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By Eugenio, on January 28th, 2010
Delivering the correct solution to the business is the end of the project. However, it introduces a new order of obligations. Thereby, there is a strategic necessity to bridge and synchronize the program / project activities and the business operations. This has to be started at the project’s initiation with a better fitted Business Case.
A two-speed issue in customer organization
 Differential gear The easiest analogy is the differential gear in a car. “A vehicle’s wheels rotate at different speeds, mainly when turning corners. The differential is designed to drive a pair of wheels with equal torque, whilst allowing them to rotate at different speeds.”
Until the outcome has been successfully delivered, the project is the slower part. It absorbs resources both in terms of money and energy from stakeholders who usually are key players in their functions (from management to final users). Therefore, the benefits have to blossom for the creation of a new balance.
A dynamic Business Case
The template for the business case, like that suggested by Prince2, covers almost any situation. Moreover, its structure contains all necessary elements for further validations. Thus, the ability to deal with changing situations will be gained through the shaping of each component.
Reasons
The main point is about the company strategy (see post). This fosters the specific strategy for the project. Therefore, this offers a frame for asking an advice to the Sponsor.
Business Options:
“Presenting the available options”.
This is the pool of the available opportunities. From a Risk Management viewpoint, it is the place where to search for the “alternative route”, when the risks posed to the actual plan are just too big.
Benefits
“The benefits that the project will deliver expressed in measurable terms against the situation as it exists prior to the project”.
The assessment of the progress toward realization has to include the impact on the ongoing operations. As a result, explicit references to the current processes are requested for negotiating the needs of both sides: project and operating business.
Risks
The list of the most dangerous risks is reasonable if, and only if the strategy has been clearly stated. Without a clear choice, it is impossible to define those risk can be generated.
Costs
They will be analyzed and balanced in the investment appraisal section.
Timescale
It has to consider the business operational (e.g. testing and then training) needs. However, the time to market is a key factor for setting (and delaying) the delivery date.
Investment appraisal
This is the place where the business finds the future benefits (and the dis-benefits). Clear links to stakeholders could dramatically increase the project acceptance’s opportunities.
Conclusion
The Business Case represents a light-house for the project.
Therefore, the principles and the metrics for monitoring the performances cannot be modified without a complete review of the project itself. However, the elements cannot be considered simple martinets. They need to be built for responding efficiently and efficaciously to the continuous changes of the business environment.
Credits:
The concept of “Benefit Realization Management” comes from MSP manual – OCG.
http://leake.ge.uiuc.edu/autodesk_inventor_10.htm
By Eugenio, on January 26th, 2010
The physical feasibility (e.g. technology, capacity or capability) is the primary source of risks. The management’s wrong judgment of the former is the second one.
Risks’ nature
From this premise, the Business Case should univocally establish the “owner” of the solution. Therefore, this declaration cannot be left the orphan .This means that level of the producing organization’ mastery of the technology / production’s process / capacity has to be indicated as one of the key elements on which the strategy has been built.
The importance of strategy
The word comes from Greek, it means “moving an army”. This implies the following factors, listed by their importance:
- Create a structure to face a challenge. The elements span from a command’s chain to a well defined target, where all the energies can be aimed.
- A list of benefits (or avoided damages) which can be bargained against the incoming expenses. This includes a robust metric system for keeping a tally of the expenses and gains.
- An alternative to the main route is necessary. Whether the intelligence of the “enemy’s willingness” is available or not, other factors like terrain (e.g. logistic conditions) can determine the success of the enterprise.
- The route and clear rules for moving the bulk of the forces toward a target must be shared and accepted by every stakeholder.
- A leadership that makes sense of the efforts, and then a war chest that could supply money to cover expenses.
Keeping the chain of command short, notwithstanding the organization’s dimension, more layers of strategy are required. Therefore, the cascading logic is maintained through the “managing by exception” golden rule.
The choices forming the strategy oblige the nature of the risks.
Given the initial statement, there are these deductions:
1) Lack or incompleteness of strategy is the paramount risk.
2) The strategy set the guidelines for the Risk analysis.
3) The alternative route is the main reference to any plan for tackling problems that hamper the outcome’s delivery.
Conclusion
The assumption of responsibility can only be a first step for improving the correct spirit of collaboration. There are several factors that influence this decision. They span from the key-player (the person who has the knowledge) to the brand’s power. The essence of this suggestion lies in the consideration that risks are an integral part of every project; however, the best way to face them is clarity.
Credits
Some concepts have been developed on the ideas and documents generously supplied by “Herding Cats“
By Eugenio, on January 13th, 2010
Leaders are able to grasp the core of the concept. This is the start for the process of evaluating what can be (temporary) compressed for the sake of a better message. Therefore, the job mainly consists in the listening the request(s). These will be properly put into the working environment and then filtering the essential words; those which make the clear picture and a proper frame.
Analyzing the process
This process has three main phases (the production includes the data collection and their verification):
- Production
- Delivery
- Acceptance
And then the two actors:
- Leader.
- His/her (potential) followers:
Change their respective roles as shown in the following table:
| Production |
Delivery |
Acceptance |
| Leader: active and hidden |
Leader: active and overt |
Leader: standing passive |
| Followers: passive |
Followers: passively overt |
Follower: actively judging |
Therefore, its elements can be viewed differently.
| Element |
Positive |
Negative (short) |
Negative (long) |
| Time spent on process |
Pondered decision |
Impulsive |
Indecisive |
| Message length |
Efficient |
Slogan |
Verbose |
| Number of elements |
Clear |
Incomplete |
Confusing |
|
|
|
|
This table shows how the attitude created by the reception influences the results (from success to failure).
The recipe for the success: making menus
There are two ways for increasing the message “readability” and then improving its acceptance’s rate.
1) Condensation (number of items and then quantity of words used)
2) Orientation (changing priority and then quality of the words used)
Both strategies can live together. The former would form the introduction; then, after a brief pause left for enabling the audience to stay for the longer version. This is also true for documents issuing; a careful use of an outlined Table of Contents allows the readers a preferred path.
Conclusion
The introduction must contain the message core. Then, an outlined index will offer different paths either in viewpoint (areas of interests) or deepening.
Quote:
the title comes from General C. Powell
By Eugenio, on November 26th, 2009
This is an articulate list (in its first version) of actions to be carried through for being sure that all the efforts will yield the promises made in the Business Case. It is based on Prince2 and includes some PMBooks concepts.
Template size and quantity
The frameworks are the project’s scaffolding. While almost impossible to avoid it, the choice of using a system instead of another is influenced (at least) by these factors:
- Domain and company’s organization, including culture (where web is much more agile than ERP)
- Project’s dimensions
- Management’s leadership style
- Team cohesiveness (e.g. previous experience, sharing the same premises)
Workload vs. results
Assuming that all the necessary data are available through a central repository (from an Excel sheet on PM’s PC to complex systems based on CMS – e.g. SharePoint), the strategy of using more or less templates should be focused on the need of caring for stakeholders’ communication.
The effort of collecting information that will be inserted in each document represents the smaller portion of the value. The documents are useful if, and only if, they are read and understood.
By Eugenio, on November 23rd, 2009
Templates are one of the most tangible things of the governance. They are conceived as the interfaces to operate the system. There are many sorts of tools for collecting data and release information. The
Vision and fun
The people are still the most important resource of the project. However, a project cannot be manned by a bunch of persons who are sharing the same tools. Therefore, governance has to be conceived as the mean for “materializing” the vision. The target is the formation of a group through the coalescing of its members in a way that goes beyond the specific skills (i.e. including the management and the external stakeholders). Whatever is the shape of the target, communication is still the fundamental element. The ability to share thoughts (including emotions) can only be performed when a mutual respect of persons and roles are forming the ground used for building the common house called governance.
From this viewpoint, the idea of shipping some tasks (like retrospective – a k a “learned lessons”) with a bit of fun, introduces a big risk in tarnishing the basic respect of people. Jokes and laughs are a symptom of a relaxed environment. However, leaving this alone means to ignore the possibility of working in a Lord of the Flies environment. ABIDING BY THE RULES – AT ALL LEVELS (BTW, it is the first case of using capital letters in this site) reduces the risk of bullying behavior in almost all situations. Once the dam of mutual respect is broken, there is little room for saving anything for understanding the reality (e.g. how much have we done for demanding the money)
Rules and naivety
In some positions, especially for the sale people (who fetch the promise of money) the rules can be lived as straitjacket for an acrobat. However, the adoption of a double standard is a risk, when this behavior is not properly coded and addressed. Different ways to interpret the “Benefit” within the team and with the customer can create serious damages to the company image.
I took an easy shot against the Sale Department; however, the habit of “cooking” figures is extremely common for the project managers and developers. From my experience, the most common ingredient for every recipe is a sheer incompetence (starting from estimations to manging the financial aspects). Obviously, these kind of grubs tend to create indigestion and sometimes fatal outcomes.
Conclusion
The importance of a “good” governance goes beyond the skills and abilities of a single leader. Governance is logic for making a vision workable, and it lives in the daily effort of every person who belongs to a group.
By Eugenio, on November 20th, 2009
I’m reviewing the templates in order to complete the End stage/project and then move to the plans. This strategy is based on the need to offer the best of my competence. Therefore, plans are left at the end of the first series. They are the most discussed item in the project management.
The appeal of the plans
The idea of allocating the people time into neat lines has its appeal. Building a sort of bulwark against any inconvenient seems a reassuring act. However, the rows appearing on Gantt are just the result of so many others traced on a series of documents that often are neglected (from Risk to budget). The excuses range from the boredom of bureaucratic work to lack of courage to assess (and receive written confirmation) about vague promises or uttered decrees.
Time and energy
Time is just an empty container. Only energy can make it useful; then, if no accident diverts our efforts, the time will be made meaningful by the results of our actions. This can only be obtained when a portion of the future is allocated along with the necessary resources (energy, tools and skills). For longer and complex activities this container should be structured into smaller units.
These are the reasons to support this policy:
- Natural gates for checking results.
- Time allocated for reviewing and reflections.
- More manageable units for dealing with issues.
- More homogeneous the tasks’ nature, easier the Risk Management.
- Given a better articulated plan, risk proximity becomes easier to evaluate.
Conclusion
The “strategic” choice of delivering something that could be considered “good enough” is not an easy one. Less than perfect outcomes are likely to receive some critics. When these are taken as suggestions, any comment is a new source of energy.
By Eugenio, on November 18th, 2009
Latest updates in available templates
This document describes the output (either service or product) that fulfils the benefits sought in the Business Case. This is aimed to supply all necessary indications for producing the output within the limits (budget, time and scope/quality) fixed in the Project Brief.
People and tools
“A long trip always starts with a single step”. Making it in the right direction is essential for reaching the goal. However, the direction is often an imaginary line toward a wonderful but very distant aim. Checking the ground firmness and assessing the available energy to put a step after another is the key of any enterprise.
The “naked emperor”
Tailoring a methodology involves the availability of some good fabric. Using internet and weaving home-made stuff for making nice canvasses where plans are designed does not sound reasonable.
With the same logic, the supposition: “one size fits all” is a futile, if not dangerous, attempt of standardizing that has not properly investigated; it sounds like to order heavy boots and hard hats to acrobats for the sake of the standard safety rules.
Prince2 implementation, as per my experience in Europe, needs a good stuff for starting the process of preparing robust guidelines that will be detailed for matching the needs of specific realities (either for their dimensions or nature). Customer likes to see something of “tangible” for their money; therefore, the offer of some well tailored templates can be a good start.
Plans and reality
Don’t be fooled by the idea that some neat forms make a process. It is the same concept that a plan suffices to do the product. The necessary confidence to start this kind of project could be acquired through a bargain. One side there are a process that increase the people confidence by setting some basic rules (e.g. mandates). This will be swapped with their willingness to work up to the new (firmer and more clear) rules.
This capital of energy and trust has to be invested into the growth of a system. Something can sustain all the efforts of dealing with real situations. Once the people are acquainted with templates, they can cope much better with the novelties, when these have a credible background.
Conclusion
Methods and tools are worth the people are using them. However, a blunt tool is a burden that added to the lack of experience takes away any bit of enthusiasm. Project in a Box offers (also in its Community Edition – means free) an excellent set of tools. They can be considered as shoes; they will not do the trip for you; however, they make it possible.
By Eugenio, on November 17th, 2009
Available templates
Calibrating tools
The PMO could be a source of risk. Especially when the good willingness does not include a greater dose of humility in listening and screening what the people feel about the project.
Tackling the “scope creep”
The pure fact of having set one or more processes for checking that every effort is spent on the declared scope is just a little step toward the real aim: being sure that all tools are aligned on the very same target.
The availability of the knowledge needs to be supported by the certainty that information is accepted and used.
There are some resemblances with planning a city. The utility buildings, factories and residential areas will be created using a concept (algorithm), which needs to be adapted to many factors. People are the first and most important; however, their choices are to be matched with the environmental elements. The number of people makes a huge different in itself.
Calibrating the tools
The search for efficiency tends to introduce a certain grade of rigidity. Less energy spent in the (small) decision process, higher should be the productivity. Who can decide the grade of the needed decision process?
Negotiating it at the beginning of the project can make a huge difference.
By Eugenio, on November 16th, 2009
Template:
This document is used to define the quality techniques and standards to be applied to all projects are products. Quality is a specific property of the scope (see “Iron Triangle”) and dictates the standards to be used for accepting any outcome.
Creating more value with integrated templates
The production of information within the project is a matter that is almost outreaching of the Project Manager capabilities. Any stakeholder is a source of production and a destination of data; therefore, the necessity of validating the data becomes of paramount importance. In fact, the credibility of the Project Manager depends upon the quality (reliability) of the information released with the official imprimatur. This does not avoid the presence of gossips, a certified system for granting the “usability” of the information set the difference between rumors and clear statements.
The reliability of the information has to be built through the creation of a system working on the principle of the “Business Intelligence”. Loads of data will be collected in the most neutral and efficient way. Therefore, these activities will be treated as a project itself. These are the main steps suggested by Craig Curran-Morton in his post :
- Planning
- Collection
- Storage
- Analysis
- Delivery
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Planning
- While the requirements are set in the Quality Management Strategy, the actual planning of the production of the procedures (scripts for manning the data collection and dispatching) will be agreed with the developers’ team. The active participation of them will increase the chances of success of the whole system.
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Collection
- Most if not all the work shall be done in background. Automated procedures allow the capture of the actual values with no interference or workload.
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Storage
- The “register” type of the templates is conceived for storing data for further analysis. This policy has to be agreed with the IT department also for logistic (space and network) reasons.
-
Analysis
- It is a part of the Quality Management Strategy document. One of the most important tenets is the active participation of the developers’ team. This increases the acceptance of the settings and grants the necessary maintenance and enhancements.
-
Delivery
- This has to be synchronized with the actual production plans.
By Eugenio, on November 12th, 2009
Available Templates:
Configuration Item Management Register:
This document describes the logic of the process of storing any project’s product. The process of storing is mainly focused on the availability of the correct item. Therefore, this information is apt to understand both its readiness and the organizational aspects that produced it.
“Playing” communication
There is an excellent post about the utter importance of communication within complex projects. Starting from a technical scenario, Lev points out the biggest mistake for a manager who forgot the importance of leadership.
Keeping information flowing
Management is based on an efficient and efficacious collection of data about the production (e.g. when, who, what etc.); however, the persons are still at the core of the process. They need to meet for creating a common ground where the system will be built. This lattice is made of shared expressions (where the cultural barriers – just a different department – could be used as components instead of obstacles).
Leadership is always about a bi-directional communication. Very often the leader has to step aside, once the conversation has started; his/her presence has the scope of facilitating the exchanging and – why not – bartering of information. Bigger are the bulwark, deeper the trenches, stronger shall be the determination to use the available power. It usually starts with setting the meeting and looking for the respect of the agenda. There are infinite “good reasons” for avoiding “inter-communal” meetings; this is the place where the manager with his/her set of useful information, and the leader armed with his/her panoply of tools meet with the aim of creating collaboration.
Playing by ear
Any project has its own rhythm. It is the sum of personalities that makes the humming on which everyone can find his/her own tune. It is always a question of timing. Being closed in our offices does not allow us to feel any variation of the current humming. The “Managing by wandering around” offers an excellent tool for tuning the system. Calendars and clocks are set for telling us which is the standard time; however, we live on a biological time that can only be measured with a lot of sensitivity. Leadership is about helping to “synchronizing” these times.
There is an excellent post (http://www.projectsatwork.com/article.cfm?ID=252838) about the utter importance of communication within complex projects. Starting from a technical scenario, Lev points out the biggest mistake for a manager who forgot the importance of leadership.
Keeping information flowing
Management is based on an efficient and efficacious collection of data about the production (e.g. when, who, what etc.); however, the persons are still at the core of the process. They need to meet for creating a common ground where the system will be built. This lattice is made of shared expressions (where the cultural barriers – just a different department – could be used as components instead of obstacles).
Leadership is always about a bi-directional communication. Very often the leader has to step aside, once the conversation has started; his/her presence has the scope of facilitating the exchanging and – why not – bartering of information. Bigger are the bulwark, deeper the trenches, stronger shall be the determination to use the available power. It usually starts with setting the meeting and looking for the respect of the agenda. There are infinite “good reasons” for avoiding “inter-communal” meetings; this is the place where the manager with his/her set of useful information, and the leader armed with his/her panoply of tools meet with the aim of creating collaboration.
Playing by ear
Any project has its own rhythm. It is the sum of personalities that makes the humming on which everyone can find his/her own tune. It is always a question of timing. Being closed in our offices does not allow us to feel any variation of the current humming. The “Managing by wandering around” (http://www.pmhut.com/management-by-wandering-around-mbwa) offers an excellent tool for tuning the system. Calendars and clocks are set for telling us which is the standard time; however, we live on a biological time that can only be measured with a lot of sensitivity. Leadership is about helping to “synchronizing” these times.
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