Business Intelligence Projects: Practical Advice

Differentiation in a Tough Economic Climate

Here's some good advice on refining the scope of your target market, honing your message, perfecting your products, and engaging your customers in a positive and refreshing way. ...

... "If you can become known by a very narrow target market for doing something very specifically unique in a way that your customers adore, you will no longer compete on price and no longer live at the mercies of the ups and downs beyond your control. " ...

Via Escape from Cubicle Nation: Recession-proofing wisdom

Multi-Disciplinary Programs

Advice to position yourself for success in 2008. ...

... "Or, if you can, get assigned to a boundary-spanning role, and seek some relief from daily operational duties so you can focus on the big picture. " ...

Via PC World: Career Tips

Mindset then Tools

Good advice for influencing innovation in your enterprise. Do more of this to innovate: experiment, invest resources, create burning platforms, and understand your customers' problems. ...

... "Do not train your employees on creativity techniques or bring in innovation software until you have addressed your underlying cultural issues (the mindset). " ...

Via Steve Shapiro: Innovation Mindset, Not Tools

Project Advice for 2008

Advice for the new year includes building better business cases and planning for the organizational changes needed to operate new business processes enabled by technology implementations. ...

... "If your business case can't stand up to careful scrutiny and evaluation, then it's highly likely the project will experience significant downstream problems. " ...

Via ZDNet: Five Tips for IT success in 2008

Resource Planning for Project Success

IT services organization, Parity, sees resource planning as an opportunity to position projects for success. Their whitepaper offers advice that includes a thorough planning period, setting appropriate resource durations to support sourcing arrangements, and a disciplined approach to recruiting project talent. They see shortages in skilled IT resources as a strategic challenge confronting the IT space. ...

... "Failure to get IT resource requirements mapped out adequately is undermining the chances of IT projects succeeding and raises the risk of projects going over time and budget warns Parity ... " ...

Via Parity: Inadequate resource planning puts projects at risk

Managing Your Weaknesses: Don't Ignore Them!

Much has been made of the strengths-based management approach, endorsed by Peter Drucker, and popularized by Marcus Buckingham. As this article from Brian Brim in the Gallup Management Journal points out, focusing on your strengths does not mean ignoring your weaknesses.

In the article, he offers sound advice for managing your weaknesses when struggling with a task, including:

- Getting education and training for skills or knowledge that you lack
- Leveraging your natural talents to do the job (or finding your own way to go about it)
- Forming complementary partnerships
- Just giving it your best shot, knowing there are other things you do well
- If the above alternatives don't work, stop doing it or find a new role!

Here's the article. It's well worth reading...

Debunking Strengths Myths #1

Morph Projects, Don't Kill Innovation

Insights on Google's innovation techniques, which includes advice on innovation projects. ...

... "Don't kill projects, morph them. Google doesn't waste ideas. Instead, they try to change and transform them into something the company finds useful. " ...

Via Self-Service & Kiosk Association: Google innovation

Cheat Sheet for Managers: 101 Ways to Rise Above the Pack

InsideCRM has an excellent cheat sheet for managers, covering topics such as:

- Body Language
- Meeting Deadlines
- Getting Along with Employees
- Managing Yourself
- Boosting Productivity
- Managing Finances and Resources
- Communicating with Clients
- Keeping Up with Change
- Resolving Problems
- Going Above and Beyond

I've read through the list and there are some excellent reminders and insightful tips here. This is the kind of list that's good to print out and read on the train, keep on your desk, and read periodically to renew your focus.

It's billed as a "common sense" list of advice, but I find that much of it is quite uncommon (you know what they say about common sense). Kudos for the folks at InsideCRM for putting this together.

Check it out...


The Manager's Cheat Sheet: 101 Common-Sense Rules for Leaders - Inside CRM

Green is INnovative

Sun offers advice on green IT strategy and provides assessment toolkit as part of its eco initiative launch. ...

... "1. Assess Your Datacenter: Sun has resources available that you can use to measure the current efficiency and environmental impact of your datacenter, or we can do it for you. Based on the results, we can recommend ways to optimize space, power, and cooling for better efficiency and utilization across your IT infrastructure.

2. Optimize Your Infrastructure: Customers can upgrade their old equipment to new models that are the most energy efficient and powerful systems possible. Sun systems can deliver improved performance, power and cooling efficiencies as well as provide additional capacity in your facility.

3. Deploy Virtualization Technologies: Sun's virtualization solution is built upon industry-proven virtualization technologies – from desktop, to server, to disk and tape, and includes the free and open Solaris OS that runs across more than 890 Sun and non-Sun systems and has built-in virtualization and Predictive Self-Healing features. These products, combined with innovative programs, tools, services, and strategic partnerships can help customers achieve greater utilization, greater manageability, and significant savings, while bypassing power and space limitations. " ...

Via Sun Micro: Sun Eco Innovation Initiative

Build IT 2.0 Strategy

Advice on incorporating Web2.0 concepts into today's IT strategy. ...

... "Incorporate user-generated feedback into your IT strategy to help make IT decisions more transparent - offer comment sections, forums and content-tagging. " ...

Via National Computing Centre: IT 2.0

Practical Application of Innovation

Here's practical advice on applied innovation techniques. ...

... "Any Innovation plan must be just that, a hard plan. It can't be an initiative. A plan has to have milestones and expected results. These results must be measurable and memorialized in writing. " ...

Via The Heart of Innovation: Science of Innovation

Project Management Wisdom: PMThink Readers Speak

We recently asked PMThink readers to contribute the best project management advice they've even received. Here's the compiled list:

"Great organizations, especially those that do well over the long haul, are masters of the obvious and the mundane." - Bob Sutton, Harvard Business Online, May 4, 2007.
(contributed by PMThink blogger Garry Booker)

"Always remember, there is only us" - Alistair Cockburn, on collaboration instead of "us vs them", in Agile Software Development 2nd Ed.
(contributed by John Rusk)

It's about the people...not the processes or tasks. You treat your people right, they'll make sure the project is right.
(contributed by Eric Brown)

"When people don't care about a project they can find a 100 good ways to make it not work that aren't their fault"
(contributed by Jason Bates)

"Make sure you really need a collaboration/project management tool before you try to use one." Many times a PM or collab tool is overkill for something that you could have accomplished in a phone call, a single email or a single document.
(contributed by Isaac Garcia)

Although the PMBOK puts the statistic a little lower, experience shows that -- "100% of SUCCESSFUL project management is communication" (whether it is used for team building, coordination of activities, collection/ dissemination of data/metrics and status)
(contributed by Laurie)

I always try to balance the interest of the people. Always find out how you can make person "A" agree on an idea that contradicts his own idea.
(contributed by Randy, PMP)

"Your success is driven in large part by your ability to leverage the community you build around you."- Scott Allen and David Teten , authors, 'The Virtual Handshake'
(contributed by Jason Bates)

"Never take anything for granted, never assume that something is happening, check"
(contributed by Frederic Casagrande)

"If you can't measure it, you can't manage it"
(contributed by Lucas Rodriguez Cervera)

I also noticed that Frederic Casagrande (who, incidentally, won our drawing) has a great list of additional tips for project managers on his website...

1. You can't manage a Project on your own.
2. Never take anything for granted, never assume that something is happening, check.
3. Seek to understand before you seek to be understood.
4. Delegate and remember there is more than one way to complete the same task.
5. Allow the team to take responsibility for the tasks assigned to them.
6. Manage the sponsor and don't let them manage you, you own the project.
7. Be realistic with the expectations.
8. Everything is resolvable, it just may take time to find that solution. If something goes wrong, don't take it personally, it's not about life and death.
9. Look at the whole picture and keep the end in mind.
10. Taking a decision and moving forward is always preferable to indecision and delays.

Frederic runs a nice blog site, Digital Addictions, with some additional great advice. Check it out at: http://casagrande.blogs.com/english/ - Or, if you prefer it in French, visit: http://casagrande.blogs.com/

With all this good advice from our readers and colleagues, project managers can't go wrong.

PMThink Contest: Help Other PMs and Win a Prize!

Here's an opportunity for PMThink readers to help the project management profession and win something in the process.

Here's what we invite you to do. It's simple:

Post a comment to this message stating, in a single sentence, what the best project management advice you've ever received was.

That's it.

PS: I admit, I came up with this question after posting a link to a YouTube video that showed other people's answers to this question. I thought it would be nice to also leverage the collective intelligence of PMThink readers.

In a week or two, we'll pick one of the comments at random (we'll number the comments and drop the numbers into a hat). The winner will receive a free subscription ($39.99 value) to The Project Management PrepCast™, courtesy of Cornelius Fichtner, who was kind enough to donate the subscription to the cause.

Here's information about the PrepCast™ from PMPrepcast.com:

The Project Management PrepCast™ is the first true and "pod-ready" PMP® podcast. Students are able to instantly download all 77 episodes and intensify their studies. The average episode lasts 22 minutes giving the students a total of 30 hours of quality PMP audio material. The podcast covers concepts, tools and techniques in preparation for the PMP® or CAPM® certification exam. We cover material in the PMBOK® Guide, and we include the necessary models, theories and formulas not covered in the Guide.

Of course, if you're already PMP-Certified, you can donate the subscription to a friend, or to the PMI chapter or SIG of your choice. They'll love you for it. Either way, we hope to collect a nice list of PM "best practice" tips for our readers.

PS: When we announce the winner, we'll give you instructions for how to claim your prize.

Reduce MultiTasking

From the factory floor to the business IT projects comes good advice based on Goldratt's theory of constraints. Useful advice to increase project speed and increase turns. ...

... "The impact on project performance from reducing multi-tasking is profound. Without so many interruptions and delays on individual tasks the work flows much more quickly and smoothly. " ...

Via Theory of Constraints Blog: Multi-Tasking

Sage Advice for Project Managers

Some great advice here...

CIO Career: Vendor Network

Tips for those aspiring to the CIO role, such as use of branding and marketing. Leveraging your external networks, such as vendors, is good advice. ...

... "Your best salespeople are generally well-connected, he says. They typically have better networks than you do and for them, there is nothing better they can do than find an old customer a new home. " ...

Via InterGovWorld: CIO job

The Enemy of Simplicity: The Thud Factor

We've all heard about the benefits of simplicity, whether in our processes, our communication, or in our objectives. In all its forms, simplicity is a way to reduce confusion, boost morale, and encourage speed and flexibility. In fact, simplicity, speed, and flexibility are three of the "Six Winning Principles" I wrote about in Napoleon on Project Management (the other three being exactitude, character, and moral force).

But there's a lurking enemy of simplicity, and it often goes unnoticed. It can be found in the motives of individuals creating the processes, communications, or objectives. I'm talking about job protection. I don't mean the blatant kind that results from grandiose thinking, egotism or turf wars. It's much more subtle than that.

It can happen if an individual or department is placed in charge of creating a process or devising a plan. Or it can happen if a consulting company is brought in to do a study or offer advice. Common sense says that these people, while not necessarily devious, will hesitate to come up with anything too simple, lest they feel they're not doing their job. The result is often something that is way more detailed, complex, and expensive than it needs to be.

What can we do about it? We need to be very aware of motives and rewards, and make sure we don't consiously or unconciously reward people for complexity. We need to send a message that the shortest, simplest way to meet the goal wins (even offering incentives if possible). This can avoid what many consultants jokingly refer to as "the thud factor"----the customer's perception of the value of the service as judged by how much of a noise the report makes when it's dropped on their desk.

Whether it's a consulting company, a PMO, an internal process center, or a project team, we need to find a way to head off the thud factor and insure simplicity. We can do this by understanding motives; sending the right message; insisting on brief, simple reports; and creating the right reward system.

Leadership Practices: Sound Advice

There's an excellent article on leadership practices in this month's CIO Magazine from Susan Cramm, an executive coach and president of the coaching firm, Valuedance.

Cramm lists a number of things that IT leaders can do to practice "safe leadership." It seems like motherhood and apple pie, but it's a good reminder of the basics that we so easily forget. This includes the following (I've paraphrased the descriptions in parenthesis):

Foster good relationships (Learn the business and get around more among your customers.)

Forge a shared IT vision, strategy, and tactical objectives (Co-create this with your customers and other IT leaders. Agree on decision responsibilities. Understand the appropriate technical and business areas involved.)

Deliver on time, on budget (But beware of big, waterfall-style projects. Limit the number of projects. Less is more.)

Develop quality solutions (Have appropriately scaled methodologies, frameworks, policies, and tools, but beware.. It's easy to lose credibility here.)

Realize business value from IT investments (Use operational measures meaningful to the business. Measure during and after the project to insure business value is achieved. Hold business partners accountable for insuring benefits realization.)

Here's the full editorial...

Leadership Under the Influence - Editorial - CIO

Project Proposal: Pitch the Business Case

Guy's partner, Bill Reichert, offers sage advice on pitching business plans to venture capitalists, investors. These same principles apply to project proposals for your investment portfolio. A concise, yet informative, pitch makes a governance session efficient and effective. ...

... "Pitching is about understanding what your customer (the investor) is most interested in, and developing a dialog that enables you to connect with the head, the heart, and the gut of the investor. " ...

Via Guy Kawasaki's How to Change the World: The Entrepreneur's New Year's Resolution: I Will Fix My Pitch

Project Effectiveness: Intermingling ...

Tom shares good advice on using easy, controllable factors, such as co-location of project team members to increase productivity. He cites interesting data on the decrease in collaboration as distance increases (measured in feet). ...

... "There's a ton of evidence, including my own research, that demonstrates, for instance, that intermingling project teammates from various functions is an astonishingly potent device for increasing project effectiveness. " ...

Via Tom Peters: The Simple Tools of Behavior Modification ...

Unconsulting: Common Sense Lessons for Project Managers

At someone's recommendation, I just finished reading Unconsulting, by David Newman. Fascinating and energizing book for anyone in business.

His book is partly inspired by Peter Drucker's statement, "Only marketing and innovation produce revenue. All other business functions produce costs." To this end, Newman offers that "the bottom line is meaningless if the top line is weak." He points out that, according to studies, "Companies with the same earnings per share that got there from SALES were worth about 30% more than companies who got there with COST CUTTING."

Newman, who, according to the book's back cover, has been called "a younger version of Tom Peters with less hair," offers 95 common-sense "in your face" tips.

A few more key points, paraphrased from the book:

• When consulting, talk to people (especially the impact points such as customers, suppliers, etc.) to gain anecdotal data to gain texture, context, and perspective.
• 95 percent of problems can be addressed by making significant changes to 5 percent of the processes, people, or technology.
• Simplicity defined: Find the shortest way to the best answer.
• Be with the client, not of the client. Rock the boat. You're there preceisely for that reason and to give advice. You're there to do your thing for them, not be a "yes" man (or woman).
• There is no cookie-cutter. Don't sell canned solutions. Listen to the client and look at unique angles to each engagement.
• Bill Cosby says, "I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody."
• Don't isolate talent management and organizational development to one department. Institutionalize it in all your management.
• The unconsultant handles an engagement in this way:
  
  "I'll ask some questions, do some research, guide the discussion, help set clear and specific objectives for the work, offer options, tools and answers each step of the way, and then we'll do the work together."
  
  All in all, very refreshing stuff. And a good model for project managers as well. I highly recommend this book. It's not available on Amazon.com, only on Newman's site, but well worth getting. Also, see the wealth of free white papers on his site, as well as his blog...
  
  David Newman: Professional Speaker Motivational Speaker and Keynote Speaker and Business Consultant

Agile Project Management: Everything You Need to Know

For those who have heard about the benefits of Agile Project Management, there's an excellent primer at Projects@Work, including the best graphic I've seen to date to illustrate the difference between Agile and Waterfall approaches.

There's practical advice on what Agile is and is not, along with 10 steps outlining how to try it out. Check it out...

http://www.projectsatwork.com/content/Articles/233272.cfm

IT Project Management Book For the Ages

For those managing IT projects, an invaluable resource is Jolyon Hallows' comprehensive book, Information Systems Project Management. Be sure to get the 2nd edition (link is below). It's a bit expensive, but Amazon has it used as well for less money.

Even though I've been managing projects for years, I always like to check out various books to gain new perspectives. This one is exceptional. It offers practical advice with"what if" situations covering most political quandaries, handy checklists (there's a great one on scope considerations), and concise "real word" tips on using various methodologies.

If you're an IT project manager and only buy one book this year, this is it. Of course, if you buy two books, you can check mine out as well. :-)

Amazon.com: Information Systems Project Management With Infotrac: How To Deliver Function And Value In Information Technology Projects: Books: Jolyon Hallows

Einstein Project Management Tip #5: Imagination Counts

Our next project management tip from our Einstein series regards the need to challenge the status quo----to think out of the box. Consider this quote:

"To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle, requires creative imagination and marks real advances in science."

Of course, Einstein also famously said, "Imagination is more important than knowledge." To a project manager, who's typically focused on things like scheduling, monitoring, reporting, and driving the team to completion, this can be a particular challenge. But it's important nonetheless.

Imagination is required in many situations, including (but not limited to):

• Achieving success when the odds are against you
• Conceptualizing ways to achieve the objectives more effectively
• Brainstorming solution ideas and possible risks
• Overcoming barriers, whether political, technical, or physical
• Improving the cusotmer experience

For some practical advice on building the right team for innovation, see my blog series on Tom Kelley's The Ten Faces of Innovation.

More to come.

Sage Advice for New Project Managers

Mark Mullaly has a great editorial in Projects@Work, titled "What I Wish I'd Known." It's an honest, heartfelt answer to an inquiry from a reader asking what he wished he'd known before entering project management.

Mullaly makes some great points, especially around the importance of asking questions. A career project manager, he learned the ropes the hard way, through trial and error, and discovered what worked and what didn't.

As Albert Einstein said, "The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education."

I recommend that those new to project management read the article, if for no other reason than to understand what the real paths to success are, such as communication, business acumen, and a true understanding of people and what makes them tick.

http://www.projectsatwork.com/content/Articles/232486.cfm

ITIL Implementation: Cultural Change ...

IT manager laments the cultural challenges associated with implementing ITIL in an IT organization. This is a classical situation. Can a burning platform for action be created? Is there a baseline of performance data that compares unfavorably to industry benchmarks? Do competitive forces exist in the marketplace that indicate ITIL will help differentiate the organization? If the ITIL implementation cannot be aligned to the business strategy, why do it? ...

... "About a year ago I launched a serious attempt to institute ITIL throughout the IT organization I lead ... The short version: We've had a very hard time making it stick. Employees give it lip service, but that's about it, and our front-line managers haven't been much better. " ...

ITIL Implementation: Cultural Change: Via Advice Line by Bob Lewis: InfoWorld: Making ITIL happen ...

PPM Software Evaluation Tool; Don't Get Stuck Without It

Yesterday, I posted a link to an excellent article on a software selection process. Now Projects@Work has just announced their PPM Software Evaluation Tool, a downloadable tool that offers "a comprehensive set of questions and parameters for organizations to consider when selecting a project portfolio management solution."

Here's an excerpt from the accompanying article (which is valuable in itself) ...

Don’t settle for presentations and proposals. Regardless of how you proceed through the procurement process, make sure to get your hands on the solution before you make a decision... An ideal, but time-and cost-intensive approach is to pilot the software on one or a subset of live projects before you commit to a full-scale implementation. While this last option will require you to invest in training and a limited installation of the software, if the solution turns out to be the wrong one you have minimized the cost of a failed implementation.

This is sage advice, as many of these tools look great in a demo---or even a brief conference room pilot---but until you experience how easy or difficult it is to actually configure the tools, you don't really know what you're getting yourself into.

As the saying goes, "Fail fast, fail cheap."

Link

Project Management Lesson from Carpenters

No, not the brother and sister duet, I'm talking about real carpenters. There's an age-old axiom used by carpenters: "Measure twice, cut once." Experienced carpenters know that there's no turning back if you made a mistake measuring once the wood is cut.

This is good advice for project managers as well. Many errors, and many hours of rework, can be avoided if you take the time up front to do the proper research, planning, and risk analysis. It's well worth checking your plan twice, even though circumstances are likely to cause you to deviate from the plan. But even those risks can be mitigated with proper research and meditation up front.

Just like carpentry, the later mistakes are caught, the more costly and devastating they are likely to be. It's better to spend a little extra time up front on your projects to increase the overall speed and success of the project.

Business Process Mapping: Good Reference ...

Here is sage advice and good references on the topic of business process improvement, which includes mapping the current and future states of the process. Ben Graham and team highlight, in this article: The Key to Good Process Mapping (PDF), the importance of organizational alignment and involvement of the key stakeholders of the process: namely the folks operating it. ...

... "There are three essentials that must be handled well to assure good process mapping. ...
1. The operating people whose work is being mapped must supply information for the map and must understand and support the reasons for the mapping. 2. The map itself must be organized in a way that enables everyone involved to clearly understand the process. 3. The information that is assembled in the map must be valid. " ...

Business Process Mapping: Good Reference: Via The Ben Graham Corporation: The Key to Good Process Mapping ...

Process maps are as important as organization charts, according to this article. ...

BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING: A CONSOLIDATED METHODOLOGY (Subramanian Muthu, Larry Whitman, and S. Hossein Cheraghi, Dept. of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, Wichita State University): "Talking about the importance of processes just as companies have organization charts, they should also have what are called process maps to give a picture of how work flows through the company. Process mapping provides tools and a proven methodology for identifying your current As-Is business processes and can be used to provide a To-Be roadmap for reengineering your product and service business enterprise functions. "

CIO Challenge: IT Innovation and Efficiency ...

CIO's are challenged by the need to create IT-enabled innovation while sustaining their hard-won efficiency gains of the recent past. Article offers advice ranging from organizational and culture to process and procedural. ...

... "The challenge that lies ahead for CIOs is to make room in their thinking, their culture and their processes for this renewed interest in IT innovation. " ...

CIO Challenge: IT Innovation and Efficiency: Via CIO: Innovation Rising

ERP Project: Keep Eye on Details ...

Firm publishes report on approach to challenging ERP business transformation projects. Current marketplace conditions are impacting the quality of ERP implementation talent even in the context of a strong methodology. This requires the client company to pay close attention to the project details. Be on the look-out for: Lack of transparency, limited bottoms-up planning to complement the top-down methodology, no iterim integrations with legacy systems to bridge gaps during the implementation, and missing current state analysis.

... "Based on its work helping numerous companies pull errant ERP projects back on course, DiamondCluster has identified circumstances that endanger projects and offers specific steps that can keep companies moving in the right direction. " ...

ERP Project: Keep Eye on Details: Via DiamondCluster: Red Flags Can Signal That ERP Integrators Are Off Course According to New DiamondCluster Report: Studies Show Many ERP Projects Still Run Significantly Over Budget and Behind Schedule. New DiamondCluster Report Explains Why and Offers Advice to Keep Efforts on Track ...

How to Institute Good Values in 8 Easy Steps

I've been reading Leading With Values, a booklet from Bud Bilanich, AKA The Common Sense Guy. Although it's a mere 48 pages, it's chock full of useful advice on how to institute values in your organization or team.

Here are Bilanich's "8 Common-Sense Leadership Strategies for Bringing Organizational Values to Life" -

1. Develop a personal understanding of, and committment to, your organization's values.
2. Use this understanding and commitment to become a values role model for your people.
3. Communicate values as expectations.
4. Become a teacher; ask questions; show them how.
5. Minimize/remove the obstacles, or help people work around them.
6. Provide recognition to employees who bring the organization's values to life.
7. Redirect team members who are out of sync with organizational beliefs and principles.
8. Never give in or give up; set the tone and don't give in to pressures or obstacles.

Sounds like common sense to me!

Project Management Monthly Tips from Computerworld

Computerworld has a new monthly column in their Project Management section called Managers' Forum. In this month's inaugural column, it addresses three issues:

• Getting responsiveness from people who don't report to you
• How much a manager needs to understand technical details
• What to do when a senior manager asks for an impossible date

All in all, the host, Paul Glen, offers sound advice that should prove useful to project managers.

I'm glad they decided to start with the "soft skills," which are by far the most difficult challenges project managers face. It should be a useful column that we'll be sure to link to each month.

Managers' Forum - Computerworld

Common Sense for Project Managers

I've often said that people tend to look for complex answers to achieving success, when straightforward solutions are usually best. I guess that's the utilitarian in me talking.

Well, author and executive coach Bud Bilanich, otherwise known as "The Common Sense Guy" has the same idea, and he offers loads of common sense advice on his blog site.

Check out his blogs that cover "101 Common Sense Tips for Building a Great Career," among other topics. They seem like --- well---common sense, but as we all know, common sense is not so common.

Bud Bilanich The Common Sense Guy