The science of project management gives us the ability to calculate schedules, calculate budgets, forecast resource requirements, measure performance, estimate risk probabilities, and much more. Project management software is increasingly available to make the number crunching easier and to distribute the information faster. But computers don't manage projects, and estimates don't magically come true. The tools and techniques described in this book form a powerful tool set, but, as with any tools, they require a skilled hand to deliver a completed project. This chapter describes how this tool set will help you overcome problems that crop up on projects of any size, in any industry.
Each problem or challenge is accompanied by a strategy for using the tools we've discussed throughout this book. Many of the problems will sound familiar, and the proposed solutions may give you new insights. But don't stop with the answers you read here. The art of project management is applying the science to achieve your goals. With this chapter as a starting point, you can begin practicing the art of project management on the problems confronting your own projects.
When projects span organizational boundaries, you can suddenly find yourself relying on people over whom you have no authority. They work for neither you nor your sponsor. How will you enlist them as accountable, enthusiastic team members you can count on?
Charter. Ask your sponsor to publish a charter for all the stakeholders. Make sure that it strongly designates your authority on this project.
Statement of work. Explain the reason behind the project, and give them the background necessary to understand its importance to the organization.
Communication plan. Involve them in setting up your primary means of communication. If they are outside your organization, you'll probably need a formal means of keeping them up-to-date. Make sure that this is a two-way medium so you'll know that they are up-to-date and involved.
Small work packages with strong completion criteria. Make assignments easy to understand and track. Involve them in estimating the cost and duration of tasks and in defining completion criteria. The more they are involved in developing the plan, the more ownership and commitment they'll feel.
Network diagram. Show them how they fit into the project; emphasize the importance of their input and the probable impact on the project if they fall behind on their schedule. If they have tasks with a lot of float, you can let them set their own schedule, but be sure to let them know that you expect them to meet the planned start and finish dates.
Project status meetings with an open task report. Give them updates on the project even during times when they aren't actively involved. Invite them to status meetings when their tasks are near enough to appear on the open task report. Hold them accountable to the schedule and to the rest of the project team.
Sponsor. Develop a strong relationship with your sponsor by keeping him or her informed of your plans and your progress. You may need the sponsor's help in overcoming organizational obstacles.
In this scenario, a project is off the rails in a big way. After missing several major schedule milestones, the project manager is removed. You are assigned to turn this project around. What do you do?
Statement of work. Start at the beginning with this project. What are its goals? Prioritize the remaining scope and clarify the penalties for missing the deadline or running over budget.
Project plan. Using the work breakdown structure and critical path analysis, figure out the best possible schedule scenario, assuming infinite resources. This will give you the absolute shortest possible schedule. Next, negotiate for more resources, more time, or less scope (or all three) based on your plan. You can use your critical path schedule to show management which resources you will need to get the project done as fast as possible. If you do get more people, you shouldn't expect them to be productive immediately; you will need to allow for some learning time. There will be a lot of pressure on you to come up with a schedule that shows you will meet the deadline. At this point, you need to resist this pressure and remember that an unrealistic schedule will benefit nobody. Because there is already recognition that this project wasn't being managed correctly, you are likely to get management to agree to a realistic schedule if you present your facts confidently. In a situation like this, the project team needs a leader with a firm resolve to stick to the discipline.
Work package estimates. Use the actual performance so far to create realistic estimates, and include the team in the estimating process. You'll be dealing with an exhausted, frustrated team—don't alienate team members by ignoring their experience as you create the plan.
Project status meetings. Frequent status meetings focused on completing near-term tasks will keep you on top of progress and allow you to solve problems early. Use the open task report to keep your meetings brief and productive. Graph the progress on the plan so it's plain to everyone, especially the team, that there is tangible progress. Celebrate the small victories.
Speed counts in your industry. The pace of change demands that your next release of a current product have a development time 20 percent less than that of the previous release. Between now and the deadline, you have to take your product through requirements, design, and construction, while building in the maximum functionality.
Statement of work. Fast, focused performance demands a solid foundation. Getting agreement on authority, decision structures, and responsibilities among the participating groups will ensure that you don't waste time fighting organizational battles during the project.
Fixed-phase estimating. Since you'll be working through the entire product development life cycle, there's no point in generating a detailed schedule from start to finish. Instead, choose several review points where you can reevaluate the functions of the product against the available resources and deadline. These review points constitute phase-end milestones. You can determine the duration of these phases using performance data from previous development efforts. You will need to stick to these review dates; for the team to meet the deadline, it must meet every phase-end milestone.
Project plan. Develop a detailed plan for every phase. Using a network diagram, identify all possible concurrent tasks. The concurrent tasks are the opportunities for performing more work at the same time; these are the places where adding people to the project can compress the schedule. You can use this technique to determine the largest number of people who can work on the project productively. (Don't forget the resource-leveling guidelines, though.) Just remember that compressing the schedule by adding people may result in higher project costs.
Completion criteria. Build quality checks into the project every step of the way. Although it may be tempting to skip some of the early quality-related activities in order to save time, you need to stay the course. It really is faster to do it right the first time.
Project status meetings. Be clear about responsibilities and track schedule progress rigorously. Create a culture of schedule accountability by having strong completion criteria, and show clearly that falling behind, even by a little bit, is not acceptable. Build enthusiasm and a positive attitude by celebrating victories all along the way.
Based on a good statement of work and solid project plan, you and your team are making steady progress and are right on schedule. At this point, however, you start encountering delays that are the fault of the customer. How can you stick to the schedule when the customer is causing the holdup?
Network diagram. First look for other activities that the team can shift its attention to. The network diagram will show you what other tasks you can be pursuing while you are waiting for the customer. The network is also the tool for assessing the impact of the delay. Is the customer working on a critical path task? If not, how much float is there? Use the network to demonstrate the customer's impact on the schedule.
Change management. Determine the cost and schedule impacts of the delay. Even if the customer isn't on the critical path, there may be costs associated with changing your plan. Document the reason for the delay as well as the cost and schedule impacts, and bring it to the customer's attention without delay. You can show the unexpected delay on the project plan by adding a task to the work breakdown structure called "Delay due to ____________________"; insert the delay in the network diagram, too. If the delay idles any of your team members, you can start assigning their hours to the delay task. Even though you need to keep a positive attitude when working with the client to stay on schedule, these actions will send a clear message that the cause of the delay is well understood by all stakeholders.
You've been handed a deadline and budget that are impossible. When you tried to tell the managers that it was not realistic, they started talking about "can-do attitudes." How will you handle this situation?
Statement of work. Be extremely clear about the project's purpose, scope, and deliverables. Make sure that the scope and deliverables are really necessary to accomplish the purpose. Learn all the schedule and cost penalties.
Project plan. Putting on your best can-do attitude, develop at least three options for what can be done. You must be able to demonstrate the trade-offs available to the managers. Then, recommend the option that seems to match their cost-schedule-quality priorities. Figure out the maximum number of people you can usefully apply to the project, using the network diagram and resource spreadsheet. Then look for the schedule adjustments that will bring the greatest cost reductions. Finally, use a crash table to analyze the most cost-effective tasks to compress.
Risk management. Because this project will have risks that affect both cost and/or schedule, you will need to perform risk assessments at both the high level and the detail level to find your danger points. You can then take appropriate steps to mitigate the risk, including frequent monitoring and watching for new risks.
Status reports. If you are attempting to meet a schedule that you believe is impossible, don't give up on changing your stakeholders' expectations. Let them know with every status report how diligently the team is striving to meet the goals and what the actual progress is. Raise the alarm frequently that if early progress is an indicator, actual cost and schedule performance won't match the plan. They may not believe you the first time, but as the evidence builds that this is a well-managed project that was underestimated, they will be forced to come to terms with reality.
Your projects are always quick, high-intensity, and have little lead time. While the definition and planning activities sound great in theory, there just isn't any time for them.
Organizing for project management. Rather than making the excuse that your projects are too fast or too fluid for these project management techniques, remember that a systematic method for using all of them will increase your ability to respond quickly to any situation. Fire departments—the folks who literally fight fires for a living—don't wing it. When their fire bell rings, they know all the right questions to ask to define the project, identify the risks, and make a plan. They don't call them project managers, but they have a designated leader whose job it is to monitor, coordinate, and communicate. So take a tip from the real firefighters: Get organized before the fire starts.
You are leading a project for a volunteer organization. No one disputes your leadership, but you must accomplish all the goals without having any authority over anyone on the team. What's the secret?
Statement of work. Build enthusiasm and a common vision by focusing on the purpose and deliverables. Sharing the purpose engages team members emotionally, and focusing on the deliverables will keep the scope limited. (Controlling the scope is particularly important for a volunteer project around which it may be difficult to rally the team to spend extra hours.)
Small tasks with strong completion criteria. Make it easy for each person to succeed by giving everyone clear direction and little latitude for straying from the task.
Project plan. You must be extremely organized and very aware of the critical path and the float. People may procrastinate early in the project if they don't perceive any urgency. Volunteers are often very busy people, so you will need to do some resource analysis. Without it, you may end up with a few people trying to accomplish everything at once.
Communication plan. Develop a method of staying in touch with everyone without a lot of effort or frequent meetings. They will want to spend their limited volunteer time getting things done, not attending meetings.
Status meetings. Frequent status checks will keep you in touch with progress, but periodic status meetings provide opportunities to energize the group, build relationships, and make project decisions. Celebrate the progress. Use good meeting management techniques to ensure that these are productive meetings that people will want to attend.
Tip
Manage Professionals Like Volunteers
In a way, you are managing volunteers. Peter Drucker likens managing professionals to managing volunteers, because they both want the same thing, that is, interesting, meaningful work that is a good use of their time.[50] Ask yourself, if you viewed every project you lead as a volunteer project, would it change your management style? Would your team be more enthusiastic? Would you be more enthusiastic?
Once again, let's take a look at the five factors that make a successful project:
Agreement among the project team, customer, and management on the goals of the project
A plan that shows an overall path and clear responsibilities, which is also used to measure progress during the project
Constant, effective communication between everyone involved in the project
A controlled scope
Management support
Clear goals, strong communication, realistic schedules supported by detailed plans. It's no wonder these have proven to be the ingredients of a successful project. None of these will happen accidentally. You will achieve them only by systematically applying the techniques of project management.
The art of project management is applying the science to achieve success. When you are armed with the basic tool set of techniques to define, plan, and control projects, you have the components of every successful project. This is a tool set, however, that is sharpened through use.
Practicing the art of project management begins not only with understanding the science of project management, but also by believing that it works. Learning the science is not terribly difficult. I sincerely hope that this book has revealed the techniques in a way that makes them simple and easy to understand. Unfortunately, no book can ever make them easy to apply.
Project management is hard work. It requires persistence, dedication, and a thick skin. You will encounter opposition from people who consider project definition and planning a waste of time. They will test your conviction, particularly if the cynic is your boss or customer. You must hold true to the discipline through any opposition. This will ultimately bring you success and the reputation of being a professional project manager.