I truly believe in continuous improvement. In today’s world standing still really translates into regression. I apply that continuous improvement to different areas of my life: I keep pursuing knowledge on scuba diving in general and its physiology in specific, I am planning to improve my technical skills of motorcycling this year, I learn new things about a healthy lifestyle every day and of course I keep expanding my professional knowledge.

I started out in the investment banking world as an account manager for institutional clients. I decided that my drive for results and my desire to learn more about information technology would be better served in project management so I switched careers. I have never regretted that move. Since my first PM position was at Royal Dutch Airlines, I decided to follow a full year of evening classes in logistics management at the university.

After moving to the United States, I was introduced to the PMP and became certified in 2001. My desire to continuously improve continued with Toastmasters, a Scrum Master certificate, the PMI Leadership Institute Master class, a Myers-Briggs qualification, a Green belt in Six Sigma and currently an executive coaching certification. It is not the certificates I am interested in but rather the knowledge, experience, and interaction with other students from different industries. Some of the acquired knowledge I actively use on a day to day basis, other knowledge becomes part of the mental toolkit to be pulled out when the situation calls for it and some of it goes into the mental waste basket.

Especially in a job market that is a “buyer” market (like today’s) showing that you invest time and money in yourself will improve your chances in the job market. It demonstrates aspects like a curious mind, commitment to (self) improvement, and dedication to juggle a busy schedule with continuous learning.

What can you do? See it as the project “Investing in myself”. First, define the requirements:

1. Figure out what you are passionate about and evaluate if this is something you can pursue.
2. Look at your current skill set: are there skills you want to improve?
3. Do you see skills in others that you would like to acquire?

A lot of my continuous improvement was triggered by one of these three points. For example, I joined Toastmasters because I was in awe of the speaking skills of some of the people I met here and being from Europe there is significant less emphasis on public speaking skills while they are crucial for a successful project manager.

Secondly, figure out what you can do to start working on the desired skills. This includes:

• What courses are out there? (PMI nowadays has a plethora of certifications as do many other organizations)
• What is your financial situation?
• Will your company pay for it?
• Can you obtain the skills through self-study (and are you self-disciplined enough to do this)?

Then schedule the time to work on those skills. None of us have enough time to do everything we need and want to do so it comes down to prioritizing our time. If the project “Investing in myself” is important enough to you, you will find the time to execute it even though it might mean having to (temporarily) give up other activities.

Okay, back to my coaching studies.

Tracking Gantt

Project Conference 2009 continues through this week in Phoenix, AZ.  As Microsoft prepares for the release of Project 2010, it’s a good time to reflect on some additional best practices that project managers should keep in mind when using their current version of Microsoft Project.

Know the Limitations of Critical Path Methodology – CPM was developed by the DuPont Corporation over 50 years ago as an effective method to identify activities with no tolerance for delay.  You can use the Gantt Chart Wizard function to display the critical path in Microsoft Project.  One significant limitation with the Critical Path Method is that it does not account for resource constraints, only task dependencies.  Project managers who are dealing with limited resources often find that not all projects can be managed to the critical path schedule.  Incorporating the Resource Leveling feature can help a project manager identify resource bottlenecks in addition to the critical path.  Using the Leveling Delay column and the critical path helps to pinpoint which resources and tasks are the ones to focus on first when optimizing the schedule.

Learn to Compress Schedules Effectively – Project managers are always trying to save time and often utilize many schedule compression techniques.  It’s important to practice each technique in Microsoft Project in order to become as efficient as possible when optimizing the timeline.  One of the best places to start optimizing is in resource reassignment.  When working in a resource constrained environment, reassigning a leveled critical task to an available resource is a great way to save time.  Other compression techniques include applying concurrency (negative lag in Microsoft Project) and shortening duration.  Both of these methods should include documentation (I always recommend on Task Notes) to identify the assumption(s) made in order to fast track or crash the activities.

Achieving Consensus and Understanding Baselines – This is always an interesting topic.  Saving a baseline in Microsoft Project is a simple mouse click – a 5 minute feature review to go over the menu command and which fields are affected.  But it represents a fundamentally important point – the consensus achieved between project sponsor and the team over what will be delivered, who will do the work and what is the agreed upon schedule and budget.  The project manager is responsible for reaching this agreement as a result of the project planning process.  Setting a baseline essentially takes a snapshot of the planning data and saves it for future reference in the tracking and control phase of the project.  The importance of this step within the process of using the tool cannot be understated.

Controlling Projects by Variance Analysis –Here’s where Microsoft Project shines.  Once an effective planning process is completed and a good baseline is set, the Tracking Gantt View and Tracking Table can be utilized to collect actual status and provide quality decision making data for corrective actions.  Fields like Actual Start, Actual Duration and Remaining Duration are far more effective than % Complete.  Team members are much more accountable to task updates when asked for remaining duration or work as opposed to % complete.  Good project managers will go around and gather actual status from team members prior to any status meetings and then use the team meetings for more important activities like problem solving, risk management, scope change control and additional planning.

Supporting Multiple Project Managers –Whether it’s a large well established PMO or a single project manager who wants to improve the way projects are managed in the organization, there are many best practices in supporting a group of project managers.  The easiest place to start is by standardizing many of the useful objects within Project and replicating them to other plans or templates with the Organizer feature.  These objects usually include tables, filters, views and calendars (e.g. to establish working time for various countries).  Organizing a regular company user’s group meeting can be an effective way to share lessons learned and keep everyone on the same page.  Other useful techniques that support project management in the enterprise include Shared Resources, usage of master and subprojects, project-to-project dependencies and portfolio resource management.

For a more in-depth look at Microsoft Project Best Practices at UCSC Extension in Silicon Valley check out the Elective Course link in the left menu for Managing Projects with Microsoft Project.    *** NOTE: Space is still available for the next class starting  Sat 9/19 ***

Coming up next time, a closer look at…  PMI and the PMP credential – why it’s finally time for many project managers to consider certification.

Thanks for reading.  Your comments are always welcome!

- Jim Park, PMP
Instructor, Project and Program Management certificate program
UCSC Extension in Silicon Valley

Technorati Tags: best-practices, Planning, PMO, Professional-Development, project-management-tools, resources, Tracking & control

With the kick-off of Project Conference 2009 in Phoenix, AZ this week Microsoft has invited some customers and partners to get a sneak peek at Microsoft Project 2010.  I have been managing projects and teaching classes on this tool for quite a long time and have had a chance to read about some of the latest ‘improvements.’  Unfortunately, this new release still does not address some basic needs for project managers as they approach the tool.  Here are some practical suggestions when using (any version of) Microsoft Project.

Understand the Challenges to Using MS Project – There’s a reason that spreadsheets are the most commonly used software tools to manage projects.  Spreadsheets are more intuitive and predictable than MS Project.  MS Project is relatively easy to use when starting to coordinate tasks but it can quickly become cumbersome and unmanageable when attempting to optimize resources and control your schedule or budget.  A streamlined approach to using the most appropriate features is highly recommended.  I have generally found that a project manager can effectively plan and control their projects with far less than half of the tool’s functionality.  One way to streamline your approach to the tool is to minimize data entry to certain key fields (e.g. Task Name, Predecessor, Duration, Actual Start, Actual Duration and Remaining Duration to name a few).

Know the Planning Limitations - Microsoft Project is not a project management tool.  Let me repeat that last sentence: Microsoft Project is not a project management tool.   It was developed as a schedule tracking application but has become accepted over the years as a comprehensive project management tool.  It is not the most effective tool when it comes to brainstorming activities like project planning.  Many project managers get challenged when they drag their teams through a planning session with nothing but a Gantt Chart.  Gantt Charts are not very conducive to team interaction during the planning process.  Teams often respond better and produce higher quality planning information when using affinity diagramming tools like mind maps and work breakdown structures.  That brings up another good suggestion…

Integrate a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) – For all the years that Microsoft Project has been in use, there has never been a built-in WBS feature.  This has always amazed me.  Previous versions have attempted to integrate with Microsoft Visio to create WBS diagrams but this was never an effective feature.  Project managers will often utilize summary tasks and subtasks (i.e. indenting tasks) in order to create a hierarchy of work within a Gantt Chart.  This is a good start but I would go a step further and utilize an add-on tool such as WBS Chart Pro (criticaltools.com) which integrates the Work Breakdown Structure into MS Project for reporting as well as front-end planning functionality.

Improve Estimation Techniques – Often times the weakest link in the planning process is the quality of work and cost estimates for project activities.  There are several things to keep in mind as you enter Duration, Work or Cost estimates into MS Project.  First, it is your responsibility as the project manager to challenge and validate estimates you receive from various sources.  If you have gone through enough projects, you know that you cannot assume every estimate will be accurate.  Refer to historical data, break down components to smaller work packages and push back on those Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) until you are more confident in the quality of the estimates.  In addition, you can use various techniques such as Delphi to gain consensus on estimates or Stochastic Modeling to leverage three-point estimates and improve the confidence in your overall schedule or budget.  There are built-in PERT Analysis features, add-on tools (e.g. Risk+ from Deltek) and even macros for Monte Carlo simulation available to integrate three-point estimation and risk management into Microsoft Project plans.

Standardize, Share, and Optimize Your Resources – Entering resources in Microsoft Project is quite easy.  Defining them properly is not.  What I mean is that coming up with a standard naming convention for resources can be challenging.  This is especially true when there are many different stakeholders for project data – resource managers, executives, portfolio/program management and, of course, team members.   Defining a common set of resources to meet all major reporting needs is often the job for a Project Management Office (PMO).  The PMO may also be charged with setting up a Resource Pool which can be shared across multiple projects and maintained centrally.  Ultimately, a key project management responsibility during the planning and control portions of a project is to optimize the usage of resources such that those resources can effectively achieve the work and thereby commit to the plan.  A good understanding of the Resource Leveling feature in MS Project allows a project manager to identify key resource bottlenecks and optimize assignments proactively to reduce schedule risk.

Know Your Limitations in Sharing Information – It’s much easier to share information with spreadsheets than with MS Project since almost everyone has a spreadsheet application on their computer.  Unfortunately, licensing costs make MS Project a limited deployment for most organizations.  For the individual project manager there is a rarely leveraged discount available through academic licensing.  Taking a professional development course or having a child in school allows for up to 90% off of the list pricing.  It is well worth taking advantage of this discount.  Check out online academic software resellers for more information on eligibility and pricing.

For a more in-depth look at Microsoft Project Best Practices at UCSC Extension in Silicon Valley check out the Elective Course link in the left menu for Managing Projects with Microsoft Project.

Coming up next time, a closer look at… Limitations in Critical Path Methodology, Compressing Schedules Effectively, Achieving Consensus and Understanding Baselines, Controlling Projects by Variance Analysis and Supporting Multiple Project Managers.

Thanks for reading.  Your comments are always welcome!

- Jim Park, PMP
Instructor, Project and Program Management certificate program
UCSC Extension in Silicon Valley

Technorati Tags: best-practices, estimation, Planning, Professional-Development, project-management-tools, resources, wbs

There is a Green Wave sweeping the country – and the planet.  Have project managers – the very people who will institute green projects – missed the boat?  Do they realize that there are ‘green’ things they can do even if their project doesn’t have a single wind turbine or carbon scrubber in it?  We’re wondering how many project managers consider the environment in their projects.  In fact we have just started a LinkedIn Poll on the subject, you can start out your reading of this blog by temporarily exiting it, voting, and then coming back.  For you linear thinkers this can also be viewed as a good opportunity to practice some nonlinear activities.  Voting will take 5 seconds or less.  It will be even quicker if you are already logged into LinkedIn.

Here is the link:  http://polls.linkedin.com/p/49729/tqusk

Thanks for your vote.  You did vote, right?  Well, welcome back.

What is the greenality™ of your PMO, and by default, your projects?  Greenality (a word we’ve coined over here at EarthPM – check wikipedia and UrbanDictionary)  is the degree to which a project has considered environmental (green) factors that affect a project during the entire project life cycle.  It is critical for those with PMOs that they approach greenality from an overarching viewpoint.  The PMO is where the “buck starts”.  There is power there to manage project management resources and project resources across the organization.  It is also a place where greenality coaching takes place to verify that all project managers are environmentally aware.  The PMO is – or has the potential to be – the greenality policymaking body and sets the standard for their project management community, larger organization, and their business in general.  If you have no PMO…that doesn’t mean you are exempt – you should still read on…
Initiating a Project

Have you, as a project manager, your PMO, and your larger organization adopted the 5 Assertions of EarthPM?  See below.

Is there a green commitment in your Project Charter template? Project Managers should be putting a greenality statement in their Project Charter, identifying up front that they intend for their project to be carbon-neutral, or at least to acknowledge environmental impact(s) and set clearly-stated environmental objectives for the project.  An example would be, “I (we) the undersigned request that the project manager use all means necessary to insure that the project processes and product reduce the carbon footprint as much as possible.  If, however, it is not possible to reduce the carbon footprint on parts of the project or the product, I (we) hereby authorize the purchase of carbon offsets to be included in the project budget.  Additionally, I (we) request that environmental impacts and mitigation strategies be included in with the project’s risks.” By including a statement like this in the Project Charter Template, indicates that the organization truly acknowledged its commitment to being as eco-friendly as possible.

Have you considered the full set of stakeholders – including those who will be effected by the PRODUCT of your project - during intitiation?  This is critical, whether your project is of an environmental nature or not.

At EarthPM we have already been pushing the PMI to incorporate environmental concerns into both new editions of the Code of Ethics and Professional Responsiblity as well as adding and modifying processes for the 5th Edition PMBOK(R) Guide.

If this interests you, please check out our site, http://earthpm.com .  We will be continuing a series of articles on the other process groups (Planning, Executing, Monitoring and Controlling, and Closing).

We’d also like to leave you with a great book recommendation: Green To Gold, by Daniel Esty and Andrew Winston.

Technorati Tags: earth, Environment, green, green wave, initiation, right

Taking advantage of the social networks that we PMs have started to form on LinkedIn, I did some polling in early 2009 to gauge the interest level (see post below) in the brand-spanking-new PMBOK(R) Guide.

Using a completely non-scientific scale that I made up in 17.4 seconds, and asking the question on the larger LinkedIn Groups (including my own – LinkedIn Bloggers), I got about 80 responses over the past few days.

I was particularly impressed with the time people took to write very intelligent commentary. I think I touched a nerve with regards to the PMBOK Guide. People wrote to compare it with PRINCE2 and ITIL. People wrote to praise it, to tear it down, to exalt the PMI and to lambaste the PMI. But they did it all with a sharp wit and a deep insight that provided me with a mini “pulse” of the PM population with respect to the PMBOK Guide specifically, PMI standards more generally, and the PM discipline overall.

If you were one of the respondents, thank you. If you were one of the many who not only gave me your evaluation along my scale, but also wrote a paragraph or two, or a whole chapter, my hat is really off to you. Thanks. Really, thanks.

Now, to the results.

Remember that this was not – repaeat not - an anonymous survey. So people who were giving scores of a 5 (effectively yawning out loud at the PMBOK Guide update) were willing to make that statement in public with their name on it.

Only one person of the eighty respondents said that they were exhilirated and overjoyed at the arrival of the new PMBOK Guide. That’s an outcome, I think, of my silly scale. Still, I thought we may have seen a few more of these folks pipe up.

On the other end, we did have 5% brave souls say that this “doesn’t mean anything” to them.

In the middle, we had over 50% say that they were mildly interested or had a passing interest in the new PMBOK Guide. And about a quarter were excited or very interested.

Regarding the comments, one recurring theme was that those who gave the lower scores (i.e. showed more interest) were those who had some connection to the training, caring, feeding, etc., of Project Managers. Here I count those who create PM courseware, PMP-prep materials, or oversee the ’soft skills’ piece of their PMOs.

To me there are a few lessons learned here:

1. There is a great value in these PM social networks in terms of getting a pulse of the community. At the end of the posting I will put some links to these groups in LinkedIn. I suggest you check them out and join. Take advantage of the power of the (your) network.

2. There is a good deal of pent-up frustration out there with the PMI, although there seemed to be a common feeling that this new edition was a step in the right direction.

3. At least a subset of the community of people who work on PM education/training/certification are paying attention. They realize that – like it or not – the new PMBOK Guide has to be reckoned with.

Here are some links to the LinkedIn groups I mentioned above:

PM Bloggers
For those (crazies) who blog about PM

http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=72053

Over 600

Global Project Management
Over 7000 Members

PM Link
Over 16,000 Members

PMI Certified PMPs
Over 7000 Members

Project and Program Management Professionals
1,057 Members

Project Management Networking Group (PMNG)
25,619 Members

Project Managers Group
6,232 Members

sDB+PM Group
412 Members

After looking at these, by the way, I had the same thought that I did when I saw my alma mater’s alumni networking groups fractured into 5 or  6 disparate pieces. That thought: why can’t these be combined in some way? There may be some distinctions (like my group, PM Bloggers, which focuses on a particular aspect) that make sense, but having all of these groups is fragmenting the possibilities of a really large vibrant community. Any comments on that?

What are your thoughts about the new PMBOK(R) Guide?  What successes or flops have you had using LinkedIn groups?

Technorati Tags: Groups, LinkedIn, PMBOK, pmi, social networking

• Many questions involved picking the best of several correct answers
• The technique of eliminating 2 answers first didn’t work in some cases: for many there were 3 correct answers to choose the best one from
• I don’t remember any questions that involved picking which answer is NOT correct
• There was a calculator program built into the CBT software, was not allowed to bring in my own calculator (it may be different for you, I suggest you check with your examination place beforehand)
• I brought bottled water and some light snacks, and took a break at least every 45 minutes.  It was good to just stare out the window and clear my mind of PMP-related thoughts for 5-10 minutes.
• It took me only 2 1/2 hours, but I could see how if you are not a native english-speaker it may take longer to interpret the questions properly.

My preparation:

• PM Prepcast (comes with some sample questions, study guide, etc.)
• PMBoK Guide (reference only, I never read through it)
• Using the concepts whenever possible on my project
• 2 weeks before the test, no more studying.  Only sample questions.  All the free sample questions I could find plus the ones I got with the PM Prepcast

I listened to the PM Prepcast on drives to and from work, and because he gives so many examples of real-world situations it helped me internalize the concepts so I really understood them.  I didn’t spend any time trying to memorize inputs and outputs, etc.  If there was something I needed to see, I made a mental note and then when I got to work or home I’d pull out the PMBoK guide and reference the section in question to better understand it.  For the most part, I just used the graphics and flowcharts in the PMBok guide for reference.

What value did I get out of it?

My son Mazaryk and I

The primary reason I did the PMP was so I can have it on my resume and not get it thrown in the trash before a potential employer even talks to me.  The PMBoK is a standard, not best practices.  It’s a framework, not a methodology for how you should actually manage a project.  I know some have said that some firms actually screen out people if they have a PMP certification.  That is a very small number indeed, and truthfully I wouldn’t want to work with them anyway.  If someone ASSUMES incompetence on the basis of having earned a certification, then they are more consumed with their own ideological stance on the matter than hiring a qualified candidate.

No, the majority of employers who know anything about what the PMP is are screening for it, not against it.  Therefore, it is important to me from a pragmatic standpoint that I put myself in a position to best support my family with the value I bring to the firms I work with.  The PMP is but one of many things I’ve done and continue to do in order to market my skills and value effectively.  I understand that this certification does not certify me as a project manager, nor does it certify any level of competency.  I think it’s a signal that I have a minimum level of knowledge about project management and have some familiarity with formal practices laid out in the PMBoK standard.

Now, the primary benefit I’ve received was NOT as a result of earning the certification.  It was during the process of studying for it and applying the concepts in my day job, alongside other frameworks and methodologies and specific processes necessary for my project’s situation.  When I wrote a management plan that was not in line with the PMBoK, I understood exactly how and why, and that there’s nothing wrong with that.  I can’t stress enough the value I received from the PM Prepcast.  I paid less than $50 for it, and it was worth at least $500 to me.  It was so much better than any boot camp, training class, or prep book.  Those things mostly focus on memorization or take a lot of time and money.  I studied while I was driving and got lots of real-world examples to bring the concepts to life.  I’m confident that if I took the PMP exam again a year from now, I’d pass it with no problem because I know this stuff, I didn’t just memorize it.

Next up, the IPMA/asapm certification?

Technorati Tags: pmp-certification, pmp-exam, project-management-certification

Many organizations who embrace project management will only seek project management professionals who hold a Project Management Professional (PMP) credential.  According to The Project Managment Institute (PMI), individuals who hold PMI’s PMP credential “demonstrates a proficient level of project management leadership skills”.  There is no debate that those who hold a PMP are well-informed of project management principles and meet specific eligibility PMI guidelines measuring experience, education and professional knowledge.

However, there are many project managers who are equally experienced without the PMP credential.  They hold a GID – they Get It Done.  They are equally versed in project managmenet principles, have keen leadership skills and hold successful track records when managing projects.  They are typically subject matter experts who are smart, know how to navigate an organization, are highly organized and are proficient at relationship management.

Are organizations missing opportunities by not considering BOTH PMPs and GIDs when screening for project manager professionals?  As more and more organizations shift to strategic project managment models, should more and more companies consider both types of candidates to meet all the demands and challenges needed to establish, manage and successfully execute their portfolio of projects?

Know what you really need in your candidates before you begin the search.

Lisa DiTullio

Lisa DiTullio & Associates

Technorati Tags: Getting-Things-Done

About the author

Josh Nankivel is a Project Planning & Controls Control Account Manager and contractor for the ground system of the Landsat Data Continuity Mission, a joint project between the USGS and NASA. His academic background includes a BS in Project Management, summa cum laude.  He can be found writing and contributing in many places within the project management community, and his primary project management website is located at pmstudent.com.

Technorati Tags: experience-requirement, pmi, PMP, template