tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62768864284828221082024-03-05T00:09:58.434-08:00IT Project ManagementUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger63125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276886428482822108.post-75227843284730297492012-11-14T22:28:00.000-08:002012-11-14T22:29:03.728-08:00An Unidentified Working Project<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Projects come in all shapes and sizes, and being able identify when something that you are working on is actually a project is extremely important. Far too frequently projects have failed due to the fact that when they started, they were not viewed as projects. It could be an individual or a small group in the process of creating a mini-application or ‘prototype’ that then gains attention or traction from management. There is a strong temptation in this case to continue to build off what has already been created, as going back is seen as a waste of time. This is very dangerous. Planning is vital, and generally individuals do not properly plan out their own test cases. Much of the existing development could potentially be reused, but only if it is deemed in the long-term interest of the project’s success.<br />
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This method of development is sometimes seen as organic, as though it has grown dynamically out of the business, a beacon of innovation and foresight. It is true that it can foster innovation, but these initiatives can quickly turn into research projects if not properly controlled. A strict set of requirements, deadlines and scope need to be identified to ensure that what is being developed is in fact what the business actually needs.<br />
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So how do we know whether a small initiative is going to grow into a full-blown project? I would suggest that the key aspects of what you are working on are closely monitored. Below I have outlined some key areas to be aware of.<br />
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Budget: If a significant percentage of your budget is being used on a particular task, then it could be elevated to project status. Also if you foresee an increase in capital expenditure, then this will need to be managed.<br />
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Time: Are you using up an ever-increasing amount of people’s time? This is very similar to budget, as budget can often be measured in FTE. Remember that the least number of people you need to run a project is two, as one person should be directing, while the other manages the delivery of the project. One person can never properly manage/direct himself effectively.<br />
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Impact: Does this task require input from other departments? If so, then you will most likely need buy-in from senior management to drive the initiative transversally across different departments. This will require investment in ‘political capital’ to ensure success of the initiative.<br />
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Risk: If at any point you feel that what you are working on now involves an elevated level of risk that requires some form of management. Ask yourself, if we were to stop this task, would it affect our day-to-day operations?<br />
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Prepared by M. E.</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276886428482822108.post-76108151419048226092012-11-14T19:24:00.000-08:002012-11-14T19:24:03.693-08:00Requirement Gathering under Pressure<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Requirement gathering is a crucial step for a project and especially an IT project to succeed. Without a detailed understanding of what the requirements and accordingly the corresponding functions and features of the output are, the project is likely to fail. We all know this pictures that show what can become out of a tire on a rope hanging down a tree, if requirements are not clearly defined; therefore most of the project manager undertake thorough requirement gathering activities. Although every good project manager knows about the importance of getting the requirements right, how is it possible that still project fail due to lack of understanding of the requirements?<br />
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My answer is that in those projects time was an issue and project manager had to race through the process of gathering due to executive pressure. Executives always want to see progress, but progress in an IT project often means lines of code or finished features. Unfortunately, no code is generated during the requirement gathering process; therefore it is hardly seen as progress. The worst situation are those were the sponsor thinks he knows the requirements and hence doesn’t see any necessity for requirement gathering at all. I have recently been in a situation like that, were a project almost failed, because of the sponsor’s actions during the requirement gathering. Fortunately, we were still able to make the project a success. In the following I will describe the situation, why the project could have failed and how we turned it around.<br />
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An executive came to our team with a project suggestion. He had an idea for a project in a department that wasn’t his, but he was convinced that they would need that software he had in mind. Because it sounded like an interesting project, we took it. After our first meeting with our customer it was clear that there hasn’t been a business case, since the project was just based on the idea of the sponsor. Our sponsor was a powerful person in the company so that we and our customer were forced to start the project, although we were hesitant to do so without a business case. We tried to create a business case to get the requirements clear, but none of our customer had a clear picture of what was exactly needed. So we arranged a meeting with our sponsor and our customer either to get our requirements right (We have prepared a process map to find the activities where the proposed software would be helpful) or to stop the project. Unfortunately neither happened, because our sponsor dictated the requirements and the users were afraid to disagree with him. Although we were not convinced that those were the needed requirements, we had to move on due and start developing the software. We were right and the actions of our sponsor made us almost miss the deadline due to scope changes in the middle of the project.<br />
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In IT projects a close collaboration between the project team and the users is important to be able to check if requirements were translated into the right features and functions. Because we anticipated that the requirements might have been wrong, we intensified the collaboration with the users in order to discover development of none valuable functions immediately. As a consequence we experienced a rolling scope change, that is, many incremental changes that minimize the wasted time, but lead eventually to a big change in the requirements.<br />
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Our sponsor agreed with all the changes in the scope, since his ultimate goal was to make the user happy; however his actions almost made the project fail. The lessons learned is that you should never start a project were the requirements are unclear or pushed onto the users from top management, because the actions we took to rescue the project are not possible in every environment.<br />
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Prepared by Peter<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276886428482822108.post-75339296897796781572012-11-14T19:22:00.001-08:002012-11-14T19:22:23.707-08:00Personal PM Story:<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I was previously involved in an IT project for a large financial institution which I will call ABC Company due to potentially sensitive information. I was part of a consulting team that was responsible for gathering and analyzing business needs requirements that will feed into the design of the IT system. The project started in 2010, and was scheduled for implementation in 2011, but by the time I left the team late 2012, the status of the project was still unknown. The project management team could not provide any information on the progress or the completion date. Executive management had shifted all attention to this project because it was consuming enormous amounts of funding, but also disrupting business operations.<br />
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The old legacy IT system currently being used was extremely old and lacks the functions and capabilities required for the complexity of today’s banking needs. Many of the problems with the old IT system were not fixed because everyone anticipated that the new IT system would replace it. Instead, temporary patch fixes were used to “band-aid” the problem until the new IT system is in place. As the new system becomes delayed, these band-aids are causing even more problems. This is a common problem with time overrun in IT projects. <br />
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One of the biggest problems I could see from my role was the lack of collaboration across departments. The IT department had traditionally been highly independent and sees themselves as more of an external service provider rather than a part of the company. As a result, a tremendous amount of time was “wasted in the fuzzy front end” of the project trying to coordinate meetings and agreement on the scope.<br />
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The other problems I saw are very similar to those in the London Stock Exchange Taraus project. The complexity of the IT system is significantly higher than expected. Constant scope and feature creep. Our consulting was asked to provide business needs assessment very early in the project, but was asked to provide a new assessment several more times as scope changed throughout the project. It is remarkable to see how companies still face these problems even though the project management discipline has been fairly refined and well developed over the last few decades.<br />
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Prepared by EL</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276886428482822108.post-15962020560666860572012-11-14T19:21:00.001-08:002012-11-14T19:21:08.488-08:00The Futility of IT Project Management <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I find the success rate of large-scale IT projects astonishing. As discussed in class any project with a budget greater than $3M or in the works for more than 18 months is almost guaranteed to fail. It would seem that getting 40+ people to work towards a common IT-related goal and complete it on-time, on-budget and to spec is nearly impossible. Should the project be even bigger and more crucially important to the success of a firm, it will have absolutely no chance of successfully being completed on time, budget or to spec.<br />
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Regular, non-IT related projects do not suffer this same dismal success rate. Skyscrapers are built all the time, using hundreds of talented construction workers from dozens of trades and they are easily able to forecast timelines and costs while building exactly to architectural plans. In comparison with the IT industry the construction industry can also boast projects that last years and costs billions. Yet if every time a major casino was built of the Las Vegas strip it was guaranteed to take 5 years longer than expected and cost two to three times as much as forecasted our world be devoid of super-structures.<br />
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To an outsider it could be said that the construction industry is a much simpler list of trades, and that a professional dry wall installer doesn’t have nearly as tough of a job as does a graphic designer. However managing hundreds of dry walling professionals would come with its own challenges, in general these are uneducated professionals with significantly varying levels of professional conduct. Further while some trades like installing dry wall are relatively simple, the time and effort required to plan and execute a major structure’s plumbing and electricity are enormously complex. Yet again, the construction industry is managed with a completely different set of expectations.<br />
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One could argue that the reason for IT Project Management’s dismal track record is the consistent innovation that is attempted in this sector. So rarely are major projects with hundreds of programmers working on any type of project that has been done before and as such they cannot so accurately forecast their timelines or costs, further they can’t build out an architectural plan nearly as precisely. However I still believe that IT project managers could learn a few things from the far less sophisticated construction industry.<br />
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In the construction industry when a major construction project is planned there are massive teams of engineers and architects scouring over every detail of the plan. They then bring the project plans to specialist engineers with experience in planning electrical and plumbing and then modify the plans accordingly. Every major detail of the structure is planned years before ground is broken, then small scale models are created of the expected final project. Stakeholders are consulted, needs and requirements are noted, then they are integrated into the plan and finally reviewed. While small changes are much more easily managed, and don’t necessarily have greater ramifications on the rest of the construction the later changes are generally cosmetic, rather than structural. The construction of a 60 story skyscraper would never get 35 stories high before the owners decided that it should actually grow to 80 stories. Yet, in IT project management such monstrous structural changes seem to be acceptable. When a project is 40% completed and only small cosmetic modifications are realistic, it still seems to be common place for major companies to change their desires for an end product and demand conformity from their team.<br />
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The other area where I believe construction projects seem to have a leg up is the vast number of project managers that are on site at any given time. Every worker on a project can expect that at some point, almost every single day, someone is going to walk by and see what they are working on, how their work looks and whether or not it is up to code. On the contrary, because programmers are so highly educated, because they are designing something new and since there is no code to follow, they are given a large amount of trust to complete their projects and submit them at a specified date. In projects with several thousand programmers, each with their own little computer screen which is hard to walk past and casually inspect, there is an incentive for programmers to pretend to be working. There are enough other programmers that are also working on debugging code or creating graphics, that it is easy to put your head down and take a lazy day every now and then. While it may hurt morale, perhaps a shorter leash and more frequent checks of output would help major IT projects move forward in a more timely fashion.<br />
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Prepared by AI</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276886428482822108.post-714495123225775162012-11-14T19:19:00.003-08:002012-11-14T19:19:38.708-08:00Project Failure Reason<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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When we think of reasons for project failure and search the very trusted net, a number of reasons pop up. They can be broadly classified into the following four categories:<br />
-<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>People related<br />
-<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Process related<br />
-<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Product related<br />
-<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Technology related<br />
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A number of issues and challenges need to be addressed in order for successful management and delivery of the project. In this blog post, I will be sharing a personal experience regarding the importance of stakeholders in the effective development and completion of a product/ project.<br />
Being from IT background myself, I have seen and experienced a number of reasons responsible for failure of different projects. Reasons ranging from some general issues like lack of motivation of the resources or some unidentified risk etc or some very specific concerns like lack of expertise, budget constraints or lack of processes and procedures etc. However, the reason that I would be discussing in this post is how a project failed because of the lack of involvement of the stakeholders i.e. the end users.<br />
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I was part of a ten-member team working on a project for an internal client, wherein the product was to be used and implemented within the client’s department. Since, the beginning of the project this client was the single point of contact for the team. However, he was not the only stakeholder involved and this product was to be used by many more people. Like for any IT project all the necessary procedures were taken into consideration and the necessary steps performed. The requirements were gathered and analyzed and the feasibility study was conducted. Later, the development and the testing were done. Along with these steps the documentation was completed and the processes were followed. However, on the date of delivery, over a conference call, it was not only the client that was present but also the intended users. The discussion that followed was not very encouraging either for the end users or for the team. As the conversation began the team realized that the stakeholders expectations were different from the requirements specified to the team. It was recognized that in order to complete those expectations it would require a considerable amount of time and effort from the team. As a result at the end of the conversation this project was scrapped. At the end of it there are a number of questions that rose - What if this was not an internal project? What if the scope of the project was larger? What if the organization’s reputation was at stake? Could then we afford such a shortcoming? The answer probably is – NO. The basic learning from this project is that<br />
-<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Stakeholder involvement is utmost important for the success of the project.<br />
-<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Not only the developing team should be clear of the expectations, but also the different stakeholders should be on the same page.<br />
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Prepared by NG</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276886428482822108.post-56431616353488847172012-11-14T19:17:00.001-08:002012-11-14T19:17:23.210-08:00Managing Employees in IT Project Management<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Human resources are an integral part of any IT project. They provide the knowledge capital and also execute the design, implementation, test and maintenance of the code. It is a largely dynamic resource and provides its own challenges and opportunities. The IT project manager needs to understand its nuances and manage it well to be productive for the organization.<br />
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There are several issues that need consideration for managing employee relations. The project manager needs to be sensitive towards them and manage them so that employee morale is maintained and issues are handled diligently. We can look at some issues and approaches that can be taken by the PM to promote healthy team environment while being effective.<br />
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a.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Employees with pride issues<br />
Due to prior work experience, university background, technical knowledge or any other motivators, certain employees consider themselves superior to others. This causes rift between teams wherein other members do not feel comfortable in interacting with them. There may be occasion of rude behavior, not helping team mates, not doing a work considered to be “too simple job” etc. A PM’s responsibility is to pitch in such cases and talk to the employee. As a key stakeholder in the overall IT cycle, the PM is responsible to let the problem employee know that teamwork is far superior to mere individual contribution, and get him in line. Great projects work when all stakeholders have involvement and dedication to it.<br />
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b.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Managing employees with anger issues<br />
Employees with anger issues can cause low productivity, stress, lack of dedication and unpalatable working atmosphere in the office. The PM should step up in this case and hold a conversation with the employee. In such cases, the employee should be made aware of the importance of being cordial in office relationships. The manager can also recommend some personality development sessions and training for the employee.<br />
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c.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Tackling employees with work avoidance habits<br />
The PM needs to look out for employees with work avoidance habits. These employees try to stretch work by doing it slowly and avoid taking additional responsibilities. The PM should use KPI to measure the employee performance. It should be communicated clearly to the employee that shunning work adversely affects her career growth opportunities. Making processes for tracking and periodic feedback is a responsibility of the PM for the resources reporting under him.<br />
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d.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The lone rangers<br />
Lone rangers are employees that are great as individual contributors and do not prefer to work in a team environment. The PM should make sure that this should not go out of hand. As a successful IT project involves ample group work, lone rangers should learn to be team players as well. Devising incentive schemes that involve peer reviews, 360 degree feedback etc. makes the employee dependent on its peers for feedback. By tying incentives to team work, they provide incentive to the employee to work in a group and foster relationships with the co-employees.<br />
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e.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Sexual harassment challenges within team<br />
Sexual harassment within team is a grave issue that sometimes challenges the PM. Once such an issue is brought to his notice, the PM should hold conversations with all the parties involved. Then depending upon the issue, the PM may choose to step in and warn the culprit of official action. The PM may also forward the matter to the HR department for their support and policy.<br />
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f.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Promotion aspirations of team members<br />
Handling the promotional aspirations of the team members is a difficult task. Every employee seeks career growth in the company. The PM should chart out the career growth path for his resources and tie it to the SMART goals. The SMART goals are MBO (Management by Objectives) technique that set goals for employees that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time bound. As the employee sets out to achieve these goals, the manager should periodically apprise them of their status and help in course corrections.<br />
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g.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Aspiring employees to skill upgrade<br />
Organizational success of employees is also dependent upon them updating their skills with the changing times. It is important that the PM motivates all its project members to keep updating their technical and business skills in accordance to changing project demands. The employee incentives can also be tied up with them going for learning new tools, attending a workshop, learning a new language, implementing a mini project etc. In regular meetings with the project members, the PM should assess their individual career aspirations and help them identify skills they would want to develop upon.<br />
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h.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Handling leaves<br />
Managing employee leaves is something that every PM comes across. Clear policies for leave management should be set up in place. Also the PM should think about backup resources before granting leave to any employee. There should be enough resources available such that the work in the project does not get stalled due to any employee taking leave and no one to fill in the absence.<br />
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i.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Building channels within team<br />
The PM should act as a channel between teams. He should act as a facilitator for inter team interaction. This is essential in a large organization wherein there are multiple teams involved in complex projects. Facilitation includes building communication links with the other managers, helping in identifying resources in the other teams that would provide the needed information, managing approvals to gain access to information etc.<br />
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j.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Power distance while being approachable<br />
It is important for the PM to maintain a degree of power distance with the team members. This would help him gain respect, support and have a degree of control on the teams. While this is important, the PM should also be approachable. He should allocate time for his resources based upon prior appointments. He should be a mentor for the team but does not need to involve himself in all the team’s activities. The PM is like the coach of a team. He involves in the team, guides it, mentors it and speaks on its behalf; but does not do the actual playing.<br />
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Prepared by A. Singh</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276886428482822108.post-17984346587598173282012-11-14T19:13:00.003-08:002012-11-14T19:14:43.472-08:00PM in ABC<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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ABC* recruited me for one of its most troubled projects called “SOS”. SOS problems tarted from inadequate project planning and management which trickled down from development team to testing team, end users and hence to 24*7 “Production Support team (PST)”, where I was deployed.<br />
PST was facing different problems because of lack of project management methodologies implemented by ABC as summarized below.<br />
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1. Ambiguous Scope: Major issue for PST team was that management didn’t developed project charter to clearly define the scope, especially responsibilities of PST team. As per PST management, PST was only supposed to provide temporary fixes of issues, but not responsible for maintenance of codes which should be handled by development and maintenance (D&M) team. But D&M team thinks otherwise. In short, it was not clear to what extent PST was responsible for maintaining the codes leading to confusion, politics, delay in providing permanent fixes and customer dissatisfaction.<br />
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2. Lack of Processes: Within PST team, Processes were not well defined. For example, there was not any formal process for new issue assignment. Many team members used to start working on same issue leading to redundancy and inefficiency. Secondly, there was no standard documentation process because of which PST team was unable to develop strong knowledge database (KB). Because of lack of KB, team was reinventing the wheel every time resulting in slow issue resolution and additional cost for ABC.<br />
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3. Lack of clear role definition: Because of lack of project charter, there was confusion on roles and authorities of different team members which was leading to power politics, adding to employee dissatisfaction. Most of the time was spent on assigning issues to one another, without any formal authority, leading to inefficiency and delay in providing deliverables to customers.<br />
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4. Unrealistic expectations: Because of lack of implementation of project management methodologies related to project scoping, scheduling and resource assessment, Management committed to resolve unrealistic number of issues per day. It completely ignored the factor that most of the PST is new and is in beginning of learning curve, no formal training or knowledge transfer sessions were conducted to teach the team and there is shortage of skills and resources.<br />
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Because of lack of implementation of project management methodologies as described above, Project ran into problems like high attrition rate, and high number of service level agreement (SLAs) non-compliance etc.<br />
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<b>Recommendations:</b><br />
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1. ABC top management must come up with formal project charter for PST defining its roles and scope to avoid ambiguity over issues being handled by it. It should be clearly communicated to PST and involved stakeholders.<br />
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2. Project Charter also must define clear authority and roles of team members to avoid politics and confusion.<br />
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3. Within project, PST should implement project management methodologies to formally develop the process and to implement them to reduce redundancy and to improve efficiency. It will help in cost reduction and improving customer satisfaction.<br />
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4. PST should also implement project management methodologies for project scoping, scheduling and resource assessment to develop clear roadmap and timelines.<br />
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5. PST should also define KPIs to identify progress and communicate its own worth to top management<br />
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*Names are disguised.</div>
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prepared by GSJ.</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276886428482822108.post-63476628486906537572012-11-14T19:03:00.000-08:002012-11-14T19:05:34.021-08:00Analysis of the FBI’s Virtual Case File Project Failure<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In September 2000, the project by the
name “FITUP” (FBI Information Technology Upgrade Project) was proposed by FBI.
The estimated time completion for the project was 3 years and approximately
379.8 $ millions was allocated to this project. Later on this project’s name
was turned into “Trilogy”. As the name suggests the project “Trilogy” was
divided into three parts:-</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 20.25pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">·<span style="line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">Upgrading of the
traditional software and hardware.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 20.25pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">·<span style="line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">Modernizing the network
communication infrastructure.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 20.25pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">·<span style="line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">Upgrading of the FBI’s
case management system (Virtual Case File).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 20.25pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 2.25pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The
whole project was delayed by almost one year and even it overran in cost as
well. The project that should be completed in 3 years actually took 4 years and
still was not completed. The first two parts were completed somehow but the
main goal of the Virtual Case File was not completed. There were many reasons
for the failure of the project just like the London Stock Exchange failure
case.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 2.25pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 2.25pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">When
we dissect the failure of the FBI’s project then one could notice that there
were a series of mistakes that formed a chain of events that consequently led
to the failure of the project. One of the most important failure cause could be
the change of the project managers, CIO’s and the contract persons. In the span
of 4 years there were around 36 contract people, 10 project managers and 5
CIO’s who were change. Now it is really a big question mark on the World’s top
rated intelligence department to undergo such a mistake. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 2.25pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 2.25pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The
other most important cause for the failure of the project was the continuous
scope creep in the project that caused its failure. Since the 9/11 there were
continuously change in demand by the higher authorities. FBI was a criminal
catching agency but now it was heading towards “Intelligence” work. It was one
of the reason that led to the scope creep because by turning itself into the
Intelligence department it was very well understood that there was a need of
more advance systems and security experts.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 2.25pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 2.25pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Also
the requirements of the FBI’s project were very ill defined and they were
always increasing as the project was progressing. The “over wishful thinking”
was also a major cause of its failure. The outcome and schedule of the project
was more targeted to a desired outcome than an expected outcome. If the scope
and requirements were ket in mind then this would not have been the case.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 2.25pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 2.25pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The
FBI and the contractor’s deal were also not well aligned. There was no
penalties if the work was not done on time and the biggest mistake could be
that there was no milestone set by the FBI and this was an advantage for the
contractor’s as they could skip the milestone plus the penalties.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 115%;">prepared by Z. Imran.</span></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div>
<div id="edn1">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">Sources:</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span lang="EN-US">1</span></span><span lang="EN-US">Strategic PPM ,Project and Portfolio Management </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">
<a href="http://strategicppm.wordpress.com/2010/04/05/the-fbis-virtual-case-file-project-and-project-failure/">http://strategicppm.wordpress.com/2010/04/05/the-fbis-virtual-case-file-project-and-project-failure/</a></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">2 Anatomy of IT Disaster: how the FBI
blew it.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"><span lang="EN-US">3 Infamous failure, classic Mistakes, and Best </span>Practises by R.Ryan Nelson.</span></div>
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">4 Hasan Cavusoglu, BAIT 510 handouts
of IT Project Management</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">5 <a href="http://www.infoworld.com/d/developer-world/anatomy-it-disaster-how-fbi-blew-it-243">http://www.infoworld.com/d/developer-world/anatomy-it-disaster-how-fbi-blew-it-243</a></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">6 Wikepedia</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_Case_File">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_Case_File</a></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">7 <a href="http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-06-306">http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-06-306</a></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<br /></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276886428482822108.post-77554124824983595332011-12-29T14:03:00.000-08:002011-12-29T14:05:32.993-08:00Frequently used words (via Wordle.net) in the recent posts<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4T6NUZwby3oal22j2huC6nUme1kyVr6o7IlDJNi_HYNU2iaKat1XqdmqCbFsXKmeTztGwg3XX1PMbWp86jtvBsg1bZ3mW3ZvmWBjn5P5MTkg8ORpEmWpSWHsGV6LDEemWTEqw-jNs5Bg/s1600/kelimeler.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4T6NUZwby3oal22j2huC6nUme1kyVr6o7IlDJNi_HYNU2iaKat1XqdmqCbFsXKmeTztGwg3XX1PMbWp86jtvBsg1bZ3mW3ZvmWBjn5P5MTkg8ORpEmWpSWHsGV6LDEemWTEqw-jNs5Bg/s400/kelimeler.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276886428482822108.post-18938376503799761132011-11-14T11:29:00.001-08:002011-11-14T11:33:03.197-08:00How to succeed in projects<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: #d0e0e3; font-size: 11pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“<span style="color: #343434;">If builders built buildings the way programmers write
programs, then the first woodpecker to come along would destroy civilization</span>”</span></span> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
– <a href="http://www.softwarequotes.com/showquotes.aspx?id=605&name=Weinberg,Gerald"><i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt; text-decoration: none;">Gerald
M. Weinberg</span></i></a><span style="color: #00689a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt;">, </span><i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 8pt;">Weinberg's Second Law</span></i></blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
There maybe some truth to that but
if we look at things from a 2000 ft cruise altitude, we may infer differently. In
1628, the grand warship <i>Vasa</i> launched
for her maiden voyage. It started as a ceremonial trot around the Stockholm
harbor but ended up in a disaster within ten minutes. The <i>Vasa</i> sank, taking many of those
aboard with her. Loss of lives, money, reputation, and availability for war
were a few of the consequences. Can we blame the shipbuilders as we blame the
programmers – or is there a bigger problem, perhaps in the process used to
build <i>Vasa</i> or create software
programs or in project management method.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
It is easy to point fingers but to
find the root cause of a failure and use the lessons for the future is the
right thing to do. Often, the difference between success and failure is
spotting critical early warning signs that a project is in trouble. Rich Cook
wrote an article for CIO.com in which he described IT project failures as a
fish left too long in the refrigerator, the failure becomes all too obvious. Once
the fish starts to stink, the clean up of the fridge is done using baking soda.
Only about 1/3 of the all projects end up being successful. So how do you
convert project failures into project success – spot the stinky fish early. How
do you do that? – add probes or sensors in your refrigerator that would trigger
an alarm before the fish goes bad. Let us further examine what those sensors
can be that will help us detect problems on a project. A lot of these are hard
to measure objectively as some of these detection patterns come with
experience.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<b>Transparent Communication<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
One of the keys to detecting
problems on a project is to have open communication. Managers don't have to
wait for a status report meeting to find something is hung up. One key way
to facilitate transparent communication is for managers to build trust with the
project team members. If a project manager feels that the communication is not
transparent, he or she should look at building trust and also keep track of the
grapevine messages. Both inter-communications between management with the team
and intra-communication between team members need to be healthy. It is the
manager’s job to effectively manage both and resolve conflicts before they
escalate. "Everyone is allergic to bad news." As a result, it's all
too easy to develop a culture where bad news is slow to percolate upward – which
deprives management of vital, if unpleasant, information. An environment where
bad news is accepted will help build that trust for employees to be
transparent. The earlier the bad news is received, the easier and less costly
it is to fix the problem.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<b>Project Management Methodologies <o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
Project management methodologies
used to run a project could also determine how quickly problems can be detected.
Proponents of iterative development (agile project management) focuses on
breaking projects into small chunks and delivering pieces of it fast for user
feedback – this help to correct the course of the project as there are several
milestones and the risky issues are handled first. On the other hand, waterfall
model where the entire project proceeds step by step from analysis to final
delivery can be hiding problems till no recovery is possible. More the
milestones, better the tracking.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<b>Lack of Commitment<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
Detecting lack of commitment or
interest from project members can be another sign, which could lead to failure.
One way to prevent that is to allow members to take ownership of the work they
are doing. Also, the members should understand the goal and vision of the
project and should be motivated by the outcome with tied incentives.
Inherently, majority of software developers are introverts. Therefore, having a
positive energy in the work environment helps. They are also creators so
providing them flexibility in terms of work schedule can help them motivate. EA
Sports is big on providing their employees with flexible work environment.
Although working on a video game can be motivating enough, working to meet
strict timelines can be de-motivating. So offering flexibility and additional
on-campus services (e.g. gym, dry cleaning, car wash, mani-pedi, etc) helps to
get them committed.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<b>Project Management Tools<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
Moving on to more objective
measures, there are tools, which can tell managers of the heartbeat of the
project. Managers can use dashboard tools that provide visibility into a
project at the click of a mouse. Tools like TargetProcess can help keep track
of progress. It works similar to the tracking tools car dealers use when you
take your car for servicing. The tool keeps track of every detail of the work
that is supposed to done. It tracks who is working on it and the progress from
one stage to another. One word of caution is that these tracking tools are as
good as how well the employees input their progress. Therefore, proper
governance is needed to maximize the use of these tools.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
A way to hide problems on a project
is for employees to work lots of overtime. In the Giga Safe case, the employees
were working overtime with no proper strategy and the management was trying to
meet the deadlines by making the teamwork work hard and not smart. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
Another sign of a troubled project
is when an enormous amount of resources are diverted to one project. From my
personal experience, I have seen it happen a few times where several new team
members were assigned to a “troubled” project. Most of the time this resulted
in delays with old members training new ones and the quality of the end product
suffered.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
Schedule slips can trigger alerts
that the project is in trouble. If there are too many reported software bugs
that haven’t been fixed, may indicate a quality issue. Last but not least,
scope creep or scope relaxation can also be indicators that the project is
running into trouble.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
All these project attributes can be
tracked via a project management tool with active updates to management from
the reporters. These project attributes are similar to the smelly fish and the
tools are our sensors to detect the smell and notify us of a rotting fish – in
this case a troubled project.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<a href="http://www.cio.com/article/print/124309">http://www.cio.com/article/print/124309</a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<a href="http://www.targetprocess.com/">http://www.targetprocess.com/</a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
prepared by Deepak</div>
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276886428482822108.post-857315736149797722011-11-14T10:21:00.001-08:002011-11-14T10:27:29.687-08:0021 Ways to Excel at Project Management<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://www.projectsmart.com/" target="_blank">Project Smart</a> provides a list of practices that would make project managers excel. This is the web version of their popular <a href="http://www.projectsmart.com/docs/excel-at-project-management.lit" target="_blank">ebook</a> in the same title. After explaining 21 factors that affect the performance of the PM, they put together a <a href="http://www.projectsmart.com/project-management/checklist.html" target="_blank">checklist</a> that helps PMs to gauge where you are at.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276886428482822108.post-6947628800369280402011-11-14T09:57:00.001-08:002011-11-14T10:07:28.238-08:00It takes two to tango<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
In a recent <a href="http://www.projectsmart.co.uk/tangoing-your-way-through-the-executive-pmo-relationship.html" target="_blank">blog post</a> by Michael O'Brochta and Curt Finch at <a href="http://www.projectsmart.co.uk/" target="_blank">Project Smart</a>, they refer the expression in the title to describe the relationship between a project management office (PMO) and an executive. As they elegantly put:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
At the end of the day, success for either of them is dependent on the other. Executives depend on the work accomplished by project management offices for their own success, just as project management offices depend on executives for their success.</blockquote>
<br />O'Brochta and Finch did a great job in discussing how healthy relationship between PMO and executives should be. Good that they are going to describe specific key performance indicators that a newly-established PMO can use to measure itself to ensure alignment with the needs of the organisation in their follow-up piece.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276886428482822108.post-55394748573320366292011-11-10T23:15:00.000-08:002011-11-11T01:09:12.117-08:00Three common mistakes that flood IT Projects<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:officedocumentsettings> <o:allowpng/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:trackmoves/> <w:trackformatting/> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:donotpromoteqf/> <w:lidthemeother>EN-CA</w:LidThemeOther> <w:lidthemeasian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:lidthemecomplexscript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> <w:splitpgbreakandparamark/> 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{mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0cm; mso-para-margin-right:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0cm; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi; mso-fareast-language:EN-US;} </style> <![endif]--> </p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; font-family: arial;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="Garamond","serif"">Three common mistakes that flood IT Projects</span></b></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; font-family: arial;"><span style="Garamond","serif";">I have been involved with IT for several years now. Since my high school years I've seen many IT initiatives fail miserably (i.e. disastrous implementation, horrible IT solutions, incomplete initiatives, etc.) and I've seen others be tremendous successes.<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; font-family: arial;"><span style="Garamond","serif"">I recently came up with a blog posting by Ty Kiisel about <a href="http://www.projectsmart.co.uk/six-common-mistakes-that-plague-it-projects.html">common mistakes that plague IT projects</a>. Seeing in retrospective, in one way or another, I can identify with those mistakes he mentions in the blog.</span></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; font-family: arial;"><span style="Garamond","serif"">For example, he talks about the project manager <u>setting up unrealistic deadlines</u> for the team. The author suggests that while some projects require a hard deadline, most of them don’t. In my experience that holds true, or at least not you shouldn’t set up unrealistic deadlines <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">especially</b> when you are not expected to set them. <span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>I remember a time when one of our clients wanted to implement a new 3D scanning system in his manufacturing plant as part of a new quality management control system. The system consisted in a combination of cameras, sensors and software that took several pictures of a certain object and compared them against a previously defined “quality” product. The problem with this system is that it was the first time anybody in the team tried to “cluster” the cameras to shoot at the same time and tried to automate the camera’s functions via programming language. The client was very interested in the project because it would increase the speed of the quality control system without hiring more people. During the negotiations with the client, my team leader offered the finalized product into what we thought would be a very tight schedule if we knew the technology. When we found out what we were faced against, we discovered the deadline was totally unrealistic. Fortunately, the client was nice enough to accept a delay of over 4 times the expected delivery time. Lesson: never commit to a deadline (specially to an unrealistic one) just to impress people at the beginning, at the end you will impress them in the totally opposite way. </span></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; font-family: arial;"><span style="Garamond","serif"">Kiisel also talks about <u>risk not being managed</u><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"> </i>and how ignoring it does not make it go away. I worked with a partner for a significant academic project as part of our thesis. We were building a vehicle traffic simulator in various computers at university. We had heard how a recent electric failure in one of the adjacent computer labs of the building had fried two of the research servers used in a thesis project for other group and how they lost nearly two years of research due to data damage. We were aware of the risk and we thought we should take precautionary measures in order to avoid data loss. We made backups of our data the next week and we forgot about the data loss case as the time went by. Nearly six months later, the same problem happened again but this time the fried computer was our server. If it hadn’t been for a backup made a week earlier by the recent automated backup system installed by the Research Department, we would have lost a tremendous amount of our time and data critical to our final project.</span></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="line-height: 150%; font-family: arial;"><span style="Garamond","serif"">Finally, Kiisel also talks about the mistake of <u>stakeholders not involved in the project</u>. I found this several times in IT projects of third parties. For example, I remember how a supposedly high-tech emergency communication system installed in the school where I worked failed miserably. The US Department of State, through the US Embassy in my country, gave a substantial grant for the implementation of an emergency communication system installed in all school classrooms. The sponsor unilaterally decided to outsource the project to an external company that did the installation over a period of two months working during the weekends. The company never interviewed any of the stakeholders (faculty members, support staff, students, etc.) to gain insights about our needs, about stakeholders’ tech proficiency, among other factors. The result was an installed high-tech system that was so complicated to use that nobody could actually operate. <span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>The old system (walk and notify to the nearest secretary –even if she was in a different building-) was brought back and the new system was abandoned and remained installed as a symbol of failure. Personally, in this case I think there was more than just bad project management as I suspect the sponsor had some dubious interests in the company and technology used. This feeling became stronger when he was fired soon after the failed implementation of the project. </span></p>EdwinOShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06028775222616669164noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276886428482822108.post-19294651154148623542011-11-10T22:40:00.000-08:002011-11-11T00:09:52.192-08:00Watson<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm"> </p><p style="margin-bottom: 0cm">We have discussed some project failures so far in our course, which have been very telling, and even quite entertaining at times. I would like to share a brief chronicle of a highly successful IT project I have read about recently, IBM Watson.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm">Watson is a compute cluster built by the firm's DeepQA division. DeepQA's mandate is to perform research in the realm of artificial intelligence (AI) centring around human-like “open-domain” question answering. Open domain question answering is basically the phenomenon of a machine answering questions expressed in natural human language.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm">The 90 node, 2880 core, 80 teraFLOP Watson is among IBM's most impressive projects to date and in February, 2011, it beat the two top Jeopardy contestants of all time in a two game match demonstrating its capabilities.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm">This amazing feat was made possible, not only by brilliant engineers, architects, and powerful hardware, but highly organized and effective project managers as well. One of those project managers, Jim De Piante, sourced talent for practise competition against the supercomputer. Other key sub-projects included hardware delivery and staging, sample question development. Meanwhile, several other technical and non-technical project managers coordinated the efforts of at least nine other groups working in linguistics, systems, software development, game strategy (for playing Jeopardy), data linking, search, and more. Additionally, project managers had to coordinate all these complex sub-projects in order to complete the entire package that is Watson.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm">The budget was over three million dollars and the project was completed in approximately two years.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm">In order to ensure the project was completed on time, on specification, and on budget, project managers had to have a solid understanding of the ambitious project goals, resource constraints, software development, supercomputer hardware, human language, artificial intelligence, and working with a multicultural distributed team in four countries on a project some thought was impossible. It was an impressive feat indeed.</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm">Sources:</p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><a href="http://www-03.ibm.com/innovation/us/watson/research-team/">http://www-03.ibm.com/innovation/us/watson/research-team/</a></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watson_(computer">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watson_(computer</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watson_(computer)">)</a></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><a href="http://www-03.ibm.com/innovation/us/watson/">http://www-03.ibm.com/innovation/us/watson/</a></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><a href="http://www-03.ibm.com/innovation/us/watson/building-watson/index.html">http://www-03.ibm.com/innovation/us/watson/building-watson/index.html</a></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><a href="http://www.research.ibm.com/deepqa/deepqa.shtml">http://www.research.ibm.com/deepqa/deepqa.shtml</a></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><br /></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0cm"><br /></p><p></p>Unknownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00858361812562405768noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276886428482822108.post-30516612741558267602011-11-10T16:19:00.001-08:002011-11-17T20:33:39.819-08:00The importance of functional gap analysis to project success: A personal experience<br />
I was recently involved in the preliminary stages of a IT project ,at large organization, that aimed to replace the central information sharing and document archiving system. The current system was a 10 plus year old mishmash of interdependent modules that were developed in house to meet the needs and demands of various stakeholders. The system no doubt needed to be replaced; the challenging question was what new system would provided the same level of functionality and integration with current business processes.<br />
<br />
Despite the obvious challenge in finding an appropriate replacement system, upper management, due to financial pressures and politics, committed themselves to an off the shelf solution designed by an American vendor without conducting a functional gap analysis in co-ordination with the major stakeholder. The scope of the system replacement project was therefore limited to; getting major stakeholders to support the proposed change, working with the selected vendor to implement the system and pre-launch training. <br />
<br />
The omitted functional gap analysis was a sure recipe for failure. The project planning stage, of which i was part, uncovered several intractable challenges the implementation project will be facing due to the omitted functional gap analysis. The standard answer to each new uncovered challenge quickly became " well we are already committed to the new system". However, as the project planning progressed and more challenges were uncovered an unspoken consensus slowly emerged; the planned implementation will run into significant problems and the selected system will most likely not meet the needs and demands of its users. In my estimation, this state of affairs were a direct consequence of the failure to conduct a proper functional gap analysis before selecting the replacement system.<br />
<br />
I suspect that the situation I encountered is not uncommon. I imagine that economic pressures or the lure of the latest IT tool or fad, for example cloud computing, frequently motivates managers to commit similar errors in judgement that ultimately jeopardizes project success.<br />
<br />
In the interest of exploring my suspicion further, I will be happy to hear from other members of the class who had had similar project experience.<br />
<br />
<br />Lanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09888547524720959796noreply@blogger.com3050 E Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1W5, Canada49.2574983 -123.242139849.2367718 -123.28162180000001 49.278224800000004 -123.2026578tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276886428482822108.post-36540010169384260592011-11-10T16:17:00.000-08:002011-11-10T16:26:54.633-08:00<div>The top 10 Global Project Management Trends for 2011.</div><div>According to<a href="http://www.projecttimes.com/articles/top-10-project-management-trends-for-2011.html"> J. LeRoy Ward, PMP, PgMP, Executive Vice President, ESI.</a></div><div><br /></div><div>1)<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><b>Leadership </b>- Leadership skills will be the PM’s critical success factor. In current business environment leadership skills become more and more important</div><div><br /></div><div>2)<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre; "> </span><b>No Industry Will Be Spared from the War for PM Talent</b>. Especially with growing number of projects going overseas, there is a growing need for experiences PMs.</div><div><br /></div><div>3)<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><b>Agile Project Management Not As Popular As Before</b> - More organizations will realize that Agile does not suite all organizations</div><div><br /></div><div>4)<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><b>Competency Models Will Be Core to Managing Professional Development and Promotions for PMs</b> - Hiring managers will be more sophisticated on selecting PMs. They will base their selections on comprehensive competency models.</div><div><br /></div><div>5)<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><b>Experiential Learning Will Be More the Norm than the Exception</b> – Learning at work become more important. PM courses having hard time to keep up with the changes.</div><div><br /></div><div>6)<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><b>Informal Learning for PMs Will Gain Momentum</b> – More learning will be acquired by using social learning technologies and approaches, such as wikis, blogs, videos, podcasts and other methods of communication.</div><div><br /></div><div>7)<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><b>Project Sponsorship Will Become an Area of Focus in South Asia</b> - especially in India and Bangladesh, as organizations try to accelerate their structured approach to project management.</div><div><br /></div><div>8)<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><b>Outsourcing Will Remain a Risky Business</b> – It means that PMs will have to focus more on the risk management and recognize the value of best practices in contract management.</div><div><br /></div><div>9)<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><b>PMs Will have to collaborate more with Change Management Experts</b> – In a constantly changing environment PMs will drive the change, but they will need a reliable assistance. </div><div><br /></div><div>10)<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span> <b>The PMP® will continue to be the most popular project management credential in the world, but Will No Longer Be Enough</b> – Companies worldwide will continue to support PMP®, but will value the proven experience and demonstrated competency beyond the certification itself. </div>Ivan Denyssevychhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17921844466501333737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276886428482822108.post-72202250024416539502011-11-10T14:52:00.000-08:002011-11-10T15:01:58.190-08:00<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><b><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language:EN-CA">The failure of the License Application Mitigation Project (LAMP):</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align: left;"><b style="text-align: justify; "><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-CA">Background:</span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-ansi-language: EN-CA"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; ">The License Application Mitigation Project (LAMP) is one of the most famous IT project failures. This project was started in 1990 by the state of <st1:state st="on"><st1:place st="on">Washington</st1:place></st1:state></span><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; ">. Its goal was to automate </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; ">the state's vehicle registration and license renewal processes. Initially, the project was supposed to cost $16 million over five years. However, in 1992, the projected costs had climbed to $41.8 million, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; ">$51 million in 1993. It was lats estimated at </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; ">$67,5 million in 1997. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; ">Finally, it became clear that the costs of installing the system were out of control. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; "> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; ">And, even if the project were completed, it would continue to be a huge and costly waste of money.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; ">LAMP was turned off in 1997 after legislators calculated that this new system would cost six times as much to run every year as the system it was replacing.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; ">It was estimated that nearly $40 million had been wasted in this project.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; ">What reasons could lead to this failure?</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family: "Arial","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></b><b><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-CA">Problems:</span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph"><b><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-CA"><o:p> </o:p></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; ">The project’s failure stems from three main problems:</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph"><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-ansi-language: EN-CA"><o:p> </o:p></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; ">1) Management of the scope:</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph"><b><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-CA"><o:p> </o:p></span></b><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; ">LAMP’s undertaking and expectations were very high. This was a very big concept which had very few intermediary deliverables. According to </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; ">George Lindamood, the director of the state's IS department from 1993, "the project should have been broken down into smaller, measurable chunks, rather than spread out over several years.” Moreover, the requirements were constantly changed during the course of the project. For instance, after Lindamood left, legislators passed new licensing and registration laws that altered the project scope and caused further delays.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; ">2) Split of the project between in-house developers and a private industry contractor:</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; ">By design, LAMP tasks were inexplicably divided between in-house developers and an external company. This led to communication problems and poor coordination. This is one of the reasons why LAMP faced so many delays.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; ">3) Bad project management:</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; ">The chief issue about management was administrative meddling. From authorization to purchasing and quality assurance, LAMP was overseen by a mix of elected officials and political appointees. Not only these officials and politicians were not technically knowledgeable about the project, but LAMP was not a priority in their agenda. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: justify; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); ">Experienced personnel should have been hired from private industry and empowered upfront, as opposed to putting political appointees in charge during the project.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; ">The other management issue was that the organization didn’t want to hear that the project was a failure. T</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; ">he signs of failure for this project were evident from the first two years. Yet, no action or initiatives were taken to prevent this failure from happening. Project management should have identified and taken the following actions:</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; ">-Recognize and admit the symptoms of failures.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; "> -Accurately identify what is going wrong in the project.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph; mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; ">-Select suitable means of handling the situation, be it cancelling the project before costs become so huge.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph"><b><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-CA">What we can learn from this failure:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p style="background:white"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; ">The chief lesson to learn from LAMP failure is that when a project is obviously doomed to failure, get out sooner rather than later!</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family: "Arial","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></b><b><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-CA">Sources:</span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph"><b><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-CA"><o:p> </o:p></span></b><b><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-CA"><a href="http://news.idg.no/cw/art.cfm?id=E38554CD-17A4-0F78-3158BDA5AC9294E6">http://news.idg.no/cw/art.cfm?id=E38554CD-17A4-0F78-3158BDA5AC9294E6</a></span></b><b><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-CA"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph"><b><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-CA"><a href="http://www.inf.ed.ac.uk/teaching/courses/seoc2/2004_2005/slides/failures.pdf">http://www.inf.ed.ac.uk/teaching/courses/seoc2/2004_2005/slides/failures.pdf</a></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph"><b><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-CA"><a href="http://www.cio.com.au/article/108289/managing_--_hell_back_/">http://www.cio.com.au/article/108289/managing_--_hell_back_/</a></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph"><b><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-CA"><a href="http://infocommodity.blogspot.com/">http://infocommodity.blogspot.com/</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph"><b><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-CA"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><b>Lucie BIENVENU</b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph"><b><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-ansi-language:EN-CA"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>Lucie Bienvenuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02557703944772102189noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276886428482822108.post-47825772672568318842011-11-10T12:41:00.000-08:002011-11-14T17:40:37.458-08:00Project Management Crisis? 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Scope: Clearly defined scope and risk avoidance mechanism is also very important. Project scope approval by client and sponsor is required and any change in the scope should be taken as a change request.</div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;">The first part of the post is a replication of a post at <strong>http://PMToolsThatWork.com/project-management-crisis-hurry-but-do-nothing/</strong> . I will then offer my analysis in the second part.</span></h2>
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<a href="http://pmtoolsthatwork.com/project-management-crisis-hurry-but-do-nothing/" rel="bookmark" style="color: #fa9c3a; font-style: italic; text-decoration: none;">Project Management Crisis? Hurry, But Do Nothing</a></h2>
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<b>[The original is at <a href="http://pmtoolsthatwork.com/project-management-crisis-hurry-but-do-nothing/">http://PMToolsThatWork.com/project-management-crisis-hurry-but-do-nothing/</a>]</b></div>
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<em>We had a crisis. Another project had an emergency so we were losing a significant portion of our engineering staff to go work on that project. We had to act now!</em></div>
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<a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Project-Management-Tools-That-Work/219816978452?sk=wall" style="color: royalblue; font-style: italic; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Project management crisis hurry but do nothing" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-1174" height="231" src="http://pmtoolsthatwork.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/project-management-hurry.jpg" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; float: left; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-right: 15px;" title="Project management crisis hurry but do nothing" width="346" /></a>We were told to replan our project and to present a new project management tool schedule. No problem, we already had an alternate schedule ready. It was the schedule that had been rejected previously for the shorter one that was accepted. We adopted the previously rejected schedule and went on to deliver our product on time. One of our biggest customers told us that it was the first time in their memory that we had delivered a new product in the time frame we had promised it.</div>
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It was really fortunate we had a well developed schedule all ready to go. Actually, it was not fortunate, it was routine. Well, the part that was routine was that just about every project eventually had to respond to an emergency in another project trying to finish that caused newer projects to lose staff. The fortunate part was that we had tried to propose a schedule – one based upon objective data from just completed projects – but that schedule was rejected as too long. The humorous part was when we said we would use the previously rejected schedule, we also said it was ready to go and did not need to be updated. How could that be as we were months into the project? It was possible because that schedule already took into account the inevitable loss of staffing because it was based upon past actual project performance. (For more on performance based schedules see <a href="http://pmtoolsthatwork.com/get-schedule-right/" style="color: royalblue; font-style: italic; text-decoration: none;">Get The Project Management Schedule Right!</a>)</div>
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If we had used the initially rejected schedule then when the crisis occurred, and we lost staff, we would not have had a crisis. We could have just stayed on the same schedule and pressed on. Actually, we didn’t have a true crisis in any event. Since we didn’t truly need to replan, just use what was essentially the same schedule with adjusted milestones, there was little or no impact to any team. We just continued on course with the staff we had remaining.</div>
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The one big difference was that our project never had a crisis that then pulled staffing from the projects coming after ours. That probably helped explain why these later projects went on to receive recognition and awards for “flawless launches.” Prior to this, we never had any project anyone would have call a flawless product launch.</div>
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<em>Objective and performance based planning can take the sting out of our typical crisis. When faced with an emergency we should be hearing ourselves say “no problem, we anticipated this possibility and have it covered.” This may ultimately help other projects to succeed as well.</em></div>
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<em><b>MY Experience:</b></em></div>
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<em>I have worked on projects that were delivered on time and also on projected that were not delivered on time or on budget. This has always been in my mind why some projects manage to meet the schedule while others don’t. This article made me to think and I came out with my own analysis. Some things that can create difference are</em></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]-->1)<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> </span><!--[endif]-->Planning & scheduling: The projects on which I have worked and which failed to meet the deadlines, were not because the team was not motivated or the requirements kept on changing but because the time required to complete the project (schedule) was flawed. The project estimates were given by a project lead who was working on another project and will not be working on this project. So the incentive to come up with the exact estimates was missing. So, who is estimating the project is very important. It is also important to involve the developers and testers in this process.</div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]-->2)<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> </span><!--[endif]-->Communication: The client had no idea what was going on in the project and if there was any problem. The project managers were reluctant to talk to the client and explain the problems that the team was facing and when the client knew about it, it was too late. So communication is very important.</div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]-->3)<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> </span><!--[endif]-->Planning the resources require: It is also very important to estimate the resources and skillset that are required to get the work done. In most of the projects, the main resources are moved to other new projects once the major functionalities are implemented. This means new resources getting added to the project, which leads to chaos.</div>
</em></div>Unknownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13407518933224713054noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276886428482822108.post-59194170916069754162011-11-10T00:06:00.000-08:002011-11-10T00:35:15.243-08:00Portfolio Project Management(PPM)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="N10076"><b><span style="font-family: Calibri;">What is PPM?</span></b></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">PPM is a strategy that allows organizations to align their IT and application development projects, resources, and initiatives to corporate business objectives by developing and monitoring measures that treat IT assets as financial assets -- and to run as a project-oriented business. PPM enables integrated management of pipeline, scope, time, resource, skills, cost, procurement, communication, reporting and forecasting, and risk management functions.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">In essence, PPM allows us to manage a portfolio of projects much as you would manage a portfolio of diverse investments, such as stocks, bonds, real estate, and so forth. By maintaining a balanced portfolio, you can reduce the risks of individual projects and produce an overall higher rate of return. PPM allows executives and managers to proactively monitor their project portfolios for alignment with business objectives and planned costs and schedules. It also allows them to identify project risks and quickly address them.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="N10084"><b><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Business drivers for PPM</span></b></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Why do businesses need a PPM strategy? Let's look at some of the strongest reasons:</span></div><ul style="margin-top: 0cm;" type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b>Limited IT budgets and resources</b>. Most organizations need to improve the way they use their existing resources in order to maximize productivity. This applies to both people and tools.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b>Need for better IT governance </b>(and data for compliance with Sarbanes Oxley Act ). Many IT organizations lack a consistent, accountable body for decision making. PPM provides a decision-making framework that helps ensure IT decisions are aligned with the overall business strategy; IT participates in setting business goals and directions, establishing standards, and prioritizing investments.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b>Need to improve project success rate</b>. According to the latest Standish Group survey, <i>executive support</i> and <i>clear business objectives</i> are among the top ten success factors for application development projects. PPM includes approaches for achieving both of these requirements.</span></li>
</ul><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="N100B2"><b><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></b></a><span style="mso-bookmark: N100B2;"><b><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Table 1: Challenges for IT management roles<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7O0KC-rkxLgvgAOSQ8bn1qi0hHm3si4Lr5TFK02ONklnxgm3uh8HR4i0iNEfmctPLu-5MMkNcPHkwnFbPb6XVo7d9-BrQG33PnXcq871P6_o7UwlFvIc6-wZ5s9jCzIoB-ei81nbKru0/s1600/ITProjectMgmt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ida="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7O0KC-rkxLgvgAOSQ8bn1qi0hHm3si4Lr5TFK02ONklnxgm3uh8HR4i0iNEfmctPLu-5MMkNcPHkwnFbPb6XVo7d9-BrQG33PnXcq871P6_o7UwlFvIc6-wZ5s9jCzIoB-ei81nbKru0/s1600/ITProjectMgmt.jpg" /></a></div><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="N1014C"><b><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Key benefits of PPM</span></b></a></div><ul style="margin-top: 0cm;" type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b>Closer alignment of IT with business</b>: With an easily digestible, holistic view of their entire project portfolio, executives and managers can more readily understand where IT dollars are being spent and which projects continue to be worthwhile.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b>Better IT governance</b>: PPM helps managers monitor project progress in real time and provides detailed data to help satisfy Sarbanes Oxley Act compliance specifications.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b>Cost reductions and productivity increases</b>: PPM helps managers identify redundancies and allocate resources appropriately; it enables them to make better IT staffing and outsourcing decisions, and to spot opportunities for asset reuse.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b>Business-based decision making</b>: By viewing projects as they would view components of an investment portfolio, managers can make decisions based not only on projected costs, but also on anticipated risks and returns in relation to other projects/initiatives. This leads to improvements in customer service and greater client loyalty.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b>More predictable project outcomes</b>: A PPM strategy bridges the gap between business managers and the practitioners who deliver the projects; it ensures consistent processes across projects and helps managers assess project status in real-time, predict project outcomes, and identify inter-project dependencies.</span></li>
</ul><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font: 0.76em arial, sans-serif; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; padding-bottom: 0.7em; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px; padding-top: 0.3em; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="N10178"><span class="atitle" style="font-size: 1.5em; font-weight: bold;">Aspects of IT management</span></a></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font: 0.76em arial, sans-serif; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; padding-bottom: 0.7em; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px; padding-top: 0.3em; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">As Table 2 shows, the PPM strategy addresses four main aspects of IT management associated with specific activities and functions. The table also details automated support for these activities and functions.<br />
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="N10184" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font: medium "Times New Roman"; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><b style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 0.76em; font-weight: bold; padding-bottom: 0.7em; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px; padding-top: 0.3em;">Table 2: The PPM solution framework</b></a></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font: 0.76em arial, sans-serif; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; padding-bottom: 0.7em; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px; padding-top: 0.3em; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI5fpwLHwe32NvGxQThUZtq5GZCkVHt31Jy5Elba9rxyhl8POdlCvyDVMho6-sVY0Gg598hzqGUrp9vN7w4gkqsWE7tpdYql8_txr5Ei1SVncXi7PS6u0pg4xtk6KrwNCRV3J9iPpWlns/s1600/ITProjectMgmt2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ida="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI5fpwLHwe32NvGxQThUZtq5GZCkVHt31Jy5Elba9rxyhl8POdlCvyDVMho6-sVY0Gg598hzqGUrp9vN7w4gkqsWE7tpdYql8_txr5Ei1SVncXi7PS6u0pg4xtk6KrwNCRV3J9iPpWlns/s1600/ITProjectMgmt2.jpg" /></a></div></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font: 0.76em arial, sans-serif; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; padding-bottom: 0.7em; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px; padding-top: 0.3em; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="N102A8"><b><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Govern</span></b></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Governance relates to the most important questions for software development and IT managers: "Are we working on the right things, and are we building the right system?" If their teams don't get this right, nothing else matters. A project might be successful from a schedule, budget, or scope perspective, but if it fails to meet business objectives, it fails overall. Efforts to align business and IT objectives are often thwarted by governance issues, such as:</span></div><ul style="margin-top: 0cm;" type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Project teams use different vocabularies.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Team members do not understand the business objectives.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Projects are not prioritized by ROI potential.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Software requirements are not traceable to business objectives.</span></li>
</ul><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">To address these common causes of failure, a PPM strategy provides support for governance, including:</span></div><ul style="margin-top: 0cm;" type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b>Method management</b>: A consistent, repeatable process, providing the means for establishing a common vocabulary, instituting a framework for assessing project health, and prioritizing initiatives.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b>Idea/innovation management</b>: Support for considering IT project requests in relation to other prospective and current projects (project pipeline management).</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b>Portfolio management</b>: Ways to align and prioritize proposed initiatives and projects.</span></li>
</ul><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="N102DC"><b><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Plan</span></b></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Functionality that enables planning under a PPM strategy includes:</span></div><ul style="margin-top: 0cm;" type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo3; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b>Program management</b>: A holistic view of multiple projects and their inter-dependencies.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo3; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b>Project management</b>: Support for planning and tracking schedules, establishing milestones and assigning tasks for individual projects, identifying project dependencies, completing Gantt charts and other reporting artifacts.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo3; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b>Resource management</b>: Ways to plan, balance, and schedule resources for IT initiatives.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo3; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b>Time management</b>: Means to allocate, track, and compare time spent on project activities.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo3; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b>Financial management</b>: Help with establishing and managing IT budgets; means for capturing expenses and obtaining approvals.</span></li>
</ul><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="N10308"><b><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Build</span></b></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">To ensure that developers build systems correctly, a PPM strategy includes functionality for:</span></div><ul style="margin-top: 0cm;" type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo4; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b>Business process modeling</b>: Support for managers to discover, document, and specify current business processes with metrics, and specify new goals and requirements.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo4; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b>Requirements analysis</b>: Means to analyze financials and prioritize projects according to potential business value, define and prioritize requirements, identify/prepare existing assets for reuse.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo4; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b>Design and construction</b>: Functionality for rapid integration and/or application development, visual construction and programmatic code generation, unit testing and debugging.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo4; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b>Testing and deployment</b>: Support for functional and load testing, and for managing testing requirements.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo4; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b>Change management</b>: Configuration management and change management support to deploy and monitor the solution.</span></li>
</ul><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/" name="N10334"><b><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Operate</span></b></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">To verify a system's effectiveness, a PPM approach includes functionality for:</span></div><ul style="margin-top: 0cm;" type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo5; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b>Maintenance and productivity monitoring</b>: Support for testing and measuring system performance.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo5; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b>Business metrics collection</b>: Means for collecting and analyzing post-deployment business results. PPM also helps you track metrics for component reuse.</span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo5; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b>Setup and monitoring of Service Level Agreements (SLA)</b>: Setup for specific IT service levels and metrics collection for response time, service availability, and other parameters.</span></li>
</ul><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">References:</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">"How to Run IT Like a Business." <i>CIO Magazine</i>, May 1, 2004. </span><a href="http://www.cio.com/archive/050104/howto.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">http://www.cio.com/archive/050104/howto.html</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">"At Your Service," <i>eweek</i>, March 1, 2004. </span><a href="http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1542787,00.asp" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1542787,00.asp</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">"The Best Best Practices: CIO Research Reveals the Basic Building Blocks of IT as a Business." <i>CIO Magazine</i>, May 1, 2004.</span><a href="http://www.cio.com/archive/050104/best.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">http://www.cio.com/archive/050104/best.html</span></a></div><br />
<div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; font: 0.76em arial, sans-serif; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; padding-bottom: 0.7em; padding-left: 5px; padding-right: 5px; padding-top: 0.3em; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> </div></div>Tushar Paralikarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03829325731059919334noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276886428482822108.post-39197683317595555402011-11-09T20:54:00.000-08:002011-11-09T21:31:13.994-08:00The Blending of Traditional and Agile Project ManagementTraditional project management involves very disciplined and deliberate planning and control methods. With this approach, distinct project life cycle phases are easily recognizable. Tasks are completed one after another in an orderly sequence, requiring a significant part of the project to be planned up front. For example, in a construction project, the team needs to determine requirements, design and plan for the entire building, and not just incremental components, in order to understand the full scope of the effort.<br /><br />Traditional project management assumes that events affecting the project are predictable and that tools and activities are well understood. In addition, with traditional project management, once a phase is complete, it is assumed that it will not be revisited. The strengths of this approach are that it lays out the steps for development and stresses the importance of requirements. The limitations are that projects rarely follow the sequential flow, and clients usually find it difficult to completely state all requirements early in the project. This model is often viewed as a waterfall.<br /><br />Today, business processes are more complex, interconnected, interdependent and interrelated than ever before. Additionally, they reject traditional organizational structures in order to create complex communities comprised of alliances with strategic suppliers, outsourcing vendors, networks of customers and partnerships with key political groups, regulatory entities, and even competitors. Through these alliances, organizations are able to address the pressures of unprecedented change, global competition, time-to-market compression, rapidly changing technologies and increasing complexity at every turn. Because of this multifaceted nature of businesses, projects that implement new business systems are also more complex.<br /><br />However, huge cost and schedule overruns have been commonplace in the past. Looking at the numbers, the past project performance record is troubling:<br /> $80 -145 billion per year is spent on failed and cancelled projects (The Standish Group<br />International, Inc.)<br /> 25% - 40% of all spending on projects is wasted as a result of re-work (Carnegie Mellon)<br /> 50% are rolled back out of production (Gartner)<br /> 40% of problems is found by end users.<br /><br /><strong>The Agile Project Management Environment<br /></strong>Unlike traditional project management, which emerged from the construction, engineering and defense industries and dates back to the 1950s, APM was born in the twenty first century. In 2001, prominent software developers from both IT and software engineering domains, convened to arrived at a consensus on how the software development industry could produce better results. This meeting produced the Manifesto for Agile Software Development, which states that the “highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.”<br />APM development is conducted collaboratively, with a small co-located team. There is minimal documentation as the team relies almost exclusively on informal internal communication. Again, this differs from the traditional approach where a considerable amount of time is invested in planning and a significant amount of requirements documentation is produced.<br />Agile Management Components<br />There are several key elements that provide the basis for APM. It is important to note that these techniques can also be used in traditional software development methods to improve project performance. They are:<br />- Visual control - This is a “cards-on-the-wall” method of planning to assist a team in organizing the work of the project.<br />- Co-located high-performing teams. In Agile development, all the key team members are co-located, including the customer/end-user, preferably in a work room. This approach greatly increases the quality of coordination and communication.<br />- Test-driven development. In cases when the customer is having a difficult time articulating requirements, agile teams often use test-driven development. Using the same successful Agile project team mentioned above as an example, the test cases were often developed first, and then the team backed into the requirement.<br />- Adaptive control. Everyone on the team is constantly adapting, which may make some team members nervous, especially those that crave structure. Because of this dynamic environment, the project manager needs to be seen as a leader, not a taskmaster.<br />- Collaborative development. APM relies on collaboration among all team members to deliver the results, capture candid feedback and implement learning’s on the next iteration of the solution. This is one of the strengths of APM - constant feedback and improvement.<br />- Feature-driven development. This practice greatly reduces complexity, because it allows the team to focus on one feature and only one feature at a time. For example, one team is working on Feature #4 and that’s the team’s only focus. They don’t concern themselves about Features #1-3.<br />- Leadership and collaboration rather than command and control. “The principles of APM are timeless. If you look at APM, it links much more closely to leadership. It addresses a lot of the steps that facilitate leadership much more than traditional management.<br />- Move from C (cost) to R (revenue) focus. Features are prioritized based on value, such as increased revenue or market share. It’s the business analyst’s role to ensure the Agile project team is not investing too much into the development of the new solution.<br />- Lessons learned. After each cycle, the team holds a lessons learned session to determine what they can do better on the next iteration. As the team learns, it adapts how the members are working together to continuously improve team performance.<br /><br /><strong>Conclusion<br /></strong><br />“The traditional project management approach,” Augustine reports, “is a linear approach where you try to get it all done at one time. You do a lot of very detailed planning at once upfront and then deliver it in what’s known as the ‘Big Bang’. That industrial age thinking has spilled over from software development to other projects as well.” This is the heart of the difference between Agile and traditional project management. The ‘Big Bang’ now comes from the greater flexibility and collaboration APM provides. “Just enough” planning is done up-front. As each increment of the system is built, the team gathers input and learns from customer feedback.<br /><br />“At its heart, project management, whether you are doing traditional or Agile has very similar principles. It’s about doing a good job for the customer. It’s about leading a team. It’s about delivering measurable business results,” says Augustine. Many of these principles or practices can be implemented into most team-structured environments.<br />Incorporating Agile management techniques into projects fosters a focus on the benefits of each feature. In traditional project management, the teams strive to finish the project on time and under budget and often lose sight of the overall benefits the entire effort is intended to bring the organization. It’s important to remember the strategy the project is expected to advance as well as the total cost of ownership and not just the project costs.<br /><br />Published in PM World Today - May 2007 (Vol. IX, Issue V)<br />By Kathleen B. Hass, PMP,<br />Project Management Practice Leader, Management Conceptstushar guptahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03881962361842561910noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276886428482822108.post-47937902245191637512011-11-09T20:34:00.001-08:002011-11-09T20:45:09.015-08:00Result Chain Diagrams-Tools for PM<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Stencil; font-size: 24px; line-height: 27px; ">Outcome Driven Models</span></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQniDtC-LJnvO7lBrRyE1mP3_J_S_XJbqnY0XUzup5pwpXouJs5HDcgbVtXUyOcZ5plZytx4Hr8k-3CXjCsn0-iLTtM7QqeBxgy7mHvPRjoQWkiyYzB3bm577ba0R0T09CuvbUZkblDx0/s1600/hierarchy.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 226px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQniDtC-LJnvO7lBrRyE1mP3_J_S_XJbqnY0XUzup5pwpXouJs5HDcgbVtXUyOcZ5plZytx4Hr8k-3CXjCsn0-iLTtM7QqeBxgy7mHvPRjoQWkiyYzB3bm577ba0R0T09CuvbUZkblDx0/s320/hierarchy.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5673221506845431490" /></a><div><div style="text-align: left;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%">The above diagram represents in a hierarchical structure, the existence of projects in an organization. As seen, projects help an organization achieve targets/business goals set out by the organization in harmony with their core strategy and in order to achieve the organizational vision. A carefully set-out project helps an organization to stay in business but we have known that far too often, project failures can also bring an organization to its knees.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%">In my opinion, a project is set out to fail when companies do not see projects in the above hierarchical structure. Any project, if well-defined, should be able to deliver some business goals that need to be achieved. Far too often, the scope of a project is defined so broadly that people fail to see what it is supposed to help them achieve. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%">Such failures can be avoided by a method called “ result chain analysis”. The result chain analysis is a method that helps clarify business benefits of a project and ways that these benefits can be achieved. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;line-height: 115%">Result Chain Concept:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%">A result chain diagram carefully depicts the links between <i>business goals</i>, <i>objectives</i> and <i>initiatives </i>that need to be undertaken in order to achieve these objectives and thus business goals. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;line-height: 115%">Layout of Result Chain Diagram:<span><span></span></span></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG2BwNp38lei0EZPbSjFHE67SYVY7k-x4MDZpOAGrF7-Qcy973acJ3tPQOgn7zyQjp-qEjqLZEi1poHGI3GDrH-qQD0PPy4ccXXW0Xk5ONIcwQh_iFQNCFnGtm1rFmcRN3KIUMqAqCHPc/s320/RCA.png" /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;line-height: 115%">Ground Rules:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="text-indent: -18pt; "><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size:12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%;mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">1.<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%">Activities / Initiatives should start with a verb to indicate that it is an action item, e.g. <b><i>“understand current market dynamics”</i></b>.<b> <i><o:p></o:p></i></b></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -18pt; "><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size:12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%;mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">2.<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%">Objectives should be measurable outcomes that need to be achieved to get to a business goal, e.g. <b><i>“potential competitors”. </i></b>It is important that these be measurable so the progress can be tangibly monitored. <b><i><o:p></o:p></i></b></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -18pt; "><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size:12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%;mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">3.<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%">The business goals should be the final desired outcome which is more strategic, e.g. <b><i>“achieve 10% market capitalization by 2012”</i></b>. <b><i><o:p></o:p></i></b></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -18pt; "><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size:12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%;mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">4.<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%">Each activity / initiative should have a connection that comes out of this activity and ends at a one or more outcomes, this depicts that the particular action helps in achieving the outcome that it points out to. <b><i><o:p></o:p></i></b></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -18pt; "><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size:12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%;mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">5.<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%">One outcome may result in another outcome. As such, there can be a connection between two outcomes where a link comes out from one and ends at the other.<b><i><o:p></o:p></i></b></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="text-indent: -18pt; "><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size:12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%;mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">6.<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%">The model aligns from left to write. As such, the business goals (or the final outcomes) should always be at extreme right.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;line-height: 115%">Limitations:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%">The result chain diagram is not a timeline. As such, it does not show time required to perform a certain activity or even the chronology or sequence in which these activities need to be performed. However, it can depict dependencies which can indirectly point out a sequence of action items. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;line-height: 115%">Example of a Result Chain Diagram:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjltRRyiGm9-aojsHFhfR7ia2hweuDXm0ts9jf9cUj58yfosW0nyf_zEEKnK6pqS3V0ElZBdMjngXcBkgKNIKzj4n4SzlycVMPmrKuPNF7BXXpLSgasYofVjazE7Hvnh-j62XE3pNfDoKU/s320/sample+result+chain+analysis.png" /></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;line-height: 115%"><br /></span></b></p><span><span></span></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><b><br /></b></span></p></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276886428482822108.post-9027205367412488052011-11-09T20:15:00.000-08:002011-11-09T21:15:23.014-08:00The Right Tools for the Right Project - Top Rated Project Management Apps<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt; text-align: left;"><br />
<div style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">With the project management approach picking up its steam globally, and more virtual teams coming together to complete work, the leading providers of mobile technology and cloud computing offer user-friendly and effective tools to manage workloads and assign tasks.</span></div><div style="margin: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">In this blog post I will summarize the top rated project management apps for various platforms based on my own experience and user reviews.</span></div><br />
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</div><div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDdUy3-50KtCVMVJGUdfernPwNXuM73a6b5V8plSxsMQ_5UVxyD2aXxvFwVSa57qnm0NHc8ubQQSvqr0j5awjORNXsfCN-Yz3hT9wEtANleFk8_JE7dF-5RuRTlR0QQgj0mOSHVu8QdwKB/s1600/Screen+Shot+2011-11-09+at+7.46.08+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDdUy3-50KtCVMVJGUdfernPwNXuM73a6b5V8plSxsMQ_5UVxyD2aXxvFwVSa57qnm0NHc8ubQQSvqr0j5awjORNXsfCN-Yz3hT9wEtANleFk8_JE7dF-5RuRTlR0QQgj0mOSHVu8QdwKB/s200/Screen+Shot+2011-11-09+at+7.46.08+PM.png" width="139px" /></a><b><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">iPhone/iPod platform</span></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">offers numerous project management gadgets.</span><br />
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</span></div><div style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: -17.85pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">· <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.mindtools.com/Apps/">Mindtools</a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>(free): teaches/reminds you of tools in project management, strategy, decision-making. It’s a comprehensive toolbox for a project manager (or an MBA student)<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">MY FAVOURITE!</span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"></span></div><div style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: -17.85pt;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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<div style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: -17.85pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">· <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/merlin-project-management/id308324272?mt=8http://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/merlin-project-management/id308324272?mt=8">Merlin Project Management</a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>(free): a companion product for the project management software Merlin on Mac. In offline mode you can read all data.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">MY FAVOURITE!</span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"></span></div><br />
<div style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: -17.85pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">· <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hourstracker-time-sheet/id321923934?mt=8">HoursTracker</a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>($2.99): Time Sheet: allows project management team members to track their hours by punching in and out using their iPhones. I find this tool very handy.</span></div><br />
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</div><div style="margin: 0cm;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Google </span></b><b><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Project Management Apps</span></b><b><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"> for Windows or Mac:</span></b></div><br />
<div style="background: white; margin: 0cm; text-indent: -17.85pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">· <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://www.google.com/enterprise/marketplace/viewListing?productListingId=3539+9922984539899306906&category=Project+Management&query=">Manymoon</a> (free): The tool offers integration with Gmail, Google Docs, Google Calendars and other Google Apps. It promises to keep everyone in sync with shared tasks & files, securely collaborate with the team & clients, and increased effectiveness with organized projects and tasks. Check out their instructional video<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFF39PEO43E&feature=channel_video_title">here</a>.</span></div><br />
<div style="background: white; margin: 0cm; text-indent: -17.85pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">· <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://www.google.com/enterprise/marketplace/viewListing?productListingId=4968+9776296785720246484&category=Project+Management&query=">Gantter Project</a> (free): web-based Project Management Tool that requires no software to be installed and it completely integrates with Google Docs. The app claims to have “all the power” MS Project without users having to buy or install anything. This app is compatible with MS Project files.</span></div><br />
<div style="background: white; margin: 0cm; text-indent: -17.85pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">· <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://www.google.com/enterprise/marketplace/viewListing?productListingId=4176+18129191719552864452&category=Project+Management&query=">TrackMyHours.com</a> ($8.95/mo): an hour tracking and billing system designed for businesses and consultants. The tool also helps to generate invoices and export them to QuickBooks.</span></div><br />
<div style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">There are at least 60 Project management apps in Google App store for PCs. Browse them at your leisure (or under time pressure) and see which one meets your needs.</span></div><br />
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</div><div style="margin: 0cm;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">iPad Project Management Apps:</span></b><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;"></span></div><br />
<div style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: -17.85pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">· <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/software/business-and-finance-software/project-wizards-merlin-2-5-2-355001/review">Project Wizards Merlin</a><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;"> (free): - the best rated free</span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>project management app for the Mac platform. It offers companion products for iPhone and Mac OS X. Allows to attach photos, display and update tasks and view the projects in a Gannt format.</span></div><br />
<div style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: -17.85pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">· <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.ipadappsdude.com/update-myprojects-lite-productivity/">My Projects LITE</a> (free):<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>allows users to easily manage tasks, projects, priorities, workflow status, and more. It can also import and save as a CSV file.</span></div><br />
<div style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: -17.85pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">· <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://wirelesshomesecurity-camera.com/idea-sketch-a-simple-effective-free-ipad-thoughts-map-app/">Idea Sketch</a><span class="apple-converted-space">: </span>allows you to doodle your way to project management. You can create multiple drawings and link to each as you wish, as well as many other features.</span></div><br />
<div style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: -17.85pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">· <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.nicholashu.com/NSH/Project_Manager_App.html">Project Manager:<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: blue; text-decoration: none;"> </span></span></a>according to the user reviews, it is a “simple and intuitive project management system”. Each project gets a list of action items and each item has other detailed sub items for easy use.</span></div><br />
<div style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: -17.85pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">· <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.i2econsulting.com/ganttlite/ganttlite.html">Gantt Lite</a>:<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;">allows you produce gantt charts “</span></strong>the 2.0 way”.</span></div><br />
<div style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">For more reviews on free and paid iPad Project Management apps, visit this page:<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://mastersinprojectmanagement.com/25-incredibly-useful-ipad-apps-for-project-managers/">http://mastersinprojectmanagement.com/25-incredibly-useful-ipad-apps-for-project-managers/</a></span></div><br />
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</div><div style="margin: 0cm;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Android </span></b><b><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">Project Management Apps</span></b><b><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">:</span></b></div><br />
<div style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: -17.85pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">· <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.addictivetips.com/mobile/project-schedule-is-free-android-project-management-app/">Project schedule</a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>($6.00): monitors your projects and schedules daily tasks in a gantt chart</span></div><br />
<div style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: -17.85pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">· <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.ephron.pmc.android#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDIxMiwiY29tLmVwaHJvbi5wbWMuYW5kcm9pZCJd">Project Management App</a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>(free): helps users to manage projects in various locations. Particularly, the app focuses on project, client, contact and invoice data.</span></div><br />
<div style="margin: 0cm; text-indent: -17.85pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">· <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://engineroom.teamworkpm.net/announcing-the-teamworkpm-android-app">TeamworkPM</a> ($2.99): is an online teamwork application that provides the latest activity on current projects, star most important projects, assign tasks to users, share and collaborate.</span></div><br />
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</div><div style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt;">And this is just a start. With the right tools for your preferred platform, your project management process will be a smooth sailing!</span></div></div>Lenushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12251884346769053801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276886428482822108.post-31217510302491785772011-11-09T14:46:00.000-08:002011-11-09T14:46:33.363-08:00Problem Management<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: justify;">Effective Problem management plays an important role in reducing the quantity and duration of service disruption in an organization. However IT Organization (ITO) leaders often confuse between Incident and Problem Management leading to more service disruptions for longer durations.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Incident management aims to restore service quickly by reducing the duration of disruptions. Problem management on the other hand aims to prevent service disruptions by discovering the causes (or potential causes) of disruptions and creating workarounds and permanent resolutions to them. If you do not have both, then you most likely have more user downtime, lower customer satisfaction, and higher costs than you should, all of which reduce ITO Return on Investment (ROI).</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Problem management starts with incident management and while they are not the same thing, the two are quite interdependent.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div><b>The Dependency:</b></div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">Incident Management is often like a <i>“one shot”</i> process that starts in response to a report of service disruption, and ends with the eventual restoration of the service. Its goal is restoration of service, and capturing information which can then be used by Problem Management. Problem Management on the other hand is an <i>“always on” </i>process, where in you continuously examine information from any source that has or could initiate an Incident Management cycle. Its goal is prevention. </div><div style="text-align: justify;">Without Problem Management, ITO staff maybe faced with “fixing” the same issues repeatedly. Without Incident Management, ITO staff has limited data for analysis and cannot focus on Root Cause Analysis (RCA) and other prevention activities. One without the other usually results in more user downtime and steals valuable ITO resources away from efforts to add business value.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The improved efficiency achieved from Problem management can be used to free valuable resources that can be utilized for other business-aligned projects (innovation) thus making tangible contributions to the success of your firm.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Following discrete Incident and Problem Management processes decreases call volume and reduces outage duration. These improvements can shift the balance between innovation and “Keeping the Lights On” (KTLO) enough to produce visible improvements in ITO business contribution, while freeing resources for focus on adding value beyond basic operations.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Properly focusing on the objective of each (restoration vs. prevention) and making their goals a priority will ensure that this does not fall off in response to the day-to-day pressures of supporting users.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The following are some of the steps can be taken in an ITO to improve problem Management:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>1.) Reassess your understanding of Incident and Problem Management.</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Consider how you currently operate with respect to restoring and preventing. Understand the objectives of Incident and Problem Management and what it means to your firm and ITO.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>2.) Assume that currently you combine restoration and prevention activities with little formal management over either. </b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In most ITOs, prevention efforts receive much lower priority than restoration efforts – even though prevention can reduce restoration efforts significantly. It is also common to fail to collect accurate information from each Incident Management cycle.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>3.) Investigate current activities to validate your assumption findings. </b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Attempt to document the average duration and number of outages, user downtime if possible. Do you have management objectives of each? What percentage of effort do you expend on each? Is your team capturing the information required to reduce their workload? Are they actively working to reduce outage duration and number of outages?</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>4.) Assess the capabilities of your staff</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Determine if there are 1) methods in place to record all Incident Management details, 2) any formal method for developing workarounds to speed resolutions, and 3) preventative activities such as trend analysis using Pareto Analysis (a.k.a. the “80/20” rule.) More mature ITOs include formal RCA techniques such as CFIA, Ishikawa, Kepner-Tregoe and others.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>5.) Start a service improvement program that formalizes Incident and Problem Management as distinct processes.</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ensure Incident Management tracks and gathers information Problem Management will use for trend analysis – software support tools are critical for this. Ensure that you allocate enough time for trend analysis, and that there is a process for gathering industry information to identify potential disruptions</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Organization for Problem Management:</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Organizational structure plays a significant role in the success or failure of Problem Management. Correct organizational structure is critical to success, however firms probably should not reorganize to achieve it.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">ITOs often confuse process and performance. Traditional ITO structures make little distinction between task descriptions (process) and task execution (performance). Research shows that often firms attempt to form two groups: Incident Management (triage) and Problem Management (root-cause analysis). The flaw in this approach can be increased outage duration, loss of organizational knowledge, damage to camaraderie, loss of management visibility, human resource issues, higher costs, and reduced communications.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">A federated approach is often better than dedicated departments. One solution is a federated approach that leverages existing staff and capabilities as shared resources to form virtual organizations for resolving problems. This approach however requires defined roles, responsibilities, and a common oversight. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">In summary, Problem Management is much more than simply resolving an outage. Its reactive and proactive tasks span multiple departments and even incorporate suppliers and vendors. Focusing first on Incident Management, and then Problem Management can lead to higher customer satisfaction through improved service quality, as it improves working conditions within your ITO.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Reference: Mastering Problem Management by Hank Marquis, Global Knowledge</div></div>Soumalihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07059581722969097035noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276886428482822108.post-22984410253608498402011-11-09T04:05:00.000-08:002011-11-13T23:01:20.548-08:00Top practices favoured by IT project managers<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />After watching two webcast and interviews; I have documented some common top practices favoured by IT project managers. They have found them to be very fruitful & improved to crop out consistent outcomes.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt;">1. Act immediately on prioritized task</span></b><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Usually project manager position is challenging and responsible in nature. Usually, they implement airplane mode; avoid attending personal calls during work hours. It yields to productive work and allows to addresses the targeted issues. Each task is assigned with a priority like action task (must to be completed now, and measurable start & end point) or deferred task (completed, but not now; identify the time to be completed). It has also been revealed that PM acts on each matter urgently with prioritized task.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt;">2. Use project management tool</span></b><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt;">It is the tendency that every IT projects are guided by project management tools like MS Project/ intervals under the leadership of PM. It requires the people to use & contribute it. This tool is viable across the team from designers to developers, to assign and manage tasks with serious due dates, and to track all of the project life towards launching. It is one of prime supplement of successful project.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt;">3. Hold meetings with purpose</span></b><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt;">During the project life cycle, it is always wise step to meet only if it is required because time is quite precious during this phase for both PM and team.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt;">- Purpose of the meeting should be clear before organizing meeting with clear agenda.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt;">- Review discussion points before closing the meeting.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt;">- Recap action items and set delivery dates</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt;">4. Define and check scope & assumption</span></b><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: small;">Define project scope clearly as soon as possible with </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Cambria, serif;">signatured</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: small;"> agreement, which make sure that every contributors are also in game plan. Clarification is documented. Deliverable falls within the scope. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 16px;">Define assumption along with goal and & intermittently reviewed during project life cycle to make sure functionality and process for delivery still accepted by client. If it is not or there is some alteration; then it should be reflected into change request to client & employee.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt;">5. Version control – cvs/git/svn</span></b><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt;">This is one of the safety guards against accidental hazard faced in source code. Sometimes due some reason, we end up in working code to buggy code. If we have already implemented any type of version control & checked out the version; then we can recover the old edition of source code. Hence, it gives the sound support in using version control, no matter how small or large the project.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt;">6. Testing</span></b><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: small;">It is </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Cambria, serif;">recommended</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: small;"> to always test application before delivery / launch of application. There had been various cases that people have failed to exhibit the working product during delivery/ presentation. Hence, it is suggested to test in prior to delivery. Considering example, Mississippi State Tax Commission filed a lawsuit against Fairfax, consultancy because the automated tax revenue system that the Fairfax built didn’t work without "multiple incidents of both a critical and serious nature," according to the lawsuit.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt;">7. The Hidden Costs and Dangers of the Shortcut</span></b><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt;">In IT industry, it is frequent that employee runs out of time leads to pressurized to complete the tasks. However, if in absence of skilled or experience PM, the wrong shortcut may end up costing you a lot more than expected in form of hidden cost.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt;">8. Using ROI to Evaluate Project Management Training</span></b><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt;">The monetary measurement (ROI) can be done in order to evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of an investment made by a company. Investments category varies like financial, employee pool, equipment, and training programmes etc.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt;">9. Communication</span></b><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt;">There should be consistent communication channel with back up alternative for certain situation. IM, Email, Skype & cellular calls are most frequent form to be in team loop. The goal of efficient communication is to make sure that everyone on the same page and can form conversation in need.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt;">References</span></b><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt;">: Webcast & interview - By John Reeve (PM), Pelago Webdesign</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> - By PMP, Nuwave Technologies</span></div>
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<b>Parth</b></div>
<br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6276886428482822108.post-91823516837109690952011-11-08T21:50:00.000-08:002011-11-08T21:58:09.374-08:00Controlling Change Requests in Projects<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: 13.6pt; MARGIN: 0in 0in 3.4pt; BACKGROUND: white" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana', 'sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-: EN-CAfont-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:9;color:black;" lang="EN-CA" >Changes requested once a project is underway are an inevitable part of any project. They can either be the result of external changes in the business or they can be internal changes requested because the original aims of the project were not clearly defined or understood.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<br /><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: 13.6pt; MARGIN: 0in 0in 3.4pt; BACKGROUND: white" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana', 'sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-: EN-CAfont-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:9;color:black;" lang="EN-CA" >Change requests resulting from external factors are usually beyond the control of a project manager and there is usually little choice but to deal with them. Most successful project managers will have already put a process in place at the start of the project to handle such requests and the plan will be flexible enough to cope without unduly affecting the final outcome.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<br /><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: 13.6pt; MARGIN: 0in 0in 3.4pt; BACKGROUND: white" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana', 'sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-: EN-CAfont-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:9;color:black;" lang="EN-CA" >But change requests resulting from internal factors should be handled very differently. In an ideal project many of these would have been avoided by ensuring the project objectives were well-defined, the requirements were clearly documented and communicated to all stakeholders, and the stakeholders understood what to expect from the final product. Of course, we don't always live in an ideal world and no matter how thorough and detailed the initial stages of a project are there will always need to be an effective change process in place.</span></p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana', 'sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-: EN-CAfont-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:9;color:black;" lang="EN-CA" >
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<br /><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: 13.6pt; MARGIN: 0in 0in 3.4pt; BACKGROUND: white" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana', 'sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-: EN-CAfont-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:9;color:black;" lang="EN-CA" >Nevertheless, good documentation and clear communication of the project objectives and requirements will minimise the number of change requests.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<br /><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: 13.6pt; MARGIN: 0in 0in 3.4pt; BACKGROUND: white" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana', 'sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-: EN-CAfont-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:9;color:black;" lang="EN-CA" >So what is the best way of controlling change requests in a project and still being able to deliver the completed project within an acceptable budget, time and scope?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<br /><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: 13.6pt; MARGIN: 0in 0in 3.4pt; BACKGROUND: white" class="MsoNormal"></span></p>
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<br /><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: 13.6pt; MARGIN: 0in 0in 3.4pt; BACKGROUND: white" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana', 'sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-: EN-CAfont-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:9;color:black;" lang="EN-CA" ><strong>Distinguish between the Necessary and the "Nice to have"</strong></span></p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana', 'sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-: EN-CAfont-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:9;color:black;" lang="EN-CA" ><o:p>
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<br /><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: 13.6pt; MARGIN: 0in 0in 3.4pt; BACKGROUND: white" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana', 'sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-: EN-CAfont-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:9;color:black;" lang="EN-CA" >The most important element of the change request business case is the expected benefit, which should indicate the value that will be added to the project by the change. This, in itself, will indicate which changes are likely to be necessary. It is important to recognise the description of some business cases may not necessarily benefit the project in terms of time and budget, but are necessary for the client to remain competitive in their marketplace.</p>
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<br /><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: 13.6pt; MARGIN: 0in 0in 3.4pt; BACKGROUND: white" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana', 'sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-: EN-CAfont-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:9;color:black;" lang="EN-CA" >Better designed solutions, or nicer, more attractive features are not benefits unless they can be backed up by how this will have a positive impact on the project budget and schedule, or a positive impact on the end-user's effort required to complete regular tasks. Typical questions the business case of a change request should answer are:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<br /><li style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: 18pt; MARGIN: 0in 0in 6.8pt; BACKGROUND: white; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5incolor:black;" class="MsoNormal" ><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana', 'sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-: EN-CAfont-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:9;" lang="EN-CA" >"What external business change has resulted in this change request?"<o:p></o:p></span></li>
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<br /><li style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: 18pt; MARGIN: 0in 0in 6.8pt; BACKGROUND: white; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5incolor:black;" class="MsoNormal" ><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana', 'sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-: EN-CAfont-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:9;" lang="EN-CA" >"What internal factor has resulted in this change request?"<o:p></o:p></span></li>
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<br /><li style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: 18pt; MARGIN: 0in 0in 6.8pt; BACKGROUND: white; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5incolor:black;" class="MsoNormal" ><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana', 'sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-: EN-CAfont-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:9;" lang="EN-CA" >"How will this change affect the time taken to complete the project?"<o:p></o:p></span></li>
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<br /><li style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: 18pt; MARGIN: 0in 0in 6.8pt; BACKGROUND: white; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5incolor:black;" class="MsoNormal" ><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana', 'sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-: EN-CAfont-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:9;" lang="EN-CA" >"How will this change affect the use of the end-product?"<o:p></o:p></span></li>
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<br /><li style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: 18pt; MARGIN: 0in 0in 6.8pt; BACKGROUND: white; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5incolor:black;" class="MsoNormal" ><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana', 'sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-: EN-CAfont-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:9;" lang="EN-CA" >"What cost-savings will be made by implementing this change?"<o:p></o:p></span></li></ul><o:p><strong>Avoid wasting time and effort</strong></o:p>
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<br /><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: 13.6pt; MARGIN: 0in 0in 3.4pt; BACKGROUND: white" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana', 'sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-: EN-CAfont-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:9;color:black;" lang="EN-CA" >The most obvious way to avoid wasting valuable project resources on excessive change requests and the whole change management process, is to ensure the project starts with clearly defined objectives and requirements. It is also important the criteria which will be used to determine project success is documented succinctly at the start of the project. Ensure all of these documents are distributed to stakeholders and end users and that copies are easily accessible.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<br /><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: 13.6pt; MARGIN: 0in 0in 3.4pt; BACKGROUND: white" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana', 'sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-: EN-CAfont-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:9;color:black;" lang="EN-CA" >Schedule time into the project plan for dealing with change requests and if that time has been eaten up then defer outstanding requests until the following week. Ensure that all interested parties know this is how the process works.</span></p>
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<br /><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: 13.6pt; MARGIN: 0in 0in 3.4pt; BACKGROUND: white" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana', 'sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-: EN-CAfont-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:9;color:black;" lang="EN-CA" ></span></p>
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<br /><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: 13.6pt; MARGIN: 0in 0in 3.4pt; BACKGROUND: white" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana', 'sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-: EN-CAfont-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:9;color:black;" lang="EN-CA" ><strong>Have clear acceptance and rejection criteria</strong></span></p><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana', 'sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-: EN-CAfont-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:9;color:black;" lang="EN-CA" ><o:p>
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<br /><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: 13.6pt; MARGIN: 0in 0in 3.4pt; BACKGROUND: white" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana', 'sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-: EN-CAfont-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:9;color:black;" lang="EN-CA" >Use some clear criteria to screen out those requests that will not, or cannot be, implemented. One essential criterion is a business case, so any request without one can immediately be sent back to the requester. Do not waste time tracking down the requester to find out what the business case is. It should be their responsibility to provide it initially (even if you later need to have discussions to refine it).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<br /><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: 13.6pt; MARGIN: 0in 0in 3.4pt; BACKGROUND: white" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana', 'sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-: EN-CAfont-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:9;color:black;" lang="EN-CA" >Be prepared to back up your reasons for rejecting change requests with a well-thought out description of why there is no case to include the change. Stick by your decision unless the project sponsor is prepared to increase the budget or time available for the project.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<br /><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: 13.6pt; MARGIN: 0in 0in 3.4pt; BACKGROUND: white" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana', 'sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-: EN-CAfont-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:9;color:black;" lang="EN-CA" >But do be prepared to be flexible and negotiate a trade-off by dropping a planned task in favour of the change when no budget or extra time is available.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<br /><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: 13.6pt; MARGIN: 0in 0in 6.8pt; BACKGROUND: white" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana', 'sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-: EN-CAfont-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:9;color:black;" lang="EN-CA" >Always apply project management best practices throughout every area of a project if you want the highest chance of success.</span></p>
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<br /><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: 13.6pt; MARGIN: 0in 0in 6.8pt; BACKGROUND: white" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana', 'sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-: EN-CAfont-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:9;color:black;" lang="EN-CA" ></span></p>
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<br /><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: 13.6pt; MARGIN: 0in 0in 6.8pt; BACKGROUND: white" class="MsoNormal"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Verdana', 'sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-: EN-CAfont-family:'Times New Roman';font-size:9;color:black;" lang="EN-CA" >V. Nougaret</span></p>
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<br /><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify; LINE-HEIGHT: 13.6pt; MARGIN: 0in 0in 3.4pt; BACKGROUND: white" class="MsoNormal"></o:p></span></p></o:p></span></span>
<br /></span></o:p></span>Vincenthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13427372971206455665noreply@blogger.com