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Agile. Why ? Whats Wrong With Waterfall ?

2012-10-19T18:12:00.000+05:30

Software companies have been using waterfall methodologies for decades now. Agile has made major inroads in the product development area but still its a long way to go for non product development related IT projects. A classic example are software vendors with commercial off the shelf (COTS) products. They have been using implementation methodology with their customers for a long time and it seemed to work until so far. But the cracks are emerging and there is a growing noise to do something different. Change is never easy or without problems so before a company embarks on the agile journey thinking of it as a silver bullet to solve its miseries, a thorough analysis of the current challenges is essential.
Not all your problems can be attributed to the waterfall methodology and these are the ones moving to agile won't solve. Though there are quite a few it can and they can have a significant impact on your success rate. Typically four common challenges emerge that software companies face with the waterfall model :

Scope closure and/or creep

Waterfall expects to have the project scope unambiguously agreed and signed off with the customer to begin the design and development phases. Once that is done, its set in stone and further changes are to be managed as “Change Requests” which essentially mean additional cost to the customer. If they are business critical and need to be absorbed in the current project, regardless of who pays for it, its likely to result in a delayed timeline. For large scale implementations, this essentially means that once the customer signs a particular scope, for months or maybe years, they won't be able to suggest major scope changes. This is impractical and unrealistic considering today’s dynamic and competitive business world. For implementation projects with COTS as a base, the customers do not have clear understanding of the base product to be able to elicit requirements explicitly and fully at the start of the project. Due to this, they are scared to sign off the scope leading to many prolonged and highly delayed scoping sessions. Scope management is one of the key challenges with waterfall. This was aptly illustrated by a key study of 1027 IT projects carried out in United Kingdom by in 2001 who reported that “scope management related to attempting waterfall practices was the single largest contributing factor for failure.”

Timely customer feedback

With waterfall, the customer is involved at the beginning of the project during scoping and towards the end at the acceptance testing stages. Between these for a prolonged period, the software vendor works in isolation. Customers get a first hand experience of the software only towards the end stages when all development is done and a lot of budget / time is spent. When they see it in action, they start to realize what they are getting and provide valuable feedback to improve the system - to make it more user friendly or efficient for their business. But its very late in the game and again the dreaded change request route is suggested. Either the customer would agree to shell out more or accept less than efficient system. In both cases - its not a very pleased customer.

Changing business behavior

Large scale software implementations often times require a change in the business processes for the customer, but the system is modelled either on the existing business model or a design of how the new business model should be. In either case, when the system actually hits ground zero in the hands of end users, a lot of gaps are discovered which need to be bridged by the dreaded change requests again.

Doing it right the first time

Linear development model using waterfall leaves no room for error. The scoping and design phases have to be perfect with a clean development followed by more than perfect acceptance testing, system integration and deployment. Waterfall forces us to get it right first time but for complex system implementations, this is practically impossible. There are challenges faced at every stage leading to planning and replanning eventually delivering projects a higher cost and timeline than planned. Its not much of a surprise to anyone actually and so buffers in cost and timeline are built to absorb these - which essentially means a not so satisfactory experience to the customer. They could have got it for less cost earlier.

It is no surprise that faced with these challenges, companies look to Agile to be their savior which in principle at least suggests a logical path forward. It changes the paradigm by welcoming scope changes even late in the game, built in regular feedback mechanisms and close customer collaboration at all stages to name a few.

Waterfall evolved as the structured way of working from the code-use-fix-code again methods at the dawn of software industry. It did serve its purpose and everyone learnt a lot. Not all is to be thrown away, but we must evolve to better ways of developing software. The journey from waterfall to agile is again our journey of evolution - the old must make way for the new, the better.

P.S - request to viewers coming from variety of sources - linkedin, facebook et al. - please comment in the discussion forum on the page for benefit of all viewers.

Estimation Number Games - powered by Optimism Bias and Strategic Misrepresentation

2012-07-26T22:54:00.000+05:30

Levi Strauss started to upgrade its informational technology system to a single SAP system across geographies for a proposed budget of approx. $ 5 million. After roll out the problems were so severe, the company had to a take a $192.5 million charge against earnings to compensate for the several problems created by the project. A $5 million project leading to a loss of $200 million is not logical and not acceptable. The percentage of failed projects not able to meet their fundamental objectives of budget and schedule is as much as 25%. This paradox is baffling but no so much when we take a look at two of the most interesting phenomenon which are at play during and after the estimation cycle.

Optimism bias - the term coined by Kahneman refers to the human tendency to exaggerate one's own ability and underestimate potential difficulties. As Time magazine rightly puts it, Human brain is wired for hope. Both neuroscience and social science suggests that humans in general are more optimistic than realistic. In general, this is excellent, but when it comes to project estimations, it could throw up a few challenges. Budget planners could underestimate the impact of uncertainties or risks and at the same time overestimate the benefits to be derived from outcomes. Optimism bias could be categorized as the unintentional way the rosy picture was created. It is similar to wearing rose colored glasses. In a budgeting landscape, this results in facts being not represented accurately and leading to incorrect plans- mainly underestimation of efforts and/or timeline.

Optimism bias, though widely recognized and more understood is not the only bias that could lead to skewed estimations though. There are a few more:

Self serving bias, which is the tendency to take the credit for success and/or blame external factors for failure. This could lead to ignoring of lessons learned from previous projects and hoping that the external factors influencing failure that time were an isolated incident and everything will work out fine this time. The project team fails to add contingency to cover these valid risks.

False consensus effect is another one and means the tendency to believe that most people share one's opinions. Key decision makers under influence of this bias may take certain assumptions without full consultation and/or review which may later on be proved to be incorrect or insufficient leading to higher costs or delays.

Illusion of control is the tendency to exaggerate the degree of one's control over external events. This is an extension to the self serving bias where teams or key stakeholders assume that external factors may be managed to their satisfaction. This might not always be based on facts and data and is a potential for overruns and delays in future.

Strategic misrepresentation on the other hand - the uglier one - is clearly the intentional one - where facts are present but overlooked for ulterior motives.

It is the planned, systematic distortion or misstatement of fact—lying—in response to incentives in the budget process.

Jones and Euske in their studies have highlighted several factors that stimulate strategic misrepresentation in public projects. A lot of them are valid in general for other projects as well:

Uncertainty regarding cause and effect relationships - In case of uncertainty, it is preferred by budgeting teams to err on the higher side. There is little or no penalty at this stage for requesting too much but much higher penalty and related fear if little was requested. There is a flip side to this too. As there are budget planners, so there are budget cutters who assume that estimates have buffers in them and will reduce them. Such reductions if not done carefully and with valid data/facts, could lead to underestimated projects.

Information asymmetry - Stakeholders in the program have varying levels of information which they chose to withhold or share based on their strategy and expected outcome of the budget process. Inflation of demand for the project, overstatement of benefits, understatement of costs, over assessment of the severity of the clients problems are few examples of tactics used.

Absolute constraints on resources and benefits - The budget estimates can be misrepresented so that they achieve the objectives of one or more stakeholders (which may be in line or in conflict to the overall organizational objective for that project). Such misrepresentation is often substantiated with seemingly logical arguments and/or data.

Making budgetary decisions in a highly accelerated time frame - The compulsions of business mean many times several key assumptions are taken without thorough analysis and/or sufficient data points. This could lead to skewed estimates.

Short term versus long term perspective - The "foot in the door" technique is many times used to justify unprofitable projects - termed as strategic projects. The estimate is lowered on purpose to "win the bid" or "sanction the project" with assumptions that the adjustments made now will be recovered in the long run. This is a kind of optimism bias where long term benefits are assumed to justify the near term compromises.

There are several techniques used to control optimism bias more notably - reference class forecasting based on the Nobel prize winning work of Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky. Techniques like reference class forecasting would work very well in public projects where historical data is more easily available and there is incentive to not get caught in the "lowest bidder" syndrome. But would it apply in a similar manner to the cut throat competitive world of business as well. The fact of the matter is that these techniques more often than not are going to increases the estimates. Would a seller who is already struggling to meet the competition's bid be willing to consider such an approach and go for a higher cost. Maybe he will lose the project if he does.

There have to be real incentives or deterrents for sellers in today's corporate environment to justify the additional effort that would be required to have counter checks to minimize the effects of optimism bias and /or strategic misrepresentation. On the other side, who would a buyer choose from when his competition is planned to roll out similar services soon and time to market is crucial. More often than not the seller who promises to do the project in the fastest timeline at the least cost possible will win the bid.

As can be seen from the Levi Strauss example, the negative impact for the lost business was much severe for the buyer than any potential penalties that could have been imposed on the seller considering the size of the project that was envisaged. So the responsibility to ensure an accurate and real representation of the effort required to do a project is as much on the buyer as is on the sellers who are bidding. Especially in critical business transformation projects like rolling out of a completely overhauled IT infrastructure the cost of the project is not just the cost of implementing the system. The overall cost/risk analysis needs to be done to find out what could be the cost to company if the said objectives of project are not met.

The Paradoxical Reality Of Estimations

2012-07-23T13:55:00.004+05:30

The License Application Mitigation Project (LAMP) initiated by the state of Washington, US aimed at automating the state's vehicle registration and license renewal processes. The project began in the early nineties and was supposed to be online in 1995. It planned to create a relational, client-server system using IBM's MVS/CICS architecture. Initially budgeted at $16 M, the project cost climbed to $41.8 M in 1992, $51 M in 1993 and was last estimated (March 1997) at $67.5 M of which $40 M had been spent without result. In 1993, LAMP faded when it became clear that it was doomed to be a colossal money-waster and in 1997, the project was abandoned. Even if the plug had not been pulled it would have been much too big and obsolete by the time it was finished. LAMP was turned off in 1997, after legislators calculated that the project ultimately would cost $4.2 million more annually to run than the state's $800,000 per year incumbent system. Though not as drastic, the situation is very typical and a common one in many companies.

In their 2009 bi-annual report, the Boston based consulting firm ‘The Standish Group’ reported a significant increase in failed projects. Measured by cancellation prior to completion or delivered but never used, the failure rate in 2008 was 24%. 44% of projects were defined as late, over budget, and/or with less than the required features and functions. 54% of projects had cost overruns and 79% had time overruns. The cost of these failures and overruns are just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. The lost opportunity costs are not measurable easily, but could easily be in the trillions of dollars. Is it not surprising and in fact an irony, that projects are not able to be within the two fundamental constraints of project management - budget and timeline.

Cost/Timeline overruns are typically associated to what are called as “forecasting errors” or “technical errors” such as imperfect techniques, inadequate data, honest mistakes, inherent problems in predicting the future, lack of experience on the part of forecasters, etc. They can happen at all point in the life cycle and for a variety of reasons - incomplete requirements, poor design, lack of skills to manufacture the design, inadequate testing, etc. These reasons are valid and inadequacies because of these can be mitigated by following many of the standard project management methodologies and best practices across organizations and industry with rigor.

An aspect not often discussed is whether the planned budget and/or timeline were correct and realistic or was it underestimated and impractical. It could very well be that a rosy picture was painted - intentionally or unintentionally - and what we are seeing now is actually manifestation of the reality. The objectives set were themselves too lofty and were never possible to be achieved.

What is more surprising is that all project estimates - whether in public or private domain do go through a series of reviews for validation and to ensure their correctness. How is it that then that for majority of the projects we don’t seem to get it right? Is it simply oversight or there is something running much deeper influencing the final outcomes.

There are two phenomenon's that could very well hold the answers to this mystery - optimism bias and strategic misrepresentation. We will dig into them deeper in the next post - Estimation Number Games - to understand.

Implementation: Online project management challenge

2012-07-13T09:44:00.001+05:30

Project success depends on the turnaround time and efficiency of tasks circulating between managers and executors. Whether or not you, as a manager, communicate effectively with your team and get timely feedback will affect your ability to meet deadlines. The task becomes even more complicated when you have to deal with remote teams, clients or stakeholders. You will need to use project management and process execution tools that are crucial to define and track tasks, note task dependencies, and identify the mission-critical chain of events also called workflows and processes.

Cloud-based online project execution management facilitates collaborative work, and it gives the entire project team access to real-time data and a set of standardized project tools. This decentralized way of management, when each team player has access to keeping the software updated, doesn’t only bring visibility to the project. Project management tools usage has motivational effect - it gives your team the sensation of being recognized as knowledge workers.

At the same time, people are naturally anxious when they are told they will have to use a new tool.You cannot start using a collaborative tool without having your team understand what they need it for, and it’s better to introduce it to them in a way that they like it. Here is a short list of things you should consider, as a CIO, CTO or a project manager, before you move your project to a new collaborative tool.

1. Review your project methodology

A new process execution or project management tool won’t do work for you, it will only help.Neither will it become a remedy to a poor project management methodology. When you start using an online project tool, you will have to fill it with data on your projects, tasks, activities and workflows. It’s only possible when you understand their hierarchy and dependencies.

2. Have a meeting with your team, discuss what you need

You can discuss the necessity of a new tool implementation, gather your team players’ expectation upon the functionality that would facilitate their work, present your ideas and your vision. This communicative aspect is important if you want to motivate people with the new order of states rather than demoralizing them. They will need to commit effort later to learn how to use the tool,make sure they see that it will help them in their further activity.

3. Try the solution on a small project part

First see how the solution will do with a small team and a restricted part of your project. This way you will be able to estimate if the solution’s functionality meets your requirements. Later, when you already have positive experience with project planning, activities tracking and reporting, the pilot team players will become trainers for the rest of your team. This strategy will enable you to avoid the transition pain when all of your team has to give up normal way of working for some time before they learn how to use the new tool, and then your main working activity stalls.

4. Manager function will change but won’t become unnecessary

Using online collaboration software removes challenges to your team, such as lack of communication, visibility, email overflow, task overwhelm. At the same time it brings new challenges to you as a manager. First, you need to check if the tasks marked as ‘completed’ are indeed completed. Second, as social networking features stimulate communication, there might be abuses in the online communication, like in any other kind of communication. Make sure it doesn’t happen. Third, don’t give up direct interaction, especially on critical parts of the project.

5. Examine your vendor

You don’t need a vendor who will sell you the soft and then let you go. Make sure you will have access to comprehensive support, don’t forget to test the support services during the trial period of the solution you choose. You will need updates and maintenance, so choose the vendor who will take care of you after you make your purchase.

Author : Anastasia Chumakova

Anastasia writes about business process execution management solutions and online collaboration tools. She specializes in process management and workflow automation techniques.

London 2012 Games: Ensuring business remains business as usual

2012-07-09T19:04:00.000+05:30

Risk management is an important and integral part of planning for any business or project. The process of risk management is designed to reduce or eliminate the risk of certain kinds of events happening or having an impact on the business. The much awaited London Olympic Games are not very far and Olympic authorities are leaving no stone unturned to minimize the disruption to business operations in London.

I would say this is a classic example of risk management operating at its best.

The website (getaheadofthegames.com) set up by the Olympic Authorities to help and support Londoners recommends that all businesses perform an impact analysis of the Games on their business, staff, deliveries, customers and visitors. Their interactive map provides details of expected delays and congestion at all stations and intersections within London. Their advice is to re-time journeys to work, plan alternative routes, or failing that plan alternative forms of transport.

Based upon the advice and information given on the getaheadofthegames.com website, Knowledge Train has put together their own cartoon (at the bottom of the post) of a small project management guide containing a fictional risk analysis of staff travelling to work during the Games.

Humorous as it is, it highlights the importance of the subject and proactive addressing of the risks. As famous US General George S. Patton put it rightly “The more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war.”

Businesses need to explore options and be prepared to face the challenges. One of the options is to check how many of their staff can work from home or alternative locations if needed. For business/projects which are not used to work remotely or with virtual teams, a few key principles if observed and some best practices followed will go a long way in ensuring to bridge the gap and make sure that the "virtual" or "remote" factor does not affect the project in adverse ways. It is also essential to follow certain ground rules for those working from home.

For some, this challenge will present an opportunity to rethink how they are working. Maybe some business will continue to use the learning’s way beyond the Games and transform the way they work.

Knowledge Train's guide on travelling to work during the games

Holistic metric based execution key to successful projects

2012-07-03T18:32:00.001+05:30

Project managers love metrics and rightly so. Metrics provide the heartbeat of the project and help us determine whether the ship is headed in the right direction at the right speed. There is a fundamental problem with purely relying on numbers though. Optimism bias and strategic misrepresentation ensure that numbers always do not tell the complete story. It is essential for us as project managers to walk past that glass door and be on the field to have a real understanding of the story beyond the numbers.

This is not to discount the value and importance of metrics completely. But essentially to know and accept that they are not everything.

As Albert Einstein rightly put it “Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.”. You need to have an open mind and be more connected to the field and be in the details to bring out the complete story. It brings several advantages:

You will discover the underlying factors that are influencing the numbers much faster .

You will be able to co-relate the indicators from the various matrices.

You would identify potential problems that would not be discovered by the existing metrics

You can discover that some metrics are redundant and not worth tracking that closely whereas there are others which need to be added or given more focus.

With better understanding of the details, you can find together with your teams unique creative solutions to the problems.

Right and effective execution is a key to successful project and ensuring that you have the complete story - with and without the numbers - is one step ahead in ensuring that.

Such holistic metric based execution allows you, the project manager to engage in meaningful conversations around the results and helps you solve problems, make improvements and build stronger effective relationships with your teams.

5 easy ways to motivate your team

2012-06-28T14:08:00.001+05:30

Ensuring a motivated team is a project manager's first and foremost job. A highly motivated team will deliver wonders regardless of the challenges that may be faced. The dynamics of team motivation though are not so straightforward. Its never 1 + 1 = 2. It is more of an art than a science. Every project manager has read books on motivation theory at some point of time in his career and knows the theory but applying it in real situations on the ground is another story all together.

While some do it rather skillfully, there are many who struggle. The traditional approaches to motivation rely on the external - trying to find what needs and wants the employees have and to satisfy them. But its also important to look inside and see what qualities we as project managers have that contribute to having a motivated team around us.

Transparency - Being transparent and honest goes a long way to building the team members trust in you. This does not mean you will share anything and everything. Things which are supposed to be confidential must remain so. Its essentially knowing the right time and place, but more so its about the attitude.

Impartiality - As a project manager, your ultimate goal is to deliver the project and personal likings/disliking's should never come in your way during conflict resolutions. This sends out a very positive message to the team.

Get your hands dirty - Don’t be afraid or shy away when your team is stuck in some challenges which seem insurmountable. Get on the ground with them. Maybe technically you have your limitations and cannot contribute much but your visibility and passion will rub off and is a huge motivator for any team. You also get to know more about the practical challenges on the ground than from behind that glass door. This helps set realistic achievable targets for the team.

1-1 relationship - This is the secret of true leaders. You cannot have a personal bonding with every member of your team especially on large scale projects. But with those you interact on regular basis, develop a solid relationship and be the one whom people are not afraid of approaching with problems. Also don’t let any opportunity pass by when you can talk to a team member you don’t know. It could even be a simple hello or a smile. Such gestures pass on a very strong positive message downwards.

Stand behind the team - This is the age old adage of leaders. If you succeed, its because of the team. If you fail, its because of you. This does not necessarily mean you will literally take on all the blame. But you will stand by your team members when they fail, help them recover and take it forward.

At the end of the day, all projects are about people and if you are or become the project manager that is a talent magnet, you will ensure that you will have the right team to take any project to crowning glory.

Quietly Brilliant !!

2012-06-11T00:58:00.000+05:30

Regardless of the size and complexity of the projects , people are always at the center of everything. Having skilled resources on the project contributes to a top critical factor for project success. Not always there will be full choice around it, but the closer you can build a team which you are comfortable with, the better.

Many of us who get choices in picking up a team - do look for a certain rare species of people - the silent achievers. These are the people who get the job done - without making too much noise about it. They come, they work and they leave. Only their actions speak for them. In my experience, more often than not the best performers in a project are actually these silent ones. Its similar to a pot full of water - it makes much less noise compared to an empty one. These team members are knowledgeable, confident and humble. There's pride in what they do - but its not false pride and its as if they have nothing to prove to anyone. Maybe that is what helps them work in a relaxed manner in pressure situations delivering the very best.

These silent achievers are there in every project I have seen succeed - without exception. Its important to recognize them and keep them motivated. Especially for the fact that because of their silent nature, its so easy to overlook them in comparison to the more bold ones. This is not to say that the ones who are bold enough to claim the credit of their work don’t do anything. Definitely they contribute and many of them are excellent performers as well, but these ones need special attention to ensure that they are also remembered when its time for appreciation and rewards.

So how many of such - Quietly Brilliant - people do you know. Would love to hear their stories.

Bending Reality - The Secret Of Leaders Who Do The Impossible

2012-06-06T00:21:00.001+05:30

In a recent HBR article - The Real Leadership Lessons of Steve Jobs, Walter Isaacson puts forward an interesting characteristic of Jobs as being fundamental to his success - bending reality. To quote in his own words, this is what he says "Jobs’s (in)famous ability to push people to do the impossible was dubbed by colleagues his Reality Distortion Field, after an episode of Star Trek in which aliens create a convincing alternative reality through sheer mental force. Those who did not know Jobs interpreted the Reality Distortion Field as a euphemism for bullying and lying. But those who worked with him admitted that the trait, infuriating as it might be, led them to perform extraordinary feats."

What makes people like Jobs know that something is possible making them to push their teams hard for it and not accepting No for an answer - despite the facts and figures stacked against it. Somewhere deep inside them, they know that things are going to work out their way. Contrary to the reality that is front of them and others, another version of reality is playing in their minds, which bends the actual reality.

These are not day dreamers, but people who are very rational and logical. It can be said that probably intuition not intellect is the driving factor for them in these situations.

Its like the subtle difference between knowledge and wisdom. As the popular adage goes, Knowledge is knowing that tomato is a fruit, wisdom is not putting in your fruit salad. These leaders have that sense of wisdom or intuition or whatever we want to name it. Definitely in the complex environment of business , its not that straightforward as a tomato in a fruit salad. But somehow these leaders are able to simplify things enabling them to have clarity.

There is something interesting here for project managers who are faced almost daily with challenging situations. When faced with a seemingly insurmountable challenge, it would be wiser to stop and think if really the data points make sense and even if they do, is it worth trying the impossible. At the same time It does not have to be crazy decision akin to asking your teams to deliver something which is really impossible.

Finally, this is not about bullying the team or lying to oneself but inspiring and working with your teams to achieve it together.

Bending the reality to create your vision of success needs to be done together with the teams as they are integral part to making the impossible possible.

Top 10 Critical Success Factors for project success

2012-06-01T01:22:00.001+05:30

As project managers we all look for that secret recipe which will make our projects successful. What are the few key items that we need to be aware and take care of proactively. We look for those elusive Critical Success Factors that can be managed to create an atmosphere conducive for the success of the project. There are scores of lists on the web and dozens of books on this topic but CHAOS success factors (the Standish Group, 2009) stands out among all of them distinctively.

The CHAOS reports (2009) lists the following Success Factors

User Involvement
Executive Support
Clear Business Objectives

Emotional Maturity

Optimization
Agile Process
Project Management Expertise
Skilled Resources
Execution
Tools and Infrastructure.

It is interesting to note that this recent list of Success Factors from the Standish Group is quite different is many ways from their 1995 report.

The CHAOS reports (1995) had the following Success Factors:

User Involvement
Executive Management Support
Clear Statement of Requirements
Proper Planning
Realistic Expectations

Small Project Milestones

Competent Staff
Ownership
Clear Vision and Objectives
Hard working Focused Staff.

While some remained the same, some are no longer in the top ten (clear statement of requirements, realistic expectations, ownership, hard-working focused staff). At the same time new factors have moved into the top ten (emotional maturity, optimization, Agile process, project management expertise, execution, tools and infrastructure).

The identification of Project Management Expertise as a Critical Success Factor responsible for influencing the final outcome of a project is definitely positive news for project management discipline to continue receiving attention and executive sponsorship.

Also the mention of "Execution" is important since time and again it has been shown that well laid plans are of no use if they cannot be executed well. So the focus on Execution is of utmost importance.

Project Managers need to keep this list in mind during the various phases of the project and translate it into specific and actionable items for their own projects based on the relevance and importance of each of the success factor.

There cannot be one single list of top 10 success factors for all projects since projects by definition are unique. But the CHAOS reports definitely provide a good reference point to start identifying what are the top 10 critical success factors for your project.

Escalation – Let’s Do it Right!

2012-04-19T20:51:00.003+05:30

It is 8:00 p.m at night, and Alex has been pushing all day to get some comments from a technical expert on the pre-sales proposal he must submit to the customer by tomorrow morning. The technical expert refuses to provide comments, citing that he is too busy. Alex does not know what to do or who to ask for help. He opens his email client to see who the technical expert reports to, sends out an e-mail asking for intervention and help, and finally goes home, hoping a response will come by the morning. Alex wakes up early the next morning and hurries to the office only to see no response; he is already late submitting the proposal.

What went wrong here? Why didn’t the expected response come?

Well, Alex works in a matrix organization, and the boss to whom he escalated was actually just a people manager. He did see the e-mail on his Blackberry but had no idea what to do with it. With good intention, he flagged it for follow up the next morning but got busy with other things and could only check with the expert in the afternoon, when it was already too late.

Although slightly exaggerated, this is a familiar scenario. Don’t we face similar situations in our work lives when we want to escalate, do escalate, yet nothing happens?

Let us take a deeper look at the phenomenon of escalation: what it is, when it is needed, how it is incorrectly done, often abused and, most importantly, how to do it right.

What is Escalation?

Webster defines escalation as “to increase in extent, volume, number, amount, intensity, or scope.”

In a project management context, escalation means initiating an additional sequence of actions over and above the normal process flow that is required to release a “blockage” or solve an “issue” to achieve a particular objective; in most cases, involving management levels above you to facilitate the resolution.

Typical situations requiring escalation

The situations demanding escalation are as varied as the types of projects. Following are a few of the most common situations faced in the typical workplace:

Resource conflicts – to secure, retain, and engage the most appropriate resources for the project’s needs

Risk to key project indicators – When risk is introduced to one of the key project health indicators — scope, schedule, quality or cost—and that cannot be mitigated without seeking appropriate stakeholder attention and/or approval

Inter-group conflicts – Stakeholders disagreeing over critical issues or priorities that need a relevant authority to mediate and facilitate resolution

Incorrect expectations about roles and responsibilities – to seek clarity in disputes related to roles and responsibilities as seen by different stakeholders.

Escalation is not a dirty word

Escalation does not mean complaining—it is simply the process of bringing attention to an “issue” from the relevant stakeholders who have the authority to facilitate the resolution of the conflict and/or decide on the next steps to be taken.

What prevents us from escalating?

· Fear of conflict
· Lack of confidence because of not having a detailed understanding of the issue(s)
· Protecting someone
· Not sure if it is the right time to escalate
· Not understanding the criticality of the issue(s)

Types of Escalation

Approval – yes/no answer. Often escalation is needed because it is beyond the project manager’s authority to make that decision (e.g., seeking a few-week extension on a project schedule because of a new scope being introduced might need a project sponsor’s approval). The sponsor must make the decision to approve an extension or to reject the new scope.

Mediation needed – A conflict of interest between two groups over a particular issue (e.g., priorities might need someone at a higher level with a broader view of the project/program to address the conflict).

. Information only – This type of escalation is to keep management informed of the potential issues that may arise and that might require their attention in the future.

Knowing when the time is right

Escalation is a double-edged sword: escalating too few issues is as bad as escalating too many. If you escalate very frequently, it may be perceived that either you are not competent at your job or the project is in dire risk. On the other hand, if you rarely escalate, critical issues may be missed and it may be too late for management to step in and facilitate the timely resolution needed.

The following questions can help set the proper context and help guide that decision:

· Have you made a sincere attempt to reach an appropriate resolution and have found that you are at a dead end?
· Is this an issue that your boss would expect you to handle or to escalate?
· Do you have all the appropriate know-how to make the decision, or does another subject matter expert or stakeholder(s) need to be consulted (and that input could change your decision)?
· Can you approach these experts or stakeholders directly (without going through the escalation route) or is escalation the only way to obtain their input?
· Have you exhausted all other options and any further delay could have a detrimental effect on the project outcome/deliverables?

How to do it right

Once it has been concluded that the next step needed in the issue resolution process is indeed escalation, the seven R’s described below can facilitate in going about it in a mature and professional way:

· Right Person – Escalate to the right person with the power to influence, More often than not, when there are problems, people tend to escalate to the bosses. Depending on the issue, oftentimes, the immediate manager may not be the right person to escalate to, especially in a matrix organization. This could become just information for him and he may have to further escalate by finding the right person— something you should have done in the first place. And, in the worst case scenario, he may do nothing about it.

· Right Channel – Escalate via the proper channel. It may not always help to know the right person to escalate to; you must find the right channel to escalate to make sure the person you are escalating to gives the proper attention the issue deserves.

· Right Level – Escalate to an appropriate level. Escalate to the appropriate level in the hierarchy in which there is someone empowered to make the decision or intervene. Escalating a few levels up will not necessarily always solve your problems, because those at the top may send the same e-mails down to a lower-level employees anyway.

· Right Problem – State the problem very clearly. Provide another concise summary of the problem and also indicate where detailed information can be found. Do not assume that the people you are escalating to have the required background information.

· Right Needs – State explicitly what you need. Don’t leave any ambiguity; clearly and explicitly, indicate what you expect from the person to whom you are escalating to get what you want, and more importantly, when you need it and the impact/consequences if the expected action is not taken in time.

· Right Follow up. Follow up, even after sending that e-mail and/or making the telephone call—do not assume that when you escalate, the ball is now in their court. Escalation is a means of issue resolution. As a project manager, you still own the issue and the ball is still in your court.

· Last, but not the least, Right Communication. Use appropriate, respectful content and escalate in a mature and respectful manner. Harsh e-mails and/or telephone calls and inappropriate behavior complicate more things than they solve. Always remember that resolution of the “issue” is of utmost importance and this is what must be highlighted in such communication.

Going back to our case study in the beginning of this article—a few proactive measures from Alex probably would have ensured that he would have been able to submit the proposal on time. These proactive measures are as follows:

· Instead of waiting until 8:00 p.m. that night, it probably would have been wiser to make that decision much earlier, during office hours, to stop pushing that expert himself and seek escalation.
· Instead of blindly sending the e-mail to his boss, a few telephone calls to the right people would have probably gotten him the right person to influence the technical expert’s priorities.
· An issue summary would have given the people manager some background information to get the right people to set the correct priorities for the expert.
· Explicit communication about the urgency of the situation, and the impact if a response had not been received within a stipulated period, might have triggered a much faster response from the people manager.

After all is said and done, as with any other activity in project management, escalation is as much of an art as it is a science. Following a few best practices helps us avoid the most common pitfalls.

A little more attention, discretion, and thought given before and during an escalation will go a long way in achieving a more amicable and favorable response; eventually, this will contribute in a significant way to managing the six constraints of scope, time, cost, quality, risk, and resources in the project in the most effective and efficient way.

To quote Andrew Sparks from one of his blogs,

Escalation in a project is like driving a car with manual transmission.

You can drive everywhere in second gear, but it is bad for the engine, makes a lot of noise, and it's just plain inefficient.

Changing gear up or down at the appropriate time delivers a smoother ride for everyone.

(Note: The article was first published on www.pmi.org by the same author)

Cost of Poor Quality - Are you ready for a treasure hunt?

2012-04-08T21:08:00.004+05:30

Quality is an integral function of projects these days. At a conceptual level, it is really simple. You are supposed to ensure "conformance to requirements". Going by the simplistic representation in the project management triangle, controlling scope, schedule and cost will lead to the expected quality. But we hardly live in an ideal world and every project manager is aware of the complexities involved in balancing the triple constraint. A full understanding of the "cost of quality" is therefore essential to make the right decisions.

Cost of quality is not just the cost associated with the maintenance of quality or ensuring the "conformance to requirements" as the words would imply, but also the costs incurred because the product or service was not done right first time. Philip Crosby refers to this as cost of good quality and cost of poor quality respectively in his book "Quality is Free".

Some of these costs are more obvious and visible like rejections at customer site, rework, repair costs etc. They represent only tip of the iceberg. Many of the other costs of quality are hidden below the surface of the water in the iceberg and are difficult to identify by formal measurement systems.

Project managers while doing the great balancing act need to be aware of these as well and take them into consideration. Many of these create conflicting situations where one needs to be sacrificed for the other. e.g. In order to avoid late penalties because of missing the planned schedule, employees could be requested to work overtime. However the cost of working overtime needs to be weighed against the late penalties. If the cost is higher, financially it would not make much sense to call for the overtime but considering additional aspects like further delay in project and/or customer dissatisfaction, decision could be made to work overtime regardless of it being higher cost.

It is practically impossible to discover all the hidden factors or take them into consideration while making decisions; but the Pareto principle can be of use here. Project managers need to find the 20% that impact the 80%. Projects are unique by nature. So these high impact items will vary from one project to another.

Most of these 20% are unlikely to be on the tip of the iceberg. They are deep down there in the water. It is important to dive deep and dig beneath the iceberg to discover the real hidden problems. Once the real problems are discovered, handling them is a less complicated affair. Fixing some of them yields savings that were unthinkable - like unearthing a hidden treasure. Of course not all problems can be fixed but the awareness helps to address them minimizing the impact to the best possible.

The journey is definitely not simple nor straightforward but its definitely worth it. It’s a treasure hunt - exciting, full of challenges and risks - but most important - highly rewarding.

Freedom from Tyranny of the Urgent - Let the journey begin

2012-04-01T01:03:00.002+05:30

Have you ever wished for a thirty-hour day?

Charles E. Hummel's classic 1967 essay "Tyranny of the urgent" starts with this fundamental question. As project managers all of us have been through times when the 24 hours in the day don’t seem enough. We wish for a few more hours to finish all the tasks, clear the pileup of emails, spend time with our friends or family or simply catch up on some sleep.

The extra time would relieve us of the tremendous stress under which we live in such times. But would it really solve our worries. Or is it just a wish that even if granted would lead us to nothing.

As Hummel points out, our dilemma is deeper than the shortage of time; it is basically the problem of priorities. We constantly struggle to maintain the balance between the urgent and the important. The tyranny of the urgent makes sure that the important is clouded out and put to the backburner. Doing detailed planning for the upcoming phase is very important but a critical milestone tomorrow is at risk too and more often than not, there is no choice but to focus on the urgent leaving the important unattended - till it becomes urgent.

This is such an irony. If more important things were handled on time when they should be, then we would have less urgent but we don’t and so we have the opposite. The important are postponed time again for the urgent, creating more urgent ones.

We have become slaves to the tyranny of the urgent . We need to break the jinx and be free.

But is there an escape from this? Is there a way to turn the wheel and move from the cycle of waste to the cycle of value?

There are no quick formulas. Everyone will need to find their own path but a few pointers could help.

Become Aware - Knowing and realizing there is a problem is the first and the most important step. Observe yourself and take a minute before jumping into a new urgent task that hits.

Ask the right questions - It does not have to be a detailed analysis always. Most of the time just pausing and asking the right questions and introspecting will help to identify and choose the important from the urgent.

Evaluate and Introspect - C.H Greenwalt, when he was President of DuPont, said, "One minute spent in planning saves three or four minutes in execution.". Every week we need to plan a time when to introspect on overall priorities, upcoming activities and identify what could be become urgent in coming weeks. The need to stop and plan cannot be over emphasized.

Continue the effort - It wont happen suddenly and definitely not overnight. Be patient. We need to keep on the path and continue to chose important more often. It’s a habit and it will take time to be free from it.

Urgent cannot be wished away - We will not always be able to choose important over urgent. The reality of life exists and cannot be wished away. Making the differentiation between the seemingly urgent and the real urgent would give us more time.

We will never be able to focus on all the important ones neither handle all the urgent. The key to freedom from the tyranny is to find the balance and tilt the weighing scale on the side of the important.

Let the journey begin.

Happy Independence !!

References:

"Tyranny of the Urgent" essay by Charles Hummel 1967

Image courtesy : Arjan Richter

The Unofficial Duties of a Project Manager

2012-03-25T07:27:00.003+05:30

A project manager plays several roles during the lifecycle of a project. They need to wear different hats to ensure that each and every situation has the best possible response under the given circumstances.

Mr. Gary Hearkens in his brief case book entitled “Project Management" mentions four "four unofficial duties of a project manager" - babysitter, salesperson, teacher and friend. Let us discuss these briefly and also the two I would like to add - Police and Judge.

Babysitter - Certain team members would require close guidance and/or detailed instructions. This could be for several reasons - some of them being new to the team, under qualified for the role they are playing, lack of confidence or simply they like to seek attention.

Salesperson - The project manager has to be a salesperson often. Sometimes he could be selling to the management why he needs more resources urgently or to the customer why the things they demand are part of additional scope and would require change management. The situations are plenty demanding sales skills and this is an important skill the project manager must develop.

Teacher - The project manager is a teacher or mentor to the new team member who join the project or sometimes the organization. This is a hat the project manager must continuously have on and help the other team members improve their skills and learn from the project manager's experience. This must be judiciously done though as some team members may view continuous advice negatively. But still growing a team yields positive results for the project, organization and also enhances the project's manager reputation as someone great to work with - in turn contributing to project success.

Friend - This is the most tricky one. Having friendships and professional relationships with the same people is at times challenging. Still having an open and informal line of communication with your team helps the project manager bond more easily with the team. A team with a strong bonding has a higher chance of success.

Police - The project manager sometimes is required to constrain team members from activities that impact the project negatively - much against the wishes of these team members - but because it is in the better interest of the project.

Judge - Be it issues related to change management, quality or interpersonal disputes within team members, more likely than not, the project manager would be the first point of escalation for these. Depending on the situation, the project manager must know when to "judge" and when to not. e.g. In a matrix organization, it would be better to let the appropriate authority handle interpersonal issues if they are not directly related to the project.

Not all are required in all projects and not everyone can play all of these effectively. It also is a matter of personal skill and orientation as well as the team dynamics that exist in a project. Every project manager must evaluate for himself/herself what best works for them in a given situation and apply accordingly.

Project Management ecosystem - 5 key influencing elements

2012-03-18T01:07:00.000+05:30

Project managers - novice and seasoned - continuously strive to manage the triple constraints of scope, time and cost to ensure project success. But no man is an island and neither are projects. These constraints cannot be kept in control unless the project manager fully understands the ecosystem in which he/she is operating and able to influence the factors in a way to minimize the risks and optimize the opportunities - thereby enabling project success.

Let us have a brief look at the five key elements that comprise and influence the project management ecosystem.

Organization - Several organizational factors influence the project manager ecosystem like

the maturity of the project management office and their involvement/support for the project.
internal stakeholder expectations from the project
external stakeholder expectation from the project and/or organization.
Priority of the project within other projects in the organization

People - A project manager needs to ensure that he has the team with the right skills to execute the project. Any gaps in knowledge must be appropriately addressed either by training the team or other mechanisms. The team must work together as a unit and any issues which affect individual or team performance must be addressed immediately. The project teams must be culturally sensitive to the environment in which project is being executed and with their fellow team members for projects which involve people from disparate backgrounds.

Processes - The processes in the executing organization and the customer need to be aligned to ensure that there is a common baseline for the project agreed with all stakeholders.

Technology and tools - The technological maturity of the performing organization and the tools available for the project manager and his teams are also a significant influence. e.g. for most projects, the choice of project management software to be used in a project is generally decided by what the organization already has and not on a per project basis.

Psychological contract - The psychological contract is the set of unwritten expectations that an organization

and an individual member of that organization will have from the project. e.g. A key member of the project team is probably putting in his 110% because he is expecting a promotion soon or an organization hopes that doing this project well will bring it more contracts in same region. The project manager needs to be aware of such unwritten expectation to be able to effectively handle complications that could arise out of them.

Knowing a problem is the first step in solving it. Awareness of these factors that influence the triple constraints - directly or indirectly - are essential for every project manager to survive and succeed in the project management ecosystem.

Project management Ecosystem 5 key influencing elements

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Say NO to Gold plating and YES to Innovation

2012-03-14T16:29:00.001+05:30

Our friend, Alex – the project manager got some stern looks from senior manager Martha for proposing a new feature beyond the agreed scope in a customer meeting. The new feature is going to take some time and effort to implement if the customer will decide to go for it. What Alex just did was requirement gold plating and she is opposed to any kind of gold plating in her projects. Let us take a look at this in a bit more detail.

Gold plating as per the definition is committing or continuing to work on a project or task well past the point where the extra effort is worth the value it adds.

There are two types of gold plating - Requirement gold plating and developer gold plating.

Developer gold plating refers to a situation where after having met the requirements, the developer works on further enhancing the product, thinking the customer would be delighted to see additional or more polished features, rather than what was asked for or expected.

Requirement gold plating on the other hand, is mainly done by the project manager or those involved in scope related discussions. The scope is enhanced by suggesting to the client more than was requested / required and committing to it without additional cost / effort.

Gold plating is considered by many as a bad project management practice. The goal of a project is to deliver primarily on the aspects of scope, time, cost and quality. Addition of scope introduces additional level of risk in the project because it is a deviation from the original plan and might require additional time and effort to complete the project. In the context of gold plating, since it is "given" to the customer and not "demanded", it’s unlikely that the customer is going to pay more for these "added benefits".

This works perfectly in a world where we want a satisfied customer - give the customer what he asked for. Many argue though that this does not hold true in the world of today - there are so many players in each industry and the barrier to entry of new players is so low - that customer satisfaction is not enough. For them to place those repeat orders in our books or to recommend us to future prospects, customers need to feel delighted. Exceeding customer expectations is a norm for winners today and project managers must keep this in mind when delivering projects.

In this context - delivering more - is a desirable trait and would be welcome. Then why is gold plating considered evil? The proponents of these arguments are missing an important point in the definition of gold plating. Good project management practices are not against customer delight or innovation. Customer delight would only happen if there is real benefit to the business by value addition. Enhancements to scope done just for the sake of giving some freebies or for other reasons are not welcome when they don’t add value. Customers are not going to be pleased at getting something they did not ask for and is not in line with their vision of outcome for the product or service they ordered. But innovation/enhancements done keeping all stakeholders in the loop and which complement and enhance the fundamental product or service that is being delivered out of the project cannot be termed as gold plating. It is innovation, value addition or whatever else someone wants to call it - but that is not gold plating.

So the definition of gold plating still holds - additional work done unilaterally by the seller which does not equal to the worth of value it adds is gold plating and it makes perfect sense.Going back to our example, let us hope that Alex's suggestion would bring real value to the customer and will get considered as innovation and not gold plating.

To conclude, project management practices which advocate gold plating represent a philosophy which says that we need to focus on things that add value to customer, be in-line with all stakeholder expectations and do not risk the project in an adverse way. It is in no way a barrier to innovation or for doing more with less.

It simply means - Be disciplined, do controlled innovation but don’t let those horses run wild.

Tired and Bored @ Work - Find your way out of the rut

2012-03-10T08:19:00.000+05:30

Alex is a middle manager who seems stuck in his job forever. His boss has been in the position for years and there is slim chance of her moving anywhere. This leaves him little opportunity for growth to next level in his department. There are probably other departments that may have positions but it seems there is already a queue of talented and eligible people out there and finding a one that matches his skills and interests is not an easy task either. He is frustrated, angry and unhappy yet he doesn’t want to create a lot of instability in life by looking for a completely new job. The organization he has been working for many years does not seem that bad but something is in a rut and he cant figure out what.

Is this a familiar scenario. Many of us relate to it , isn't it?

In this complicated business environment, vertical growth is not always easy. It will not happen automatically or in its natural course, at least not for most people.

This is a challenging life stage but its like a maze. We need to use some skill to come out of it or could be lost there forever - frustrated, angry and unhappy.

The first step in this journey is self introspection. We need to introspect and look at things which really drive and influence us.

Drivers and Influencers

Looking at the drivers of our aspirations, there are a few obvious and a few not so obvious ones

The obvious ones are better job security, financial prospects and lifestyle. The not so obvious ones and maybe the real drivers in many cases are things like if not getting that promotion, do we feel we are not getting our due recognition , does that boss/organization really appreciate the contribution I am doing.

Another could be that however interesting the job is, doing it over and over for a period of time has created boredom and all we really need is a change, do something new, get a breath of fresh air.

The task here is to find what really drives us and will motivate us to want to come to the workplace.

Effects and Impacts

The situation needs to be solved to ensure that it does not have negative impact on our overall well being. For employees who feel they are in a rut with nowhere to get out; the effects on the body and mind could be damaging. Many time such employees would feel tired at the beginning of the day and just carry on with their duties in a mechanical way, doing just enough to sustain. This is the classic negative spiral - some may accept the situation and lead a life with unrealized potential. The more worrisome ones some get very deep into it. Unhappiness in the job affects other spheres of their lives as well - especially relationships aggravating the situation. Its like having a flat tyre in your car. Instead of fixing that one, they go about puncturing the rest.

Most common response

Most common response to such a situation is job change - internally or externally - because that is where we believe the problem is. It is easy to attribute the problems to a crazy boss or stagnant organization - in our view. Our view may or may not be correct. But this is the easy way out - look elsewhere for a job change and change the situation temporarily. This more often than not results in a similar situation that was left behind - because the fundamental problem was not fixed. This is like taking pain killers. It would relieve you of your immediate pain, but does not cure the disease and if done more often - has long term negative impacts. So we need to find a permanent way out.

The Way Out

Coming out of such a situation requires determination and effort and a some structured focus and organization would help

The first and foremost being acceptance - if your boss is not going to move for whatever reasons he/she might have, you have to accept the person as he is. He might not really be the villain, just has his priorities set differently. if your organization growth trajectory is not creating enough opportunities for senior positions to be added, you have to accept the situation as it is. It is not easy but nevertheless it needs to be done. This acceptance of the situation on the ground is the first step and the most important one.

Analyze - Introspect and analyze if the situation is really what you think it to be. Human beings highly emotional as they are don’t always see a situation with the facts, it is through a clouded glass with layers of emotions, prejudices and opinions.

Maybe it is not as bad as it seems and there is hope. You have to also analyze what you are really looking for, what your constraints are and what are the priorities. Will that much sought after promotion really make you happy? Why are you really looking for that international assignment? Is this just a façade and the real satisfaction would come from something else. Essentially you need to find what really motivates you to be able to take on the next step - strategize.

Strategize - Once we have made a clear analysis of the situation based on facts, next step is to plan a response. But before we work out the nitty-gritties of a detailed response, we need to lay out a clear strategy. Don’t we do this for the projects/programs we lead? We need to do the same - for the most important project we have undertaken. The strategy needs to be laid out first - it could be that you discover that there are hidden opportunities in your organization itself. Either you decide to explore those or you decide that something as drastic as exploring options outside your organization/industry is needed. For some it could even be exploring their ideas to start new ventures.

Plan - Once you have a clear strategy, you need to work out the plan of how to achieve what you really want. Day dreaming is not going to help. Let says your analysis says your real motivator is not the promotion but the need for recognition and the strategy you build is to achieve this by becoming a writer. Just dreaming of it wont help, you need to go to the details. Think out in detail what are the subjects you will write about, who will your target audience be, research and plan how you are going to get there. Will it be a blog or a article or a book ? You need to plan the details.

Execute - This brings us to the crux of it. You need to execute. You need to put your heart and soul into getting what you really want. Execution is the difference between those who achieve and those who day dream.

Conclusion

To all those out there for whom it seems "stuck in a rut", there are enough real problems around you waiting to be solved. All you need to do is be observant and find the one which really motivates you to do something about it. Put on your creative hats and if you could do something meaningful about it, this could be your ticket out of the rut. Success and the paraphernalia attached to it - are a byproduct - so they cant stay far any-ways.

Attitude reflects Leadership

2012-03-06T15:48:00.000+05:30

Do you remember this scene from the epic movie “Remember the Titans” ?

The captain and the vice-captain are discussing their team. The captain expresses his displeasure at the way the vice-captain's team mates are not contributing at practice. The vice captain then goes on to say the now famous line - "Attitude reflects leadership - captain"

Have you come across this in your projects? You start noticing a certain attitude in your project teams. If and when you dig deeper, you realize that is the attitude the project leadership have been conveying indirectly to the people.

This could be as simplistic as not turning up for meetings on time to serious issues like overlooking risks that could jeopardize the project. As a leader, the project manager is in a very important position. He is the face of the project. How he/she thinks and acts plays an important influencing factor for the team attitude. A project manager who has a winning attitude and believes sincerely the project will be a resounding success sends down a strong message to the team in his actions that motivate the team to face up any adversity.

During the D-day landings of world war 2 on Utah beach, Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. soon realized they had landed on the wrong beach. With wave after wave of ships and men pouring amidst German gunfire, he had to make a quick decision. There were two options: either move up the beach to the correct landing area; or to attack inland from their current location. He chose the second option and is famously quoted as allegedly saying, "Well, then we'll start the war from right here." And he not just said it but stood there for hours with a cane in his hand directing and ensuring that the change in plan was communicated to all and made effective . He conveyed through his words and actions that he believed that the best course of action now was the way he suggested and rest is history.

Project managers as leaders need to live the values they believe in and they will see that reflected in the attitudes of their teams. It is akin to the what you sow you get. You sow trust and confidence and you will get that back in return. You show seriousness in planning and quality and the team will respond accordingly.

Many times projects are failing not just because of the challenges - which are real, but also because the project leadership themselves do not exhibit confidence and maturity in tackling them. There are ad-hoc and half-hearted responses. It does not take long for the ripple effect to spread across the team.

Project leaders need to be aware about the message that is being communicated in the meetings, emails, management interactions with the team and keep a pulse of the drivers affecting team attitude. If one of the leaders is sending out a wrong message, appropriate actions must be taken to correct it.

Ensuring that you and the team have the right attitude keeps the team together and a team which works together, delivers wonders !!!

What makes a Great Project Manager?

2012-03-03T16:32:00.001+05:30

Project management as a profession has been around for many years now. Organizations take so much effort and spend a lot in project manager certifications and training. Still there are few things that cannot be taught in a training room.

Either you have them naturally or learn it in the school of hard knocks.

Below is our list of the top 8 attributes / characteristics that could make a great project manager.

Complete the dots - Project managers always work with limited set of information. They need to make decisions often based on what information they have and the situation and cannot wait for the complete analysis to happen and picture to emerge. The ability to anticipate how things will turn - completing the dots when things are hazy - ensures that risks are realized well in advance and mitigated.

Set clear direction - Great project managers set clear goals for their teams - especially in the times when there are several challenges. The teams have a clear picture of what is expected enabling them to focus and deliver that.

Excellent communicators - Communication is key and the way to talk is only a smart part of it. Great project managers know how to address the right things in the right way for their audience based on the context. They more often than not use multiple modes of communication - email, phone calls, meetings, status reports and so on to engage their stakeholders in a positive way.

Adaptable - They are not hardliners and willing to consider change in the scheme of things if its in the best interest of the project. They use common sense and are more sensitive and aware about the real situation on the ground. They have the aerial view but also have the foot soldier view at the same time giving them ability to take logical and pragmatic decisions to resolve deadlocks and complex bottlenecks.

Instill collaboration and team spirit - They are able to cut across the barriers between departments and people and create a spirit of collaboration and team within the project . The spirit of collaboration and the team bonding induces a positive atmosphere in the project motivating the teams to strive to succeed despite the challenges that could be.

Organized - Last but not the least, they are organized themselves. They are able to stay focused and not lose sight of the goal in the flurry of information and issues that are so typical for a project manager. They are able to prioritize and go for the challenges in a methodical and organized way.

Influence without Authority - Project teams are more often than not matrix based and the project manager needs to work with several stakeholders over whom he may not have direct authority. The ability to influence these stakeholders and align them with the project needs and strategic direction is a key differentiator.

Practical and Good Decision makers - They are realists and aware that not all problems will be solved. With the ability to complete the dots, they are able to decide much faster when its time to look for alternatives.

Not a exhaustive list but have these and increase your chances to deliver your project successfully.

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Be the winner !!!

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10000 hour rule of success - Does it apply to project managers?

2012-02-29T22:16:00.000+05:30

In Outliers: The story of success, Malcolm Gladwell examines the factors that contribute to high levels of success using examples from Canadian ice hockey players to Bill Gates and the Beatles. Throughout this book, he claims that the key to success in any field, is to a large extent, a matter of practicing a specific task for a total of around 10000 hours.

There is enough debate already on the authenticity of this claim with viewpoints ranging from people who says its rubbish to those who vouch for it. Let us look at it in the context of project managers if it makes sense. What does it take to be a "expert" project manager?

PMI eligibility criteria for PMP is 4500 hours of project management experience - which could be gained in roughly 3-5 years depending on the kind of project management role you have. So if we will assume that the 10000 hour rule is right, what we have by now is a semi-expert project manager. PMI certification helps to bring additional knowledge but does not really count as work experience. If we will go with Gladwell's theory, the project manager needs to put another 4-5 years in the profession before he is considered as an expert. So for a project manager to become an expert its somewhere between 8-10 years.

This is in line with Gladwell's theory. That would be in my opinion as well, a general time frame to have a relatively experienced project manager who would be considered expert in his profession. There will always be exceptions - on either side of the spectrum - the stars who don’t need that much time to become expert and the below average ones who might take much longer to become that expert.

Of course this is not to say that just putting in the hours is all. Success depends on a host of other factors which influence - your passion, commitment, learning ability, adaptability, perseverance and so on. Also the 10000 hours have to be really made productive and not just passage of time.

The definition of expert itself is subjective but we will take a simplistic view of things here and consider expert as someone who is able to carry on the role independently with experienced guidance and can mentor others in the field.

Still if we will take a simplistic view of things, I see logic in Gladwell's theory and the 10000 hour rule of success. The time frame of 10000 hours to become an expert project manager seems reasonable and practical.

And finally even if the exact amount of hours would be debatable, still it helps to convey an important point - you need to put in the hours to succeed, there's no alternative to it.

Project teams working from home - the ground rules

2012-02-28T19:14:00.000+05:30

In the Web 2.0 world, the traditional concepts of the workplace are changing. For some, jobs are still 9-5 but not for all. For many of us, connected via the blackberry and the IPhone , we carry work everywhere we go. A lot of thought process is going on recently if employees can be allowed to work from home fully or partially.

Fro project management perspective, I would rephrase the question. It is to understand if a project can be run successfully with its team - fully or partially - working from home.

My view is - yes we can - provided we follow certain ground rules.

Not every one can work from home - It depends on what kind of role you are playing in the project. If you are solution architect and need to have lengthy discussions with the customer, that would be better done in the office than on the phone. Of course if the customer prefers to do it on the phone (because he/she is working from home ;) or in a different location ) then it’s a different story. If you are a developer who gets a piece of code to write and all you need to do is finish that part in isolation, you are ideal candidate for work from home.

Not every time you can work from home - It also depends on what phase or situation of the project you are in. If it’s the early stages where much work is happening in isolation, work from home is probably okay. But if you are going to rollout tonight a major system, the customer ( and your management as well ) would be happier to see the right people in office. So deciding when its okay and when its not okay to work from home is crucial.

Focus and Commitment - This is all about personal commitment. You are working from home - working - its not vacation. I once had a colleague who sent me a mail she is working from home today because she is sick. I call her up at 11 am and all I hear is screams. She was at the local fish market. We have to be sensitive to the demands of work. In case if you really want flexible hours, it would be appropriate to agree them first with the relevant people.

Buy in from the entire team - It wont help if some members of the team believe in the concept of work from home and some don't. Even if they don’t they need to respect the decisions of those who choose to work from home and not create problems for them by insisting on face-to-face discussions when its really not required.

Personal hours - This is for the managers. Working from home does not mean employee is available 24x7. There are still work times and personal times. Be sensitive to your people.

Use Web 2.0 collaboration tools - We are not living in the 70's anymore. There are so many collaboration tools available to ease and make the location transparent. I have many times worked from home and if I would not tell anyone, no one would know. Exploit technology.

At the end of the day its for the project management team to decide what works best for their project. Though working from home provides an added incentive to having motivated employees.

Motivated employees can be a big contributing factor for project success - so give it a thought for your projects.

Virtual teams - Get the best out of them

2012-02-26T00:59:00.002+05:30

We live in an era where globalization has been deeply entrenched in all aspects of life - let alone the workspace. Corporations have become truly global and need to have presence in local markets across the globe to sell their products across geographies. Talent is spread across the world and its needed to go global and setup local units to tap into this rich pool. The advantages of cost competitiveness are always there when a firms sets up units in locations with better cost advantages.

This brings us all to a reality where we need to work on a daily basis with people spread half way across the globe - maybe not always that far, but at least not in the same office that we go to.

Welcome to virtual teams.

Let us see what characterizes a virtual team.

A virtual team is separated by space, time and/or cultural boundaries.
They interact primarily by means of electronic media.

Face to face meetings seldom or never take place. There have been instances where people work together for years without ever having physically met each other.

Individual reputation and performance is measured more by the end results than the effort - since its not immediately and always visible. Its more easy to appreciate an employee sitting across your cubicle sitting whole night and seeing his tired face than someone far off whom you have never met.

Still a virtual team has a common goal and shares responsibility for the task.

There is nothing like having a co-located team but since virtual teams are a business necessity , we need to learn to work with them. A few key principles if observed and some best practices followed will go a long way in ensuring that we bridge the gap and make sure that the "virtual" or "remote" factor does not affect the project in adverse ways. Many of these are based on common sense and are obvious but well here they are. Hope they will be of help to all.

The Golden rule

Never write if you can speak

Never speak if you can nod

Never nod if you can wink

The above quote from an American politician Martin Lomasney sums up an unwritten golden rule common in regular communication. This rule is great in regular face to face communication, but for projects and especially in the virtual team context, it presents a big challenge. A large part of our communication is using body language but this key aspect is absent in these conversations which may just be on phone or email. It is essential therefore that written conversation be more elaborate and explicit to bridge the gap. Of course video conferencing helps to address this to some extent but it has its own limitations and cannot be used for each and every interaction.

So the golden rule for virtual teams is If its not written, it doesn't exist.

No water cooler

The biggest problem with a virtual environment is that there is no water cooler. We all know many a times the real conversation does not happen in the meeting but in the informal discussions before and after the meetings - in pantries, in a coffee shop or just in the alley. This is absent in the virtual team. It is not easy to address this gap but we can take some help from technology.

It is essential to use all the means of communication available effectively; to their full potential and switch between them as appropriate.

Means of communication

Conference calls

A very common medium for meetings but how often have we been troubled by a speaker who is in a noisy environment and does not put himself/herself of mute. Its disturbing and annoying. So take some effort to find out how that mute works on your phone or on the conference. I can promise you, others are going to appreciate it. You can always unmute when you have to speak.

Email

Another common communication medium these days but how many times have we got a really long email, so long that by the time we finish it, we forget what the sender actually wants us to do.

A few simple tips here will go a long way in using this powerful medium effectively.

If you send an email with several unrelated questions, typically one gets answered. If items are unrelated, it would be more appropriate to send separate mails, so people can respond for the items that they can whenever they can. Many times the sender might wait to be able to respond to all issues before answering delaying the overall response time.

If your email is more than a page long, think twice, maybe you need to put that information to a document – word, excel or PowerPoint and summarize in the email. This is more relevant especially in situations where we want response from one or two people but many people are in the CC (Oh ! How we love to CC everyone we know). For the people in CC, summary would be enough and the one who need to action on it, will refer to the document anyways.

Instant messaging

IMs are somewhere between an email and a telephone conversation. An important tip here would be to realize when the IM conversation goes on for more than few minutes. Probably its time to pick up the phone now.

1-on-1 phone call

Avoid using a speaker phone especially if you are in a noisy environment. If more than 3 people need to talk, it would be more appropriate to use conferencing bridge. If a person does not answer your call or keeps ignoring, accept the fact that the person may be genuinely busy (maybe he is not and does not like you ;) but well, lets think positive). Send an SMS citing the urgency and request a callback. Be sensitive to the hour of the day if you are working in different time zones.

Collaboration tools

Technology is here to help us. Use collaboration tools available in your organization - remote desktops, screen sharing etc.

Effective virtual team meetings

The basics of great meetings would still apply

Have an agenda and publish it to all BEFORE the meeting

Make sure the “other” side understood what you said – ask them to summarize to confirm the understanding

Issue a minutes of meeting about decisions and action items – even if its just a mail

Replace visual cues

Others cant see you nodding in agreement or shaking your head in disagreement. Verbalize what you want to say
If you need to have a side conversation with someone locally, state it.

Share the bad times

Many virtual meetings cross time zones. If possible share the time zones. If not, make sure the other person understand why its not possible.

Use screen sharing to share notes

Provide a common visual reference point – share your desktop
Helps everyone see what is being said. It also helps remember more effectively.
Facilitates further discussion
Avoid issues of mis-hearing

Don’t use virtual meetings for things they are not designed to handle

Multi hour virtual meetings are hard – split them

Issues that are contentious or have major impact on people e.g. asking someone to come on weekend.

In such cases, talk with the local manager if there is one and he may be in better position to communicate such things. In case no option, be sensitive.

Culture differences

If possible, learning a little bit about the cultural background of your team members will help to gel with them much better because then you understand why they are what they are. There are no stereotypes but every culture has its plusses and minuses. Knowing and becoming aware of them helps to collaborate more effectively.

Leadership

Last but not the least, for the leaders of virtual teams, motivation and evaluations of performance are more difficult in virtual teams. Not to say they are easy in the conventional ones, but remote co-workers and teams compound the challenges. Its difficult to interpret delays in response, unreturned phone calls and hesitancy in answering. Before coming to final conclusions, it would be wise to cross check and validate.

Virtual team managers cannot solely rely on the output, they need to act as coach as well - to see the effort behind the output, especially in case of failures. Because behavior of the team members are less visible, they need to be sensitive to other signals. Its easier said than done but awareness goes a long way in reaching the goal.

Conclusion

Virtual teams are a business necessity . There is value in learning to work effectively in this medium and get the interactions as close to co-located team as possible.

Of course we don't have a water cooler in the virtual world - at least not yet.

Virtual teams - get the best out of them

View more presentations from managingtheproject.

Occam's razor

2012-02-24T09:00:00.001+05:30

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Occam's razor, also known as Ockham's razor, and sometimes expressed in Latin as lex parsimoniae (the law of parsimony, economy or succinctness), is a principle that generally recommends that, from among competing hypotheses, selecting the one that makes the fewest new assumptions usually provides the correct one, and that the simplest explanation will be the most plausible until evidence is presented to prove it false.

In other words, the simplest explanation is usually the more correct one.

Where is it used?

It could find applications at every stage in the life cycle of a project. It could help in keeping decision making simple and uncomplicated. It can help in simplifying project management processes, tools, conflict resolution and everything in general. The possibilities are only unlimited.

Why is it important?

Many times we as project managers tend to have a one size fits all approach to many of the complex problems we need to solve on a daily basis. Things are never too simple but given the choice, choosing the simpler of the two is the most logical choice. The factors for deciding the simplicity will vary depending on the situation or task at hand. But as the definition of Occam's razor says, given everything else is same, simpler is definitely better.

Word of caution

Occam's razor is many times used to shift the burden of proof in discussions. Not in all situations, the simplest answer is the most correct answer. We must always remember that the simplest answer is the best "given everything else is equal".

Differences between Projects, Programs and Portfolio

2012-02-22T23:45:00.000+05:30

For the ones who know, its obvious, but for those who dont, a little help is good. Given below is my attempt to explain the basic differences between Projects, Programs and Portfolio.

	Projects	Programs	Portfolio
Definition	(ISO) A project is a unique process consisting of a set of co-ordinated and controlled activities with start and finish dates, undertaken to achieve an objective conforming to specific requirements including the constraints of time, cost and resources. (PMI) A temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service or result.	(PMI) A group of related projects managed in a coordinated way to obtain benefits and control not available from managing them individually. Programs may include elements of related work outside of the scope of discrete projects in the program.	(PMI) A collection of projects or programs and other work that are grouped together to facilitate effective management of that work to meet strategic business objectives. The projects or programs of the portfolio may not necessarily be interdependent or directly related.
Example	Integration of HR system with Oracle apps	IT Transformation program	NASA's space program
Scope	Have defined objectives and scope is progressively elaborated during the project life cycle.	Wider scope compared to projects and more focused on the benefits	The scope is driven by the strategic business objective that the portfolio is created to address.
Success criteria	Success is measured by the product and project quality, timeliness, budget compliance, and degree of customer satisfaction.	Success is measured by the degree to which the program satisfies the needs and benefits for which it was undertaken.	Success is measured in terms of aggregate performance of portfolio components and on the long term value creation to investors and stakeholders.
Schedule	Project schedule is the time taken create the deliverables expected out of the project	Program schedule is essentially the aggregation of the schedule of the program components	Portfolio does not have a schedule. Individual program/projects that facilitate achieving the business objectives will have their respective schedules,
Risk Management	Risks are typically considered as threats.	Risks are considered as opportunities but sometimes as threats also.	Risks are considered as deviation from stakeholder expectations and managed through portfolio balance.
Monitoring and Control	Project manager directly monitors and controls the activities and deliverables.	Program manager uses program governance mechanism for monitoring and control.	Portfolio manager monitors the aggregated performance and value indicators.
Leadership style	Mainly execution oriented, Project manager is part of the team.	Program manager is the leader with the vision and aids in relationship and conflict management	Portfolio managers add value to the portfolio decisions

Managing Projects and Herzberg's two factor theory

2012-02-20T00:54:00.000+05:30

The topic of interest today is what has more prominence in project management - methodology or intuition. Let us make an attempt to answer this using an analogy to Herzberg's two factor theory.

For those not familiar with Herzberg's two factor theory, it is as follows:
The theory (also known as Herzberg's motivation-hygiene theory and Dual-Factor Theory) states that there are certain factors called as the motivational factors in the workplace that cause job satisfaction, while a separate set of factors cause dissatisfaction and termed as the hygiene factors. It was developed by Frederick Herzberg, a psychologist, who theorized that job satisfaction and job dissatisfaction act independently of each other. (for more refer to Two factor theory on wikipedia)
in simple words it means that presence of motivation factors enhances performance and absence of hygiene factors decreases performance.

In a similar way, Methodology and Intuition though independent of each other have an influence on the end outcome. Absence of relevant methodology would not get you project success as it is akin to the hygience factors. Intuition on the other hand which is generally based on years of experience or could be a natural gift is a kind of motivational factor. It enhances chances of your success but still you need to have that backbone of methodology on which you stand.

So both are essential and have their rightful place. Methodology tells you what are the things you must do to achieve a certain objective and intuition tells you what is the right thing to do provided the circumstances. Both are complementary to each other and not in conflict.

New managers would rely more on methodology which is the collective experience of the domain since he/she have yet to develop that "intuition' when you simply know something's going to work and something is not.

Seasoned project managers still use the methodology, they don't just probably realize it as much since its hard-wired in them.

All said and done, project management is both an art and a science. The key is to finding the right balance between the two and making that "right" judgement.