Partial Listing of Upcoming Project Management Events
For a complete listing of events, please visit the Nov. Calendar at allPM.com

Amplifying Your Effectivness Conference (AYE)
November 3-6, 2002
http://www.ayeconference.com

Project World Chicago
November 11-14, 2002, Chicago, IL
http://www.projectworld.com

Six Sigma Overview FREE 1-hour webinar
November 21, 2002, 10-11am ET
http://www.iil.com/free_resources/free_webinars.asp

Planning for PMP(r)Certification FREE 1-hour webinar
November 22, 2002 10-11am ET
http://www.iil.com/free_resources/free_webinars.asp

MS Project 2002 and Project Server FREE 1-hour webinar
October 21, 2002 3-4pm ET
http://www.iil.com/free_resources/free_webinars.asp

Project Impact Asia 2002 - ASIA
November 27-29, 2002, Hong Kong

September Poll Results

September's poll question: What is the most important success
critereon for your project?

Complete customer satisfaction - 53.17 % (67)
Meeting schedule commitments - 11.90% (15)
Achieving the planned scope of work - 20.63 % (26)
Completing the project within budget - 4.76 % (6)
Maintaining teamwork and project team morale - 9.52 % (12)

There were 126 responses. As shown by the responses, the vast majority of respondents said that complete customer satisfaction was the most important success criterion for success.

In one respondant's words: "I think this is one of the critical items that a PM needs to set in the beginning of a project. Even though a customer will say that the project must be ontime, onbudget and with all functionality working perfectly, there is usually one or two of these items that are more important than the others. Determining what is the soft point is the key to achieving customer satisfaction and project success."

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October's poll question: How is project management viewed in your organization?

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

Column: Project Management Six Best Practices, a series by Dr. Harold Kerzner. This month -- Best Practice #2 -"Measuring Success", by Dr. Harold Kerzner

Best Practice Makes Perfect

World-renowned project management expert Harold Kerzner will be discussing six current educational best practices, one a week for the next six weeks. This month we are featuring the second best practice "Measuring Success ." To view last month's best practice #1, please click here to read the September issue of allPM TODAY.

Introduction

For almost 30 years, project management was viewed as a process nice to have, but not as a necessity for the survival of the firm. Companies invested in project management training and education simply to placate those people assigned either full-time or part-time as project managers. Training was restricted almost entirely to the quantitative tools of project management.

The appearance of providing support for educating project managers was misleading. Senior management did everything possible to prevent the true implementation of project management for fear of having to decentralize authority and decision-making. Information was hoarded because information was perceived as power. Lip service was given to the concepts of empowerment, teamwork and trust. Personal and functional interests were placed ahead of the best interest of the project due to various corporate cultures. Other than a few project-driven industries such as aerospace, defense and heavy construction, nobody wanted to admit that project management could benefit the company's bottom line.

Within the last decade, companies underwent severe competitive pressures to create quality products in a shorter period of time. The integration of new corporate initiatives such as total quality management, time-to-market, subcontractor management, critical chain and activity fast-tracking were all using the principles of project management. The formal recognition of project management as a profession was finally at hand.

At the end of each project, companies created lessons-learned files on what the project manager did correctly and incorrectly in the management of the project. These lessons-learned files became the basis for best practices in project management. These files represented only one way of improving project management performance. Some companies still believe that the cost of project management benchmarking is too large for the returns expected. Given the fact that implementing just one best practice in project management could save a company millions of dollars, then why does there still exist some degree of resistance?

This series discusses six of the best practices in project management that are now being implemented. All of these related either directly or indirectly to the process of educating project personnel. Best practices are like pieces of a puzzle, when assembled, the picture can be a thing of beauty. And often, the greater the number of pieces in the puzzle, the more beautiful the final assembled picture.

Best Practice #2- Measuring Success

Historically, the definition of project success was measured only in terms of the deliverables. The customers defined success as achieving the objectives within time, cost, quality and final acceptance. But as project management became a strategic competency for the company, the executives began looking for ways to define project management success rather than just project success.

Today there are two components of success: a quantitative component and a qualitative component. The quantitative component is looking only at the deliverables, the constraints and customer satisfaction, as defined above. The qualitative component focuses on evaluating the project management process rather than the deliverables. Was the project management methodology used effectively? What were the lessons learned? What changes should be made to the methodology? Did the partnership between the project and line managers work as expected?

Success is currently measured in terms of products and processes. However, at the executive levels, the best barometer to measure the successful implementation of project management is by looking at the number and magnitude of the conflicts requiring senior management involvement, indicating that the project manager/line manager partnership is working well. The greater the number of conflicts going upstairs, the greater the likelihood that lower-level cooperation is not taking place. Success in project management allows project sponsorship to occur at the middle management level rather than senior management level.

One of the best ways for senior management to strengthen the line management/project management partnership is to require that any and all problems/conflicts coming upstairs for resolution be accompanied by alternatives and recommendations. When employees are required to identify alternatives and recommendations, the usually end up solving their own problems at a lower level and not robbing executives of their precious time. The concept of how to solve problems, when to approach senior management, and what information to present to management should be taught in every project management course.

Stay tuned for next month's featured best practice "Strategic Planning for Project Management"

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Article reprinted with permission from PM Review Magazine, November 2001. For information about PM Review magazine, please email: info@richardlangrish.com or call +44 (0) 20 7434 1159

Harold Kerzner (Ph.D., MS, Engineering and MBA) is Senior Executive Director with International Institute for Learning, Inc. and Professor of Systems Management at Baldwin-Wallace College. He is an expert in the areas of project management, total quality management, and strategic planning. Dr. Kerzner is the author of the best-selling textbooks: Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling and Controlling, now in its sixth edition, In Search of Excellence in Project Management, and Applied Project Management: Best Pratices on Implementation.

Column: Communications- Survival Skill for Project Managers
by Frank P. Saladis, PMP

I think most project managers will agree that we spend most of our time communicating in one form or another to a diverse group of stakeholders. A few years back, a question that might have appeared on the PMP® exam asked for the percentage of time a project manager actually spends communicating while working on a project. The answer, if memory serves me correctly was 75% to 90% of the time. That is a lot of communications! Email, voice mail, memos, status reports, presentations, escalations, recognition, changes, performance reviews, contract negotiations, video conferences, conference calls, the list seems endless. Each stakeholder we work with or have contact with has certain requirements regarding what information is needed, when, and in what format. Therefore, the successful project manager must develop a very finely tuned set of skills to ensure that each message is delivered intact, and in a form that will be fully understood by the receiver. This, of course, includes a feedback loop to make sure that the message was indeed delivered, reviewed, analyzed, comprehended and accepted.

Project managers need a variety of communications skills and we need to know when and how to use them. For example, we need to know how to react to an important issue and speak up in a manner that will get attention without creating severe conflict or to avoid having others speak for us. We need social communications skills to argue a point without offending the listeners. We need skills to manage through an interview, or a performance appraisal session, or how to give positive feedback or criticism. Public speaking will be unavoidable even if it involves small groups. Negotiation for resources, more time, changes in scope, preventing changes in scope, maintaining a freeze date, or reducing a task's duration all require effective communication.

This all sounds good and you probably agree that communications is important- in fact, you have probably read about the subject numerous times. So, you ask, What are these skills? How can I obtain them and use them effectively?

There is no simple answer to effective communications. The basics are found in any book about project management. We need to make sure we know what we are going to say. We package in such a way that we feel the receiver will understand it, we then transmit the message in a clearly articulated fashion, and we ask for feedback to make sure the message was delivered as intended. Sounds easy, but most of us have had trouble even with the simplest messages. Experience happens to be part of the answer to good communications. We make mistakes, we learn from them, and we try again. Each time we should get a little better. Project managers should also rely on the experience of others. They made mistakes too. How do you think they became so experienced?

Here are a few practical tips to help you score high in the sometimes challenging game of "When to say what to whom and why!"

1. From the communicators view point- make sure you know the purpose of the communication, know the subject, be aware of your attitude toward the listeners and yourself, know your degree of credibility regarding the subject

2. Speak to achieve a goal- change someone's mind, call attention to a problem, take action to prevent or ward off a threat, establish your status or power, sell an idea, successfully negotiate a change.

3. Surface knowledge of a subject won't work very well in most cases. The listeners will want more. Be prepared, research or have someone with you to handle the real technical issues and tough questions. Make sure you say something important, relevant, and interesting to the listeners.

4. Adjust your speaking style to the audience. If you are speaking to peers, display an attitude of equality. Maintain your self-image through confidence in what you are saying. In other words, do your homework and be prepared. Adjust your style to meet the power levels of the audience. Be aware of your power relationships.

5. Listeners will be evaluating your credibility. The idea of credibility comes from the Greek word ethos, meaning character. Learn to raise the listener's estimation of your trustworthiness, competency, sincerity, and dynamism. Use references of your own experience but don't boast. Find common beliefs between you and the listener. Keep your communication organized whether it's a speech or a written letter. Maintain your sincerity. It can make a difference in winning your listener's support or changing an attitude.

Frank Saladis, PMP
Frank.Saladis@allpm.com

Column: Applying Six Sigma to your Projects to Maximize Results, by Anne Foley, PMP, Six Sigma Master Black Belt

If you have projects underway that will result in a deliverable to your customers, you undoubtedly want to learn more about Six Sigma and the process improvement methodology that companies around the world are adopting. What exactly is Six Sigma and how can it help project managers?

Some claim that Six Sigma is Total Quality Management (TQM) on steroids. Others say that it is a new name for an old vision. In actuality, it is the vision of providing near-perfect products and services for customers, at the lowest price to the company. While near-perfect quality is not new to the manufacturing community, it is almost foreign to the service parts of most companies. And many of those services operate at levels of inefficiency that would close down a factory in weeks if it produced as many defects.

At a fundamental level, Six Sigma focuses on two things: understanding the customer's critical requirements and measuring the process that is to fulfill those requirements. If there are times when the process delivers a product or service that falls outside of the critical customer requirements, those are defined as defects.

There are many facets of Six Sigma but the main facet that project managers should be trained on is the process improvement methodology commonly referred to as DMAIC.

• Define - Identify the problem that needs to be fixed and the scope that will be addressed by this project.
• Measure - Quantify the problem as it currently exists and gather data that will help you understand the issues and what is happening.
• Analyze - Use the gathered data to understand why defects are occurring, understand the statistical problem and use that data to determine the root causes.
• Improve - Fix it! Find and plan the implementation and measurement for fixing the quantified problem.
• Control - Verify that the implemented improvement fixed the problem and put procedures in place to continue the verification on a periodic basis.

With so many project managers leading e-Business projects, Six Sigma becomes a critical up-front tool in the project. To automate a currently defective process will result in ten times the amount of defects. Perfecting the process before it is automated is critically important.

Utilizing many of the statistical tools and techniques of previous quality initiatives, Six Sigma provides a rigorous and systematic approach to defect identification and reduction. In some cases, the process does not have the capability to reach the desired level of quality. In those situations project managers will lead the team in designing the new process utilizing a Design for Six Sigma methodology. Either way, Six Sigma will dramatically improve the end result of those projects that will eventually impact your customers and your bottom line. If you ask any experienced Six Sigma practitioner how Six Sigma has impacted their career they'll tell you it has led them to a different thought process when presented with challenges. This approach provides project managers with an objective, data driven focus centered on asking the right questions. Challenges are then removed in an expedited fashion.

To learn more about Six Sigma, you're invited to attend a free one-hour e-learning overview session. I will be leading these live programs, and will be happy to answer your questions.

For more information or to register, go to http://www.iil.com/free_resources/six_sigma_overview_detail.asp

Anne Foley, PMP
Anne.Foley@iil.com

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Anne F. Foley (PMP) and Master Black Belt is Director of Six Sigma, International Institute for Learning, Inc. (IIL). Prior to joining IIL Anne served as a Master Black Belt at General Electric Travel "center" where she successfully completed over 16 projects, mentored black belts and conducted black belt, green belt and champion training for over 5 years. Anne then joined Six Sigma Academy as Director of Sales and Marketing before going out on her own to facilitate Six Sigma implementation planning and training sessions for several companies including Carlson Wagonlit Travel. Anne is a graduate of Kansas State University and is a member of ASQ and PMI.