Archive for June 2007

Inspection is a Tool for Improvement, Not a Whip
Deming’s third point urges practitioners to design quality into processes, using inspection as an information-gathering tool to do so. In project management, the processes and systems make up a methodology. Does your organization have a consistent methodology, or does everyone run projects their own way?
Inspecting project performance [...]

Adopt a Philosophy of Cooperation Where Everyone Wins and Teach it to Everyone
Often, projects can become battlegrounds where the project manager and team are at odds with the sponsor and other stakeholders. These conflicts can arise when the project environment is not conducive to a win-win approach.
In project planning and initiation, clearly define the WIIFM [...]

Commitment from the Top to Continuous Improvement as a Way of Life
Deming’s first point is an important one. There needs to be commitment from the top to make continuous improvement a priority. To do it right, most firms would probably implement a Project Management Office from which continuous improvement activities can be based, one [...]

Dr. W. Edwards Deming was recently re-introduced to me in my Project Performance and Quality Assurance class. I have heard of him before and touched on some of his philosophy in other classes, but focused much more in-depth this time. The majority of his philosophy around quality and organizational management resonates with me. Plus, Professor [...]

I recently watched Night at the Museum with commentary turned on by director Shawn Levy. He stated that he story-boarded almost everything and that really helped stay focused and get the shots he needed when the [project] team was there to film the movie. It also helped him get sponsorship to film certain sequences or [...]

Leading the change process to support a project-based organization (PBO) requires a focus on adding value and alignment, from strategy through to execution.  Management roles and approaches to leadership in a PBO might range from a Project Office of One (POO) to a Strategic Project Office (SPO).  If this is your concern, first

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One of my issues with the PM Network magazine distributed by the Project Management Institute to all its members is that the stories provide only high level soundbites, failing to provide enough meaningful content about why, what, and how to implement project management.  Let me tell you the rest of the story behind quotes attributed [...]

In my role now as an executive consultant (since leaving HP in the year 2000), I note how difficult it is to work through the political environment in client organizations.  I’ve seen projects fail not because project managers were not enthusiastic about what they were doing but because they failed to get effective sponsorship support.  In contrast, [...]

Senior managers often insist on doing things their way, even though they are new to that position or portion of the business and do not understand project management. One time I was being pushed to become a technical expert on a project I was managing, because the senior manager thought that is how to earn [...]

As is common in many project situations, I as a project manager have had to deal with running projects with little formal control or have been given solutions to produce that were unclear or perhaps even wrong. This amounts to working on a solution in search of a problem. Such situations invariably create [...]

I have a friend (let’s call him Andy) who used to work for me and was a good engineer. He subsequently became VP Engineering at an outsourced software development company overseas. I have another friend (let’s call him Don) who also worked with me at a large software company in the sales group; we went [...]

Deliverables-based project management, or as Timm Esque, author of “No Surprises Project Management”, calls it “Commitment-based” project management, makes tracking of deliverable completion relatively easy. Rather than worrying about the task details, the PM worries about the status of the deliverable. And here are a few rules I apply:
1. It is either “done” [...]