November Poll Results

If your company currently has or is implementing a PMO, is the business leadership challenging the business value?

A. Seriously challenging 20.00 % (4)
B. Beginning to challenge 15.00 % (3)
C.Clearly sees the value 45.00 % (9)
D Doesn't get it 20.00 % (4)

Total votes: 20

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December's poll question is: How much time do you typically spend (effort, not duration) compiling your project plan?
a. No more than 4 hours
b. 8 hours
c. 8-16 hours
d. 17-40 hours
e. More than 40 hours

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

Project Management Poetry™, by Crispin ("Kik") Piney, PMP

Project Management for the Young

It is my belief that it is never too soon to start teaching the young the importance and the secrets of project management. For this reason, I have adapted a few nursery rhymes and other forms of poetry to start them along this path.

Little Bo-Peep

Little Bo-Peep
Has lost lots of sleep
Because her resources are slacking.
If she leaves them alone,
They all go off home
Because of her RAM¹ that is lacking.

Little Boy Blue

Little Boy Blue,
Come blow up your horn,
Your project's not ready,
But due in the morn.

Your team's gone off bowling,
Your sponsor has fled,
Your supplier is broke –
You'd best stay in bed!

...... he also had some trouble with his equipment:

Little Boy Blue
Come blow up your Dell
Your programs aren't working
And your screen looks like Hell.

Your spreadsheet's all wrinkled
And you can't compute;
Your Word's gone to "hung" state.
You'd better reboot!

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After many years managing international IT projects within large corporations, Crispin ("Kik") Piney, B. Sc., PMP is now a freelance project management consultant and trainer. At present, his main areas of focus are risk management, change management, and time and cost control, for which he has developed advanced training courses which he delivers to international audiences of participants from various industries. He has also carried out work for PMI on a volunteer basis as Design Cell Leader for the creation an Organizational Project Management Maturity Model as well as participating actively in the teams developing the Third edition of the Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge for the English and French language versions. He is acting as coordination architect for the forthcoming PMI Program and Portfolio Management Standards.

allPM Today Tips Feature: MS Excel tips, by Bob Umlas , Microsoft Excel® MVP

If you wanted to put totals in column E as well as row 8 (see below)

you'd probably start by entering the formula in E1:

=SUM(A1:D1), then fill down to E7, then enter the formula in A1:
=SUM(A1:A7) and fill right to cell E8.

Did you know you can do this all in one click!?

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Bob Umlas has been an MVP since 1995. He has been a beta tester for new versions of Microsoft Excel since version 1.5 (on the Macintosh)! He has led several sessions at Microsoft's Tech-Ed: Maximizing Excel development using Array Formulas, and Excel Tips and Tricks (at 2 separate Tech-Eds). He has also led a session on Tips and Tricks at the Advisor's Developers Conference in San Francisco in 1998, and at the Convergence Conference in Orlando in February 2004.

Formerly an independent consultant in NYC using Excel exclusively, Bob now works in New Jersey for one of the top 5 tax and accounting firms.

Theme of the Month, PMOs: Fire Prevention in Project Management, by Anne Foley, PMP, MBB

If you were to survey a group of firefighters on their most important job function, do you know what they'd say? You might be thinking they'd tell you saving lives or putting out fires is most important. Maybe even rescuing cats from trees might cross your mind. While those are all good guesses, they are wrong. Firefighters will tell you that educating the public on fire prevention is by far the most important thing they do. If they spend the time preventing fires, the risks associated with every fire are eliminated.

This same concept holds true for project management. Project Managers need to help all stakeholders understand the importance of careful planning and the development of thorough project plans. Taking the time to do this has the same benefits as fire prevention. With a little time and the use of proven project management tools and techniques, you can eliminate the risks that cause projects to deliver late, over budget, outside of scope or any combination of the above.

Yes, I know this is easier said than done. In a world that operates as if everything should have been done yesterday, who has the time to plan? "Just do it" is one of the most popular slogans branded by Nike but frequently quoted in business. It's a dangerous mindset for us project managers. Without proper planning, you're asking for trouble. Complete and thorough project plans will prevent fires. Guaranteed.

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Anne Foley is a Master Black Belt and PMP. She is the director of Six Sigma with the International Institute for Learning, Inc. Anne.Foley@iil.com

"Firing Up Your New Year's Resolutions" by Bob Kriegel, Ph.d.

The end of the year for many people involves setting New Year's resolutions. But if you've given up making new year's resolutions because you've learned that they only lead to mid January guilt or disappointment when you end up at the fridge eating that chocolate cake you had sworn off as part of your new diet, or when  that exercise program lost out to the warm blanket on that cold winter morning, read on.

Lots has been  written about achieving goals, but  in my work  I have found that whether your objective is to lose 20 lbs or  exceed the company's expectations by finishing your project early and under budget, one of the major factors determining whether you reach that goal is your  level of commitment. In other words, it is how motivated you really are.

Commitment is viewed by many as something that you have to or should do but aren't really excited about.  When I was young my mother used to tell me that I needed to commit to my piano lessons if I wanted to be any good. Sure I knew that, but I really wanted to go out and play ball. Guess what won.

What won in the case of my piano lessons was following what I was really excited about, which was hitting a baseball, not piano keys. To achieve your goal, it has to be something you really want to do and are excited about, not something someone else thinks you should do. If it is a company-set goal, you have to make it your own.

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New York Times best-selling author Dr. Bob Kriegel's books are: If it ain't broke... BREAK IT!, Sacred Cows Make the Best Burgers ( Business Week best seller list) and his latest, How to Succeed in Business Without Working so Damn Hard. Kriegel is one of the most highly sought after business speakers. His website is www.kriegel.com

Column: Positive Leadership In Project Management - "Encouraging Innovation", by Frank P. Saladis PMP

QWERTYUIOP. Do you recognize this configuration of letters? You see them every day when you look at your computer keyboard. This is the top row of letters on a standard computer keyboard. You have also seen them on word processors and, yes typewriters although, for many of you, typewriters and vinyl records share a similar place in history -- near extinction. Whether you have used a typewriter or are now using an internet optimized key board, we generally take this configuration for granted and don't give much thought as to why the letters are arranged this way. It's a standard set up and regardless of make or model of computer, the keyboards are basically the same. There is, surprisingly enough, a connection between these letters and innovation and creativity.

In the 1870's the leading manufacturer of typewriters, Sholes & Co., was faced with a challenge. Operators using their typewriters complained that the keys would stick together if they typed too fast. This was a big problem for the user and an even bigger problem for the engineers who designed the machine. Top management needed a solution and the engineers had difficulty finding one that worked. There was much discussion until the question, "What if we slowed the operators down?" was asked. The letters were rearranged to place the most frequently used letters in positions that would use the weakest fingers to depress them. This logic was used to create the new keyboard and solved the problem of sticking keys.

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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 and upcoming President of the NYC PMI Chapter.

Project Management and Parenting™, by Nadia Circelli

When you spend all the day implementing a project management methodology trying to make your projects successful, and you arrive at home and you see your children struggling with their homework, it seems natural to try to apply this PM methodology also at home with your children.

After all, to do homework, such as research or an essay, you need to:

1) understand what the requirements are
2) define how you are going to proceed
3) find out what you need in order to do it
4) understand how long a period of time you will need
5) do it
6) check from time to time to see if you are still doing it all right, how much you still have to do, how long it will take and compare it to the time they have left.

Doesn't this resemble a lot the basis of PM?

BUT, when I try to convince my children to adopt this process, their reaction varies from a prompt refusal to a polite agreement that next time they might try it!

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Nadia Circelli is a programme manager at ST Microelectronics, a leading European semiconductor supplier. She previously worked on technology development in the quality department.

Her work focuses on PM methodologies, helping project managers implement the correct PM methodology to improve their projects, ensuring that everybody takes advantage of best practices and contributing to PM methodology development in her division and in the company. She is a certified trainer in project management and Remote Team Effectiveness within her company.

Nadia comes from Italy and for the past 13 years has lived in France in a beautiful location bordering Geneva. She has two children, 9 and 13 years old, who are the "stars" of this article.

Publisher's Note: We would welcome any successes (or lessons learned!) that our readers have had using project management principles, techniques or (yes) tools to help them effectively manage the parenting process. If you respond, this could become a new regular column/feature. Thanks for starting us off, Nadia!

Why Do Executives Stay Awake at Night Worrying About Project Management? by Harold Kerzner, Ph.D.

In this 10-part series, Dr. Kerzner elaborates on the 10 PM migraine headaches that executives get from staying up all night worrying about project management. To read the original article with all 10 migraines, please click here: http://www.allpm.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1259

Each month Dr. Kerzner asks YOU for your remedies for the "migraine of the month." Once you read about it, please send your remedy to migrainecure@allpm.com .  Of all the remedies that are submitted, he and your Co-Publishers, Frank and Judy , will review them and we will post them on a new PM Migraine Forum on our website. You can then read them and vote for the remedy you like best. We will then publish the solution that receives the most votes in a subsequent issue of allPM Today!

The winner will receive a prize, which will be an autographed copy of one of Dr. Kerzner's best-selling books listed at this link: www.iil.com/iil_products.asp?categid=21

Winners of Migraine #1: The Enterprise Project Management Methodology (EPM)

Liz Thompson, Kishore Kelekar & Jeff Harris

Please click here to read the winning entries: http://www.allpm.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1283

Migraine #2: Customer Satisfaction

Companies have traditionally viewed each customer as a one-time opportunity and after this customer's needs were met, emphasis was placed upon finding other customers. This is acceptable as long as there exists a large potential customer base. Today, project-driven organizations, namely those that survive on the income from a continuous stream of customer-funded projects, are implementing the "engagement project management" approach. With engagement project management, each potential new customer is approached in a way that is similar to an engagement in marriage where the contractor is soliciting a long-term relationship with the customer rather than a one-shot opportunity. With this approach, contractors are selling not only deliverables and complete solutions, but a willingness to make their enterprise project management methodology compatible with the customer's methodology. To maintain customer satisfaction and hopefully a long-term relationship, customers are requested to provide input on how the contractor's enterprise project management methodology can be extended into their organization. The last life cycle phase in the enterprise project management methodology used by ABB (Asea, Brown and Boveri) is called "Customer Satisfaction Management" which is specifically designed to solicit feedback from the customer for long-term customer satisfaction.

While this approach has merit, it opened Pandora's Box. Customers were now expecting to have a say in the design of the contractor's enterprise project management methodology. One automotive supplier decided to solicit input from one of the Big Three in Detroit when developing their EPM approach. Although this created goodwill and customer satisfaction with one client, it created a severe problem with other clients that had different requirements and different views of project management. How much freedom should a client be given in making recommendations for changes in a contractor's EPM system? Is it a good idea to run the risk of opening Pandora's Box for the benefit of customer satisfaction? How much say should a customer have in how a contractor manages projects? What happens if this allows customers to begin telling contractors how to do their job?

For our readers: OK! You have opened Pandora's Box and now your customers are becoming very creative in recommending changes to your methodology. How do you resolve this migraine with sacrificing the customer goodwill that you have created?

Please send your remedy for Migraine #2 to migrainecure@allpm.com .

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Harold Kerzner (M.S., Ph.D., Engineering and M.B.A) is Professor of Systems Management at Baldwin-Wallace College.  He is also Executive Director for Project Management for the International Institute for Learning and President of Project Management Associates, Inc., a project management consulting company based in Ohio.  Dr. Kerzner's expertise is in the areas of project management and strategic planning.  Dr. Kerzner has previously taught engineering at the University of Illinois and business administration at Utah State University.  He obtained his industrial experience at Thiokol Corporation where he held both program management and project engineering responsibilities on a variety of NASA, Air Force, Army, Navy and independent IR&D programs.

He has published or presented more than 250 engineering and business papers, and has 19 texts entitled:  Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling and Controlling; Project Management for Bankers; Project Management Policy and Strategy: Cases and Situations; Project Management for Executives; Case Studies in Project Management; A Handbook for Proposal Preparation and Management; Project Management for the Small and Medium Sized Business; Operating Guidelines for Project Management; Strategic Planning; A Dictionary of Terms for Project Management; Team Management; An Introduction to Operations Research for Managerial Decisions; Investing in the Corporate Bond Market; A Practical Guide to Strategic Planning;  In Search of Excellence in Project Management; Applied Project Management: Best Practices in Implementation;  Strategic Planning for Project Management Using a Project Management Maturity Model, A Casebook in Project Management, and Advanced Project Management.

How to Best Use the Project Management Office to Facilitate Project, and Organizational, Success, by Dr. Ginger Levin, DPA, University of Wisconsin-Platteville & Dr. Parviz F. Rad, Project Management Consultant

Introduction

As project management becomes a recognized profession, and as organizations explicitly regard themselves as project oriented, the success of projects is brought into the limelight. Therefore, success of projects, primarily in the areas of scope, cost, and duration, becomes the focus of assessment of the effectiveness of the project manager in implementing the project, and the efficacy of the organization in supporting the project manager in pursuit of overall organizational objectives. This trend should only continue as projects become a way of life for more organizations.

The formalization of the implementation of the Project Management Office (PMO) signals its increased importance to the organization as evidenced by the higher frequency of successful projects. The PMO is not merely a staff to provide support for project activities such as schedule development, monitoring tasks, and for the use of project management software. Rather, it is an essential component for future organizational success. The PMO is the organizational entity with full-time personnel to provide a focal point for project management. It provides services and organizational focus in core and supporting areas of project management by training, consulting, and mentoring the project-related personnel, by augmenting project teams, and by serving as a clearinghouse for best practices.

This paper describes the types of project functions and enterprise functions that the PMO ideally should perform, emphasizing the importance of a project-friendly organizational structure. The steps an organization should take to implement a PMO and specific success criteria for the PMO function will be highlighted. Finally, this paper presents actual examples of different types of PMOs and some lessons learned in terms of use of the PMO to further organizational success.

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Dr. Ginger Levin and Dr. Parviz F. Rad, PMP are the co-authors of the book  The Advanced Project Management Office: A Comprehensive Look at Function and Implementation. Dr. Levin can be reached at ginlevin@aol.com and Dr. Rad can be reached at project.management@comcast.net .

"Just How Mature is Your Organization at Project Management?", by Alan Harpham , Chairman The APM Group

Introduction

Project Management is not a new subject. Like all management disciplines, it is one that has developed and grown. Despite the fact that people must have used some notions of the management of projects from as early as 5000 BC - visit the earliest civilisations in Syria built around this time, or the pyramids built a little later in Egypt and South America, to see what I mean - it is widely believed to have first been used and developed as a management science by the military during the Second World War.

Since then it has developed further through a number of stages which included:

• Critical Path Planning and Network Planning techniques (1950s and 60s)
• Planning and tracking integrated time, cost and quality, using integrated computer systems (1970s)
• Matrix Management and training in the role of the Project Manager (1980s)
• The Project Management competencies (1980s and 90s)
• Bodies of Knowledge (1980s)
• The other PM roles of Sponsor and User (1990s)
• The measurement of project success for each role (1990s)
• Management by Project and its use in the management of change (1990s)
• Programme Management and Project Benefits Management (1990s and 2000s)
• Maturity Modelling (2000 and beyond).

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Alan Harpham is Chairman of APMG, an accreditation and examination body which works with the Government to promote best practice in Programme and Project Management. Through its network of Accredited Training Organisations and Consultants, APMG assists organisations find the best available help and support for training, consultancy and implementation of Programme and Project Management and the particular processes of PRINCE2, MSP (Managing Successful Programmes) and M O R (Management of Risk). For more information about APMG, visit www.apmgroup.co.uk or call + 44 (0)1494 452 450.