Four Principles to Guide Project Managers – Part 1
Posted by Brad Egeland
This Part 1 of a two-part article outlines the first two of four principles to guide you on your project management endeavors. It is not all encompassing, by any stretch of the imagination. And I would gladly welcome your feedback and input through comments on this article.
Be Conscious of What You are Doing
Luck should never be the plan for success as a project manager. Project success should not be accidental – at least not as an ongoing plan. It may work on short-term efforts or when you’re working alone. But it’s not a good plan for long-term undertakings or when you’re leading a project team.
A project, by definition, is something that has a unique aspect to it. Even if you are performing your tenth software implementation of something that is nearly identical to the previous nine, there are still going to be variables that make it different. The environment and IT infrastructure will mean performance variations that will need to be understood and handled, etc. Projects are difficult enough, leaving things to luck makes success that much more difficult to achieve. Plan well, create an effective plan, and utilize repeatable processes and reusable templates.
Invest Heavily in Front End Work
Do it right from the beginning. If you’re like me, you get a new piece of software or a new gadget of any type and the first thing you do is start to use it. Directions? Who needs ‘em?
When we kickoff projects, we need to have a different mindset. We need to get it right from the start. Invest in the upfront work. Don’t jump from handoff right into the project. Plan well up front.
Caution: Jumping in too quickly in project management is going to get you into big trouble in a hurry.
July 2010 PM Survey Results – The Project Schedule
Posted by Brad Egeland
The July PM survey on the tools we use to manage the project schedule and how we go about using those tools is now complete. The results aren’t too surprising – at least not to me. As always, the detailed results will be posted on my site (www.bradegeland.com) under Past Survey Results. For some spin analysis on the results, read on….
What tool are we using?
The results in this category didn’t surprise me too much – except maybe for the overall domination of the clear winner. A far majority of survey responders indicated that they use MS Project in some form (2003, 2007, 2010, Project Server, etc.) to put together and manage their project schedule. In all, 85% indicated that MS Project is either theirs or their company’s tool of choice. 9% indicated they use some version of Primavera. 2% actually indicated that they use Excel to manage the project schedule.
Do we allow our teams to update the schedule?
This is another category that didn’t surprise me – at least not according to my own practices. Do you allow your team members update access to the project schedule? 74% indicated that they do not. 13% do allow team members to revise the project schedule and another 13% indicated that it they allow it on some projects.
Do we allow our customers to update the schedule?
A full 87% of survey responders said that they never allow customers update access to the project schedule – which I personally feel is a wise decision. Only 4% indicated that they do allow customers update access and 9% said that it depended on the project.
July 2010 PM Survey – The Project Schedule
Posted by Brad Egeland
It’s hard to believe it’s July already, but a new month means it’s time for a new survey. This month, I’d like to get a feel for what we use for project scheduling and how we use it.
The survey is available now through late July at this address:
www.bradegeland.com/july-2010-survey.html
So, for question #1 – I want to know what tool you’re using. There are a lot of tools out there so I’m just looking for the name. You don’t have to tell me if it’s web-based or not – I think we’ll get into more of that in the next month or so.
Questions #2 & #3 – let the readers know how close to the vest you keep the project schedule. Does just the project manager revise and distribute the schedule? Is it a collaborative effort with the project team – do you let others go in and revise task status on percent completes and effort estimates? And do you let the customer do anything but look at it? Are there ever any projects where you allow update capability for the customer? I’m assuming this is probably almost never, but who knows.
Question #4 – Do you use the project schedule to actually track project costs? Are the hourly rates of the project resources and costs for materials entered into the project schedule or do you track project costs through a different mechanism?
Project Planner – A Desktop Project Management Alternative to MS Project
Posted by Brad Egeland
No one will dispute the fact that Microsoft rules supreme in the desktop project management software industry. There really isn’t even a close second in terms of sales and usage. Everyone everywhere wants project managers with MS Project experience and most have used it at one time or another – and many use it daily.
Thankfully, as the economy tightens and organizations are looking to save, rather than recklessly spend money, stiff competition is rising and we have both web-based and desktop software alternatives to MS Project. And, thankfully, they all come at a fraction of the price of a Microsoft Project full license.
There is one, in particular, that I would like to address in this column – Seavus’ Project Planner.
Project Planner is the desktop software offering from Seavus. Just like MS Project, Project Planner allows the project manager to plan and track projects, manage resources, link dependent tasks, create critical paths, and track and manage project costs.
With Seavus’ Project Planner, project managers and project team members are able to fully manage the entire project schedule and utilize that schedule to create useful and meaningful reports for themselves, the customer and executive management.
There is also an MS Project integration piece that allows project managers to seamlessly collaborate and share project schedules with customers, team members and management who are still using MS Project.
Onboarding with Success
Posted by Brad EgelandWhen you’re asked to jump on a new project how do you go about doing that to ensure your best chance for success? That may often depend on why you’re being asked to take over the project … and it can be for any one of the following reasons:
- Previous project manager failed to manage the team and project effectively
- Previous project manager lost the customer’s confidence
- Previous project manager lacked the expertise to lead the project based on new direction
- An emergency necessitated an early departure for the project manager
- Co-management became a necessity due to changes on the project Read more »
