Project Management Methodologies Review (Part 1)
Choosing a project management methodology is like choosing which recipe to follow when baking chocolate chip cookies. One recipe might use room-temperature butter while another recommends melted margarine, or call for dark chocolate instead of semi-sweet chips. Each recipe gives you delicious cookies, but the steps, ingredients and techniques are all a little different to suit your tastebuds. You should pick your PM methodology based on your available ingredients: project constraints, timeline, tools, and people. Read through this list of common project management methodologies and see if they sound like they fit your project or organization. We include brief descriptions, pros, and cons for each, and if one captures your attention, we definitely encourage further research. Here's the first half of our PM methodologies list: 1. Adaptive Project Framework (APF)The APF method strives to learn from experience. These projects begin with a Requirements Breakdown Structure to define strategic project goals based on product requirements, functions, sub-functions, and features. As they proceed, teams continually evaluate previous results to improve policies and practices at each stage of the project lifecycle. Clients/stakeholders can change project scope at the start of each stage so the team can produce the most business value. PRO: This is a good approach for when you know what your goal is and aren't sure of the best way to get there.CON: Due to its flexibility, the Adaptive Framework may lead to project delays or increased budgets. 2. Agile Project ManagementGreat chefs taste their food as they cook so they can add new ingredients to create the best dish. Agile is like tasting our project as we go and adjusting it accordingly. Planning begins with clients describing how the end product will be used, its benefits, and so on, so the team gets a good understanding of the expectations. Once the project has begun, teams cycle through the process of planning, executing, and evaluating tasks — which might change the final deliverable. Continuous collaboration is key, both among team members and with project stakeholders, to make fully-informed decisions. PRO: This approach is beneficial for creative projects with goals that are flexible and can be modified midway.CON: Timelines and budgets are difficult to define, and stakeholders must have the time and desire to be actively involved in the day-to-day work. Confused about the difference between APF and Agile? We’ll break it down for you: with APF, your end goal is clear, but your method for achieving that goal will change based on your experience at each stage of the project. With Agile, your end goals are less defined. Each stage brings feedback from stakeholders to help guide your decisions and improve or alter the final product. 3. Benefits RealizationThis project management methodology redefines success as not just delivering the package on time and with money to spare, but achieving a desired benefit. Here's an example: say your clients want to increase their sales conversion rate by 15%. They hire you to manage the development of a new CRM software that will help the sales team personalize their communications, track sales data, and determine ideal communication timelines. You deliver a CRM with those features on time and within budget. Success, right? What if your client's sales conversion rates only increase by 5%? With benefits realization, your project isn't successfully completed until the client's desired benefits are achieved — in this case, until the sales conversion rate is up 15%. PRO: This approach ensures that your projects contribute real value to the business and deliver the end results your stakeholders care about.CON: Benefits aren't always exact, measurable, or scientific, so it can be difficult to know if they've been achieved — or if your project actually contributed to that success. You'll need to put careful thought into developing effective metrics to measure the outcomes of your project, such as ROI, process capability, faster delivery times, or higher customer satisfaction. 4. Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM)Project delays are usually caused by resources that aren't available when you need them. CCPM avoids that by building a project schedule that first identifies a "critical chain" of tasks and then reserving resources for those tasks. Your project timeline may be longer, but you’ve got a higher probability of predicting realistic deadlines. PRO: Tasks can be collaborated on because you know that all key players are available when you need them.CON: This approach may not be effective for projects with short deadlines, since CCPM plans build in extra time buffers along the critical chain. 5. Critical Path Method (CPM)Determine your project's shortest timeline and adjust to shifting deadlines using CPM. You'll start by looking at all the tasks absolutely necessary to complete your project, and then estimating completion times for each step, including task dependencies, milestones, and final deliverables. PRO: Specific dates can be assigned to each task, so managers can compare what should be happening with what is happening on a daily basis. It's optimal for projects with short deadlines.CON: Critics say a major drawback is that CPM doesn’t consider resource availability in planning, so you may be left with an overly optimistic plan. 6. Event Chain Methodology (ECM)Most projects don’t go exactly according to plan. Risks are difficult to identify and analyze, and project managers may be under pressure by stakeholders to create optimistic timelines, budgets, or deliverables. Event chain methodology helps recognize and plan for potential risks that may lie outside the project scope. By using techniques like Monte Carlo Analysis and Event Chain Diagrams, project managers can see how external events affect project tasks and determine the probability of certain risks occurring. PRO: By visualizing the relationship between external events and tasks, managers can create more realistic project plans.CON: It's easy to forget that external events aren't just threats to your project — they can also present opportunities. Don't automatically squash all potential risks and fail to capitalize on fortunate circumstances. 7. Extreme Programming (XP)XP features short development cycles, frequent releases, and constant client collaboration. Productivity is high, and the approach is well-suited to complex or undefined projects. These teams allow for change within their sprints; if the team hasn't started work on a feature, a similar task can be swapped out to replace it. Teams avoid overworking themselves through effective collaboration and by writing the simplest possible code to produce the desired feature. PRO: XP is efficient, with a focus on simplicity. Teams work at a sustainable pace, meaning no 80-hour work weeks leading to burnout and low-quality output.CON: Critics warn that the XP approach's strength lies too much in the ingenuity of unique team members rather than with process itself. 8. KanbanIf a continuous workflow and outputting a slow and steady stream of deliverables are your main priorities, Kanban is your man. Managers create visual representations for the workflow (often using a whiteboard or sticky notes) to uncover process problems and prevent tasks from stalling as "works in progress." The sticky notes move across the board to tangibly represent project progress. PRO: Kanban helps teams understand where their time is really being spent so you can improve efficiency.CON: Variations in customer demand — like the start of the holiday season, or a drop-off due to a recall — can make Kanban inefficient, since it’s designed to produce a steady output. Find a project management methodology you like? Itching for more bite-sized breakdowns? Stay tuned for Part 2 of this post, where we'll cover 8 more essential methodologies as the next chapter in your PM handbook. Does your company use one of these PM methodologies? Is it good? Bad? Tell us about your experience with it in the comments below. Related Posts: • Project Management Basics: A Review of PM Methodologies (Part 2) • A Crash-Course in Project Management Methodologies (Infographic)
How 5 PM Experts Create a Fail-Safe Project Management Plan
Poor planning can doom your project before work even begins. Changing expectations, shrinking budgets, and frustrating miscommunications can derail even the simplest project—and make life stressful for everyone involved. A thorough project plan can prevent scope creep, overblown budgets, and missed goals. But actually sitting down and planning a project can be an overwhelming task. How do you accurately predict how long tasks will take? How do you translate stakeholder expectations into concrete deliverables? What if something goes wrong? We’ve collected advice from 5 seasoned project management experts who understand exactly what's needed to create a successful project management plan. Essential Components of a Project Management Plan What should be included in your project management plan? For award-winning project management blogger Elizabeth Harrin, a thorough project plan includes these elements: Project Definition Statement: This is the ‘what’ and 'why' of your project: a short statement summarizing the purpose, goals, and final deliverable(s). Execution Strategy: Explain the 'how' of your project. What methodology will you use? Will delivery happen in a single launch, or released in stages? Scope: What is (and isn't) included in your project? Include your work breakdown structure and key deliverables. Schedule: Depending on how well defined your project is, this can be either a high-level overview of when specific items will be completed, or it can include your detailed Gantt chart complete with milestones and delivery dates. Organization Chart: An overview of the hierarchy of your project team, roles, and responsibilities. If your project involves multiple teams or departments, this should cover how those teams will work together, who the stakeholders are, and who’s leading each deliverable. RACI Chart: This chart helps you determine specifically who will do what for your project. It's a matrix of all a project’s activities, paired with all the roles involved, including who's Responsible (assigned to complete the work), Accountable (has yes/no/veto power), Consulted (needs to approve or contribute), and Informed (needs to know about the action or decision). At each intersection of activity and role, a specific person is assigned for each role. Find out everything you need to know about RACI charts here. Image Credit: racichart.org Risk Management Plan & Risk Log: Even if you budget every penny while learning how to calculate earned value and map out each milestone, no project, no matter how small, is free from risk. Create a plan for identifying and mitigating risk from the very beginning. Find a step-by-step guide to assessing and managing risk here. Budget Details: Include projected overtime hours, training courses, consulting fees, equipment and supplies, software purchases, travel expenses, etc. Some of these figures can be tricky to nail down ahead of time but try to be as precise as possible, remind everyone that your budget is an estimate, and know how to calculate earned value to tell if you’re behind schedule or over budget on your project. Communications Plan & Reporting Schedule: Include details on who you’ll be communicating with, what you’ll share, how often, and in what form. Procurement Plan: If you need to buy something as part of the project (software, materials, etc.) this is where you explain how you’ll research and choose a vendor and manage the contract. It's important to learn and implement good project procurement management strategies for this. Information Management Plan: Detail how you’ll store and share project information, control documentation, and keep your project data safe. Quality Management Plan: Explain how you’ll manage quality on the project, what your quality standards are, and how you plan to maintain these standards, as well as your proposed schedule for quality audits or checkpoints. This can seem like a lot of information to cover, but remember that this is just a project management plan example. A good project plan doesn’t necessarily include everything on this list. As Harrin notes, “A longer document does not make you look more clever or organised. It just raises the likelihood that no one will read it except you.” A simple project plan that's easy to follow is best. Start with a SOW According to Brad Egeland, experienced IT project manager, author, and consultant, the foundation of a successful project plan is a Statement of Work. Why? Because it gets everyone on the same page at the start. Later on, when new requirements pop up and scope creep sets in, you can go back to the SOW document to see what exactly the project was supposed to do at its inception. It is also important to be aware of scope creep and gold plating. Your SOW should include a general statement of purpose/business value, description of project deliverables, definition of milestones, estimation of effort, timeline, and cost, and a high-level description of team roles and responsibilities. Set a Timer Max Wideman, famed project manager and co-author of the original PMBOK, advocates a streamlined method for project planning. His SCOPE-PAK Approach will help you knock out a project plan in 60 minutes or less (Wideman encourages you to actually set a timer). Assemble key stakeholders and team members to determine what you want to accomplish and how you’ll go about it. Step 1: Stakeholders. Write down who should be contacted for help, information, or approvals, and define the project sponsor. If the list gets long, sort it into major and minor players. Step 2: Components. This is your WBS. List all significant work items and suggestions (save evaluating them for later— just record them for now). Limit to 30 items, and if your team is starting to sound like they’re searching for items to add, stop this step and move on. Step 3: Objectives & Outputs. Write down the project’s objective, then define what the output or results should be. Check your work by asking, “If we did all of the work items listed in Step 2, would we accomplish our objectives?" Step 4: Possible Alternatives. What alternatives would also satisfy the project’s objective? Is there a more effective way to accomplish your goals? Step 5: Economics & Issues. What’s the project’s funding strategy? How is it prioritized among other projects? What resources will you need? What issues will you encounter? Step 6: Plan of Attack. Look at your list of work items and decide which should be done first. Label that A. Then continue with B, C, D, etc. Then ask what can be done concurrently with A, or B, and so on. This is how you’ll establish the task schedule. Step 7: Assumptions & Risks. What problems could occur with each task? How can you mitigate risks, or create workarounds? Step 8: Key Success Indicators. Identify the 3-4 most important stakeholders, and ask, “What is most likely to make them happy?” These are the indicators for project success. Decide how each can be measured when the project is finished. You can (and should) do further work to clarify the project work plan, but in just an hour you’ve established a solid plan of attack: identified stakeholders, clarified objectives, and defined outputs. Don't Overplan For Ricardo Vargas, an internationally renown project management specialist, a sense of urgency is the most important ingredient of a successful project. Project managers need to be able to respond to customer and stakeholder requests quickly, and that means executing, not sitting around a conference table hashing out timelines and budgets. Your project isn't doing anyone any good on paper, so streamline the planning process as much as possible. Only include what's essential in your project plan, and then just get going! Vargas uses a consolidated version of the planning guide outlined in the PMBoK, and you can learn more about the specifics of each aspect of his planning process on his blog. Keep It Simple Project plans can get unwieldy fast, especially once stakeholders and project sponsors start weighing in. To ensure you're not over-complicating things, project management blogger Kiron Bondale suggests starting with the 5 Ws to provide context and perspective for the details of your project plan. Why: What are the fundamental business benefits of undertaking this project? What: What is included in the project scope? Who: What are the critical roles required to deliver the What? When: When must the What be delivered, in order to achieve the Why? Where: Where is the best place for the work to be performed? Where will the What be used by customers and end users? Only after you’ve stopped to answer these questions should you move on to the "How" of the project. Project Management Planning Best Practices As you can see, even among project management experts there are a few different approaches to creating a project plan. There's no one right way, but one best practice experienced PMs agree on: take the time to define and agree on the main objectives with the project's stakeholders before you start executing. Another best practice to follow: hold a project kickoff meeting. Take the opportunity to align your team around project goals, clarify roles and responsibilities, establish standards for success, and choose your project management methodology and tools. Get our tips for hosting the perfect project kickoff that will set the right tone for your team. Finally: document as much as possible. Recording your project’s progress will help you analyze your performance and make more informed decisions. More Project Planning Resources Project Management Basics: 6 Steps to a Foolproof Project Plan Essential Elements of the Perfect Project Plan (Infographic) 10 Steps to a Kickass Project Kickoff: A Checklist for Project Managers Project Management Basics: Beginner’s Guide to Gantt Charts Project Management Plan Template
5 Project Management Ideas that Should be Extinct
Project management has a wide spectrum of effective approaches. Everything from hands-off supervision to management by walking around... And then there are the ideas that should go the way of the dinosaur — disappear in a ball of flames. This is just a list of the top 5 PM ideas that should be extinct. And if they are still rearing their prehistoric heads in your organization, perhaps it's up to you to lay them to rest once and for all. Read on: 1. "Let's Manage the Project by Email" Everyone has heard at least one project manager say: "Email me a status report." This is the old-school method of requesting project status updates. Because according to this project manager, there is no better method for reporting on what's been done and where you're roadblocked. Which, of course, means that all comments from him or her will also be sent through email. And we all know how that ends: in back-and-forth communication that is 23 emails thick, with 7 buried attachments, lost in the noise and confusion of a cluttered inbox. "When did you send that updated slide deck again? What was the subject line? I can't find it. Can you resend?" The truth is there are better, more collaborative PM tools than email. In fact, it seems like a new one comes out almost every month. These tools transfer the bulk of your communication and status updates away from email and compile them into the PM tool, allowing projects to thrive outside the stranglehold of your inbox. Your action: Find a better PM tool than email. 2. "Let's Have Longer Meetings" There seems to be a prevalent idea in older generations that meetings are where the real work gets done. Ergo, longer meetings mean more work accomplished. And the more people in a meeting, the more everyone engages with what's happening in the project. Right? Um, no. David Allen, productivity guru and author of Getting Things Done, says that there are really only five reasons to have a meeting: 1. Give info 2. Get info 3. Produce options 4. Make decisions 5. Bask in the warmth of actual human contact (yay!) A large part of every successful meeting is everyone agreeing what the objective for the meeting is. And note that Allen didn't include reason #6: Waste people's time. The truth is, not everyone needs to be in a meeting. If someone's work is not directly affected by the agenda of a meeting, leave him to his work. Alternatively, if not everyone is needed for every discussion point, schedule the agenda so that you start with the majority of attendees and individuals can drop off once their portions are done. This motivates people to keep things short so everyone can get back to work. Also, meetings take time -- and time is your team's most precious resource. If it's spent going over details that could have been disseminated via email, or discussing items relevant to only one person in the room, then that's a waste of everyone's time. Schedule one-on-one consultations outside of meeting times, and use a collaboration tool to monitor the status of any task so there is less reporting being done face to face. Your action: Cut down the length of your meetings, and use a timer to enforce it! 3. "Let's Only Hire Local People to Work Onsite" You know it all too well, this bias toward hiring people who can come into the office everyday and work with you face-to-face. Admittedly, it does make the work routine easier if you can traipse on down to a cubicle and tell your team member what needs to be revised. But here's the question: what if the skills you need CAN'T be sourced in your immediate vicinity? And if you find someone who fits the job description, speaks your language, and can do the job but lives on the other side of the world, would you hesitate to hire him due to physical barriers? We're not in the 19th century anymore. There are advanced communication tools out there like Skype, Google Hangouts, and Facetime that allow you to chat with people remotely, with or without cameras. And once again, there are PM tools that live in the cloud, so collaboration and work can be done from any location with internet connectivity. The technology exists, so use it! Your action: Every time you recruit for a job, consider not requiring an onsite presence. Include the line "Remote work possible *for the right candidate.*" 4. "Let's Stick to the Plan, No Matter What" Have you ever worked under a project manager with no flexibility? It's a hell forged from the embers of micromanagement and the molten lava of ruthless dictatorship. To this kind of manager, the project plan is sacred and must be followed at all costs. Even when requirements change, team members disappear, or deadlines shift. Unfortunately for the uncompromising manager, life never works out the way we planned. Everything is in flux and project managers need to be flexible enough to juggle priorities and resources as needed. Otherwise, by sticking to a rigid plan, companies will deliver products that customers don't even want or need. Your action: Have a complete project plan, but be ready to change it up. Changes are not evil. They're challenges and opportunities to deliver better outcomes. 5. "Let's Describe Tasks Very Loosely and 'Wing It'" Are there still people like this, you ask? Yes. The ones who have vague project plans. The ones who send project briefs with only a title ("Please write an eBook for our email offer") or a general deliverable ("Create a new home page design") and never provide any details. The project is not properly kicked off, and the manager never actually formalizes their deliverable expectations. Team members are left wondering what reference material should be used, or what the business objectives are, because the project manager didn't bother to write a real project brief. Not giving a clear description of the output is just asking your team to be inefficient. Why not give them everything at the start, and then communicate with them what needs to be done before assigning it to them? Make sure you set expectations loud and clear. It boils down to efficiency and respect: give them everything they need to be efficient, and respect their time. Your action: Complete every project brief/task description and communicate with the team BEFORE the project starts! The way we all work is rapidly evolving. And in order to use these changes to our benefit, we should be ready to adapt how we manage our projects. Which is why these five ideas need to be put to rest. They're archaic and inefficient, and instead of bringing you closer to your goals, they end up obstructing your road to success. Your turn: What project management ideas do YOU think should be extinct? Hit the comments and tell us.
The Future of PMOs: Understanding the Challenges
The Project Management Office, or PMO, remains an increasingly essential part of a successful organization. And as new technology emerges and companies seek greater innovation, PMOs must evolve to remain relevant and valuable. So what is a PMO, and how do they add value to your organization?
5 Simple Yet Powerful Must-Have Project Management Features
If you’ve decided to invest in a tool, you want to make sure you’re purchasing the right one. Check out these simple yet powerful project management elements to look for when searching for a project management tool.
Project 2.0 Teams: Creating Project Communities
In my two latest posts (about Level 5 Leadership with Project Management 2.0 here and about Leading Collective Intelligence) I wrote about leaders and leadership aspects in Project Management 2.0. Now, it’s time to discuss project teams and their transformations in the PM 2.0 reality. I came across a very interesting blog discussion lately. Social media evangelists Dennis D. McDonald and Lee White discuss the introduction of Web 2.0 tools like blogs, wikis, social networks, etc., to project management. I believe that their thoughts can also be applied to the collaborative features of Project Management 2.0 tools. For me, the most intriguing idea brought up in their discussion was the idea that these tools help people create project communities from their project teams. Traditionally, a team is a group of people linked by a common purpose. For a project team this common purpose is achieving a project goal, set by a project manager. However, wise project managers know that setting a goal does not guarantee a project’s success. Motivation plays an important part here. You need to reach people on the emotional level and make them passionate about a project for the simple reason that the more committed one is to a project’s success, the more likely the project will be a success. The next important thing is to make this passion common to all the members of your team. Experts say, that to make this happen, you need to strengthen the social bonds between the team members. Here’s where blogs, wikis and social networks and can be of great assistance. They, as I pointed out in one of my previous posts, create a collaborative environment that lets everyone on the team share knowledge and relevant information. Thus, everyone on the team can be heard and can introduce ideas about the development of the project. While they are constantly interacting, introducing their own ideas, and getting feedback and help from other team members, people on the team level become socially connected to each other. Dennis McDonald and Lee White refer to this social connection as a “community.” In his post, Dennis mentions the phrase “sense of community”, saying that “it refers to a sharing of common beliefs that involves a connection at a more personal or emotional level.” In this regard, the concept of community brings to mind notions like passion, devotion, and commitment. Many project managers would agree that commitment, along with passion and devotion are very important for a project’s success. Emphasis on collaboration that is introduced by social media, blogs, wikis and Project Management 2.0 tools and practices helps to build the sense of community in a team. Yet, each team is unique, just like each project is unique. Some teams sit in the same office and have successfully completed several projects together; others are separated by vast distances and have never met each other before. If this is the case the role of the social media will be especially important. When a project brings together people who may not know each other or who may not have worked together before, social technologies can help to greatly enhance collaboration and communication. There can be numerous examples for such a case: a large corporate project, a project to unify the operations of two merging companies, an outsourced project, or an international project, members of which are located in different parts of the world. In his post, Dennis writes: “In the context of a temporary time-bounded project this is not at all unusual, especially when projects are large and involve multiple teams that span organizational or departmental boundaries. Making it easy for people to communicate and to establish both professional and social relationships can make eminently good sense.” I couldn’t agree more. Blogs, wikis, and Project Management 2.0 tools help to create teams that share not just a common purpose, but common interests. These tools and practices help to build project communities that are committed to a project and are passionate about successful project completion. A project community is very close to another notion that’s very popular today - “collective intelligence” or “collective brain,” which is one of the essential practices that Project Management 2.0 takes from the Enterprise 2.0 movement. These two (project community and collective intelligence for a project team) are interconnected, as effective collective intelligence relies on the team’s collaboration and interactions, as well as team members’ sense of community and common interests. So we may say that the next-generation technologies can stimulate the two sides of your project team involvement: emotional (by building communities) and rational (by developing collective intelligence). Stimulation of these two sides will inevitably result in the increase of a team’s productivity. At the end of the day, the multiplied team morale and intelligence is to the whole organizations benefit. Maximized productivity of a team will lead to more projects completed successfully in a shorter period of time. These results may be able to justify investing your precious budget money into the new technology, to say the least. But justification of money spending and validation of ROI is a topic for another post. Meanwhile, I’d be pleased to see your thoughts about project communities in the comments to this post.
4 Lessons Hockey Has Taught Me About Project Management
Here are some of the key lessons hockey has taught me about project management: 1. Hire Flexible Players In hockey you have six players on the ice and three main positions: Forward, Defense, and Goalie. The goalie is the only one that should truly be a “specialist,” which means the other five players need to have some flexibility. If roles are too defined, teammates won't be as prepared to help out in a pinch. Even defense should be able to shoot the puck! In the same way, I'm not going to wait for someone in QA to test a feature when I can do it myself. The aim for everyone on the project team is to be flexible enough to assist in scoring goals. If someone's background is in business project management, but they can also turn their hand to IT or creative project management, it will serve your organization amazingly in the long run. It's all for the team. Also, keep an eye on recruiting. Trading players in hockey translates to talent acquisition in business. Veterans are vital for providing project stability, but as the game speeds up and new skills are needed, it’s important to make sure you have the right mix of players. (And this has nothing to do with age!) 2. Seek Guidance from Coaches The bench holds your most important assets: coaches and assistants. No single person is the keeper of all playbook knowledge. In project management, you need to seek the wisdom of mentors, supervisors, other PMs, or even the library of resources you keep on your hard drive or behind your desk. Situational guidance is a wonderful tool and keeps your team on the winning side. Above the bench, often peering from a skybox in the arena, are the stakeholders. Their roles and responsibilities can vary greatly from team to team, but they are always present and their input guides the team. Successfully hitting your milestones will feed their appetite for updates and also provides them with visible progress. Accountability is the name of the game! 3. Take 82 Steps to Victory When a team finally makes it through the 82-game season schedule, it's a cause for celebration. Each of those games brought the team closer to the championship trophy. In project management, those victorious games translate to accomplished tasks -- each one leading to a completed project. And success! With so many games, ideally all of your players have had a chance to shine. If you use the Agile methodology, your daily stand-up meetings come to mind. If you don't use Agile, think of the team meetings you (hopefully) already have scheduled. This is a chance for all players to show off their contribution to the overall project. And individual recognition is key, as it keeps things personal and makes sure you acknowledge your MVP. 4. Plan for the Finals in Stages The road to the Stanley Cup is broken into three stages: the regular season, the playoffs, and the finals. Like any complete hockey season, your project has a beginning, middle, and end. A three-stage approach makes progress observable, with no extra work needed to understand where you stand as you advance to the championship. Hockey coaches strategize for the games by reviewing past experiences. Project teams plan for each stage by breaking down the project into those 82 smaller tasks and distributing the load to all team members. I personally like to give my projects three milestones, with the third being the big game, the final deadline. All tasks are then built out and linked to these milestones appropriately, via dependencies. Executives can view a report in terms of completed, active, and overdue milestones (which hopefully never happen). So here's hoping I inspired you to watch some hockey today. Meanwhile, go crush all your tasks on the road to victory!
Project Management Terms: A Quickstart Glossary for Newbies (Part 2)
In our Quickstart Project Management Glossary for Newbies, Part 1, we revealed the secrets behind Gantt charts, the Critical Path Method, and more. And now your boss has walked in with more confusing jargon to muddle your brain: "Can you double-check our resources to make sure this project isn't in danger of scope creep?" Uh, what resources? And scope creep? Relax, it gets easier with time. Here are a few more key project management terms to learn that will educate you and boost your confidence before you talk to the boss again. Project Portfolio Management (PPM) — Your project portfolio is much like any other portfolio. It contains all of your best work as an easy reference tool so that you can properly manage your resources. It keeps all of the processes, methods, and technologies right at your hand. With the help of PPM you can mix-and-match your resources for optimal planning before a new project begins. Resources — They're all you've got. Literally. Your project resources are anything and everything you need to complete your task. They may include people, tools, money, facilities, or other tangible necessities. Scope — For project managers, scope is the information and work required to complete a project. Gather your "how-to"s before jumping in blind - How will we fund it? What are our milestones? How will we define success? Documenting your project scope should be a part of your planning process. Controlling it becomes the challenge once you have begun. Scope Creep — Everything seems to be going fine, but then those little issues sneak up on you and suddenly everything is wrong. Maybe it's the uncontrolled growth of a project. Or the new feature you add to your project plan without updating the constraints. This is scope creep and it usually appears near the end of your project timeline. If it occurs, you risk overspending or missing deadlines. Update your budget, schedule, and resources with every project addition to eliminate scope creep before it can surprise you. Gold plating is another type of resource management issue. The difference between scope creep and gold plating is that gold plating is a problem arising internally. Stakeholders — The people who have an interest in the completion of the project. Your team, your investors, your boss. Simple as that. What-if Scenario Analysis (WISA) — The key to the WISA is to anticipate many different possible project outcomes and create solutions before they occur. Examples include a delayed deliverable, going over budget, or a change in available resources. By preparing for those "what-if" situations, you will be able to act quickly in any situation. Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) — This is how you break down your work into smaller deliverables. It is a hierarchical tree structure that builds up to a final product. In Wrike you can build this hierarchy by creating sub-folders for your projects. Have you heard of small wins? Reducing projects into bite-sized pieces can help boost your team's productivity. Start with your overall project folder, and break it down further and further until you can effortlessly manage its every component. With these words in your knowledge handbook, you are one step closer to successfully taking charge of your new project management role. Now, what did the boss ask for again? Gantt Charts? Critical path? No problem. Report back and confidently say: "Our critical path is on track. I checked the Gantt charts and we have a few days of free float for some tasks. Let me show you what I've found..." Did we leave out any terms that still leave you puzzled? Let us know! There are more "Project Management Basics" coming soon, so check back later for more information you can't go a day without!
Project Management Terms: A Quickstart Glossary for Newbies (Part 1)
Your boss just walked into your office and said: "We've overstretched our resources. I need you to check the Gantt chart and tell me if there is any free float for this task so we don't delay our critical path." Wait, what was that? Gantt chart? Critical path? Maybe I'm just not ready for this... Whether you're an accidental project manager, or you're are just starting your professional journey into the PM space, it's easy to get overwhelmed by all of the new information the role entails. The last thing you need is linguistic headaches. Don't worry, we've got you. We consulted with Project Management pros, researched the question, and created a list of terms every project manager should know on Day 1. Study these definitions so that the next time your boss rushes in you can calmly respond, "Got it." Baseline — Our list starts with it, and so will every new project you'll undertake. Time is money, and the baseline is both. It is the original cost and schedule you set for your project. We'll tell you a secret: no project goes exactly as planned. The baseline will help you determine how far team has deviated from the original plan. Based on this knowledge, you'll be able to better estimate the time and resources your team needs to complete the next project. Constraint — Project constraints are the limitations of your project. Like road signs, they tell you what you can and cannot do. Before you start a project, it's important to carefully evaluate all of your constraints. Don't miss any blind spots; make sure you assess cost, human resources, time limits, quality, and potential ROI. Critical Path Method (CPM) — The critical path method is used to model projects. According to Professor Scott E. Page from the University of Michigan, thinking with models helps you outperform those who do not. Don't forget to include these factors in your model: all tasks necessary to complete the project, time estimations for each step, task dependencies, and final milestones or deliverables. By taking all of these factors into account, learning how to calculate critical path helps you create your optimal timeline to intelligently plan every project. Float — Sometimes referred to as "slack." It's the amount of time you can potentially burn on a task before affecting the project timeline. Float is the extra cushioning protecting your deadlines. Note that items on your Critical Path will have "zero free float" and if you want to maintain your schedule they cannot be delayed. Gantt Chart — Meet your lifesaver. This horizontal bar chart was devised by Henry Gantt at the turn of the twentieth century and was used to visualize project schedules by project managers all over the world ever since. It includes start and end dates for a project, and illustrates task dependencies. We, at Wrike, are proud of our cool, interactive Gantt chart. It helps you update project schedules, due dates, and dependencies with a quick drag-and-drop! Key Performance Indicator (KPI) — The measurable indicators of where your project stands, like timed laps around a track. When you set benchmarks for success in the beginning of a project, it's easier to check them off along the way. "Did we hit 10,000 page views today? Make 50 sales calls this week? And what about the revenue, has it doubled yet?" And while you obviously can't determine project success by numbers alone, it's helpful to use your KPIs to navigate the project path and, if needed, easily get back on course. We hope these definitions will help steady your nerves in the PM world. Pin them to your wall and don't forget to drop in for our glossary for PM newbies part 2 where we'll introduce even more vocabulary every project manager should know.
How to Use Wrike for Professional Services Performance for Project Budget Management
Project budget management is important for professional services teams. Knowing how to calculate project cost and maximize project management efficiency is key for firms looking to boost profit margins.
7 Keys to Project Stakeholder Management from the #PMChat Community
Two Wrikers helped host a #PMChat discussion on Twitter last Friday, where a community of project managers comes together once a week to discuss and share knowledge on various topics related to project management. Our team asked everyone to share advice on best practices and common roadblocks in a challenging project management area: stakeholder management. Experienced project managers from around the world shared their wisdom with us, and now we've collected their thoughts here for you. Implement their advice and improve stakeholder management for your next project. 7 Important Lessons in Project Stakeholder Management You can read many of the best tweets from the #PMChat on stakeholder management here, but if you don't have time to scroll through them all, we've summarized the key takeaways below. 1. Different project stakeholders to keep on your radar Your project stakeholders include EVERYONE who has an interest in the project outcome, including team members, sponsors, and end users. The stakeholders most often neglected: people impacted by your project. This includes (but is not limited to) customers, employees not on the project team, contractors, suppliers, unions, shareholders, financiers, government, special interest groups, community, the general public, and future generations. Keep a close eye on stakeholders who approve deliverables, and those who can stop or pull funding from your project. And their influencers. Suggestion to keep them all straight: identify and rank your stakeholders according to their level of influence and how much they will be impacted by the outcome. 2. Tips to motivate and lead project members who don't report to you Highlight the purpose of your project at the very beginning. Seek project stakeholders' input in the early planning stages. Find out what they think is important. Get them to buy in early. Take advice seriously to make sure everyone feels respected. Treat others the way they want to be treated, not the way you'd want to be treated. Praise when someone has improved and made a difference in the project. Give credit where credit is due. Good project managers need to be behavioral scientists; learn what makes people tick and use it to motivate them! Bribe them with candy. ;) 3. Getting stakeholders to dedicate time to your project Build a good relationship with stakeholders before you need it. When the time to make requests comes, have a one-on-one conversation (in person ideally). Talk with key stakeholders early to understand their perspective. Make the project about the customer and the business, not you or the individual stakeholder. Clearly outline the project outcome, everyone's roles on the road to project success, and the benefits for their party. Ensure they've bought in to your project by highlighting shared objectives and how your visions align. Ask the most reliable people (and main stakeholders) for a short period of time, rather than asking more people for more time. Give reasonable time estimates, so they know exactly what they are getting themselves into. Respect that they have other priorities, and learn how your project can fit into that bigger picture. 4. Keep project sponsors engaged Meet your project sponsors in person, show your passion for success, and be the enthusiastic cheerleader for your project. Set clear expectations and build a sponsor roadmap with each project sponsor. Include what they should do with the project team, managers, etc. Get them actively involved in the project and its outcome. Give consistent updates, with real numbers and results, geared toward their interests in the project. When there is good news or press, point the spotlight at your champions, instead of at yourself. 5. Ways to manage and avoid negative scope creep Make your project plans clear and accessible. When new requests come in, highlight the impact of those requests on your project schedule. Have your stakeholders share their project goals with each other. Bring everyone together to discuss competing or creeping requests. As a project manager, your role is to unify and clarify. Get everyone to sign off on the project plan. Once in the beginning with your project charter, and throughout the project when requirements change. Write your initial project plan in terms of problems being tackled (and what is not being tackled), instead of just stating what work is being done. Invest in expectations management, requirements management, and — most importantly — change management. 6. Proactively identifying and preventing potential issues Study proper risk management: imagine worst-case scenarios and their solutions. Provide risk management workshops, lessons learned, and historical data if possible. Solicit feedback on potential issues from current team members, and people who have worked on similar projects. Trust your gut. If something feels off, investigate and act immediately. 7. Best ways to communicate with stakeholders during the project Early and often! Informally, as well as formal status updates. Repeat your reports and communicate even if you have "nothing new" to say. Communicate with people in the way that best suits their style, not your style: face-to-face and phone calls, or virtually communicate through email, weekly reports, monthly bulletins. Don't assume everyone wants to communicate in the same way. Tailor reports to suit the project stakeholders' interests. When they give feedback, listen to what they have to say. Avoid status update meetings that waste everyone's time. Bring the group together to discuss the project, and "don't be lame." More Advice on Stakeholder Management What did you learn about project stakeholder management from our #PMChat? What did everyone fail to mention? Share more advice in the comments below, so everyone can learn from your expertise. If you're interested in reading the entire #PMChat on stakeholder management, funny asides and all, we organized the great stakeholder management insights and advice from project managers for your easy reading on Storify. Related Reads: 4 Strategies for Dealing with Difficult Stakeholders Why You Need to Record Your Project Management Lessons Learned 23 Project Management Books for All Experience Levels
How to Improve Your Collaborative Project Management
There are three main factors that determine the success of a new project or campaign: Excellent top-down and bottom-up communication, so everyone is on the same page with progress, challenges, and achievements; Organized and collaborative project management to make sure all work is completed on time and within budget; Collaboration between team members and across departments to bring in more ideas and breed innovation. But it's a mistake to think about these critical success factors for project management separately in today's innovative work environment. You can improve in all three areas by focusing on just one aspect of work: your collaborative project management. Refining this will enable everyone from the CEO on down to communicate with colleagues, manage projects and ideas, actively work together on tasks, and get work done efficiently. The best way to improve your collaborative project management is to bring your team out of the dark ages of back-and-forth email conversations and introduce a software specifically made to do the job. The Keys to Effective Collaborative Project Management Whether you decide to continue using your old methods, or you're looking for a new collaborative project management tool, here are a few things to consider: 1. You need a tool that updates in real time Some cloud-based and online software allow your team to share and monitor updates in real time; as soon as a change is made, that change is visible to everyone. That means your team will never accidentally work with outdated information (e.g. spreadsheets), so collaboration can move forward smoothly and efficiently. 2. Colleagues need to be able to work at the same time Live collaboration is the new hallmark of the best teamwork. One of the first popular tools of this type was Google Docs — one person updates the online document, and another person can edit simultaneously or simply watch the process as it's happening. Wrike is a collaborative project management tool that provides the same real-time collaboration capabilities on tasks and projects. 3. You can discuss work right where its being done Instead of keeping conversations in one tool (e.g. chat tools) and your actual work in another, you should find one tool that allows you to hold conversations right where work is being done. This way, if you bring someone new into your project or you need to pass off work, you can also give them insight into past decision-making and project-related conversations. They'll be able to get up to speed immediately, without you taking time out of your day to walk them through every project detail. 4. You need a consolidated place to store & manage all work-related information It's common these days to keep information saved in many different places, such as email inboxes, cloud file storage systems, and on the hard drives of personal computers. That makes it nearly impossible to ensure your entire team is working with the latest information. If you want to improve your collaborative project management, you need to find one place to store everything related to work — all your one-off tasks, long-term projects, files, conversations, meeting notes, and reports. Doing this gives your people immediate, always-available access to the information they need, without having to hunt through multiple tools. 5. You should be able to change project details & let the team know immediately Every team will need to change project details or priorities at one point or another. Your process or tool should allow you to update work and let your team know immediately, so that everyone is always working on the most important projects with the most accurate information. 6. You should be able to see what's coming next Effective project management software allows you to plan for future tasks and projects using scheduling, Gantt charts, task dependencies, and more. You'll be able to logically organize your tasks and projects, set up workflows to move work from beginning to end, monitor progress to make sure nothing falls behind, and check in with colleagues to see if they need help. As one project is ending, your team can immediately start on the next priority work. Free Collaborative Project Management Tool If you've decided to implement a collaborative project management software, try Wrike absolutely free for 2 weeks, and then upgrade or stay free. Invite your team to Wrike, complete a short project together using the tool, and see how we can help your team work better.
#PMChat: Join the Conversation About Project Stakeholder Management
The success or failure of a project can depend on efficient stakeholder management. Stakeholders include the project team getting work done, the project team's managers providing resources and directions to the team, and anyone and everyone who could be impacted by the outcome of the project — whether they are the client, or a different team whose work depends on successful project completion. If these people aren't in constant communication, the entire project could be delayed weeks or even months. A project manager is the glue bringing all the different stakeholders together. Their greatest challenge is efficiently juggling all these people without the power to "lay down the law". They manage everything laterally, and that means they're asking instead of telling. Sometimes projects go off without a hitch. Sometimes it seems different stakeholders live to make project managers go crazy. We want to have an open discussion with the project manager community (and anyone else who is interested) around the challenges about working with project stakeholders, and some best practices for managing those relationships. This Friday, March 13th, two members of the Wrike team will be hosting #PMChat, run by Robert Kelly. Our two hosts bring a wealth of experience working with various project stakeholders: Errette Dunn, Productivity Coach at Wrike (previously with Airbus and Toyota) and Tom Treanor, Director of Content Marketing at Wrike (previously in project management at HP and PwC Consulting). Accredited and accidental project managers from around the world join in the #PMChat every week, so take this opportunity to get ideas and feedback from your community. Jump in to talk about challenges, successes, and suggestions related to project stakeholder management. How to participate in our #PMChat: Join our #PMChat on Twitter on Friday, March 13, 2015 at 9AM PST (12PM EST). Never participated in a Twitter chat before? It's easy — and you don't have to sign up in advance. Enter #PMChat on TweetChat, and authorize the app for your Twitter handle. This tool will help you follow along with live conversation in a chatroom format. You can easily respond to our questions, retweet others' answers, and talk to your fellow PMchat-ers. Every time we ask a question, we'll start with Q1), Q2), etc. That's your cue to share your thoughts. Questions we plan to cover and learn about during our #PMChat (subject to change): Q1) Who are the different stakeholders that project managers need to keep on the radar during a project? Questions about project team members: Q2) How do you motivate or lead project team members who don’t report to you? Q3) How do you get the managers of those people to provide enough of their time for your project? Questions about project sponsors: Q4) How do you keep sponsors championing the project vs. being passive observers? Q5) If you have multiple sponsors, how do you avoid scope creep? Questions about people impacted by the project: Q6) How do we identify those people who might be impacted by the project? Q7) How do you proactively identify potential issues that will come up and diffuse them early? Q8) What are the best ways to communicate with these people regularly during the project? Q9) What other stakeholder issues do you see in projects? How do you address those? When you're sharing, start your response with A1), A2), etc. to match our question. If you use Tweetchat, it will automatically add #PMChat to the end of your response so that it shows up in the #PMChat feed. Otherwise, if you're adding a tool like Hootsuite, Tweetdeck or the Twitter app, add the #PMChat hashtag on your own, so everyone can see your response. Check out this blog post for more general information and an example of how to use Twitter chats. Looking forward to talking with you on 3/13! Image credits: Designed by Freepik
