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Thanks for Coming But…

Posted on August 1, 2012 by Joanne Greene-Blose

We’re glad you’re here but everyone’s packed up and left town. Please visit us at our new location at

http://www.projectsolversofamerica.com/blog .

Filed under: Al's Angle, AM on PM Summaries, Communications Management, Cost Management, Earned Value, Events, General Information, Human Resource Management, Integration Management, Online Training, Podcast of the month, Procurement Management, Project Management, PSA News and Updates, Quality Management, Risk Management, Scope Management, Time Management | Comments Off

Al’s Angle February 2012

Posted on February 3, 2012 by agubiotti

February 2012 Al’s Angle  –Communications Channels

Communications affects performance. Where have you heard that before?? We all know this to be true but yet we fail as Project Managers to effectively communicate to our team, stakeholders and to management. A successful PM typically have good communications skills that include being able to present the issues, listen and act on feedback and keep harmony among the team members and other teams working on a project.

Even the best of us forgets or misuses the channels of communications. We need to be reminded that not understanding these channels will make us less effective. Here is a quick overview of the channels, know them, follow them and you will keep the information flowing.

Up the chain channel this channel strengthens the buy in of the project by the top managers.

  • You need to communicate to senior executive –leave this step to someone else and you can find yourself in trouble. YOU need to do this when it is appropriate.
  • How to communicate to top management:
    • Exception reports
    • Weekly status reports (keep it simple)
    • Give them the project charter in a paragraph if possible.
    • Face to Face Reviews get it on their schedules and do not change. Plan the reviews and keep to a format.
    • Have effective communication plan-it’s a project!—you need a plan.

Down the chain channel-this requires delegation skills as you will be working through team members to communicate status.

  • Need to report tasks pending, scheduled dates, and general team information processing
  • Verbal communications, agenda (very important), email, tweets, project plan, all are means of communicating with this group.

Horizontal chain channel-This communication requires political astuteness and a good sense of tact and yes diplomacy.

  • If you do not have these traits listed above find those in your team who can assist you. Find a means to acquire these traits via training or through a mentor. You will need these traits to be successful in your profession.
  • You are communicating to clients, vendors, and functional managers at in this channel.
  • Horizontal chain involves negotiations, budgets, and most of all time (how long will it take).
  • Must have a :
    • Well defined communication plan,
    • Agreed upon and signed of statement of work
    • Contracts (written) and letters of understanding.
    • Email can be used but be careful who you copy and limited forwarding and copying.

This article is just a beginning better yet a start, I tried to remind you of the basics of communication and the flow of how your project should communicate. You the project manager need to create your communication “map” and how to make sure that what you are communicating is timely , correct and following your communication plan.

 

Filed under: Al's Angle, Communications Management | Leave a Comment »

Four Types of Project Managers

Posted on January 2, 2012 by agubiotti

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! This month we are addressing project manager and team personalities.

I  found this article by R. Max Wideman, FPMI, AEW Services, Vancouver, BC, Canada. In his article he breaks down project managers into four types:

The Explorer, Driver, Coordinator and finally the Administrator.

“The Explorer – Explorer or entrepreneur type project leaders have a vision of the future and projects are the stepping stones. They are bold, courageous and imaginative. There is a constant search for opportunities and improvements. They are comfortable in the lead, and exude confidence and charisma. They are good at networking and selling. They may, however, have little time for day-to-day problems which are delegated to others. Their project power derives from past experience, enthusiasm, and superior ability to communicate.

The Driver – Drivers are distinctly action-oriented and are both hard-working and hard driving. They are pragmatic, realistic, resourceful and resolute, and their focus is on project mission and precise project goals. They are generally well planned and self-disciplined, so for those who have similar traits, they are easy to work with. Conflict is likely with those who are not so inclined. Their power is derived from authority and they are quite prepared to use it.

The Coordinator – Coordinators are just as important when the project phase or situation calls for “facilitation”. They generally take a more independent and detached view of their surroundings. Coordinators are responsive to the views of project team members who must take responsibility for their own decisions. Therefore, their role is to ensure that team issues are surfaced, discussed and resolved to the team’s mutual satisfaction. These individuals tend to be humble, sensitive and willing to compromise. The Coordinator’s power is derived from his or her ability to persuade others t0 compromise.

The Administrator – Administrators recognize the need for stability, typically in order to optimize productivity through maximizing repetition to the extent possible on a project and to get the work finished. Often, requisite information must be assembled and carefully analyzed, with thought given to the trade-offs and how conflicts and problems can be resolved and disposed of in advance. Work must be carefully scheduled and procedure-ized if potential gains are to be realized and “all the pieces are to be carefully put in place”. The Administrator’s power derives from intellectual logic and organizational achievement.”

Characteristics required by all four leader types include being “credible, confident, committed, energetic, hard-working, and a self-starter.

This article tends to categorize project managers when in fact they need to be all four. Depending on the project and situation each one of these types needs to be addressed by all PM’s. Where PM’s get into trouble is being just one of these types. Further the whole project team needs to fully understand these personality types and find a place for all four of these type of personalities.  With all these traits in a project team it can make the team more well rounded and issues that come up can be resolved by one of these types or a combination of types.

Can you imagine if you have a team made up of just one or two of these personalities? You would have a team that is not diverse, there would be conflict without resolution, and you would get a project leaning in one direction without the benefit of discovering another direction that could prove to be beneficial.  How do you determine team member personality type?? Ask them!! Give them these types and ASK them to categorize themselves. What better way to know who is on your team. Also ask them why they picked the type they selected in 100 words or less.

Make sure you have a diverse team, try to have at least three of these type personalities on the team. You as a project manager need to make sure you can assume any one of the “role types” when it is needed by the project and the team. Know your dominant trait and work on understanding the others. Seek out team members who are in these traits and remember work through the personalities to promote the best in your team members.

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Enterprise Risk Management, The You Need to Knows

Posted on November 30, 2011 by agubiotti

The word risk brings fear to the hearts of Project Managers and to the general population. Risk brings to mind bad things and negative responses, especially when you discuss risk in the broad sense as an “enterprise” rather than as a project or assignment. While a project risk can affect just one component , enterprise risk can and will affect multiple components and projects. So why should you be concerned about an enterprise risk if you are “just managing a project”.

When multiple projects are working to solve an enterprise issue, and if one the projects does not meet its objectives than the others will also fail. All projects in an organization are “in the same boat”, you all must be rowing together if one stops the boat cannot move as expected. Project managers at all levels need to be communicating either via PMO or among themselves. Too often I see project managers not communicating outside of their components/departments. While they are meeting the demands of their area, they have little regard to the big picture and where their project fits in the bottom line of the organization/ company.

You need to know the following on an ongoing basis:

  • Where you fit in
  • If someone is maybe doing a similar project and how you can share knowledge and even resources
  • How your project is being perceived by the rest of the company and managers
  • How you and your resources are being evaluated
  • What are the risks other projects have identified (you may be one of them)
  • How to mitigate the enterprise risk you may be creating
  • If your resources are capable of understanding the risks in your project and how it may affect others
  • The priority of all the projects in the organization and where your project fits in
  • The cost/opportunity that your project serves for the organization and the risk of not meeting that objective.

There are many more that could be listed here but “you need to know that you need to find out what they are”

This “you need to know” theory is both project and enterprise risk management, the more you know the better you can manage the risks involved. Sounds simple but NO it’s very complex because you have to plan to find out what you need to know.

I question whether the whole Solyndra [1]project would have received $500 million if everyone involved on the project would have practiced “you need to know” risk management. This is risk, communications, and management all rolled up into one. Not understanding this concept will only bring you, your project and the enterprise into the negative risk arena rather than focusing in on project delivery.

Positive risk management is managing risk throughout the organization, it takes all levels of the organization to be involved and not pushing down the reponsility of risk management to the lowest levels. Everyone in the organization must be involved if risk is to have a positive outcome.  Everyone must have “you need to know”.

Your comments and suggestions are always welcomed.

Have a wonderful Holiday Season!!

Al Gubiotti

Filed under: Al's Angle, Risk Management | Tagged: , , | Leave a Comment »

Ten Rules to Manage Project Risk

Posted on October 31, 2011 by Joanne Greene-Blose

Everyone knows by now (especially if  you have a PMP/CAPM) that the benefits of risk management in projects are huge. You can gain a lot of money and time if you deal with uncertain project events in a proactive manner. The result will be that you minimize the impact of project threats and seize the opportunities as they occur. Risk Management allows you to deliver your project on time, on budget and with the quality results your project sponsor requires. Your team members will be much happier if they do not enter a “firefighting” mode needed to repair the failures that could have been prevented. Here are 10 Rules that you should take into consideration in your project to manage risk.

Rule 1: Make Risk Management Part of Your Project

The first rule is essential to the success of project risk management. If you don’t truly embed risk management in your project, you cannot reap the full benefits of this approach.

Rule 2: Identify Risks Early in Your Project

The first step in project risk management is to identify the risks that are present in your project. This requires an open mindset that focuses on future scenarios that may occur. Two main sources exist to identify risks: people and documents. People are your team members that each bring along their personal experiences and expertise. Projects tend to generate a significant number of (electronic) documents that contain project risks. You and your team need to analyze these project documents for hidden risks or statements of risk.

Are you able to identify all project risks before they occur? Probably not. However if you combine a number of different identification methods, you are likely to find the large majority.

Rule 3: Communicate About Risks

Failed projects show that project managers in such projects were frequently unaware of the big hammer that was about to hit them. The frightening finding was that frequently someone in the project team did see the issue but never told anyone. If you don’t want this to happen in your project, you better pay attention to risk communication. Team meetings should always start with risk identification and risk status. Another important line of communication is that of the project manager and project sponsor or principal. Focus your communication efforts on the big risks here and make sure you don’t surprise the boss or the customer! Also take care that the sponsor makes decisions on the top risks, because usually some of them exceed the mandate of the project manager.

Rule 4:  Risks can be Threats and Opportunities

Project teams struggle to cross the finish line, being overloaded with work that needs to be done quickly. This creates project dynamics where only negative risks matter (if the team considers any risks at all). Make sure you create some time to deal with the opportunities in your project. Chances are that you see a couple of opportunities with a high pay-off that don’t require a big investment in time or resources.

Rule 5: Who owns the Risk

The next step is to make clear who is responsible for what risk! Someone has to feel the heat if a risk is not taken care of properly. The trick is simple: assign a risk owner for each risk that you have found. The risk owner is the person in your team that has the responsibility to optimize this risk for the project. If a project threat occurs, someone has to be responsible and it should not be just the PM. This sounds logical, but it is an issue you have to address before a risk occurs. Especially if different business units, departments and suppliers are involved in your project, it becomes important who bears the consequences. When you own the risk you are more aware of its consequences.

Rule 6: Prioritize Risks

Whatever priority measure you use, use it consistently and focus on the big risks.

Rule 7: Analyze the Risk

Understanding the nature of a risk is a precondition for a good response. Therefore take some time to have a closer look at individual risks and don’t jump to conclusions without knowing what a risk is about.

Rule 8: Plan and Implement Risk Responses

A risk response is an activity that can actually add value to your project. You prevent a threat from occurring or minimize negative effects. If you deal with threats you basically have three options, risk avoidance, risk minimization and risk acceptance. Avoiding risks means you organize your project in such a way that you don’t encounter a risk anymore. The biggest categories of responses are the ones to minimize risks. You can try to prevent a risk occurring by influencing the causes or decreasing the negative effects that could result.

Rule 9: Log Project Risks

Maintaining a risk log enables you to view progress and make sure that you won’t forget a risk and is the perfect communication tool that informs your team members and stakeholders what is going on. A good risk log contains risks descriptions, clarifies ownership issues even the tasks on the plan that can be affected by the risk The Log should also contain how the risk will be mitigated.

Rule 10: Track Risks and Associated Tasks

Tracking risks differs from tracking tasks. It focuses on the current situation of risks. Which risks are more likely to happen? Has the importance of risks changed? Answering these questions will help you pay attention to the risks that matter most for your project value. Tracking is a real time endeavor in a project and a method of electronic tracking by all members of the team must be implemented as a part of the project reporting.

Good risk identification and tracking can go a long way towards generating a successful project on time and within budget.

-Al

Send me a question or comment @ agubiotti@projectsolversofamerica.com

Filed under: Al's Angle, Risk Management | Tagged: , , | 1 Comment »

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