In this Issue:
*allPM Co-publisher's Letter, Judy Umlas
*From the Co-publisher's Desk, Frank Saladis, PMP
*allPM November Poll Results and New Poll Question
*Theme of the Month: Agile Project Management: Fear of Agile
By Steve Blais, PMP
*Open Minded Agility: Agile and Traditional Project Management, Is There Conflict?
By George Pitagorsky, PMP
*PLEASE READ THIS OR ELSE!!! 2008 allPM.com Editorial Calendar
Frank & Judy's invitation to submit articles
*How knowing your people better helps you to boost the performance of your team!
By Roberto Daniel
*Project Manager Popularity
By Milton Woodward, PMP
*Positive Leadership In Project Management – The Project Mosaic
By Frank P. Saladis, PMP
*Risk Doctor: Working Backwards to Opportunities
By Dr David Hillson, PMP, FAPM
*Ask Harry! Ground Rules: The Silver Bullet to Successful Project Facilitation
By Harry Rever, PMP – Director of Six Sigma, IIL
*Excel 2007 Feature: Grand Totals, the Quick, Easy and Error-Proof Way!
By Bob Umlas, Microsoft® Excel MVP
*PM Crossword Connections™: The Agile Challenge
By Frank Saladis, PMP
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From the Co-publisher's Desk— Judy Umlas
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
First of all, a slightly belated but very happy new year to each and every one of you!
Second of all I want to tell you about an interesting conversation I recently had with the Editor in Chief of a major trade magazine. I was telling him about the incredible response I got from more than 50 of you when I shared the story about my sick, elderly parents. I told him about the communications breakdown we had at first, though, and the lessons I learned from telling you I knew I had your good wishes, and then realizing that wasn’t enough, my admitting that, and your amazing responses. He said that getting feedback was something that his publication was challenged with, and he was, in turn, captivated by the unprecedented responsiveness of our global membership. I felt very pleased and proud of that interaction we do have. It is great that our interactivity is now becoming a benchmark for this form of online communication. You are all totally real to me, even if I don’t (yet) know each one of you individually. And I suspect that I am pretty real to you, judging by your responses to my communications.
I also want to apologize to those of you who wrote your wonderful e-mails to me, and to whom I have not yet sent the promised copy of my book, The Power of Acknowledgment. Our publishing division is down to its last few copies and we are awaiting the reprinted ones to send to you, so please forgive the delay.
So now that it is a new year, Co-Publisher Frank Saladis, Editorial Contributor Greta Blash and I have been working hard to put together an Editorial Calendar. Most of you probably know by now that we have a theme for every month – a theme that we believe will be interesting, critically important and/or helpful to your project management efforts and initiatives. Maybe you don’t love every topic, but I know that various articles have really hit home for many of you. So we are publishing that calendar for both your benefit and the benefit of our wonderful project management community. You will see this “article” which is really a chart, in the sidebar, right under the two lead articles on this month’s theme: Agile Project Management, and I am calling it “(Please) Read This or Else!” Why? Because I want you to be contributors of articles to the themed editions. Find at least one of the topics that interests you, and let me know that you will be submitting something. Just send me a few lines (judy.umlas@allpm.com) to let me know what you are contemplating. This month I got an excellent submission by allPM.com member Milton Woodward, PMP on the subject of project manager popularity. It appears in this edition of our newsletter, so why shouldn’t your articles be considered for publication as well!?
I know there are many subject matter experts and/or people who have “lived” the topics among you, and you also have the real world experience our readers love to hear and read about. We have put the Editorial Calendar up as an “article,” rather than just as a link, so that I can watch and see how many of you are really reading it!!! Isn’t that sneaky of me? You will be able to see that as well, as the statistics for each of our articles are right on our home page. That’s how Frank, Greta and I know what articles are most widely read. It’s important for us to get this feedback so that we can know what subjects and titles matter most to you, and I hope that thousands of you read, download and save the Editorial Calendar. Most importantly, I hope you will contribute your valuable knowledge and experience so that we can all share it. Thanks for “listening” to me when I nag you a bit, as I’m doing now.
One of the great compliments I got when I worked at CBS Television years ago was from our station manager. In those days, I used to organize and produce month-long television projects, all based on one theme(lifedoesn’t change much does it?). I would organize the usage all of our programming resources to focus on the theme of the month: news, editorials, public affairs programs, public service announcements and more. By gently nagging all of our TV producers and hosts, I was able to come up with award winning campaigns focused on one theme. So when our Vice President, General Manager told me that I was able to get all of this done by being a “nice ‘nudge’” I was flattered. For those of you who don’t know the definition of a nudge, it is someone who “annoy(s) with consistent complaining, asking, urging,” according to www.yourdictionary.com I would like to drop the “annoy” part of the definition, but I do like the rest of it. So if I step out of line and become too annoying, I’m sure you will let me know. But please do your share to support our online community of project managers around the world. If your article is accepted, you will have fun seeing how many people are reading it. You can watch the stats on a daily basis! Sometimes there are discussions of articles in the Forums we have, or comments to Frank or me. Dare to step out and be considered for publication!
So Agile Project Management is a rather interesting and somewhat controversial topic to start the new year with. Our two SME’s who wrote articles about it got into such interesting and heated discussions with each other (I had them read each other’s articles), that we are considering having some live, online learning sessions with the two of them speaking on this topic. So thank you to Steve Blais, PMP and George Pitagorsky, PMP for taking this on this month. I think our readers will find the two different takes on the topic quite fascinating. And leave it to Frank Saladis, PMP -- there is also an Agile PM crossword puzzle to test your mettle. Gee, and I was hoping for a PM Poem on the subject. Well, it’s never too late, you latent PM poets out there.
We have a dramatic and powerful article by Roberto Daniel, Quality Manager, Bosch and Siemens Home Appliances Group in Sao Paulo, Brazil, who uses quite an intriguing and high impact management tool he created to improve team performance. If every manager practiced it, you can believe that our workplaces would be more positive and productive places to be. Great idea, Roberto and thank you for sharing it with all of us in your article. It has to do with knowing your people better. I hope this is enough of a “tease” to get you all to read it. Next month we will read about another tool created by the CEO Mike Zavoina of Gateway Engineers in Pittsburgh, PA that is equally productive, provocative and interesting.
We have yet another excellent article by Frank Saladis, PMP on Positive Leadership in Project Management, this one on The Project Mosaic. And there is an amazing short cut from Microsoft® Excel MVP Bob Umlas on Grand Totals, the Quick, Easy and Error-Proof Way! I guarantee that if you are an Excel user, you will want to send kudos to Bob, which you may do by writing to him at bobumlas@yahoo.com . We also have a highly usable/applicable feature by Harry Rever, PMP and Six Sigma Black Belt on Ground Rules: The Silver Bullet to Successful Project Facilitation in his Ask Harry! column. The article submitted by allPM.com member Milton Woodward, Project Manager Popularity, is one that will really make you stop and think. And we have yet another of Dr. David Hillson’s popular Risk Briefings, this one on Working Backwards on Opportunities. Thanks for your continuous contributions, David, which are succinct, to the point and available in this newsletter in multiple languages.
So remember, please, to read the allPM.com Editorial Calendar…or else! Choose the topics that call to you to submit articles for, and let me know what you are interested in providing for us. Frank and I will give you feedback – comments and suggestions to make your contribution as valuable as it can be for our great community. And oh yes, in case you forgot, my email address is judy.umlas@allpm.com! So let’s get busy making this a great year. And please acknowledge someone today!
Until the next time…
Judy Umlas (judy.umlas@allpm.com) |
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From the Co-publisher's Desk - Frank P. Saladis, PMP
When you hear the word “agile” you immediately think of the words agility, flexible, fast, and balanced. Agility refers to balance, speed, coordination, fast reflexes and the ability to change position quickly. Agile is also associated with software development and a process that promotes development iterations throughout the product life cycle. Along with agile, the process we find is the term “Scrum.” The Wikipedia definition for Scrum is the project management method for agile software development. The term Scrum comes from the game of Rugby and is short for scrummage (closely related to scrimmage). Without going into a lot of detail about rugby, scrum is a way of restarting a game after an infringement or after the ball has gone out of play. I am assuming in the project management environment, where there are frequent restarts or a lot of checks during production, that this term has its relationship. In a 1986 article in the Harvard Business review by Takeuchi and Nonaka they referred to the “rugby approach” and used it to describe how small, cross-functional teams produced the best results. The rugby approach was later referred to as “scrum” by several developers / authors and was eventually merged into the process described in the book - Agile Software Development with Scrum by Ken Schwaber and Mike Beedle.
So much for the history of Scrum.
This month allPM.com is focusing attention on the topic of Agile Project Management and the Agile process for Software Development. It isn’t clear if there is actually a process or methodology entitled Agile Project Management but the Agile technique has been used by many organizations to manage their software projects and there is a direct relationship to project management.
The Scrum process or Agile process is intended to manage and control development work. It is a team based approach to development through iteration and incremental advances. The Agile process promotes effective communication and teamwork and is intended to maximize productivity.
I am sure most organizations would welcome a process that can do all of these things and with that in mind, we decided to focus our attention on the process and provide our readers with additional information about the subject especially for those who are considering the use of the Agile process.
During my research about the subject I found a site that definitely promotes the process. It claims that Scrum is about common sense and that it is a way for everyone to feel good about their job, their contributions, and that they have done the very best they possibly could. Sounds great to me! (the website is www.controlchaos.com/about).
We at allPM.com want everyone to do the best job possible and that’s why we remain flexible in our approach to provide our readers with article about subjects that we believe will increase their knowledge, expand their horizons and give them the skills to be more “agile” in the project environment.
Frank P. Saladis, PMP
Frank.Saladis@allpm.com |
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November Poll Results
What is the main cause for troubled projects in your environment?
a) Poor Role and Responsibility Definition - 26.00 % (52)
b) Inadequate Scope Definition - 29.00 % (58)
c) Irrational Schedules and Estimates - 31.50 % (63)
d) Other - 13.50 % (27)
Total votes: 200
The December/January poll question is:
Is your organization planning to adopt agile?
a) No. Agile is just a fad.
b) We are running pilot projects now.
c) Some projects already are using agile techniques
d) We’re evaluating agile for the future.
If you have not already done so, please stop by allPM.com and add your opinion today. |
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Theme of the Month: Agile Project Management: Fear of Agile
By Steve Blais, PMP
By now, you’ve probably heard the term “Agile”, especially if you are associated with software development or IT in general. There is “Agile Software Development” and “Agile Project Management” and the “Agile Organization”. Being “Agile” appears to be the latest “in” thing.
And you may have heard the following claims or fears: Agile espouses self-managed teams! There is no formal documentation! Agile allows the customers to run amok changing requirements on a whim! The Agile teams only deliver pieces of the final product in two-week increments and it goes on forever! There is no process in Agile! There is no planning in Agile! There is no evaluation of risk, no scope management, no communication plan, no Gantt chart, no work breakdown structure, no formal delegation, no human resources plan, no project scope at all! How can it possibly be successful? And yet the “agilists” – those adhering and following Agile – seem to produce high quality product within significantly less timeframes. If this is true will it signal the end to formal project management?
On first blush, the Agile approach appears to be an uncontrolled, unmonitored, unplanned mad rush to produce a product by unmanaged developers. These developers are in collusion directly with the customer without a project manager. They are just creating software willy-nilly with no end to the project; in fact, no project at all. In addition to representing a threat to the concept of project managers, at least in the software development arena, Agile appears to be the antithesis to the principles promoted by the PMBOK® Guide. No wonder the term strikes fear into the hearts of PMPs and aspiring PMPs!
Let’s see if we can go beyond the hype and claims of the zealots and see what Agile is really about and how it really does identify some positive practices for the project manager. And here we are talking about any project manager, not just those involved with Information Technology (IT). The irony of agile is that while the agile development processes generally spurn the overhead associated with formal management procedures the concepts and ideas embraced by Agile can be adapted by all project management – even those not associated with IT – to produce more efficient, higher quality projects.
First of all, the term “Agile” does not define a process. It is not a prescription for a cure to software development ills. Although one hears the phrase “we’re using an Agile method”, Agile does not refer to a single method. The term “Agile software development” is a concept that incorporates the principles of a number of software development methods that are based on speeding the time to market through reduced process overhead and more efficient and responsive practices. “Agile”, in general, is a philosophy, a set of principles, values and techniques: options that can be applied when needed and ignored when not.
What Is Agile?
While there have been approaches to software development and management that have used the Agile philosophy for a number of years – I was using an iterative process to develop software as early as 1975 in an approach that would definitely fall within the “Agile” arena – the term was assigned “officially” only a few years back.
© 2008 allPM.com
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Steve Blais, PMP is a consultant and educator living in Sarasota and Key West Florida. He has worked for 40 years in the field of computing. He is currently working with companies to create and improve their business analyst processes. He is the author of the IIL Business Analysis series of courses, and the forthcoming book, "The Beginning and End of Software Engineering: a guide for the Business Analyst." |
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Open Minded Agility: Agile and Traditional Project Management, Is There Conflict?
By George Pitagorsky, PMP
Is there really any conflict between Agile project management (PM) and traditional PM? It seems that whenever there are adherents to a particular system of beliefs (an ism) there is conflict. In project management circles we have radical Agile adherents saying that traditional PM as expressed in the PMI PMBOK® Guide has no place in Agile.
Some traditionalists are appalled at such heresy and ready to fight. Others (hopefully the vast majority) are open to seeing how the Agile approach can be reconciled with the traditional model and incorporated into it in much the same way that Critical Chain PM has been included.
In this article I will briefly describe the two models and then focus in on the questions of whether there are fundamental differences and how best to manage in a world that has multiple approaches.
Agile
Agility is the ability to move with speed and grace; to be nimble. Who doesn’t want to be agile? The Agile Alliance (http://www.agilealliance.org/ )’s Manifesto says: “We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others do it. Through this work we have come to value: individuals and interactions over processes and tools; working software over comprehensive documentation; customer collaboration over contract negotiation; responding to change over following a plan. That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.”1
This is an open minded statement; it expresses a difference in the degree to which criteria are valued; not an either-or-attitude. It seeks to make the right trade-offs between values in order to achieve a goal – get projects done optimally to satisfy product and project objectives. In general that open mindedness is an essential ingredient of any healthy approach to something as complex as project management. Unfortunately, we have too many people who find it necessary to take a rigid view that rejects alternatives. This either-or attitude is not in keeping with the underlying principles of Agile PM.
© 2008 allPM.com
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George Pitagorsky, PMP, is Senior Enterprise Solutions Advisor for International Institute for Learning (IIL) advising global enterprises on the implementation and improvement of project, program and portfolio management practices. His expertise spans project, quality and organizational change management. He is author of The Zen Approach to Project Management: Working from Your Center to Manage Expectations and Performance. He has written numerous articles on project management, organizational development, conflict resolution and personal development subjects. |
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PLEASE READ THIS OR ELSE!!! 2008 allPM.com Editorial Calendar
Frank & Judy's invitation to submit articles
| Title |
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JANUARY 2008 TOPIC - Agile Project Management-APM is a new approach towards project management that emphasizes early identification of business benefits and a holistic approach to the entire life of a project. |
Extreme programmimg, Scrum, Lean Management. Explanantion of agile processes. Moving quickly to provide solutions. Becoming more flexible in the planning and execution processes. Agile delivers solutions faster and increases quality. Agile processes decrease the need for inventory, increase the involvement of the project team. Agile addresses the issue that scope is continually changing and is not locked down to inflexibe requirements. Projects remain in a perpetually releasable state. Planning, executing and control procedures move to a facilitative and collaborative approach. Agile focuses on enaging the team, creating a better decision process, and responding to change instead of resisting change. The agile PM frame work - Envisioning, Speculating, Exploring, Adapting, and Closing. |
| FEBRUARY 2008 TOPIC - Presentation Techniques That Capture the Audience. How to Get a 5 Star rating from your meeting participants |
Whether you are running a meeting or speaking to the board of directors, a project manager needs finely tuned presentation skills and the ability to use a wide range of techniques to deliver information effectively. Our focus will be how to deliver a status report to a project team or an executive briefing in an engaging and meaningful manner. Special attention will be paid to techniques that will engage your audience, keep their attention, and help them retain information. |
© 2008 allPM.com
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How knowing your people better helps you to boost the performance of your team!
By Roberto Daniel
I have been practicing motivational initiatives for some time, but wondered what else could I do to boost even more my team´s morale! Back in 2005, just about to complete one year as a quality manager in my new company, I decided to submit myself for a 360 degree feed-back, an initiative that is very common at US multinational companies, but something which is out of the box where I was working, and in Brazil.
Since I was also practicing a so-called ´transparent´ management style, I received an astonishing 100% of responses, with feedback ranging from a soccer team change request (believe or not, as a Corinthians supporter I was asked to shift to Santos) to knowing more the people I was working with! Surely the latter struck me deeply and I thought to myself : How come I didn’t think this over before? Indeed, it was a great suggestion and I started to figure out how to handle this properly in a team with 45 different people!
After not too long a time, I decided to call 45 individual meetings in a period of 3 months, having two meetings per week with a duration of 60 minutes each.
In short, the goal of each meeting was for each individual from my team who I met with to be able to know me better, not only in terms of career but also in terms of my life outside of our daily work! The opposite was also valid – I wanted to know each member of my team as a person, not just as a worker!
© 2008 allPM.com
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Roberto A. S. Daniel is a 15-year-seasoned mechanical engineer, with post-graduation in Marketing, who has been working in product development and quality managementin theautomotive industry, both at suppliers and OEM, andinthe white goods(appliances) industry. He has amonghis strengths, teambuilding and people motivation. |
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Project Manager Popularity
By Milton Woodward, PMP
Project management falls immediately behind New York City firefighters as one the most personally taxing professions.  During the process of executing a project plan, project managers are relentlessly targeted by many organizational leaders (stakeholders) whose areas are affected in some way by the project. Project sponsors, end users, steering committee members, project team members, line managers, project managers’ own management, legal, security, and the list goes on and on. It would be nice if the project manager could keep a non-antagonistic relationship with stakeholders but the very nature of the project/stakeholder roles encourages contentious interactions. Contention can easily lead to animosity.
What is a major contributor to this animosity? Unfortunately, project managers are cursed with the responsibilities for protecting the project scope or more precisely, protecting the strong link between the project scope and project budget. The Project Management Institute (PMI) defines “project scope” as the work that must be done in order to deliver a product with specified features and functions. Change pressures start quickly for various reasons including lack of adequate initial description detail, poor translation of scope statement to work tasks, continuing refinements to requirements and the emergence of additional requirements – to name a few. Project scope change negotiations can be intense since conscientious project managers are obligated to remain firm concerning their budget commitments.
If project managers are properly maintaining the scope/budget balance, he or she will generally have to say ‘no’ (holding the line) frequently.  People who have to say ‘no’ a lot are just not very popular especially when many stakeholders are not conditioned to hearing ‘no’. Project managers who are not comfortable confronting stakeholders will have to develop this skill quickly. In general, stakeholders are focused on their best interest rather than the overall project objectives. To further exacerbate the problem, many of these stakeholders don’t really concentrate on the impacts to their organizations until the project is well underway. This constant tug-of-war can result in the project managers being viewed as non-cooperative or as not team players. The difference between successful and non-successful project managers hedges on their ability to invoke their interpersonal skills to ameliorate these situations.
© 2008 allPM.com
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Milton Woodward, PMP has more than 30 years experience in engineering and
project management. Milton is currently president of Top Drawer Services, a project
management consulting firm specializing in delivering practical training seminars, project auditing andrecovery of troubled projects. Visit website at www.topdrawerservices.com |
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Positive Leadership In Project Management – The Project Mosaic
By Frank P. Saladis PMP
Diversity is acknowledging, understanding, accepting, valuing, and celebrating differences among people with respect to age, class, ethnicity, gender, physical and mental ability, race, sexual orientation, spiritual practice, and public assistance status.
This is one of the many definitions that may be found regarding diversity and represents the principle meaning behind the Project Mosaic.
To effectively articulate the value of diversity in the project management environment, I will use my experiences as a member of PMI® to provide one example of the benefits of different cultures coming together in a common interest to grow and learn. As a member of PMI ® for more than 18 years, I have seen the organization grow continuously through the spirit of teamwork and knowledge sharing by the leaders of the many chapters, Specific Interest Groups, Colleges and with the various offices within the PMI Global Operations Center. During the annual leadership meetings I have attended, there has always been an environment of sharing and respect among the component leaders of countries from around the world and a genuine concern and focus on the continuing improvement of the project management profession.
One area in which PMI component leaders have always excelled at is the achievement of greater levels of knowledge and component performance by embracing diversity. The leadership meetings created an opportunity for people from different countries, cultures and backgrounds to meet together and appreciate the talents that each person offers. There wasn’t always immediate agreement about an issue but most of the attendees understood the need to listen to different ideas, consider other possibilities, and remain open minded regarding change. Respect was the key and, for the most part, always observed. These meetings, in my opinion, set an excellent example for project managers who manage multi-cultural project teams. People from around the world coming together to learn from each other, work with each other, and find ways to move the organization forward.
© 2008 allPM.com
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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 recipient of the 2006 PMI Linn Stuckenbruck person of the year award. |
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Risk Doctor: Working Backwards to Opportunities
By Dr David Hillson, PMP, FAPM
Many people now agree that the risk process should include opportunities, which are defined as “uncertain events or conditions which, if they occur, have a positive effect on achievement of objectives.” This is reflected in professional standards, guidelines, textbooks, and the processes and practice of many leading organisations. Despite this acceptance of the theory, people still seem to have trouble identifying opportunities. An earlier Risk Doctor Briefing addressed this difficulty in principle, suggesting four routes to finding upside risks. This briefing offers a specific technique that might be useful.
Engineers and project teams have for a long time used a technique known as Fault Tree Analysis (FTA) or Failure Modes & Effects Analysis (FMEA) in order to expose ways in which technical solutions or projects might fail. This approach is very useful in finding negative risks, or threats. Is it possible to use similar thinking to discover opportunities? Is there an analogous process or technique that works for positive risks?
FTA/FMEA starts with a failure mode or fault condition, then works backwards to explore and identify ways in which this might arise. This can be done either informally by asking how and why the outcome could happen, or in a structured way using formal techniques.
© 2008 Risk Doctor Limited
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Dr. David Hillson (PMP, FAPM, FIRM, MCMI) is an international risk management consultant, and Director of Risk Doctor & Partners ( www.risk-doctor.com). His speciality is risk technology transfer, assisting organisations to develop in-house risk processes, and he is a popular conference speaker and author on risk, winning several awards for his papers. He is recognised internationally as a leading thinker and practitioner in risk management, and his recent emphasis has been the inclusion of proactive opportunity management within the risk process, which is the topic of his latest book "Effective Opportunity Management Exploiting Positive Risk", published in 2003 by Dekker of New York.
David is an active member of the Project Management Institute (PMI) and was a founder member of its Risk Management Specific Interest Group. He received the PMI Distinguished Contribution Award for his work in developing risk management over many years. He is a Fellow of the UK Association for Project Management (APM) and past chairman of its Risk Management Specific Interest Group. David is also a Fellow of the UK Institute of Risk Management (IRM), a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), and a member of the Chartered Management Institute.
David can be contacted at david@risk-doctor.com |
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Ask Harry! Ground Rules: The Silver Bullet to Successful Project Facilitation
By Harry Rever, PMP – Director of Six Sigma, IIL
A Project Manager or Six Sigma Black/Green Belt who correctly and effectively incorporates “ground rules” into their team management repertoire will tremendously improve their team facilitation skills.
The uninvolved sponsor, the know-it-all specialist, the no-show team member, or the argumentative department representative; these are only a few of the charming characters we have to work with in order to make our projects successful. In terms of managing a project, two words describe the impact of these stakeholder types on teams: inevitable conflict. Every project has them. Every project manager has to deal with them. Some project managers deal with these kinds of personalities better than others. Those types of situations, those inevitable roadblocks can destroy a team and ruin a project, that is, if you let them. The project managers who cannot effectively handle the numerous sticky situations which come up during a project are inevitably viewed as ineffective, incapable, and are most likely labeled as project managers to avoid. The good news is there is an extremely effective tool to help even the novice project manager with these challenging project obstacles. If used correctly, simple “ground rules” can be a project manager’s best friend and “silver bullet” when it comes to dealing with project and team issues.
Ground rules are just what you think they are: a set of rules on how the team will interact, make decisions, and handle issues that must be addressed and resolved. The key to successful application of ground rules is simple; they must actually be developed and then used by the project manager. The reason ground rules are so effective for a project manager is because they enable the project manager to remove himself from the issue and address the conflict or situation without unnecessary or harmful emotion. In essence, the project manager becomes the facilitator of the ground rules document; nothing more, nothing less. There are a few keys, however, to ensuring the use of the ground rules tool actually works correctly and effectively.
Timing: Ground rules should be established at the very start of the project, preferably at the kickoff meeting. If you wait until later, they’ve lost their power. Furthermore, make sure the ground rules are covered with the project sponsor. Several ground rules might deal with sponsor involvement (or lack thereof). More importantly, it is essential the sponsor knows how you, the project manager, will be addressing and managing conflict so he or she can lend his/her support when necessary.
© 2008 allPM.com
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If you have a question you would like addressed, send an e-mail to Harry at harry.rever@iil.com
Harry Rever is Director of Six Sigma for International Institute for Learning. He is a dynamic presenter and practitioner of Six Sigma and Project Management with an innate ability to teach the concepts of quality improvement in an understandable and more importantly, applicable manner. With over seventeen years as a project manager, process improvement consultant and trainer, Harry has numerous examples of what works (and what doesn’t) when managing projects and applying statistical process improvement concepts. He has experience leading people including supervising project managers, quality analysts, and sales teams. Harry has trained thousands of employees on Six Sigma, process improvement, and project management and he frequently presents at conferences and seminars. He has certifications as a Six Sigma Black Belt, Quality Manager, Quality Consultant, and Project Management Professional. Harry earned his MBA from St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas and has Bachelors degrees in Marketing and Management from Texas Tech University. |
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Excel 2007 Feature: Grand Totals, the Quick, Easy and Error-Proof Way!
By Bob Umlas, Microsoft® Excel MVP
Suppose you have a worksheet looking something like this:
Etc
…and you need to put in the grand total in cell B43, as shown. I’ll bet many of you enter an equal sign, then a subtotal figure and type a “+” sign, then click another, etc., eventually clicking them all, producing this formula:
© 2008 allPM.com
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Bob Umlas has been a Microsoft® Excel 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. He is also the author of “This isn’t Excel, it’s Magic!” The second edition of this book is now available (www.iil.com/publishing).
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PM Crossword Connections™: The Agile Challenge
By Frank Saladis, PMP
(Click here or the image above for a larger, printable crossword in a new window. )
Across
1 information looped back
5 act of gaining possession
6 way of doing something
7 procedure
9 rational unified process
11 agree to receive
12 numerical assignment of worth
13 repeated performance
15 SIE Model
17 cascading process
19 willing to change
20 very fast
21 part of a program
22 utilizes the product
24 result of a project
28 make ready for use
30 well beyond the norm
32 rugby term
33 an important item
34 steadily and slow
Down
2 fast and flexible
3 defined need
4 inter-related elements
8 authorization to proceed
10 person affected by a project
11 sometimes called a task
14 let go or next version
16 small scale representation
18 defining property
23 reference point
24 unique undertaking
25 changing constantly
26 collaborative group
27 appraise
29 measure or check operation
31 rate of movement
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