Whether you like it or not, there has been no escaping this year’s World Cup. Despite the disappointment of England’s untimely departure, the competition continues to dominate the front and back pages. Whilst he is nursing the pain of the USA’s recent exit, our resident Yank and marketing expert Dan (Editor’s note: a.k.a “Editor” heretofore) has asked me to reflect upon the “lessons learned” from Brazil 2014.
Here’s a list of 10 shameless analogies to project management from this year’s tournament:
The ticket to understanding elements of your project management potential may lie in this year’s World Cup(image courtesy Jorge in Brazil via @Flickr, re-used with permission. Changes were not made to the image.)
The twelfth man – Whether it’s been the sun, the samba or the Selecao, there’s no denying that the support for this year’s cup has been fantastic. Amid the hype, the USA’s coach Jurgen Klinsmann gave a master-class in stakeholder engagement with his letter to America’s bosses ahead of their game against Germany.
The death of tiki-taka – Methodologies come and go. As Spain’s exit shows us, the trick is to have the flexibility to choose an approach that fits the game and gets a result. This serves as a word of warning to those always following the flavour of the month.
“No tactics without technique” – The English national team have once again failed to make it far on the biggest stage. Over-drilled and under-skilled, Hodgson’s men proved that no matter how good the tactics, a team needs a fundamental level of competency before it has the capability to achieve its goals.
Beware! Underdog bites! – In a group of three former world champions, Costa Rica were the lowest risk on the register at the start of the tournament. That hasn’t stopped them becoming an issue.
Beware! Striker bites! – What struck me about Suarez’ misdemeanour was the public outrage incurred: not by the monster munch itself, but by his silence on the subject, before making an apology. Whether there’s an appeal process or not on your project’s evaluation, no communication is bad communication in times of crisis.
Home advantage – Brazil may not have been at their scintillating best so far in the tournament, but it comes as no surprise that half of the teams to reach the quarter finals are South American. Familiar working conditions, lofty aims and high expectations have undoubtedly spurred the hosts – and their neighbours – to outperform the rest of the world.
A game of two halves…and extra time and penalties – The number of games that have gone into extra time this year has probably been more popular with the fans than with the players due to the heat. Overtime has seen the levels of performance drop and the number of mistakes increase as legs tire and concentration is lost.
“Rome wasn’t built in a day, but I wasn’t on that particular job…” – What do ‘Big Phil’ Scolari, Didier Deschamps and van Gaal have in common apart from a team in the quarters? Charisma. The value of strong leadership for team work, conflict resolution, communication and – ultimately – project success, is undoubted and immeasurable in value.
Calamity in Qatar – Whilst Brazil seems to be getting over its teething problems, Sepp and his cronies continue to baffle with their handling of plans for the World Cup in Qatar. If you want an example of how not to do a risk assessment, how not to engage stakeholders, how not to monitor compliance, or how not to run a project: look no further!
On scope, on time and on budget? – Despite its successes, criticisms that will mar the legacy of the Brazilian World Cup have all come from three classic project management perspectives. First, delivering all that entails an international tournament in a country with more pressing socio-economic and political issues was the cause of the widespread riots that threatened to kill the fever of the cup. Second, spray painted turf at Fortaleza (editor’s note: not to mention rickety structures) was a symptom of widespread under delivery. From the pitches, to the stadiums, to the transport infrastructure, Brazil did not come close to meeting requirements on schedule. Finally, the cost of the World Cup will ultimately be judged against the benefits that the tournament brings to the nation over the next few years. (editor’s note: Against the backdrop of Rio de Janiero playing host to the next edition of the Summer Olympics, the impact could face even more scrutiny. Given what has transpired in Greece in recent years, the legacy of hosting the 2004 Summer Olympics is negligible and forgotten, especially in light of losing out on so much economically without the burden of the World Cup hosting gig to boot.) Whether the impact of this World Cup demonstrated value for money in Brazil will be a question that overshadows the tournament’s place in history.
Nick Sharpe joined p3m global as a University of Exeter graduate in 2013, working in a consulting capacity to drive improvements in the Project Management methodologies of our clients. After a quick-fire induction on our Project Management Fundamentals course, and initiation into the wonders of the ‘iron triangle’, Nick was qualified in PRINCE2 and MS Project, and assessing clients project management frameworks. Nick has worked with clients in the recruitment, telecoms and energy sectors, and with HR, Business Services and IT departments.
Let me start by asking you a few questions about your attitude towards administration. We all know that some of us are better organised than others.
Even so, take a moment and answer the following questions;
Are you one of those PMs that is excellent at planning and managing what others do, but not so good at managing your own tasks and time?
Do you feel as though everything is under control, as you know all that is going on and therefore, there is no need to review or update the risk register, etc.?
Have you learned something useful and incorporated the lesson into the project, and so there is no need to document?
Are you lazy?
Buried in Paperwork? Let Derek Bland and PM-Partners help you sort out your priorities.
None of the advice below excuses the lazy – sorry, guys.
There will be some of you that need to adhere to a PM method that is document heavy, and the application is not proportionate to the size and complexity of the project. It may be that there is no company-wide method or project, programme or portfolio management (P3M, for short) standards being applied. The advice below will not get rid of this problem, but may help you to organise your time. p3m global is a Portfolio, Programme and Project Management consultancy and training company that is involved with the design and implementation of project management methods; therefore, we can help define and/or streamline your processes.
The advice below should be adjusted to your own needs and those for the project.
1. KNOW WHERE IT IS – BE ORGANISED: It is essential to be organised form the start. Ensure you have a good folder structure that helps you to find documents easily as this will save you time. An example would be to have a folder for; strategies, registers, schedules and work packages and a folder for products to be produced. Let’s be honest, communication is driven by email and so it is as important to have a similar folder structure for your emails.
2. KNOW WHAT IT IS AND WHAT THE CURRENT VERSION IS: It is imperative that you version (yes, it’s a verb in this case!) your documents. A good practice for documents that are being worked on (WIP) are to use a decimal place and once approved/signed off, the version is rounded up to a whole number. This process is then repeated for all subsequent versions. Example of WIP versions, v0.1, v0.2 etc. Once signed off it becomes v1.0, followed by the next version earning a label v2.0, and so on. Another option for documents or registers is to use a date format. I like to use YYMMDD. Therefore, my Risk Register will be Risk Register, PMP Project 140131. This ensures that it will always be the latest version. Make sure you have a good naming convention for all project documents and ensure that all of those producing product documentation follow these protocols.
3. KNOW WHEN YOU ARE GOING TO DO TASKS – BE DISCIPLINED: We all know that projects in a fast-paced and or complex state can throw up urgent issues. However, it is important to schedule set times so that you can review documents – even if only a quick check – to verify that they do not need updating. Make a recurring schedule item in your calendar and add a checklist of activities to the calendar appointment. Break-up mundane activities into small manageable tasks. A simple example* might be;
4. BEWARE THE MEETING, ESPECIALLY THE IMPROMTU ONES: Meetings are necessary and can aid greatly in communication and assist in team building. However, avoid agreeing to a meeting if you feel it is for said meeting’s sake. I once worked on an extremely large Government Project. The main project team took up one floor, with additional staff distributed thorough the building. The floor was open plan and so it was easy to see what was going on around you; ergo, it became easier to be distracted. I estimated that around 35% of my day could be taken up with impromptu meetings or chats at the water cooler. Do not be afraid to say that you have something urgent that you are working on and arrange a time to meet to discuss. However, consider if the meeting is really necessary or whether the person just wants a chat or the person may simply want to get something off of their chest. Although this may not be a priority for you, you should try and find some time to listen to concerns, because you never know: something productive may come out of it.
5. WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED: I am not just referring to lessons to be logged in the Lesson Log; rather the way that you work. Ensure that you actively audit yourself by taking time to reflect and think about;
How have you been perceived in a particular instance; did you try something new which worked, could you have communicated better? Did you provide information to the correct level of detail and in the correct format?
How well have you managed your time? Could you have performed some tasks more quickly without compromising quality? Were some of the meeting necessary or did they drag on too long and how could you improve this the meeting next time? Remember you are the Project Manager, many of the team will want to learn from you. Anything that you can learn for yourself needs to be acted upon and so log it – learn it – embed it.
* – Please note that the above list is a very simple example and does not negate the need to update or review project documentation as required. The very act of recording a risk or issue often promotes ideas on how best to deal with it.
Derek Bland is Project Management Consultant & Trainer at p3m global. His experience includes consultancy on design and delivery of bespoke Project Management methods, conducting Project Audits and advising PMs on best practice improvements. As a trainer, Derek delivers on a variety of Project Management Courses, including PRINCE2 and MSP.
Steve Butler PMP lays out what Project Management means to him (and PM-Partners) in conjunction with the exciting Shim Marom-inspired #pmflashblog initiative. In short, Steve feels that project management requires a lot of planning, and some common sense, too.
Project management is all about change. Strip out all the latest fads, standards and gimmicks and at its heart all project management really boils down to is a risk mitigation exercise when you are trying to effect change – be it deliver a product or a service or an update. Keep that thought at the front of your mind when managing a project, and everything becomes common sense. You are changing something, and you want to get it right. So what do you need to consider? Well, you need to make sure “it” is the right thing…so some sort of requirements gathering exercise and scoping exercise is needed so you can hit the target. To do that you need to make sure you are talking to the right people to find out the right information, and to make sure you are keeping the right people up to speed with what you are doing – so some sort of communications management and stakeholder happiness plan needs to be in place. Obviously when you gather the requirements and define the scope, a budget and a timeline needs to be defined and managed, and how they progress needs to be communicated (hence having a communications plan). Within the timeline will be milestones and deliverables and some sort of mechanism for delivering them and reviewing the milestones. Part of making sure you hit the target is making sure the quality of what you are doing is acceptable, so some sort of plan to manage that is necessary. You can think about assembling the team, and keeping them happy and efficient. If you’re not sure exactly what you’re doing, maybe deliver in bits and make sure you are heading in the right direction by regularly reviewing with someone who knows what is required. Maybe regularly review with the team to make sure they are doing the right thing and have no blockers you don’t know about. We could call that basic concept, oh I don’t know, Agile? A concept that has been around for decades, but now has a name! Project Management – an exercise in common sense.
I’d like to focus on four tasks from the start of a project that are often neglected or performed superficially, but done well can make a key difference to the smooth running of the project.
1. Risk identification and analysis
Getting a project started is rarely as easy as it appears – especially when your appreciation for the four taks discussed at let is, at best, cosmetic. Image courtesy Todd Dailey (twid) @Flickr, re-used with permission.
Early risk identification is key to project success. The high level risks should be identified as part of the bid response process, along with their potential impacts on the project scope, timescales and costs. This information can then be used to update the business case for the project and to tailor the bid response appropriately. The project risks may significantly impact the business case; in extreme cases the risk identification may cause the project bid to be cancelled. In planning, a full risk identification exercise should be carried out with the project team and input also sought from the project stakeholders. This provides early visibility of potential risks and their impacts. The project manager then has the information to run the project in a way that reduces the likelihood of their occurrence and mitigates their impact.
2. Stakeholder identification and analysis A key measure of project success is the satisfaction of the project stakeholders. The project can deliver the required deliverables, on time and in budget, yet still be considered a failure if the stakeholders are unhappy with the outcome. Equally, projects that were late and over budget can still be perceived as successful if the stakeholders are satisfied. It is therefore vitally important to identify all the project stakeholders when initiating the project and to document their interests, impact and communication needs. The stakeholders can then be appropriately engaged during the project life-cycle, maximising their satisfaction with the project. 3. Complexity analysis A project complexity level can be obtained by analysing criteria such as the project price, technical complexity and clarity of the scope. Defining a complexity level for a project enables selection of a suitably experienced project manager and appropriate internal governance. The complexity level also determines the project management effort and documentation to be specified, included in the contract and communicated to the customer. This communication is vital. Project management effort and documentation are often poorly defined, yet where the customer clearly understands what they will receive then the potential for conflict over the scope is considerably reduced. 4. Quality planning Checking that the project deliverables have appropriate acceptance testing is highly important, but this testing by itself should nor form the entirety of the project quality management. There is a significant omission; the quality of the project management must also be planned, monitored and controlled. The quality of the project management can be determined through actions such as reviews of the project by the steering committee and customer satisfaction surveys. Quality processes appropriate to the project should be defined during project planning, and included in the project schedule to ensure that they are carried out. The quality of the whole project is then measured, understood, and if necessary, can be corrected and lessons learned documented for future projects. Katharine Thornber is a Project Management Consultant for PM-Partners. Her track record has allowed Katharine to develop particular expertise in matters related to product management, project management, programme management and engineering. Katharine is PRINCE2 certified and has worked previously in the telecommunications industry. For more on her blog posts and other posts from the P3M Blog, be sure to connect with our group on LinkedIn.
It is the time of year when, all over the English countryside, you can start to hear the gentle thwack of leather on willow in the parks, beside the pubs and on the village greens. With the recent success of the England Cricket Team and the advent of the domestic cricket season my thoughts turn to some of the similarities it shares with another great love of mine (or profession, at least), project management.
The obvious first thing is that nobody understands either of them! Cricket is famed for its complex nature and very few people understand the true scope and value of what a project manager does. But here’s a light-hearted look at how they compare in other ways:
There are clear boundaries – Round the edge of the field the difference between 1&2 runs and 4 or 6 runs is a clearly defined boundary. Similarly your projects should have a crystal clear scope so there is no dispute over what has or hasn’t been delivered.
You have limited resources – The fielding team only has 11 men to deploy around the field. The Captain must balance these resources to achieve the best results. He must make sure his best people are in the most critical positions, such as the slips, but needs also account for the risk of a stray ball to long-on. Similarly a PM needs to allocate their best resources to the most critical tasks but be ready to divert them to troublesome areas in the project. It’s also important to balance the portfolio. The captain and selectors must balance the team in the right way to achieve their goals. When selecting a team this involves finding the right ratio of bowlers to batsmen or slow and steady run accumulators to aggressive and free-scoring impact players. This is similar to the role of the project portfolio manager trying to pick the right mix of projects in the portfolio to spread risk and maximise return on investment.
You must play to your strengths – The captain may set one type of field if they are using a fast bowler and a different type of field if they are using a spin bowler. Bowlers can seldom bat well and vice versa. Similarly, a PM must organise the project around the strengths of his team. The PM may need some good all-rounders in the team to cope with all situations.
There are formulae and methods – In the Earned Value Method (EVM) the To-Complete Performance Index (TCPI) bears a striking resemblance to the run-rate calculations from the Duckworth-Lewis Method (D/L) used in one day cricket. (Too technical, anyone……?)
There are phases and milestones – The most successful cricket teams understand that a test match goes through many different phases and these are punctuated by milestones such as wickets, declarations, lunch or taking the new ball which, when used properly, can turn the tide of the match. Similarly the PM must divide their project into clear phases to maintain control and use milestones wisely to motivate the focus their team.
You have to consider your environment – Just as a cricket captain must take into account the weather, the humidity, the texture and condition of the pitch, the nature of the crowd and the direction of the wind, the PM must analyse their project environment, including the culture of the organisation, the attitude to authority, working times and to project management maturity in general.
Risk is everywhere, and must be managed – Right from outcome of the coin toss, to the clumsy sweep from your cavalier batsman through to an uncertain hope that the ball will swing in the attack, the cricketer is constantly calculating risk exposure and coming up with strategies and workarounds to deal with it. Similarly, the project manager must plan for risk and constantly anticipate, review and react to it throughout the whole project life cycle.
There’s Padding – Quite obviously in cricket, but it’s less welcome in project management. Rather than using padding as a substitute for risk management by building arbitrary buffers around key milestones, contingency reserves should be estimated and traced back to specific risks and assumptions made and calculated by the project management team. In cricket it’s there to make sure that an LBW call doesn’t result in a trip to casualty.
It often comes down to the wire – This is a trait most often seen in limited overs games where similar run rates dictate that an entire day’s play can be decided by the final ball, as seen in last season’s Twenty20 cup final. The trick, like a good PM when faced with an immovable deadline, is to stick to the game plan and keep up the motivation and focus of the team, perhaps trading off some risk to meet the key constraints facing it. A surge in effort to a committed goal will often win the day.
In the end it’s all about people – As 9 demonstrates, you may have a well-defined project process or a well-coached batting technique but it’s the people in your team that make it happen on the day in the face of all obstacles. When the project reaches a critical stage will your people want to play for you? Do they ‘want it enough?’ Do they know what’s expected of them and are they motivated to go beyond it? Understanding how to get the most from your people and having them committed to a common goal is the key ingredient to success; on or off the pitch.
This post was originally published on the blog for the PM-Partners website, 26th May 2011
Ray Mead is Founder/Director of p3m global. Reach out to him on LinkedIn today, or to p3m global on their company and/or group pages.
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