Running a Project is Sort of Like Raising a Baby – Sort of
Posted by Brad Egeland
I have a large family – and thankfully that family became a little larger three weeks ago today so this article topic seems appropriate. It came to me earlier this week that running a project from start to finish is kind of like raising a baby from infant to adulthood. Ok, it’s a stretch, but there are similarities.
It could be that this all came about in my mind as a result of several straight relatively sleepless nights. Or maybe I am on to something. Who knows? But the more I thought about it the more I realized that there are some relative similarities.
Pregnancy = pre-engagement/sales
Think of all the work that goes into the pre-engagement portion of the project … basically the sales portion. This is what happens before handoff of the project to the project manager. So, Sales = 9 months of pregnancy. Are you staying with me so far? When handoff is ready to happen, you kind of know what you’re getting – or at least you think you do. In reality, it may be close but there are lots of details that you really have no clue about and you have to dig deeper so you know what you’ve just gotten yourself into.
Delivery = kickoff
The actual delivery is somewhat like project kickoff. It’s when you finally see some early details of the project up close … live and in person. Just like you get some new and very key information from the customer you also get some initial information from the doctors and learn if there are any conditions of your baby that need immediate attention.
Infanthood/toddler = design
The infant and toddler stages = design, in my opinion. Just as you’re designing the system to the requirements of the customer, you’re also training your infant/toddler what’s right and what’s wrong and hopefully molding them to meet yours and God’s requirements for a well-rounded individual. And, just like designing to the customer’s requirements, it’s not very easy and it does often involve some re-work and change orders!
June PM Survey: Managing the Project – Part 2
Posted by Brad Egeland
Part 2 of the June PM survey is now available. This 2nd part of the monthly survey again deals with concepts associated with the ongoing management of the project.
The survey is now active and ready for your participation at:
http://www.bradegeland.com/june-survey-part-2.html
In this 2nd part of the survey, we’ll be looking at the following topics:
Definition of project success
For this question, I’m looking for how either you or your organization primarily defines project success. Is it on time project delivery, on budget project delivery, or customer satisfaction? And for those of you who feel it’s something other than those three options, there is a write-in ‘other’ response area available.
Percentage of successful projects delivered
This one will definitely a best-guess scenario because I doubt that anyone has compiled hard numbers on this plus it’s somewhat subjective as to what one would call a ‘successful’ project. I’m trying to get an idea of where our readership stands in regards to successful vs. failed projects. Recent studies – as I’ve reported here in recent articles – place the percentage of failed projects between 62% and 75%. It will be interesting to see where PM Tips readers fall in that spectrum.
Percentage of project revenue from change orders
Change orders are always a love – hate thing. For the PM and team, they are a great way to increase project revenue and executive management loves them. However, it’s often difficult and even uncomfortable for the project manager to present the customer with change orders – unless they are the result of direct customer requests. Also, change orders are a necessary tool to bridge the gap between the originally defined requirements and what reality fleshes out over the course of the engagement.
Who’s More Important to Please – The Customer or Your Management?
Posted by Brad Egeland
I ask this question from the perspective of the W2 employee. If you consider this from the independent consultant angle, it gets too messy. In the consulting scenario, often your management in the PM role is YOUR customer and their customer is also YOUR customer. So, for the purpose of this article, I’m really just considering direct hire employees.
So who’s more important to please – your management or your customer? As a project manager, I always consider my customer to be the number one reason I’m carrying out a project. It’s their money and I’m trying to help get them to the solution that they are looking for – or at least the one that they really need (even if they need educated somewhat along the way). I’ve often been frustrated at the roadblocks that management has put up in front of me – rather than knock down – along the way to project success. And on at least two occasions the path that management has directed me to take on a project has led to utter disaster. I’m not saying my path would have yielded success, but the likelihood of success was definitely higher.
So for me personally, I err on the side of the customer. That is probably what makes me a better consultant than employee. In a perfect world you have management, a PMO Director, and an executive staff that is involved and helps build paths to project successes. But in more than half of the PMOs and project situations I’ve been involved in as a W2 employee that has not been the case. How can I tell beyond my own frustrations? Well, in all of those organizations either the PMO was eventually eliminated, the PMO Director removed, or the company shut down altogether. So in those instances, I’m banking on my opinion over theirs.
Making the Most of a Bad Situation
Posted by Brad Egeland
Why are so many articles directed at project failure? Shouldn’t we be writing more about successes? Here’s the deal… most projects fail to some degree or another. The reports vary somewhat, but if you check around you’ll find that various studies put the IT project failure rate somewhere between 62% and 75% depending on which study you look at.
If we just focus on what makes a good project, we’ll be stepping outside of reality and that’s not going to help the new project managers entering the field. It isn’t going to help those of us experiencing frequent project failure either.
So what do we do? Dwell on project failures? No, but we try to learn as much as we can from them so that history doesn’t repeat itself. That’s what I call ‘making the most of a bad situation.’
As I see it, there are two things we CAN do. Look at some of the reasons why projects frequently fail. And make sure we incorporate lessons learned into the project management process. First, let’s look at why projects fail…
Lack of communication. I believe that communication is both the most important responsibility of the project manager and the biggest reason for project failures. It’s the most critical piece of the project management puzzle and it’s something that many of us struggle to do well. As a project manager, you must be ready to be the focal point of communication for your project and carry that task out well.
Better Software Conference + Agile Development Practices Conference
Posted by Brad Egeland
As we strive to deliver better projects to our customers, I am more and more intrigued by Agile development processes. Luckily, I’ve been granted a media pass to both the upcoming Better Software Conference and the Agile Development Practices Conference here in Las Vegas. For the first time ever, these two agile-focused conferences are co-located and one admission (or media pass) gets you into both conferences and their associated expos.
These conferences will be held in Las Vegas at Caesar’s Palace June 6-11.
Key reasons to attend the Better Software Conference and the Agile Development Practices Conference are to:
- Discover the latest in software development, agile software development, technologies, trends, and practices.
- Network with hundreds of your peers to problem solve, collaborate, and gain fresh ideas.
- Enjoy opportunities to meet with the speakers throughout the week.
- Benefit from real-world experiences of leading software development organizations.
- Attend the EXPO for the latest tools and services to help you build and deliver better software.
- Engage with summit participants in thoughtful discussions about leadership at the Agile Leadership Summit.
Since I’ve never worked for a company who utilizes agile development processes on the product development activities or on their projects, I’m hoping to gain useful insight and understanding on these practices and share them with our readers. As a project manager, I also plan to take away what I learn and use these concepts to both better manage my projects and to work with the development staff and my clients to provide them with better built solutions in the end.
The full conference including all sessions from both conferences runs from June 6 through June 11. Certification training will be offered and both conferences include many key note addresses, useful classes and numerous working sessions and panels.
