The Hard-Nosed Project Manager

KISS

I have tons of amazing ideas for software products.  The only problem is that most amazing ideas violate the KISS principle.  When I was is the army, KISS stood for Keep It Simple Stupid (or Sir).  Basically non-KISS ideas are those that only an engineer or project manager would like.  You know the type.

I was reminded of the KISS principle while listening to episode 197 of The Project Management Podcast.  In that episode a product called Eppora is discussed.  Listening to the guy behind Eppora was like listening to me when I have an amazing idea; he was actually describing project management software I had thought of years ago but thankfully dropped.  The problem?  Grandiosity… 

Some features that rubbed me wrong:

• Most project managers and the companies that employ them don’t have the time and money to keep statistics about every person working on projects.  If only some project managers use it, the return on investment disappears.
• Those statistics are wrong anyway.  For example, easy task plus great programmer equals great productivity, hard task plus great programmer equal normal productivity, normal task and so-so programmer equal normal (maybe) productivity, and hard task plus so-so programmer equals… So match the wrong person to the wrong task and your statistics mean nothing.
• You can’t pay people on productivity statistics. Hard task plus great programmer equals normal productivity and normal task and so-so programmer equal normal productivity.  The two guys are worth the same?  Like hell they are.
• Many clients will not let their schedules live on or be accessed via “the cloud”.  Schedule information can be highly sensitive.
• Selling a critical chain approach is hard.  Most people are threatened by that kind of approach as they think it may cause them to sit on their hands if they are too productive.

I understand that the guy was kind of selling his salad but if you are going to make extraordinary claims you’d better have extra ordinary proof.  He has not given me the proverbial warm and fuzzy feeling.

What do you think?  As always questions and comments are welcome.

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Manage Projects using SharePoint and Microsoft Project webinar on 9/14

I just finished listening to this webinar.  It was less about project management than project management tools so I got less than I expected being a long time SharePoint and Project user.  Obviously the speaker knows these tools very well and her demos where almost flawless.  I think you should listen to this if you are interested in tools or if you are a newer project manager.  Kind of as a stepping stone to Project Server and SharePoint workspaces.

One thing that we were sadly reminded of is that the tool most used for scheduling is Excel… Personally I suffer a mental block if I try using Excel for schedules.  You can open a can of beans with a screwdriver but why would you if you have a can opener? 

By the way, sound quality was very bad with lots of hissing.

What do you think?  As always questions and comments are welcome.

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Sponsors, champions, and other mythical beasts

Driving around this weekend I was catching up with podcasts.  I happened on episode #193 of Cornelius Fichtner’s Project Management Podcast which revolved around sponsors.

Surely you’ve had to deal with or handle difficult sponsors.  You know the type; they don’t quite know what their responsibilities are or how to support your project.  What’s a PM to do?  The speakers (Bill Duncan and Cornelius) discuss the GAPPS standard for project sponsors amongst a number of other good things.  Worth listening to.

What do you think?  As always questions and comments are welcome.

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Introduction to Agile Planning and Project Management webinar

I finally had to listen to the recording instead of the live webinar.  Work sometimes sucks…

One of the assumptions laid out at the beginning of the webinar was that we’d be talking about large project involving single and multiple teams.  This is interesting because most of the Agile case studies I’ve seen are for small projects.

The presentation continued into a review of the Agile manifesto.  I don’t want to be nasty (well maybe I do…) but nothing new here and the manifesto is basically just good common sense applied by most good project managers, Agile or not.

There was some silliness about “reversing” triple constraints.  Again, time boxing is not new and using it in Agile does not make for a new approach.  The presenter then stated that “known” projects are more suited to the predictive (traditional) approach while an empirical (agile) approach works more for discovery type projects.  It flies in the face of the definition of a project doesn’t it?  If you know everything that you are going to face I would contend that you are in an operations setting not a project one.

The presenter went into a couple of notional graphs; one on Emergence or Convergence for which there was a Y axis but no X axis, and one burndown chart.  Both looked good but meant very little; no scales equal no real number hence no metrics.  What is the point?

The presenter then stated the Agile is team based.  Compared to what?  I don’t work in an Agile environment and I sure as hell have teams.  The presenter also contended that in Agile PM brings people together while in traditional projects the PM is a hub through which all must go to communicate to each other.  Really?  Who the hell does that?

A couple of interesting statements

• “You look for the presence of teams…”.  What the hell is that supposed to mean?
• “Linking resources between Agile teams diminishes Agility”.  Doesn’t it invite resource problems regardless of you approach?
• “Agile PMs manage the system not the people”.  Old PMs manage tasks and lead people…

I could go on and on.  Show me how Agile is different from the existing approaches.  Don’t tell me and expect me to drink the Kool-Aid...  All I hear about Agile would be recognized by anyone with some experience as a rehash of existing methods.  I am getting bored about this entire thing, real fast.

What do you think?  As always questions and comments are welcome.

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Agile webinar on 8/22

There will be a PMI Agile CoP webinar called “Introduction to Agile Planning and Project Management:” tomorrow, 8/22 at 12h00 DST.  Those who can’t attend should look for my comments after the webinar.

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Should You Let Your Employees Work From Home?

I found this on LinkedIn yesterday (8/18/2011) but since I did not comment fast enough the source had to be fond again.  So, thanks to the power of the Internet…

Some parts of the chart are “cute” (a polite way of saying stupid…) and some arguments weak (employee playing World of Warcraft) but it is still interesting and useful.  I’m partial to working in the office because it gets me out of the house and because people have less on a tendency to lie to you face to face.  But that is me.

Most people tell you the truth most of the time and if someone is playing World of Warcraft at home on a business day he should be fired anyway.  I say let people work at home as long as they you give them tools to facilitate communications and to securely exchange data.

What do you think?  As always questions and comments are welcome.

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Marcinkoism

I was watching a documentary on the formation of Seal Team Six and at one point they show the gate to Richard Marcinko’s compound.  There is a sign at the gate that says:

Trespassers will be shot

Survivors will be shot again.

I love it!  As a project manager you can mitigate problems but they might come back to haunt you.  It is much better to eliminate problems entirely…

What do you think?  As always questions and comments are welcome.

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Leadership webinar on 8/10

Update:  This activity to place but only partially.  It may be rescheduled and if so I will comment on that version.

There will be a PMI Learning Education and Development (LEAD) CoP webinar on Leadership Skills for Managing Projects next Wednesday 8/19 at 13h00 DST.  Leadership is a subject dear to me and I’ll try to attend (got to work though). Those who can’t attend should look for my comments after the webinar.

What do you think?  As always questions and comments are welcome.

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The First Requirement for Becoming a Great Boss

Here is a great article from Harvard Business Review about becoming a great boss.  Applies to being a project manager too...

What do you think?  As always questions and comments are welcome.

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The PMP designation and PM competency

I never believed that holding a PMP designation was proof of a project manager’s competency but I must say I am growing disenchanted with what I see these days on various PM related web sites, LinkedIn groups, and in my professional life.  A few examples:

• PM sticks tasks into his schedules based on duration only.  No attempt at setting the level of effort of individual resources for those tasks.  Wonders why he can’t level his schedule.
• PM does not know what WBS means.
• PM can’t read a schedule.  What is a predecessor or successor, what is started, etc.

We are not talking here of a lack of familiarity with specific tools but rather with basic project management concepts.  These shortcomings could be excused and even understood in the case of an accidental PM but not in the case of someone who, prior to getting tested for the PMP, had to document “Minimum three years/36 months unique non-overlapping professional project management experience during which at least 4,500 hours were spent leading and directing project tasks”.  Even worse; the examples listed above do not relate to a single individual.

Something is seriously wrong here…

What do you think?  As always questions and comments are welcome.

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