NFL Playoffs: Mirroring Your Strategic Project Initiatives

January 17, 2012 Leave a Comment

All football games are not created equal; some matter more than others. Consider regular season games compared to the playoffs. In the regular season, teams have a standard weekly preparation—they develop strategies for the immediate challenge ahead, and attempt to execute their plan each Sunday. Sometimes they win, sometimes they lose. And though each game is slightly different, the preparation and execution are relatively similar. As the season marches on, some teams get very good at executing their plan while others flounder. These weekly engagements are similar in concept to a company’s routine “utility” projects—those keep-the-lights-on projects that teams do time and again. Through the repetition of planning and executing these projects, teams get comfortable in the routine, with little assistance needed to get ready for the next week.

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Some project managers become so good at the weekly projects that they make it to the “post season”, which is an entirely different challenge. During the “regular season”, a potential project failure is not the end of the world—they’ll live to fight another week, and probably be offered similar projects again. But one wrong move during the playoffs and the season comes to an end. A company’s strategic projects are the business equivalent of the playoffs. These are the projects that carry a higher degree of financial consequence, a greater level of executive visibility, and hold more market importance. Simply put, these projects cannot afford to fail. As stated during a recent interview with Tom Brady, quarterback for the New England Patriots, “The difference between this week’s playoff game and a regular season game is that this playoff game has a lot more scrutiny, a higher degree of visibility, and we have a lot more at stake.” Sound familiar?

 

A company’s strategic projects are like the NFL playoffs. There are no second chances if the project fails. By their nature, strategic projects come along only occasionally, just as even the best NFL teams only make it to the playoffs every few years. Because of this elevated level of importance, you need to arm your teams with advanced project management tools, utilize more rigor in your planning processes, boost your teamwork and communication, and execute the project with pinpoint accuracy. Preparing your team with these skill sets will guarantee a successful run through the project management playoffs!

 

PMAlliance uses a team of highly experienced and certified professionals to provide project management consulting, project management training and project office development services.

Filed Under: Project Management, Project Management Tips, Project Management Training

4 More Training Mistakes PMOs Make

November 29, 2011 Leave a Comment

We’ve already covered 4 mistakes PMOs are making when it comes to training. Below are 4 more mistakes that could zap any benefit of ongoing education.

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Limiting training to project management topics. Don’t assume employees only need education in project management. Team members should instead strive to add topics outside the PM core to their schedule. Consider supervisory classes for new managers, budget management training for anyone overseeing project dollars, business writing seminars for folks turning out client-facing documentation, and even regulatory compliance training when appropriate.

Expecting trainees to be available during class. We’ve all been there—our cell phone goes off in the middle of a seminar and we know we have to answer it. Instead of learning new skills and adding to your team’s power, employees end up spending their training time essentially at work, with the educational benefits (and your PMO’s training dollars) fizzling away. On training day, daily tasks should be delegated and coworkers notified that the trainee is officially unavailable until they return to the office.

Scheduling classes during particularly stressful periods. The last week of a multi-year project might not be the best time to have a portion of your team in training. Their focus is elsewhere and the team’s need for them is likely to be higher than usual. Look for days that are as “regular” as possible, and remember that travel time also has an impact on a team member’s availability.

Sending everyone to training at once. Unless a class is mandatory under your company’s guidelines and there’s no way to break the group into different sessions, do your best to avoid having the majority of your team in training at the same time. Someone needs to be available to manage daily project management tasks and respond to user or stakeholder inquiries.

PMAlliance uses a team of highly experienced and certified professionals to provide project management consulting, project management training and project office development services.

Filed Under: Project Management, Project Management Tips, Project Management Training

Training Mistakes Most PMOs Make

October 25, 2011 Leave a Comment

Think your PMO could do a better job when offering ongoing education? You’re not alone—take a look at these common training mistakes that too many PMOs make.

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Limiting participation to only senior or only junior staff. Some organizations don’t value their lower-level employees enough to invest in their training, while others feel that money spent on continuing education for their senior staff is a waste. Both opinions are wrong, of course. Implementing a thoughtful, comprehensive training plan will benefit workers of every experience level.

Sending everyone to training at year end. Your team is too busy to put time into ongoing education, but no one wants to lose the dollars they’ve been allotted. The result is that employees are left scrambling at the end of the year to fit in their expected training sessions. Unfortunately, it’s usually difficult to find appropriate training opportunities with such little time and planning, resulting in money being spent inefficiently. Try putting together a roadmap at the beginning of the year to maximize productivity and provide employees with training tailored to their job.

“Borrowing” from the training budget for other activities. Too often the PMO’s training budget becomes an emergency fund for other things (unexpected technology upgrades, poorly managed scope creep on a high-visibility project, etc.) and continuing education is left by the wayside. Avoid this scenario by viewing the training budget as sacrosanct—approved funds should be used for educational opportunities and nothing else.

Saving money by using internal experts as instructors. Your PMO undoubtedly has a deep pool of expertise, but you’re limiting your team’s exposure to influential thought leaders and innovative thinking if you don’t encourage them to broaden their horizons through training. Don’t eliminate internal mentoring and teaching completely, but be sure to incorporate outside expertise and new perspectives regularly.

PMAlliance uses a team of highly experienced and certified professionals to provide project management consulting, project management training and project office development services.

Filed Under: PMO Development, Project Management Training

Project Firefighting – Lessons Learned from Mrs. O’Leary’s Cow

May 18, 2010 Leave a Comment

Many a great catastrophe has started from humble roots. Consider the Great Chicago Fire of 1871: The initial cause of the fire is still unknown (popular legend holds that Catherine O’Leary’s barn on the south side of Chicago was set ablaze when her errant cow, Daisy, upended a lantern), but that it left the city devastated is incontrovertible. [Read more...]

Though the loss of a barn is no small tragedy, further calamity could have been avoided if the response had been swift, measured and well-implemented. Instead, firefighters were initially dispatched to the wrong location. Corrected information was later relayed to them, but only after a significant delay. By the time firefighters arrived at Mrs. O’Leary’s barn, the conflagration was well and truly underway, and had in fact ignited a number of nearby structures. Firefighters and residents alike then assumed the spreading inferno would be quelled by the natural fire break of the Chicago River – it wasn’t. The string of delays, insufficient responses and incorrect assumptions resulted in the decimation of 34 city blocks, which ultimately left nearly a third of Chicago’s population homeless.

As every firefighter knows, it’s only prudent to expect the occasional fire. Savvy project management professionals are no different, and they understand that no amount of planning can eliminate every potential problem. Your ability to control, mitigate and stamp out the inevitable fire will depend heavily on avoidance – planning that reduces risk and exposure – and rallying a quick and appropriate response when something does go wrong.

Good project planning requires the ability to identify all the what-ifs that might come to pass: What if we don’t have consensus on the objectives? What if a potential risk bites us? What if a key stakeholder leaves? Your team and its stakeholders must agree on a number of factors before you move ahead. Get your assumptions into the open – are they correct? Determine the risks you’re likely to encounter – does everyone understand their potential impact? Put your scope front and center – do others have different expectations? Ensuring that everyone involved in your project has the same information, assumptions, and understandings is critical for steering your project safely through any problems you may encounter.

Once your team has ferreted out every potential problem and risk, it’s time to prepare strategies to avoid issues where possible, and mitigate the damage done by problems that do crop up. The energy you put into this phase of the project could save you headaches – as well as real disasters – later.

Remember the following 5 steps when responding to a project fire.

Identification: Most problems don’t announce themselves until they’re wreaking widespread havoc on your project. Identifying issues quickly takes diligence and attention, so be sure each member of your team knows their responsibilities inside and out.

Communication: When a problem or potential problem is discovered, it must be quickly communicated to the rest of team. Other areas might avoid being impacted if given early warning.

Strategy: Devising and implementing a successful solution takes teamwork and focus. Your response must be feasible and appropriate to the problem, and you need to identify all aspects of the issue as well potential negative effects your solution may have.

Implementation: Assign actions to appropriate team members, and put your solution into practice.

Review: Examine the original issue, and ensure the problems have been solved without inadvertently creating tangential issues that could themselves become fires. If there are still unresolved issues, then you haven’t yet put out the fire – continue addressing the problems until the team is confident there isn’t anything else burning.

PMAlliance uses a team of highly experienced and certified professionals to provide project management consulting, project management training and project office development services.

Filed Under: Project Management, Project Management Tips, Project Management Training, Project Office, Uncategorized Tagged With: ,

Project Management Tips: Regulatory Oversight 101

May 10, 2010 Leave a Comment

Projects of every size and in any industry may sometimes require regulatory oversight or approval. Working with a regulatory body has the potential to affect every facet of your project, from where documents are archived to how long a particular activity must take.

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Regulatory oversight may seem daunting at first, but some basic research and preparation will go a long way toward making your project successful.

What information do you need? The following breakdown is by no means all-inclusive, but it will give you a good starting point.

Who

Contractors with particular licenses or certifications; regulatory inspectors, reviewers, and other contacts; internal team members with specific responsibilities (life safety, insurance, licenses, etc.); vendors able to provide agency-approved goods (equipment, tools, chemicals) and services (storage, cleaning, documentation).

What

Scope of oversight; text of codes and regulations; documentation that must be posted, submitted, filed, stored, signed or discarded; requirements for insurance, licenses, certifications, insurance and training.

When

Deadlines for requests for information; expiration of permits, certificates or licenses; actions that must be completed in sequence or require mid-project review and approval; limits on the types of activities that can be completed concurrently.

Where

Locations for meetings, tests, procedures, reviews, inspections, and the submittal of documents or data; storage requirements for documentation, equipment, test results, chemicals and other materials.

How

Approved procedures; deviation reports; requests for information; submittal of data; signatures required on internal and external forms; recordkeeping and reporting requirements; security of data, computers, software platforms and documents; restrictions on quantities of chemicals and other materials.

Now that you have an idea of the information you’re looking for, it’s time to begin your research.

Visit the regulatory body’s Web site. Review online copies of the regulations or codes, and sign up to be notified when changes are made. Consider ordering a hard copy of the current regulations, so your team can reference a single common information source. Depending on the agency, you may also be able to find a list of recent actions. The results of past inspections, pending permit requests and recently completed projects are all good learning tools.

Network within the client’s industry. Others have likely dealt with the same regulatory requirements, and can help you understand them and their potential impact. If you’re able to find local contacts experienced in dealing with regulators, all the better – regulatory agencies often have regional offices, with inspectors or reviewers responsible for your particular area. Familiarizing yourself with the working style and expectations of the local regulators will put you a step ahead.

Ask the client. If you’re comfortable approaching your client, you can learn a great deal by examining past projects completed under the same regulations. Review the documentation, deliverables, and results; become familiar with the potential impact to your project’s schedule as a result of necessary inspections, leadtime for onsite regulatory visits, availability of specialty contractors, and activities or processes that require a set period of time to complete; make note of any can’t-miss deadlines; identify internal resources; and plan for outside experts you may need to involve.

Look for industry and professional associations. Locate groups that are comprised of companies frequently under the same regulatory oversight as your new project. These organizations often maintain information on the status of regulations and recent developments, and can provide you with additional resources. Their members have a deep knowledgebase of past projects – be sure to ask about projects that failed, or were significantly hampered by incorrect actions or poor decisions. Understanding how to avoid these situations will teach you a great deal about managing your project correctly from start to finish.

PMAlliance uses a team of highly experienced and certified professionals to provide project management consulting, project management training and project office development services.

http://www.pm-alliance.com

Filed Under: Checklists, Documentation Tips, PMO Development, Project Management, Project Management Tips, Project Management Training, Project Office Tagged With:
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