Final Thoughts on Requirement Prioritization

Your first priority in the requirement prioritization may be selling the stakeholders on the concept of prioritizing requirements before design start.  This isn’t an easy task.  As we discussed, a customer stakeholder is likely to react with the notion that you’re actually trying to eliminate requirements.  You have to convince them that this is not the case.

Once the stakeholders agree to prioritizing requirements, you will guide the stakeholders through the prioritization process.  Then, you will incorporate the results into the project or the product development schedules and budgets.  You must enforce the priorities throughout the development process.

As development progresses, you will identify situations that trigger use of the priorities.  These situations may include: impending resource shortages, changes in external constraints or expectations, and conflicts.  You must ensure that the priorities rule the outcome.

Requirement prioritization early in development helps a manager control project risk and change.  Knowing requirement priorities focuses a product or project development team and guides intelligent choices for phasing in product features over time.  It prevents the “bailing” that so often occurs just before delivery, in which partially implemented requirements are thrown overboard in a frantic effort to save dwindling resources for finishing the critical components.  Above all, it’s one more communication channel between customers and developers.

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How the IRCTC used knowledge management to its benefit

In recent years, globally competitive companies have discovered the importance of an organization-wide knowledge management system (KMS).

KMS provides employees with instant access to knowledge gained throughout the organization, thereby enhancing business effectiveness. From being a hygiene factor, KMS has now evolved into a “must-have” component for customer-facing units or departments. For organizations that are spread across the globe, this is a necessity.

Customers contact the firm at various touch points, i.e. physical office or branch, the telephone and internet access 24×7. They expect instant resolution for a bulk of their queries, if not all of them. Successful companies utilize the opportunity of constant contact to build loyalty. And how? By giving frontline staff rapid access to adequate customer and product information, thus speeding up problem resolution.

As an example, in the mid-1990s, Citibank India changed the rules of competition with its campaign “The Citi never sleeps”. It was the first bank to introduce phone banking to the Indian customer where he could call and transact anytime — day or night.

By announcing that it worked 24×7 for its customers, in striking contrast to its competitors who operated strict business hours, it raised the bar so high that it enjoyed unassailable competitive advantage and high brand recall for a very long time. This was made possible by ensuring information availability to employees at all times.

Read the entire story here.

How I Became a Project Manager

I thought this might be an interesting topic to write about.  Really…how many of us said that we wanted to be Project Managers when we grew up?  I was going to be a baseball player, then a racecar driver, then a lawyer and when I first entered college – a pharmacist, believe it or not.  I switched to the MIS track and came out of college as an application developer.

The Beginning

My first 3 or 4 years were spent coding in COBOL and writing proposals for long-term government contracts.  After one of those contract wins, I took the role of Configuration Manager on the project.  I’m really dating myself here, but in the early 1990’s I switched to Project/Program Management when I was offered a key position on one of the contracts we were performing on with the US Department of Education.

Couldn’t Code Forever

I recognized early on that I wasn’t truly interested in coding forever.  I needed the interaction with the customer and to lead projects and oversee tasks from beginning to end from a higher viewpoint.  I jumped at the chance to become the Configuration Manager on the Guaranteed Student Loan project we had just won.  I managed all change control for the project including leading the formal Change Control Board and managing a small staff.  Switching to the Project Management path came a couple of years later but was still more like Program Management than Project Management because it was really overseeing on-going activity on a five-year government contract, not running multiple engagements from beginning to end like I think of more traditional project management roles.

My first taste of performing the type of project management that I perform now came in 1998 when I went to work for Rockwell Collins handling their internal internet, intranet and extranet projects and leading a small team of web developers on these efforts.  I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of overseeing those projects from beginning to end – even handling the ‘sales’ side on these internal projects and sometimes managing up to 10-15 live projects at a time.

Except for a stint as a Corporate Applications Development Manager for a large gaming/hospitality entity here in Las Vegas, I’ve pretty much stayed in the project management track handling usually 4-6 projects at a time.  I like the challenge, I love the customer handling and interaction, as well as the oversight responsibilities for the delivery team.  I’ve found my niche…I’ve found what drives me.  When I need a taste of innovation, I’ve been able to get that from consulting work with smaller organizations helping them either organize their PM practices, incorporate new or better practices, fix problems they are having with customers and solutions and in some cases just help them figure out a better way to do business.  These activities don’t really follow a PM path so they tend to feed the entrepreneurial spirit in me.

Early Mentor

My real career turn from developer toward project manager came from my early mentor/manager who discussed my career path at great lengths with me on many occasions.  From my answers could tell that I was aligning more with a project management interest.  He helped guide me in that direction and helped me to find roles on proposals and other projects that would get me the experience and the foot-in-the-door situation to be able to move into those types of roles.

Your Feedback

That’s my story in a nutshell.  I welcome any questions you might have and I’d also like to hear how some of you became project managers.  I still haven’t had any of my kids say they want to be a project manager when they grow up so I know it’s a discipline you really just ‘happen into’ more than choose, for the most part.  Go ahead…send me your stories.

PM Jobs

Project Manager – Educational
PROJECT MANAGER
OXFORDSHIRE
C£45 – 50K

Our client is an international multidisciplinary consultancy with a worldwide reputation for their work.

They are looking for an experienced and talented professional to provide a wide range of project management services to their clients in the region. A large part of your role will involve working with a number of local authorities to manage the delivery of their capital projects, all the way from inception through to completion. However, you will also work with other clients as part of a multidisciplinary team that provides a variety of property services and support.
At all times, you will focus on developing a deep understanding of both client needs and the terms of the company’s contracts. The work focusses particularly in the educational sector and will therefore require an individual with a good appreciation of educational schemes and the ability to manage a combination and range of disciplines, including working closely with contractors.

Apply here..

Project Manager- Water Transmission- Middle East

Location: South Island
Salary: Negotiable
Company: Globester Recruitment
Sector: Building services
Job role: Project manager
Job type: Permanent
Date posted: 25/05/2009 16:28

Project Manager- Water Transmission- Middle East

Our client is a main contracting firm with operations in Europe and throughout the Middle East. They have an immediate requirement for a Project Manager to join them on a Water Transmission Project based in Bahrain.

They require suitably experienced Project Manager will have experience of managing similar large scale infrastructural water associated projects in the Middle East.

Please read on for the requirements for this role. If you meet these requirements, please do not delay in relaying as this client is receiving a number of applications.

THE REQUIREMENTS
o Candidates must have a degree (civil engineering ideally)
o Pipeline experienced candidates should have decent knowledge of the MEP issues involved
o Over 10 years experience with experience of working as a Project Manager on similar projects (from both consultancy and contractor background)
o Previous international experience preferably in the Middle East.
o Strong technical skills
o Have fluent English
o Ability to supervise and manage the construction of all works

The Project Manager will assist in all aspects of the management and development of the project.

Apply here…

Senior Project Manager – Mixed Use Hospitality Project

Location: United Arab Emirates
Salary: £-GB{
Company: Hays Specialist Recruitment (UAE)
Sector: Residential
Job role: Project manager
Job type: Permanent
Date posted: 26/05/2009 07:50

Senior Project Manager – Mixed Use Hospitality Project- Abu Dhabi

Job Description:

Boutique international project management consultancy is recruiting a Project Manager with a minimum 5 years hospitality experience to act as a number 2 on a mixed-use hospitality development in Abu Dhabi.

Requirements:

• Candidates must have as a minimum 8 years project management experience, of which the last 3 have been in the UAE. Due to the nature of the project, you must be able to demonstrate delivery experience of 4*hotel projects as a pre-requisite.
• Client-representative skills are essential and a consultancy background is preferred.
• Degree in either Architecture or Engineering is essential and candidates must be able to start on project by no later than 1st July.
• Due to location of project, candidates already living in Abu Dhabi would certainly have an advantage over Dubai-based candidates.

Apple here…

Achieving Stakeholder Satisfaction Through Project Control

This article is another excerpt from one of my favorite Project Management books: The Portable MBA in Project Management by Eric Verzuh.

The project control process is designed to spot problems early, while they are still small enough to correct. It is an iterative feedback loop in which the project manager uses measurement and testing to evaluate deviations from the plan as to cost, schedule, quality, and risk. These deviations may or may not result in corrective action. The key is to monitor closely enough and often enough to spot such deviations before they get out of control. There are five steps in the project control process:

1. Define what will be measured and/or tested and how often. This should incorporate business requirements, cost constraints, technical specifications, and deadlines, along with a preliminary schedule for monitoring that includes who is responsible for it.
2. Monitor progress and evaluate deviations from the plan. During each reporting period, two kinds of information are collected:  (1) Actual project data, which include time, budget, and resources used, along with completion status of current tasks.  (2) Unanticipated changes, which include changes to budget, schedule, or scope that are not results of project performance. For example, heavy rain may delay the completion of a housing project.  Earned value analysis, described later in this chapter, is a useful method for evaluating cost and schedule deviations.
3. Report progress. Keep reports succinct and timely. Do not delay a report until after a problem is “fixed” to make the report look better. Likewise, avoid lengthy reports that delay the dissemination of important information to others in the organization.
4. Analyze the report. Look for trends in the data. Avoid trying to “fix” every deviation. If there is no trend to the deviation, it likely does not require corrective action at this time.
5. Take action where necessary. This includes updating the project plan and notifying any stakeholders who are affected by the changes. If the changes are big enough, they will require stakeholder approval in advance.

Stakeholders Influence Project Control

The factors that a project manager monitors and reports on to stakeholders depend on who the stakeholders are. For example, consider a major upgrade to computer systems at an international airport. Stakeholders on this project include the Federal Aviation Administration and several major airlines. The FAA is concerned most with safety and wants to see data that show the project is meeting objectives to prevent computer system failure in the future. The airlines are also concerned about safety, but they are equally concerned about the amount of airport downtime during the project because they want to minimize the amount of time their planes stay onthe ground. The project manager must monitor both safety, which is the primary objective of the project, and airport downtime, which occurs because of the project itself.

Another example of the influence stakeholders have on project reporting is determining reporting periods. Reporting periods define the frequency that progress is formally monitored and a status report is produced. The size, speed, and complexity ofthe project influences length ofa reporting period, but so do stakeholders. Consider these factors:

• The need for information at the executive level: This information usually relates to big picture questions such as “Will we deliver on time?” or “Are we on budget and on schedule?” Project managers demand and use monitoring information more frequently than executives, but knowing when their superiors expect accurate updates will affect the monitoring cycle.
• New information about activities or schedule: The project schedule will change. As the project progresses, the project team gets a better picture of what is required to complete the project and can, therefore, improve its original estimates. Ifstakeholders dictate an aggressive schedule, more frequent reporting will uncover significant deviations sooner. Because trends are more useful for understanding a project’s trajectory, frequent reporting periods provide earlier warnings that schedule targets may be missed.
• Resource mix: Changes in the quality or quantity of resources assigned to a project can have dire consequences on the team’s ability to complete it on time and on budget. The monitoring plan can allow you to stay on top of getting the right people, materials, and equipment to the right place at the right time.
• Major events: Whether positive or negative, major events can change the assumptions on which the project objectives are based. Many major events that will affect the project are known in advance. These can include the end of a project phase, selection of a major subcontractor, and external events such as political elections. You know the event is important to the project, so schedule time to assess the impact.