Negotiating for Specifications and Resources on the Project

In general, project manager will conduct two primary types of negotiations on the project.  One will be with the project customer concerning project specifications and requirements and another with the various functional managers who control the personnel resources needed for the project.

Of course, there may be other types of negotiating throughout the project – usually concerning change order work and issues that may arise.  I’ve written about these before and we’re aware of these types of negotiations, though they may or may not be necessary.  The negotiations be discussed in this article are almost certain to take place.

Negotiating with the Customer

Negotiations with a customer occur at a project’s outset and are done to arrive at a project’s specification. It would seem to be a straightforward task: The customer explains what is wanted, and the project manager captures it in the specification and goes ahead with the project. This is not always the case, however. Some customers may come up with only a fuzzy idea of their desired product and may need help from the project manager to discover what is possible to be produced for them. This is where negotiating enters in the process: The project manager identifies the various tradeoffs to the customer and negotiates decisions regarding these tradeoffs.

The customer may not understand project feasibility, or what can and cannot be produced—and also may have come up with time and cost expectations that are inconsistent with what experience dictates. Resolving these types of problems also requires negotiating.

Basically, the key to negotiating is to clearly identify the needs of the person with whom you are negotiating. Then, you must tell this person exactly how you propose to meet those needs, discover the constraints limiting their efforts to help you meet those needs, and discover what they would accept as an incentive for their help.

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Running a Project on a Shoestring Budget

The post is made possible by the great people at Seavus, creators of online Project Management tools such as ProjectOffice.net, Project Viewer, and Project Planner.  Please visit their site for more information.

If you’re working in a large corporation with a very professional PMO already in place and a handsome budget set for the project you’ve just acquired, then this article is probably not for you.

Budget management is always important, but it’s highly likely that the amenities you need to manage your project with the high-paying customer that has been lined up are already built into the overhead of the project. The flights to the customer site are built in by Sales during the negotiation process, as are some additional equipment that may be needed specific to your project and implementation.

However, if that is not the type of project you’re running, then please read on as you might find something interesting or helpful from this information. I’ve been working mostly remotely as an IT project manager for the past 3+ years. Sometimes that has involved running large multi-million dollar projects for deep-pocketed clients meaning the little things and extras on a project definitely aren’t an issue. No concerns with cutting back because certain things are expected and are built in to the overall price of the project.

On the flipside, if you’re an independent consultant – as I am – and you have a mix of customers, then you’re likely to have a few clients that do not have deep pockets. These clients watch every dime they spend and that means of course that everything you do can and will be subject to their scrutiny. It also means that you have to watch how you do business carefully because you’ve likely not been able to price the project with a comfortable profit margin. It’s more likely that your margin is small and if something goes wrong causing extra work – and it’s your fault – you could be doing much of the work for free!

Here are some specific things that I do to reduce costs, keep things greener in terms of resource usage, etc. and keep the customer’s expectations steady in terms of on-going project costs:

• Bill the client a fixed price every two weeks or every month. This is basically like a retainer and if I’m doing this, I bill the work up front. It’s too risky in this economic climate to bill after the fact. Only do that if you really want (or need) this particular customer and they won’t budge at all on the upfront billing issue. Most will budge or meet you halfway letting you bill at the beginning of a two-week period and then pay you one week into it.
• Use video conferencing and teleconferencing whenever possible. This way you can avoid costly travel for the project and for your client. You can get video conferencing setups free at places like DimDim (www.dimdim.com) and you can get free conference calls at Freeconferencecall.com.
• Use free over-the-web fax services. Faxzero (www.faxzero.com) allows you to send faxes for free and Faxdigits (www.faxdigits.com) gives you a number to receive faxes with – they then come to you as a pdf file and you retrieve them online.
• Use a free pdf document converter. There are an increasing number of free pdf converters available now. It use to be that you had to have an expensive version of Adobe Acrobat to convert files to pdf format. Now you can download software like PrimoPDF (www.primopdf.com) and CutePDF (www.cutepdf.com), among others. I’ve tried several of these and the quality so far has been good on every one that I’ve tried.

Summary

There are a lot of options available these days to make the small vendor or independent consultant look bigger and many of them are free. The key is to start looking now, test out your different options and chose the best one. You definitely want to look professional and be ready when the need is there, so don’t procrastinate.

Dealing with Conflict on the Project

Conflict on a project is almost always a certainty. A project manager who goes says they never have conflict to deal with on their projects just isn’t paying close enough attention to what’s going on. Or they’re in denial. Conflict is going to happen and it’s the PMs responsibility to help team members and customers control and resolve these conflicts. It must happen…the conflict must be dealt with…in order for success to be realized on the project.

In his book “Project Management Nation,” Jason Charvat discusses controlling conflict on the project in his chapter on Project Change Control.

Controlling Conflict on the Project

On almost every project, the potential for conflict arises at some point. This is a natural trend. The project manager should work proactively with all staff to avoid possible conflicts that may arise. In the event of a conflict, the project manager should be aware that talking can only resolve so much. For situations where conflict cannot be resolved through negotiations or arbitration, it is recommended that the identified individuals be separated or be removed from the project.

It is important to understand that project staff react differently to daily situations and that during the project life cycle, these members all experience various emotions such as joy, sadness, jealousy, anger, frustration, and stress—to name but a few. Many conflicts can be reduced or eliminated by constantly communicating the project objectives to the project team members. Some of the most common conflicts are:

• Conflict over project priorities
• Conflict over administrative procedures
• Personality conflicts
• Lack of respect for one another
• Conflict over technical opinions and performance
• Conflict over staffing resources
• Conflict over cost
• Conflict over schedules

When conflicts do arise, there are several methods to try to resolve them;

• Compromise. Parties consent to agree; each side wins or loses a few points.
• Confrontation. Parties work together to find a solution to the problem.
• Forcing. Power is used to direct the solution. One side gets what the other does not.
• Smoothing. This technique plays down the differences between two groups and gives strong attention to the points of agreement.
• Withdrawal. This technique involves one party removing him- or herself from the conflict.

Project Management from a Distance – Part 2

In Part 1 of this six-part series, we covered the concept of “Why remote?” In this Part 2, we’ll discuss if it will work for you and how you can ensure that it will:

Part 1 – Why remote?

Part 2 – Will it work for you?

Part 3 – What type of job enables remote PM?

Part 4 – What setup do you need?

Part 5 – Negotiating when it’s not an obvious move

Part 6 – Staying the course

I keep calling this remote but I should probably call it telecommuting – or at least refer to it that way occasionally for the benefit of search engines.

When trying to decide if telecommuting or remote project management will work for you, it is necessary to examine it from all angles:

• Management and corporate policy
• Project scenario
• Customer
• Home setup

Let’s look at each of these in more detail:

Management and Corporate Policy

If you’re just coming onboard with an organization, you can sometimes make this part of the negotiation process. However, introducing it as an option that interests you too early on in negotiations can turn off the hiring manager and may end the process right there.  If you’re already an employee and want to bring it up, make sure the time is right and the scenario is the right one (see the next section).  Asking to work remotely on a project when it doesn’t make sense at all will make you look like you’ve lost touch with reality or are not concerned enough with your project’s needs.

One final thought on this – know what your corporate policy is on this…assuming there is one.  There may not be anything in place, but if there is, it will be helpful to know that before bring up the subject to your manager or HR.

Project Scenario

The next thing to consider – will your project work with a remote project manager? Is the project such that you can maintain control of it from afar and you don’t need the hands-on, in-person representation with the customer and/or the customer team on a daily basis?

If the project is for an external customer and it’s of a long duration, the answer is probably yes. If it’s an internal customer or of a relatively short duration, the answer is likely going to be no. Internal customers want you there, interacting with them so they can reach out and touch you when they need to. I suppose that’s not always the case, but in my experience it has been.

If you’re running a project for an external customer and it’s a long-term engagement, then it’s likely that you can do most of it remotely with some hands-on, onsite time with the customer…especially to kickoff the project. It depends on several things – the type of project, the amount of detailed meetings that need to be held on a weekly basis and the customer themselves (we’ll discuss that next). Projects involve a long-term software implementation with a geographically dispersed team make it relatively easy to handle remotely.

Customer

The customer and their preferences play into the decision-making process of whether or not you can manage a given project remotely. For the past three years, I’ve managed all of my projects remotely, but I’ve had two customers that demanded an onsite resource 24/7. In the case of these two projects, they were not PM resources they needed onsite. One required that a Business Analyst be available 24/7 and they paid dearly for it through the change order process as it was not part of the original agreement. In the other case, the customer requested that a development resource be onsite for an extended period of time to work through software modifications with them. In neither case did they have the budget available to also afford having a PM onsite 24/7, however.

Home Setup

Your home situation also plays a role – actually, a major role – in whether or not you can pull off the telecommuting scenario. First, you must have a place to call your own – the high-speed home office. You don’t have to work in it full-time…I certainly don’t. But you do need that availability for seclusion to handle conference calls and just to be able to have a quiet place to get work done fast when necessary.

Secondly, your family must be supportive. You don’t have to be childless…I’m certainly not…but they need to understand your boundaries and the work demands on your time. I’m stating the obvious here, but the bottom line is they need to understand that you have to work and that you can’t always be ‘dad’ or ‘mom’ when you’re home.

Summary

As with answering the question of ‘why remote?’, it’s very important to know if it will work for you before trying it or before even bringing it to the attention of your hiring manager or your current employer. If you’re an independent consultant, then it’s all up to you and whether you can pull it off given your distractions at home. The decision, for the most part, is often yours.

The Skill Set of the Project Manager – Another View

In my article “The Characteristics of the Project Manager,” I began what ended up being a five-part series and still probably needs a final summary article – assuming I’m done and have no more characteristics to share…which I probably do.

I’m always open to new and different information as well as different opinions on information I’ve already provided so far in articles on the PM Tips site. That’s why I’m presenting this excerpt from Gary Heerkens’ book entitled “Project Management.” It covers what he considers to be the overall skill requirements of a project manager. It’s not exactly the same concept as the characteristics of a project manager, but it’s close.

Skill Requirements of the Project Manager

To fulfill the responsibilities of the role of project manager and handle the challenges you’ll face, you’ll need very diverse skills and a wealth of knowledge. So what knowledge and skills does it take to be an effective project manager?

There are many ways to slice up this pie. The way that makes the most sense to me is to break it down into four major knowledge and skill categories:

1. project management process skill
2. interpersonal and behavioral skills
3. technology management skills
4. desired personal traits

Let’s examine each in detail.

Project Management Process Skills

Project management process skills (sometimes called the “hard skills”) are knowledge and skills related to the mechanics of project management. You should be extremely knowledgeable about project management tools, techniques, and process technology and be able to apply them. For example, you should be know how to prepare a comprehensive customer requirements document, construct a network diagram, and construct a work breakdown structure. Without these skills, you’ll find it very difficult to coordinate and facilitate the creation of a high-quality project plan and to maintain control during project execution. Also, since these skills are a basic expectation, you can expect to encounter problems of respect from your team members if you’re deficient in this area. As mentioned earlier, this skill set is the main focus of this book.

Interpersonal and Behavioral Skills

Since managing projects is all about getting things done through other people, your skills in dealing with people are of immeasurable value. Closely tied to your interpersonal skills are your behavioral skills: your personal conduct, style, and approach. Together, these two skill sets are often called the “soft skills.” Here are some examples of soft skills:

• team and individual leadership
• oral and written communication
• conflict resolution
• negotiation
• influencing
• delegating
• coaching and mentoring

For individuals coming to project management from a highly technical background, soft skill development can be particularly challenging. Later in this chapter we’ll discuss methods for developing these skills.

Technology Management Skills

Most projects have one or more embedded technologies. An embedded technology refers to the process or technology areas at the core of the project. Examples might include software development, chemical processing, or commercial construction. Your ability to guide and coordinate the application of these technologies is crucial to your success as a project manager. If you’re like Brad, you’ll probably have sufficient knowledge and skills in the primary embedded technology of the project. However, it’s likely that there will be several technology areas associated with your project. Although they will differ in focus, the process steps and related skills involved in managing their successful application will be similar.

Among these technology management skills are the following:

• proficiency in project’s core (primary) technology
• proficiency in supporting technology areas
• industry knowledge
• ability to prepare comprehensive technical specifications
• design skills
• product knowledge
• process knowledge
• management of intellectual property
• patent knowledge

Desired Personal Traits

Many studies have been performed to correlate personality traits to success as a project manager. Although each study reveals slightly different results, the traits shown in Figure 3-1 appear in most. Possessing these traits will stand you in good stead in your role as project manager.

• Honesty and integrity
• Thinks like a generalist
• High tolerance for ambiguity
• High tolerance for uncertainty
• Persuasive
• Assertive
• Process-oriented
• Self-aware/reflective
• Open and accessible
• Politically astute
• Decisive

Of these personal traits, I consider the following four to be among the most critical.

1. Thinks like a generalist—Project managers must always be thinking in terms of the big picture. This can be a challenge for those who are accustomed to focusing more narrowly. Although this trait certainly requires knowledge in many different areas, what’s crucial is that you must pay attention and care about everything and everybody.

2. A high tolerance for ambiguity—This competency will be particularly challenging if you’re technically oriented. You’ll often receive mixed signals or contradictory data. You need to develop processes for finding truth and narrowing down inputs without getting frustrated. This will probably not be easy for you.

3. A high tolerance for uncertainty—As with ambiguity, this is particularly challenging if you’re entering project management from the technical arena. Most technically oriented people are accustomed to precision. As a project manager, the norm is to make many decisions without sufficient information. You must condition yourself to making decisions that are only acceptable, not perfect.

4. Honesty and integrity—Although obvious virtues, these traits are worthy of specific mention. Whenever studies are performed on the traits that people most admire or desire in leaders, honesty and integrity always rise to the top. One of the best behavioral traits for a project manager is to be known as doing what you say you’ll do. Closely related is the issue of integrity, having a reputation as someone who will follow principles, even in the face of adversity or temptation.

Together, the combination of hard skills, soft skills, functional competencies, and personal traits compose the raw material for your overall capability as a project manager. But how should you develop that capability?

Skills that are somewhat mechanical can be learned or developed through self-study, reading, or facilitated training and practice. Many of the hard skills fall into this category. However, as you migrate toward the soft skills, the preferred mode of development moves from programmed learning to coaching or mentoring. Here, soft skills are best developed through observation and feedback from others— preferably those in a position to do so.