January 24, 2010 – Driving me Crazy!

Having a GPS in the car drives me crazy. I do not operate well with directions that come one step at a time. It may be the Project Manager in me, but I want to see the big picture and know where I’m heading. Besides, at 65 miles an hour, I can’t judge “300 yards before taking the next left.” I’m not even sure if “Miss Voice” means her left or mine.

I realized this last week as I was traveling to a client site with our main sales person. She was driving and I was trying to navigate. We were attempting to go from Orange County, CA near Disney to the Pasadena area, home of the Rose Bowl Parade. The final destination was between the 60 and Interstate 10. I know how I would go and assumed the GPS would use the same route, straight up the 605.

Imagine my confusion when Miss Voice said, “In ½ mile, take exit to Interstate 5 North.” Before I could wrestle the screen to show the projected route, we had swerved onto the exit ramp to follow the directions. It was either that or face the dreaded “Recalculating…Recalculating” reprimand….or worse, the “Make a legal U-Turn” snide remark.

Through a comedy of errors, we managed to get back on track. We missed the 60, but found Interstate 10. Following Miss Voice’s advice, we passed the exit bearing the name of the street the client was on and took the next exit. I had a general sense of where we were heading by then and expected to head south and then east. Miss Voice, however, took us north and then west until we realized the ending address had changed.

I personally think Miss Voice was so disgusted with us that she was thinking, “Fine! If you don’t appreciate me, I’ll drive you to a back alley where you’ll get car jacked. They’ll strip this vehicle down and sell me to someone that can follow directions!”

Some project managers run their projects using a GPS. They punch a predefined address into their Charter and start driving. They fail to look far enough ahead to get into the right lane before missing the turn. Ultimately they allow the project direction to be altered without their knowledge, ending up somewhere else entirely. Even if they avoid a devastating collision, the sponsor usually ends up with car sickness.

Here are the top 10 ways to reach your destination without throwing your GPS out the window.

10. Lay out the full map. Understand where you are headed. You don’t need to know the turn by turn details, but you want to be able to sense when you are going in the wrong direction.

9. Verify your destination. Review the scope and requirements with your stakeholders and obtain their approval.

8. Keep an eye on the gas gauge. Budget, time and resources have to be planned and used appropriately.

7. Listen to Miss Voice. If you have laid out your plan and schedule accurately, follow them.

6. Track your progress. A GPS uses your current speed and position to calculate arrival time. Analyze your progress and spend rate to make sure you are on schedule and budget.

5. Look for landmarks. Set milestones in your schedule. Use them to validate your direction with stakeholders and gauge your timing.

4. Check the map frequently. Verify progress against the scope and requirements in order to stay on course.

3. Recalculate. As the project progresses, more information is available. It may be refined requirements, new technology, resource changes or other factors that impact the end product. Use formal change processes to re-evaluate and alter the direction and cost.

2. Check the traffic. Analyze the risks in your project. If it appears there is traffic ahead, take action to avoid it.

1. You have arrived at your destination. Recognize when you have completed the project’s scope. Don’t allow random course changes to be slammed in at the end of the project. These tend to be less structured, lack adequate testing and overrun the budget.

We arrived in one piece, but it is a good thing we left early.

September 15, 2008 – Back to the Basic: Competing Project Constraints

Following last week’s edition, one of my project management co-conspirators dropped me a note informing me that the triple constraint (see The Troubling Triangle) is officially dead. The upcoming release of the PMBOK Guide 4th edition has killed it.

In lieu of the binding, restricting, tri-legged barer of logic, PMI has opted for “Competing Project Constraints.” The new PMBOK includes Scope, Quality, Schedule, Budget, Resources and Risk as a representative list of the numerous constraints that a Project Manager faces.

Without reading the text directly I can not make a fully informed decision about the wisdom of creating a multisided polygon constraint. For one thing it doesn’t have quite the same ring as a triangle (I’m sure there’s a bad musical percussion joke in there somewhere). However, here are my initial thoughts.

1. I whole heartedly agree that Project Managers have more to worry about than Scope, Schedule and Budget. I don’t think there was ever any real misunderstanding of that fact.
2. By removing the Triple Constraint and accompanying triangular image, we loose the visual used to explain the impact of changing one of the legs.
3. Of the examples given as other constraints, Quality is easily represented by the size of the area encompassed by the leg segments of the triangle. Although not originally part of the image, it fits.
4. Another, Resources is generally a factor of the cost (or budget) of the project. If money is no object you can get better and more resources. The New York Yankees and Real Madrid sports franchises, with their ability to buy talent, come to mind. Generally speaking, projects run out of time or money before they experience a lack in available resources.
5. For the other, Risks, I need more explanation for the use of the term “constraint.” If the term means “factors that may adversely impact your project” then I would agree.

Perhaps that is the basis of the change in the terms used. PMI may believe that it is doing us a favor by widening the term to show the myriad of chainsaws and knives we need to keep juggling. My fear is that it opens the door for management to defy the simple logic that if they increase scope, schedule or budget, one or both of the other legs have to adjust.

If we are expanding the number of constraints, maybe we just need a different image:
Picket Fence – Each of the slats represents a constraint holding the project level.
Suspension Bridge – All of the cables adjusted to keep the path safe for passage.
Multi-legged Table – Legs adjusting together to support the project.

Whatever the symbol, I will miss the triangle.

June 9, 2008 – Project Success…at What Cost?

Great things can be accomplished if Scope, Budget and Duration are no object. Here are some historical examples:

Hoover Dam
Scope: Stop a river and produce 2080 megawatts of power.
Budget: $49M US cost (under budget)
Duration: < 5 years (2 years ahead of schedule)
Added Expense: 112 Deaths

Egyptian Pyramid
Scope: Started as a grave. Scope creep resulted in one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World with quite a bit of gold plating, literally.
Budget: Spare not Cost
Duration: 27 years each
Added Expense: Slave Labor

Great Wall of China
Scope: Stop the Xiongnu attacks with a really big wall (6400km / 4000miles long)
Budget: Unknown
Duration: Several Centuries
Added Expense: 2 to 3 million Chinese lives

Each of these was an amazing project and each came with a high price tag in human lives.

Unfortunately there are a fair number of companies that force their teams to nearly kill themselves for unrealistic timelines. A friend of mine told me of the unhealthy environment they had recently left. The pressure there was tremendous. Deadlines were strictly enforced, resulting in projects that came in on time. How? People were required to work as much as 80 hours a week and be on call when they weren’t physically there. This resulted in people quitting, massive amounts of sick time request, spouses threatening divorce and people being hauled off in ambulances.

What made this story ironic was the fact that the company was in the health care industry.

How can you avoid killing your team?

Involve them in the estimating process. It seems obvious, but the people that do a deed generally know what it takes to get it done. Your job is to question the numbers. First, make sure there are enough hours. Are their estimates only for development? Did they include requirements, design and testing? Next, get a second opinion. One method for this is Planning Poker (see entry on Agile Estimating Methods). Finally, work to eliminate padding. Create a contingency pool to apply where needed but estimate the pieces realistically.

Limit overtime. Your initial pass at the schedule should not include overtime. Then, if overtime can’t be avoided, set boundaries on the timeframe. People can survive a lot if there is an end in sight. Strive to keep the overtime sprints to 6 weeks in duration. Show the team the time line and ask for their commitment.

Compensate them. Even “exempt” employees (salaried / non-time and materials) can’t be expected to work tirelessly without receiving something. The promise of several days off following a sprint can keep the team pushing forward. This isn’t expected to be an hour per hour trade for the time they put in. After all, salaried employees are expected to put a bit more into their jobs when necessary.

Set realistic expectations. As the project manager it is your responsibility to set the expectations of upper management.

Schedule team outings. Get your team out of the office once in a while. Lunch can be a simple solution. On the flip side, a friend of mine is attempting to set up a cricket match here in the states.

Give family friendly rewards. Stressful environments wreak havoc on families. Token rewards such as movie tickets or gift cards can help ease some of that pressure. Acknowledgement of that fact can go a long way. Consider presenting awards directly to spouses to show you understand the strain they are under.

Watch for warning signs. Keep on eye out for people that are putting in too many hours. Encourage them to throttle down a little, especially if they are wearing the same cloths they had on yesterday.

Very few projects are worth killing your team over. Besides, the paperwork involved in having an ambulance on site is a real pain.

August 27, 2007 – Balancing Your Budget by Taking a Vacation

A word to the wise…do not go tent camping at Perris Lake, CA in August. You know you are in the wrong place when the locals say you are lucky the temperature dropped…to 102 degrees Fahrenheit (39 Celsius). As soon as the sun rises over the hills it immediately jumps to 85F (29C). As you can imagine, ground baked at those temperatures for extended periods of time tend to be hard. Not the best of sleeping conditions. There is a saying that goes “that which does not kill you makes you stronger.” In reality, it should probably say, “that which does not kill you makes you wish you were dead.” Fortunately this week we are headed to Palm Springs to stay at a resort with air conditioning and a big swimming pool.

It’s an odd segue but I was speaking with a Project Manager about taking vacation the other day. His small, four month project was running several thousand dollars over budget. I suggested that at his bill rate a couple of vacation days might bring the costs back into alignment. Here are a couple of other items that may help balance your budget.

Resource Rotation. Examine your resource allocations. Do you have senior people doing simple tasks or junior individuals struggling to perform in difficult areas? By moving less expensive resources to handle the simple things you can shave that added expense from the project. Conversely, where your junior team is struggling in deep waters, an expert may be able to blow through the issues in half the time, actually saving funds in the long term. Don’t get trapped in the mindset that cheaper is better. Each situation needs to be examined to determine the best option.

Of course this only works if you are tracking the true cost of your resources. I am surprised at how many companies do not distinguish between resources when counting the cost. Some only use the number of hours or a flat, blended rate to determine the cost. Using that method means your best players costs the same amount as your third string team. No one would consider fielding a professional sports team like that so why do we manage our teams that way?

Find Filler. Look to pull work from the future to fill in blank spots now. One project I managed involved testing multiple systems. Originally they were scheduled to be done sequentially but delays in the earlier ones were impacting the schedule. By pulling the analysis from future systems and performing it early we were able to fill in the gaps and keep the project from running long and over budget.

Consolidate Testing. Before I go any further, let me first say that I am not suggesting you cut corners for testing. What I am advocating is the consolidation of testing across multiple, interrelated projects and between common end users. Integrating the testing for projects that share resources (i.e. databases, common feeds, etc.) can save funds by using the same testing environments and testers. An added bonus is the assurance that the systems will function well together. Any problems caused by their interaction can be resolved prior to going to production.

Time Out for Training. Take advantage of projected down times to schedule training for your team. This is actually a multi-prong attack. First, the budget for training usually comes from outside of the project so the cost of those individuals can be offloaded during a time when their services aren’t vital. Second, if the training is specific to an upcoming aspect of the project your resources will be better equipped to perform, potentially increasing their productivity. Finally, investing in your team shows your commitment to them and will help keep them from seeking employment elsewhere.

Bottom line, if you need a vacation, tell your manager you are willing to take one for the team. Once he understands how it can help the budget he might just join you.

July 31, 2007 – Cultivating a healthy Project Schedule

About a month ago my wife and I went out and purchased some plants, dug up one of the flower beds and replanted it. All the weeds and crabgrass were pulled and all the dead or dying plants removed. We followed the directions and placed the plants the recommended distance apart. We even added topsoil! The results were favorable. The new flowers filled in nicely.

When I walked by it this morning I realized that I have neglected it. Weeds have started sneaking in among the plants and the crabgrass is back. Some of the grass is even taller than the plants. It reminded me of project schedules I have attempted to revive. Neglect resulted in over allocations, missed deadlines and busted budgets. They were all things that should have been taken care of when the weeds first appeared instead of ignoring them.

When I review a schedule there are 5 questions that help verify its health.

1. When was the last time it was updated?

Weekly works the best. The Actual hours expended by the resources should be entered at the task level and a new Estimate to Complete (ETC) given for each task. Ideally this information should come from your team through the time reporting tool but I’ve had to do it by hand from printed individual timesheets, too. Finding out that the most recent schedule is three weeks old flashes a red light immediately.

2. Does the Estimate at Completion equal the Baseline?

The Estimate at Completion (EAC) is the sum of the Actual hours expended plus the ETC. In MS Project it is Planned Work. By comparing the EAC to the Baseline values for each task you can tell if any effort is being put into realistic forecasting.

The temptation is to add Actual hours to the task and allow the tool to subtract it from the original estimate. For a common example assume I worked 15 hours on a 20 hour task. I have 5 hours to go, right? Probably not. I could be done with the task or I might need another 20 hours.

If an individual is reporting that she needs 20 additional hours for a task that ought to be complete, ask questions. Why is it taking longer than anticipated? Do you need assistance? Are you the right person for the task? Do you need more training? Has the scope changed? Get to the root cause of the problem and solve it.

3. Is the remaining effort appropriately distributed?

For this I flip to a resource allocation view and check to see if everyone has just enough work to fill their timesheet for at least the next month or so. This should take into account holidays, vacations, training and other out-of-office factors.

Then I make sure there aren’t any major hills or valleys beyond that. The effort should average across the weeks to their maximum allocation throughout the remainder of the project. Beyond a month it can alternate a little low or high and be adjusted as the tasks get closer. If there are several resources that are over allocated, you may need to add more people in order to meet your deadlines.

4. Are you hitting the milestones?

A schedule that shows a history of missed deadlines is in trouble. Check to see if the misses are getting further apart or staying constant. Usually a project will miss the first on by 1 week, the second by 2, the third by 4 and before long all hope is lost. If they are staying fairly constant there was probably just one deliverable that threw it off.

If predecessors are established that link tasks based on order of completion you can see the impact of missed dates on the remainder of the effort. This is valuable information because you can see where to take corrective actions to bring things back into line.

5. Is the project projecting to be in budget?

With the updated ETC for the tasks and resources added to stay within schedule, odds are the budget has taken a hit. If it isn’t within reasonable tolerances you need to identify areas to reduce costs. Look for activities that can be combined. Consider juggling resources to different tasks. Perhaps a more senior resource can cut the development time in half, offsetting the per hour cost difference. Reassign lower cost resources to perform the testing. Moving work forward to fill in down time (ex. System documentation) may allow individuals to roll off to another project earlier. Get creative.

The answers to these five questions will help you find the weeds in your schedule and keep them from choking out a perfectly good project.

April 30, 2007 – So What?

Anyone who has teenagers or has had to deal with them will inevitably run into one with a bad attitude. Even their body language says “SO WHAT?” As project managers we deal with a lot of issues, risks, problems and people. Some times it makes you want to throw your hands up and say, “So what?!?!” Actually, that might not be a bad idea. How would that look for issues, risks, budget or schedule problems and politics?

Issues. My natural inclination when someone raises an issue is to try and solve it. The next time you are confronted with one make sure to ask “so what?” So what is the impact to the project? Is it severe? Does it need to be address immediately? Is it something we can live with? Can it be addressed in future releases? Some times the impact is small enough that it isn’t worth the effort to address the issue.

Risks. Applying the “so what?” question to risks is easier since you aren’t feeling the immediate pain you do with an issue. Not all identified risks are dealt with the same way. In addition to Avoidance (sidestepping it), Mitigation (reducing the probability or impact) and Transference (making it someone else’s problem) there is the ultimate “so what” attitude: Acceptance. In Risk Acceptance you look at the probability of it becoming an issue and the impact to the project and decide it isn’t worth the effort to take action against it.

Budget or Schedule Problems. Budgets and schedules usually are scrutinized highly on projects, but sometime even they get trumped. There are times when a project has to get done. People may be willing to pay whatever it takes and wait longer to get it. I was managing on project where new requirements were requested toward the end of the testing phase. When we said it couldn’t be done the response was, “Would more money help?” Unfortunately money wasn’t the issue, time was.

Politics. I can’t stand politics. It is probably because my straight forward approach to life and management causes me to inadvertently step on toes I don’t see. The question can work here, too. I would suggest you let the voices inside your head ask the “so what?” question rather than blurting it out. So what if that person or group isn’t happy with the product? Does it meet the specs? Are they the ones paying for it? So what if they aren’t going to like the status I need to give? Is it better they hear it now before the project fails? So what…do I have to do now that I offended the boss?!

The answer to this question will help you gauge what your response should be. Sometimes you will luck out and be able to ignore the problem. Other times the answer will be to take action. Either way, you will be working from an informed position, not reacting blindly.

March 26 – Budget Management Checkbook Style

This article was originally published at http://projectmanagementlearningcenter.com.

I have really messed up my checkbook. It started around Christmas time. When I tried to balance it in January I failed miserably. Since I can balance the budget for a multi-million dollar project I should be able to handle a checkbook that borders on empty every month. Even with a new Quicken file in February, I was still unsuccessful this weekend in determining what I have left. If I don’t get it right I won’t know how much I have available and will likely end up bouncing checks.

What surprises me is the number of project managers that don’t put the effort in to balance their project budget. Every time someone expends effort on your project it is like a check being posted against your account. If you don’t capture and track those transactions you will eat through your budget faster than high school kids through your refrigerator.

Here are 4 basic concepts of budget management to put into practice.

Know your budget. I started a multi-person, multi-email discussion recently about the budget on a project. I knew what the overall cost of the project was but it included a Fixed Price Premium (FPP). An FPP is added to the cost of the project by the consulting company to offset the risk involved with a fixed price project. Since it is basically an insurance policy, it is outside of the budget for the project. I had to find out what that amount was in order to develop the baseline for the cost.

Create your schedule to the budget. Assign resources to the tasks with costs per hour for those resources. If you are responsible for the hardware, software, facilities, etc., include them in your schedule. This gives you a projected cost for the effort. If, after realistically created the tasks and applied the resources, you are over budget there are a couple of steps you can take.
1. Review the strategy and see if there are any shortcuts that can be applied.
2. Use cheaper resources to accomplish the same tasks.
3. Revisit the scope to see if anything can be removed.
4. Ask for more money for your budget. It may be a little early in the project for this one, though.

If your totals show you under budget, recheck to make sure you didn’t forget anything and then place the remaining amount in your schedule as a contingent reserve (hidden fund for future unknown problems).

Track your expenses. Each week your resources’ timesheets deduct money from the project. If that time is not applied against your schedule it is like using your debit card and throwing the receipts away. Eventually your bank is going to send you nasty letters telling you there is no money left and, to prove their point, deducting $20 more from you.

Record time spent against the tasks worked. This is simpler if you have time tracking software like MS Project Server, Clarity or Primavera but it can be done manually. You can collect paper or electronic timesheets showing actual effort against a task list and enter it into the schedule.

As you do this you will see areas where you are expending more than was planned and take corrective actions.

Balance the books. The finance group should issue statements from time to time showing the charges to the project. Take the time to match invoices and timesheet totals back to your schedule. This is where you will find people that are charging to your project that you didn’t know about. It also helps you confirm your budget still exists.

A multi-millions dollar project I was managing had saved nearly $1.5 million by altering their hardware needs. This savings was part of the contingent reserve on my schedule. When I balanced back against the numbers from finance the budget was off by $1.5 million. It was discovered that the in final budget submitted the savings were removed and given to other projects. It was a shock to go from extremely under budget to barely on target, but it was better to find out midway through than when the checks started bouncing.

Tracking your budget is about as much fun as balancing your checkbook, but not doing either one will land you in trouble.

January 12, 2007 – How to Really Fix a Failing Project

You project is in trouble. You know it. Your team knows it. But somehow you have been able to keep it from your management. You need a quick fix. But there aren’t any. What can be done to get back on track? Since yesterday's ideas didn't help, here are some suggestions that might point you in the right direction.

Refocus the Scope. Begin by going back to the defining documents including your Charter, Statement of Work and approved Change Requests. Figure out what you have committed to accomplish. Conversely, document all of the things that were unofficially added to the project. What you are trying to obtain is a clear understanding of the commitments and the expectations of others. With these lists in hand, meet with the project sponsor (or similar key stakeholders) and agree on what should be part of the current effort.

Draw up the Schedule. Based on the remaining effort and current resources, recalculate the schedule. Forget the deadlines placed on the project at this point. Given the amount of work and people available, determine a realistic timeframe to complete the revised scope.

Determine the Cost. Find out what the budget is and how much has already been spent. After calculating the difference between the two amounts (hopefully it isn’t negative) compare it to what remains to be done. Based on your revised schedule run the numbers to determine a reasonable Estimate to Complete.

Review Lessons Learned. Meet with the team and other stakeholders to determine where the project went wrong. Develop a list of steps to take in order to avoid the same thing happening next time.

Develop Alternatives. Using the scope, schedule and cost information review the options available. Based on the Project Triangle* that pits scope, time and cost against each other, consider the impact of each of your options on those factors. Will your plan include adding more resources? Extending the date? Reducing the scope? Although “Phase 2” is always the answer most project jokes, it can be a solid alternative. In some extreme cases the right decision will be to cancel the project. Although an unpopular choice, some projects need to be dropped. Reduce the testing phase is usually the popular option, but I don’t suggest it.

Admit Reality. Once you have drawn up a couple of viable alternatives, present them to the management team. Begin with a healthy dose of reality. Management does not like going through the failed project dance. If they have to do it twice things get ugly. Lay out the situation, preferably without playing the blame game. Then present your plans for getting back on track. Let them help you talk through the options and make suggestions.
Start Fresh. Issue a revised scope statement, obtain the funding, reset the schedule and obtain appropriate approvals. You have been given a new lease on your project. Work the plan and make sure to incorporate the Lessons Learned from your first attempt.

* Project Triangle: Picture a triangle where each of the three sides represents Scope (or functionality), Time and Cost. If you change one side it impacts the other two. Reducing the size of the Scope side will allow you to reduce the Time and/or Cost side. It is the same for the other sides as well. This is a standard and effective way to communicate the struggle between the three.