Knowledge Management for Virtual (and non-virtual) Teams

Properly managed project documentation is critical for all types and sizes of projects. After all, the project documentation is the only real output from most projects. It is not the prototype that matters. It is the production documentation that includes things such as material lists, part drawings, assembly instructions, diagnostics, and source code that defines our products and services. I’m sure this is nothing profound to any of you. However, what you may not realize is that making it easy for everyone to find the latest version of a given document is especially important for virtual teams. Virtual teams often consist of people from different time zones or who work different schedules (i.e., a four-day week). As such, these teams rely more heavily on online sources of documentation throughout their work week. If they struggle to find the latest documentation on some aspect of the project that affects them, they’ll waste time sending e-mails, calling around or worse still, end up using an outdated version by mistake. (more…)

Whiteboarding for Virtual Teams

One of the most useful things I have learned leading teams is that pictures are a very effective way to help people understand complex ideas. I am sure you have all heard that there are auditory learners and visual learners, but in my experience, a good visual is much better than audio for most people. I have been in countless meetings where a discussion goes on and on with no apparent conclusion or convergence toward an answer until someone goes up to the board and draws a picture of the ‘situation’. The dynamics in the meeting immediately transform. Understanding increases, more people are engaged to help draw the picture, and things get moving again. People need a way to form a mental image of complex problems, to connect abstract ideas with things they already understand. This is why drawing even a simple flow or relationship diagram can help people understand the most difficult concepts. (more…)

The Mighty Checklist: A Forgotten Tool for Flexibility

By Jerry Manas

How many times have we seen PMOs create intricate processes and templates, only to find that there are more exceptions than rules?

We create forms, templates, and stage gates, in an attempt to gain control. But in doing so, we also create such barriers to implementation that it becomes like the Twelve Trials of Hercules just getting something implemented. Plus we lose flexibility (and I might add, credibility) as well. We often overlook the power of a simple checklist.

For maximum flexibility in our processes, why don’t we: (more…)

Reverse-Engineering Requirements?

By Josh Nankivel

Fellow blogger Craig Brown over at Better Projects asked “Why reverse engineer requirements?” in a recent post.Interesting question… Craig asked what value there is in trying to derive requirements based on an existing system. There are two points that came to mind on this. (more…)

Everything you know about project management is wrong

To someone else. Why?

Some project managers accidentally stumble into the profession. Others enter the field on purpose. Both groups tend to settle into a particular way of managing projects, and over time it seems most form specific ideas about what works and what doesn’t from their experience.

Projects in general have some similarities. (more…)

Project Progress Trend Analysis

If you are like most project managers, you wish you had a better real-time handle on the progress of your project so you could predict when you will finish or when a change is needed in order to stay on track. I have used a simple yet powerful method that is applicable to most projects and can tell you months in advance if you are off track or if scope creep is threatening to destroy your schedule. The method is straightforward and only requires a detailed task list and that the tasks are checked off as the project progresses. If you spend the time with the project team to develop a detailed work breakdown schedule (WBS), you have all the data you need for this method. WBS data should be available for even the simplest projects and is often in spreadsheet form as a simple list of tasks, making the method described here very easy to implement. The method is far easier to use to monitor progress and identify when things are going awry than either PERT or Gantt charts. Here is the method: (more…)

Vision and Mission Statements Revisited

I’m sure you have had a chance to write a vision or mission statement at one time or another in your career. In my 25 years in high-tech corporate life, I’ve seen hundreds. Unfortunately, most of them were poorly written because the authors failed to capture the true goal of a vision statement, and missed the boat completely on what they called a Mission Statement. I think the reasons for this are obvious…we were never taught how to write them properly. Isn’t that the reason for most of our problems in life? In any case, let’s begin with the Vision statement.   (more…)