What Goes into a Good Statement of Work

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This article is based on information from one of my favorite PM books – Eric Verzuh’s book entitled “The Portable MBA in Project Management.”

The statement of work (SOW) basically kicks off the project management process and is meant to document the goals and constraints of a project. However, it cannot and certainly should not attempt to document every agreement about the project. There are other project and project management documents for this purpose – requirements, specifications, customer acceptance tests, and also you basic output of agreements and notes from kicking off the project with the customer. The SOW should record the goals and constraints for managing the project. While that can contain a wide range of information, the minimum content listed here gives you an idea of what makes up a good, useable SOW:

• Purpose statement: A clear description of why we are doing this project.
• Scope statement: A description of the major activities of the project in such a way that it will be absolutely clear if extra work is added later on.
• Deliverables: A list of outputs the project will produce, including intermediate deliverables, end deliverables, and deliverables related to project management.
• Cost and schedule estimates: In addition to a budget and a deadline, a description of how flexible the budget is and the rationale behind the deadline.
• Project objectives: The specific, measurable goals of the project.
• Chain of command: An organization chart that spells out who makes decisions and to which superior problems will be reported. It is often a good idea to include the organization chart of the customer, as well.

The SOW is a tool for managing expectations and dealing with change. When disagreements arise after the project has started, they can sometimes be solved by simply reviewing the original SOW. However, it is also true that the original agreements and assumptions may change during the course of a project. In this case, all stakeholders must understand and agree to these changes, and the project manager must write them into the SOW or track them through other project management processes such as change orders. The SOW that remains at the end of the project may be very different from the original document. The amount of this difference is not important; what is important is that everyone has been kept up to date and has agreed to the changes.

Book review: PMP: Project Management Professional Exam Review Guide

PMP Project Management Professional Exam Review Guide has a practical, descriptive title – and it’s a practical, descriptive book.  Kim Heldman and Vanina Mangano have written this book specifically for those project managers aiming to sit their PMP exam.  It’s structured logically, taking you through the project lifecycle.

The book starts with a review of the foundations of a project: all the basics about what constitutes a project and the project environment.  Then it gets into the detail of what PMPs need to know to manage a project from start to finish.  It covers Initiating, has a large section on Planning, followed by Executing, Monitoring and Controlling and Closing.  Finally, the book ends with an interesting section on social and professional responsibility – something all project managers, regardless of whether they choose the PMI accreditation route or not, should be interested in.

Each chapter finishes with review questions so that you can test yourself against what you have learned.  I also liked the ‘Exam Essentials’ boxes that are scattered throughout the text and highlight key pointers essential for exam success.

Overall, the book is graphically very interesting and the authors use a lot of diagrams, graphs and charts to make learning the PMP syllabus more appealing.  However, a lot of the book is made up of lists, especially inputs and outputs of processes.  This is because the book is essentially a review guide, not a comprehensive study tool by itself.  It is a partner text to the Sybex PMP: Project Management Professional Exam Study Guide, which is twice as fat.  As a result, the Review Guide covers the topics in exactly that – review format.  It’s not the most comprehensive of texts, but it is concise, which is perfect if you don’t want to carry your copy of PMBoK or the Study Guide around with you all the time.

It’s difficult to read the Review Guide from start to finish, and it probably wasn’t designed to be used that way.  This is perhaps why it has a fabulous index.  It’s not a habit of mine to praise the index in books, but I did find this one really good!

Overall,  my experience of this book is that it is solid but dry, and the review questions at the end of each chapter are the only place where you’ll find any reference to scenarios or real life.  The bulk of the text focuses squarely on getting a candidate through the exam, and it wiill certainly help do that.  It also comes with a CD, which is another learning aid.

If you are studying for the PMP exam and need a handy reference guide to the key processes, this could be a good book for you.  However, if you want to learn how to manage a project and put those skills to work in the real world, don’t start with this book.  It is good, but only for the right audience – and that’s prospective PMP candidates.

Conclusive Proof That a Centralized PMO Is Good for Your Health

Another great article I came across at IT Business Edge that should make for some interesting reading.

They know who they are, but they probably prefer to remain anonymous. They’re the dispossessed organizations still out there relying on fragmented and siloed project management processes, like spreadsheets or other home-grown systems. You have to feel sorry for them: struggling to juggle multiple systems to track costs, trying to align IT spend with business priorities ? when they can’t tell what the costs are and what the business priorities need to be. They might not want to publicize their misdeeds, but they know they have problems, because their unhinged IT financials and internal customer dissatisfaction tell them so.

Their IT projects are more likely to fail too. Research by the Standish Group tells us that 24 percent of all projects still fail and 55 percent are somehow ‘challenged’ because of a lack of visibility into long-term project needs. Without proper visibility, organizations are unable to see what is needed six months, three months or even two months down the road, which results in poorly constructed project plans that do not capture critical dependencies, including assigning key project resources and key milestones.

One day these organizations will see the light. There will come a time what they climb out of the darkened hole they’ve buried themselves in and wake up to the fact that a centralized Project Management Office (PMO) can make a world of difference to the delivery of projects for their organization and their business performance.

Many companies have begun the journey already. They’ve adopted a PMO to help define and maintain the standards of process ? generally related to project management ? within the organization. Their PMO is striving to standardize and introduce economies of repetition in the execution of projects. It is also the source of documentation, guidance and metrics on the practice of project management and execution.

But it is that word “centralized” that makes all the difference. A recent independent survey commissioned by CA in 14 countries, with data from 249 respondents, indicates that the centralized approach is key to the successful implementation of process improvements. It also ensures development teams finish projects on time and on budget through the use of established best practices.

Read the entire article here..

Australian project management to go international

Source : Dynamic Export

The Australian Institute of Project Management (AIPM) today signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the International Project Management Association (IPMA) with view to becoming a member of the IPMA in September.

“Being linked in as a key member of this reputable international body will bring a wide range of opportunities,” said Dr Bill Young, AIPM national president. “Membership of IPMA will enhance opportunities for our colleagues in the Asia-Pacific region to participate in a large and growing global project management community.”

Young said the membership would assist the transferability of Australia project management skills internationally: “Ultimately we expect this initiative to raise project management standards and open doors for Australian project managers internationally.”

Signing of the memorandum occurred at the close of the 23rd IPMA World Congress in Helsinki yesterday. The AIPM will submit its membership application later this year and also make a submission to host the IPMA World Congress in Australia.

Best Practice Showcase: it’s not too late to attend!

The Best Practice Showcase 2009 is taking place here in London at the QEII Centre this month on Tuesday 23 June 2009.  It’s been running for 7 years, and is billed as the UK’s number one event for project, programme and risk managers with over 2800 satisfied delegates to date.

I attended last year and there were many interesting stalls and presenters; the break out sessions I attended were particularly good, although you have to get in early to book a place.  And the best thing is that it’s free!

The organisers have added some new things for 2009:

• 20% more “Birds of a Feather” sessions. A large body of research now recognises that a learning environment with real interaction is far more effective than straight lectures. The “Birds of Feather” workshops at Best Practice Showcase have always been the most popular feature of the event so this year there are five rather than four BoF sessions (and still finishing at the reasonable time of 16:30).

• Repeated BoF sessions throughout the day. Delegate comments from last year indicated that people were often disappointed because two sessions that they would have liked to have attended were scheduled at the same time. To reduce the likelihood of session clashes the programme has been planned this year so that a number of BoF sessions are repeated throughout the day, ensuring that if you miss the first session you can catch the repeat later on.

• Comfortable areas to sit down and eat lunch. In the past they tried to create an easy atmosphere for networking at lunchtime by ensuring that lunch was eaten standing up – but that’s impractical, especially once you have your conference bag in hand.  At the event this year there will be ample space at laid tables for sitting down to eat lunch.

In addition to the BoF sessions this year there will be:

• Over 100 different sessions focusing on project, programme and risk management
• Over 25 training companies, specialist consultancies and software companies in the project, programme and risk management arena
• The opportunity to network with like-minded individuals and share experiences (this is one of the big perks, especially as the event is free)

The full programme is now available – so have a look and if you are in London come along!  Reserve your place now at www.bestpracticeshowcase.com