Question: How can I reduce shipping costs when sending products, parts or components to customers?

Answer: Knowing what the customer will need ahead of time, accurate forecasting,  is the key to reducing shipping costs.

Now, mind reading is tough. But when shipping is part of the projects and services you are providing customers, you can control your shipping costs by controling the scheduling of those projects or services.  By knowing the schedule, you can know when items will need to be shipped.

Data Systems of Texas implemented Vertabase Pro and was able to better group projects and resources -scheduling them up to six months ahead of time.  As a result, they were able to cut shipping costs by 50%.   

“We used to ship everything overnight express at full costs. Now, our time management is much more efficient and we know who needs what in advance. Consequently, we save a significant amount of money by using standard shipping services,” says Tom Davis, Support Manager.

Vertabase Pro offers scheduling tools for people of all levels of technical experience. 

Question: What is the most useful methodology for managing projects? Is the PMBOK the best approach on all projects?

Answer:  Success is the basic metric against which to compare the value of any particular project management methodology. If the project is a success then the methodology used to manage that project must have been successful. Since every organization deals with different variables, different people, different circumstances and different goals, every organization needs to find the methodology that works best for it. 

The strict application of any particular methodology will likely do more harm than good. Its like asking the world to fit a text book, rather than using the knowledge in the textbook to accomplish something in the real world.

The Project Management Book of Knowledge (PMBOK) contains a wealth of information on techniques and tools, theory and experience on managing projects. However, projects managed with the PMBOK don’t seem to automatically have a higher success ratio than other projects.  Success in a project depends on the application of knowledge, a clear understanding of current circumstances and visibility into a project as it progresses. In the end, success depends on the skills of the manager more than any methodology, degree or project management training.

Success in a project can be defined in many, many ways. There are empirical measures such as the delivery of stated goals, adherence to a schedule or operating within a budget. Then there less object measures such as team morale, individual job satisfaction and corporate reputation -was the project done the way the company wanted it to get done -did the process reflect the company’s culture.  Each organization values each measure or success criteria differently.

It is important for a project manager to work towards the same goals as the overall organization when aiming for a successful project. Otherwise, conflict will inevitabley arise between upper management, project managers and team members, even when deliverables are being delivered on-time and on-budget. And the project, though completed on-schedule and on-budget, may not be rated a success.  Process can reflect corporate culture as much as a logo or website.

Vertabase Pro is built to be flexible so that each organization and manager can use the methodology that works best for them.

Cigarettes have a way of bonding people together.  In offices, in schools, in public places smokers hang-out together. They form connections bumming cigarettes, getting a light and sharing stories of being an outsider, a smoker, with fellow travelers.

As there are smokers and non-smokers, smoking sections and the rest of the world, it seems that cell phone users are becoming the new smokers and cell phones the new cigarettes.  Not to be too Carrie Bradshaw but recent stories report authorities in offices, schools and public places are restricting the use of cell phones. They are designating the times, places  and how cell phones can be used.

Take this story from The Current (a news show on CBC Radio One) where school boards are taking steps to control cell phone use in public schools.  Will there soon be groups of ’phoners congregating behind bleachers or darkened corners to sneak a call or quick txt msg between class?

Or this story from CNNMoney.com on how annoying cell phones can be, causing distraction, reducing productivity and raising the specter of legal liability for any accidents that may happen while someone’s on the phone at work. Will cell-packing workers be forced to steal away to the nearest stairwell for a fix whenever they feel that phone vibrate or twitch in their pocket?

While the dangers of second-hand cell phone use haven’t boiled to surface, can they be far behind? Already, there is some research linking increased exposure to elevated levels of electromangetic radiation -radio waves, to health problems.

There are clearly instances where distractions can be dangerous (whether from cell phones, kids or otherwise). Encouraging people to pay attention to the road is a good thing. 

But it seems that society is preparing to accelerate the dialogue on cell phones and cell phone users.

Are cell phones the new cigarettes?  This is a question we may all soon be addressing. Will chatter-filled rooms with pinging buttons and top-40 ring tones soon go the way of corner-bars and wood-panelled offices reeking of smoke by 1 pm?

Few things can create more tension in a project than pushing back a deadline. 

It can create instant anger between a project sponsor and the project manager. It can even filter down to the people working on a project. Resources end-up choosing a bad-guy: the project sponsor (”she doesn’t get it”) or the project manager (”doesn’t know what he’s doing”) -while all the while risking being cast as lazy or incompetent because the deadline is being blown.

Often, the source of the anger can be traced to differing expectations on how the project should unfold over time. 

Both the sponsor and the project manager likely realize that nothing ever goes as planned, that hiccups happen.  The frustration comes in different expectations on the effect of hiccups.  That is, there are different answers to the question of ”what does this problem mean to my project?”

One side (often the sponsor) expects that a hiccup means that the project will be delivered on-time, but on a reduced scale (less functionality, less features, smaller scope).

To the other side (a classically trained project manager, say) a hiccup means that the project will be delivered as planned, just later.

This dichotomy in expectations mirrors a central difference between two major schools of project management methodology. The two schools are Agile project management and the classic Waterfall approach to managing projects.

Understanding this difference can help pin-point the source of frustration on projects when a deadline is missed. 

By using the language of Agile versus Waterfall people can more clearly explain where they’re coming from at the start of a project -and hopefully reduce the anger and frustration that can arise in the middle of a project, when the project takes longer than planned.

Agile and Waterfall have different views on the lifecycle of a project. 

• Agile tends to look at a project as fluidly ongoing, evolving through a series of iterations. 
• Waterfall looks at projects as having a defined end-point, the delivery of a pre-specified set of requirements.  

AGILE PROJECT MANAGEMENT MINDSET 

Agile aims to deliver something that can go live, in a relatively short period of time, collect data or feedback, go back to the drawing board, deliver again and relaunch. It keeps iterating until a further iteration is no longer necessary or useful. But throughout the process, at every step of the way, something ”live” is being produced and delivered.

Coming from an Agile mindset, if a hiccup happens, the next iteration gets pushed off. But at least there’s something live that can be worked with.

WATERFALL PROJECT MANAGEMENT MINDSET 

The Waterfall approach starts by spec’ing out everything the final deliverable should be. It begins with the assumption that the research has been done and the data analyzed. The final project deliverable represents the best-guess of what should work to fulfill the goals of the project sponsor. In a Waterfall, the project moves sequentially through its lifecycle, cascading downward from specification, to design, to development/production, to testing and going live. The deliverables don’t exist, even in a rudimentary form, until the production phase is reached.

Coming from a Waterfall mindset, if a hiccup happens, the launchable deliverables get delayed, the whole project gets delayed, until the hiccup is resolved.

REDUCING FRUSTRATION

Both Agile and Waterfall have their place in getting projects done.  

But for the purposes of reducing frustration and anger on a project, they are only useful tools to raise awarness of differences in people’s expectations -differences that are the source of tremendous tension.

This awareness can facilicate healthy communication, and reduce the source of frustration before any problems arise. When a problem does arise, the project sponsor, project manager (and even the team) can be on the same page as to what to expect.

Everyone can have the same answer to the question “What does this problem mean to the project?”

By the way, it doesn’t matter if  people know the difference between Agile, Waterfall or the Bay Bridge -if it complicates things, or requires more explanation that its worth, leave the fancy terminology out. 

The important thing is to talk about the differences in expectations on project lifecycles that can and often do exist.

Congratulations to the Central Michigan University Chippewas! Fire up Chips!

The Chippewas beat the Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders in the 2006 Motor City Bowl to claim the first Division I-A bowl victory in school history.

From the Chippewa side, the game was a pleasure to behold. Quarterback Dan LeFevour was in total sync with his receivers and had a great read of the field.

When Bryan Anderson was open, LeFevour sent him the ball.

When it was Justin Gardner with a shot at a run, the ball was there.

When the deep field was clogged, he’d see a path clear ahead and he’d go for it. He wouldn’t hesitate -he’d go for the run. And swiftly weave his was for yardage and a touchdown. He and the team were tight and the scoreboard showed it.

And the fans were tight. If you read the local Detroit papers, that made all the difference.

Sure, having a Michigan team helped break attendance records at the Motor City Bowl. And yeah, it was great to have a Michigan team to root for. But it was the energy of a charged team, the whole CMU team: from players to fans to friends, that made the game great.

In a stadium and city not always used to that kind of teamwork -it was indeed a beautiful thing to behold.

Speaking of teamwork, a special thank you to the players who gave their energy and time working hard on December 25th to feed those in need at the Salvation Army in Detroit.

Here’s Alan Mulally, the new CEO of Ford Motor Company, highlighting the value of visibility and consistent data in managing an enterprise, the quotes are excerpted from The Wall Street Journal of December 22, 2006.

To set the scene: Mr. Mulally recently took over as CEO of Ford and began implementing weekly Thursday meetings for senior management to get everyone focused on the same goals, track progress, reward success and to keep people accountable.

Visibility Brings Consistency

His first Thursday gathering at Ford went badly, underscoring the challenges he would face. After Mr. Mulally asked each business head to present his results and forecasts, he complained that the numbers didn’t make sense. “Why don’t all the pieces add up for the total corporate financials?” he recalls asking.

“We don’t share everything,” he says one manager replied, explaining that Ford executives ran their units without meshing with other divisions, occasionally holding back some information. Mr. Mulally was floored. The next week, executives came back with complete figures.

By putting all the data in one place, Mr. Mulally was quickly able to see the gaps in the processes they were using to try and improve Ford Motor.  What’s more, everyone else in the room could see it as well.  He pinpointed communication and data sharing as a core problem.
 
Data Can Set You Free

“Data can set you free,” Mr. Mulally tells associates. He prodded executives embarrassed of their results to bring them to the table — and post them on the war-room wall. “You can’t manage a secret,” Mr. Mulally says he tells them.

When one manager offered up the poor performance of his unit, some Ford executives were stunned by Mr. Mulally’s reaction. He applauded, saying: “Great visibility.”

Cultural Challenges

Large scale projects often require a cultural change in an organization.  One of the hardest for people to overcome is sharing data, particularly if they are accountable for what the numbers say. 

Other barriers exists as well, like:

• the effort it can take to gather the data;
• the challenge of making the information a true apples-to-apples comparison and;
• distributing the data to everyone who needs to see it. 

With Mr. Mulally, its a lot easier since he’s everyone’s boss. He can break these barriers and try to institute cultural change from the top of the enterprise.

(As an observation, the impetus for improved visibility or better data collaboration often starts with people who can’t compel managers or executives to show up at a meeting. It’s the people doing the actual work who generally see the need for the adoption of these kind of best practices.)

The Value of Project Management Software

Project management software like Vertabase Pro can help organizations rapidly change their culture and seamlessly move to an environment of greater visibility, information sharing and healthy accountability.  (And you don’t even have to make everyone show up in the same room every week –it can be done via email and the web.)

Collaborative, web project management software centralizes and facilitates the gathering and dissemination of data. Whether that data are raw project performance metrics or customized reports on very specific projects, portfolios or performance data points (like scheduled tasks or resource allocation), it is entered and aggregated in one place.  It can be accessed anytime and the project management software can even send an email reminding people that its time to look at it.

Executives, project planners and managers can keep the enterprise better focused on its goals, track progress of different projects and project portfolios, and maintain a healthy, constructive accountability.

Where Does That Leave Ford?

Nobody can say for sure how this latest turnaround effort at Ford Motor Company is going to end up. But it certainly seems like the new CEO, Alan Mulally, is implementing common sense management practices. These practices can make a world of difference in how to best harness the talent within a company to achieve overall corporate goals.

Project planning and project scheduling can be valuable tools in business intelligence (BI) or business performance management (BPM).

On the solutions side, project management software, particularly easier to use online project management software tools can generate powerful business intelligence and process optimization conclusions.

A previous post discussed the three key variables used to set a realistic due-date.

1) A defined process
2) Defined task durations
3) Resource availability/performance

These three keys, along with the due-date itself, are really all variables that can be used to make sophisticated, well-informed business intelligence or project decisions.

You can use any three of these variables to solve for the value of the fourth, like a mathematical equation -project algebra.

Project Plan as Reality Check
In the first case discussed above, we assumed to know the value of all variables, including the due-date, which is the desired outcome. The project plan or schedule in this case was more like a reality check than the solution to a particular problem.

Project Plan to Find a Due-Date
But in other cases, a project manager or team leader may be trying to figure out when a realistic due date is, so they map out the particular tasks or steps that need to be taken, plug in the amount of resources available, plug in the duration each task should take and presto, get a due-date or expected delivery date for the project.

Using a Project Plan for Resource Allocation Decisions
Or, a project manager may be interested in finding out how many people or resources it will take to finish a project by a specific date. In this case, the project manager or planner maps out the steps it takes to complete the project, holds the due-date as fixed, plugs in how long each step or task needs to take to get the project delivered by the defined due-date and therefore figures out how many people they need on each task so that those tasks can be completed in time to meet the due date. Presto -like magic.

Using Planning for Process Improvement
This can even go a step farther, into the realm of process optimization, corporate or process restructuring or overall business performance management and improvement by holding all other performance variables constant and having the process itself be the variable for which the manager is looking to solve.

This is the classic problem faced by competitive business everyday. How can we do what we need to do better?

Sometimes the question is how can we do it with the people/resources available, sometimes the question is how can be do it will less people or different people or faster. But it’s the same equation. The plan, project management, and project management software, can be crucial tools of business intelligence and for improved business decision making and overall business performance management.

A due-date separates a project from a goal.

A goal is something you’d like to accomplish. Once you put a due-date on it, it becomes a proejct. Once you put a due-date on it, you can begin to plan the steps necessary to accomplish that goal.

3 KEYS TO SETTING A DUE DATE
There are three keys to set a realistic due-date:

1) A well-defined process;
2) Clearly understood task durations and;
3) The availability of resources.

A Well-Defined Process
To set a due-date, the process for doing, delivering or accomplishing X needs to be clearly defined and well understood. This process is the framework or map, on which all the other project planning variables hang.

Task Durations
To set a realistic due-date in a planning project or planning process the duration, or length of time it takes to accomplish a particular task needs to be clearly defined and well understood.

Resource Availability
A third key variable in planning a project is that the resources, people power, skills and time will be available to perform the specific tasks needed on the particular days when they are needed.

HOW TO SET A DUE-DATE
These three key assumptions, a well-defined process, clearly understood durations and resource availability/performance, are the underpinnings of a project planning process.

(Not surprisingly, they are also the three key variables that change during a project and which can put a project at risk.)

Project managers, planners or task schedulers can work backward from a due-date. They can say if the project has to be done by X day, that means that these 5 (for example) particular tasks have to be done in a certain order and by such and such a time. Therefore, step 1 has to be done by this date, step 2 by that date, etc..

Alternatively, project managers, planners or schedulers can calculate a due-date by holding some of these variables constant and letting the due-date fall out from there.

For example, if you know you have a specific number of people and therefore a particular task will take X days to complete, you can use duration as your input, lay it out over defined process (which is your task list) and shazaam, out comes your estimated due date.

BENCHMARKS FOR SETTING DUE DATES
It can take a lot of background information and/or experience to know the right parameters to enter for each of these project performance variables. This is where a good project manager shines through. More generally, a large part of core management, planning and overall strategic or business management is about dealing with changes in these three performance variables.

There is a whole body of literature, project management theory and research which discuss these project performance variables, the three keys. This body of project management knowledge covers knowing how to monitor, control and deal with changes in these project performance factors.

There is also extensive research in certain fields and industries on project performance benchmarks for those industries. Unfortunately, though, this project management research is relatively small compared to the different kinds of businesses out there. And even if this body of project management research were larger, its value might be limited since companies and departments often do projects in different ways.

(One of the most researched and benchmarked areas in project management is IT and software development. For example, there are excellent comparisons of the performance of different project management methodologies, project planning approaches, programming languages, etc. on the overall effectiveness, quality and budget costs of software development projects. The U.S. Department of Defense’s Data and Analysis Center for Software (DACS) is a good source of this kind of information and other hard-core software project performance data.)

THE REALITY OF DUE-DATES
Project management theory and research is valuable and in the hand of a skilled practitioner can make a difference in the performance of projects.

But sometimes, even the most educated project management professional can get flustered by the challenges of delivering a project in the real world, particularly in a profit driven, resource constrained, business environment.

The practical art of project management, and management in general, shines through when there are constraints or limits on project performance variables -because you can’t always throw more people on a task (nor is it always a good idea) or you can’t always predict how long a task will take to get done.

Good project management and management in general, is knowing how to handle the curves in the road with finesse, how to manage changes in these key performance variables and still deliver the project (which is not always pretty).

Due-dates are often driven by larger, business goals and customer demands.

But due-dates can also be a helpful tool in project planning and on-going management. They can help project managers understand risks that may jeopardize the success or on-time delivery of their project.

Major sporting events can get in the way of even the best managed projects, particularly a best of 7 type event like the World Series of Major League Baseball that can go on for a week.

Take this year’s series between the Cinderella story Detroit Tigers and the St. Louis Cardinals. It can definitely take its toll on the productivity (measured in sleep deprivation) and morale of fans involved in the whole event.

For those inclined, coffee or Diet Coke can make-up for the sleep.

The morale component, though, is harder.

There is no magic pill. It is not something easily assuaged by project managers, project management software or a therapeutic cursing-out and finger point on play by error-filled painful play by the water-cooler or coffee machine.

While the kind of visibility and replay that project management software or reports offer can sometimes be valuable to a project (and certainly to know who to hold accountable -like a young pitcher or two, perhaps) when your team is down -and there’s no reason it should be, it doesn’t seem to help.

Sometimes, it just takes time and the commitment to keep putting one foot in front of the other, moving along the path to get the project or deliverable done.

Communication is one of the biggest challenges in project management.

Its bad enough when a project manager has trouble communicating with the team that will be doing the project. But it can be down-right dangerous for a manager when there is a lack of clear communication with the project sponsor the person who navigated corporate politics to get the project approved.

The problem stems from not understanding what each person is looking for or unrealistically expecting the other party to speak your language. This can be aggravated by the project manager’s insistence on using only the project management tools which suite their needs, regardless of whether the project management solutions generate the kind of information the political sponsors of the project are looking for.

Sometimes is takes an artist to bridge the communication gap. But for those without an artistic flair, good online project management software has the flexibility to act almost like translation software and provide both project managers and sponsors with the data they need(like the Yamagato translation software used by Hiro Nakamura on his blog).

A project manager can use online project management software to get the information they need to have visibility and control of a project. And if they want to continue to use a personal favorite project management application like Microsoft Project, for example, most good online project management applications can import and export MS Project files or make it easy to talk to other project management tools.

But a good online project management application can also generate the kind of information political project sponsors require, bridging the communication gap. This can include cross-project, portfolio or executive dashboard views on budgets, resource utilization and overall project health that the sponsor can use to manage the expectations of their bosses making it easier to maintain political and budgetary support for the project.

Hiro Nakamura from NBC’s show Heroes has done the truly remarkable. The man from Yamagato Industries has broken all rules in project management and set new boundaries. Sure he can move time with his mind, bend the space time continuum and teleport. But yesterday he did something even more remarkable.

He executed a project using a comic book as the project plan.

Most project managers plan projects using some form of project management software or a Microsoft Project like tool. Even those that don’t use any project management software will, at least, use a spreadsheet like MS Excel to list all their tasks and keep note of their status. (These can get pretty complicated -as complicated as some project management software, with a variety of Excel Macros and built-in MS Excel functions set to automatically track and calculate the overall health of their projects.)

But Hiro used a comic book.

Some will say that he was able to execute so flawlessly because the comic book was an exact and perfect picture of the future. It told him what was going to happen. True, he does have the advantage of moving through time to take a peak.

But a good project plan, while not a perfect picture of the future, should be an accurate representation of the tasks and steps involved in getting from a to b, in getting a project completed and delivered. That means that project planning should be more than guesswork. Planning a project should be an exercise in applying past experience to a new goal, seeing what’s different, defining which variables could change on the project and planning for those changes.

The exact format in which the plan is written and recorded is less important than the process of planning the project and the act itself of going through project planning. Unfortunately, this how step of project planning is often overlooked.

For some people, the right format is some form of project management software or MS Project like tool. For others, it could be an MS Excel like spreadsheet they use for project management or tracking tasks. Or, it could even be a long list in an MS Word doc. or a physical folder with sticky tabs all over it (not the most elegant or efficient way -but hey, everyone’s got to start somewhere).

For Hiro, the right format and planning tool was a comic book. But that’s probably what makes him so super.

Here is a rough translation of an internal memo to Hiro Nakamura (from NBC’s new television show Heroes). It is from the project management office of Yamagoto Industries.

While the PMO has been enthusiastically trying to recruit Hiro for a project management job, the memo points out two areas where Hiro needs to improve his project management skills.

These are lessons all project managers face.

The memo begins

Hiro, you have done it again. I urge you to consider a position as a project manager. Your unique abilities make you very well qualified for a project management job.

In the spirit of constructive criticism to improve your potential performance while in service to our company, let me point out two issues you need to overcome in your project management skills. These are common problems in project management, experienced by many project managers, both novices and experts. I am sure you can surmount these challenges in no time (for you, literally) with the proper project management training and coaching,

Communication Problems in Projects
Like many project managers, upon reaching a milestone, the joy was yours alone. Moreover, your joy quickly turned to frustration when your accomplishment simply landed you in hot-water with the people around you.

You soon found yourself in a situation where you were in trouble and unable to communicate with those around you. It was like you were speaking a different language.

You couldn’t answer anyone’s questions. You weren’t able to help anyone around you, including yourself. And nobody seemed to care about the successful completion of your milestone. In fact, it was your success that got you into trouble.

I am, of course, referring to your teleporting to New York City and soon winding up in a police station suddenly finding yourself held responsible for something you didn’t do and that was only tangentially related to your initial project.

Welcome to the world of project management.

Improving your communication skills should be a top project priority for you upon accepting a position with our project management office.

Wishing Won’t Make It Go Away (Usually)
Like many project managers, you saw a massive disaster approaching, well after it was too late to do anything about. And, like many project managers, you shut your eyes tightly to make it go away.

Unlike most project managers, though, in your case, it worked. Well, I’m actually not sure if it worked, but you certainly seemed to be successful in extricating yourself from the situation before you caught any flack.

This is a most prized skill among the elite of the project management world, and of the corporate world in general.

You have garnered the envy of many in upper management. I urge you to apply your natural abilities to job it seems you were born to do.

Come speak to me soon in the project management office: 34th floor, room 17, Yamagoto Industries.

So ends the internal memo.

If you didn’t see the show, in the second point, the author was referring to the blast of a nuclear bomb exploding outside the window of the police station where Hiro was being questioned. He looked at it. Shut his eyes. And poof (or bamf) was back on a subway in Tokyo, well out of harms way. A great skill indeed.

For those without Hiro’s amazing abilities, tools like project management software can give you the control, reports and visibility you need to see disasters in the making, before they have chance to demolish your project. You may even have a chance to solve the problem before you need to delicately extricate yourself or backpedal to safe your career.

For comic book fans, X-men fans and all around superhero fans in the project management community a hero has been born: Hiro Nakamura, the 24 year old sales salary-man for Yamagoto Industries in Tokyo, Japan.

Hiro is one of the main characters on NBC’s new show, Heroes. He would be a fantastic project manager.

His communication, risk management or people skills haven’t yet been revealed. But in terms of raw assets, this guy would be value-add to any process or project -from six sigma, to ISO to best practices, Agile, whatever. His super powers transcend project management methodology. They are project management black-belt in the rough.

Hiro can move time with his mind. He is the ultimate master of project deadlines and timesheet costs. If a deliverable is coming in late or overbudget on labor costs -bam, now its not.

What’s more, since time and space are a single continuum, he figured out that if he holds the time variable constant, he can actually move himself instantly through space. He can teleport. Now, he’s only teleported himself, so far (from a subway in Tokyo to the middle of Time’s Square NYC -pretty impressive). It can’t be far off that he can teleport other objects. Or, other people.

More than cutting-down shipping costs, I bet there are some project managers who would really value this particular skill for other purposes. Someone getting on your nerves, management doesn’t get it -bam, their gone. And only you know where they went.

Precise and condensed communication is the secret to great project planning.

A project plan starts out inside someone’s head. It is an idea of how to get things done. It then moves from there to a mock schedule, a more fully fleshed out task list of steps that need to be taken. This task list is written out on the planner’s desk or their computer. In larger organizations it may take place within a project management office or project planning department.

The plan may include a whole range of variables like resources attached to tasks, risk margins, acceptable schedule variances.

But these are details.

The important aspect to understand about this part of the planning process is that it is confined within the person who conceived the plan, or the specialized project planning office. There is no communication. Its all in one person’s head or within a department of people who speak the same language.

The next step in planning is the most crucial. This is where planning makes a case for itself as either an integral, value-add to the company or just another wasted expenditure on the latest corporate fad.

From here, the plan has to leave the specialist’s world and be communicated to someone else. It has to be told to a team of people who are going to do the work on the project. Or it may have to be explained to management for their input. Either way, the project planner (either an individual or a planning or project management office) has to make somebody else understand the plan.

This is where it gets tricky.

The original planner understands the intricacies of the project and wants to convey every nuance they’ve put into the plan. Unfortunately, this is often way too much information and rarely helps the receiver of the communication understand the plan.

Or, the project planner may present the plan straight off their desk or computer, in whatever format or program they used to plan the project, and expect the other person or the team to get it off the bat, to speak the same language they do. They expect the other people to understand the same set of symbols, triangles, arrows and circles which the trained project planning expert may use.

This doesn’t work either.

The team the planner is talking to has their own language, their own skills and its foolish to demand they speak the project planner’s language. Its not their job. It’s the project planner’s job.

Its up to the project planner to condense their ideas. Gear your communications so that people can first understand the fundamentals of the plan. People can build off that foundation later once the big blocks are understood.

It is up to the project planner (or project planning or management office) to be well versed in the language of the people they’ll be talking to so that the plan has context and can start to make sense to them. After all, unless the planner is also the company management and the project resource and the customer paying for the results, it doesn’t really matter how well they understand the plan. It only matters that they help other people do their jobs so that everyone can move the company forward.

It takes precise and condensed communication.

Focus on the big blocks of the plan. Don’t get carried away with the details or the higher level tools of the project planning trade. Know your audience and speak to their needs.

Once a plan is communicated properly, and the people get it, you’d be amazed at the kind of creative brainstorming that can result. When people with other skills, the people who are going to do the work on the project understand the plan, mistakes and errors can be planned out. Obvious roadblocks can be avoided and the effectiveness of the deliverables increased markedly.

In the executive suite, if the plan is understood, the project can be better directed toward corporate goals. Also, otherwise hidden implications of meeting those goals can be uncovered and re-evaluated in new light.

And it will all be attributable to great project planning well communicated plans.

Benjamin Franklin took on a lot of projects in his life.  Here are five key concepts for effective project management culled from his Autobiography.

1) Deliver: Ideas are great but delivery is what projects are all about.

2) Do People Favors: Favors have a psychological affect on people and can build powerful bonds that go beyond the politics of a project.

3) Ask for Favors: People overestimate the value of things they do for other people and therefore feel superior and kinder towards people they’ve helped.

4) Solve Easy Problems: Great results can happen in changing things that look small and easy.

5) Manage Bureaucracy: Understand and, if possible, change the rules of your environment.  They determine the realm of potential outcomes and even likely outcomes of your tasks and projects – even before you start planning.

Here are those project management concepts spelled out more.

1)  Deliver.  Ideas are great but delivery is what projects are all about. If you don’t execute, complete and deliver, the ideas and effort are misdirected.

There is some academic controversy around the accuracy of the Benjamin Franklin’s portrayal of himself in his autobiography and how “nice” he may have been in his means of accomplishing projects. But no-one can deny the impact he had. He delivered. Again and again.

2)  Do people favors.  It doesn’t have to be out of the goodness of your heart. Favors have a psychological affect on people and can build powerful bonds that go beyond the politics of a project or organization.

Doing other people favors has clear advantages.  Those advantages are magnified if you don’t hold the favor over the other person or overestimate what you did for them.  Remember, results are on the outside. What matters is how the other person perceives the favor.

3)  Ask for favors.  Once someone does you a favor, they will most likely over-estimate its value to you. This creates a dynamic where they see themselves as friendly to you. Depending on the nature of the favor and your reaction to their “kindness” they might even see themselves as your “protector.”

Ben Franklin recounts an incident where he wanted to develop a relationship with a politician on the other side of an issue. He learned that that person had a book in his library which Ben wanted to read.  Being a voracious reader and super-considerate book borrower since he was young, this was a perfect opportunity for Ben.  He sent a message to the gentleman asking if he could borrow the book. It had nothing to do with the issue they were debating. It was “outside of work” as it were, and personal.

The gentleman was touched that Ben Franklin overlooked any issue and asked him for a book.  He lent it to him. Ben read it and  returned it promptly with a note expressing his thoughts and gratitude for the favor.  This gave the guy warm fuzzies and kind feelings towards Ben Franklin. It was a beneficial relationship that lasted well beyond the issue of the moment or politics as a whole.

4)  Solve Easy Problems.  Hone in on the simple part of a problem and concentrate on changing it.  Great results can happen in changing small things. Avoid being distracted by larger “strategic” issues. All things being equal, the more problems you solve overall, whether in a project or the organization, the more your reputation and opportunities will grow.

These issues are often administrative, process type problems, or problems with the flow of information.  They are easily overlooked and decidedly not hip.  But an improvement in any of these areas impacts the whole team and can make a significant difference. These improvements can be either within the confines of delivery in a project. They impact items like workflow, budget, task management, execution or interpersonal relations.  Or these type of process improvements can be projects themselves for companies.

5)  Master Bureaucracy.  Ben Franklin was an innovative and effective administrator. He knew his way around process and bureaucracy. He used it to great advantage.  He saw how administrative rules actually molded the realm of potential outcomes of any project or issue.  He saw that changing the rules one way or the other would even make one potential outcome more likely then the other.

Understand the environment you are operating in. Understand how the rules and constraints on action are made.  Once you do, work towards changes that make positive, constructive outcomes more likely, things like on-time deliverables, being within budget and having inspired team members.

Good communication is a key factor in successful project management, particularly when it comes to scheduling.

This applies to project managers, team members and business managers.

Sometimes people can be vague or non-committal when asked about their time or scheduling expectations. There are responses phrased to show flexibility or eagerness like “let me know what works for you.” There are polite, deferential answers like “don’t move things just for me.”

However they are phrased, these answers aren’t helpful. They usually result in someone’s time being squeezed and the schedule being in jeopardy. They also breed frustration and resentment.

For sure, people should take care in what they say, to make sure they aren’t hurtful or negative. But there’s an important difference between giving someone “space” in your communications and not giving accurate information at all.

• A project manager needs to know a person’s availability and time constraints.
• Team members need to know the time table to which the project manager would like them to adhere.
• Business managers need an accurate assessment of a project’s feasibility and status. Business leaders also be specific in their expectations of timing and resource use for a project.

People and projects are best off in an environment of honesty and transparency where reality is prized above delicate phrasing.

Wal-Mart.

Whether you love them or hate them, there’s no denying their scale. The company is just huge. When they make a small change, it can have large-scale implications.

When Wal-Mart Changes A Light Bulb

Hal Macomber has a post up that cites an upcoming Fast Company article that covers Wal-Mart’s anticipated change to using coiled fluorescent bulbs instead of standard incandescent bulbs.

Its estimated that if Wal-Mart can successfully do so, that would be the equivalent of pulling 1.3 million cars off the road in terms of reducing carbon emissions.

Besides the environmental impact, the savings in energy costs to Wal-Mart (and therefore reduced energy demand in the economy) are really big.

Each fluorescent bulb uses less than 1/3 of the energy of a similar 60 watt incandescent bulb. When spread out over the entire network of Wal-Mart’s 3,000 plus stores, we’re talking millions and millions of dollars in cost savings and a huge reduction in wattage demand.

This is a great example of how a small change can have large benefits.

Often, companies try to improve operations or project performance through large, revolutionary sweeps. These are accompanied by the sounds of “new paradigms,” “rethinking everything” or “massive organizational change.” People can spend a long time rethinking their processes, defining requirements and risks for an anticipated change, all the while growing the scope of the project.

Soon, the scope is so big and complicated that it becomes impossible to fund, politically risky to support and near impossible to implement. At the end of the day, nothing gets done and management gets burned-out on the idea of process improvement or improved project management.

Companies can sometimes get more accomplished by taking tiny steps, changing little things that make a big difference.

In every company there are well-defined, discrete areas which can be changed. Champions of these well-defined projects can see them executed and delivered, from start to finish. They can measure the results and build a solid foundation for further improvement.

While the change may not impact energy demand on the planet, it can make a big difference in the performance of your company or process.

There are two ways to manage a project: with brute force and with finesse.

Brute force managers are like rock climbers who uses their arms to pull themselves up a wall. It can get you there if you have the strength, but it sure is tiring and ugly.

Project managers who use finesse are like climbers who realize that their can legs do most of the vertical lifting. They just need to use their head to find the right placement. Climbing with their legs (which are stronger than arms), using their hands mostly for balance, they can climb a lot higher, for a lot longer and its much prettier to see.

Of course, there are just some walls, like there are projects, which need brute force moves to get to the top. The finesse climber knows how to execute those moves and will have more strength saved for them, particularly near the top.

Some people get to finesse over time and experience. At its core, though, it’s a philosophy that a person adopts. Its an outlook that a climber has when they approach a wall. They come to the rock calm, ready to meet it, to get the job done.

A brute force climber looks at a rock as a challenge to conquer, as something to beat and power through. The wall is against them. For training they lift weights and solve hard test problems so they can stomp on anything.

The same holds true for project managers.

Brute force managers spend time getting certified, reading books, solving theoretical problems. With papers in-hand, they power-through projects often with a disdainful attitude towards anyone not in the specialized project manager club.

Finesse project managers learn the same techniques. But they train by spending their time listening, analyzing projects and talking to people. They get to know their team. They also learn about themselves and how their insecurities and ego can get in the way of projects. They come to a project to meet the project goals, gracefully. They advance the organization and their project team.

BusinessWeek Online has an interesting article about failure. It cites a couple of high profile successes (like Bill Gates and Abraham Lincoln) that had failed businesses early in their careers. It then goes on to talk about making business failures more productive through analysis and review.

The same holds true in projects. A huge number of projects “fail” in that they don’t meet original expectations, timelines or budgets. Sometimes they even fail by not producing the expected deliverable. Good project management can help minimize these kind of failures. But even the best team or is not going to bat 1000.

A good, objective review can make turn failures into springboards to better performance. Take the time to get distance on a project and to bring in other eyes to look at what went wrong. Some project management software (like Vertabase Pro) have the ability to warehouse projects with all their data so they can be reviewed and learned from -like watching the video replay of a baseball game.

Failed projects also take a psychological toll on team members or project managers. They sometimes think that it was their fault that things didn’t go according to plan, that there was more they could’ve done. While there is always room for improvement, a negative, guilt-ridden mindset will sap energy out of teams and managers, lowering future performance (and morale).

Psychologically, a more positive way of dealing with failed projects is to define success in terms of individual performance, and not in terms of project deliverables or the project plan. Was I (or person x) moving the project forward or dragging it down? Even the most experienced people can have their deliverables blow-up through no fault of their own.

The most valuable people to have on a team are people who can roll with the punches and keep coming back to the plate. People or project managers who are easily dejected or who only perform when things are going their way are dangerous to the long-term stability of a department or team.

Use failure as an opportunity to coach team members on mental strength and endurance. Use failures to foster a productive atmosphere, to show people the bigger picture of what they do. And if there are people who can’t be coached, use failure as a chance to cut them from team. Sometimes people can learn more from a real sense of failure, then from success. It worked well for the people mentioned in the Business Week article -Bill Gates seemed to turn out ok.