Why is KM Important?

Those of us already in the field are so caught up in meeting deadlines, creating drivers that ensure our existing KM initiatives don’t fall flat. We don’t stop to think “Why KM?”, at least that’s what I’ve found after talking to a number of people. Sure there were indicators that lead to the decision of implementing KM at the beginning; however no clear cut goals or objectives were established right at the start, and even if they were most of them were to intangible to track. In a number of cases existing information management practices were re badged. After all KM was a buzz word and everyone wanted to get on board as quickly as possible.

I see this trend continuing with companies that have started to adopt KM within their ranks. They often seem uncertain of benefits that KM can bring to the table, while they may know the answer to the “What” they don’t know the “How”.

Why am I telling you this? It’s because if you decide to implement a Knowledge Management program within your organization or project team you need to do it for the right reasons.

KM is not something new, and whether you know it or not you have been using it on a daily basis since you were young enough to count. In today’s corporate arena it takes the form of building a network of contacts, ensuring the information you have stays current, keeping an eye on SME’s ( Subject Matter Experts ) within the organization, and so on. Essentially ensuring you are well connected and “in the know”.

So back to the fundamental question, why is KM important?

In a project context, there is a lot of effort spent managing people, processes and churning out vast quantities of information. As a project manager (or a budding one) you need to start asking the question “How do I promote knowledge management within my team?” There are a multitude of benefits that you can take back from doing this, some of which I’ve listed in my previous post, and the rest we shall get into more detail in future ones.

Leveraging existing knowledge in terms of projects that have been done in the past and connecting your team with experts across the organization (and outside) automatically allows you to save time and deliver faster, better results.

In today’s world, with attrition levels being where they are there are often instances where initiatives lose direction and focus after key personnel leave the organization. For the true success of any KM initiative the agenda and focus should be independent of any single person. The vision should be at an organization level for it to have any chance of long term success, so ensure that you aren’t the only one driving this initiative within your team, rope in supporters (you will need them).

As the year draws to a close its time you plan ahead and start thinking of what you would like to accomplish. So, why do you think KM is important?

Hope you have a great new year, and see you soon!

An Introduction to Knowledge Management

PMTips.net is focused on bringing you, the reader, information on a number of subjects ranging from Project Management to Knowledge Management and of course everything in between. In keeping with this theme this post hopes to serve as an introduction to Knowledge Management. What it is, but most importantly what it can do for you.

While the idea is to provide you with enough theoretical knowledge and background on its intricacies, future posts will also serve as a means to start dialogue around the practicalities of this subject.

So where does this leave us? …..

To start with a theoretical knowledge of KM is as important as a working one. It gives you a foundation upon which to build a KM strategy. A lot of what I’ve managed to achieve today was built using what I’ve studied and read about, flavored with what I know works in the real world.

What is Knowledge Management?

As defined in Wikipedia - “Knowledge Management (KM) comprises a range of practices used in an organization to identify, create, represent, distribute and enable adoption of insights and experiences. Such insights and experiences comprise knowledge, either embodied in individuals or embedded in organizational processes or practice.”

There are two main dimensions of Knowledge Management; the first is the tacit and the second explicit. Tacit Knowledge is always more difficult to capture and codify as opposed to explicit, however its benefits are far greater.

Ikujiro Nonaka and Hirotaka Takeuchi, The Knowledge Creating Company, New York, Oxford University Press, 1995

The Diagram above depicts the 2 types of Knowledge and the various methods of transition between them. Understanding how to leverage each phase within your project environment will give you the power to ensure that there is maximum knowledge re-use and therefore less waste and re-creation.

The end goal is as always, to ensure you are able to do things faster and better with as little effort as possible. This will go a long way towards helping your project meet its deadlines.  The posts ahead will talk a lot about Strategies to effectively implement KM within your projects, leading to some of the following benefits.

• Lifting your Productivity and Efficiency
• Enhance Team Collaboration and Coordination
• Avoid Waste and Duplication
• Have better Knowledge transfer during the execution of Projects

…. and a whole lot more.

If you’ve had any experience with implementing Knowledge Management within your organization do leave a a comment, the sharing of Best Practices and Lessons learned is a great first step towards ensuring you meet your objectives.

The Wonderful World of Scope Creep

In the wonderful world of scope management and scope creep…as a project manager all you have to go on is your organization of the project and your reporting tools. I’ve found that the three best ways to combat scope creep are:

1. Establishment and signoff (by the customer) of a Scope Statement or Document.
2. Establishment of a work-in-progress detailed project plan that the customer is reviewing with you on an on-going basis.
3. Management of the project driven by a detailed project plan and weekly status reviews of the project – that includes the customer – utilizing customized reporting from the detailed project plan.

For #3, my preference is to create custom filters in MS Project and utilize those filters to create 6 customized reports:

1. Tasks Completed Last Reporting Period
2. Tasks Started Last Reporting Period
3. Tasks Planned For Completion This Reporting Period
4. Tasks Planned To Start This Reporting Period
5. Tasks Past Due For Completion
6. Tasks Past Due To Start

Items #1 & 2 cover your areas of Progress on the weekly status report. Items #3 & 4 cover the Planned areas of the status report. And items #5 & 6 cover the Issues area of the status report.

I then include a section in the weekly status report that covers action items, who they are assigned to, and when they are expected to be completed. This area is meant to handle the on-going issues that come up during the project but that don’t really fall under the category of a Task to be included in the project plan
When your customer needs work that falls outside of the agreed upon scope of the project, then we usually need to turn to two things – a Phased Implementation and/or Change Orders.

Phased Implementations

Many times requirements will either change or become more refined resulting in work that needs to be performed outside the original scope – either timeframe, budget or both. To keep the project on track in terms of implementing necessary functionality within the agreed upon timeframe, one way of keeping the customer happy is with a phased implementation approach.
Usually this will also have budgetary implications as well, since if it is effort beyond the original timeframe then it is likely effort beyond the original budget.
Working with the customer to agree upon implementing ‘x & y’ functionality by June 1^st and moving ‘z’ functionality to September 1^st is a way of keeping at least most of the project on track while redefining when the full functionality will be ready.
This likely results in one or more change orders, which we’ll address next.

Change Orders

Unless the PM or the PM organization is involved in the sales process (and I think they should be!), then the PM’s first chance to increase cash flow for the organization is to recognize additional customer needs and out of scope items. These are usually handled in the form of change orders. Some customer’s cringe at the mention of change orders and may even have you sign an agreement that there will be no change orders on the project. In those cases you just have to adhere to the original project scope and allow nothing to get in the way. However, when functional requirements are being fully fleshed out and turned into a technical design doc, many IT projects will realize the need for change order work. This can be a need for additional personnel with different skill sets added to the project, more reports, new screens, additional queries built into the software, more integrations than were originally planned…..you get the idea…the list goes on and on. In one case on one of my projects, the customer liked the Business Analyst so much that they wanted him onsite for the entire project rather than just for a couple of weeks at the beginning of each phase of the project. This customer had money and liked the team and wanted to ensure that everything went smoothly. They happily signed on for nearly $100k in change orders over a 3 month period including increased hours and living expenses to accommodate the BA onsite for the duration.

Conclusion

The PM definitely has help from his project team to keep the project on track as originally scoped. The BA and developer(s) will be watching for things that fall outside of the scope during design sessions. However, the PM has overall responsibility to track the scope, identify discrepancies and originate discussions and paperwork that will lead to changes such as a phased implementation and change order work. The earlier this is identified and the quicker it is discussed with the customer, the greater the likelihood of customer satisfaction. Document everything, create detailed change orders and get customer signoffs so that there are no questions at invoicing time.

Social network for Project managers – PPMNG

I’m a member of numerous groups about project and product management on LinkedIn and Facebook that keep me updated about what’s new and what’s hot.

While surfing, I came across social networks for anthropologists,  book lovers, music fans, communities for designers and artists…. but nothing for project managers. I was thinking that maybe this community is too small? Or probably nobody have ever thought about creating a social network for project managers?

And then, last week, I found Professional Project Managers Networking Group (PPMNG), created on the Ning platform. It seems quite promising.

In general, the idea is to create a place where the project managers will meet and exchange experiences.

The number of members is getting bigger on daily basis (5014 as of today). What has drawn my attention was the forum where discussions about project management tools, PM trainings and certifications took place, in which I immediately joined.

You may also look at the search engine (custom Google, it gives results from Google organic search, something like this), the  videos, jobs openings, events list etc.  If you are interested in specific PM areas, check out the Groups about Agile PM, Software PM and few more, but unfortunately they are still not very active.

I personally find it not structured very well, too much information which is sometimes confusing. It needs to worked a bit on the design and the final touch, but I think it is very useful and informative.

However, thanks to Miles for creating this network. Hope it will become widely known and add significant value in the PM world.

What do you think?  Will it stay alive long enough to be THE place to find all project managers and exchange experiences? What are other good uses from this network?

Do you know any other social network of professional Project Managers?

Customer Satisfaction – Proper Communication and Oversight

I’d like to take this opportunity today to discuss the topic of customer satisfaction. As a Project Manager or IT Consultant, the concept of customer satisfaction is make or break. It is the basis of your livelihood. If you’re independent, it means the difference between a referenceable customer and a dissatisfied customer. If you’re working for an organization and dealing with internal customers and/or external clients, then customer satisfaction over time may mean the difference between keeping your job or updating your resume unexpectedly.

As the PM, we have the bull’s-eye firmly fixed on our head. Often times we’re the highest priced resource on the project and many times the customer sees us as the hardest expense to justify. Here are six ways to keep yourself ‘relevant’ on a project….

1. Lead weekly status calls

Every PM on every project should be responsible for leading weekly customer calls and documenting discussions, action items, issues, etc. and re-sending this all back out to the relevant project team members on both sides within the next 24 hours following the weekly call. I find that clients are happy with this approach and they know that everything was captured accurately when they review the notes and issues.

2. Produce weekly status reports

In advance of the weekly status call – preferably at least 24 hours in advance – produce and deliver a detailed status report to the customer and project teams on both sides. The status report should be the basis for the weekly status call and should be reviewed and updated on each call.

3. Deliver revised weekly project plans

At the same time the weekly status report is being revised and delivered to the project team and the client, the project plan must also be revisited, revised and delivered – preferably in both .mpp and .pdf format so users without MS Project can view the plan. A good project manager is reviewing and revising the plan almost daily, but an ‘official’ revised plan should be delivered to the customer each with the status report and reviewed as part of the weekly status meeting.

4. Stay on top of project issues and risks

At a minimum, at the kickoff of a project, gather the project teams together on both sides – assuming a customer-facing engagement – and brainstorm the risks. Document these well using a project register of your choosing…usually a simple Excel spreadsheet will do. Identify the likelihood of the risk as well as the potential impact to the project (budget, timeline, success, etc.) if the risk is realized. Also identify any risk mitigation actions that can or will be taken to avoid the potential risk.

Ideally, this risk register will become part of your weekly status report going forward and will be something that the teams re-visit weekly on the status call. At an absolute minimum, the Project Manager must review the register (and update it) regularly and bring items to the attention of the teams as any risk possibilities arise.

5. Ad-hoc communication with the customer

I’ve mentioned the weekly status calls and the delivery of the weekly status reports and revised project plans/schedules. That’s a given. However, the real communication with your project team as well as with the customer’s project team often happens as ad-hoc communications. This can be by phone, IM, email, etc. This is where the quick, but critical, status alerts happen. As the Project Manager, you must be prepared to share risks, bad news, alerts, changes, etc. with the customer in a very timely manner (after, of course, verifying all info and clearing critical info with executive management). This will gain customer trust and definitely help to ensure that evasive action is taken as quickly as possible when problems arise. It’s never ok or a good option to bury your head in the sand.

6. Be an activist for your project team

As the PM, one of your primary concerns is to remove any roadblocks your project team members encounter. If you have a Business Analyst onsite with the customer performing a design walkthrough and the server is down, you must be ready to get your IT support staff on it and escalate it to whatever exec necessary to get the server up and running. This is just one example, but the general idea is that proactiveness is key to customer success and satisfaction.

7. Keep the executives ‘undented’

My belief is that your tenure as a PM is directly tied to how ‘undented’ your executives are from your customers’ issues. This is probably obvious to everyone, but I just have to say it. The absolute worst thing you can have is your CEO, CTO or PMO finding out about a customer problem from the customer and not from you. Proactiveness with the customer, swift info dissemination to the customer and to your executive staff, and aggressive issue resolution and action will give you the greatest job security. You want your CEO calling you to congratulate you on a successfully run implementation, not asking you why he’s just now hearing about issues with Customer X.