Partial Listing of Upcoming Project Management Events

For a complete listing of events, or to add your own event for free, please visit the Online Calendar at allPM.com

Project Estimating and Scheduling in Cincinnati, OH
August 11, 2003
http://www.iil.com/str_link_all_results.asp?select_cartid=361

Quality Improvement & Project Management free Webinar
August 15, 2003
http://www.iil.com/free_resources/free_webinars.asp

MSP(Orange Belt) Montreal, CAN
August 18, 2003
http://www.iil.com/iil_coursedesc_cart.asp?selectCatid=447

Project RISK Management San Antonio, TX
August 25, 2003
http://www.iil.com/str_link_all_results.asp?select_cartid=384

Project Management Poetry!

"Project Management Haiku"

10:30 pm
At my desk. Big Mac and fries.
project management

Written by: Everett Rodriguez, Sr. Manager, Project Management Competency Center -- FedEx Ground

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July Poll Results

July's poll question was: What is the most useful aspect of Microsoft Project?

A. Resource Workload management 26.09 % (6)
B. Critical Path management 52.17 % (12)
C. Deadline Date management 13.04 % (3)
D. Calendar management 8.70 % (2)

Total votes: 23

************

August's poll question is: What is the greatest barrier to keeping your projects on time?

A. Management
B. Budget
C. Project team members
D. Technology, or lack there of

If you have not already done so, please stop by allPM.com and add
your opinion today.

Column: Positive Leadership in Project Management - Seventh in a Series
Achieving Extraordinary Results: The Leadership Formula

Written by Frank Saladis, PMP

With the economy still sluggish and many companies keeping their belts tight, the position of the project manager remains as challenging (in many ways even more challenging) as it was six months to a year ago. An advertisement I saw for Microsoft Windows Server 2003 in the August issue of Fast Company Magazine sums it up pretty well: “Larger projects, higher goals, greater responsibility, fewer resources, tighter time lines, and shrinking budgets.” There isn’t much more we can add to that list. I think most project managers can say “been there, done that” or more, “still there, still doing that”.

But technology is not the only solution to these challenges. There are still lots of people involved, most of whom are working very hard to keep from becoming another downsizing statistic. The project manager, therefore, has several major issues to deal with. At the top of the list is management’s expectations, which are generally associated with the bottom line and strategic direction, the client’s expectations which are most likely about performance, delivery of the product, quality, cost and value, and the project team members who are concerned about their future and want to make sure they are connected to someone who can provide them with stability, a sense of confidence and security. This represents quite a list of challenges for any project manager, regardless of his or her experience.

Frank P. Saladis (PMP) is Senior Consultant with International Institute for Learning, Inc. He has been involved in the development of standardized Project Management Guidelines (PMGs) for the AT&T Corporate Information Technology Services (Corporate ITS) organization and is the author of the Project Evaluation Review Process (PERP). He is the former President of the NYC PMI® Chapter.

allPM Today Tips Feature
Top Ten Time-Savers in MS Project 2000, by Eric Uyttewaal, PMP

Tip #9:
You don’t have to enter or re-enter the resources into your project schedule. You can download all human resources from your email address book (MS Outlook, MS Exchange) or from the LAN-user list (Windows user accounts). Display the Resource Management toolbar, change to the Resource Sheet view, and click the Address Book or the Windows User Account from Address Book button.

JUNE 2001 TO MPUG

Eric Uyttewaal (BS, Engineering; MS, Business Administration; PMP) is Director, Microsoft Project Certificaton, International Institute for Learning, Inc and author of "Dynamic Scheduling with Microsoft Project ® 2000." This tip appeared in the 3/2001 MPUG eZine. 

Column: Time- Is it on your side?

Written by: Frank Saladis, PMP

Thinking about the Rolling Stones song, “Time Is On My Side,” I wonder how many project managers can say, “yes it is!” Time is something most of us would like to have total control of. We would like to speed it up or slow it down, or maybe even stop it occasionally. We should be able to add more of it when we want it and even store some for future use. The problem is, we don’t have that kind of control. Time really doesn’t stop for anyone. It continues at the same pace every day, all day. We need to learn how to control what we do so that time actually works for us and is truly on our side.

The environment for projects can be very turbulent, and we spend lots of time attending meetings, visiting project sites, planning, re-planning, discussing issues with sponsors and customers, completing administrative items and paperwork, and somewhere in all of that, actually manage the project. As Dr. Kerzner says in his book, “Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling and Controlling”, time is a resource that when lost or misplaced, is gone forever. Project managers view time, in most situations, as a constraint. We are limited in the time available to produce the required deliverables for our sponsors and clients and therefore we must become extremely disciplined in how we use time.

Frank P. Saladis (PMP) is Senior Consultant with International Institute for Learning, Inc. He has been involved in the development of standardized Project Management Guidelines (PMGs) for the AT&T Corporate Information Technology Services (Corporate ITS) organization and is the author of the Project Evaluation Review Process (PERP). He is the former President of the NYC PMI Chapter.

Column: Get ahead, get a Methodology, everyone needs an ‘ology’ Second in a series on PRINCE2

Written by: David Whelbourn

Since the building of the pyramids, Project Managers have been developing methods to try and ensure that the next project is more successful than the last.
Lessons learned are put into our personal knowledgebase and the new experiences teach us to do things differently next time around.

Project Management Methodologies seem to be everywhere offering their promises of successful projects. PMI’s PMBOK® Guide advises that a project planning methodology is used to facilitate integrated project management, and therefore improve the chances of success.
So where can you look?

In the previous article I reviewed the history of the two key public domain knowledge sources of project management knowledge. In North America there is the PMI’s PMBOK Guide and in the UK there is OGC’s PRINCE2.
PRINCE2 is a world-class tried and tested project management methodology complete with well-defined processes and strong project control features. Many of the features of PRINCE2 are best practices that have been defined by over 120 organizations that helped in the enhancement and development of PRINCE2.
This article moves through the PRINCE2 methodology and provides an overview of the major processes, components and techniques.

David Whelbourn is the Co-Lead of the Quality Team on PMI's OPM3 (Organizational Project Management Maturity Model) and a volunteer on their Program and Portfolio Management Standards project. He is also a Programme Manager with over thirteen years experience in project management after serving twelve years in the British Army. He has over five years experience in managing projects with PRINCE2 within Information Technology Projects combined with Rapid Application Development. He is a certified PRINCE2 practitioner and has implemented PRINCE2 in three companies, tailoring it to fit their culture and structure.

Column: The Zen of PM: Balancing Work, Play and the Rest of Your Life

Written by: George Pitagorsky, PMP

Is your life in balance? Is there enough time for work, play, family, social, and personal activities? If your answers are yes, you are very fortunate, and probably in the minority. Many people find keeping a satisfying balance a major challenge.

We can think of balance in two ways. One is static, like a balance scale. In static balance there are strict boundaries and elements are put in opposition to one another. Once the balance is set, it is stable unless some external factor, like adding a new element or knocking over the scale, upsets it.

The other way to think of balance is as a dynamic process. This is the balance of the tight rope walker and skier. Here there are still individual elements but the boundaries are blurred and there is constant change in the relationship between them and external factors. Dynamic balance is holistic.

George Pitagorsky (PMP) specializes in project management, information technology, productivity and quality improvement, systems requirements and organizational change management. He is listed in Who’s Who as an expert in Quality Operations & Quality Improvement, and is the author of IIL’s IT Project Management System, and developer of IIL’s latest training product PM BASICS™.

Column: Focusing Measurement on the Information Needs of Managers
Identifying the Requirements of Your Measurement Process

Written by: Peter C. Baxter

Abstract

Establishing a measurement process has evolved from the days of “If it moves, count it”, through goal-question-metric to today’s information-needs based approach for identifying and defining what to measure. Measurement process guidance from ISO and Practical Software and Systems Measurement provides a robust and flexible framework for measurement, but sadly only identify the purpose of measurement as the “information needs” of managers. What are these information needs? This article describes simple techniques for identifying information needs within your organization; information needs that become the requirements of your measurement process and lead to a useful and effective measurement process.

In many organizations, a measurement process is a required element in managing technology programs. To meet these needs, several groups initiated projects to develop and standardize a set of "best practices" for setting up such a measurement process. Over the past two years, measurement process definition has converged from three principle sources of measurement guidance: the emerging ISO Standard: ISO/IEC 15939 Software Measurement Process; the Practical Software and Systems Measurement (PSM) Guidebook v4 [PSM 2000]; and the SEI’s Capability Maturity Model Integration project (CMMI) [SEI 2000]. Measurement guidance and principles are consistent among these three documents, with the basic measurement process model shown in Figure 1.

Pete Baxter is the development manager at Distributive Software, where he directs measurement services, products and training. For the past eight years, he has assisted numerous government and commercial organizations in planning and implementing measurement programs. He is a frequent speaker and trainer on the subject of applying measurement to software, IT and systems engineering. His professional affiliations include SEI, ISO, IEEE, INCOSE, Practical Software and Systems Measurement (PSM) and others. He is the current chair of the INCOSE Measurement Working Group. He is also a member of ISO Subcommittee on Systems and Software Engineering (SC/7). The author welcomes comments and discussion on this article.

Column: What if your project is late because some managers fail to cooperate?

Written by: Jeff Crow

It is not uncommon for a project to get into trouble through no fault of the project leader. Because of the way many projects are staffed – with employees “borrowed” from other departments and managers – the conflicts between the needs of the project and the needs of the team member’s home department frequently occur. And, when this happens, the functional department usually wins. Another common problem is the withholding of information needed by the project. This one can happen when someone is hoarding information as a source of power. There are several other problems that can occur that cause managers to fail to cooperate.

Without encouraging "career-limiting behavior," I can only make suggestions about what you as a project manager can do the next time to cover yourself as well as to minimize damage to the project outcome. (None of these suggestions addresses the behavior of the managers since this appears to be outside the scope of your authority and control as the project manager. Without the organizational authority to affect their behavior, there is little point in trying to impact them. You probably won't succeed and it may have serious repercussions for you personally).

Jeff Crow is a Portland, Oregon consultant and trainer. He conducts seminars and workshops on project management and organizational development for corporations and through the Professional Development Center at Portland State University. He is author of the book, Applying Project Management in the Workplace.

Column: The 10 Most Common Myths About Projects

Written by: David A. Schmaltz

How they create wickedness and prevent juiciness on your projects

Are your projects high on frustration and low on fulfillment? More wicked than juicy? How you think projects “should” work may be the source of your misery. Consider the most common myths—the misguided, age-old beliefs about how projects work—then start to debunk them on your projects.

Myth
No. 1: Projects now are like projects then.

Truth: Projects have changed. We haven't. We fail to distinguish between then and now. Projects “then” separated well-defined activities into small, independent pieces, with management knowing how they would d fit together. Projects “now” integrate vast possibilities and discoveries, with no one knowing ahead of time exactly how they’ll fit together. They require the blind to lead the blind, creating fundamentally different demands and opportunities from the projects of bygone eras.

David Schmaltz is a writer, teacher, and consultant with a quarter-century’s experience in the field. Founder of True North project guidance strategies, Inc., he shows individuals and organizations engaged in project work how to escape tradition's cages to create more fulfilling project experiences. His book The Blind Men and the Elephant: Mastering Project Work focuses on the practical considerations that make projects successful and personally meaningful. His Mastering Projects Workshop graduates are among the most innovative people working on projects today. He hunts elephants from a Victorian home on a tree-lined street in Walla Walla, Washington. Contact him at David@projectcommunity.com (www.projectcommunity.com)