Establishing Objects and Gaining Conceptual Agreement with the Client

I’m taking a little turn from purely project management concepts and thinking more in terms of the IT Consultant in general. Afterall, many of us working as project managers are at any given time part of a professional services organization that thinks of us basically as consultants to THEIR clients.

Establishing objectives is the starting point of any consulting project. It’s impossible to do anything else until and unless you know the desired ending point. Below are some specific questions to discuss with the client in order to elicit some outcome-based business objectives. Take them with you whenever you sit down with a client or potential client as you work through that initial meeting both selling your services and diving deeper into their need and expected results.

• How would conditions ideally improve as a result of this project?
• Ideally, what would you (the client) like to accomplish?
• What would be the difference in the organization if the project is successful?
• How would your customer (the client’s customer) be better served by this project?
• What is the impact you seek on return on investment/equity/sales/assets?
• What is the impact you seek on shareholder value?
• What is the market share/profitability/productivity improvement expected?
• How will you (the client) be evaluated in terms of the results of the project?
• How would your (the client’s) boss recognize the improvement?
• How would employees notice the difference?
• What precise aspects are most troubling to you – what keeps you up at night?
• What are the top three priorities to be accomplished?

In establishing conceptual agreement about the objectives of the project you are about to undertake together, you – as the consultant – are trying to ensure the following:

• The client is not expecting anything that you cannot deliver to them.
• The client is not expecting anything that is unreasonable under the circumstances and is not within the culture and environment that the project will be performed in.
• There will be no misunderstanding later about why additional work wasn’t performed. The limits and goals of the project will be understood and agreed upon.
• The client is maximizing your contribution and talents on the project so that the project is as effective as possible for the client and as lucrative as possible for you.

If you begin with carefully constructed objectives, you can then create a framework within which the project can be launched. From that, the project can progress toward the agreed upon goals and final solution and draw to a close. Boundaries can be derived from clear objectives. While it seems that a never-ending project is lucrative for you, it actually is not. If the end is never reached, then success is possibly never really understood and realized. Setting clear goals and reaching them is what leads to future work with the same client, not a seemingly ongoing project that drains their financial resources.

Estimating the Project

Most of what I’ve written so far assumes that the project manager is usually in a situation where Sales has closed a deal for a project and the information is passed on to the Professional Services portion of the organization for execution. The project manager is assumed – unfortunately – to have little to no input into the estimation/sales portion of the project and he or she basically gets what they get. That would be in terms of negotiated resource hours, dollars/budget, and the statement of work (SOW).

Jason Charvat writes, in his book “Project Management Nation,” about the estimation process form the PM perspective – this would coincide with the type of work I performed earlier in my career where all high-level requirements gathering, estimating, pricing and negotiating the engagement with the internal business sponsor (these were all internal projects at a major corporation) rested on my shoulder. Talk about control…I loved it. Here is Mr. Charvat’s section from his book – this covers what he calls the estimation process.

The Estimation Process

The project manager should remember that the estimation that results from the planning phase is not final and is considered a temporary estimate. Once more detailed project planning is performed and the project costs and WBS schedules are fine-tuned, a more accurate estimate emerges. Basically, the estimation process has a few primary steps:

• Develop the WBS.
• Estimate each part of the WBS constituting the total project.
• Schedule the work according to each WBS task.
• Determine the resources needed, quantities, and availability.
• Obtain the latest resource rates, including next salary reviews and increases.
• Determine the level of effort needed to complete each WBS task.

Something that is very important during the estimation process is that project managers ask the client to pay a price that is relevant to the perceived value of what they receive. If the client is willing to pay for the project, the project manager needs to determine whether it is profitable enough to do the work. To determine this, project managers must determine cost. This is where the estimation is needed.

What to Include in a Project Estimate

• Internal labor or cost of employees – Burdened cost to company—benefits included
• Hardware costs – Servers, printers, workstations
• Software and licensing – Application software, downloaded software patches, code
• Travel and accommodation – Airfares, hotel, tolls, gas
• Administrative support costs – Personnel, finance, and legal support
• Training costs – User training, computer-based training, lesson plans
• System documentation costs – Manuals, policy & procedures, on-line documentation
• Stationary costs – Project stationary
• Infrastructure costs – Office space, desks, rent, parking

Estimating the Effort

It is said that you cannot manage what you cannot measure. No matter what project a project manager has been allocated or assigned too, the project estimate should include the following:

• Size of the project
• Resources required
• Project duration
• Costs needed to complete the project, labor, hardware, travel, etc.

Estimates in the IT industries are incredibly difficult to complete due to so many unknowns. The initial estimate is, in many ways, the most important. The initial estimate will be a focal point with which the project manager can compare all future estimates. Because of this, there are several recommended steps to follow when achieving an initial estimate.

• Break down the project requirements as far as possible to subsystem levels (WBS).
• For each WBS element, identify its similarities with previously developed projects and use this historical data.
• For those WBS element units not strongly related to previous IT projects, use SMEs to estimate the size of those elements needed.
• Form the size estimate for the entire project by rolling up the estimates for all the WBS elements.
• From historical data and expertise, estimate the level of effort.
• Divide the size estimate by the work rate to obtain an estimate of the effort in work hours.

Once the WBS has been developed, many project managers move directly to determining the duration of the task. This is normally done using a software tool, and it visually appears as though the project manager is on the right track. This is not the correct approach; it creates room for errors and bad planning. Remember that it takes a lot of skill and experience to estimate all WBS tasks. For example, it can take one seasoned IT architect a few hours to do a server capacity assessment, but the same task could take two junior IT architects double the amount of time to perform.

Similarly, a situation may arise where only one person can do a specific task, such as cloning a server. Only one resource can do the specific task, not two. Therefore, in this case, the emphasis is on ensuring that the resource is best-qualified to perform this task. The project manager also needs to discuss the issue with an SME to determine the amount of effort. The cost per task is directly related to the resources and effort needed. The project manager must accommodate the level of effort needed to perform the task.

Five Things to Consider When Hiring a New Project Manager

Anytime an organization chooses to expand, it’s important to carefully consider the interview process, the hiring criteria, the skill set needed, and – of course – how much money you’re willing to spend. I’m sure there are a lot of variables for many other positions, but my concern here is project managers and hiring one is not necessarily a straightforward task.

You can’t just come up with a list of questions, hold an interview, and find the right candidate. It’s deeper than that. Why? Because the project manager ends up wearing a lot of hats in his/her role and over the course of their tenure with your company, they’ll represent your organization in many different ways to many different people. It’s critical that you make the right choice.

That said, here’s my list – for today anyway – of five critical things to consider when onboarding a new project manager to your organization:

Does the candidate fit your organization’s culture?

This is a hard one to come to grips with…a hard one to define. I think you just know it. It’s especially critical when you’re bringing a new PM into a small, close-knit organization or a small, newly formed PMO within a larger organization. Anytime that PM is going to be a big fish in a small pond, then there needs to be cohesion with the rest of the staff.

It’s important in larger organizations, but because of the type of ownership felt by staff members in smaller and startup organizations it’s critical that they bond well and work well together. A loose cannon can severely damage the forward progress of a small business.

Does the candidate have the industry experience you need?

This one is obvious, of course. But consider your customers. For example, if you’re a professional services-type organization and you’re looking to expand your offerings and implementations to a new industry, look for a strong candidate who has worked within that industry. It may be more important that the candidate have knowledge of that industry than to have knowledge of your product offering. You may find that it gives you an ‘in’ in the new market you are entering and can help you grow more quickly.

All I’m saying is don’t be bogged down by the present…consider where you’re going, not just where you are.

Is this a stable long-term candidate to invest in?

I have nothing against the job-hopper. I’ve moved around a lot myself so I find that to be a very negative stereotype. Analyze the candidate’s moves closely and discuss it with them. A good hiring manager can listen to an experienced candidate and tell when they really know what they’re talking about. If the moves seem like good moves or entrepreneurial moves, don’t penalize them for those choices. You may want that aggressiveness and innovation on your team. If they seem random, be careful.

Can this candidate control a remote team?

This is critical in today’s economy and in today’s business world. Remote management of projects is a green practice and makes good economic sense. And often companies have skilled resources strewn across the country. But hiring a project manager without remote management experience or who seemingly lacks the aggressiveness and confidence to pull off remote management of a project is a recipe for disaster.

If you’re hiring a touchy-feely project manager, it’s likely not going to work. They’re going to need too much face time to make remote management a viable, successful option. Know their limitations and then make an informed decision.

Will this candidate represent your company appropriately to your customers?

And finally, the biggest one. You send the project manager out to lead engagements in your company’s name. That’s huge. For three, six, twelve or more months they are THE face of your organization. As far as your customer is concerned, they are the ones who either can or can’t get things done. And if they can’t get things done, then your company can’t get things done. Likewise, if they are unprofessional, your company is unprofessional. The customer-facing project manager IS your company.

You need a confident leader to put in front of the customer. Uncertainty will doom a PM and doom a project. And then you’ve lost a potential long-term revenue stream from that customer. Lose enough of those and you lose your business.

Summary

These are just five examples of things to closely consider when bringing on a new project manager. There are many others I could list – and may in a follow-up article. I also welcome your thoughts on this subject – I’m sure there are a lot of hiring managers reading this…I’d appreciate your thoughts and feedback.

Project Management Jobs

Mechanical Project Manager

Location:      Hampshire
Salary:      £40-45k + package
Company:      Management Recruitment Group
Job type:      Permanent

Role Summary:

One of the UK’s leading privately owned M&E Contractors with a proven track record in successful delivery of multi-million £ projects our client is seeking an experienced Mechanical Project Manager / Contracts Manager. Able to demonstrate a successful track record in management of projects values ranging up to £5m you will be responsible for timely completion to budget & spec.

The Company:

One of the UK’s leading privately owned specialist ME&P Contractors our client is able to offer their established client base co-ordinated Project Management service covering HVAC & electrical building services installations. In addition they are able to provide in-house ductwork fabrication, pipework prefabrication, refrigeration, electrical, and controls services. They have also taken a leading role in the monitoring and control of refrigerant gases and the introduction of alternative gases as recommended by the Institute of Refrigeration.

Flood Defence Project Manager

Location:      Bath, Avon
Salary:      unspecified
Company:      Project Resource
Job type:      Permanent

The role:
The client is seeking a Project Manager who has experience in flood defence as our client is a leading provider of integrated river and coastal management solutions.
The Project Manager will be part of a growing team that design sustainable projects for drainage, river, estuarine and coastal environments and help coastal communities adapt to climate change.

The Client:
The client are a leading consultancy with a global presence who specialise in environmental, water and energy projects. Our client is well established within there respective sectors and are at the forefront of sustainable projects.

Location: Wiltshire

Remuneration: Dependant on experience ( Basic salary plus good benefits package.)

Requirements:
The project Manager must have flood defence, coastal or river experience and have come from a technical background within this field as well as over 5 years Project Management experience. Degree qualifications would be preferable but not essential.

Overcoming Customer Rejection

Have you ever come across a customer on a project who simply didn’t want to pay for a project manager? This situation would basically have to come in a professional services situation where your organization is billing out skilled project resources to customers at various hourly rates.

Feeling Unwanted

I have come across this – and to be fair I was warned about the situation before I ever took over the project. The project was led on the customer-side primarily by two individuals – a man and a woman. The gentleman told me up front that “I don’t like you.” This occurred during one of our first status meetings. My lead developer said “you don’t even know Brad. You’ve never met him.” Which is true…we hadn’t met in person yet and wouldn’t till several months later. The customer’s response at the time was “well, he’s a project manager and I don’t like project managers.”

Pretty blunt, right? They had what they considered to be a limited budget and just didn’t see the need for the engagement to be managed by an expensive resource like that. Needless to say the fire was lit under my butt to show quick value and change that perception. This customer was not going to be easy to win over and it certainly didn’t appear that they were going to be easy to manage or gain their cooperation. To them I was excess baggage. I’m sure lots of customers have some thoughts about PMs being unnecessary, but this is the first time I had a customer tell me that to my face…well, actually, over the phone in front of several other team members.

Changing Perception

So, what could I do to change things around? I didn’t have long – it wasn’t scheduled to be a long engagement…approximately 6 months. I need to start work immediately on changing their way of thinking. Here is how I set about doing that:

• Held weekly status calls with very detailed information on status coming directly from me. They didn’t have a problem paying for developers and architects, so I made sure that all detailed update info came from me so they quickly saw value.
• Provided very detailed weekly budget information – since cost was the driving factor for them – including detailed resource hours and cost forecasts for the remainder of the engagement (updated weekly)
• Minimized PM expenses as much as possible. I worked to efficiently manage the project while not overcharging it. I opted out of one onsite visit explaining that it wasn’t critical for me to be there at that point in time and they appreciated it.
• Worked quickly to alleviate any concerns and issues. The project was not large and therefore would not always warrant such critical and prompt attention when a PM was already overloaded like I was. But with this customer attention was absolutely necessary so when they said, “jump”, I said “how high.” They needed to understand that I took their concerns seriously and that I was “on it.” That’s how they were able to recognize PM value.

Summary

I was able to change their perception. I never met the customer face-to-face during the entire engagement – foregoing some opportunities to keep the budget in proper alignment. I did finally meet them later after the project at a conference hosted by the company I was working for. And, thankfully, we were basically friends by that time because they had become a happy customer and no longer rejected project managers as needless accessories. They understood the value of a project manager who was looking after their best interests.