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• Project Management – Gaining Buy-in for the Methodology During Execution
• Project Management – Helping your team to value the methodology
• Project Management for Small Projects – Simplify the Methodology
• Project Management – Managing Your Team Workload
• New release: Version 8.1

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Project Management – Gaining Buy-in for the Methodology During Execution Written on January 30, 2012, by Perry Wilson.

This is a common challenge and has all kinds of manifestations. When things are going well, your team might not see the value in updating the progress reports or project task completion. After all, it’s going well why bother with more work? When things are not going so well, they don’t have time to fill out reports, update logs and raise issues the right way.

What do you see happening?

Because each team will show this in different ways at different times, I’ll focus on the two things I’ve found to be at the heart of the resistance, value and effort.

If your team doesn’t understand the value of the methodology, they will resist using it because it seems like more work.

If your team thinks that the effort is not worthwhile, they will find other uses for their time.

Sell the value by remembering that you aren’t always looking for immediate results. Completing decision documents, as an example, is more to prevent  knee jerk reversals in the future of the project than coming up with good options when the answer seems obvious. We know that completing the analysis will sometimes show the ‘obvious’ to be the least useful solution, but it doesn’t necessarily feel that way when we’re busy.

Make the effort worthwhile by using the information created. The best example of this is lessons learned. If your project team gives honest feedback on something to improve project performance and no one takes the time to review the results before initiating the next project, you can bet there will be no enthusiasm to do lessons learned sessions in the future.

How can you resolve it beyond treating symptoms?

I think flexibility is the key here. If you use the methodology as a tool, you’ll find different ways to apply it. If time is tight, can you use an email discussion as your documentation? Being flexible means that you’ll print to PDF and save that rather than trying to complete the official form.

When your team sees you being flexible, but still sticking to the core methodology, you might get some of them to help champion others using the tools you’ve created.

A final thought:

One thing you need to keep in mind, if you don’t buy-in to the methodology you can’t expect the team to do so. If you haven’t had your own experience with the value of methodology to convince you, I’ll share one of mine.

A project a colleague was running had come in on time, within budget and with all agreed scope. The grapevine started a rumor that it was a failure. Without a solid methodology of documentation, we would have been defending the project for months. Because we documented well, we were able to provide all the information needed to prove that the grapevine was wrong.

Over the last 30 years of people and project management, Perry Wilson, PMP has a track record of delivering successful projects. Along with four merger projects, she have implemented project management methodology in two Project Management Offices, working with certified project managers and people new to project management. In gaining that experience, Perry learned some key steps to successful implementation of tools.

Project Management – Helping your team to value the methodology Written on January 23, 2012, by Perry Wilson.

Sometimes your team can feel like the work involved in the project methodology is just more work. This is a challenge of selling value to people. Often project managers are fluent in value to the project, but struggle to translate that into value to the team.

What do you see happening?

When the team is not sold on the methodology, you see one of two symptoms. People question why they need to do certain things,
or people don’t produce what you need. We’ll concentrate on these two symptoms because they happen at the beginning and that’s where you need to resolve it.

In either circumstance, being prepared to sell the concepts is your best solution. And like many sales techniques, preparation is your friend. Before you talk to the team, before you hold the kick-off meeting, think about the value of initiation, planning, estimating and reporting to the team member.

I like to think of value as solving or avoiding problems.

Initiation activities – your team is likely a group of executives or managers.

• The value of doing a thorough job of initiating the project: saves them time in the future by clearly defining what is expected.

Planning and estimating activities – your team is likely the project team leads and the team members.

• The value of doing a good job of building the plan and schedule: saves them effort in the future by building a reliable road map.

Reporting activities – your team is likely the project team leads.

• The value of reporting consistently and regularly: saves time, effort and money by revealing challenges as they arise and allowing for early resolution.

As you prepare your value statements, remember value is about saving time or money or effort, or making money.

How can you resolve it beyond treating symptoms?

When the project gets into the busy times, people will want to cut out unnecessary work. You need to remember to sell the value of the methodology and be flexible about what really needs to be done. There will be times when the work of the project is going to push off the work of the methodology, the key to success is to remember that’s your decision, not something you want to just let slide.

A final thought:

Like many aspects of project management, your sponsor can help with this challenge. It is important for your sponsor to be selling the value too.  This means you have to have your script in place to remind them of two things; the value to your team that we discussed above and the value of the methodology to your sponsor.

Over the last 30 years of people and project management, Perry Wilson, PMP has a track record of delivering successful projects. Along with four merger projects, she have implemented project management methodology in two Project Management Offices, working with certified project managers and people new to project management. In gaining that experience, Perry learned some key steps to successful implementation of tools.

Project Management for Small Projects – Simplify the Methodology Written on January 16, 2012, by Perry Wilson.

It can seem that project management methodologies are all about the process and not about getting things done.  Sometimes it’s tempting to make it simpler, make it lighter, or skip a step or two. Project management methodologies are intended as a tool to make you successful, not as a means to an end. It’s okay to simplify for a small project and deepen for a large complex project, or even a program.

What do you see happening?

This challenge is all about initiation; the point when you look at the purpose of the project and start planning the planning.

A small project can be defined as a short timeline – up to 6 weeks, or as having only one or two deliverables. The definition tends to be different for each organization, but the problem is the same. If you look at the initiation documents and in your mind there’s an imbalance between the outcomes and the methodology, you can simplify the methodology.

How can you resolve it beyond treating symptoms?

The main symptom here is your gut feeling. You need to ensure that the simplification is about the project, not about your workload. I’ve occasionally made it about the workload and quickly realized that I cut corners rather than adjusted the process appropriately.

Let’s assume you’ve correctly identified a need to simplify, now how do you do that?

Remember that the minimum you need is:

1. A clear understanding of what is expected – scope statement
2. A good estimate of the work involved – schedule
3. A clear understanding of how success will be measured – completion criteria
4. An agreement on reporting status – communication plan

Using this concept, you can tailor the methodology up and down depending on the size of your project.

A final thought:

When you simplify for the right reasons, you are able to proceed through the project life-cycle. When you do it because someone wants the project in a rush, or you are overloaded, or the scope is not fully investigated, you will have to come back and fill in the holes. Plan now or plan later, you will still have to plan.

Over the last 30 years of people and project management, Perry Wilson, PMP has a track record of delivering successful projects. Along with four merger projects, she have implemented project management methodology in two Project Management Offices, working with certified project managers and people new to project management. In gaining that experience, Perry learned some key steps to successful implementation of tools.

Project Management – Managing Your Team Workload Written on January 9, 2012, by Perry Wilson.

Over the last 30 years of people and project management, Perry Wilson, PMP has a track record of delivering successful projects. Along with four merger projects, she have implemented project management methodology in two Project Management Offices, working with certified project managers and people new to project management. In gaining that experience, Perry learned some key steps to successful implementation of tools.

Whether your team is dedicated to your project or spread over multiple projects, you’ll find times when their workload becomes unmanageable. This happens in the execution phase no matter how diligent you were in the planning phase to get reasonable estimates of work.

When it comes to doing the actual work, things happen and those things affect your project. When your team is overloaded, they may not come to you for help.

What do you see happening?

Like many challenges in your project, the first sign something is going awry is silence; people stop talking.  People stop returning your calls when you check in because they are busy trying to catch up.

Deadlines keep backing up and it looks like you have a bottleneck in the schedule.  Even if only one person is over capacity, they will have an impact on the downstream activities – a jargony way of saying the activities that come after them in the plan.

At worse, people start getting sick. Overload usually equals stress. Stress often equals sickness.

How can you resolve it beyond treating symptoms?

This challenge can be resolved by treating the symptoms. And by treating early, you can usually avoid the worst case occurring.
When someone on your team seems to be avoiding you, take it as encouragement to try harder. Try to drop by their desk if they are nearby. Leave messages asking for a quick call back, so they know you won’t take too much of their time.

If you are successful, you can help. Most projects have a little leeway in the schedule and as the PM, you only manage the leeway if you know who needs help. By letting others slip their delivery dates, you are letting them control the project.

A final thought:

I have a saying I use – We knew it was going to be hard, and now it’s hard.

Even when you know it’s coming, a hectic part of the schedule is still hard on the team. Remember to acknowledge the effort people are putting in. Try to find a way to celebrate passing the milestone when the pressure is off.

 

New release: Version 8.1 Written on January 6, 2012, by admin.

We’re happy to announce the release of our latest version 8.1
There are a number of improvements and changes in this release, here the main ones…

Teams

This particular feature has been long over-due. It allows you to combine multiple users into teams and quickly assign them to projects or activities.

Teams are created on the User Details page:

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Project Management – Managing Your Workload Written on January 3, 2012, by Perry Wilson.

Over the last 30 years of people and project management, Perry Wilson, PMP has a track record of delivering successful projects. Along with four merger projects, she have implemented project management methodology in two Project Management Offices, working with certified project managers and people new to project management. In gaining that experience, Perry learned some key steps to successful implementation of tools.

Many Project Managers who work ‘off the side’ of an operational desk find their own priorities are as difficult to manage as the team’s workload. The hardest part about managing your own capacity for work is the lack of distance. You don’t get to look through unstressed eyes at the real problem.

Step one for resolving this is to check to see if the project is being affected. Sometimes the problem isn’t in the project.  You’ll save a lot of time and confusion if you check for issues to be resolved.

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5 ways PM software Can Help Survive a Recession Written on December 13, 2011, by admin.

Tips & Tricks on how your business can benefit from a project management software during tough times

How many of you have witnessed this scenario: An entrepreneur succeeds in creating a successful startup. He is ready to offer people something they actually want, has good team and the initial capital. Business is booming, but then suddenly a crisis has come knocking at the door and the company has gone bankrupt.

It is clear that you can’t expect a company to work in completely new ways during a recession. However, every entrepreneur should try to adapt his or her policy to fit the current financial situation and find ways to improve efficiency in order to stay on top of the competition. Project Management software might help you accomplish just that.
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New release: 8.0.9 Written on November 11, 2011, by admin.

We’re happy to announce the latest minor update: Easy Projects .NET 8.0.9

Here is what’s new in 8.0.9:
[+] Rich text editor in client portal
[+] Ability to delete activities and messages in client portal
[+] Password change functionality in client portal
[+] User avatars in client portal
[*] Activities with unfinished master activities are shown now on the On Hold tab of the My Assignments page
[*] Improved handling of non-working SMTP server situations
[*] Improved dates calculation for dependent tasks
[*] Resource Loading report doesn’t show limited access and customer representative users
[*] Resource Loading report doesn’t show completed projects and activities
[*] Improved RESTful API
[*] Own activities are shown in sidebar in client portal
[*] Improved timer on the My Assignments page
[-] Gantt report crash fixed
[-] Internet Explorer issue fixed for the Description field
[-] Message permissions fixed
[*] Other bugfixes and performance improvements

All hosted accounts will be upgraded automatically during the next 5 business days.
Downloadable version for in-house clients is available at: http://www.easyprojects.net/downloads

New RESTful API is available Written on October 12, 2011, by admin.

We are happy to announce the release of a brand new version of Easy Projects .NET API (Application Programming Interface).
It’s based on the RESTful architecture and is implemented as XML/JSON over HTTP.

The new API supports the following objects:
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How to measure ROI for collaboration? Written on October 3, 2011, by admin.

This post is a part of our new series: Improving Bottom Line and Cutting Costs.

If your organization has not had a meeting with an agenda containing both “Recession” and “Improving bottom line” buzz words lately, please let me know, I want your stock.

However, for those companies who don’t have a fruit in their logo, the reality is that they need to keep their costs low and profits high to stay afloat during current turbulent times.

So, what do you do first? The answer is simple: it doesn’t matter, as long as you analyze and track your results. Only then you’ll know what works for you better and which action brings the highest yields.

“If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it” – you probably have heard this phrase many times. However certain things prove to be harder to measure than the others. Take collaboration as an example. It’s a no-brainer that improving collaboration in your organization will improve the bottom line, but how can you quantify the results?
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