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I just saw an ad from Microsoft that says ‘how can I free up IT so they can focus on the big stuff’. Now I think the problem is not a lack of solutions but a lack of will on the side of big corporations to focus on the big stuff.

In the last few weeks I’ve started to design a project management operating system for the team I work with. It is not reinventing the wheel but rather evolving on the practices we’ve had in place for the last 2 years. But what I can see is that in a business environment is not easy to implement best practices that rely on documentation of processes, lessons learned and a focus on analysis and planning. It is far more easy to encounter such practices on engineering areas within a company where they count on many well established processes to ensure the end product will meet the customer/market’s requirements.

But what about our internal requirements? Isn’t the business a customer of its own? If I have to respond to someone in regards to the results of the projects I have on my plate it is certain the business itself will be among the stakeholders. And so it is very difficult in a lot of situations to make sure once a project is green-lighted that the appropriate steps to understand the end result and to define the tasks that will culminate in a successful execution will be taken.

So, what can we do? Truly tested solutions include:

• Promoting of Project Management practices by the PMs themselves.
• Educate your leadership members to understand the basis of PM-ship.
• Educate your project managers on the bases of PM-ship (yeah, PMs have a lot of guilt too).
• Promote the usage of collaboration tools that enable to sharing of information between projects.
• Enforce (yep, sometimes you have to use some of that authority you were granted) lessons learned documentation.
• Communicate, communicate, communicate – The more team members, sponsors, stakeholders know what is going on the better they will feel the success chances are and the easier it will be for them to adopt future PM best-practices.

Now keep in mind that driving to a correct mindset related to project management is not about implementing 25 new processes and techniques overnight, is about improving on what is already present. The best way for a function, company, organization, or team to get better is by evolving in small steps and taking them one at a time. That way the chances of making it stick to everyone increase and, more importantly, they’ll take it with them wherever they go.

All men can see these tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved.
~ Sun Tzu (Chinese General and Author, b.500 BC)

Can a project determine the success of its product?

When the Ford Taurus was introduced in the mid 80’s it became one of the most successful cars in the history of the automobile. What most people don’t know is that the project undertaken to develop the Taurus was finished over budget, and 3 months after its deadline and as a result of this the project manager was demoted.

I can hear some people say: well, the punishment is undeserved, the product was successful in the end; while others might think otherwise, that the project manager did not deliver on his goal: on-time, on-budget, etc.

Lets do a quick imagination exercise.

Imagine I am the owner of the company you work for; now imagine I come to your office and let you know you are the newly appointed Project Manager for a most spectacular project, one that is so important for the company every shareholder is looking for its result. The project can be conveniently called: A project to make this company successful and profitable.

Chances are you would crack a laugh, Read more…

And avoid the wrong moment and specially the wrong circumstances.

I got an email yesterday from Palm (NASDAQ: PALM) announcing the launching of the new Treo 800W. I have been a Palm user for years, I currently own a Palm TX and I pretty much use it all the time. The thing is so useful when you want to keep ideas, jot notes down, search for a movie via Wi-Fi, etc.

But then I read the following: Apple sells 1 million new iPhones and then an article on how Palm had unveiled their newest product under this kind of shadow (Palm unveils new Treo…)

The whole thing got me thinking and I tried to see the lesson here (beyond the obvious). The importance of understanding the timing on whatever you do is a key factor to your success or your demise. It sounds apocalyptic and it is to some extent, it rules your everyday actions: You don’t cross the street when in traffic, you don’t rush up to try to pass the train when driving (if you do please stop reading this post, go to the nearest hospital and ask for a CT scan, there is something wrong with your brain), you don’t buy the lotto ticket for the lotto that happened 2 weeks ago… see my point? You carry on with your life seeking the opportunity to do those things (except the one where you try to pass the train, are you still here? I think I said go to the hospital…)

I am not talking on an order here, nor that there is a preordained set of steps you must take to carry on with your life.

What I am talking here is that you do see the opportunity and take it, and also that you can recognize the impossibility of things on a specific scenario where you see success is non-existent. To be able to understand that on a project you don’t go asking for resources without a project plan is obvious, yet many people do it. In management is important to seek for opportunities just as you do on your daily life. The chances of success increase as you sharpen your senses to what is around you (both your and your project)

When managing a project look the chance to get to the right people at the right time, make sure you don’t ask for funds for your project AFTER management reads the latest financial report that says the company didn’t make the quarter.

The possibility of the right moment is smaller than the possibility of the wrong moment. That is why is important to know your business, the company, the industry you are working for, your team, the customer expectations, when is management going to meet with VP of finance, etc.

Chances do not fall from the sky (that often) and being in the right place at the right time is not a method for risk management.

A nice article that talks about this from a technology side is the Technologists Oath: Know Thy Business

Make sure you understand your plays, what you have on your hands and how far can you reach to play to your advantage. Do not EVER think what you have on hand is the ultimate thingamageek that everyone wants, that is also a precept of innovation: just because you think is innovative does not mean everyone will think the same.

Why do you think Apple sold 1 million iPhones in just the weekend? I am sure marketing had a lot to do, the fame of its founder and the attractiveness of their products played a role here, but they knew also that “the first to hit, hits twice”

This of course is not the rule, Nintendo unveiled their system one week after Sony’s Playstation 3 and 1 full year after Microsoft’s XBOX360 and to date it is the most successful of the 3 (defining success as number of units sold) but then what made their console so successful? well, innovation definitely was a factor, the approach on gaming they propose is something no other console could effectively portray and bring to the average living room. I can even conceive the idea that the actually waited for Sony and MS to unveil their product so they would not have a chance of “mimicking” their technology and gaming approach were they the first to launch their product.

They leveraged the right moment, the right approach, the innovation behind their concept, etc. So, you must understand where are you standing, where is everyone standing, what do you want, what they want, what are you willing to concede and what can you bring to the table, what drives them and what are they looking to get from you.

I recently posted a comment where I rant for about 3 hours on how all the project management tools and techniques are there to make sure everyone is in the same page and with the same goal in mind.

Well, they are there for one more reason: to make you think.

When you think, do you really think? or are you vague about what you are thinking? Deep serious thinking is no small feat, it requires concentration and believe it or not it requires sugar and amino acids from your body. It can burn calories (not enough to make you skip gym today, sorry) and it will make your mind stay young.

So, when you see a document that reads: Project Charter. Is not just a bureaucratic form that you have to fill, submit, get it approved, and file it under the Who Cares section of your I Hate This file cabinet. It is a document to make you really think: What is it the project is supposed to deliver? Who is the people that will stand by your side as the sponsor and take half the blame when the project goes over budget? Not just you need to know all these information, you need to be rational about it and make sure you have the right people, the right knowledge of the project. This is the entrance door to your mind to ensure you will be able to talk about your project on the way to the parking lot and engage that missing person from IT that did not know about the project.

All those documents ensure you think, process and, by writing, recognize if what you are doing makes sense or not.

We know that there are a bunch of tools and techniques available to manage a project, yet I still see people missing key points when it comes to structure a project. Things like the work breakdown structure are more than buzz words and fancy ideas to make the PM profession look professional.

They exist for a reason, the days where a single person could manage the whole execution of a project are way over. This is not about finding heroes, this is about making sure everybody is in the same direction. That the purpose and goal of the team is the same.

But then, why people is missing the WBS? Well, one good reason is that many PMs create a work breakdown structure that has absolutely nothing to do with the project. I have seen people thinking that a thought process map is a WBS or that a simple project plan is the WBS. This of course will have a tremendous impact on the project because those tools do not show what the project is supposed to produce/follow/deliver.

Another key aspect is the creation of a project schedule out of thin air, again people think they can think of every possible task the project is going to require and so they start spitting any task that comes to their mind. A project schedule is just the result of a deep analysis of what the project is supposed to deliver, how is it supposed to deliver it, with what resources and in what time frame (give or take a couple restrictions here and there)

So, what is it that you are missing? A project plan? The WBS? A risk management plan?

Again, these are not documents to collect autographs from management/leadership teams. These are to make sure everyone is on the same page, that everyone has the same idea and will go in the same direction.

A dogsled will move because every dog (no, I am not calling team members dogs, ok?!) is tied to the same rail, they have one direction, one goal, and they make it happen.

When it comes to construction or aerospace industries you know you can’t make a mistake, you know you have to have blueprints, there are lives at risk. The construction of the building is only the last step of a long process called Design.

Then why is it that in the overall project management profession people like to take the blueprints as a waste of time? I agree that -in general- project management will not have a impact on the life of people from a dead/alive perspective (in most cases) but that does not mean you can go about it without paying attention to what you do. Planning, Analysis and Design are the most critical pieces of a project, they will give you the PAD-ding to make your project go as smooth as possible and to deliver and close your project as a success (notice I am not mentioning the so-called triple constraint… that is another story)