia next year have issued their first Call for Papers - an invitation for abstracts for the Congress. The 25th IPMA World Congress on Project Management, with the theme "Project Management - Delivering the Promise", will be held at the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia during 9-12 October 2011. For information, visit www.ipma2011.com.au.
According to the congress website, the 25th World Congress team will be calling for submissions from authors in February 2011. Meanwhile, they have selected seven main Congress themes, each to have its own stream during the event. Project and programme management leaders worldwide are encouraged to participate actively in the Congress by submitting an abstract for either a peer-reviewed or non-peer reviewed paper, on one of the following topics:
Timeline for acceptance of abstracts and papers is:
Mark your calendar for the above dates, and for the Congress event, October 9-12, 2011. The 25th IPMA World Congress is being organized by the Australian Institute of Project Management, the Australian member association of IPMA. The Chairman for the 25th IPMA World Congress is AIPM leader David Hudson, who has a full team organized and prepared to deliver an outstanding event in Brisbane. Visit http://www.ipma2011.com.au/.
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8. Dr. Gary Klein Reports On, Interprets Certifications Survey Results
Editor’s Note: Dr. Gary Klein is our former asapm Director of Education, and is one of the world's most-published paper presenters in IT Project Management, and related topics. Dr. Klein offered a survey last Summer, and asapm members and friends completed it. Note that while the survey respondents did include some who hold asapm/IPMA certifications, they also included other PM certifications as well. This topic is especially interesting, as asapm begins a project to establish useful new definitions of Project Success. Interesting conclusions that Dr. Klein has come up with, and we look forward to a follow-on survey! Thank you Dr. Klein!
The Association of Project Management Certification with Personal and Project Outcomes
A report on a pilot survey by Gary Klein and Surbhi Jain of the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs
Twenty years ago, colleagues and I started collecting survey-based data on project management success, focusing on the Information system context and examining a number of factors including a variety of environmental conditions, development methodologies, risk traits, and project team capabilities. Many of these data collections included targeting project managers, team members, users external to the team, functional management, and direct representatives of ownership. When project managers were involved, one demographic question usually asked of them was whether or not they held a certification in project management that was based in knowledge.
The presence of a project manager leading a project and holding such a certification from a major professional society was an important factor to control when determining associations among project variables. That assumption turned out to be wrong. We never found any relationship between the project manager holding such a certification with any other measure of the project, including methodologies applied, risks encountered, or degree of project success. However, none of those studies were designed to study the value of holding a project management certification from any agency to the project, the individual, or the organization, so we made no claims about this unanticipated lack of association.
Yet in those 20 years, pursuit of certification has flourished. In that time many organizations promoted training-based certifications and professionally-assessed certifications in project management (this survey focuses upon the latter). And now, additional certifications are now offered by providers of project management certification. Claims about the value of certification changed frequently on the webpages of professional societies that now consider knowledge-based exams as the primary indicators for certification, to where now (October 20, 2010) you readily find hints of higher salaries and marketability when previously claims of substantial benefits to the person, project, and organization were all highlighted ... More
9. 2010 asapm Dialogue Series Wrap-up
We recognize that asapm attracts both advanced PM practitioners and those newcomers to the practice who are eager to move quickly to achieving project and program results. Our audience is not content to merely sit in a monthly meeting and listen to some speaker who has less experience or insight that they have. Thus, our challenge is to provide an ever-increasing number of alternatives, that include many-to-many dialogues, rather than classic one-to-many monologues. For example, we pioneered the use of PM Communities of Practice, that were so effective, they have now been adopted by others. And several other initiatives include the asapm Dialogue Series, a program to broaden our interaction and engagement.
The 2010 asapm Dialogue Series had several objectives: 1) to increase needed discussion about performance-competence-based approaches to Project and Program Management. 2) To engage asapm members and friends in true dialogue, increasing our interaction; and 3) To offer a platform for shared viewpoints in the area of needed improvements in the practice of project management. The Dialogue Series is intended for a wide ranging group, including Managers, Sponsors of projects, advanced and beginning project practitioners, and students of project management. The Gold Sponsor of the 2010 asapm Dialogue Series was Real-Life Projects, Inc. Alex S. Brown, CEO; www.RLPRJ.com. Thanks again, Alex!
Report Card
+ We produced seven Dialogue Series Webinars, all but one recorded (pilot error).
+ The session recordings have seen excellent demand at our website, vastly increasing the reach of the content.
+ We had good attendance from a combination of asapm members and friends, including some International participants.
+ All the topics had wide interest and interaction from eager and engaged participants.
- We did not enjoy the level of Dialogue we intended, due to a learning curve, and difficulty in balancing content and discussion.
- Our scheduling may not be the best timing, especially for our International audiences.
- We will adjust awarding of credits to reflect asapm's advanced PM certificaiton program, with clear steps for other programs.
We also have a range of questions to resolve, including exploring use of technology that makes it easier to have multi-way exchange, the extent of International involvement to seek, whether the sessions should be fee or free, the session frequency, and the topics our advanced audiences would prefer. An observation is that from the time we began planning the series until it was well under-way, we saw a glut of webinars in the market, some looking very good, and some not. Our sister organization up North, PMAC, IPMA-Canada, has run a stellar string of webinars for several years now; successful in their format, they have not tried to turn them into interactive dialogues.
Dialogue Series Program Manager Volunteer Needed
The 2010 Dialogue program was started by Tim Jaques, and we have several exciting candidates for the 2011 Dialogue sessions. We are soliciting an asapm member who will take over the Dialogue Series for 2011 as part of asapm Member Services. You would work with us beginning with a Spring launch of the 2011 Dialogue Series. This is your chance to practice your project planning and execution, delegation, and marketing, plus learn about directing and video editing. Interested? Contact Stacy. Thank you!
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