Project Management Tips, Tricks & Ramblings

Why not blow my own trumpet!

2006-10-15T09:34:00.000+01:00

An announcement about my new role.

Click HERE

Governance White Paper

2006-09-27T12:11:00.000+01:00

A new white paper from the Program Management Group plc discusses Governance in Programme and Project Management.

Latest Project and Program Management Events

2006-06-19T19:09:00.000+01:00

If you have an RSS feed then use this feed to get the latest program and project management events to your desktop

http://www.pm-group.com/events/rss.php

Making the difference with program management

2006-05-31T12:06:00.000+01:00

Making the difference with program management

Free Seminar:

Join over 1500 people who have already attended this seminar

Geoff Reiss discusses how you can exploit the latest program and portfolio management technologies to improve your company’s ability to deliver its business strategy...
Wednesday 28th June - Birmingham
Tuesday 4th July - Prog Hall, Leeds
Tuesday 11th July - London City
Thursday 12th October - Reading
Thursday 2nd November - Commonwealth Club, London

To Register CLICK HERE

Events Information

Making the difference with program management.

Through the PMG seminar program, over 1500 people have explored the concepts, practice and results of program management.

Seminar Overview

Geoff Reiss, industry acclaimed speaker, discusses how you can exploit the latest program and portfolio management technologies and business practices to improve the performance of your organisation and your company's competitive position

Speaker

Reiss, founder of one of the first ever project management software systems, is author of industry leading titles, ‘Project Management Demystified’, ‘Programme Management Demystified’, ‘The Gower handbook of Programme Management’ and co author of ‘One project too many’. He is Chairman of the Specific Interest Group, ProgM and also chairs various government initiatives including Program Governance and Benefits Management. He is a subjectm matter expert on the Project Management Institute’s Project Portfolio Management Standard (PMI PPMS) and a Reviewer of Office of Government Commerce (OGC) - 'Managing Successful Programmes' and a Program Board Member - APM Program Management qualification initiative.

Benefits of attending

During this informative seminar, learn how to:

Increase the success rate and measurability of your projects
Assure alignment of your project investments with corporate strategy
Synchronise strategic planning, IT budgets and execution of IT projects
Define and manage the right mix of project investments
Monitor project milestones, risks and issues
Provide up-to-date and reliable information on the value of project investments
Obtain a comprehensive understanding of resource activity across project teams
Analyse performance and ensure lessons are fed back into corporate strategy reviews

Resource Centric Management - My View

2006-05-28T22:34:00.000+01:00

Resource Centric Project Management
Problems with traditional Project Management Tools?

Any project manager will tell you that most task based project tools are pretty similar, you enter the tasks and dependencies and then when you are happy with the tasks you add the effort required and check the critical path. Making any adjustments necessary you then enter the resources you require to do the project.

At this time everything looks perfect but there are problems hiding in the detail and in the way that these tools are created that will lead to problems later. Not least of these are the issues caused when resources have been over booked, perhaps on other projects. It is not easily clear to the Project Manager that this has happened and it may not be clear until the point at which a particular critical task does not get completed on time. This leads to late surprises, missed schedules and project failure. Any changes in the organisation and any change in priorities need to be modelled, reviewed and the plan updated often by means of a number of wizards in the tool but more often through hard work and analysis by the project manager.

Features of Today’s Organisations

In the past projects were single, stand alone entities, resources were allocated to projects and available for known periods of time. Today, resources are involved in many projects in addition to having to undertake their day to day, business as usual activities. Keeping track of what each individual is doing can be a logistical nightmare involving timesheets, resource requests, virtual pools and resource managers are often pushed from one crisis to the next trying to allocate suitably skilled and available resources to different projects each with its own high priority.

Typically, project managers face other issues with resources including:

• Holiday bookings
• Training course
• Other commitments (meetings etc)
• Staff leaving
• Interference with business as usual activities
• Sharing resources between other projects and project managers
• Stolen and “do me a favour” missing resources.

Even in small to medium sized organisations these can prove to be difficult to manage so a tool that helps the organisation see this at both a strategic and detailed view must be considered as a positive answer to this perennial problem. This is where a resource centric approach will always beat a task based system as all resource activity is visible. Work cannot be undertaken if there are no resources available to do that work. Additionally by controlling how the resource is made available to the various calls on that resource’s time, there can be no double or over booking. Resources can be loaned to projects or assigned business as usual work on a % of their availability. If a project manager has 20% of a resource on his/her project then only 20% can be used, the software will not allow you to plan or book more than that available. Resources can be loaned between plans and operate within their own work pool as required and the software fully supports all business models including the matrix organisation. Anyone misusing resources can be easily seen through the timesheet feedback process, each resource having to book time to appropriate planned work. Unplanned work is noted and flagged for action.

Why should organisations adopt Resource Centric Management?

Too many surprises have rocked today’s organisations. Management must have full visibility of what their people are working on and how they are operating. Resource Centric project management allows Senior Executives to easily see how their organisation is performing. A clear view of the portfolio of projects together with the BAU work is available together with detailed reports and visual dashboard indicators. The ability to extract key MIS and the one touch drill down feature means that problems are easily identified, easily understood and appropriate action can be taken to solve these far earlier than under traditional methods as in the resource centric model data is current and realistic.

Using a Task Centric tool cannot provide the advanced indication of problems as (often) there is no full connection between the people doing the work and the people planning and overseeing it, indeed many organisations run stand alone versions of project plans and attempt to consolidate these monthly. The resource centric model automatically consolidates plans and provides key data including capacity and demand on the organisation’s resources. Administrative and reporting effort is massively reduced and errors are minimised because data is automatically consolidated within the tool available for export if required.

Another feature of today’s organisation is the need to change priorities quite often at little notice to suit market or legislative changes. In a task based environment this would mean a lot of work trying to change and compare plans. In the Resource Centric world, “what if” planning shows what happens to the portfolio of projects when one project becomes more important than another. The impact on the resources is shown immediately.

The ability to clearly see what is going on across the enterprise also benefits the organisation at all levels. Management are confident knowing that bad news is visible quickly, changes can be modelled and decisions can be tested to demonstrate the impact on the whole organisation prior to making that decision. Project managers can be confident that the resources allocated to them will perform on their projects and not be used elsewhere. The resources actually undertaking the work have a plan of work visible to them and can see their part in the overall project, they can submit their timesheets but, more importantly they can feedback the effort to complete their tasks thereby giving the project manager and the business an accurate view of work in progress.

By having a resource centric approach, management will be able to closely check the accuracy of projects and the work that is undertaken on different business as usual work, project work etc. Using the data built up in the tool allows management to estimate future workloads and plan for the additional skills that may be required or re-training etc.

Typical Issues with Resource Centric Planning

Bad news arrives very quickly. Because the tool doesn’t allow over allocation it is easy to see where there are missing resources and skill sets.
Plans become extremely accurate and using the top to bottom and feedback approach of the tool, accuracy on estimates improves with tool usage. Initially it can be difficult to come to grips with the accuracy of the information available. Impacts in one project which affect another project or series of projects can be quickly seen and appropriate action can be taken.

The tool uses feedback to track the work done and (most importantly) the work to complete. This empowers the resources doing the work to continue to provide their estimate of remaining effort thereby making the tool extremely accurate and highlighting problems (such as underestimation) quickly.

Implementation

A resource centric tool does not need as much administration to make it work as a task based one. Because it accurately reflects the organisation it is being implemented into it takes less time to install, pilot and roll out. Using its skill based resource system it maps the skills of your organisation to the work that needs to be done and clearly shows shortfalls and over capacity.

Resource Centric Project Management

2006-05-27T10:44:00.000+01:00

Traditional Project Management tools understand the need to allocate resources to tasks and that there is a finite amount of resource to be used. There is a problem however with these tools and that is that they are task based in the first place. The Task is the cirtical path through the plans and not the resource that has to do it.

The Program Management Group have worked froma resource centric approach to the problem and to today's realities that often resources are not just assigned to one project or to work on one department's projects. Hydra has a clever way of truly representing that arrangement.

A White Paper from the Chairman and Founder of the Program Management Group plc Geoff Reiss on Project Management --->> CLICK HERE <<---

Another Good PM Blog Site

2006-05-20T11:07:00.000+01:00

I think that if you are into Project or Program Management in any way you will ejoy this BLOG.

Program Management Group plc

2006-05-18T01:08:00.000+01:00

I will be joining the Program Management Group on the 22nd May.

A bit about PMG here and no doubt more as time goes on:

Program Management Group plc (PMG) is a privately owned software company that exclusively focuses its resources on developing, selling and supporting Project Portfolio Management and Collaborative Management solutions through its consultancy and software divisions. The solution, Hydra, is designed specifically to address today's complex web of business issues: managing people, knowledge, projects, programs and performance, across locations, in unity. Hydra is suitable for companies of all sizes, from complex mid-sized organisations to large multinationals. PMG supports over 50,000 users with customers including, Newcastle Building Society, Barclays Bank Africa, Chelsea Building Society, Home Loan Management, Skipton Building Society, Norcal Mutual, Fortis Bank, Experian and many more.

Another Project Management Blog

2006-05-16T09:43:00.000+01:00

This Blog is very good

CLICK HERE

Verification versus Validation

2006-05-04T09:06:00.000+01:00

These are from my revision notes:

Verification - Are we building the product right?

Validation - Are we building the right product?

The Mechanics of Configuration Management

2006-05-03T23:43:00.000+01:00

Configuration Identification

Uniquely identifies all the items within a configuration

Configuration Control

The system through which changes can be made to configuration items

Configuration Status Accounting

Records & reports current status & the history of changes to the configuration. A complete Audit of what has happened to the configuration.

Configuration Auditing

Is the audits performed to ensure conformity of the items in the configuration and their specifications. Audits ensure a match between what is delivered and requested also consistency throughout all documentation.

Governance

2006-04-29T15:47:00.000+01:00

A New Lens on Governance HERE

Must be getting old and senile!`

2006-04-26T14:48:00.000+01:00

Previous post said I must publish 60 reasons for a closed mind.

DOH!! One of the first things I did on this blog Catch it HERE.

Too Busy for Time Management

2006-04-26T14:43:00.000+01:00

Years ago, realising that some of my team needed some Time Managment training I remember asking why one of them hadn't gone with the rest of the team downstairs to attend?

"I'm too busy" he said

I won't tell you how I made him attend, no doubt it has already found its way onto the Office TV show...

He went and it did do him some good too.

Reminds me to post 60 reasons for a closed mind if I can find it in all my stuff!

Downloadable Guide

2006-04-26T11:18:00.000+01:00

A downloadable guide to Project Management from JISC

CLICK HERE (PDF)

Don't know your WORM from your Elbow - TLA Problems?

2006-04-23T23:17:00.000+01:00

If you have as much trouble as I do tracking down what on earth some of your Techies or customers are talking about then try this.

Internet Webopedia

CRM - Good Stuff

2006-04-21T13:53:00.000+01:00

CRMs are notoriously difficult to implement some good advice here.

A Favourite Saying

2006-04-21T12:35:00.000+01:00

Not sure who said this

"If it's difficult to do, then you're doing it wrong."

Time Management and Problem Solving

2006-04-20T08:16:00.000+01:00

A young woman was in the kitchen. A pan of water simmering on the stove. She was having boiled eggs for breakfast.

He walked in. Their eyes met. "Make love to me here, now," she said.
They made love on the kitchen table.

"Couldn't resist me, huh?" he said.

"The egg timer is broken," she replied.

This came in on an e-mail - I like it!

ITIL Best Practice

2006-04-19T10:04:00.000+01:00

The ITIL Library can be found by following this LINK

A List of Project Management Tips

2006-04-18T16:59:00.000+01:00

Here are some Project Management Tips

WORD version

PDF Version

Consultant - A Definition

2006-04-18T11:03:00.000+01:00

Someone told me this years ago:

Definition of a Consultant...

Anyone 30 miles from home with a briefcase

A Favourite Saying

2006-04-13T23:21:00.000+01:00

An old favourite saying came to mind tonight whilst I was explaining the actions of a certain technical type who has used his "own initiative" and turned off one of my e-mail accounts without letting me know......

"Not the sharpest tool in the box!"

This is the polite version. Another that sprang to mind was from a list of personnel review phrases that could be used when reviewing your team:

"His men would follow him anywhere.......

Out of curiosity!"

Multi-Project Scheduling & Management

2006-04-13T15:56:00.000+01:00

Multi-Project Scheduling & Management sounds big and clever and complicated but it isn't.

Clicking HERE will take you to the full story.

Enjoy

And a Wiki on Program Management too

2006-04-13T08:52:00.000+01:00

Program Management HERE

A Project Management Wiki?

2006-04-13T08:50:00.000+01:00

I found a Project Management WIKI Here.

Programme Management

2006-04-13T08:33:00.000+01:00

An excellent starting point to understand what Programme Management is (and is not) is the e-programme or The Programme Management Web Site.

There are some real gems in here including the PMMM which is a fantastic toolkit and free to members.

Click HERE to go to the site and enjoy!

2006-04-10T13:53:00.000+01:00

I am a member Ecademy which is a Social and Business Networking site. Please feel free to join to connect to me by clicking on the header or logo.

Effort and Duration - What is the Difference

2006-04-10T11:00:00.000+01:00

Effort is the number of hours work it is estimated are needed to complete a task. Duration is the period over which this will be spread.

Planning Quote

2006-04-07T21:39:00.000+01:00

Those who fail to plan plan to fail

Change Management

2006-04-07T19:33:00.000+01:00

Some would say that Projects and Programs are all about change.

The Change Manager is therefore a key player in that change:

The Change Manager represents the Programme Executives’ interests in the final outcome, and is the guardian of the business case for funding the Functional Programme. ‘Change’ is the change in the way in which the organisation will function by the time it reaches the end point defined in the strategy. This can be a change to business processes, organisation structure, capabilities, location and premises, products, market, channels to market, etc.

The Change Manager is responsible for the management of change activities, and must ensure that other managers, staff, stakeholders are all informed and involved throughout the life of the programmes. The strategy may require considerable change in the business. This may cause fear and uncertainty. Some people make create barriers and obstacles, which prevent proper progress on the strategic programme. The Change Manager must work with such people, helping and influencing them to overcome such barriers and obstacles. See also: The Strategy Team’s overall responsibilities

The Change Manager must ensure the approach taken to managing risks is appropriate.

The Change Manager ensures that the organisation is able to realise the benefits from the new capabilities. There is a fundamental difference between the delivery of the new capability and actually realising benefits as a result of implementing that capability. This difference is reflected in the complementary roles of Programme Manager and Change Manager.

Networking Web Sites

2006-04-07T16:22:00.000+01:00

You can see my profile on a number of Networking Web Sites:

LinkedIn Profile

Ecademy Profile

Ryze Profile

Soflow Profile

OpenBC Profile

Please feel free to connect to me on any of these.

What is Program or Programme Management

2006-04-07T11:32:00.000+01:00

Following the link will bring up a PDF document by the Program Management Group on he definition of Programme Management.

Been Away a While - Back Now

2005-09-02T09:37:00.000+01:00

Just an update. Cygnus have re-focussed on the Japanese Market and are in a holding pattern in the UK so I don't work for them at the moment. Things may change in the future so we will have to wait and see. For the moment no new work is being brought in through me, exisiting work is being handled through head office.

Holidays now over and a new job! I now work for Cygnus Europe, started yesterday and realised I hadn't touched the blog for a few weeks.

"Rome wasn't built in a day. If it was I'd like to meet the builder"

Favourite Sayings # 13

2005-08-04T12:21:00.000+01:00

I don't know who said this one:

"It doesn't matter if you win or you lose

- Until you lose"

Favourite Sayings #12

2005-08-03T12:24:00.000+01:00

"The light at the end of the tunnel may be the light of an oncoming train"

A winning formula?

2005-07-29T11:38:00.000+01:00

"If you can't dazzle them with brilliance

- baffle them with bullsh*t."

The Six Phases of a Project

2005-07-28T14:06:00.000+01:00

You won't find these in RUP, DSDM, Prince 2 etc.....

Enthusiasm
Disillusionment
Panic
Search for the Guilty
Punishment of the innocent
Praise and honours for the nonparticipants.

Favourite Sayings #11

2005-07-27T12:04:00.000+01:00

I like this one:

"Five out of four people can't do fractions"

Favourite Sayings #10

2005-07-25T11:03:00.000+01:00

Attributed to Abraham Maslow (of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Fame):

"A man whose only tool is a hammer tends to treat everything as a nail"

The Six Ps

2005-07-23T17:21:00.000+01:00

The six Ps are:

Proper Planning Prevents P*ss Poor Performance

Collaboration & Knowledge Management Software

2005-07-22T12:10:00.000+01:00

Project Management can be assisted by having a knowledge management repository so that you can look back at what you learnt last time and have the ability to reuse documents or approaches. There are a number of software solutions but this one , collaborator, is extremely useful and is used at Leeds University to help them run multiple projects and to keep customers in touch with what is going on. It has extensive search capabilities allowing project teams to be rapidly built.

Favourite Sayings #9

2005-07-21T09:37:00.000+01:00

"Things are not always as bad as they seem

-they are often worse"

Favourite Sayings #8

2005-07-20T10:12:00.000+01:00

"There are many paths to the top of the mountain

- but only one view"

No Problems - Just Opportunities

2005-07-19T01:25:00.000+01:00

In that case, I've been working on opportunities all my life!

Program Management - What is it?

2005-07-16T21:34:00.000+01:00

this is a link to an article by the Program Management Group defining Program Management. It is in PDF format. for the HTML equivalent click here.

What is your definition?

Favourite Sayings #7

2005-07-14T11:07:00.000+01:00

"Consultation is often getting approval for what has already been decided!"

Favourite Sayings #6

2005-07-13T10:12:00.000+01:00

"Never interrupt an enemy when he is making a mistake"

APM - Association for Project Management

2005-07-12T11:52:00.000+01:00

The Association for Project Management (APM) provides a useful resource for Project Managers together with an accreditation road map for improving your skills. Click here to go to their web site and see what they can offer you in your professional career.

Favourite Sayings #5

2005-07-12T10:43:00.000+01:00

Another couple to keep you going:

"Thinking is not the same as knowing"

"Some people never stop to think - others never think to stop"

Favourite Sayings #4

2005-07-11T13:25:00.000+01:00

"Don't confuse bad management with fate"

Favourite Sayings #3

2005-07-11T10:41:00.000+01:00

A couple of sayings:

"Diplomacy is the art of getting someone else to think like you."

"Discussions are a way of making others see that they are wrong."

Networking Tool #2

2005-07-10T11:43:00.000+01:00

Another useful networking tool is Linkedin. This allows you to connect to people, describe your job and role, connect to old colleagues etc. It doesn't have the same level of interaction as eCademy but is very useful for connecting and keeping your connections. There are a number of tools which allow you to synchronise your address book and Linkedin.

On Line Networking

2005-07-09T22:24:00.000+01:00

On line networking is becoming more common. eCademy is one of the more interesting ones combining social and business networking and having on line and off line meetings.

British Standards On Line

2005-07-09T22:21:00.000+01:00

There is a web site with British Standards on-line click here to go to it.

Favourite Sayings #2

2005-07-06T15:50:00.000+01:00

How about:

"What may be done at any time may never be done!"

Favourite Sayings #1

2005-07-04T11:35:00.000+01:00

A Commercial Director I once worked with used this phrase quite often:

"Never confuse effort with achievement"

Project Management Quote

2005-07-02T10:53:00.000+01:00

I think it was Nigel who told me this one:

"95% of people need to be told what to do, the other 5% are project managers"

I think he had a point there.

Farnborough Projects High Availability WAN Upgrade

2005-07-01T08:48:00.000+01:00

Clicking on the header will download a case study of a WAN Upgrade project we were involved with. The document is in PDF format.

Farnborough Projects Programme Office & Global CRM work

2005-07-01T08:47:00.000+01:00

Clicking on the header will download a case study in PDF format about a project rescue and Programme Office assignment we were involved in.

Farnborough Projects - Case Study Departmental Reorganisation

2005-07-01T08:45:00.000+01:00

Clicking on the header will download a PDF about a Departmental Reorganisation we were involved in.

Farnborough Projects - Case Study Data Cleansing

2005-07-01T08:44:00.000+01:00

Clicking on the header will download a case study in PDF format about work undertaken to cleanse close to a million data entries.

Farnborough Projects - Visibility and Resource Management

2005-07-01T08:42:00.000+01:00

Clicking on the header will download a case study in PDF format about a deployment of Hydra Manager which helped a company to see all the work that they were involved in.

Farnborough Projects IT Security Rescue

2005-07-01T08:41:00.000+01:00

Clicking on the header will download a case study in PDF of a project rescue effort I was involved in.

Farnborough Projects Case Study on Release Management

2005-07-01T08:40:00.000+01:00

Clicking the header will download a PDF document about a Release Management Project we worked on.

Farnborough Projects Case Study on Office Moves

2005-07-01T08:39:00.000+01:00

I've undertaken a number of office moves on the IT and Construction side as well as the movement of the people itself. the link (click the header) takes you to a brief description of what is needed.

The Project Team definitions you may enjoy?

2005-06-30T23:16:00.000+01:00

I always enjoyed reading this one, my favourite? Quantity Surveyors of course!

Sub Contractor: a gambler who never gets to shuffle, cut or deal

Tender Submission: a poker game in which the losing hand wins

Tender Sum: a wild guess carried out to two decimal places

Successful Tender: a contractor who is wondering what he left out

Architect's Estimate: a cost of construction in heaven

Management Contract: the technique of losing your shirt under perfect control

Completion Date: the point at which liquidated damages begin.

Liquidated Damages: a penalty for failing to achieve the impossible

Quantity Surveyors: people who go in after the war is lost and bayonet the wounded.

Lawyers: people who go in after the Quantity surveyors and strip the bodies.

60 reasons for a closed mind

2005-06-30T23:05:00.000+01:00

I have this list in a load of papers I have in my file and it reminded me of some of the crass comments I have received in the past on work that I have done. perhaps a few of you may recognise these in your experience:

We tried that before
Our place is different
It costs too much
That’s beyond our responsibility
That’s not my job
We’re all too busy to do that
It’s too radical a change
We don’t have the time
Not enough help
That will make other equipment obsolete
Let’s make a market research test of it first
Our office is too small for it
Not practical for our level of staff
The men will never buy it
The staff association will scream
We’ve never done it before
It’s against company policy
Runs up our overheads
We don’t have the authority
That’s too ivory tower
Let’s get back to reality
That’s not our problem
Why change it, it’s still working OK
I don’t like the idea
You’re right, but……
You’re two years ahead of your time
We’re not ready for that
We don’t have the money, equipment, room, personnel
It isn’t in the budget
Can’t teach and old dog new tricks
Good thought, but impractical
Let’s hold it in abeyance
Top management would never go for it
Let’s give it more thought
Let’s put it in writing
we’ll be the laughing stock
Not that again
we’d lose money in the long run
where’d you dig that one up?
We did all right without it
That’s what we can expect from O&M
It’s never been tried before
Let’s shelve it for the time being
Let’s form a committee
Has anyone else tried it?
Customer’s won’t like it
I don’t see the connection
It won’t work in our office
What you are really saying is ….
Maybe that will work in your department, but not mine
The Executive Committee will never go for it
Don’t you think we should look into it further before we act?
What do hey do in our competitor offices
Let’s all sleep on it
It can’t be done
It’s too much trouble to change
It won’t pay for itself
I know a fellow who tried it
It’s impossible
We’ve always done it this way

Binary Conundrum

2005-06-30T16:05:00.000+01:00

I am indebted to Kevin who often reminds me of this one:

There are 10 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't!!

When to use a Scotsman!!

2005-06-29T19:00:00.000+01:00

Now don't rush out and grab some poor guy in a Kilt. This is an acronym:

SCOTSMAN:

Solution
Competition
Originality/Only me
Timescales
Size
Money
Authority
Need

It is used to qualify potential business and often used by sales teams. Mind you it is pretty useful in the Project Manager's toolkit especially when bidding or starting a project.

One I did hear at a meeting

2005-06-29T17:58:00.000+01:00

I was in a meeting years ago when the Project Manager who was about to get a roasting about the performance on the project, before anyone had a chance to speak stated:

"There were two Lions walking down Oxford Street one day. One said to the other "there aren't many people about today".

With that he got up and left the meeting, went back to the office and resigned. That was the last time I saw him!

Things you may say delivering bad news!

2005-06-29T17:49:00.000+01:00

Things I'd love to say at a meeting perhaps delivering bad news but have never tried. I like the idea of this one. Attend the meeting dressed in large leather full length coat, wraparound sunglasses and take a blue and red sweet (candy) into the meeting.

Deliberately placing these on the table, glance around the room and say those famous words:

"This is your last chance. After this there is no turning back. You take the blue pill: the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill: you stay in Wonderland and I show you just how deep the rabbit hole goes."

It may not help delivering the bad news but will leave the audience astounded allowing you to make your escape.

Using a Rigid Approach

2005-06-29T14:01:00.000+01:00

I don't know who drew this but it always raises a laugh especially when introducing a methodology like Prince 2 into an organisation. Imposing a methodology can be quite a change and lightening the message sometime helps. Have fun

A bit of fun not waving......

2005-06-28T22:13:00.000+01:00

Programme (Program) Vs. Project Differences

2005-06-28T19:11:00.000+01:00

This is a brief list of the differences between Programmes and Projects

Programmes

Less well defined end date, some go on for many years, or until a defined organisation state has been achieved

Focus is on delivering benefits (or maximised income), requires involvement after projects have ended. Every programme must directly benefit the organisation in some way

More complicated; interfaces with strategy, contains many projects, drives operational change

Exist in a world that is constantly changing. These changes need to be constantly monitored and their impact on the programme and its project controlled and managed

Macro view; have to consider the combined effect of a portfolio of projects, which should produce synergistic benefits, but sometimes conflict with each other. A balanced view is needed, which is sometimes detrimental to a few projects in the portfolio

Projects

Defined start and finish dates

Focus is on delivering products. These products will be used by the operational parts of the organisation, but not all of them will directly produce benefits

Simpler; only have to focus on delivering defined products.

Projects are ‘ring fenced’. Change control is a more structured and it is easier to control activities.

Micro view; only concerned with delivering what has been defined, on time, to budget and to acceptable quality. Project Managers are only concerned with other projects if their project is dependent on them. They will fight against any other project with threatens the success of their own project.

Project Management Quotes

2005-06-28T10:30:00.000+01:00

This one is attributed to Sir John Harvey-Jones - it is so true.

"Planning is an unnatural process - it's much more fun to get on with it. The real benefit of not planning is that failure comes as a complete surprise and is not preceded by months of worry"

Rudyard Kipling and Project Management

2005-06-28T09:16:00.000+01:00

I keep this pasted in to my diary. Thanks to Rudyard Kipling:

I keep six honest serving-men

(They taught me all I knew);

Their names are

What

And Why

And When

And How

And Where

And Who.

I send them over land and sea,

I send them east and west;

But after they have worked for me,

I give them all a rest.

Thanks to Rudyard Kipling for the above

Project Phrases and their REAL meanings

2005-06-28T00:42:00.000+01:00

A number of phrases used on projects. Any you recognise?

A number of different approaches are being tried. (We are still guessing at this point.)

Close project coordination. (We sat down and had coffee together.)

An extensive report is being prepared on a fresh approach. (We just hired three punk kids out of school.)

Major technological breakthrough! (It works OK; but looks very hi-tech!)

Customer satisfaction is believed assured. (We are so far behind schedule, that the customer will take anything.)

Preliminary operational tests were inconclusive. (The darn thing blew up when we threw the switch.)

Test results were extremely gratifying! (Unbelievable, it actually worked!)

The entire concept will have to be abandoned. (The only guy who understood the thing quit.)

It is in process. (It is so wrapped in red tape that the situation is completely hopeless.)

We will look into it. (Forget it! We have enough problems already.)

Please note and initial. (Let's spread the responsibility for this.)

Give us the benefit of your thinking. (We'll listen to what you have to say as long as it doesn't interfere with what we have already done or with what we are going to do.)

Give us your interpretation. (We can't wait to hear your bull.)

See me or let's discuss. (Come to my office, I've messed up again.)

All new. (Parts are not interchangeable with previous design.)

Rugged. (Don't plan to lift it without major equipment.)

Robust! (Rugged, but more so)

Light weight. (Slightly lighter than rugged)

Years of development. (One finally worked)

Energy saving. (Achieved when the power switch is off.)

No maintenance. (Impossible to fix)

Low maintenance. (Nearly impossible to fix)

Fax me the data. (I'm too lazy to write it down.)

We are following the standard! (That's the way we have always done it)

Contract Indexing

2005-06-28T00:10:00.000+01:00

Click the header to download the PDF Document.

A little project I did a while ago. Consolidating a massive contract into a single electronic document and using standard indexing and hyperlinking tools to make it easier to understand. It is surprising why this is not done more regularly these days. Perhaps the paperless office still isn't accepted even in the 21st Century?

Hydra Manager The Value Proposition

2005-06-28T00:08:00.000+01:00

Click the header of this post to download the PDF document.

This is about Hydra Manager a tool I have been setting up and implementing for customer for a while now. It uses a resource centric approach and is totally different from most of the other tools out there, it works differently and is easy to pick up, it never over allocates and it "does exactly what it says on the tin"....

Again, more later..

Resource Centric Project Management

2005-06-28T00:05:00.000+01:00

Click the header for the PDF document.

This article very briefly explores the use of a Resource Centric approach to project and program (or programme) management. It explores what the issues are with today's standard project management planning tools and explores the use of a resource rather than a task based approach.

I hope to post some more information around this subject later.

Project management 50 things to remember

2005-06-27T23:29:00.000+01:00

This arrived in my inbox and I can only attribute it to the WWW.

1.It takes one woman nine months to have a baby. It cannot be done in one month by impregnating nine women.
2.Nothing is impossible for the person who doesn't have to do it.
3.You can con a sucker into committing to an impossible deadline, but you cannot con him into meeting it.
4.At the heart of every large project is a small project trying to get out.
5.The more desperate the situation the more optimistic the situatee.
6.A problem shared is a buck passed.
7.A change freeze is like the abominable snowman: it is a myth and would anyway melt when heat is applied.
8.A user will tell you anything you ask, but nothing more.
9.Of several possible interpretations of a communication, the least convenient is the correct one.
10.What you don't know hurts you
11.There's never enough time to do it right first time but there's always enough time to go back and do it again.
12.The bitterness of poor quality lasts long after the sweetness of making a date is forgotten.
13.I know that you believe that you understand what you think I said, but I am not sure you realise that what you heard is not what I meant.
14.What is not on paper has not been said.
15.A little risk management saves a lot of fan cleaning.
16.If you can keep your head while all about you are losing theirs, you haven't understood the plan.
17.If at first you don't succeed, remove all evidence you ever tried.
18.Feather and down are padding, changes and contingencies will be real events.
19.There are no good project managers - only lucky ones.
20.The more you plan the luckier you get.
21.A project is one small step for the project sponsor, one giant leap for the project manager.
22.Good project management is not so much knowing what to do and when, as knowing what excuses to give and when.
23.If everything is going exactly to plan, something somewhere is going massively wrong.
24.Everyone asks for a strong project manger - when they get them they don't want them.
25.Overtime is a figment of the naive project manager's imagination.
26.Quantitative project management is for predicting cost and schedule overruns well in advance.
27.The sooner you begin coding the later you finish.
28.Metrics are learned men's excuses.
29.For a project manager overruns are as certain as death and taxes.
30.Some project finish on time in spite of project management best practices.
31.Fast - cheap - good - you can have any two.
32.There is such a thing as an unrealistic timescale.
33.The project would not have been started if the truth had been told about the cost and timescale.
34.A two-year project will take three years, a three year project will never finish.
35.When the weight of the project paperwork equals the weight of the project itself, the project can be considered complete.
36.A badly planned project will take three times longer than expected - a well planned project only twice as long as expected.
37.Warning: dates in a calendar are closer than they appear to be.
38.Anything that can be changed will be changed until there is no time left to change anything.
39.There is no such thing as scope creep, only scope gallop.
40.A project gets a year late one day at a time.
41.If you're 6 months late on a milestone due next week but really believe you can make it, you're a project manager.
42.No project has ever finished on time, within budget, to requirement and yours won't be the first to
43.Activity is not achievement.
44.Managing IT people is like herding cats.
45.If you don't know how to do a task, start it, then ten people who know less than you will tell you how to do it.
46.If you don't plan, it doesn't work. If you do plan, it doesn't work either. Why plan!
47.The person who says it will take the longest and cost the most is the only one with a clue how to do the job.
48.The sooner you get behind schedule, the more time you have to make it up.
49.The nice thing about not planning is that failure comes as a complete surprise rather than being preceded by a period of worry and depression.
50.Good control reveals problems early - which only means you'll have longer to worry about them.