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.

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.

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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.

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.

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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.

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.

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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. 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.

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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.

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

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Single minded focus throughout the most critical phases of a project is a must, but it’s also important to maintain a strong, ongoing awareness of the needs and challenges facing your clients and end users. Getting away from your desk and pursuing interactions outside your project team will give you a new perspective that really can make you a better project management professional.

Make the rounds. You should regularly visit your end users and stakeholders on their turf. Not only will you form better connections capable of supporting you through the demanding projects ahead, you’ll also get an on-the-ground view of the environment you may one day be affecting. You can take stock of the challenges your end users are facing — staffing, space, etc. — and better understand how your efforts can help them overcome these obstacles.

Attend non-project meetings. Steering committees and other groups unrelated to your current project load are often good ways to connect with a wider range of people. These folks may one day be your internal customers or even your champions, so making contact with them in a project-agnostic setting could be highly beneficial down the road. Through this peripheral exposure to your expertise and capabilities, others in your organization who had not previously considered the benefits of leveraging an experienced project management team might now be prompted to involve you in future endeavors.

Don’t forget the fun. Your project team’s morale and cohesiveness is a critical concern, but so also is your own job satisfaction. Seize the opportunity to interact with others in support of fun activities, such as company parties and community volunteer efforts, without the pressure of a project looming over the conversation. You’ll add some spice to your work day, and also connect with innovative people outside your normal sphere.

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

• 4 Ways to Stay Fresh During a Long Project
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• 5 Ways to Defend Your Project Budget
• 5 Strategies to Persuade On-the-fence Stakeholders
• 6 Steps to Being a Good Mentor
• 4 Project Management Tips for “Scattered Team” Success
• Project Management Teamwork : When Good Confrontation Goes Bad
• Project Management: Three Important Tips for Better Business Writing
• Project Firefighting – Lessons Learned from Mrs. O’Leary’s Cow
• Project Management Tips: Regulatory Oversight 101

Make tomorrow more productive by doing some simple preparation today.

Secure sensitive materials in a locked cabinet or drawer. Nothing can ruin a relaxing evening (and put you into a stressful state of mind in the morning) like wondering if that confidential file is still sitting open on your desk.

Clear your outbox. Deliver materials to team members, return borrowed project documentation, put outbound items in the mail, and recycle or shred any trash. Your work area will remain uncluttered, and the action items you’re delivering to others can be incorporated into their task list.

Consolidate incoming materials. Anything that arrived by “chair mail” or other means should go into your inbox. Tomorrow’s priorities will be more obvious — and easier to tackle — when they’re all in one place.

Review tomorrow’s calendar. You’ll know precisely how much time you have available for tasks and other activities. It’s also a good way to avoid inadvertently overbooking yourself with other commitments.

Review any shared or group calendars. If you’re relying on fellow team members for information or materials, you’ll know to shift your expectations or make other arrangements if you see they’re scheduled to be in meetings or out of the office.

Identify downtime opportunities. For commuters able to get online on the train or bus, you may be able to knock out e-mails during what might otherwise be downtime. Commuting by car can be a good opportunity to make or return phone calls, or listen to voicemail messages — using a hands-free device, of course.

List your top 3 priorities for tomorrow. It’ll make you productive first thing in the morning, as well as help streamline any thoughts you might have about work that evening. You can now begin accomplishing your objectives as soon as you walk into the office.

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

• 4 Ways to Stay Fresh During a Long Project
• 6 Tips to Tame the E-mail Monster
• 5 Ways to Defend Your Project Budget
• 5 Strategies to Persuade On-the-fence Stakeholders
• 6 Steps to Being a Good Mentor
• 4 Project Management Tips for “Scattered Team” Success
• Project Management Teamwork : When Good Confrontation Goes Bad
• Project Management: Three Important Tips for Better Business Writing
• Project Firefighting – Lessons Learned from Mrs. O’Leary’s Cow
• Project Management Tips: Regulatory Oversight 101

A team’s strength often lies in the diversity of its members – a range of experience, expertise and personalities work together to successfully execute a project. By embracing the diversity of your team and looking to the expertise of your fellow team members, you’ll increase your personal knowledgebase for future projects, you’ll have ready access to an expert source the next time you need one, and your current project will benefit from a broader support base.

Industry

Team members with significant expertise in the current industry are a critical component of your team. They can offer insight into industry trends, normal company growth metrics, project budgeting quirks, and impacts of regulatory oversight. It’s also likely your expert will have a more robust list of contacts and resources who are accustomed to getting things done in the industry.

Discipline

Face it, you may not be terrific at everything. From communication to documentation to estimating, it’s likely that your personality and your past experience lend themselves to some disciplines and not to others. If something on your current project’s list of requirements isn’t your strong suit, it’s time to tap the other members of your team. Some folks are naturally drawn to certain aspects of project management, and objectively determining the strengths of each team member will give your project better support.

Niche areas

Your project may require specialized skills or expertise due to complexity, scope, stakeholder expectations or other factors. Tapping into the capabilities of your team members can fill a void you’d normally need to outsource, potentially saving the project both time and money.

Gather information on team members’ strengths and areas of expertise at the beginning of each project, so you know which resources you have available in-house. You can then track down outside experts to fill any remaining holes.

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

• 4 Ways to Stay Fresh During a Long Project
• 6 Tips to Tame the E-mail Monster
• 5 Ways to Defend Your Project Budget
• 5 Strategies to Persuade On-the-fence Stakeholders
• 6 Steps to Being a Good Mentor
• 4 Project Management Tips for “Scattered Team” Success
• Project Management Teamwork : When Good Confrontation Goes Bad
• Project Management: Three Important Tips for Better Business Writing
• Project Firefighting – Lessons Learned from Mrs. O’Leary’s Cow
• Project Management Tips: Regulatory Oversight 101

http://www.pm-alliance.com
PMAlliance uses a team of highly experienced and certified professionals to provide project management consulting, project management training and project office development services.

Our goal is to give you a competitive advantage through improved project planning and control techniques. Our flexible combination of project management services is tailored to meet your individual needs. We develop long-term partnerships with your team as we work together with the highest level of integrity. Our immediate project management solutions and long-term assistance can transform the way you manage projects.

Video by Petit Robot Media
http://www.petitrobot.com

• Project Management Documentation Tips: Clear, Concise & Relevant
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Project documentation proliferates at a startling pace. Before you know it, your current project’s files are stuffed, you have a stack of documentation boxes to prepare for storage, or you’re stuck sifting through thick folders from past projects in search of important information.

Before the amount of documentation flowing amongst team members and stakeholders becomes overwhelming, make an effort to rein it in with some thoughtful planning and ruthless editing. Consider employing the following guidelines to help trim your documents to a more manageable level, and enjoy increased efficiency now and later.

#1 – Clear

When composing documents, state the information you want to convey as plainly and simply as possible. If you’re announcing bad news, don’t dress it up – just say it. Changes to the team’s structure, schedule modifications, budget issues, updated stakeholder expectations and a host of other topics can be sensitive and uncomfortable, but resist the urge to be vague or evasive. Everyone involved with your projects needs to clearly understand the lay of the land, even if it isn’t pleasant. If you’re still waiting for additional information or if data is pending, plainly delineate what you know and what you don’t. Ensuring your team is operating under a common set of information is a critical concern.

#2 – Concise

The simplest way to remember this rule is this: say what you need to say, and then stop. But beware, it’s often harder than it sounds. With the exception of timelines, budgets and a few other items, you shouldn’t be rehashing old news. If information has already been disseminated, strongly consider if it needs restating before including it again. Rather than releasing the same information multiple times, maintain a single set of always-current baseline or reference documents, such as master budgets, schedules and contact lists. As much as possible, stick to a single topic (or set of related topics) per communication. This reduces documentation while also allowing for more finely-tuned distribution.

#3 – Relevant

Including potentially irrelevant or off-topic information in your documents may prompt readers to place your document in the bottomless “read later” pile, or simply file it without more than a cursory glance. Not only does this add to your overall documentation load, it also increases the likelihood that truly important information will be missed. Unless information is vital to your team’s ability to successfully execute your project, or to your stakeholders’ need for ongoing project updates and information, don’t include it.

By applying these guidelines to every document associated with your project, you’ll help cut down on time spent creating and assimilating documents, without compromising the quality or timeliness of your team’s information flow. You stand to gain efficiency in several areas:

During the project – Instead of reading through e-mails that don’t affect you, memos that cover information you received previously, and meeting notes comprised of agenda items both project-related and pertaining to other topics, your team will appreciate receiving exactly the information they need, when they need it, and little else. It’s a way to save time for everyone involved.

After the project – When preparing documents for archival, your commitment to following these guidelines will have a clear pay-off. You’ll have less documentation to archive, and less work to make everything ready for long-term storage.

Preparing for the next project – reviewing documentation from previous projects is enormously helpful when working to identify key players, refreshing your memory about past vendors, and comparing scope against earlier cost metrics. If you’re conditioned to shuffle through a lot of papers before finding what you need, you’ll appreciate the more streamlined process facilitated by the use of these guidelines.

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

• Project Management : The Power of the Checklist
• Documentation Tips: Archival
• Conducting a Useful Post Mortem Analysis
• Confronting Challenges by Adding a Project Management Consulting Firm to Your Team
• Software is a Tool, Not the Answer to Project Planning & Control
• Project Management in a Down Economy
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• A Phased Approach to Project Management Implementation
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• The Project Office