Darryl Vleeming June 13, 2012

Transcription

1 Darryl Vleeming June 13, 2012

2 Projects are: Temporary in nature (have a start and finish) Create a unique product, service or result Operations are: On-going and repetitive No end date Projects and Operations do share some of the same characteristics: Performed by People Constrained by limited resources Planned, executed and controlled 2

3 There are many things you are involved in that are projects - even if you don t think about them as projects : Legal Holds Acquisitions Divestitures Litigation Compliance investigations Ethics investigations Voter Ballots Each one of the above examples has a start, a finish, and is different each time you do it You can apply the principles of Project Management to all of these 3

4 Project Management is the application of knowledge, skill, tools, techniques to Project activities to meet the project requirements Everyone has probably see the standard constraints that Projects under 4

5 It s really about balancing competing priorities 5

6 Just extra overhead/extra cost Useless/Adding no value Distraction from real work Unnecessary 6

7 Poor Project Management is one of the top five reasons that projects fail Failure because of lack of expertise is actually quite rare A PWC study found that only 2.5% of corporations consistently meet their targets for scope, time, and cost goals for all types of projects 7

8 Managing Projects is very much like driving a car. Determine the destination, timeframe and how much you have to spend Create a plan (route, speed, breaks, weather, etc) Follow the plan Continuously monitor progress and keep the car on the road If you don t: 8

9 Project Success occurs when: You have a delighted client (expectations met) Delivered the agreed objectives Met an agreed budget Within an agreed time frame AND Done professionally and without killing the team 9

10 Most projects follow a standard flow: 10

11 Starting the Project (Initiating) Developing a Business Case Developing a Project Charter Organizing and Preparing (Planning) Developing a Schedule Developing the Scope Developing a detailed Budget Developing a Communications Plan Developing a Risk Management Plan Carrying out the work Tracking Progress Controlling Scope Managing Changes Closing the Project 11

12 Initiating is where you formulate your contract with the client/customer /users/management Define what/when/how much/why Lack of agreement about what s important is the biggest cause for disagreement Lack of understanding of the impact of changes is the biggest reason for escalating costs (in cost, time and quality terms) 12

13 A business case lays out why a project is necessary Could be because there is a positive return on investment, or may be for other reasons such as a legal requirement Allows organizations to select which projects should proceed The benefits laid out in the Business Case should be tracked post project to ensure that they are realized 13

14 Doesn t have to be a huge document, or a huge amount of work Lays the foundation of the project It protects you defines what you ve committed to doing, on what timeframe, for X dollars, based on what assumptions Stakeholders/Management cannot reasonably ask for changes without expecting an impact on the project timeline, scope, costs, quality, etc Lists what you need from the organization to accomplish the project (people, other resources, etc) Its about setting expectations up front Its important to get the Sponsor/Key Stakeholder to sign off and agree to it. In the case of unofficial projects, this person may be your direct Manager. 14

15 This phase is all about the details what the detailed schedule is, specifics on what will be delivered, how will progress be communicated, etc The point of Planning is NOT to follow the plan 100%, but to gain a better understanding of what needs to be done. In preparing for battle, I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable Eisenhower 15

16 This doesn t always need to be a massive Gantt chart that takes hundreds of hours to produce At a minimum it should lay out the following: Important Milestones Key Dependencies between activities Developing a schedule allows you to understand the impact of unexpected events on your completion date Allows you to monitor progress on the project, and make adjustments BEFORE the project goes off track If you don t develop a schedule do you really think you have a good understanding of when you ll finish something? 16

17 A Gantt chart is a bar chart with the horizontal axis time the vertical axis activities responsible people (optional) It shows the sequence, overlappings interdependencies 17

18 Scope defines the boundary of the project Extremely important to define it in detail The sponsor needs to read, understand and sign off on the scope Fail to do the above, and you will not meet expectations as people will assume different things 18

19 Depending on the size of project, this may not be needed, especially if most resources are internal Benefit of developing a detailed budget is that it will give you advance warning if you re going to end up over budget - so allows you to make adjustments before its too late Detailed budget should include all costs internal labour, external labour, materials, Finance charges, etc If the project is a Capital Project, its important to understanding Finance Capitalization rules 19

20 Communication on projects is critical A Communications Plan could simply be a couple of lines defining when and how you re going to communicate You should communicate to all Stakeholders. A Stakeholder is defined as a person, group or organization with an interest in a project At a minimum you should communicate: Project Schedule Project Status Project Issues In absence of good communication, people will make assumptions about the project that are usually not true 20

21 A risk is any factor that may potentially interfere with the successful completion of the project It s important to spend some time thinking about risks and what can be done to mitigate them If you wait until the risk is realized, and you don t have a mitigation plan, it s often too late 21

22 Includes executing what needs to be done, and controlling and monitoring the work Utilizes everything that was creating in the planning stage Typically the longest phase of a project Monitoring for risks, and reacting before they are realized is important Leadership is critical during this phase you need to keep your team members motivated 22

23 Percent complete is the most dangerous measure in tracking progress Why? People don t know/are over-optimistic/lie The last 1% tends to take a lot longer than it logically should There are a number of solutions depending on the progress: Use binary completion (is it done? Y or N) Allow only 0%, 50% or 100% completion statuses 23

24 You can t stop the stakeholders changing their minds, or requirements changing You CAN make them aware of the impact Let the customer prioritize show them the cost of making the scope change Go back to the project charter your contract with your customer - does the change help towards the objective? 24

25 No project ever goes according to plan; how you handle changes will determine how successful it is Create a solid Change Management strategy at the beginning of the project, and strictly follow it All significant changes need to be documented and signed off by the customer The ability to understand the impact of change is crucial 25

26 Includes getting Stakeholder acceptance of the final deliverables If you treat go live as the end of the project, then you will get undead stakeholders coming back from the past all the time with new requirements/fixes It is also critical to document lessons learned so that future projects can take advantage and avoid the same mistakes. Typically done very poorly at most organizations. Its important to celebrate team success. Your team will often give a lot to making a project successful don t forget this 26

27 Good Project Managers spend over 80% of the time communicating to all people impacted by the project stakeholders, team members, etc If you don t have good communication, you will not be successful 27

28 Changes in Project Scope (Scope Creep) are the current leading cause of project failure globally according to the 2010 Global Survey To avoid that, involve your customer early and often in the requirements gathering so they feel ownership Don t shorten the requirements gathering portion it will cost you more time in the long run 28

29 Assumptions presume that what you re planning or relying on is true, real, or certain. No assumption is too small to document Assumptions should be very specific e.g. The price of iron will stay at current market rates for duration of project Assumptions should be realistic, especially if the entire project depends on the assumption being true 29

30 If your Sponsor isn t 100% behind the project, it will be difficult to succeed A good sponsor will help remove organizational roadblocks If the project is big enough, insist on an Executive level sponsor Sponsor needs to feel personally responsible for the success of the project 30

31 A motivated team will go the extra mile to deliver a project Motivate them by involving them throughout the project, especially in the planning phase "Motivation is everything. You can do the work of two people, but you can't be two people. Instead, you have to inspire the next guy down the line and get him to inspire his people." - Lee Iacocca 31

32 Project scope isn't managed well No process in place if a change in scope is being proposed Poor scheduling Setting an unrealistic schedule by always being overly optimistic Ignoring problems Putting off dealing with difficult issues Underestimating Not being realistic in the resources you need to be successful Being a yes man or woman Saying yes to everything often means you won t be able to deliver your primary objective 32

33 The Project Management Institute (PMI) is world s leading not-for-profit membership association for the project management profession, with more than 600,000 members and credential holders in more than 185 countries. 33

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