Cost Management

When estimating project costs, did BP consider costs for implementing any risk response strategies?

As mentioned in the Charter section, one could look at the Kevin Costner-funded Ocean Therapy centrifuge boats as an example. For a relatively small investment, BP would be buying not only an easy way to clean up after a possible spill, but would gain valuable positive PR by aligning with the high-profile actor and his efforts to protect the Gulf. Perhaps it is too optimistic to think that the oil companies would have identified oil cleanup technology as a part of risk-response, but it certainly is within the realm of reason that cleanup technology and costs would be included in risk contingency plans (the plans that are put into effect if the original risk plan fails).

In fact, a recent news story shows that – although late – the oil industry has pooled their resources and is collaborating on oil spill response. See this Reuters news story.

Identifying the costs related to the project\’s environmental aspects allows the project manager to discuss the costs with the Sponsor and determine whether the cost is more than offset by the project results. The financial costs of the realized threat are so high in this case – in the tens of billions of dollars and in fact the continued life of the company itself – that a different type of thinking has to be applied. As is obvious now, BP could have invested more upfront to further mitigate or avoid the risk of spilling oil into the ocean. Even with Green Project Management, if BP\’s decision was not to invest more in a risk response strategy, then perhaps they should have estimated the contingent costs required for a clean-up activity as they are currently undertaking. See the risk management section.

Communication Management – Identify Stakeholders

How thorough was the stakeholder plan and ultimately the Communication Plan prepared by BP for this project? This project appears to have many key stakeholder groups, both internal and external. Was every major stakeholder group – internal BP, NGOs, government, industries/associations (e.g., fishing along the Gulf Coast), etc – identified and considered? Were they all included in the communications as BP developed and implemented the oil rig?

What type of communications plan would allow BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg to say “we care about the small people.\”? We assert that with properly indentified stakeholders and a thoughtful stakeholder management plan, this likely would not have happened.

Risk Management – Probability and Impact Assessment

Really, this entire incident comes down to the way BP and others managed project risk. The context is greater than risk management, as you can tell by the number of other headers in this document. But it really comes down to project risk management. With “greenthink”, risks may be evaluated differently.

If we consider environmental factors that had never been applied, then BP may have identified the risk of the blowout as an extremely low probability of occurrence (based on prior experience, faith in the blowout preventer, competitors\’ experience, etc) but a very high impact when considering the environmental impact. In fact, a very similar accident occurred in 1979 the Ixtoc. In that case, the blowout preventer also failed. So there was a precedent for this type of failure. It could not be considered a “failsafe” solution. The assessment could have also included the environmental impact of a blowout that occurred in Santa Barbara, California, in 1969. Was their assessment of the impact high enough?

With such a low probability, you would have to have a huge impact for the product of probability and impact to give a risk score worth pursuing. We assert that the probability was considered to be zero and that the impact was tremendously undervalued. Without considering the environment aspect in project management process of risk management, the product was low enough that the risk mitigation and response was inadequate. As we noted above, Green Project Management may not result in a different decision. However, we are discussing this event because it truly depicts the importance of considering the environment and making sure that all project-related risks are properly identified, quantified, and addressed with the Sponsor and key stakeholders.

Procurement Management

When planning and executing procurement activities for this project, did BP:

• Validate that their vendors/partners (such as Halliburton) met their environmental requirements?
• Understand how their vendors/partners would align to BP\’s environmental policies and project approach?
• Request feedback from vendors/partners on how they would align with environmental policies?
• Audit that the vendors/partners were actually following the environmental policies?
• Audit that the deliverables met the defined environmental criteria?

Summary

These examples have been provided to demonstrate how Green Project Management could assist in incorporating environmental thinking in any project. These scratch the surface in factoring the environment into project management processes. Perhaps BP accomplished these and more. Then again, perhaps a more structured approach to including the environment in all project management processes would have uncovered some of the issues and led to some very different decisions during the project, prior to deciding to drill more than five thousand feet deep in the Gulf of Mexico.

We assert that the point of Green Project Management is to view projects through an “environmental lens”. Perhaps, if that happened, some decisions would be made differently, with very different results.

About the Authors

TenStep, Inc, focuses on methodology development, training, and consulting, through its worldwide network of offices. Its focus on green project management (www.green-pm.com) was pioneered by Tom Mochal and Andrea Krasnoff.

Tom Mochal, PMP is President of TenStep, Inc., (www.TenStep.com). Mochal is an expert instructor and consultant on project management, project management offices, development lifecycle, portfolio management, application support, people management and other related areas. He was awarded 2005 Distinguished Contribution Award from the Project Management Institute (PMI).

Andrea Krasnoff, PMP is Director of TenStep Consulting Services. Andrea has more than 20 years experience in project management, program management, portfolio management, and PMOs. She is the Director of TenStep Consulting Services and is a key contributor to the TenStep Green-PM model.

EarthPM is dedicated to the “intersection of green and project management and is a collaboration between Rich Maltzman and Dave Shirley, co-authors of Green Project Management, CRC Press. EarthPM provides the critical link between project management and environmentalism to increase awareness amongst project managers of the power they have to improve the greenality and effectiveness of their projects – whether or not they are directly involved with the environment. Through their website EarthPM.com, Rich and Dave provide a variety of blog postings and resources, as well as consulting and course development services in Project Management and Green Project Management.

Rich Maltzman, MSIE, PMP, has more than 30 years of project management experience managing projects, leading project managers, consulting and teaching in Europe, the Middle East and the United States. Currently, Rich is Senior Manager, Learning and Professional Advancement, at the Global Program Management Office of a major telecom concern. He is currently co-authoring a book with Ranjit Biswas, PMP, entitled “The Fiddler on the Project”, and posts regularly on his blog, Scope Crêpe, http://scopecrepe.blogspot.com.

Dave Shirley, MBA, PMP, has more than 30 years of project management experience in environmental and public health, and the telecommunications industry leading projects, project teams, managing project managers, consulting, teaching and course development. He is currently developing a graduate course in Environmental Issues. Dave is currently writing a book on project management for health care professionals.

Technorati Tags: deepwater horizon, EMP, environmental management plan, environmental management policy, environmental policies, environmental risk management plan, environmental risk plan, Risk, risk averse, risk management plan, risk plan, risk reaction, sustainability

Project Charter

Have you ever seen a Project Charter template that has a section on environmental concerns? It’s rare now, but we predict it will become much more prevalent. Perhaps if the Charter for the Deepwater Horizon project included a detailed section on environmental impact, it would have raised the awareness of the project team and associated stakeholders with regards to improved means to prevent, mitigate (with activities such as relief wells), and respond effectively to spills. A charter written with an environmental view also may have allowed BP to focus more effectively on the clean up process, because decisions like the purchase of Ocean Therapy boats (see this posting) would be indicated at a Charter level.

BP may also have identified a need to further evaluate its vendors/partners experience in prior, similar projects. Lastly, it may have resulted in a need to further invest in considering alternate approaches with various stakeholder groups, to assure the necessary buy-in prior to undertaking the project.

Project Scope Management and Project Integration Management

If the oil rig required additional drills, or a change in the materials used to create the drill or the oil platform, then scope change management process should have been invoked. Note that the latter could have been a requirements change, part of project scope management. When invoking scope change management, the environmental impact could have been considered, in addition to the impact on all other project management processes (schedule, cost, quality, risk, procurement, etc.) as evaluated through integrated change control. Perhaps a change in materials requirements would result in procuring materials from a different vendor. We discuss this further in the section on procurement management.

Project Management Plan – An Environmental Management Plan component

Existing BP environmental policies – which we’re sure that BP has in great number, considering their size and experience – need to have been used as an input to the project\’s Environmental Management Plan, identifying the environmental policies applicable to the project and the sustainability requirements for the project.

Requirements Management

When gathering requirements for the oil rig, BP could have reviewed its defined project Environmental Plan (linked to the company’s parent Environment Management Plan) and confirmed that the requirements for the oil rig would adhere to the plan. Making it clear to the project team that this linkage exists is a way to reinforce what should be elemental to the team’s behavior but sometimes can slip behind other priorities if not kept in the forefront.

Much has been said about the regulating agency, the MMS and their oversight (or lack thereof) of oil companies. Ostensibly, the MMS should have been putting proper requirements on the companies doing the drilling. As is the case with good project management practices, however, the vendor themselves has to ask the question: ‘who are the stakeholders, and what are their requirements?’ Perhaps with this mindset and a well-conceived (excuse the pun) and ethically-responsible environmental management policy – not just at a corporate level, but at a project level – an increased focus on both preventing the spill from happening and being able to effectively clean up after, would have resulted in a more thorough collection and communication of these environmental requirements before beginning to drill.

Cost Management

When estimating project costs, did BP consider costs for implementing any risk response strategies?

As mentioned in the Charter section, one could look at the Kevin Costner-funded Ocean Therapy centrifuge boats as an example. For a relatively small investment, BP would be buying not only an easy way to clean up after a possible spill, but would gain valuable positive PR by aligning with the high-profile actor and his efforts to protect the Gulf. Perhaps it is too optimistic to think that the oil companies would have identified oil cleanup technology as a part of risk-response, but it certainly is within the realm of reason that cleanup technology and costs would be included in risk contingency plans (the plans that are put into effect if the original risk plan fails).

In fact, a recent news story shows that – although late – the oil industry has pooled their resources and is collaborating on oil spill response. See this Reuters news story.

Identifying the costs related to the project\’s environmental aspects allows the project manager to discuss the costs with the Sponsor and determine whether the cost is more than offset by the project results. The financial costs of the realized threat are so high in this case – in the tens of billions of dollars and in fact the continued life of the company itself – that a different type of thinking has to be applied. As is obvious now, BP could have invested more upfront to further mitigate or avoid the risk of spilling oil into the ocean. Even with Green Project Management, if BP\’s decision was not to invest more in a risk response strategy, then perhaps they should have estimated the contingent costs required for a clean-up activity as they are currently undertaking. See the risk management section.

Project Charter

Have you ever seen a Project Charter template that has a section on environmental concerns? It’s rare now, but we predict it will become much more prevalent. Perhaps if the Charter for the Deepwater Horizon project included a detailed section on environmental impact, it would have raised the awareness of the project team and associated stakeholders with regards to improved means to prevent, mitigate (with activities such as relief wells), and respond effectively to spills. A charter written with an environmental view also may have allowed BP to focus more effectively on the clean up process, because decisions like the purchase of Ocean Therapy boats (see this posting) would be indicated at a Charter level.

BP may also have identified a need to further evaluate its vendors/partners experience in prior, similar projects. Lastly, it may have resulted in a need to further invest in considering alternate approaches with various stakeholder groups, to assure the necessary buy-in prior to undertaking the project.

Project Scope Management and Project Integration Management

If the oil rig required additional drills, or a change in the materials used to create the drill or the oil platform, then scope change management process should have been invoked. Note that the latter could have been a requirements change, part of project scope management. When invoking scope change management, the environmental impact could have been considered, in addition to the impact on all other project management processes (schedule, cost, quality, risk, procurement, etc.) as evaluated through integrated change control. Perhaps a change in materials requirements would result in procuring materials from a different vendor. We discuss this further in the section on procurement management.

Project Management Plan – An Environmental Management Plan component

Existing BP environmental policies – which we’re sure that BP has in great number, considering their size and experience – need to have been used as an input to the project\’s Environmental Management Plan, identifying the environmental policies applicable to the project and the sustainability requirements for the project.

Requirements Management

When gathering requirements for the oil rig, BP could have reviewed its defined project Environmental Plan (linked to the company’s parent Environment Management Plan) and confirmed that the requirements for the oil rig would adhere to the plan. Making it clear to the project team that this linkage exists is a way to reinforce what should be elemental to the team’s behavior but sometimes can slip behind other priorities if not kept in the forefront.

Much has been said about the regulating agency, the MMS and their oversight (or lack thereof) of oil companies. Ostensibly, the MMS should have been putting proper requirements on the companies doing the drilling. As is the case with good project management practices, however, the vendor themselves has to ask the question: ‘who are the stakeholders, and what are their requirements?’ Perhaps with this mindset and a well-conceived (excuse the pun) and ethically-responsible environmental management policy – not just at a corporate level, but at a project level – an increased focus on both preventing the spill from happening and being able to effectively clean up after, would have resulted in a more thorough collection and communication of these environmental requirements before beginning to drill.

Next Time

In our third and last part of this series we’ll cover Cost Management, Communication Management, Risk Management and Procurement Management and give a brief summary.

Technorati Tags: deepwater horizon, EMP, environmental management plan, environmental management policy, environmental policies, environmental risk management plan, environmental risk plan, Risk, risk averse, risk management plan, risk plan, risk reaction, sustainability

There are many examples of projects undertaken to produce some deliverable with environmental implications. In fact, one may assert that in fact, any project, since it uses resources, has environmental implications. This varies tremendously, based on scale and the direct impact on the environment. One project that clearly has environmental implications is the Deepwater Horizon drilling project and what is often called “the Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster”.

Important note: We do not purport to say that any specific single action or philosophy that we enumerate below would have prevented the Deepwater Horizon disaster or led to its instant cleanup. What we do assert, however, is that taken collectively and holistically, an intense focus on green thinking would have had a tremendously positive impact on the disaster.

Many companies are incorporating environmental considerations into their thinking about the deliverables of their projects, and some are even integrating this thinking into the operation of that deliverable. However, are they truly following green project management processes to assist them in their decision making process throughout the project and beyond? We assert that Green Project Management can be applied to all projects. Even those that may not appear to be creating a deliverable with an environmental impact still have environmental aspects that can affect their decision making (for example, even if one is developing a new software release there are decisions to be made that affect the environment – decisions such as meeting policies, method of duplicating the software, energy considerations for the servers involved, and so on).

Both TenStep and EarthPM believe that the environment should be considered in any project – and therefore in an organization\’s project management processes. We also think that doing this is not only the right thing to do but that it will benefit the organization. Both organizations have published various communications which provide thought leadership on this subject (refer to www.green-pm.com and www.earthpm.com.

We’ve decided to apply examples from Green Project Management to the challenges faced (mainly by BP) in the Gulf Coast oil spill. The main thrust of Green Project Management is not that every decision will be made differently or “in favor of” the environment, but instead that each project needs to consider the environment in its decision making process. This of course includes the conservation of the project’s resources, which should already be part of the project manager’s mission.

What we are suggesting here are some ways in which Green Project Management may have provided BP with key insights that, taken holistically, may have done some of the following (in the abstract, anyway):

• Prevented the disaster or at least limited the extent of the damage
• Made it easier to repair once it happened
• Allowed BP and the other responsible parties to deal more skillfully with key stakeholders.

Let’s consider the example of Green Project Management in completing a project to define, develop, and implement the oil rig. Note that some of the examples below may not directly apply to the Deepwater Horizon project, but are provided as examples to demonstrate the principles of Green Project Management.

In subsequent posts, we’ll consider the example of Green Project Management in completing a project to define, develop, and implement the oil rig. Note that some of the examples may not directly apply to the Deepwater Horizon project, but are provided as examples to demonstrate the principles of Green Project Management. Here are the topics we’ll cover this week…

• Project Charter
• Project Scope Management and Project Integration Management
• Project Management Plan – An Environmental Management Plan component
• Requirements Management
• Cost Management
• Communication Management – Identify Stakeholders
• Risk Management – Probability and Impact Assessment
• Procurement Management
• Summary and Authors

We’ll start off with the Project Charter on Wednesday…

Technorati Tags: deepwater horizon, EMP, environmental management plan, environmental management policy, environmental policies, environmental risk management plan, environmental risk plan, Risk, risk averse, risk management plan, risk plan, risk reaction, sustainability

Contingency planning was is key in Project. As he stared off into the distance and remembered this, calm came over him.  Through paying close attention to Communication, he had learned something that he filed away and he thought it might help here but he needed to tease it fully into memory.

He took a good hard look at his plan in front of him. He had milked every drop from it and now he had to milk much more. How? Where was he to get the resources? Time and the money. Time and money. He needed to do twice the work now but had no time and no money.

The Bug sat in the corner watching Project Man-ager and was feeling pretty pleased with himself. Had he stumped Project Man-ager? Had he defeated him once and for all?

Wait… what was that look. That wasn’t the look of defeat. Bug’s smile vanished.

It came to him. He had the beginning of an idea. He picked up the phone and called Project Woman-ager. Luckily she had some time today to brainstorm with him.  After he finished talking, she had to agree, it just might work.

from Lumaxart

Project Man-ager smiled. He called his team back in. He had a great team and he was sure that together they would pull this off.

He started to explain his plan. The Bug isn’t really smart, he just breaks things, he can’t think in terms of complexity, just size. Dev, is what he broke complicated or just a big massive smash up?

It is massive but complicated, not really, why? It will take forever though to find the original start of his break and follow it all the way. It’s a time issue really. 

This happened due to the late changes we made for Mr. Needes to shorten his work flow, right? What if we undo that functionality and shorten his workflow in other ways? 

Harry doesn’t know that what we built based on his changes doesn’t work—he just cares about cutting out steps in his daily work. So we give him a fix that cuts out steps, just not the ones he thought. We will actually be doing more to shorten his process than he had asked for but he should be happier with that.

Still time wise it would be very long process, Dev said.

What if we could leverage work we have already done before?  It will be just fine tuning/reconfiguring existing code to fix this, Project Man-ager explained. Will that and some changes to the existing workaround we created fix this?

Dev and BA stared at him and then at each other. Maybe this would work. The team sat together and reviewed Project Man-ager’s idea from all angles to see if fact it would work and they thought it would. They worked around the clock and got it done.

In the end, they did not meet their deadline but their solution kept them as close to the timeline and budget as possible. Mr. Needes got his shortened workflow. Scope Creep and The Bug did not derail everything, just caused trouble as usual. Queen Spon-soor and Bud Geted were assured that all that could be done had been done by Project Man-ager and his team.  

Once again Project Man-ager and his team had survived Scope Creep and The Bug by utilizing their skills and creative thinking.

Epilogue….

Of course Technology solutions or any kind of Project  solutions are not always this easily done but I told this “tale” to show that no matter how the story goes, in any Project, there are 10 things you should always keep in mind:

1. Users will always want more, or something else.
2. Scope Creep must be stopped at all cost, yes, but he is part of the Scope family. He will show up from time to time. 
3. Signed Scope has the right idea – we have to learn to adjust and very quickly. Things come up in Project all the time, it is the truly gifted Project Man-ager and his team that can deal with the unforeseen and unexpected as they arise and still keep on time and budget or as close as possible.
4. There is no protection from The Bug – he will always be there and we must keep fighting that good fight each and every time.
5. Keep Communication close at all times. It’s the best protection in Project.
6. Know that you cannot please everyone, even once.
7. Sometimes you have to backtrack to keep on track
8. Recycle what you can, when you can
9. Plan A is great but Plan B will save you.
10. Project Management is a challenging field and those in it, Project Man-ager and Project Woman-ager are super at what they do, each and every day.

The End

The Bug listened carefully to Scope Creep’s story of and saw opportunity. By changing Signed Scope, Scope Creep had probably created a few more weaknesses in Project that Bug could turn into major trouble for Project Man-ager. He was looking forward to it. He needed all the advantages he could get.

Project Man-ager was a formidable foe, he had to admit.  Brilliant, organized and all seeing it seemed.  He had seen him overcome tremendous obstacles (a lot that Bug and Scope Creep had caused) to achieve success in Project.  He also had a great team. BA was so sharp and had her finger on everything by keeping close to Communication at all times.  Communication was everywhere and made sure BA had all the information she needed to give to Project Man-ager. Dev was awesome and it was getting harder and harder to find a way in when he was on his game. Give him enough time and Bug didn’t stand a chance.  QA was too good; she checked everything and caught so much before he could get in deep.

Breaking something here and there was easy enough but if you really wanted to cause major damage, you had to break something that in turn caused other things to break, like a chain reaction. Or break something so badly, that when they fixed it, it actually broke more stuff. Which was really cool. But he didn’t know how to do that. He had heard it somewhere though. So he settled for just big.

Now he had a chance and Scope Creep had provided him with the opportunity. Not that he would ever give him credit to his face. To tell the truth, he was tired of Scope Creep’s whining about not getting far enough in his career. And his feud with Signed Scope was tiresome. So what everyone in Project approved of your brother?  Who cares? Go about your own life and do your own thing. Why was he tying his fortunes to his brothers’ anyway?

But he would never say that to him. After all, they were united against their common enemy, Project Man-ager, and they needed each other. So Bug was stuck with him.

His small victory ensured that something, somewhere in Project was a little more vulnerable to Bug than before and Bug was  ready.

It all started off smoothly enough.

QA had been planning this for a while. She was on a mission and she would not be defeated. Project Man-ager was depending on her.  She had to review it all and make sure everything put in place in Project was right and worked perfectly for the people. She easily caught some of Bugs common tricks and had sent them off to Dev. He could handle those in his sleep.  Nothing to worry about. Maybe this time they would be alright… What was that?

That’s not supposed to happen. QA couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Where had this come from?

 Bug had done it again.  They had fixed this and now that fix had busted something else. Sometimes she just got so mad at Bug. Even when you thought you had fixed his wagon but good, his reach had a long arm so that it broke other things. QA needed to talk to someone so she called BA. She knew BA would figure this out and that she would talk to Project Man-ager.

BA looked at what QA was showing her and wasn’t quite sure what she was seeing. So you see, QA continued , when we added in that  change for Harry, it broke something and when we fixed that something,  it messed this whole other chain up which we couldn’t have foreseen it. If Bug could plan, I would think he did it deliberately.

If BA hated Scope Creep, she detested Bug and so did everyone else. But what could they do? He was part of life in Project. They had to deal with him. She thanked QA, and went back to her desk. She called Project Man-ager and told him what had happened.

He called an emergency meeting. BA grabbed Communication and headed to his office. Dev was over in the corner when she got there and QA too. 

After QA detailed her findings, everyone started talking at once. Project Man-ager held up his hand. One at a time, he said. It won’t help us to panic.  Dev you start.

Dev had possible solutions but one alone would not solve all the problems and might actually cause more problems. As he continued, Project Man-ager saw his deadlines fading away. It was serious.  This would push them way over schedule and budget if they couldn’t find a way to take fix this.

After asking Dev to work with BA and write up the possible solutions, he asked everyone  reconvene in a couple of hours. He had some thinking to do.

Had the Bug defeated Project Man-ager’s time lines, caused him to come in over budget? Find out how Project Man-ager uses his knowledge and experience to triumph over these obstacles tomorrow  in the final installment of The Project Man-ager.

Queen Spon-soor didn’t know what to do. She had listened to Harry and just didn’t know what to do. Bud Geted was already upset and Harry’s new requests would cost him.   It was so hard to please everyone in Project and International Project she thought.

But she was ruler and had to make sure everyone was taken care of. That is why she had enlisted Project Man-ager and Project Woman-ager in the first place. They were great weapons in Project’s arsenal. If anyone could defeat their enemies and achieve success on time and budget, it was them. She had to trust them. But what to do about Harry’s request for changes?

She would talk to Project Man-ager and see if there was anyway.  

Project Man-ager brought BA with him to the meeting. He knew if he relented, it might jeopardize all their hard work so far. So BA was there to make sure he had all the facts. The Queen stated that she understood that Harry’s changes could take precious time, make Project a little more vulnerable on several fronts, and cause Bud Geted to have a fit. And she knew that she could not grant all his requests but sincerely asked Project Man-ager and BA to see if they could find any way to make a couple of the new changes he wanted.  

After they left the Queen, Project Man-ager and BA sat and looked at each other. What were they going to do? They both sighed and got down to work. Project Man-ager to his plans, dates and numbers. BA to pay a visit to Signed Scope first and then to Scope Creep.  She was not looking forward to the first and dreaded the second.

Signed Scope was not happy to say the least, after BA finished explaining. He was so tired of his brother’s antics. He knew though that he really didn’t have a choice, he would have to adjust.  He hated having Scope Creep affect his life so much but in Project, everything and everyone was connected in some way. You did what you had to do for the good of all.

 He and BA went about figuring out how to incorporate Scope Creep into things and saw that it was going to be tight. Even these little changes affected so much. He felt sorry for BA, she would be working extra hard.   

It was a whirlwind. BA went back and forth in Project with Communication in tow, talking to Dev, Project Man-ager, the Queen, and Harry. After not enough time and a lot of effort, BA got a handle on it all. It wasn’t perfect but it would get the job done.

Project Man-ager should be used to this by now. Making the impossible, possible. Pulling victory out of thin area. Finding time where there was none, spreading costs way past too thin. Pushing everything to the very limit. He shifted, transferred, took out, put in and re-worked practically every minute of every remaining day to fit these changes in. This is what he loved to do. All his education, preparation was so he could handle just these kinds of situations.

Dev and his crew tripled their efforts and got it done. They had made it through and were still mostly on schedule.  Dev has done some extraordinary work. Everyone had. They had fit in a couple of Harry’s late changes, and made him even happier with a work around that Dev and BA had come up with. In doing so though they had given Scope Creep a very small victory but he had definitely not won the war.

Project Man-ager vowed in that moment to do everything in his power to make sure that was the last victory Scope Creep ever had in Project.

Scope Creep was happy. He relished that small victory and when he told the story to The Bug, he of course embellished it to make it seem much bigger. This is my time!

Now that Scope Creep has gotten his way, what does it mean for Project? Will this little creep cause a big mess down the line?   See how it unfolds in Part 4 of The Project Man-ager.

Project Man-ager’s  phone rang. He recognized the extension and sighed as he picked up.

Harry Needes was upset. Why was it taking so long he asked? Shouldn’t things in Project run more smoothly than this? Isn’t that what you did all that planning for? When will it be ready? What’s the hold-up? he wanted to know.

Project Man-ager didn’t like this part of his work at all. It seems his biggest headaches sometimes came not from their enemies but from the very people he was trying to serve in Project.  He told Mr. Needes that due to some changes that he had requested a few days ago, impacts had to be analyzed and there was a lengthy, harrowing fight against Scope Creep that took up a lot of precious time and energy.

Who the hell is Scope Creep? Does he live in Project? Harry asked.  Project Man-ager explained yet again who Scope Creep was. He had to say this in the most pleasant, non-confrontational way possible. He didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings in Project.

So you see Sir, it was a knock-down, drag out fight. As we get to this stage, Scope Creep always comes in with guns blazing and we needed to beat him back with all we have. We even had to call in Dev and his crew to help keep him in check. Scope Creep is a powerful enemy. You can’t give him an inch! That put everything on hold for several days.

Fine, fine, Needes yelled, but get moving.

Scope Creep was dedicated to his job. He had been strolling around Project one day, trying to find a way in to make some trouble when he passed Harry Needes office.

Needes was muttering to himself about this or that. “I don’t see why they can’t add in a few more things, it would make my job so much easier”, he heard Harry say. Scope Creep liked the way Harry thought. 

So Scope Creep had befriended Harry and whispered in his ear “of course they can do it but Project Man-ager is trying to hold everyone down by making them stick to these impossible deadlines. He doesn’t care about what you really want. He just wants to control everything and bend everyone to his will. It’s not fair. You should demand that they change things so that you can do your job better. Isn’t that the whole point?  They have time, he just doesn’t want to.  Talk to BA, she might be able to help. She will understand and she can talk to Project Man-ager for you”.

BA was not having it though. No. No. No. The requirements were locked and signed, Dev was hard at work. It was way too late in the game to change anything she said. But Harry kept asking and she knew Scope Creep had put him up to it. She needed to talk to Project Man-ager right away.

Scope Creep watched as BA talked with Project Man-ager and had a sinking feeling. They were going to try to stop him-AGAIN.  He had to do something. He wasn’t giving up without a fight. Not this time.

He had a sudden thought. Didn’t the Queen Spon-soor want all in Project to be happy? Surely she would support Harry’s request for changes. Scope Creep knew what he had to do. He would convince the Queen. Surely, Project Man-ager wouldn’t dare say no to the Queen?

Will Scope Creep derail everything in Project? Will he get his way this time? Find out in Part 3 of The Project Man-ager.

Long, long ago and not so far away, in the kingdom of “Project” and its sister city “International Project”, there lived a man with wisdom and years of experience toiling in the fields of his endeavors. This mild mannered man, (a Project Man-ager) worked daily in Project making sure all was well, citizens were safe and everything was always on time and on budget. The people in Project and International Project were hard task masters.

This Project Man-ager was in constant peril but arose each day and did his work valiantly.  He continuously developed and refined plans, assigned tasks, determined best approaches and protocols, allocated resources and set standards  in Project and so much more.

But there are enemies in Project and International Project. Adversaries more cunning, more devious than you have ever seen.  These adversaries had names but no one dared speak them willingly. The names were only mentioned in the most hushed tones, in the most fear filled whispers and when pushed to the limit, in frustrated screams.

For to speak them aloud, to have them in your thoughts and on your lips was to invite much hardship into Project.  Project Man-ager did not want this. But he knew they were like unwanted guests. They came whether you wanted them to or not and it was very hard to get rid of them.  They caused all kinds of disturbances and used up all your resources, took up precious time and threatened the sanity of everyone in Project.

These enemies were as strong and wily as they were persistent. And as inevitable in the land of Project and its sister city, International Project as night following day.

Scope Creep and The Bug were bored. It had been a while since they had any fun.  I mean what is the fun in life if you can’t mess around in Project, huh? the Bug asked. They hadn’t ruined anything in Project for a while. Not on a grand scale anyway. They wanted to make a big splash, to make sure Project Man-ager knew they were forces to be reckoned with and that he would never defeat them.  They needed a big score in Project, maybe one that crossed into new territories, bigger lands – maybe they should to go to International Project he thought.

Scope Creep agreed with The Bug but really hated to admit it. To be truthful, although they were both on the side of evil in Project and united in their fight against Project Man-ager, Scope Creep didn’t like hanging out  with The Bug all that much.  The Bug was all over the place and messy; broke things and caused a lot of headaches –yes that was all good and that worked in Scope Creep’s favor, but The Bug seemed to get all the attention.

Everyone was always paying him attention, BA, Dev, QA and of course Project Man-ager. They even took the time to create ways to track his every move, had many meetings about him, went back and forth over anything that concerned him. It was unfair, thought Scope Creep.

Scope Creep was dedicated to creating things, extending things, doing more. Expansion was good wasn’t? Why did everyone keeping trying to stop him before he even got started. It’s always, “Stop Scope Creep”, “That’s not in Scope”—it’s almost as if they not only didn’t like him, they didn’t even want to give him a chance. His brother, Signed Scope, had all the security and respect but not him.

It hurt his feelings sometimes but he dealt with it by working even harder in to make his mark in Project and International Project.

Project Man-ager was having a bad day, meetings upon meetings. It was already 3pm in the afternoon and he hadn’t had a chance to get any real work done. Things were not going according to his plan. Scope Creep had raised its ugly head and it had taken too long to beat him back. It had cost him time, precious time and of course money. The fight was draining him too, he could feel it, he was weakening. Scope Creep and the Bug had plagued him for so long. He just didn’t know if he could keep at this much longer.

He quickly called his partner, Project Woman-ager and told her about his day so far. They were in the fight together. She probably had it even tougher he thought, she worked over in International Project.  But that was another tale, for another time.

I only have a minute she said immediately. The Bug is here and he brought a whole bunch of his friends and they are tearing everything apart. I can’t seem to make any head way. The team is so spread out, I can’t even schedule an emergency call with everybody today – I hate all these time zones she groaned and hung up.

Not the first time, Project Man-ager wondered if they would ever win the fight.  They had no choice though, they must prevail. As the Gate Keepers in Project and International Project, they had taken an oath to Queen Spon-soor to carry out their tasks, on time and budget AND protect their charges against all enemies.

Will Project Man-ager’s day get better? What do Scope Creep and The Bug have in store for him and his team?

Tune in tomorrow and find out in Part 2 of The Project Man-ager.

Project managers are adept at managing a project – track status, escalate issues and manage   risks.  Then why do some projects seem to go well all along while some are always at risk and filled with issues?   In addition to good communication, it is the focus and the ability of the project manager (and the functional manager in some cases) to go the extra distance that makes a huge difference IMHO.

In the case of complex projects – spanning multiple functional teams-the project manager must understand what the project is meant to solve to a certain level and depth of detail.  The project manager has a significant advantage if he or she can understand the design and risks associated with the technical aspects of the project.  In most cases, the project manager does not have automatic exposure to these items.  Here are some things I have done in the past that have helped me move things along in my projects:

1. Understand as much of the design as possible: – The project manager is not expected to be an expert in any particular technical field related to the project. However, understanding at least the logical aspects of the design helps. For example, the project manager can understand the detailed logical design of the software application change that is required for the project.  This goes a long way in identifying and understanding critical tasks and bottle necks in the project early.
2. Identify the key people   in the project: Every project has a few technical people who seem to know everything. These people may not be the leaders of the respective functional team.  Pick their brain on what they think are the key aspects of the project. Get their pulse on how things are going and stay in touch with them throughout the project.
3. Review the plan with the functional leaders of the respective teams as frequently as possible.  – I have done this at each milestone.  This is not the same as the regular status meeting. But a more informal session with the leader asking questions related to their particular functional area. Keep the leader involved in the planning throughout the duration of the project.
4. Review technical designs: As many of them as possible!. Attend the review meetings.  Remember, there are no dumb questions. Often, engineering groups don’t ask the obvious questions – assuming everyone understands things. The project manager can play a crucial role in the design reviews by being the person to ask all the so-called silly, obvious questions.  You may be surprised and what you can accomplish sometimes!

How about you? What do you do to ensure that you stay on top of things on your projects?

So your project team member – working on a critical path task – comes up to you and says, “I don’t think the original design is the right way to do this. This is not scalable. I will have to redo a part of my work and will need more time.” What do you do!? . We have all probably been in this situation – either as the project manager or as the team member. Situations like this test your focus and leadership every time they occur. Keep in mind that within a company, we all work towards a common goal – which is to make the business successful. The project you are working on SHOULD make things better for the business.  Otherwise there is no point in working on the project!  Project managers should be able to take a step back and look at things from the perspective of the organization and make the right decision.  

In the case above, the team member had brought up a valid concern and a possible way to address it. However, you may be able to get away with releasing the first version with the limitations. If it is related to a new product, may be releasing the product on time is more important than making it scalable immediately.  Are the dates tied to some other external company event? Will the delay in this project cause delays in other projects downstream? If yes, is that ok? Another important thing to consider is the team morale.  Complex projects on an aggressive timeline can be strenuous for the project team. Announcing a delay can de-motivate and knock the wind out of the project team. If the proposed delay is coming up at the last minute, even announcing the delay needs to be handled carefully.

As you can see, the project manager should consider various points of view before making a decision related to dates on a project.  Moving project dates can have significant impact on an organization and its function. Sometimes it is worthwhile to delay doing the right thing!