Category: Operations

From time to time in my business life, someone will ask, or sometimes say that project management is ‘common sense’, meaning it is just common sense.

Often they are making a statement along the lines of ‘what’s all the fuss about this PM stuff, it’s all just common sense isn’t it’?

Well, my question is, of course, is it just common sense or as some would say, a whole lot more more?

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For more resources, see the Library topic Project Management.

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Benefits of Consulting and/or Project Teams

Occasionally, a client will specify that they want a team of consultants on the project because the project requires substantial expertise and resources. While there can be many frustrations for consultants working in teams, there are also major benefits.

• The team can provide a wide variety of expertise and perspectives during the project, often resulting in a more accurate understanding and resolution of problems in the client’s organization.
• If the team is designed well, members often provide useful ongoing support and feedback amongst each other, as well.
• If a consultant suddenly is not able to work on the project, other consultants can step in to cover for the missing consultant.

As a result, consultants enjoy a more successful project and develop a network of trusted peers.

A Team on a Project Might Include:

• An organizational change consultant to guide development of the collaborative relationship and overall project plan.
• If a Board of Directors is involved (and they should be on major projects), Board trainers who ensure the Board of Directors is sufficiently developed to oversee the organizational change project.
• A strategic planning facilitator to guide development of an overall strategic planning framework in which the organizational change plan can be integrated.
• Specialists in products or services to guide development of certain plans, including groups of customers to serve, and how to develop and sell the product on an ongoing basis.
• Marketing consultants to provide expertise, for example, in market research, public relations, branding, and advertising and promotions planning.
• Trainers to convey “expert” content at various times to various members of the client’s organization.

Here Are Some Useful, Free Online Resources

• Project Management
• Team Building
• Organizational Change

What do you think?

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For more resources, see the Library topic Project Management.

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Carter McNamara, MBA, PhD – Authenticity Consulting, LLC – 800-971-2250
Read my weekly blogs: Boards, Consulting and OD, Nonprofits and Strategic Planning.

The following is definitely not at the “best” end.

I recently had to respond to a bid for major customer – in the customer ITT the usual procurement rules were laid down. The ITT had been written in English; by someone who’s native tongue was not. The document was full of inconsistencies, incomplete or vague and conflicting statements.

In the procurement rules in the ITT, it stated that: “no meetings or verbal discussions would take place with any of the bidders” – all communication would done in writing, and it got worse, in one single pass. In other words, no clarification on the customer’s response to bidders questions would be entertained, and from this, the bidders were expected to present binding fixed price bids.

Sadly, in the world of procurement, this is not an isolated case.

Many projects rely completely on procurement, but too often the project team’s decisions or needs are overruled by the procurement process or function – and the end result? The project has to try and fix the issues that this leaves behind or generates – and sometimes they can’t be fixed.

Surely there has to be a better way?

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For more resources, see the Library topic Project Management.

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There are many elements in the environment of a project, and ‘organisation’ is one of the most important. Organisational decisions can encompass wide-ranging aspects, such as partnerships, key supplier and sub-contracting relationships and responsibilities within a project – and that’s the key word: “responsibilities”.

Making responsibilities clear at the practical working level, perhaps phase by phase, is one of the most important tasks a project team will do. The converse is that if we don’t make responsibilities clear, the downstream impact of this will all too often be measured in cost, schedule and technical terms – sometimes this alone leads to substantial impacts on a project’s success and delivery goals.

So, if this is the case, why is it that so many project teams roll along without spending much effort or paying attention to this question – it seems such a fundamental thing to do, but corporate and individual behaviour does not always support this?

What do you think and what are your experiences on your projects?

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For more resources, see the Library topic Project Management.

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As with many walks of life, there are many views on project management. The following short discussion demonstrates brilliantly the differing views of people relating to the task of project management and the responsbilities of a project manager.

When having met an organisation recently I was talking to a few project managers, and one of them said to me: “being a Project Manager doesn’t mean I have to chase people on their tasks does it” (to provide some context, this was a relatively small firm with small project teams – less than 6 key people in each project team).

It’s an interesting question as on this alone you get completely different behaviours (and processes) among Project Managers, and resulting from this alone you can get very different results from projects.

Let us know your thoughts on this question?

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For more resources, see the Library topic Project Management.

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Picking up on Ethics in PM – dealing with customers – for example, how soon do you tell the sponsor / customer about an issue and what information do you give them?

We all know what should ideally happen; customers and suppliers should have access to and exchange real, timely information on aspects such as progress, risks and issues on projects.

However, we all know what happens in practice too often – information is massaged, withheld and provided in limited forms, as parties exchange information on projects.

What is your experience?

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For more resources, see the Library topic Project Management.

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many firms today are trying to introduce and use the role of sponsor on projects. Executed well, this role can contribute hugely to making a project a success in delivery terms and especially the outcomes that projects are intended to deliver.

The challenge is:

• To deliver the role they need to be fairly senior people – often they are very hard to get hold of
• They often don’t have a background in projects (or a project management process), leading to a lack of appreciation of the role and the value of elements of the process
• It’s simply assumed by the organisation that any senior person can deliver this role
• They sometimes shy away from the most important responsibilities of a sponsor

What’s your experience and tips if you have any?

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For more resources, see the Library topic Project Management.

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Too many businesses describe the responsibilities of a project manager along the lines of: “to deliver the project on time and within budget” – this is the goal of project management, not the responsibilities of a project manager. Neither, for example, does it do much to help those entering the profession to understand the fullness of the role (or the level of challenge they may be about to face).

If you agree with the above, here’s one suggestion: organisations, business schools and the like understand common causes of project failure. Often this includes things like: “lack of / poor planning”. Therefore, if for example, you believe in the value of planning, one line on the PMs responsibilities should focus on this, hopefully qualified by measurable ‘standards’ that the organisation expects to achieve in this or any other area.

The other issue that the opening statement does not help with is the managing effectively the expectations or even behaviours required of project managers. Being an effective project manager requires being willing to take responsibility – not for everything, but in the main for the success or otherwise of the project. Food for thought.

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For more resources, see the Library topic Project Management.

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Kevin Lonergan with Project Management Informed Solutions helps clients improve capability to deliver projects and programs, by providing process assets and skills transfer.

I have been having an ongoing discussion with a global company that has been having big issues in delivering its major customer projects. They are looking to develop a strategy for provision of real project managers / and or professional project management expertise to help. In doing this, they are having an important debate:

Should they develop in-house local project management competence or should they buy it in as required?

Personally I have my views but what do you think? ”

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For more resources, see the Library topic Project Management.

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Kevin Lonergan with Project Management Informed Solutions helps clients improve capability to deliver projects and programs, by providing process assets and skills transfer.

Language and misunderstanding have a way of taking on a life of their own and can undermine the success and progress of a project quickly.

I was recently engaged for some project troubleshooting and review for a multi-national client doing a major global system upgrade while also undertaking a merger. I uncovered many issues which highlighted the criticality of precision communication when dealing with diverse project teams.

Frequently a single workflow or deliverable can involve several teams across multiple time zones as well as off-shore development teams on different continents. There are cultural and language issues as well as the general time coordination issues not to mention semantics.

In this day and age of multiple time zones, languages, cultural differences and different management styles, it is imperative that the foundation for communication be established very early. It is critical to establish a common general foundation for communication. Some of the tools I’ve used to assist have been:

• Definition of a common ‘Project/Program Glossary of Terms’
• Precision of timing measures such as using specific times and not terms such as Close of business (COB), “First thing in the Morning” or “later today” as those can be vague and open to interpretation relative to one’s time zone.
• Clarity around expectations when terms such as Initial Draft, Production Ready, Ready to Discuss & Brief Presentation are used.

What are some other kinds of terms that readers might put into this category?

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For more resources, see the Library topic Project Management.

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