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.

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?

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.

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.

Lessons from Camp

It's been a while. I think I have finally recovered from Camp LOCO. My kudos to Mike and Amy Miller for coming up with this most appropriate name. We all go a bit LOCO trying to pull this off every year.

This year I think I finally learned something about management that I can take back to my project management skills however. Every year prior to this one I have tried to be super mom and do it all myself. Run the camp, teach a class, organize, clean, prepare.... AAAAGGGHHH! I was going crazy and burning myself out in the process. For this year I decided that I am not super mom. I learned how to delegate and I found out that we have a very competent group of wonderful people.

By learning how to stand back and let these other people shine I also learned that we ended up with a better product in the end. Learning how to delegate tasks and then to keep my hands off of it has, in the long run, ended up making me a better manager in my projects. I don't need to micro manage my business analysts and my programmers. I need to stand back and let them do the job they were hired for. That is their field of expertise. Just because they don't do things the way I would do them does not make them wrong.

This is a valuable lesson that I wish I could pass on to everyone. It's not going to fall apart if you don't have your hands on every part of it. Whether that is running a camp for 40 kids, building a multi million dollar piece of software, or cleaning out your garage with the help of your kids. Stand back and trust the other people you work with to do their best and they will surprise you by surpassing your expectations.

Congratulations to everyone who helped and participated in Camp LOCO this year. I am so very proud of all of you. Your dedication to your kids and your commitment to giving them this opportunity to make memories they will carry for a lifetime is a testament to your parenting skills and your spirit. I am proud to work with you and call you my friends.

Moments of Insanity

You would think that a person with a Masters Degree would be smart enough not to be caught up in a modified MLM scheme. Also that after 23 years of living with a professional sales person, one should be immune to "the pitch" or at least see it coming. I however, bow to the master (or should I say mistress) of sales.

Due to an expensive toy habit, (two four wheelers and a hot tub currently) I was looking for some ways to make money. A girlfriend of mine invited me over for a "Makeover Party" and I went. The woman who gave the seminar was VERY good. And the product was very good too. I purchased, (what was way too much), and then got hit with the recruitment.

Everything sounded good. The product lifespan was short and women needed to refill their supplies. The profit margin was almost too good to be true. And the hours were all mine to set. I went to lunch with her and like an idiot signed up for this program. I was going to be a beauty consultant! Me! The girl who was always the egg head in the chem lab. The one who never wore makeup. I was going to be one of the beautiful people.

So I went to the weekly sales meeting. I found out that two people I knew were selling and said they were succeeding. Still there was this little rat gnawing at my stomach. I asked around to find out who had sold this product or knew of someone who had, and found no horror stories. So, when the next week rolled around and we sat down for our initial "New Consultant" meeting (DING, DING, DING! Shouldn't this be a conversation you have BEFORE you sign up?), I almost bought the $3600.00 of inventory, ($4257 after taxes, shipping, and handling). Thank god that rat took a big bite out of my stomach and I procrastinated.

My husband and I discussed this proposition. After sitting down and putting pencil to paper, we figured this part time job would run me about 60-80 hours per month. Also, by the time we got the profit margin figured, I was making around $9.00 and hour. Then my mother called. She had been surfing and found some sites that warned about this company. On the internet you can find somebody who is ticked off about any subject matter you wish to choose, so normally I take these with a grain of salt. This was a bit different. These sites were by women who were STILL consultants, but they warned of the push to purchase large amounts of inventory. They also warned of the "honeymoon" phase when your friends will buy from you. Then you hit a brick wall and nobody will book a party. Eventually people start avoiding you just to get away from the sales pitch.

So last night, I finally came to my senses and decided against this "opportunity". I am going to call it a $300.00 lesson learned and kick myself in the butt for the next year or so. I think I will stick to what I know best. Designing websites and managing projects. Anybody out there need a new website? I also have some cheap cosmetics for sale. LOL.

Scouting for PMP Points

I received my PMP certification last March. While my company promised to send me to training (which is turning out to be more painful than pulling teeth to get them to pay for it), I still haven't been able to earn any PDU's in that manner. I go to the meetings at our local PMI chapter whenever I can, but one PDU a month? I'll never get my 60 PDU's that way. So what is a full time computer consultant and a full time mom supposed to do?

I found one option through another passion of mine. Boy Scouts! I am the camping director for our pack. You can earn points by applying a project plan to a scout activity and then getting your cubmaster to sign off on it. You can also earn PDU's by donating your time to other charitable organizations. Design a website for your church. Run Network cables for your school. Help your school update their website. Any of these items that you apply your project management skills on will help contribute towards your PDU's.

In doing this for the scouts, I have found that I have a better appreciation for the Project Management full life cycle than I did before. Sometimes, especially in the IT world, you get stuck in one small section of the Project Management process and you tend to lose sight of the rest of the process. Do something like this with the organization of your choice and keep all your skills sharp. There is nothing that will brush up your Risk Management skills like planning a two day campout with 45 little boys.

Good Luck in your endeavors.

Nicole McDowell