Global Project Management Consultant - Seeking Next Engagement

Project Management after the Meltdown

2010-04-14T08:23:00.000-07:00

I think everyone will agree it has been a very tough 2 years for Project Managers.

Budgets cuts
Projects terminated
Staff laid off
Increasing demands from business users

It has been a sea change for survival in the market for thousands of businesses. There have been credit crisis, doomsayers, bail outs, and more bail outs. The political and strategic debates over the perfect solution in the perfect storm are numerous.
What will really work to restore the market that your projects are meant to support? Are you projects still implemented based on a leading corporate strategy or are they reactive in nature, leaving you and the project team feeling weak, emasculated, and uncertain about your own career choices?
Were you one of the millions of knowledge works laid off by your mothership corporation? What do to do? Where to go? Fetal position?
Did you find a career/life coach? Did you join a trusted business network or some social media network in hopes of finding the next right thing?
Did you actions take on the pall of victim, or did you pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and get back in the game? Are you on the road to recovery? Do you think the global market economy is on the road to recovery? Do you see any corporate manipulations? Do you see any governmental manipulations? Do you know what the solution is?
Would you care to share about your survival experience? If you do, email me at rick@eprojectsource.com and lets have a chat about what your format and content could do to help others in the Project Management business.

Regards,

Rick

End of Year Recap - Career Connect Singapore

2009-12-06T23:13:00.001-08:00

Weekly meeting each Tuesday at TCC The Central at Clarke Quay MRT from 11 am to 1 pm

Our group is recapping lessons learned from our networking experiences during 2009!

Please bring along your story of success find new jobs and new client in the Recovery Economy to share with members who are poised to succeed in 2010!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Lessons Learned 2009

2009-12-01T00:35:00.000-08:00

Sorry not to post in awhile. I have been busy this year managing consulting projects as well as getting Career Connect up and running in Singapore and Bangkok! I have helped about 25 people find jobs in Singapore now.

Each year, and each project gives me more and more experience to learn from. This year I found myself working in Mainland China for the first time. I did a software quality assessment for a US insurance company. My learnings come from the work itself, and just living in China.

Here is some of what I found out for myself. If it resonates with you in anyway, I would enjoy hearing from you at rick@eprojectsource.com

1. When I complained about problems with taxi drivers in Shanghai, my expats friends already had an expression TIC (This is China). So I found myself humbler in a culture that is emerging from a long period of isolation and now driving 100 miles an hour towards a model of socialist/capitalist business. Keeping TIC in mind I found many instances of it on the project I was working as below:

2. Project Management means different things to different people and organizations. (not really knew)....but when placed in certain firms in certain countries...it can be cumbersome and built alongside the development organization and seen as an administrative function (witnessed in Shanghai, Manila, Singapore and Vietnam). If you are just going through the motions of project management, then the results you get will mirror the direct efforts you make from the "real" power center of the project. Then when the projects fail, the PMO can be blamed, and the power center walks away washing its hands of the project, bound for managing another project without implementing a project management methodology or PMO.

3. CPM tools are not spreadsheets. I found a project director using spreadsheets to brief his management and client management. A smart guy, but there is no way to use a spreadsheet to do the CPM analytics needed to update a completion schedule let alone do any EVM. To his dismay he was not able to delivery on time.

4. Document the project lifecycle, and use the people, processes and tools to deliver on time and on budget. Again, the project was poorly documented and would not even rate Level 0 of the SEI CMMi. Innovation cannot happen from chaos. The test phases were a mess, and set delivery of quality, zero defect software applications back months, if not more than a year. This added to the cost of the project, as well as diminished the reputations of managers and team members on both the vendor team and the customer team. It was and is a huge frustration when tech

These are just a few of the lessons learned I encountered working in Asia on projects in 2009. I am teaching them in 2 day seminars titled "Project Killers and their Solutions."

Please contact me at rick@eprojectsource.com if this is a seminar your management and staff would benefit from. I am happy to send you the outline of my talking points.

Regards,

Rick Price

Borderless Project Management

2009-10-24T21:26:00.000-07:00

More and more projects that go global are impacted by local business cultures. To overcome some of the adverse impacts of local business culture to a global project, I suggest a kick off meeting that creates a project based culture. The project based culture should be based on the common touch points among the people, processes and tools for the projects.

Recently I was working on a project where two project teams in a co-development effort were using different change control and test tools. This caused incredible disconnects in the software development process, especially with regard to testing and change requests. In addition, there were no metrics in place to assess the actual added cost to the project due these inefficiencies.

My prescriptions were to remediate these out-of-tolerance conditions immediately in 3 quick steps. What would you do?

Project Management will end the Global Recession!

2009-08-16T07:49:00.000-07:00

Sorry not to post in so long. I have been very busy working to end the Global Recession. I am currently working on a software project in APAC out of Singapore and Shanghai.

Project Management is key to ending the speculation of economists and other talking heads in the media. They have big fat salaries and even fatter heads that speculate about when the recession will end.

Everyone in media has given their strategy about how to end the recession. Most have not gone more than an inch deep to explain what is going on or not going on. They can flip through their college econ text to talk it up before the next commercial (the revenue that pays those fatheads their fat salaries like O'Reilly and those other Fox yahoos ). Of course, so many who are sought out for comment by the media have a political comment or two that poisons rather than heals the lives of everyday people who are suffering in these times. My late Grandmother predicted a Great Depression like event that would come in my lifetime. That was before outsourcing came to the USA. That was before the dot.com bubble (I got that joke of a $300 check from Bush in 2001). That was before Wall Street, AIG (a bit more than $300 from Bush), Madoff, and all the other crooks who want to live like kings.

The heavy lifting in this recession like any other is done by Project Managers across all business sectors. They have to have a plan, and they have to make sure it gets results everyday. Many Project Managers use Earned Value Management and Analysis to keep control of precious budget resources on their projects. Can you imagine if EVM was used on Wall Street or by any of the banks, insurance firms, or investments firms that got confused about their core mission, profit over the past few years? Instead, they spent money as if they had no bottom to their pockets, and then reached into our pockets for bail outs! They are supposed to be corporate Republican Fat Cats not socialists! At least that is what they told me over the years when I asked for a raise.

When you are out there working as a Project Manager, your resources are finite and have to be cared for or they will run through your fingers like sand. Have you got an updated Project Plan? Have you got a WBS that is detailed to a level that you can manage work packages for full compliance to the budget plan, standards, and within the master schedule? Do you have a Project Communications Plan? I think you know as well as I do, without your tool kit, you will not get the results you want, and your stakeholders short fuse will blow, and the project risks will mount until the project fails.

Project Managers know how to end this recession now! Move out of the way strategists and media fatheads. We have rolled our sleeves up and will plan, do, check....Good luck!

Status Updates

2009-06-11T20:21:00.001-07:00

When you are involved managing a project or an entire project portfolio, you need a system for getting regular, validated status updates. One pet peeve I have is how many project management tools (CPM) often spot you 50% actual completion rates as the user default.

A huge caveat is to be wary of that on "your" project. It is one thing to have a +5 or -5 error coefficient in a regression analysis, but 50% actual completion that gets booked in a status report when less is actually done, magnifies potential risk as you move from the original project baseline to the target baseline.

The solution is to educate the entire team on how and when to update their status "as is" at a given time and day. And make sure you set up your PM software tools to default status updates at zero.

Project Charters that have teeth in them

2009-06-01T01:04:00.000-07:00

Before you begin a new project you are going to need a meaningful Project Charter. You will need to ensure that all the elements and most importantly the goals, objectives, and stakeholders are aligned exactly with what you want to accomplish in undertaking the project.

I can think of several stakeholders and managers on a project who took visible roles on paper, but not with regard to performance. Within 6 months they awoke and were displeased not with their apathy but the PMO. hmmmm....

What you do not want is any element to be less than fully committed. Short and sweet.

Org Comms info from my buddy Duke

2009-05-26T21:41:00.000-07:00

Ever see this? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redding%27s_Ten_Postulates

Communication Within the Organization: The Interpretive Review of Theory and Research (pg 27-138)In what can be considered the first reputable textbook in the field of Organizational Communication, ‘‘Communication Within an Organization: The Interpretive Review of Theory and Research, Redding discusses the Ten Postulates of OrganizationalCommunication.

1.Meanings are not transferred: This postulate refers more to the receptiveness of the receivers. If a message was not received correctly Redding refers to that as content fallacy. With the concept of content fallacy the sender believes that they are getting through to the receiver just because they, the sender, understand the message that is being sent.

2.Anything is a potential message: This postulate includes both verbal and non verbal cues and messages being received as a message.

3.Input (specifically listening): in his novel, Redding discusses how to be a good listener. He utilizes the example of a participative manager listening to his subordinates in an empathetic manner.

4.The message that is received is the one that will bring action: the message that is sent and received is the one that will be acted up on. Redding states that the receiver will reference their personal experiences as a point of reference to act up on the message received.

5.Feedback: (Responsiveness and Receptiveness): this postulate deals with feedback within an organization from both managers and subordinates. Feedback receptiveness refers to how much feedback managers welcome from subordinates. Responsiveness refers to how much feedback managers give. Redding also notes that there is a difference between being open, responding, and being receptive to feedback are three separate things.

6.Cost Factor: Communication requires energy. Redding discusses this formula: efficiency = effectiveness/cost. Ultimately, more communication does not equal more effectiveness.

7.Redundancy: this postulates deals with the repetition of messages and how effective and comprehensive the messages are.

8.Communication Overload: this postulate deals with an individuals limit of processing messages. Messages may not be properly received if too many messages or noise is interfering with reception of messages.

9.Serial Transmission Effect: This postulate refers to change of meaning within a message. This can occur when information is traveling through various people within a network. Messages are liable to get distorted.

10.Organization’s Climate: Redding believed that an organization’s climate was far more important than its skills or techniques. He even theorized an “ideal managerial climate” which consisted of 5 parts.
a. Supportiveness
b. Participative decision making
c. Trust, confidence, and credibility
d. Openness and candor e. Emphasis on high performance goals.

In Redding’s book, Communication with the Organization: Interpretive Review of Theory and Research, he supports these postulates with research from various studies. He was an avid believer in investigating messages and message related practices.[5] __._,_.___

Spending on IT in APAC Increasing

2009-05-17T00:22:00.000-07:00

Project Managers should take note that the Recovery Economy is upon us. There are new project targets to pursue.

Please refer to this link:

http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_377165.html

Project Branding

2009-05-12T04:36:00.000-07:00

Project Branding: Shameless Self-Promotion in the Recovery Economy

What is a Project Brand?

What do you think of when you think of?

Donald Trump? Hair, You’re Fired!

Larry King, CNN? Suspenders (Braces), and Hi-So softball questions to his guests

Jack Welch? Neutron Jack, GE success

Bill Gates? Nerd

What is your Project Brand? How do you build a brand?

Coke, the shape of the bottle, the script that reads Coca-Cola and Coke.

Burger King, Have it your way

FedEx, When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight

How did these firms do it?

How do we use our 5 senses to evaluate a brand? Design your Project brand with your prospects senses and requirements in mind.

Use the questions; Who, what where when, why, (be careful with how).

What are your ‘sproject features and benefits?

Is your project local, expat, or global?

How do you get your project brand out there into the market? How do you tell your project story with a brand?

Project business cards for the Project Team
Project website/blog
Publishing articles related to your project in your business sector
Social media (yes projects are happening on Twitter! IBM sold $1 million in products on Twitter recently, over 100 hospitals use Twitter)
Project networking events for teambuilding
Professional membership organizations

What is the ROI on your Project brand?
Do you have a switching cost for your Project brand?

Is your Project brand creating an indispensable service for your customers and stakeholders?

Are you a change agent (be careful of jargon)?

Can you create a Project brand that attracts as much as it promotes?

Can you create a Project brand that is simple, empathetic to your customers needs, as well as aesthetic?

Best of look, and let me know if I can help you in your process.

Regards,

Rick Price
rick@eprojectsource.com

SaaS Asia User Conference

2009-05-04T07:34:00.001-07:00

Day 1 (May 27th) - SaaS Asia User Conference

Day 2 (May 28th) - SaaS Asia Boot Camp (exclusively for Partners, ISVs, SIs, Channels, etc.)

The SaaS Asia Conference 2009 website will also be continuously updated with speaker information, conference details, and the latest news and information on the conference.
We look forward to having an exciting conference with analysis of SaaS & Cloud Computing and how it is expanding in Asia, as well unique perspectives to help you understand how you can leverage SaaS & Cloud Computing solutions to expand your business opportunities.

Please let us know if you have any questions about the SaaS Asia Conference 2009 and we look forward to seeing you there!

Project Management in the Recovery Economy

2009-04-23T04:12:00.000-07:00

How can Project Managers help projects succeed in the recovery economy?

Please see the link below:

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/BUSINESS/04/22/imf.forecast/

Does the IMF really have a handle of its recession data?

How would you use that data to plan your projects in 2009 - 2010?

Please let me know how I can help your with your turn-around projects.

Outstanding Townhall Presentations Tips - from my buddy Duke in Texas

2009-04-07T03:01:00.000-07:00

1. Don’t forget the 6 by 6 rule. Attempt to achieve no more than six words per slide and six words per line. Often in communication, slower is better and less is more.

2. Stay within the 8 slides, fonts and format. You are a part of a total presentation and consistency matters. A display slide can be added if it consists of figure, pictures (not more text)

3. Presentations tell a story. Not only what the Aim, Cause and Effect, Solution and Measurement was; but why it was important, what were struggles along the way, what was learned, what would be advice to others? You have 8 minutes of real estate, so use it well.

4. To come across clear, concise and natural…prepare what is to be covered; practice it in your head until it is second nature. Many a good presentation had trigger thoughts on note cards. Great presentations don’t come by accident.

5. Remember everyone is cheering for you. Nervousness is always bigger on the inside of us than what is displayed. Focus on helping them understand your project and you won’t have time to focus on how you look.

6. Work your audience. Throw out a question or thought that makes them think. Engage them in the thinking process your team went through. People love to relate to similar issues.

7. Mistakes aren’t mortal. If they occur, they are part of the process of sharing. During the webcast, we left some imperfections in because that was more natural than ten more retakes.

8. Don’t project what can’t be read. Adjust your graph fonts to be seen from the back of the room. Test: Print out the slide, lay it at your feet, then read it. If you can’t see it; your audience can’t either.

9. Remember that the audience does not know your department or its lingo. Giving context and understanding can help them step through your story. Avoid acronyms where possible.

10. Be yourself as best you can. The audience is just as interested in connecting with you as they are your topic. Remember, you share what you know, but you impart who you are…lester brown

Powerup in the Recession

2009-04-07T02:50:00.000-07:00

"There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else." - Sam Walton, Wal-Mart

Today I spoke in Singapore at a meeting about how to Powerup in the Recession:

1. Be clear with hiring managers and customer targets
2. Be concise with your accomplishments, back them up with numbers, especially $$$$.
3. Be confident with all the people you meet and they will get the vibe!
4. Be a winner who breaks a sweat, practices more, plays more, and delivers more to employers and customers.

China Has Changed; The Chinese Haven’t

2009-03-24T20:31:00.000-07:00

From a pal in another network:

Has China changed? Companies bet millions on the answer, but it’s the wrong question. You should ask if Chinese have changed. China has changed; the Chinese haven’t.

Amazing changes! New politico/economic system. New laws, social structures, buildings and consumption patterns, different clothes. Sound familiar? It should—it’s happened twice in 100 years! (Three times actually.)

Go back 50 years. China’s 1959 changes (described above) were as amazing as changes today. But Mao and communism didn’t change the Chinese, and it’s naive to think MacDonald’s and capitalism will. China changes but the Chinese don’t.

Or don’t change in areas important for business. China’s changes are outside-in, important for what types of business can be done but not for actually doing business. That requires inside-out change, a harder thing.

China’s market is growing in two ways. First, more people with purchasing power, the new middle class. A few hundred million so far, with hundreds to come. Second, different consumption habits, coffee shops, convenience stores and beauty salons. Huge changes, yet neither affect how business is done.

Cultures develop unique ways of using language, their Rules of Communication. Chinese and Western rules are very different. Consider disagreement. Westerners believe state your honest opinion, even if you disagree. Chinese believe disagree in an indirect, discreet manner. Add the different ways each use to say No—Westerners say No directly whereas Chinese say No indirectly, if possible not even using the word No—and trouble is guaranteed.

Differences in building business relationships adds more trouble. Westerners feel the Contract determines the relationship, that differences are decided by referring to the Contract. Chinese think a Contract is a good place to start but if the situation changes then the terms and conditions should change. Meeting contract terms, doing the business, is where “Chinese haven’t changed” is clearest.

All business relationships must communicate and solve problems: success in both creates trust, failure destroys it. Misunderstandings are the biggest hidden cost in international business, eroding trust as well as causing mistakes and inefficiencies. Business without trust signals a “going broke” relationship. Westerners put faith in law, Chinese in relationships. “How can you ask me to lose money?” could only be asked by Chinese, “It’s not personal, just business” only said by a Westerner.

Westerners only see where China had changed and stay blind to where the Chinese haven’t, confusing what kinds of business can be done with the way Chinese actually do business.

How Chinese communicate, solve problems and build business relationships is changing, but slowly. Chinese control these changes, not Westerners, and fundamentals of culture don’t change easily. If communism couldn’t force Chinese to change it is folly to think capitalism will either. Use China’s outside-in changes to judge business opportunities, but let the slow change of Chinese inside-out “ways” determine how you actually do business.

One sure requirement to success is being able to see communication and business relationships as Chinese do. Westerners need to look at business through Chinese glasses.

For more: www.bicbiz.com

Straits Times surveys CIOs in Asia

2009-03-05T07:08:00.000-08:00

Some optimistic results at the link below:

http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_346408.html

Bailout Project Tools

2009-02-26T21:07:00.000-08:00

1. Patience
2. Patience
3. Patience

Presentation Tips from my buddy Duke in Houston

2009-02-21T02:59:00.000-08:00

Dutch Holland of Holland & Davis Inc. www.hdinc.com has a masterful way of passing understanding onto his audience. Reflecting back on what made his presentation more meaningful than just its content, I came up with ten features that could turn a good presentation into a great one. Duke Rohe drohe@att.net

1. Share strategic information in a homestyle way. Clear, understandable, pertinent. The best is when the material is profoundly simple. Common sense that is not commonly exercised. Remember: being ‘expert’ distances you from the audience; being human draws you nearer.

2. Use the audience to have fun. Keep score of smart-alek remarks, yawns, whatever helps them laughing at themselves.

3. Create a mood of humor which keeps a giggle on tap.

4. Ping-pong understanding between content knowledge, real world parallels (seasoned with humor or experience), and audience answers to questions.

5. Relay two takeaway things that are MOST important. If you remember anything, remember these.

6. Describe a problem that the audience commonly experiences, expose the clockwork behind it, then share the high-level strategy needed to change it. All in nugget form.

7. Be so good that you can give away your slides, packed with helpful how-to’s, without giving away your intellectual capital. So good you don’t need to sell, just share a useful ‘part’ of what the audience needs.

8. Pause to let the audience arm-wrestle understanding among themselves; yet move on to cover the essentials of the material. Burn-in learning through exercises or sharing real-life examples.

9. Shift the attention from sniper ‘inquiries’ which want to ‘show’ you what they know by humorously saying, “Oh, I’ll let you finish my presentation”.

10. Have fun while you present. If you had a good time, more than likely, the audience did too.

Firmly in the Year of the Ox - Reality Check

2009-02-09T02:20:00.000-08:00

For many project managers this year, it will be a time of turn-around management. How to do more with less? And maybe some project managers are already starting to plan for 2010!

In the meantime, what are some of the best practices from previous recessions that project managers can employ to lessen the pain on their projects?

1. Don't panic - create a sense of calm and stay positive.
2. Continue team building - you are going to see team members that rise to the occasion, and will want to make sure you keep them on board for the long haul.
3. Be honest, open and communicative in a 360 degree fashion. Don't gold plate anything.

It may be a good time to read "Reality Check" by Guy Kawasaki!

Holiday Action Items - Be grateful and help others

2008-12-21T16:25:00.000-08:00

Happy holidays and best of luck in 2009 for you and your family!

Back to the blog after the new year.....

Regards,

Rick Price

Best Practices of 2009 - Rescoping Project Plans

2008-12-17T17:40:00.000-08:00

It has been a very tough year for project work across the board. Maybe you started out the year with a clean slate and a few projects to complete. But, as the year wore on, you found yourself rescoping your project plan, and the completion of those projects is delayed. If you have been around awhile you rescoped your plan in response to market conditions as they impact the business sector you work in. You were able to stay on plan and execute. If you have not been working during a recession before, then you may have reacted to market impacts while you rescoped your project plan. You got off track with your project plan, and struggled to get back onto the plan for execution.

So, its the end of the year and many, many C-level guys and managers are preaching doom and gloom for 2009. No matter what happens, your will need to manager your projects for results. You want to ensure project success, even if you have market constraints impacting your project plans.

What positive actions can you take to rescope your project plans for 2009?

1. Accept that you have to do more with less, and reallocate resources via the triple constraint. Become the turn-around Project Manager.

2. Retain experienced staff by offering job security while taking wage cuts. Make sure you lead this effort by a substantive pay cut as well.

3. Recruit new hires at lower wages, for longer project lifecycles. Make sure you do not take a large salary increase against your project payroll.

4. Review vendor contracts and relationships with prospective vendors to lower acquisition costs for products needed to support the project. Retain vendors who can renegotiate financial terms, and release those that cannot (keep in mind the cost of any penalties).

5. Review and revalidate project requirements with stakeholders. Some project requirements are mission critical, perhaps other requirements can be postponed to later phases of the project plan's master schedule. Reprioritize requirements in the Change Management Plan, Risk Management Plan, Impact Analyses, Change Control Board to avoid any out of balance ripple effects.

I am sure there are many other ways to leverage project success during a recession. If you have examples, please feel free to post them here.

Happy holiday wishes for you and your family and the very best wishes for your projects in 2009!

"Hands-On Project Management"

2008-12-09T16:58:00.000-08:00

Whenever I read job posts for Project Manager, there is a wide variation or misuse of this term. Would you hire a Project Manager without appropriate credentials, skills, and experience? Why do I keep seeing postings for Project Managers with 1 - 3 years experience? How much of a budget will you entrust to such a junior level person? In actual fact, the hiring manager is recruiting a "Task Manager" at best, who will not have budget authority, hire/fire responsibilities, who will not manager people, but more likely will coordinate tasks, go for coffee and doughnuts, etc. Can you imagine a Project Manager with 3 years experience leading a project such as the Petronas Towers? This is one of my favorite all-time great projects which had 2 extremely experienced Project Managers (one for each tower!).

I recently spoke with the C-level of a firm that feels happy enough to use the term "global" in its corporate appellation, as well as its search for a "Global" Project Manager. During our talk about my credentials, skills and experience I was bombarded with what seemed to be a accusation, "I don't see where you have been "hands-on" anywhere in your resume. While he never gave his definition of "hands-on," I spent about 10 minutes trying to determine what he meant before I decided I was talking to a box of rocks and hung up. I suppose he was speaking about some depth of technical experience but failed to communicate that when using jargon.

"Hands-on" as a project manager? What did he mean?

1. "Hands-on" as a member of the Project Management Office?

2. "Hands-on" as a member of some part of the organization the PMO had a service level agreement (SLA) with?

3. "Hands-on" as any number of technical staff from telecom engineer, software developer, network engineer, tester, QA manager, release manager, and so it goes. I think this generally is what he meant in between his personal insults (a great management tactic used by drill sergeants on unsuspecting recruits everywhere!)

Asking if I was "hands-on" is a really poor way of trying to communicate. It shows more of what a person does not know, while expecting the listener to "fill in the blanks" or "connect the dots." This kind of double speak reminds of the very funny FedEx advertising campaign a few years back. "Run it up the flag pole to Rizzo!"

Solution #1 - Our communication in Project Management must be clear, concise and technical where appropriate.

There are several problems when a Project Manager role is "underfilled" by someone who is "hands-on":

1. Title does not match the actual years of experience/accomplishments

2. Years of experience does not match problem to be solved

3. Role as defined does not match an equitable salary

4. Credentials do not match those needed for the role

5. Required project results do not match the planned-for level of project effort

Risk #1 - If being "hands-on" means having a Project Manager serve other roles and do tasks more properly assigned to other roles on a project, there will be a true lack of project management capability and project maturity. That means the organization is not ready to undertake the project at all.

Risk #2 - If the expectation of the C-level is to use a Project Manager as "hands-on" in #3 above, then C-level does not have an adequate understanding of Project Management and will not enjoy project success. So at the "end of the day" time, money, people are wasted. Then the "re-work" must be done. Again, more time, money, and people are wasted. Expensive project indeed!

Solution #2 - Aligning and optimizing the Project Manager's credentials, skills and experience is key to project success. Afterwards the Project Manager must do the same task in recruiting the PMO team, and project teams.

Here is a link to an article you may enjoy about the 4 types of Project Managers/Projects:

http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-9182234_ITM

In the long run, I think the C-level was trying to tell me his projects are all in complete disarray and total chaos. And, that he wanted someone to fix it all overnight, for the salary he would pay a person with 3 years experience. I wish him good luck finding that person!

Chai yo Rama IX! Happy Birthday to His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand

2008-12-04T20:55:00.000-08:00

We wish a very happy birthday and also our hope for a speedy recovery to His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand.

His Majesty has initiated over 3,000 projects to benefit the people of Thailand during his more than 60 years on the throne in Thailand. As Project Managers go, this number of projects is truly amazing. His Majesty can be seen in every corner of Thailand with his ever present camera documenting all phases of the project management lifecycle. His projects cover literally every public sector need for the Thai people.

I would encourage Project Managers everywhere to study the projects undertaken in Thailand under the leadership of this very special Project Manager. There are many lessons learned, and best practices for us all to benefit from.

We pay our respects to Rama IX and the people of Thailand on this special day, December 5, 2008! Chai yo krub! Long Live His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej!

The Cranes of Singapore

2008-11-14T20:17:00.000-08:00

This past week I was waiting for a meeting to start high above downtown Singapore. I looked out the window and counted at least 15 cranes within a few blocks of the Suntec Tower One. Market crash? Downtown in global economy? Life goes on. Business goes on. Building goes on so far. The sun still rises each day, even if overspeculation and loose credit rules have conspired with the greedy to wipe trillions off global stock exchanges. Project managers still lead the resources for accomplishment of work in portfolios, programs and projects.

Singapore construction cranes. Cranes that tower over the skyline. Asian cranes. Beautiful birds in flight or standing still. Legends, in literature, sculpture and painting in Asia. In some Asian martial arts the crane is a mascot if you will. Great lessons are learned from observing both the beauty and actions of the birds. A crane's meaning to a particular martial art will mean BALANCE among other things as in the story below:

The Fāng family lived in Fujian, a province of China, in a place where there were manycranes. Qīniáng's father knew the Southern Chinese martial arts and taught them to his daughter. One day, while Qīniáng was doing her chores, a crane alighted nearby. Qīniáng tried to scare the bird off using a stick and the skills she learned from her father but whatever she did, the crane would counter. Qīniáng tried to hit the crane on the head, but the bird moved its head out of the way and blocked the stick with its wings. Qīniáng tried to hit the crane's wings, but the crane stepped to the side and this time blocked with the claws of its feet. Qīniáng tried to poke the crane's body, but the crane dodged backwards and struck the stick with its beak. From then on, Qīniáng carefully studied the movements of cranes and combined these movements with the martial arts she learned from her father, creating the White Crane style of Fujian Province.

Balance is essential in portfolio management on Wall Street as well as portfolio management of the projects you have under management now. Right now Project Managers are still managing portfolios of projects globally. Many are doing more with less. Less budget. Fewer people. Maybe aging IT infrastructure or telecom assets. Maybe postponing the start of new projects until risk can be lowered, and operating cash flows restored.

What is the solution? Who will be the hero and provide balance as Project Manager, if anyone?

I would refer you back to your original Project Charter, Project Plan and Master Schedule. I suggest that you ensure that your day-to-day tasking, whether it be design, development, or operations comply with those original "living" documents.

Balanced. Optimized. Aligned.

If not, you may want to perform a very quick assessment to find out how far off the critical path you have gone for your project. What will it take to get in back on track? What will that cost? Who will you need on the team to get it done? How long will it take?

Maybe you are not a hero. Maybe you are a crane. You have the balance, and the tactics to block bad moves aimed at your project and restore the project to its own balanced actions. A crane, rather than looking good standing still, is balanced and fierce in actions taken to reconfigure project performance. You are a crane!

Have a relaxing weekend. Let me know what you think as you have time...

Regards,

Rick

Building Cross-Cultural Project Teams for High Performance Results

2008-11-06T18:32:00.000-08:00

In this global economy whether it is strong or weak, projects have a cross-cultural element that we must all work to strengthen. There are so many factors and I will go into just a few here that should be considered when building a global and thus cross-cultural team.

Team integration should be seamless to kick off the project and move forward in step with the project plan and master schedule. The Project Manager should consider each stakeholder, member of the Project Management Office, as well as endusers. A few of the integration categories are:

Credentials - Nation to nation, school systems have different accreditation bodies to ensure the quality of graduates. The Project Manager must be able to align the value of a university or trade school and its degrees

Skills - Skillsets vary depending on demand in a market, and a Project Manager on a global project must know how and where to resource the appropriate skillsets needed based on the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) and the Organizational Breakdown Structure (OBS).

Experience - The level of experience should be evaluated along with credentials and skills to determine a best fit on the project team. Years of experience should be assessed along with depth of experience.

Merit - Project Managers should recognize the meaning and value of merit in recruitment, promotion, and success on a project may vary nation to nation, culture to culture to culture. Merit is sometimes like comparing apples to oranges, but a skilled, politically attuned Project Manager should be able to know the differences globally.

Productivity - Master Schedule Plans developed in the "home office" of a corporation's PMO rarely reflect the local differences whether it be as simple as time zones or public holidays. A global, cross cultural Project Manager should know that he/she will not be taking off the 4th of July as an American when working overseas. By the same token, the global Project Manager should learn as quickly as possible that local offices of the project will observe differing working hours (maybe 10 instead of 8 hours), working days (Sundays for instance).

Innovation - This area is often overlooked on projects. A degree of repeatability has been garnered over time by experienced Project Managers. However, change happens quickly on projects these days, and not just with technology. Innovation could either drive a project via new ideas or new ways of working, or be a reaction to the shortfalls of people, process or tools being experienced on a project. The Project Manager will have to which type of innovator he or she will be. I prefer to drive rather than to react.

Creativity - A Project Manager who is adept globally, will be creative in completing the project on-time and on-budget. Creativity could be something as simple as using cultural themes to decorate and identify the conference rooms in the "home office", or to actually bring in language tutors to train long term staff in a local language or even business English. The Japanese have been very good about teaching their managers posted to Thailand the Thai language.

Trust - For a Project Manager, or anyone really, trust takes a long time to build, and a New York minute to destroy. Credible, ethical Project Managers are an example to the global project team. Your words and actions are watched constantly, interpreted, misinterpreted, and reinterpreted. Building trust begins before the project kicks off, and in many cases may take an entire project lifecycle to fully achieve.

I always give high priority to these integration aspects of managing cross-cultural project teams for high performance results.

I am always interested in your comments to my blog posts. If you agree or disagree, lets start a dialogue so we all can upgrade our skills.

Have a great weekend!

Regards,

Rick

Standards Based Project Management

2008-10-30T23:06:00.000-07:00

Every client I work with has unique measurable attributes given their business sector, and they in turn have customer relationships which provide valuable experiences that we have worked together to assess via post-mortem walk throughs and reviews. The value add for this type of task is not to enforce a standard rigidly on any enterprise, but to tailor it subtlety to achieve the baselined project management objectives and goals as evidenced in the original project charter without hindering either the enterprise values or culture. The primary standards I often advise my customers to implement include but are not limited to:

· Project Management Institute (PMI) – Organizational Project Management Maturity Model, (OPM3),

· PMI Portfolio Management Standard, version 2,

· Project Management Institute Body of Knowledge (a de facto standard derived from the membership’s best practices and lessons learned)

· ISO 9000 Quality management system in production environments,

· ISO 9001 Quality management,

· ISO 10006 Quality management – Guidelines to quality in project management,

· ISO 9126 - Software quality model

· ISO 10007 Quality management – Guidelines for configuration management

· ISO 15288 Systems engineering – System life cycle processes

· ISO/IEC 17799 Information technology: Code of practice for information security management

· ISO/IEC 20000:2005 IT Service Management System (based on BS15000)

· Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL version 3)

Teambuilding 101: The Old Fashioned Way

2008-10-23T21:39:00.001-07:00

As Project Managers we have seen our share of PMO teams, both "dream teams", and the "Bad-News Bears"! These days when we are recruiting project teams and doing team building, what should be our criteria, and our metrics for fielding the best PMO this side of "project heaven"?

Any ideas? I would love to hear from other Project Managers and PMO team members as well.

My team building analogy goes back to the 1967 Stallions little league baseball team I played on for 2 seasons. We finished in first place both seasons. The first season we won ALL of our games. The second season we lost a few but still finished in first place.

What was the secret of that success? I think in one word, coaching! The coach was Mr. Manual Sisson. He was a Vince Lombardi type coach to all of the boys on the team including me. He made us practice a lot. He taught us the rules of the game including sportsmanship (remember that?!). He shouted encouragement, rather than expletives. He brought out the best in all of the team mates.

And, his radical policy in today's sports world was: EVERYONE PLAYS and HAS FUN!

So Coach Sisson taught me that teambuilding should have some cross-training to backup their team mates. Fun begins with a smile, so ask yourself often when you are on your project if it makes you smile. If not, find a project that puts a smile on your face and pass it on! Coach Sisson always had a smile for the Stallions!

Needed in Singapore: Mandarin Speaking Project Manager Needed

2008-10-23T01:41:00.000-07:00

Please send me your resume if you are interested in this permanent position with a MNC with Software Development Project Management Office based in Singapore:

Project Manager Job Description

COMPETENCIES

Project /Practice Management
• Creates and executes project work plans and revises as appropriate to meet
changing needs and requirements.
• Identifies resources needed and assigns individual responsibilities.
• Manages day-to-day operational aspects of a project and scope.
• Reviews deliverables prepared by team before passing to client.
• Effectively applies Project Path methodology and enforces project standards.
• Prepares for engagement reviews and quality assurance procedures.
• Minimizes exposure to risks on project.
• Ensures project documents are complete, current, and stored appropriately.
• Organizes quarterly Change Control Board meetings to prioritize and decide on
enhancements for quarterly releases.
Project Accounting
• Tracks and reports team hours and expenses on a weekly basis.
• Manages project budget.
• Provide weekly, monthly, quarterly and half yearly status reports to program
manager.
Communication
• Facilitates team and client meetings effectively.
• Holds regular status meetings with project team.
• Keeps project team well informed of changes within the organization.
• Effectively communicates relevant project information to superiors.
• Delivers engaging, informative, well-organized presentations.
• Resolves and/or escalates issues in a timely fashion.
• Understands how to communicate difficult/sensitive information tactfully.
Technical Understanding
• Possesses general understanding in the areas of application programming,
database and system design.
• Understands Internet, Intranet, Extranet and client/server architectures.
• Possesses a thorough understanding of our capabilities.
• Maintains awareness of new and emerging technologies and the potential
application on client engagements.
• Possesses insurance domain knowledge.
Teamwork
• Consistently acknowledges and appreciates each team member's contributions.
• Effectively utilizes each team member to his/her fullest potential.
• Motivates team to work together in the most efficient manner.
• Keeps track of lessons learned and shares those lessons with team members.
• Mitigates team conflict and communication problems.
• Plans and facilitates regular team activities outside of the office.
Internal Client Management
• Manages day-to-day client interaction.
• Sets and manages client expectations.
• Develops lasting relationships with client personnel that foster client ties.
• Communicates effectively with clients to identify needs and evaluate alternative
business solutions.
• Continually seeks opportunities to increase customer satisfaction and deepen
client relationships.
• Builds a knowledge base of each client's business, organization and objectives.
Taskforce Management
• Suggests areas for improvement in internal processes along with possible
solutions.
• Leads internal teams/task forces to deliver Best Practices projects.
Project Path / Corporate Dashboard
• Compiles a month status report for high visibility projects.
• Attends a monthly conference call on process board matters.
• Reviews the status reports of Project Path domain teams and addresses issues as
appropriate.
• Complies with and helps to enforce standard policies and procedures.
• Organizes local Tech talks and symposiums where appropriate.

For more information please contact: Rick Price, +65 6728 0840 or rick@eprojectsource.com

Project Crisis, What Crisis?!

2008-10-16T08:52:00.000-07:00

Today's topic reminds me of an old carpenter's saying: "Measure twice and saw once."

Keeping a project on time and on budget is a lot like that.

I think a lot of senior managers in corporate project shops today are wondering how much budget they have left to get their projects done before the end of the world. They are having their direct reports do data collection in a quick and dirty scramble to get a guesstimate to kick upstairs...and so it goes.

How do you get the right number and stay on it until project completion? Always a salient question, but especially now as the money belt tightens around your neck! And a few more?

Where do they find the capability? - In their Project Management Office?

What technique(s) can they use? - Earned Value Analysis? Balanced Scorecard? Project Dashboard? Portfolio Management?

How can they afford it? - Offshore the work? - Asia? India? China?

When will the assessments and reviews be complete? - Who will scope the work? How will they scope it?

When can they get us back on track? - How do we get buy-in now so we can start to get well?!

These are just some of the questions I am asked on a daily basis from prospects and clients who are seeking a project management solution, coaching, training. I have been working on projects for over 25 years now, recessions come and go, projects fail all the time, projects are turned around all the time. You can succeed and I know how to help you to be successful today!

eProject Source is competitive, cost-effective, and we provide service that begins with us listening to your requirements.

Please let me know how my team can help you.

Rick Price, MBA, PMP
eProject Source
Singapore
http://www.eprojectsource.com/
SKYPE: rickpricebangkok