March Survey – Remote Project Management

If you’ve been reading my articles for any length of time you’ll know that I’m somewhat passionate about remote project management and green or sustainable project management practices.  And I believe that one supports the other.

For my March survey – or at least March survey #1 (there may be more) – I’d like to get an indication on where our readership stands on remote project management.  How many of you out there are independent or involved in an organization that supports the management of projects in a primarily remote situation.

And for those of you who are, or have been, involved in the remote management of projects, I’d like to hear what you liked best or least about them.  The capabilities of my website right now still limit my surveying options, but I’ve put up what I think are common pluses and minuses with remote or virtual project management in a team environment.

Please take the survey – it’s completely anonymous and it’s brief … only five questions.  But I think the results could be very interesting.  I’ll close this survey down in 10-15 days and then do a follow-up article on PM Tips analyzing the results.

Please go to this address to complete the survey…

http://www.bradegeland.com/march-survey.html

If any of you survey takers have feedback or something you’d like to add after taking the survey, please feel free to comment on this article or email me at Brad.Egeland@pmtips.net.

Thank you in advance for taking this survey.  Your participation is greatly appreciated by me and everyone at PM Tips and Seavus – the creators of Project Planner and Project Viewer.

CEOs and the Changing Technology Around Them

Today’s CEO is challenged in a way that no CEOs were challenged before.  Technology is changing and too fast for even the CIO of an organization to keep up with, let alone the CEO.  Yet those critical decisions of company direction, how and where to grow the business, and what new technology to incorporate ultimately falls in the lap of the CEO.

How does one person do it?  The right answer is, they don’t.  It’s critical for the CEO to be surrounded by the right people to help him make good decisions for the company.  Just like an employee has to answer to their manager or management team, likewise the CEO is subject to the guidance, oversight, and decision-making of his board of directors.  Everyone is accountable to someone.

Making tough decisions

The CEO must make sound decisions on what new market niches to attack.  He’ll look to his marketing team and expect the right decisions will be made based on their analysis of the industry, but ultimately he’s responsible.

The CEO must make sound technology decisions.  He’ll look to the CIO or IT Director for their input on what direction to take, what technology to acquire, who to partner with, etc., but ultimately it’s his decision and the target is on his head.

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Virtual Teams: Key Success Factors – Part 2

As we identified in Part 1 – seven key success factors for virtual teams are:

• Human resource policies
• Training and on-the-job education and development
• Standard organizational and team processes
• Use of electronic collaboration and communication technology
• Organizational culture
• Leadership support of virtual teams
• Team-leader and team-member competencies

In this Part 2, let’s look deeper at the first four of these: human resource policies, training and development, standard processes, and the use of collaboration and technology.

Human Resource Policies

Human resource policies should support working virtually. Systems must be integrated and aligned to recognize, support, and reward the people who work in and lead virtual teams.

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Virtual Teams: Key Success Factors – Part 1

The business justification for virtual teams is strong. They increase speed and agility and leverage expertise and vertical integration between organizations to make resources readily available. Virtual teams also lessen the disruption of people’s lives because the people do not have to travel to meet. And in today’s business world that’s big.  That’s green.  Team members can also broaden their careers and perspectives by working across organizations and cultures and on a variety of projects and tasks.

Although the effective use of electronic communication and collaboration technologies is fundamental to the success of a virtual team, virtual teams entail much more than technology and computers. When virtual teams and their leaders are asked about successes and failures, they rarely mention technology as a primary reason for either.  While it’s important that software packages such as Seavus’ Project Planner or Project Viewer are used to keep virtual teams informed and in sync, it’s not all about technology.

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Should Technology Drive the Solution?

“Oh…pick me, pick me Mr. Kawtter!” (as Horshack would say to Kotter for those of you old enough to remember – see image to the left) I know this one. But wait, new technology is so cool…and so much fun. And often the customer comes to you with the solution in mind that includes this technology. And sometimes he even has the money to back it up. Resist! Resist at all costs!

The answer is a resounding NO. Technology should not drive the solution. Never ever ever. It may be the solution, but there’s work to be done first to get there. Follow the process, push back on the persistent customer who knows exactly what he wants and how he wants it done. Take a deep breath and tell the customer simply …. no.

Why? You would think that a customer who has money, has a need, and knows the solution is an easy customer. All we have to do is do as he says, cash the check, and move on to the next project – everybody’s happy, right? Not always … and not likely.

The problem with this scenario is that the customer often doesn’t really know what they want. What they know is that they have a need. The customer needs help cultivating the information from that need into a solution that will fit or solve that need. That’s where you – and your team – come in. Being a ‘yes’ man for the customer won’t do them any favors and will more often than not leaving them with a final solution that doesn’t meet their needs. If the customer’s end users are frustrated, the customer will be frustrated. And customer frustration = customer dissatisfaction.

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