Posted: September 16th, 2009 | Tags: BNet, Business case, Project Management, Project manager | No Comments »
Having just finished my series on what a good project manager should be able to do, it was reassuring for me to see the same points coming up for managers. In this blog entry at BNet the same qualities are also mentioned – presenting, communication, negotiation.
I also like the points being raised on finance. If a project manager is involved in the creation of the business case of the project, it is of great help to have a good understanding of all the relevant financial terms.
Do the work – hands on – In project management this is an area where the line becomes very thin. A project manager needs to have an understanding of problem he/she is solving, what the solution is all about but needs to ensure not to get involved in the details of the solution. When you get sucked into the detail of the solution, you loose your focus on managing the project. Leave the solution to the experts, you only need to manage the process.
Try to act like a mature adult – Oh Yes! This is where managing your own emotions come from as I mentioned here.
Posted: September 14th, 2009 | Tags: people skills, Project Management, Project Management Institute, Project manager, Project Manager skills | No Comments »
The ability to deal with people is as purchasable a commodity as sugar or coffee and I will pay more for that ability than for any other under the sun. - John D. Rockefeller
Here we get to the point that really seperate “any old” project manager from the “Good PM”. How well can you deal with people. People is the most dynamic part of any project. PMI defines a project as an “unique endevear”. Every project that has people involved will by definition be unique if we do not have exactly the same team as on the previous project.
A lot of the previous “good pm” attributes, like conflict management, have people at the core. In order for your project to be successful in any way, you will need to be able to make the best of the people you have on-board. Being able to relate to people, being able to identify different personality types and how to deal with each of these is crucial if you want to succeed in project management. Like the previous post, this skill is also something that can be taught in training classes but only be perfected by real life experience.
Recently I have witnessed another case of a brilliant mind that did not have the ability to build rapport with key stakeholders. Although all the decisions made on the project were technically correct, the inability of the project manager to appropriately deal with the conflict between stakeholders turned the project into a “burning” project where the fire fighters had to come and help. The key cause in this case was the project managers inability to “read” the stakeholders, understand their emotions and deal with it in an unbiased way.
I have also seen the opposite case, where the project manager is such a people person that now work gets done. Keeping everybody happy was so important that no tough decisions where ever made and all difficult decision got put on hold.
It is normally fairly easy to spot the project managers with bad people skills. Not to say that bad people skills always equal bad project manager. There are roles for these people as well. Sometimes the lack of “soft” skills is what is needed from a escalation manager, where being able to take charge, evaluate a situation and make decisions are the critical skills.
Horses for courses! Just be sure you know the limitations of the project managers that you work with.
Posted: May 28th, 2009 | Tags: presentation skills, Project Management, Project Manager skills | No Comments »
“Never tell a story because it is true: tell it because it is a good story.” – John Pentland Mahaffy
Here is another of the skills that I believe makes a “good” project manager – the ability to present.
Most project managers who work for a profesional services organization will at some point attend a “presentation skills” course of some sorts. How many actually make this a core competence? All too often I still see a lot of “”death by powerpoint” type sessions. In my opinion – a sure way to loose your credibility as a “profesional”. Not all of us will be able to present like Steve Jobs (my personal favourite presenter) but we can surely get to the point where we can effectively communicate a message. I am not going to give a 5 minute course on presentation skills here – enough of those around if you care to search for them.
My personal strategies for presenting:
- Know your subject – Nothing will make you more nervous than the knowledge that you do not really know what you are talking about. If you do not know enough – get a co-presenter that does know enough. Presenting in a team can be very effective if planned properly.
- Know the audience – Try and find out as much as you possibly can about your audience. Who are the key decision makers, who are their influencers, who can only say “no” and block a decision…. Also check up on their knowledge of the subject you are presenting. You need to ensure that you pitch your message at the right level to the key people.
- Have a storyline – make sure that you presentation follows a storyline. It has to start somewhere (reason for knowing verybody’s previous exposure) and then follow a clear path to the desired outcome. This is also why you need to have a clear agenda and every now and again explain where you are in this agenda. It makes it easier for people to follow your message.
- Use pictures – They say more and also allows you to interact better with your audience. Tray to minimize those bullet points. They are good for training sessions.
- Every slide must have a message – be sure that every slide you use has only one message. Ensure that this message comes out. Put it at the bottom of the slide or build an animation.
- Manage your time – Everybody’s time is limited. All of us have tight schedules and one meeting that overruns can ruin my day! Have respect for other people’s time.
Most important – R E H E A R S E – Do not go into a presentation unprepared. When I present a new topic I use a ratio of 4:1 – 1 hour presentation = 4 hours of rehearsal (dry runs included). If it is something I have presented before my ratio drops to 2:1. Never go into a presentation without rehearsing!
Final point – Learn to tell stories and not make speeches! People listen to stories and “sit through” speeches. Remember how you parents or grandparents told you bed time stories? That is what I am talking about.
Posted: May 20th, 2009 | Tags: business benefit, Business case, communication, Project Management, Project Manager skills | No Comments »
A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business.
Henry Ford
Continuing on my series of what makes a “good” PM – “Articulate the project’s benefit in a very clear and concise way to business”
It is crucial that you keep the end in mind. By this I mean, how will the outcome of this project improve things for the stakeholders? I have often seen a lot of objectives in project charters that leave me with the thought “Yes and then?”. Can you explain to your stakeholders in their language what benefit you will add for them. On big projects you would find a business case that mathematically calculate if a projects is “worth doing”. However, can you as the project manager turn this into a clear message that would keep your stakeholders interested in your project. A good project manager should be able to explain the business benefit of the project’s solution in a clear and concise way. This implies at the appropriate level as well. Not all people want to know the ROI.
For most people the real question they ask when asking about the value of the project is: 1. What is in it for me? 2. What is in it for my organization? and 3. What is in it for you (and your organization)?
Can you sell your project? Can you keep on selling your project when things get tough?
This keeps on coming back to the basic principle of communication skills. I believe that this is one of the skills that must be taught to new project managers and needs to be developed with existing project managers. Most people can talk but few can communicate effectively! In most cases I have found my project sponsors to be good teachers of communication skills. Most project sponsors become senior in their organization because they have mastered the art of communication (at least those that last a while!).
What also ties in with this topic is the concept of value tracking. Do you know how the value of your project will be measured? It is important that you have a clear definition of how this value is measured at the start of the project. You then need to establish a clear method of measuring the effect by creating an initial baseline and then periodically comparing the current state against the initial state. What is also important is the agreement up front on how long this will be measured for. Will the value realize in year 1 or 5? Also make sure that there is a process in place to keep on measuring even after the project team has been released from the project. Most project end before the final benefit is realized.
Posted: May 20th, 2009 | Tags: Consulting, FreeMind, MindManager, Project Charter, Project Management | No Comments »
I recently came across another web site that I have added to my Blogroll called “Project Management Point of View” by Greg Cimmarrusti. Well worth a look at!
Greg has recently posted an article on how to use MindManager to create a Project Charter. Being an avid mindmapper I have found this really interesting. I also see quite a bit of interest in the comments on the use of his template. I would also be quite interested in Greg sharing with us.
I have used MindManager quite often to create an WBS and a schedule. Some limitations when it comes to advanced resource assignments but these can be overcome with some add-ins for MindManager. Export to MS-Project is a real time saver.
Does anybody know of a “repository” of Project Management templates for MindManager and/or Freemind? I only know of the template gallery at MindJet’s site.
Posted: April 23rd, 2009 | Tags: Academic publishing, PDU, PMI, Project Management, Research | No Comments »
Via Bas de Baar’s shared Google RSS feed I picked up on a discussion regarding earning PDUs for blog posts.
This concept is very similar to what the academic colleagues suggested at a recent PMI session that I attended covering opportunities for Business School Growth. The challenges our colleagues in the academic world has is with the current rating of the current Project Management Research Journals and the time delay in getting articles published. As you may know they are “rewarded” based on the number of articles they publish in research journals. Unfortunately these journals also have long review and publication cycles (I have heard times longer than a year) Instead of publishing long academic papers in research journals we should also have another method for publishing shorter articles with a quick cycle. What is important is that it must be peer reviewed. In order for this to work, there will need to be a “body” of respected academics and profesionals that review the articles before they are posted. It may not yet solved the problem for the academics but could get the PM community a step forward. For the business colleagues it is important that these articles are easily digestible and have practical application for them.
It was suggested to PMI to facilitate such a platform. I will keep an ear on the ground to see if this suggestions is taken up by PMI.
How could this fit in with the PMI New Media Council? (a group of bloggers and other “new media” people who are working with the PMI)
Posted: March 22nd, 2009 | Tags: business benefit, justification, Project Management | No Comments »
Why are you doing this project? What will happen if you do not do this project? What will happen if we do this project a year later?
Can you answer these questions about your project?
Most big projects have a business case that gets done before the project is started. Does the project manager understand that and can the project ultimately deliver what the bsuness case promised? I have found this to be one of the most important steps in the handover process in a professional services company. When the project is transferred from sales to delivery the sales team needs to ensure that the PM understands the business case and the benefits that were promised. Do we create an acceptance process that is aligned with the business case?
Most professional services teams have come to understand the importance of benefits tracking. Can you show your client the difference that your project made? What was the situation before you started the project, how are you tracking in comparison with what was promised in the business case?
Posted: February 4th, 2009 | Tags: personal network, Project Management, Project Manager skills, technical understanding | No Comments »
“Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.“
— Albert Einstein
Rather than getting in to the age-old discussion about functional skills makes a good/bad project manager, let’s rather think about the benefits that a PM with understanding of the solution will have. (Most of my PM experience has been in the IT systems environment and this may taint my view a bit.) I do not support the idea that a good PM must be a functional expert, but I do suggest that the PM needs to understand the solution that his/her project will deliver. This normally means you need to get into the technical jargon of the subject area. How deep this knowledge must be is a question that does not have a single answer. The “it depends” type of answer should be given here. Rather than being a functional expert, I support the recommendation that the PM needs to be a quick and eager learner. Do you know how to learn? Are you open to be taught?
What benefit will you get out of understanding the technical issues:
- A better understanding of your scope boundaries. What is a new requirement and what is a clearer definition of an existing requirement? Do you understand if the proposed solution the technical wiz kid has just come up with is small alteration in approach or is it a new solution with it’s own set of problems?
- One of the trouble areas of any project is the accuracy of effort estimations. PMI recommends several techniques that you could use to validate the estimations via experts but I think the PM should be able at least sanity check these. This knowledge should normally be restricted to “rough order of magnitude” type estimations.
- Do you understand the progress that the resources are making? So many tasks ends up with the 90% done status! It is the PM’s responsibility to understand what is holding up a specific task, what is causing delays etc and a technical understanding of these helps you to foresee the next challenge that you are most likely to face. For some reason a lot of functional experts only warn you about problems once it hits them! It is nice to be able to discuss the next step/challenge/risk before it hits the issues list!
- Once these items do hit the issues list they need to be prioritized. This is a step where cause and efffect knowledge always helps you to identify that one roadblock that is holding up several tasks or is the root cause of severla issues.
I am sure that most experienced PMs can add to this basic list of mine. I think the key here is that you must follow the good advice from Ronald Reagan – “trust but validate”. You can do this in one of two ways, technical understanding or a network of subject matter experts (SME). My ideal solution is not either-or but both. Understand what is happening yourself and when in doubt use your network of SMEs. This emphasizes the need for a personal network that is well managed.
Associate yourself with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation. It is better be alone than in bad company.
Posted: January 12th, 2009 | Tags: communication, Project Management, Project Manager skills, Status Reporting | No Comments »
“If you can’t explain it to a six year old, you don’t understand it yourself.” — Albert Einstein
How tell can you explain your project’s current status to a key business stakeholder? When you bump into the client’s CEO and he asks about your project, what do you say?
Most PMs can easily quote their current SPI, CPI, Estimated Costs at Completion etc.. but will the CEO of a Retail company really understand what you are trying to say?
A “good” PM needs to have the ability to translate all of these technical terms into business impact that will be understood by everybody. The message to the CEO is not the same that you will give to the CIO or the business unit manager that is affected by the project. Can you distill the key issues/challenges and package them for the specific audience? This skill is not easy to master. I must admit that I have not yet completely mastered this myself. I also tend to take the road well traveled and start speaking technical terms. The reward is mostly that blank look and a very abrupt end to the conversation.
Key to this skills is the homework you need to do in your stakeholder analysis. What are the top issues for the CEO? When you meet her/him, report only on these issues. A lot of us ended up doing a stakeholder analysis and communication plan at the start of the project which led to a well executed formal communication schedule. This however does not cater for these ad-hoc type feedback sessions. The other document that supports this skills is your project issues list. Do you know your top issues and their potential business impact? Are these articulated in business terms or technical terms?
A good place to practise this skill is when you husband/wife asks you – “How are things at work?” Can you really explain it to them? I know this is a bit different but still a good measure of your skill. Similar test to check your negotiation skills is by taking a 4 year old to the toy store! If you survive these challenges you can survive the busines world.
Posted: January 8th, 2009 | Tags: Conflict Management, Difficult Conversation, Negotiation, Project Management | 1 Comment »
Continuing on the series regarding what skills make a “good” project manager:
“The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot. ”
— Michael Altshuler
As a project manager you will definitely in your career come up with the challenge of conveying bad news. In most cases for me it was news that had to be given to a customer. A picture that I will never forget comes from one of my favorite books on this topic – “Difficult Conversations” by Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton and Sheila Heen. This book is a follow up from the bestseller titled “Getting to Yes” by Roger Fisher and William Ury. I can strongly recommend these for any PM that wants to touch up on negotiations and conflict management. These books were some of the results from the Harvard Negotiation Project. Paul – you can start with these!
In Difficult Conversations the message is summed up as follows: Bad news is like a hand grenade. Sugar coating will not cause less damage and holding on to it for too long will cause the most damage to yourself. From this I have drawn the lesson that the sooner you have this conversation the better, provided that all the facts are on the table. I think this is one of the most important steps to a difficult conversation – make sure you have all the facts. Do not make it a personal or emotional discussion. The moment the conversation starts turning emotional or personal you somehow need to call a time-out. It always goes south from there. According to the authors of Difficult Conversations you cannot ignore the feelings or personalities. They break a difficult conversation into three key conversations:
- The “What Happened” conversation
- The feelings conversation
- The identity conversation
You will need to understand each of these to be able to keep control of such a discussion and get a fruitful outcome. I strongly suggest you read the book. An audio version is also available from Audible.com.
The second most important thing I have learned is that “it is not about me“! It is seldom that the client is unhappy with you as a person. In most cases they are unhappy about the product, the company’s attitude towards something, the quality of a work product or a change in scope. Make sure that you do not make it personal for yourself. This allows you to walk out of a serious session with your personal dignity intact and the ability to face the next difficult conversation. I promise you – you will have more than one of these if you stick around the project management space.
The last point for today – You do not need to have all the answers. In most cases during these converatin the client simply wants confirmation that his/her viewpoint is being heard, understood and respected. “I will need to get back to you on this” is a perfectly good answer when you do not know. Trying to give an answer simply to get out will lead to more problems later. Good project managers are team players and will know that I need a team to support me. Buy yourself the time to go and consult with your team. In most cases there is a good logical answer for most difficult questions.
