Total Project Costs Driven by Training and Change

Health record implementation incurs significant costs related to organizational change, required to train users and sustain their processes during the transition. ...

... "Training and related productivity losses represent more than 50% of the total cost involved in a big EHR project. " ...

Via Health Data Management: Kaiser Permanente

Swim with the Sharks

Oh no! Turn your project managers into gamers ...

IT Education Recognition

Government training ground is recognized for its contribution to information technology education. ...

... "Dr. Robert Childs, IRM College senior director, used the occasion to recognize the college’s faculty for developing programs for CIOs, and on information assurance, IT project management and enterprise architecture. " ...

Via GCN: IRM College

Online Business Technology Training

IBM makes courseware available through its online portal. ...

... " ... through the Student Portal on the IBM Academic Initiative web site, students can access a three-step tutorial on Service Science Management and Engineering (SSME), a new academic discipline that brings together ongoing work in the fields of science, engineering, and business management, combined with the study of social and legal sciences through the Student Portal on the IBM Academic Initiative web site, students can access a three-step tutorial on Service Science Management and Engineering (SSME), a new academic discipline that brings together ongoing work in the fields of science, engineering, and business management, combined with the study of social and legal sciences. " ...

Via IBM: Free Online Training in Hot Technologies

Ten Years of Deliberate Practice

Want to hone your craft? Commit to it for ten years of deliberate practice. ...

... "Reinforcing that no-free-lunch finding is vast evidence that even the most accomplished people need around ten years of hard work before becoming world-class, a pattern so well established researchers call it the ten-year rule. " ...

Via Micro Persuasion on Developing Expertise: Practice brings success

Service is a Science, Study and Improve It

Interesting move in the global landscape ... Singapore collaborates with IBM through a network of universities and industry partners to innovate in service management. Education in the science of services is planned. ...

... "The collaboration aims to develop a new breed of service scientists and service entrepreneurs who understand service systems, are trained to enable efficient and systematic approaches to service delivery, and serve as catalysts for service innovation in organisations and for various industry sectors. " ...

Via IBM: Service Science Initiative in Singapore

Business Games Teach Project Best Practices

Nothing creates understanding like a good game. Here's a novel approach to disseminating best practice process in project and service management. ...

... "Both simulations are high impact, interactive business games, developed to address the process and cultural challenges of implementing IT Project Management and Service Management best practice. This unique approach to business learning brings Project Management and Service Management best practice to life in the context of realistic and exhilarating scenarios. Participants quickly experience breakthrough understanding of best practice processes and methodologies resulting in improved individual, team and business performance. " ...

Via G2G3: Turkish delight

Free Learning: No More Excuses

The cost of a college education is astronomical and rising in the United States. Yet, that shouldn't prevent anyone from a self-led education, which they can do totally free, thanks to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

MIT's OpenCourseWare (OCW) is a revolution in education, much like the Open Source software movement. Through OCW, anyone in the world can undergo a full college curriculum, including video lectures, labs, assignments, study materials, projects, and more---online and free.

Want your staff to take some courses, but don't have the training budget to send them anywhere? Want to study a new discipline on your train ride to and from work? Do you wake up in the middle of the night with sudden aspirations to be a dentist? The training content is all here and free.

About the only restriction is that you cannot use the material commercially (for instance, you can't use it as part of your own commercial training services), which makes sense. However you can adopt and distribute the material, provided you cite the source and use a Creative Commons or similar free-use license. Also, these courses are not for college credit, and no degrees are offered.

And, while there is no faculty-student interaction, all the content is available for self-learners and educators to use. Many of the courses come with free video lectures.

According to the web site, MIT OCW's goals are to:

• Provide free, searchable access to MIT's course materials for educators, students, and self-learners around the world.
• Extend the reach and impact of MIT OCW and the "opencourseware" concept.

Visit the site below and welcome to the world of free education...

MIT OpenCourseWare MIT OpenCourseWare

Challenge IT Talent Poaching With Development Strategy

The battle for IT talent rages and is particularly acute in Asia. Consider exciting training programs, career path tracks, and other soft incentives, such as telecommuting to provide some work-life balance. The enterprise that masters talent development is sure to succeed in the future and have fun doing it. ...

... "To provide a continuous supply of IT staff and retain existing IT talent, the company started to establish various initiatives on staff development. " ...

Via MIS: The Asia IT Talent Challenge

Project Management Costs

Getting started with your PMO ... training is key to jump-starting the organization. ...

... "For an IT project, approximately 5 percent to 15 percent of the budget should be dedicated to PM functions required to carry it out. " ...

Low Cost

Team Kickoffs: Breaking the Ice

Whether conducting a project kickoff, a seminar, or a training session, it's always fun to start with an ice breaker. It doesn't have to be anything fancy. I've seen ice breakers that were nothing more than a funny video, but served to loosen things up (nowadays that's pretty easy with YouTube, such as this one we posted on PMThink).

I've also seen ice breakers that served to get people moving around and networking, such as having each person use pictures (and no words) on a piece of folded flip chart paper to describe themselves, and then having people pair off for a minute at a time and interpret each other's pictures.

If you're looking for ideas, here's a nice list to help get you started. I think my favorite link is the last one.

Ice Breakers

Chief Innovation Officer: Get Trained

Attend training on the Chief Innovation Officer role. The Chief Innovation Officer course is targeted to push the frontiers of the field and brings into focus fostering innovation talent, creating portfolio techniques, and enabling business processes necessary to execute innovation projects in support of growth. ...

... "BMG's Chief Innovation Officer seminar is designed specifically for business leaders who are leading the charge for innovation inside their organizations. This 2-day interactive seminar features emerging strategies, tools and techniques from some of the foremost thinkers in innovation today.

Upcoming Seminar Date: 4/30/2007 2 days Denver, CO " ...

Chief Innovation Officer Seminar

Project Management Training: Foundation For Success

With federal IT investment slated to increase, info technology professionals in government would be well-served by training in a foundation of project management basics. ...

... "officials interviewed for the study said their teams lacked or may lack sufficient training to effectively estimate costs, identify risks and develop baselines from which to plan project costs, schedules and technical requirements. " ...

Via Federal Times: Link

Control vs. Accountability: Are We Our Own Worst Enemy?

In our never-ending struggle to gain more control over the chaos in our organizations, and with more and more focus on change management, who would think of going in the opposite direction and allowing more freedom?

Let's take a look at a story with some surprising results (sent courtesy of my old friend, Larry Beane).

Thanks to a project initiated by the European Union, seven sities and regions in Europe have completely done away with traffic signs. The originators of this idea must have been on to something. Contrary to the normal expectation that this would result in pandemonium, the accident rate went down!

Now arguably, this may or may not work in a congested city, but it got me thinking about the need for accountability. Perhaps the more rules we inflict, what we're really doing is relieving people of accountability---the paradox being that we need to give people freedom to make them fully accountable. Otherwise, we claim ownership of the problem instead of delegating it.

This is not unlike Toyota's policy of trusting their work teams to solve problems independently, and trusting that if their solutions are wrong, they'll work to correct it and learn from the experience. This is what a learning organization is all about.

This isn't to say we should just abandon all change management processes. On the contrary, providing people with effective processes can lead to successful outcomes. But for each rule we devise, we should consider an alternate approach of holding people accountable for outcomes, and insuring they have the capacity to succeed. Yes, provide processes, training, principles, guidelines, etc. But then focus on outcomes and accountability. And allow for learning-based corrections.

It's a radical thought, but a little anarchy may just bring the control that we need.

Here's the article about the successes of traffic anarchy...

Controlled Chaos: European Cities Do Away with Traffic Signs - International - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News

Microsoft enters the project certification arena

This press release from Microsoft, timed shortly before the PMI Global Congress, announces a certification programme for users of Microsoft Project 2007. The new version of Project Server is due to be released in the New Year and aims to integrate further with other organisation systems and processes. Offering a standard for training does seem like a good idea. It will be interesting to see how the new certification from Microsoft, which has a reputation for setting its own standards, aligns with the PMBOK.
The announcement says the "training and certification product lines ... were developed after consulting the A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge ...".Microsoft Advances Its Project Management Technology and the Project Management Profession

CRM Project: Old Hat?

Interesting article explores current evolution of CRM projects, which have been bolstered by on-demand-software, integrated view of the customer, efficient training delivery options, and referenceable value benchmarks. ...

... "As far as business cases go, start early and establish your baseline before you start seeing a return from the tightening-up of the business processes in preparation of the application installation. " ...

Via TechLinks: Hal Harz on The State of CRM ...

Leadership Seminar: Announcing The Leadership Quadrant

For project managers looking to expand their horizons in the leadership arena, I'd like to invite PMThink readers attend an exciting two-day workshop at The National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, PA on November 15th and 16th, 2006.

The seminar, which I'm co-facilitating with Jerome Jewell of Jewell Consulting Group, is titled: The Leadership Quadrant: 4 Ps for Organizational Excellence. We're offering a $100 discount to select groups, and PMThink readers certainly qualify (plus group rates are available for parties of 3 or more).

In case you're wondering what the 4 Ps are, they are: Principles, People, Productivity, and Process. In the seminar, we'll explore topics such as Napoleon's Six Winning Principles, Systemic Thinking, Emotional Intelligence, Setting Better Priorities, Asking Better Questions, and more.

Best of all, we're incorporating Freedom Rising, the museum's acclaimed multimedia presentation, into the workshop. For details and a seminar brochure, visit the Marengo Group training web page.

Business IT Projects: ERP Implementations ...

Article summarizes key elements of successful ERP projects: committment, speed, scope management, empowerment, phased implementation with quick wins, data cleansing and standards, education and training. ...

... "So it is now perfectly possible to turn what might well once have been an unrewarding slog (likely to end in failure) into a structured project with manageable milestones and relatively quick wins for the business along the way. " ...

Via SciTech Today: Toward Better ERP Implementations

ITIL Certification Training Support

EXIN and BCS confirm their committment to the certification and training of ITIL for IT service professionals. ...

... "We will continue to guarantee the quality of training institutes providing ITIL courses for the ITIL Foundation, Practitioner and Service Manager Certification. Current applications for accreditation are valid, and we encourage new training provider prospects to become accredited. BCS-ISEB and EXIN and other stakeholders, will aim at a continued cooperation with accredited training providers in order to maintain the high quality of the ITIL certification standard. " ...

Via EXIN INTL: Statement BCS-ISEB and EXIN following recent announcements by OGC on ITIL ...

Einstein Project Management Tip #4: Think Value

And so we continue our series on project management tips from Albert Einstein. Here's another...

"Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value."

This sums up perfectly the problem with most projects today. They focus on "success" without fully defining what success means. Project managers and PMOs track schedule and budget metrics. Then, at the end of the project, some capture customer satisfaction, almost as an afterthought.

What really needs to happen is to insure value to the customer, and this usually goes way beyond being on time and on budget. We spoke about the need for clear goals. Surely that's part of it. We also need to deliver in small, frequent iterations to provide the quickest value and get more immediate customer feedback.

Customer satisfaction should be measured and tagged as an index throughout the life of a project, just as Earned Value uses indices to track cost and schedule performance. This allows course correction to be made in areas such as goal clarification, communication, and other areas needed to provide good value.

And when the product has been delivered, be sure that the customer can maximize the benefits of the product through proper training, tips & techniques, next steps, or any other items that will help them get the value expected.

These are the very items I've attempted to address with my Service-Oriented Project Management (SOPM) framework, with its four phases of Understand, Prepare, Iterate, and Transform (UP-IT).

More Einstein tips coming soon...

Is the Role of the Project Manager in Jeopardy? - An Editorial

A few weeks ago, I posted a blog about the new Program Management credential from PMI. In it, I referenced PMI's definition of a program manager vs. project manager in their FAQ page.

A project manager, according to PMI, has the following responsibilities (I've put some of the key points that jumped out at me in bold):

• Perform their duties under general supervision and are responsible for all aspects of the project for the life of the project
• Lead and direct cross-functional teams to deliver projects within the constraints of schedule, budget and resources
• Demonstrate sufficient knowledge and experience to appropriately apply a methodology to projects that have reasonably well-defined project requirements and deliverables.

A program manager, according to PMI, has the following responsibilities (again, I've bolded the key points):

Under minimal supervision, program managers are responsible and accountable for the coordinated management of multiple related projects directed toward strategic business and other organizational objectives. These programs contain complex activities that may span functions, organizations, geographic regions, and cultures. Program managers build credibility, establish rapport, and maintain communication with stakeholders at multiple levels, including those external to the organization.

Clearly, a program manager must be closely tied to the strategic goals and benefits, monitor the program accordingly, and have a strong connection to senior management. And I also feel that the new credential seems on the surface to set the bar appropriately high.

But I can't help but feel that, in contrast, the PMP credential is losing steam. First, there are myriad organizations virtually guaranteeing an "instant-PMP" after a crash course and some tweaking of one's background experience (although PMI is now doing audits of work experience).

Second, a project manager must, in many cases, go beyond the PMP/tactical focus and possess the same traits and skills that PMI has designated as requirements of a program manager, especially in the case of an enterprise and/or global project, such as a business transformation effort. I realize PMI's role definitions are a way to differentiate and justify the new certification and I suppose one could organize their effort into a "program" to qualify for that certtification, but in these changing times (and with greater challenges for project managers), I think PMI needs to evaluate and revamp the PMP certification as well.

When I do presentations on principle-based leadership training, I have a slide where I present what I call "The PM Challenge." I present it as a boxing match. In one corner, we have a project manager, armed with MS/Project and the PMBOK, but lacking:

• Business Acumen
• Leadership Skills
• Conflict Management Skills
• Negotiation Skills
• Presentation Skills
• Communication Skills
• Strategic Intuition

In the other corner, we have the "challenger," represented by "the project," with the following characteristics:

• Global, virtual team
• Complex technology
• Complex change
• Multiple vendors
• Offshore resources
• Conflicting Stakeholders
• Scrutinizing Executives

Such a project manager, without the appropriate leadership and soft skills, doesn't stand a chance. Wouldn't a person with the skills PMI describes as a "program manager" be more apt to have success?

In the latest PM Network magazine from PMI, there are not one, but TWO articles that illustrate this point. One is titled "Project Management 2.0: Project Management is at a Crossroads," by Peter Fretty. The other is titled "No Limits," by Marcia Jedd, and talks about what project managers must do to crash through the glass ceiling and elevate it from the tactical trenches.

Perhaps a start would be to take a new view of project management beyond just "executing to a set of requirements to deliver on-time and on-budget." The current tactical focus might explain the consistent failure rates of projects. One problem is that PMI has traditionally "followed common good practices in the field," which of course is what a standard is supposed to do. The problem is that common practices have brought common results, which aren't all that good. Time for an upheaval. Perhaps they need a section, apart from the "standard" itself, for "new frontiers in project management," which could outline those who are breaking the mold with good results.

I'd be interested in others' thoughts on this topic. Who knows---It just might help drive requirements for the next version of the PMBOK and/or PMP credential.

Project Success Story: Veterans Heath Administration

When Ken Kizer took on the challenge of revamping the horrific state of affars that was the U.S. Veterans Health Administration (many of you have probably seen the movies that showed the sorry state of Veterans Hospitals), nobody suspected that they would go from "last to first."

Forget "Good to Great," these hospitals literally went from "worst to best!"

Reading the writeup on it in this week's issue of Business Week, I was struck by the similarities between Kizer's approach and Napoleon (whom most of you know I'm quite familiar with).

Whereas Napooleon was focused on equality, Kizer was driven by quality and safety. Like Napoleon, Kizer inherited a disastrous state of chaos and provided order, visibility, improvements in technology, training, accountability, decentralized decision-making, and most of all, hope and pride. Also like Napoleon, Kizer had his share of enemies, some who felt he was too arrogant and others who perhaps felt threatened by the changes. Finally, like Napoleon, Kizer was eventually ousted, except by Congress instead of foreign powers.

Fortunately, unlike Napoleon, Kizer's successors continued his methods and his passion. Because of these changes, every nurse and doctor in the network has instant access to electronic patient records, and drugs are filled robotically, avoiding the mistakes common to most other hospitals. And because these hospitals treat the patients for life, they spend more time and money on preventative care, as they realize it costs everyone less in the long run (talk about Total Cost of Ownership!).

I highly recommend picking up this week's Business Week (the July 17th issue with "The Plot to Hijack Your Computer" on the cover). Meanwhile, below is another article that talks about the amazing transformation that Kizer led the VHA through.

Expect to hear more on this as I research this in more depth. I also ordered the book, Straight from the CEO: The World's Top Business Leaders Reveal Ideas That Every Manager Can Use, which is mentioned in the article and apparently covers Kizer's story.

Here's the article (not the Business Week one, but a good one nonetheless) ...

"The Best Care Anywhere" by Phillip Longman

Project Measurement Framework ...

Article explores the transformation experience of AGEdwards where the project management success rate was improved, through leadership training, a measurement framework, and enhanced organizational models. ...

... "Ed Pilewski, now VP of IT productivity and quality, chose not to take the traditional route of forcing a rigid project management methodology on the technology staff - a tactic that can backfire and create resistance to change. Instead, he implemented a standard framework for measuring, monitoring and reporting on a project's progress that fosters transparency and accountability. " ...

Project Measurement Framework: Via CIO: When Failure Is not an Option

Globalization of Research and Development: EMC China Center ...

EMC Corporation will open its first China-based research and development facility next month, which is a a state-of-the-art software development center in Shanghai. It will play a strong role in the localization of EMC products for Asian markets. This center is a component of EMC's five-year China investment strategy. ...

... "The new center is part of EMC's global research and development investment, which is expected to be more than $1.2 billion in 2006. In China, EMC has established a comprehensive China Solutions Center network, deepened its relationships with key Chinese customers, created partnerships with software and systems integration solution providers, opened training centers to certify networked storage specialists, and made significant contributions to the academic community in China. " ...

Globalization of Research and Development: EMC China Center: Via EMC: EMC to Open Software Development Center in China

Silence of the Project Managers

Have your stakeholders stopped screaming, Clarese?


As reported in Computerworld, a study by a Utah-based training firm found that the biggest cause of project failure is the inability of project managers to effectively confront management and key stakeholders on five major sensitive areas.

Here's an excerpt:

According to David Maxfield, director of research at Vital Smarts, the five
situations include the following:

• Setting arbitrary deadlines and inadequate resources that "set up a project to fail."
• Failing to provide the necessary leadership, political clout or energy for a project.
• Skirting or manipulating the project priority-setting process.
• An unwillingness by team members to support projects as required.
• Failing to acknowledge project problems until it's too late for remedial action.

These findings were based on interviews with more than 800 project managers and over 150 hours of observation. The article stresses the importance of standing up to management, which may seem intimidating, but no worse than what'll happen if you don't stand up and the project fails.

This one's well worth reading, folks. Speaking up early is a key lesson that can avoid many problems later. Here's the article...

Want to kill a project? Keep quiet about problems, study finds

PMO Process Primer

Last month, I mentioned a four-part series on Projects@Work about establishing PMOs. The first installment was on defining the role of your PMO up front.

Not sure what took so long for the second installment, but it's finally here and worth the wait (maybe it's a monthly series). This installment talks about the types of processes your PMO might undertake, and offers some food for thought with each process area. According to the article, a PMO might consider:

Project Processes (including demand management, approval, portfolio management, project/application lifecycle, and risk mitigation)

Analysis Processes (including business analysis, business case development, and process redesign)

Planning Processes (including planning and tracking, and capital planning and budgeting)

Administration Processes (including methodology management, training, tool development/ownership, and knowledge management)

To date, this series is an excellent primer on PMO startups. It's insightful and obviously written by someone who has had some varied experience in PMO implementation. I'm looking forward to the remaining two parts and will be sure to post the links here.

Kudos to the author, Ted Stephens, an associate principal at Intellilink.

http://www.projectsatwork.com/content/Articles/231627.cfm

PMO Success Story: A.G. Edwards Case Study

There's an excellent article in CIO Magazine this month showing how A.G. Edwards reinvented its PMO to bring their projects to an 88% success rate (from about 50% originally).

Some key lessons:

• They created a 25-step project management high-level framework of just the high level activities common to all projects. They didn't inflict a detailed application development methodology and left the "how" flexible, as long as the "what" was satisfied. At a more detailed level, they used Primavera for project tracking and dashboard metrics.
  
• They provided leadership training to boost the confidence of their PMs
  
• They moved the project managers from the PMO to the functional areas to encourage collaboration and better align the PMs with the business.
  
• They offered project planning services to assist the distributed project managers with using the new framework effectively (allowing them to use the planning tool of their choice, be it Excel, MS/Word, or a whiteboard). The 25 framework touchpoints, however, are common to all projects for cross-project comparison purposes (I assume enabled in Primavera).
  
• They redefined "success" as "projects that deliver business value." This gives customer satisfaction and business value even greater priority than being on-time and on-budget (note: they still improved their schedule and budget statistics anyway).
  
  This is the essence of the new model and bears repeating. The customer defines success. Under this model, it's quite possible to have a project that is late and over-budget and seen as a raving sucess.
  
• They tirelessly met with stakeholders in individual and group settings to offer the benefits and ask for their support. They used a subtle soft-sell approach with the "bad actors."
  
• They first involved the PMs receptive to new ideas as part of a pilot and them used them to "spread the gospel"
  
• They measured success rates and publicized them in quarterly reports to senior management.

These are all powerful and valid ways to make a PMO successful, and are philosophically aligned with the Service Oriented-Project Management (SOPM) model I've been developing. In this case, these changes collectively served to boost IT's credibility at A.G Edwards significantly.

Here's the full article. Don't miss the sidebar "8 Steps for Improving Project Management."

When Failure Is Not an Option - Editorial - CIO

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

Innovation Ideas for Project Managers

Looking to increase innovative thinking when developing solutions for your project's customers?

I discovered an interesting organization called SolutionPeople. For one, they offer something called AcceleratedInnovation Training, which focuses on using advanced innovation techniques to get to the bottom of "real goals, challenges or problems."

But the real find is an offsite innovation facility in Chicago called The Thinkubator, which, in addition to the expected multi-media equipment, boasts such unusual thought-boosters as Karaoke machines, a rooftop sundeck, disco lighting, unique giant chair sculptures, and my personal favorite..... get this.... restroom themes inspired by Albert Einstein and John Travolta.

Yes, for those who do their best thinking in the bathroom, you too can be ------ wait a minute---- Albert Einstein and JohnTravolta??? I'm trying to get a vision in my head of this. Frizzy hair and a white suit comes to mind.

In all seriousness, there's something to be said for creating an environment that fosters creative thinking. Here's a writeup in Training Magazine on what Thinkubator founder and president Gerald Haman calls "the four Ps of innovative environments (in PDF format).

Hey, maybe they should start a franchise. Apparently they already have a few Thinkubator locations and created "innovation centers" for companies such as Capital One and Lucent. Maybe a specialty facility for project managers is in order. PMThinkubator, anyone?

Join the Project Management Revolution; The SOPM Model Takes Shape

OK, I've been fleshing out the Service-Oriented Project Management (SOPM)™ model, and have come up with a more memorable and catchy representation of the four steps, although the actual content is pretty much the same.

The acronym for the four phases is UP-IT (which can symbolize "upping" the level of customer service, saying "up yours" to old ways of doing things, or "upping" the success rates of IT projects---in which case the "it" stands for "IT").

Ready??? Drum roll please......

The four phases are:

• Understand
• Prepare
• Iterate
• Transform

Here's a revision of my previous post on the topic...

1) UNDERSTAND ... Develop an understanding of the problem being addressed, the goals, constraints, the internal environment, the external market, benchmarks, the people and subject matter involved, potential solutions, risks, benefits/justification, and any other knowledge necessary for success. Most of all, understand the customer and what they need to be successful.

2) PREPARE ... After helping the customer obtain approvals if needed, prepare the project organization (resources, roles & responsibilities), operating principles, the infrastructure and tools needed to run the project, organizational alignment, preliminary training needed, communication, and anything else needed for a smooth road ahead.

3) ITERATE... Using the axiom, "Think bold, implement safely," plan, design, build, test and pilot the solution before attempting a full scale implementation. Encourage innovation. Implement in phases to achieve quick wins, earlier benefits, and greater customer satisfaction. Consider iterative prototypes during the design phase. Don't forget additional training needed.

4) TRANSFORM... After each project phase and at the end of the project, evaluate and document lessons learned, customer satisfaction, and benefits achieved (vs expected) for the purpose of transforming yourself and the customer for the better. This includes guiding the customer to help them achieve maximum results with the product or service delivered, and laying the groundwork for their continued success.

Now that I have the framework locked in, I'll complete the model around these four phases. I am absolutely convinced that this model can help increase customer satisfaction and the general success rates of projects.

SOPM; A New Project Management Methodology

Service Oriented Project Management (SOPM) is taking shape as a methodology that fills the gaps in traditional project management, namely a RELENTLESS customer focus and the all-important analysis and benefits evaluation after the project has "completed."

As I fine tune the model, I'll post the iterations here, as a methodology in progress.

The four high-level steps in SOPM are as follows:

1) UNDERSTAND ... Develop an understanding of the problem being addressed, the goals, constraints, the internal environment, the external market, benchmarks, the people and subject matter involved, potential solutions, risks, benefits/justification, and any other knowledge necessary for success. Most of all, understand the customer.

2) ENABLE ... After helping the customer obtain approvals, prepare the project organization (resources, roles & responsibilities), operating principles, the infrastructure and tools needed to run the project, organizational alignment, preliminary training needed, communication, and anything else needed for a smooth road ahead.

3) ITERATE... Plan, design, build, test and pilot the solution before attempting a full scale implementation. Implement in phases to achieve quick wins, earlier benefits, and greater customer satisfaction. Consider iterative prototypes during the design phase. Don't forget additional training needed.

4) EVALUATE... After each project phase and at the end of the project, evaluate and document lessons learned, customer satisfaction, and benefits achieved (vs expected). This includes evaluating how the customer can achieve maximum results with the product of the project, and laying the groundwork for their continued success.

By using an UNDERSTAND, ENABLE, ITERATE, and EVALUATE process, with COMMUNICATE as an overarching activity that extends across all four steps, we adopt a much more holistic and customer-centered approach to project management.

A few key points... Customer satisfaction should be measured at milestones throughout the project, not just at the end. It's as important as monitoring cost and schedule (i.e. Earned Value performance).

Imagine seeing an S-Curve showing Planned Value, Earned Value, Actual Cost, and Customer Satisfaction. Maybe your project is on schedule and on budget, but the customer isn't satisfied with the results (or with the project communication, or a whole host of other issues).

A narrow focus on cost and schedule takes too much of an inward view. Besides, measuring customer satisfaction throughout a project allows for corrective action instead of managing in the rear view mirror.

More to come.

NOTE: I have since revised this model. See my updated entry.

Project Failure Case Study; Maine's Medicaid System

Talk about a project disaster. As reported in an excellent article in CIO Magazine, the Maine Medicaid Claims System project is a case study of a project gone awry.

The project was undertaken to switch from their legacy systems to a new web-based system to process Medicaid claims and facilitate HIPAA compliance (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996). As a result of the failed project, Maine is now the only state in the union not in compliance with HIPAA.

System problems led to many claims ending up in limbo, leading to hundreds of calls from health care practitioners, nearly 300,000 patients being turned away, several dentists and therapists going out of business, and destroying Maine’s finances and credit rating.

So what went wrong?

Mistakes included the following:

• Deciding to develop an entire system from scratch using unproven technology, while other states built a front-end onto their legacy systems
• Caving to pressure from management to meet tight deadlines with inadequate resources instead of pushing for a realistic plan to begin with
• Failing to notice why other bidders either didn’t bid or came in way higher (a sign that the schedule was unrealistic)
• Hiring a vendor with no experience in developing Medicaid claims systems because they were the lowest bidder
• Not having a Medicaid expert on the team, leading to errors in judgment
• Underestimating the time needed to meet with subject matter experts
• Competing with another major initiative (a department merger) for executives’ attention and resources
• Skipping project management basics (including piloting, adequate end-to-end testing, staff and user training, etc.) due to looming deadline pressures
• Failing to stop, regroup, and analyze the risks
• Taking a “big bang” approach to cutover with no contingency or backup should something go wrong

Management’s response, of course, was to switch program managers, and issue stronger demands to have a smooth system, but none of the changes or demands made much of a difference. Consultants were brought in to prioritize the many problems, but still, the complexities proved too much. It wasn’t until a Medicaid expert was brought in that things began to gel.

Like many project failures, it’s easy to point to the project management (and certainly there are many shortcomings there in this case), but the organization must share the blame as well if it insists on unrealistic deadlines and leads by fear (fear of shareholders, fear of competition, fear of management, etc.). None of these variables can make an unrealistic schedule more realistic.

It's really very simple. Either adequate resources must be committed, the expectations lowered, or a more piecemeal approach taken (or all three, if applicable). In any case, the schedule must be realistic and risks need to be managed.

Here's the full article. It's well worth reading, as are the reader comments.

Maine's Medicaid Mistakes - Editorial - CIO

Earned Value Management Trends, Best Practices, and Pitfalls

A few weeks ago, I commented on Part 1 of a three-part series on Earned Value Management on Projects@Work.

While Part 1 set the stage and illustrated some of the challenges of EVM, Part 2 of this excellent series offers some excellent case studies and learnings.

For instance, the US government agency, OPM (Office of Personnel Management) cites the following critical success factors:

- Continuous executive sponsorship (not just up front)
- Committment to funding for adequate tools and training
- Adequate allocation of project managers' time to manage using this system
- Piloting EVM in a small group of projects to illustrate success and fine tune the details
- Not underestimating the culture change management required, involving employees, managers, and timekeepers. Regularly maintained training and job aids are critical.

Another organization, Inter-Coastal Electronics, cites having shallow, simple WBS templates in their ERP system as a key success factor. They claim that a WBS that's too granular becomes too difficult to manage. I couldn't agree more.

I highly recommend this series to anyone attempting to introduce Earned Value Management in their organizations.

http://www.projectsatwork.com/content/Articles/230753.cfm

Project Management Fundamentals Course ...

Upcoming project manager fundamentals course ...

... "Elon University Executive Education announces Fundamentals of Project Management -- a three-day, instructor-led training class designed to introduce participants to the basics of the project management discipline. The class will be held on May 23 - 25, 2006 at the Moseley Center on the Elon University campus. " ...

Via Elon Univ: Fundamentals of Project Management training class to be held in May ...

Project Manager Development: Negotiation Skills to Build Bridges ...

Upcoming PMI training event focuses on building bridges through the art of negotiation ...

... "April 20-21: The Northeast Wisconsin Chapter of the Project Management Institute will hold its second annual professional development days at Liberty Hall, 800 Eisenhower Drive, Kimberly. The first day will include two tracks of short project management programs for anyone interested in the field. The second day will feature a full-day seminar from Dr. Becky Stewart-Gross on Mutual Gain Negotiations. " ...

Project Manager Development: Negotiation Skills to Build Bridges: Via Appleton Post-Crescent: Business planner ...

Building Bridges: "Dr. Becky Stewart-Gross founded Building Bridges: Your Bridge to Better Communication in 1987 ... "

VOIP Voice over IP Project: Team Need Cross Training ...

VOIP project team needs blend of voice, telcomm, and data perspectives to enable success. ...

... "Typically a person or team with telephony or data experience is in charge of a VoIP project. Each tends to know its side of the technology, but not the other. The needs of both have to be met with VoIP. " ...

VOIP Voice over IP Project: Team Need Cross Training: Via CMPnetAsia: Loud and clear ...

IT Strategy: Infrastructure Services Outsourced ...

Asian insurance company outsources infrastructure services to IBM Asian operations and also procures strategic planning services from IBM. No company is immune from the possibility of outsourcing. ...

... "Under the terms of the 10-year agreement which has a total contract value of approximately 340 million US dollars, IBM will provide IT strategy consulting services to help develop and advance KYOBO's IT vision and strategy. IBM will also manage the company's servers, storage systems, network and desktop computers and operate its data and disaster recovery centers. Additionally, IBM will provide IT skills development and IT management training services, called IT University, for KYOBO's employees. " ...

IT Strategy: Infrastructure Services Outsourced: Via IBM: KYOBO Life Insurance Signs a 10-Year Outsourcing Contract With IBM ...

Project Management Lessons From the Movies

A few weeks ago, I mentioned the groundbreaking project management training curriculum from Movies Teach Project Management, the organization run by a film critic and a project management expert that teaches project management through the analysis of film clips.

Well, for those do-it-yourself types who are also movie buffs, here's an interesting 2-part article about movies from which we can learn project management and team building skills. I could think of quite a few to add to the list, but it's a great start.

Personal, Team and Organizational Effectiveness: Films Not About Project Teams: Part I; movies, teamwork, management

Software Projects Doomed From the Start; Blame the Stakeholders

OK, maybe this doesn't top the skateboarding dog (see yesterday's post), but here's an extremely compelling article from the Defense Acquisition University (DAU) on why most software projects are doomed to failure.

Thanks to PMForum for posting this in their news section.

The article states that most software projects come nowhere near their original baselines (although they may come closer to approved revised baselines). It says that stakeholders and the organizational environment, more so than lack of project management skills, bear much of the blame. Here's a quote:

"No amount of training in the technical skills of program management will overcome the simple truth that, as a PM, you cannot make people do what you need them to do. This is the root cause of many software-intensive program failures. Stakeholders often cannot agree on priorities, refuse to standardize business practices, take off on their own proprietary solutions, or simply refuse to participate in the program."

The article also says that the original plans are usually unrealistic to begin with, and underestimate the organizational challenges. It says we make matters worse by holding project managers accountable without giving them the necessary support to be successful.

"... Most expectations of contemporary programs are unrealistic. The cruel reality is that we train PMs and drop them in an organizational 'shark tank' that opposes many of the principles they have just absorbed in their training. Program managers often find themselves in a superfluous role, accountable, yet powerless. "

The article proposes a system of observing stakeholder behavior and rewarding and discouraging behavior as appropriate. Of course, an organization must recognize the problem and commit to doing something about it.

Senior leadership must be actively involved in fostering the changed behaviors. Otherwise, software projects will continue to be underestimated and mired in conflict, despite the best training, the best EPM tools, and the best processes.

I highly recommend reading the full article, "Irreducible Truths of Software-Intensive Program Management", by David Cottengim.

PMFORUM, Connecting the World of Project Management PMFORUM Breaking News: MOST SOFTWARE PROJECTS ARE DOOMED TO FAILURE ACCORDING TO PENTAGON PAPER

Project Team Training: Position for Success

With a foundation of training, your project team can accomplish the impossible ...

PMOs; Where's the Value?

A contributor to eProject's eLounge mentioned this excellent article from Chief Project Officer. It's written by Tom Westcott, founder of Project Solutions Group. Several years ago, I saw him speak on scheduling techniques at the PMI Delaware Valley Chapter's Annual Workshop, and was very impressed with his dynamic style and pragmatic approach.

In the article, Westcott talks about how PMOs must demonstrate value if they are to survive, and offers some good tips on how to do just that. Specifically, he says they must create strategic alignment, deliver real value, and communicate frequently.

Here's an excerpt on what he has to say about delivering value:

PMOs must deliver value to survive. Value is not templates, tools, methodology, processes, training; these are means to driving value. Value is gaining efficiencies, achieving cost savings, increasing customer satisfaction, reducing time-to-market, increasing revenue and profit, reducing deficits, or increasing competitive advantage. Too many PMOs wrap their whole mission and existence around the services they provide instead of their impact on the business. Executives buy value.

Too many PMO directors are former project managers who see their role as project management evangelists. This
leads to a myopic view, and often they are ill-prepared or unable to work strategically with executive management. PMO directors need to speak and think in business terms, financial and organizational. Nix the "project-management speak." How does this project benefit the organization and support our strategy? And how can we get it done as quickly and inexpensively as possible? That's what they care about.

For the full article, read on...

Chief Project Officer: PMO or Bust?

Project Management Presentation In a Box

From BVBA out of Belgium comes a website with some useful presentations for sale. If you ever have to give a presentation on project management, either for training, consulting, or general awareness, BVBA offers a 151-page powerpoint presentation for $80, which can be downloaded and tweaked as needed.

For a mere $80, it can save quite a bit of preparation time. I took a look at the sample slides, and it takes a good approach and covers some proven principles--not just "how-to" information. I like the slides on positioning a project for success, etc.

The site offers other templates as well.

Project Management Templates. Free Risk Forms

Free PMP Exam Video Lecture Series from TSI

As reported in PMForum, TSI (True Solutions, Inc.) is now offering a series of 47 videos as part of a "PMP® Lunchtime Lecture Series." It's completely free, and is geared toward those studying for their PMP or CAPM exams, or those already certified that are looking for tips or refreshers. Even the companion documents are free.

For anyone studying for their PMP exam, it's bound to be an excellent resource.

PMI PMP Training, Exam prep courses

Project Management Training: Experienced Workers Wanted ...

Tom Peters' recent presentations (see Tom's slides in his sidebar) point out the age demographics shift as a major growth opportunity for today's companies looking to innovate. Combine that with the insights from this article and we should see an upswing in project management and related training services. Tailor the services to the mature segment of the workforce and you could differentiate in a saturated market for PM training. I better brush up on my teaching skills ...

... "The company also offers all its tech workers, regardless of age, skills certification and training opportunities, including project management classes that can enhance older tech worker's existing skills base. " ...

Project Management Training: Experienced Workers Wanted: Via InformationWeek: Keeping Older Tech Workers On The Job Longer ...

ITIL Service Catalog: How To Design One ...

newScale training on how to design ITIL service catalog ...

... "The newest dates and locations for upcoming Service Catalog training courses are:

London , United Kingdom - Feb. 22-23, 2006
Minneapolis - March 21-22, 2006
Philadelphia - April 25-26, 2006
Las Vegas - May 23-24, 2006 " ...

Via newScale: newScale Launches New Service Catalog Online Community and Additional IT Service Catalog Courses: IT Service Catalog Experts Share Insights to Ensure Successful ITIL Initiatives ...

Why Projects are Late; The Top Six Reasons

Here are the top six reasons why projects are late and what we can do about it...

1) Unrealistic Deadlines - As we've reported here before, this is one of the most frequently overlooked reasons for late projects---and unfortunately, often the last thing people look at.

Solution: It's imperative for a project manager to defend the right plan and not give in to pressure to sacrifice good principles. If necessary, negotiate to time-box the project into multiple phases.

2) Customer/Partner Availability - I've seen numerous project managers over the years talk about the challenges they face keeping a project on schedule when they're waiting on a customer or business partner to do testing or sign off on some deliverable.

Solution: Set milestones, monitor progress, and raise an issue if the lack of availability will cause a delay. If necessary, negotiate a new project baseline---which may be quite appropriate if the customer and/or steering team agrees that a delay is acceptable.

3) Resource Availability - There's nothing worse than putting together a reasonable schedule only to have your key resources pulled off into different directions, but it happens more often than we care to admit.

Solution: Try to obtain full commitment up front for your resources' time. Even so, unexpected conflicts will happen. Same as #2 above, set milestones, monitor progress, and raise an issue if needed. Again, negotiation may be necessary, which can result in getting your resources back or in setting a new project baseline to accommodate the new priorities.

4) Uncertainty - Especially in the IT field, uncertainty is a given. At any time, unexpected circumstances may cause project delays.

Solution: Use rolling wave scheduling, planning the whole project from a high level, but only the nearest 90-day horizon in detail. Try agile approaches as well, aiming for prototypes and frequent iterations. Ideally, pilot the project, and aim for vertical rollouts (one group at a time). Build contingency into your schedule for known risks. Most of all, manage stakeholder expectations.

5) Management Decision - Sometimes, management makes a conscious decision to delay a project, either for strategic needs, changes in priorities, or any number of reasons.

Solution: If the delay is a management or customer decision, a new project baseline should be saved, with current metrics based on that. Note that it's also important to keep the original baseline, as that offers a different set of measures (mostly around organizational alignment).

6) Poor Estimates - Sometimes a project is late simply because tasks were underestimated or omitted from the schedule. Although this is not always the cause of project delays (and rarely the only cause), it tends to be the first one people look at.

Solution: Build experience and capture historical data by project category and activity. If the data isn't categorized it won't be useful. Create and maintain checklists of items to consider. Build project schedule templates. The most frequently overlooked areas in IT are: training, data-loading, cutover preparation, system network testing, adequate QA testing, and documentation.

Project Manager Certification: PM3 Level

Alcatel advocates PM3 level and beyond for project manager certification for complex project engagements. Alcatel plans to sustain project management training and to certify 30 project directors per year and 200 project managers. The company is committed to develop project management as a core competency. ...

... "During an official award ceremony at Alcatel's headquarters in Paris recently, the 2005 certified top project directors of Alcatel have been welcomed by the board of directors. Two years ago, Alcatel launched an innovative accreditation program for its project managers. This program, which includes the Project Management Institute (PMI) certification, enables the project managers of the Group to continuously improve their skills in complex project management. At the end of the program, the candidate receives Alcatel's accreditation.

Beyond the PMI certification, Alcatel proposes the PM3 and PM4 levels. Four levels of competence along a career path are clearly defined: project leader (PM1), project manager (PM2 or PMI equivalent), project director (PM3) and executive project directors (PM4). The PM3 accreditation allows Alcatel to identify a key competence and to ensure that all the project directors within the Group have the same language and share the same strategy. In front of the customer, the business skills of the project managers are today a key criteria in the selection process of a vendor. The PM3 accreditation permits the customer to assess the competences of the project director, which will be its interface in a complex project. " ...

Project Manager Certification: PM3 Level: Via Alcatel: Alcatel launches an accreditation program for its employees awarding the management of complex projects ...

Agile Project Management Ecosystem: New Partners ...

Rally works to develop an agile project management ecosystem by adding new partners. ...

... "Rally actively partners with industry-leading companies to help customers acquire the development and project management skills needed to succeed with Agile, one of the world's fastest growing technology trends. Rally's Development and Coaching partners provide a comprehensive network of expert resources that offer a wide range of business, process and technology services related to planning, building and delivering software in small batches that provide immediate business value. " ...

Agile Project Management Ecosystem: New Partners: Via Rally Software: Rally Software Development Adds New Agile Partners ...

Based in Boulder, Colo., Rally Software Development offers the only on-demand, software development management solution that helps software organizations scale Agile development practices across the enterprise and around the globe. The company’s customers include leading software vendors, Internet companies and corporate development teams who are committed to responding faster to new opportunities and changing customer demands. With Rally, larger or distributed teams are able to define, develop and deliver high-value software in rapid iterations. Rally’s world-renown coaches and expert partners complement its on-demand tooling with training, mentoring and consulting services for creating the Agile organization.

Project Work Packages; The Importance of Delegation

I read this story on Stephen Covey's website about his inspiring interview with a well-respected Naval captain. They key success factors for this captain were his ability to delegate, and his trust in his subordinates. This trust and delegation truly inspired passion and accountability in his people (something we've promoted here at PMThink as well).

It reminded me again of the importance of Work Packages in project management, where we assign deliverable (or group of deliverables) to a work package owner, and give them full accountability of managing the details to "make it so" (as Captain Picard of Star Trek: The Next Generation would say).

Here's Stephen Covey's account of this interview:

I was training U.S. Navy officers in leadership during the dot.com era, when someone told me about an exemplary leader named Captain David Marquet, Captain of the U.S.S. Santa Fe, who never lost anyone, in spite of the hellish conditions submarine personnel are required to endure. An opportunity arose, which I jumped at.

I was invited to board Captain Marquet’s sub and interview him. Never before had I observed such empowerment. We stood on the bridge of this multibillion-dollar nuclear submarine with a football field of vessel in front of and behind us. A young officer approached the Captain and said, "Sir, I intend to take this ship down 400 feet." Captain Marquet asked about the sonar and sounding and then instructed this young man to give us another twenty minutes on the bridge before carrying out his intention.

Throughout the day, people approached the captain intending to do this or do that. The Captain would sometimes ask a question or two, but then say, "Very well." He reserved only the top decisions for his own confirmation and empowered others to make the rest. He said he wanted to empower his people as far as he possibly could within the Navy’s confines. He felt if he required them to own the problem and the solution to it, they would begin to view themselves as a vitally important link in the chain of command. He created a culture where those sailors had a real sense of adding value.

Months after my sub ride, Captain Marquet wrote to inform me that the U.S.S. Santa Fe was awarded the Arleigh Burke Trophy for most improved submarine, ship, or aviation squadron in the Pacific.

All in all, a very inspiring reminder to us that we don't need to be managing every last detail of our projects, and instead must have faith in our most valuable asset---our team. This "distributed accountability" approach is a surefire way to encourage and exploit team synergy. Just pick the right people, give them guidelines, and get out of the way.

Making Megaprojects Work: Tips for Successs

There's an excellent article in Computerworld on managing megaprojects. I've summarized the lessons into three key points:

1) Understand the business need and engage stakeholders; If everyone's on board up front, it'll be a smoother ride.
2) Don't skimp on change leadership and training; It can make or break your initiative.
3) Expect breakdowns! Big change isn't easy. Encourage feedback, but make people part of the solution instead of part of the problem.

Great advice for anyone managing a megaproject that brings fundamental change to an organization.

The full article is below....

Managing Megaprojects - Computerworld

VOIP Project: Voice-Over-IP ...

The VOIP transformation project is relatively high-risk: newer technology, questionable scalability, increased cultural change, and impact to a critical business function: communications. J. Nicholas Hoover discusses the pitfalls of a voice-over-IP phone project

... "Anyone thinking a switch to a voice-over-IP phone system will be smooth and easy should remember Ruth Harenchar's ruby-red nail polish. At the Hobart West Group, where Harenchar is CIO, the company's VoIP project required tough decisions, like whether to spend money training existing IT staff or hire expensive consultants. It meant learning to live without certain common telecom features in order to get the savings the company wanted. And it involved helping employees through the culture shock of replacing the familiar ... " ...

Via InformationWeek | Voice-Over-IP | VoIP Gotchas ...



Here are some relevant references on VOIP implementations:

Via NetworkWorld: The ROI of VoIP: "When it comes to VoIP, most network managers are satisfied that the technology works. The challenge is developing cost analyses: What will the new technology cost to roll out and support, and what benefits can companies expect to reap? "

Via NetIQ: VoIP in Action: "OK, you've moved beyond the deployment stage of your VoIP project. Your first group of VoIP phone users are happy and you've got high levels of availability and call quality. Now what? In the management stage, you need to keep those users happy with consistent availability and high call quality. "

Managing VoIP Implementations Effectively: "Voice over IP (VoIP) is the hottest telephony technology. Consumers and corporations are looking to reduce costs by deploying VoIP systems. The challenge, however, is that the technology is so new that few project managers have expertise in managing VoIP implementation. If you are interested in or responsible for implementing VoIP at your organization, this is the course for you. "

PMI Lowers Passing Score on 2005 PMP Exam; Breaking News

Point Advantage, a PMI education provider of PMP exam prep courses, project management training programs, and learning tools, announced on their website that PMI has lowered the passing score on the new PMP exam from 81.7% to 61%.

We reported the other day that PMI was reviewing the exam questions, as they usually do after releasing a new exam, and this is the result. Of course, they'll retroactively adjust the scores of those who have already taken the exam.

More details below on the Point Advantage site...

Project Management Certification Training PMP Exam Prep Courses

Project Management News: PMI Releases Update on Crisis Rebuild Methodology and Training

PM Forum reported today that PMI has issued an updated summary of its methodology and training initiative for post-disaster rebuild situations.

The official project is now called, "Project Management Methodology for New Practitioners in Crisis/Disaster Rebuild Situations." Now, say that three times fast.

Here's the full report from PM Forum...

PMFORUM, Connecting the World of Project Management PMFORUM Breaking News: PMI RELEASES UPDATE ON POST DISASTER REBUILD METHODOLOGY AND TRAINING PROJECT

ITIL ITSM Software Market Competition Grows: Maximo ...

Software vendor MRO Software repurposes their Maximo solution to support IT service management based on the ITIL principles. Competition in the ITSM software market continues to grow as firms shift their products to address this hot space. ...

ITIL ITSM Software Market Competition Grows: Maximo: Via MRO Software: MRO SOFTWARE'S MAXIMO ENTERPRISE SUITE ON DISPLAY AT GARTNER'S 2005 SYMPOSIUM ITXPO: IT Service Management Suite Shows Early Momentum ...

... "MRO Software, Inc. (Nasdaq: MROI), the leading provider of asset and service management solutions, today announced that the company's Maximo Enterprise Suite (MXES) will be on display at the Gartner Symposium ITxpo. MXES combines asset and service management functionality with an IT infrastructure library (ITIL)-based solution for IT Service Management. Companies are shifting from simply managing assets to managing the service they perform and the strategic contribution they make to the business. MRO Software's Maximo Enterprise Suite builds on the Company's core expertise in asset management to deliver an expanded, comprehensive IT Service Management solution encompassing IT Asset Management and Service Desk functionality. " ...

MRO Software is the leading provider of asset and service management solutions. Maximo Enterprise Suite, the Company's flagship solution, is delivered on a web-architected platform and increases productivity, optimizes asset performance, and service levels, reduces costs and enables asset-related sourcing and procurement across the entire spectrum of strategic assets. The Company's asset management solutions allow customers to manage the complete lifecycle of strategic assets including: planning, procurement, deployment, tracking, maintenance and retirement. Using MRO Software's solutions, customers improve production reliability, labor efficiency, material optimization, software license compliance, lease management, warranty and service management across the asset base. MRO Software (Nasdaq: MROI) is a global company based in Bedford, Mass., with approximately 900 employees, and more than 300,000 end-users. The Company markets its products through a direct sales organization in combination with a network of international distributors. MRO Software has sales offices throughout North America, Europe, Asia/Pacific and Latin America.

Top 5 Characteristics of a Great Project Manager

What are the top characteristics of a great PM? (Fem or otherwise?) What traits do you look for when you interview project managers?

This article claims the top 5 are:
1) Interpersonal skills
2) Organizational skills
3) Communication skills
4) Problem-solving skills
5) Professional training
(and this includes experience if the person is PMI-certified, as the article suggests)

What do you think? Let us know!

Read more at:
Top Five Characteristics of a Great Project Manager

Can Leadership Be Taught?

This is an age old question, which I'll attempt to address. The short answer is yes, but with some caveats.

First, leadership is a combination of soft skills, self-awareness, and situational awareness. The soft skills and self-awareness can be taught, but it requires desire and effort on the part of the student to study diligently and practice (like the man who once asked how to get to Carnegie Hall ---- Practice, baby, Practice!). Scenario training is especially useful, and the next best thing to experience (albeit no substitute).

The remaining element of leadership--situational awareness--is a little trickier. Studies have shown that some people seem to have an inate ability to see both the forest and the trees. Yet we can come close to achieving this rare trait through:

• Avid research of our project's subject
• Constantly reading up on relevent internal and external events
• Being well connected to people in the organization (i.e. the grapevine)
• Better visibility (through EPM software)
• Critical thinking skills to be able to interpret what it is we're seeing
• Plenty of experience

This last one is critical. Without experience, it's truly difficult to gain situational awareness unless you are one of the few born with this gift (and even then, it takes study and knowledge). Thus, we can deduce that it's difficult to be an effective leader without experience. But we must start somewhere. So, to make our early leadership career successful, training is key--especially situational training. So are the other items on our list, as they can help get us by as we build experience.

So, yes. Leadership can be taught. But it's dependent on the following: "Are organizations ready to invest in leadership training for their managers and not expect overnight success?" and "Are managers ready to invest the time and effort to become good leaders?"

The key point is that putting someone in a management position does not make them a leader. And if they're not a leader, they're not fit for management. But that doesn't stop the majority of organizations from doing just that. For the minority of enlightened organizations that "get it," a wealth of rewards await.

Increase IT Career Opportunities with Certifications & Education

This July 2005 article titled, "IT Certification: Increasing Women’s Career Opportunities" really could apply to anyone who may feel they aren't being taken as seriously as they should be. Some key points:

• For whatever reasons, there are STILL few women in senior IT and business roles
• Respected and relevant certifications/education can help to establish credibility and increase leadership opportunities (the key words are respected and relevant - if your company doesn't respect a Master's in Liberal Arts from City College, it probably isn't going to get you the corner office at THAT firm, but it may help you find your next job at a firm that values education in general; perhaps a Master's in Comp Sci or a certificate in Project Management from PMI (yes I am biased) would be more respected by your firm and relevant to your job, for example, and hey, it doesn't take as much time to achieve either)
• Most respected certification programs demand continual education and training for retaining the designation (PMI's Project Management Professional (PMP) is no exception)
• IT security and governance programs are reaching the top levels of organizations today - who are they going to choose to lead these important efforts? Someone with a string of respected and relevant certifications or not?

The answer is clear. Eat your alphabet soup - but pick out only the respected and relevant letters.

CertMag.com IT Certification: Increasing Women�s Career Opportunities

Program (Programme) Management Definition(s)

If you ask 9 different people, "what is a PMO" you will get at least 10 different answers. However, the definition of program (or programme) management seems to be much more straightforward.

"Programme management involves pulling together a number of different projects into a single initiative reflecting a broad business goal. Launching a new product, for example, may involve a research and development effort, a training project for sales staff and a marketing communications campaign, all of which may be separate projects with a common goal (a programme)."

This definition is quite close to the Project Management Institute's version but PMI adds an important clarification. There should be benefits to managing the projects together under a program that would not be gained by managing the projects separately.

This article explains at least one version of what a PMO could be, and more about Programme Management, however you spell it...

PMO: What is it and do you need one? - silicon.com

Project Success Equation; The REAL Triple Constraint

We've all heard the issues over the triple constraint, and whether it should include scope, time, and cost, or other factors as well. But the "real" triple constraint often goes unnoticed. And that is the old trio of "people, processes, and technology".

We need to invest in all three in order to have project success. By "people," I'm not only referring to investing in leadership training for project managers, but also to having an organizational structure that's aligned and not set up for conflict.

And, while processes are critical, some things cannot be "processized," such as leadership and stakeholder management. And processes alone, without the technology to make it efficient, can also be a burden.

So next time you're analyzing the success or failure of your project, consider the impact that people, processes, and technology had on that result. There may be some eye-openers.

Event: Project Management: Core Business Discipline ..

Event: Project Management: Core Business Discipline: Via Montgomeryadvertiser.com: Project management consultant to speak ...

... "Bill Stewart, a pioneer of the Project Office concept, will speak Oct. 19 at the Auburn University Montgomery TechnaCenter. He will offer tips for creating rapid change in an organizational culture and methods to foster acceptance of project management as a core business discipline. " ...

PMP eLearning Alliance Drives Project Manager Development

PMP eLearning Alliance Drives Project Manager Development: Praxis and Measure Twice Announce Alliance: Via Praxis Learning Network

Praxis Learning Networks and Measure Twice, creator of the PM Final software testing tool for project managers, create alliance to advance project manager development for the PMP exam ...

... "Praxis will develop and maintain the question bank used in PM Final to test project managers in preparation for the Project Manager Professional (PMP) certification exam. Measure Twice will focus on further developing the PM Final tool to provide greater capability for individuals and training organizations to track exam results, test by knowledge area, and build comprehensive content exams. The Praxis question bank has been completely redeveloped and aligned with the Project Management Institute's Project Management Body of Knowledge, Version 3.0. " ...

ITTraining Education: Balance Business and Technical Perspectives ...

IT Training Education: Balance Business and Technical Perspectives: Via Computerworld: Ask a Premier 100 IT Leader: Peter Presland-Byrne ...

Sage advice about curriculum choices for aspiring information technology (IT) professionals, such as balancing business training, in project management, with technical training, in programming languages. Peter Presland-Byrne, SVP, Countrywide Financial Corp. provides his perspectives in a question and answer format ...

... "Based on the high-level topics of database and project management, I would suspect that Perl programming would be the one to substitute. I remember learning the virtues of BBC Model B Basic, and I can honestly say I've never had to write a single business application using it. " ...

Can't Retain Your Project Managers?; Here's why

Seems that an epidemic is sweeping the project management community; Project managers, frustrated with the lack of support, just aren't staying put in their place of employment.

According to ProjectMagazine, we can slow this exodus down by doing the following:

• Offer training opportunities to increase knowledge areas
• Assess the changing workforce culture
• Measure the company's turnover rate
• Become more employee oriented
• Hire the right people
• Set up effective [culture] Change Management

This excellent article from ProjectMagazine expands on this and offers great tips on how to retain project managers and drive a more employee-focused culture.

PROJECTmagazine - turnover

Are Your Project Managers Leaders?

If you ask someone who just worked on a great project to rate the project manager, very rarely will you hear them say the following:

"Great! He really knows his MS/Project!"
"Wow! She's a wiz with Earned Value!"
"Top notch. You should see how he links all the dependencies together."
"Stupendous! She can do a backward pass with her eyes closed!"

More than likely, you'll here something like:

"He was extremely visible and gave us the confidence that someone was running the show."
"She was able to remove all of our barriers and communicated extremely well throughout the project."
"He was really on top of the issues, yet didn't micromanage"
"She offered clear guidance and goals, and fully engaged the team, soliciting our input wherever possible."

See a pattern? While it's important to master the "mechanics" of project management, ultimately it's all about leadership --- the soft skills. Unfortunately, when organizations send their project managers to training, they tend to focus on tools training, or training in project management fundamentals. Certainly these are valuable, but the real need (and most frequently ignored area) is training in the soft skills.

And the best way to train people in soft skills is some kind of course that offers simulation training. It's good to understand theory around conflict management and psychology, but there's nothing like simulation training to really sink in.

So, if you want to really make a difference in how your project managers are perceived, focus on leadership training, including team leadership, presentation skills, communication, conflict management, negotiation, assertiveness, motivation, and other soft-skill topics that can define people's perception of the project manager.

Estimating Software Projects with Function Point Analysis

Function Point Analysis, although developed in the mid-70s and made popular in the 80s and 90s, is finally achieving recognition as a de facto standard for estimating the size of software projects.

The concept is that inputs, outputs, external inquires, and internal or external files are scored, with a value adjustment factor added based on a host of other criteria.

At SoftwareMetrics.com, there's a good writeup on Function Point Analysis, along with a downloadable Function Point Analysis Training Manual. Check it out...

Fundamentals of Function Point Analysis

PMI Announces New Leadership Institute

If you're a volunteer leader working with PMI, either with a chapter, SIG, or PMI program, you'll be interested to know that PMI just announced a new Leadership Institute. The new institute will include online training and face-to-face leadership conferences.

Read more about it at PM Forum...

PMFORUM, Connecting the World of Project Management <$BlogPageTitle$>

PMI Condolence Message for Hurricane Katrina Victims

As expected, PMI is responding to the disaster in New Orleans, rallying the project management community to join in support, and offering contributions of their own.

In case you haven't heard, PMI is near completion of a Post Disaster Rebuild Methodology and Training project (which project manager Wanda Curlee will be speaking about at PMI's Glboal Congress in Toronto), spurred on by the terrible Tsunami in Asia. We can be sure that this methodology will come in handy in New Orleans.

Also, see PMI's condolence message to the victims of Hurricane Katrina...

PMI Condolence Message for Hurricane Katrina Victims

Implementing Earned Value; Training and Scalability Are Key

Here's a lesson from NASA's Public Lessons Learned System (PLLS) from their pilot project to implement Earned Value Management at the NASA Kennedy Space Center in 2004.

Two key points were raised:

• Make sure that sufficient training is provided to cover all facets and various scenarios
• Make sure your EVM system is implemented in a way that doesn't slow down small projects and work requests (either have a light version of EVM or don't require it for projects under a certain size).
  
  For the full details, go to the NASA PLLS System below and search for '1409' (which will bring up lesson #1409)...
  
  NASA Public Lessons Learned System (PLLS) Database

High-Profile ILM Project: Information Lifecycle Management ...

High-Profile ILM Project: United States Postal Service Awards EMC Five Year Contract: EMC to Address USPS' Business Continuity and Data Protection Requirements Through An Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) Strategy ...

An ILM information lifecycle management project at USPS is key to driving operational efficiency and effectiveness in the administration of 650 Terabytes of storage (EMC infrastructure). Project management services will come from EMC to create this high-availability, secure, and efficient process for the management of information over its lifecycle ...

... "Through this agreement EMC Consulting will work with USPS to conduct a solutions assessment, and provide project management and design and implementation services. Additionally, the USPS will use EMC ControlCenter® to monitor and manage its extensive storage environment consisting of EMC Symmetrix® and EMC CLARiiON® networked storage products for its storage area network (SAN), EMC Centera™ for content addressed storage (CAS), and EMC Celerra® network attached storage (NAS). " ...

Since 1775, the Postal Service has connected friends, families, neighbors and businesses by mail. It is an independent federal agency that visits 142 million homes and businesses every day and is the only service provider delivering to every address in the nation. The Postal Service receives no taxpayer dollars for routine operations, but derives its operating revenues solely from the sale of postage, products and services. With annual revenues of more than $69 billion, it is the world's leading provider of mailing and delivery services, offering some of the most affordable postage rates in the world. The Postal Service delivers more than 46 percent of the world's mail volume—some 206 billion letters, advertisements, periodicals and packages a year—and serves seven million customers each day at its 37,000 retail locations nationwide.

EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC) is the world leader in products, services and solutions for information storage and management that help organizations extract the maximum value from their information, at the lowest total cost, across every point in the information lifecycle.

Additonal references on ILM:

Via Computerworld, The new buzzwords: Information lifecycle management, Steve Duplessie, Nancy Marrone, and Steve Kenniston write:

... "What's important to remember is that ILM is not a technology - it is a combination of processes and technologies that determines how data flows through an environment. By doing so, it helps end users manage data from the moment it is created to the time it is no longer needed. " ...

Via SNIA, The ILM Initiative (ILMI):

... "ILMI was created by SNIA’s Data Management Forum (DMF) to allow industry leaders and participants to come together into a community to focus on unifying, defining, implementing, and teaching the world about our vision for ILM and its impact on information and storage management. The ILMI operates as an online virtual community, sharing work efforts, training programs and outreach services such as research, whitepapers and training, and educational courses. " ...

Via StorageTek, : Information lifecycle management vision whitepaper:

... "Information lifecycle management (ILM) is a sustainable storage strategy that balances the cost of storing and managing information with its business value. An advanced state of information lifecycle management encompasses a storage management world where business information objects are managed automatically, based on their business value. Fully mature information lifecycle management may result in business performance benefi ts such as increasing revenue opportunities, reducing costs and driving competitive advantage. " ...

Nebraska Project Management Portal ...

Nebraska Project Management Portal: Via Nebraska Information Technology Commission

Sample project documents, status reports, etc. used by Nebraska Information Technology Commission ...

... "The goal of this web site is to encourage the use of project management methods for information technology projects. The objectives are to provide state agencies with easy access to project management techniques, best practices, training opportunities, and other resources. " ...