One of my favorite shows on television is America's Funniest Home Videos. One of the winning videos is a little boy who is playing Director for the story of Little Bunny Foo Foo. I was watching that again last night and thinking about how he reminded me of one of my counterparts on a project a couple of years ago. I was the Assistant PM and he was the PM on the State side of the project. In the State of Missouri you generally have a PM on the Consultant side and one on the State side.
This man liked to Micro Manage his people, and his consultants. He wanted to know every time a programmer started a new module. He had to review every e-mail that went out before you could send it. When I was working on a report, he literally came into my office every five minutes for an update. After the fifth time, when he asked "How far are you now?" I replied, "Not as far as I would have been if you hadn't interrupted me again." Ohhh. That did not go well. The final straw was when he called me into his office and informed me that I was taking four bathroom breaks per day at an average of 2.5 minutes each. That meant that I was "wasting" 50 minutes of his time each week and that he was considering docking my hours for that time.
That was the straw that broke the camels back for me. Rarely do I lose my composure with a client, but I did that day. I informed him that I was on high blood pressure medication which caused me to have frequent bathroom trips, and that if he didn't like the fact that he had to let me either use the restroom or pee in the floor of my cube, then he had better get someone else in there to fill my position.
Just like the Director who blew the whistle and expected his brother and sister to jump, this man had ridden me too hard and micromanaged me to death. In the video clip the brother blows his whistle and expects his younger brother and sister to come running to do exactly what he wants. Then when they don't perform to his expectations he yells at them and blames them for messing everything up. At the end of the clip you see the Director brother sitting in a recliner, blowing his whistle, and no-one answering.
By the end of the project this manager had done that to himself with the micromanagement of his team. The team turnover was tremendous. We had one programmer that came in for two days and then left for the east coast, telling the manager to kiss his nether regions. The communications on the project became so cumbersome that they were almost non-existant. And finally the PM and myself went to our prospective companies and told them that the project was doomed to fail and we wanted out.
This PM on the state side wasn't the only problem the project had, but the culture of micromanagement at this agency was rampant throughout the staff and contributed to the circumstances. Users were not consulted on the project and buy in was never acheived. They had the project shoved down their throats, much to their dismay. The project sponsor was a political pet who was weak and wishy washy. Policy conflicts, Political Power Plays, and the lack of a clear understanding of the goals made everything a moving target. The project was started poorly, inherited by a team who came in too late to change it, and was doomed from the beginning.
What could have been done to save it? The first step would have been for the PM to step back and let his consultants do what they were hired to do. Work competently and efficiently without micro management. Stop the communications killing micro management of e-mails and phone calls. One of the most important things about being a PM is knowing when to let your people do their thing and when to reign them in.
Friday, June 18, 2010
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Communications in Projects
The most important aspect of any project is the communications within the team. When you are working with a distributed team this becomes even more important. Many PM's believe that you need a multimillion dollar video conferancing system to keep communications in the project going, but that is not true. Most of us work on a shoestring budget, especially in this economy. That means finding cheap (or free) methods of communications. In this post I am going to review some of the tools that I have used or know of.
Skype: This is a free tool that features instant chat and even voice calls. My most recent project has used Skype for communications across a distributed team to great success. One of the best things about Skype is that you can send the message, even if the user is away, and it will be waiting for them when they log in. We have used it not only to communicate with our remote team members, but even with the ones in the office. This allows us to remain at our desk, with our train of thought and documents, while talking to someone in another area of the building. In all, it streamlines our work process and speeds us up because we don't have to get up and go hunt the other person down to talk to them.
Log Me In: This is a free tool that provides a Citrix remote desktop to any computer you add to your account. You can install Log Me In and log to your home computer to retrieve that document that you forgot at home. You can log to a team members desktop and show them how to accomplish something they are having an issue with while they are still logged in. You can actually control the mouse on their desktop while they watch. It's a great troubleshooting tool.
DimDim: This is a free webinar tool that you can use. You can use DimDim for demos, meetings, and presentations. You can have up to 20 participants, standard audio, standard features, web cam, and standards support for free. For 25.00 per month you can have the premium features of the set with unlimited participants. All in all a good tool to use.
Google Docs: This is free with a Google account. You can upload and share documents among team members without having the costly installation of SharePoint.
Google Calendar or Yahoo Calendar: Email accounts with these sites gives you a shareable calendar that you can use. Team members can subscribe and view events and post to a common calendar.
WikiSpaces: This is a free tool that allows you to create a team wiki where members can post questions, get answers, modify flows, etc. An excellent ongoing conversation for the whole team
There are many more options, but just these few will enrich your team work environment and give your communications a deeper significance in the project. Make sure you have a good working relationship with your IT department and that the use of these tools is permitted. My bet is that if it lessens their work load they will be more than happy to accomodate you in most cases.
Skype: This is a free tool that features instant chat and even voice calls. My most recent project has used Skype for communications across a distributed team to great success. One of the best things about Skype is that you can send the message, even if the user is away, and it will be waiting for them when they log in. We have used it not only to communicate with our remote team members, but even with the ones in the office. This allows us to remain at our desk, with our train of thought and documents, while talking to someone in another area of the building. In all, it streamlines our work process and speeds us up because we don't have to get up and go hunt the other person down to talk to them.
Log Me In: This is a free tool that provides a Citrix remote desktop to any computer you add to your account. You can install Log Me In and log to your home computer to retrieve that document that you forgot at home. You can log to a team members desktop and show them how to accomplish something they are having an issue with while they are still logged in. You can actually control the mouse on their desktop while they watch. It's a great troubleshooting tool.
DimDim: This is a free webinar tool that you can use. You can use DimDim for demos, meetings, and presentations. You can have up to 20 participants, standard audio, standard features, web cam, and standards support for free. For 25.00 per month you can have the premium features of the set with unlimited participants. All in all a good tool to use.
Google Docs: This is free with a Google account. You can upload and share documents among team members without having the costly installation of SharePoint.
Google Calendar or Yahoo Calendar: Email accounts with these sites gives you a shareable calendar that you can use. Team members can subscribe and view events and post to a common calendar.
WikiSpaces: This is a free tool that allows you to create a team wiki where members can post questions, get answers, modify flows, etc. An excellent ongoing conversation for the whole team
There are many more options, but just these few will enrich your team work environment and give your communications a deeper significance in the project. Make sure you have a good working relationship with your IT department and that the use of these tools is permitted. My bet is that if it lessens their work load they will be more than happy to accomodate you in most cases.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Procrastination Causes Slippage
Project slippage is one of the main causes of failure. We work so hard on planning out our project schedule, and then end up behind. How does it happen? Procrastination is one major cause. If we have a project and we estimate that we are going to take two weeks to complete a task, but we know it will only take one week to do, we have a tendancy to procrastinate that first week. Then you start the task and you hit a snag. Someone gets sick, or a resource is on vacation. Then you fall behind schedule. This impacts everything else down the line. Before you know it, your project has slipped.
Fighting procrastination is exceedingly important in project management. Especially during the first portion of a long project. If you start slipping at the beginning, everything else is affected and the problem just compiles. By the end of a six month project you are three weeks late because of your one week of procrastination.
So how do we fight it? We all know that we are going to procrastinate to some extent. We know that we are going to run into sick developers, vacation times, missing resources, and the unexpected. (Like wild unicorns running down the aisles.) So we need to plan for those items. If it is a small project and I am VERY confident of the time line, I will estimate 25% of the tasks will be late, 50% will be on time, and 25% of the tasks will be early. Then I will add a 10% buffer for the unicorns.
If it is a long project, spread over several years, I will break the project into years and estimate time for each year. For the first year I will estimate 30% of the tasks will be late, 50% will be on time, and 20% will be early. Then I will add in 10% for zombie attacks. For the second year I will estimate 40% of the tasks will be late, 40% will be on time, and 20% will be early. Then I will add 10% as a buffer for water buffalo stampedes. For every year after that, I will estimate 50% of the tasks will be late, 40% of the tasks will be on time, and 10% will be early. Then add a 10% buffer for sea monsters.
This formula has worked for me over the past 15 years and I don't really see any reason to change it. Of course, as time goes out, it could change. I haven't been on any projects that take more than 3 year to implement, so that is unknown territory. There lies dragons.
And just what are the unicorns, zombies, sea monsters, and dragons? They are equipment malfunctions, staff shortages, people leaving and coming onto the project at unexpected times. Vacations will overlap. Budgets will get cut. Babies will come along, and marriages will happen. All of these things are the unknown critters that affect project slippage and eat up that 10% buffer that we build in. The longer your project goes on, the more critters you encounter. So don't forget to give the critters their due. Your projects will be more accurate and timely if you do.
Fighting procrastination is exceedingly important in project management. Especially during the first portion of a long project. If you start slipping at the beginning, everything else is affected and the problem just compiles. By the end of a six month project you are three weeks late because of your one week of procrastination.
So how do we fight it? We all know that we are going to procrastinate to some extent. We know that we are going to run into sick developers, vacation times, missing resources, and the unexpected. (Like wild unicorns running down the aisles.) So we need to plan for those items. If it is a small project and I am VERY confident of the time line, I will estimate 25% of the tasks will be late, 50% will be on time, and 25% of the tasks will be early. Then I will add a 10% buffer for the unicorns.
If it is a long project, spread over several years, I will break the project into years and estimate time for each year. For the first year I will estimate 30% of the tasks will be late, 50% will be on time, and 20% will be early. Then I will add in 10% for zombie attacks. For the second year I will estimate 40% of the tasks will be late, 40% will be on time, and 20% will be early. Then I will add 10% as a buffer for water buffalo stampedes. For every year after that, I will estimate 50% of the tasks will be late, 40% of the tasks will be on time, and 10% will be early. Then add a 10% buffer for sea monsters.
This formula has worked for me over the past 15 years and I don't really see any reason to change it. Of course, as time goes out, it could change. I haven't been on any projects that take more than 3 year to implement, so that is unknown territory. There lies dragons.
And just what are the unicorns, zombies, sea monsters, and dragons? They are equipment malfunctions, staff shortages, people leaving and coming onto the project at unexpected times. Vacations will overlap. Budgets will get cut. Babies will come along, and marriages will happen. All of these things are the unknown critters that affect project slippage and eat up that 10% buffer that we build in. The longer your project goes on, the more critters you encounter. So don't forget to give the critters their due. Your projects will be more accurate and timely if you do.
Monday, March 30, 2009
PMP - When you ARE the team
As a consultant in the state of Missouri, I have noticed that on alot of my projects....I am the entire team. And I bet a lot of you are too. So how do you handle that? The PM documentation still has to be generated. You still have to make the weekly reports, even if they are only going to yourself. So it takes a bit of a split personality.
When I am the project team, I allocate at least a half hour a day to update all the PM documents that are associated with the project. When I calculate how long the project will take, I will add 20% to cover the PM side of the project. That assures that I will have enough time to handle the weekly reports, document archive, end user documentation, etc. that is required.
"But why bother when it's such a small project?" Good question. The answer is that in the future it will benefit you. Do you remember exactly how a project that you took on five years ago went? Most of us will embellish the bad or good memories depending upon the outcome of the project. However, if you have your project documentation to lean upon, the history of that project can provide you with valuable lessons to apply to your future projects. That's why we bother with documentation on even the small projects.
When I am the project team, I allocate at least a half hour a day to update all the PM documents that are associated with the project. When I calculate how long the project will take, I will add 20% to cover the PM side of the project. That assures that I will have enough time to handle the weekly reports, document archive, end user documentation, etc. that is required.
"But why bother when it's such a small project?" Good question. The answer is that in the future it will benefit you. Do you remember exactly how a project that you took on five years ago went? Most of us will embellish the bad or good memories depending upon the outcome of the project. However, if you have your project documentation to lean upon, the history of that project can provide you with valuable lessons to apply to your future projects. That's why we bother with documentation on even the small projects.
Friday, April 25, 2008
Juggling sickness and work
How long should a person have bronchitis? I thought it was supposed to be 12 days max. I have been hacking my head off for a month now. I am so sick of having everyone say "Are you still sick?" ARRRGGGHHH! It's not fun sounding like McGruff the crime dog. Apparently I sound so much like I'm on my deathbed that I have complete strangers praying for my health on the phone. That's not good Vern. I have been to see the doc every week for the past month. Two courses of antibiotics, three bottles of cough syrup with Codine, and a decongestant later and I still sound like our fearless crime fighting friend. Any suggestions?
Monday, April 07, 2008
Diabetes, Smoking, and Project Management
A new post every six months. That's so up to date. LOL. It's been a busy six months though folks. I have a new project that is vital to my existence. After the incidents in my last post, I found a Dr. here in Jefferson City. Dr. Moline and his wonderful nurse practitioner Dr. Marty. I love both of them to death. Dr. Marty is pretty astute too. She found out that my diabetes had reappeared. This prompted a battery of tests that I have been going through for six months now. I have been my own Discovery channel special with a colonoscopy, seen the inside of my own bladder, been ultrasound-ed, poked and prodded. But I am excited to say that my sugars are now down in the normal range after having averaged around 350 per day. (Normal is 70 to 130). I also discovered that I have what the Urologist calls an "Impressive" kidney stone that I get to have blown apart on the 18th of this month. I have quit smoking .... again, but this time it feels different. This time I am not doing it to appease my husband, kids, or mother. This time I am doing it because I want to. I did the patch for one day, then got tired of trying to keep it on and threw it away. I haven't really felt too many cravings. That's very odd for me. I'm usually ready to rip someones head off by day three. This time is .... different.
So, other that obsessing on my medical conditions, why am I rambling on about all this? It has occurred to me that Diabetes Management and Quitting Smoking are two of the most important "Projects" that I have ever been assigned. If you step back and think about it, the diabetes management follows all of the steps involved in a continuing life cycle project.
The initiation stage occurs when you doc tells you your HBA1C (The test that tells you what your blood sugar has averaged over the past three months. It should be under 6.0.) came back with a 7.9 and that the dreaded diabetes is back in your life full force. You make a plan with your doctor as to the initial medicine you will take to try and bring your blood sugars back into control. (There is a lot of praying that you won't need to take the shots again.) There is also planning as to how many times per day you will test and when you will test. What foods you will eat and avoid. When you will come back to re-evaluate the medicine and take the tests again.
The planning phase occurs over the next two weeks after the initial visit. You have to plan on getting your medicine. How will you keep track of what you have taken and when? How will you take you blood sugar at work and on the weekends? How will you track your blood sugars once you take them so that you can see trends and share the results with the doctor? How is the cost of the extra medicine and testing supplies going to impact your medical budget? What about the cost of the extra doctors visits? What are the risks associated with certain behaviors that you currently have? (E.G. smoking.) How will you mitigate these risks? Will you need someone to help you around the house? Will you need someone to take you to the doctors? What are you going to do about eating lunch at work? What are you going to do about eating at home? All aspects of the PM planning can be accounted for over the next two weeks as you try to find answers and plans for all of these questions and more.
Executing and Controlling come as you record your Blood Sugar levels and make adjustments to medicine, exercise, diet, etc. in order to maintain the quality of the readings you get. I could go into a lot of detail here about charting, modifying diet and exercise to bring the levels down, adding medicines, taking medicines away,etc, but I am running out of time.
There are so many aspects of our lives that we can apply Project Management to if we just step back and look for the opportunities. And by applying these principles we can improve the quality and possibly the quantity of our lives.
So, other that obsessing on my medical conditions, why am I rambling on about all this? It has occurred to me that Diabetes Management and Quitting Smoking are two of the most important "Projects" that I have ever been assigned. If you step back and think about it, the diabetes management follows all of the steps involved in a continuing life cycle project.
The initiation stage occurs when you doc tells you your HBA1C (The test that tells you what your blood sugar has averaged over the past three months. It should be under 6.0.) came back with a 7.9 and that the dreaded diabetes is back in your life full force. You make a plan with your doctor as to the initial medicine you will take to try and bring your blood sugars back into control. (There is a lot of praying that you won't need to take the shots again.) There is also planning as to how many times per day you will test and when you will test. What foods you will eat and avoid. When you will come back to re-evaluate the medicine and take the tests again.
The planning phase occurs over the next two weeks after the initial visit. You have to plan on getting your medicine. How will you keep track of what you have taken and when? How will you take you blood sugar at work and on the weekends? How will you track your blood sugars once you take them so that you can see trends and share the results with the doctor? How is the cost of the extra medicine and testing supplies going to impact your medical budget? What about the cost of the extra doctors visits? What are the risks associated with certain behaviors that you currently have? (E.G. smoking.) How will you mitigate these risks? Will you need someone to help you around the house? Will you need someone to take you to the doctors? What are you going to do about eating lunch at work? What are you going to do about eating at home? All aspects of the PM planning can be accounted for over the next two weeks as you try to find answers and plans for all of these questions and more.
Executing and Controlling come as you record your Blood Sugar levels and make adjustments to medicine, exercise, diet, etc. in order to maintain the quality of the readings you get. I could go into a lot of detail here about charting, modifying diet and exercise to bring the levels down, adding medicines, taking medicines away,etc, but I am running out of time.
There are so many aspects of our lives that we can apply Project Management to if we just step back and look for the opportunities. And by applying these principles we can improve the quality and possibly the quantity of our lives.
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Milestones
I have reached a milestone I set for myself. December 26th of 2005 I picked up some film that had to be developed. It turns out they were of our annual float trip the previous July. In that film there was one photo that had life altering implications. It was a picture of me...in a bathing suit. I had just finished taking my morning round of meds, 8 in all, and was feeling pretty rotten. My size 24 pants were tight and I was depressed about looking for 26's. Then the photo came. What I saw was a me that was 20 lbs lighter than I was at the moment. To say the least I was shattered. My friends had seen me like this. I was humiliated and ashamed of where I had let myself get to. Not to mention the fact that my health was in serious decline.
Stepping back, I attempted to look at the situation from an outsiders point of view. I had been seeing a nutritionist for six months and following her diet to the letter. It was twice as much food as I was used to eating, but I couldn't make her believe that. She said I must be cheating because I had gained approximately 25 pounds since starting her diet. Deciding that six months was a long enough period to give it a go, I decided that for all her good intentions, Bobbie was killing me.
I have been on so many diets. Weight Watchers produced a 20 lb gain. Susan Powter produced a 5 lb gain. The diabetic and low fat diets from the doctors office had ballooned me to over 250 lbs. The only diet I ever had success on was Atkins. The last time I did Atkins I lost 80 lbs and it took me 5 years to put it back on after I quit. The pressure I got from the non-believers was incredible though. We have truly been brainwashed by the weight loss marketing in this country.
So I applied my principles of Project Management. I needed to lose 100 lbs. There was a definite hostile user community who would not like the solution. What was the time frame I set for my project? What were my milestones? How would I track the progress towards those milestones? These and many other questions were asked. I prepared a project plan and set my milestones at each 25 lbs. Then I rolled up my sleeves and got to work.
Each morning I would get up and weigh and measure myself. I know have six months of detailed weight and measurement charts. A wealth of data that any dietician would drool over. By January 29th I had reached my first milestone. 25 lbs had been lost. People started to notice. They asked me what I was doing. In a deliberate misinformation campaign I told them I was just watching what I ate. This wasn't exactly a lie, I did watch what I ate very carefully. No more than 10 grams of Carbs per day.
In February a heavy set co-worker of mine found out that I was on Atkins. I think she sort of figured it out on her own. Then the pressure started. "That is so unhealthy. Carbs are our friend." She sounded just like Bobbie, who was trying to kill me with good intentions. I was having to cut back on my diabetes medicine by this point and the prospect of getting off it altogether loomed high on the horizon. I decided that I was not going to let anyone run me off that course. I set about implementing one of my risk management strategies. In my firmest and kindest manner, I told my friend that I was having success with this method. I was not attempting for influence her to drop her Weight Watcher program, but I was not going to be swayed. I was making good progress and I would keep it up. Unless she intended to sit on me and stuff donuts in my mouth, I also had no intention of discussing this further.
It worked. She left me alone and I was elated. I had one milestone under my belt with the next to come in two short weeks. My doctor informed me that I could drop four of my meds. Second milestone reached! I have just continued to use my project management skills to make headway from that point forward.
On my son's 13th birthday I reached my next milestone. 50 lbs had been lost! I am now down to two medications, both of which are for high blood pressure, and the doctor tells me that I may get off those soon too. I am in a size 16 pant now and they are getting loose. My final project completion will be when I hit 100 lbs lost. I will weigh 154, not bad for a 40 year old woman. My deliverable date is October the 8th, my birthday. I think I am having some schedule slippage, but that is to be expected in any large project. Pun Definantely Intended! I am pretty sure that I can reset the project date for the one year mark though and hit it. It has been hard, and depressing at times, but I am healthier now than I have been since college. I am eating the right foods for my body. My doctor supports me 110% and says that she even brags on me to her other patients and urges them to consider Atkins as well. My cholesterol is down, my blood sugar is better than it ever has been since I first got pregnant 13 years ago, and I feel good too.
So for all of you out there who struggle with this same dilemma, I don't care what method you choose to lose, apply the principles of Project Management and see if that doesn't help you reach your goals. Stick to it and don't let anyone sit on you and stuff donuts in your mouth.
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