Hi, I follow Seth Godin’s blog and when I read today’s post (at least the post that is in my reader today) I thought how appropriate his posts are to projects as well as to marketing. So, I’m suggesting that you follow him and decide for yourself if you agree.
He posted today – a short one, they are all pretty short and readable – on deniability and it reminded me of the post I did about creating a trusting environment.
Enjoy the post.
Perry
Hi, the great thing about the Internet is that access to everything is easy. The not so great thing about the Internet is – you guessed it – access to everything is easy. The key is put out useful information, products or services and then to get the right people to pay attention to what you have put out there.
I found a new way to reach out to people on the Internet, and increase my visibility. Over the last few months I have been creating and publishing articles for Ezinearticles.com.
It isn’t a source of income, you publish articles for free. It’s a way to get your name in front of potential clients and drive traffic to your website. When I publish an article, I am putting up fodder for newsletters. People looking for articles to fill a newsletter go to Ezinearticles.com and take content. I benefit because my bio contains a link to my web page and any pertinent information I want to put there.
I do get stats on the number of times someone has checked out my article, and if someone has used it. Just not who.
It’s free to put articles up, the articles are vetted and may be changed a bit to make them more saleable. I have written separate articles and tweaked blog posts for publishing and I’m heading towards the next level of membership – not sure yet what that means.
So, if you have information – or even well formed opinions and advice – consider dropping by to Ezinearticles and giving them a try. They give you guidance and ideas to help you get started.
Have a great week.
Perry
Hi, all. This week is a short post.
I often go looking for other people’s PM blogs to get inspiration for mine, some specialist information, or some insight into what people are talking about in project management.
Mr. Manager send me an email to bring my attention to their latest post, listing the top 50 project management blogs. Check it out and let me know if you have any blogs you think should be added.
Have a great PM weekend – remember next week is a full week after two four day weeks. Enjoy spring.
Perry
Hi, this blog post is the first of what I hope are many guest blogs. In the spirit of open transparency, Jason is providing me licenses for MMPM. I’ll be offering them to my Twitter followers when I have them. If you don’t already follow me, you can find me at PerryAwilson. Anyway, I’ll let you get on to Jason’s post.
How Project Management Can Help You With Any Business
No matter what business you are in, you have goals and intentions. From the largest corporation to the smallest home-based business, projects are being started every day. Without proper management of these projects, all the effort, time, and money are wasted.
The Changing Work Place
It is widely known that change is the only constant in the world. We see changes in innovation and technology development daily. People and companies are trying to keep up with all these new products and ideas, with some handling it better than others.
As organizations pursue their goal to reduce the cost of running a business, they are also trying to deal with the changes occurring all around them. In misguided attempts to stay competitive, many companies are “downsizing” their employees.
For a company to survive the challenges of change, it must change as well. New ways of looking at employees, new thoughts on preserving its business, and a new dedication to keeping in the forefront of its industry.
To survive a changing environment is only possible if we keep pace with and accept change.
An increasing number of employees are working from home instead of the office. The use of computers and Internet technologies are a must not only for those working at home, but for every business that is trying to become or remain successful. Vital for every organization is the technology of computers and the Internet.
The greatest challenges posed by the changing workplace are collaboration and communication.
One requirement of the changing workplace is that we need to be updated and well informed all the time. Access to updated data and information regarding any business activity is a must. Sharing information in real-time can guarantee success for organization and individuals alike.
Guarantee the success of organizations and individuals, by sharing of expertise and information in a timely manner.
How a Project Management System Can Help
Challenges in the changing workplace might seem impossible to overcome, but they can become simplified when a proper Project Management Plan is used.
The project management system may be the single best solution for the collaboration needs of any organization. A project management system is multi-functional software that performs tasks like resource allocation, communication, budget management, quality management, report generation, cost and quality control.
Also, communication, information sharing and administrating are simplified and made much easier through use of a project management system.
Scheduling is an element of a project management system. According to the time limit and given resources the project management system divides the projects into a series of tasks and makes the handling of even complex projects very easy. It enables you to make the best possible use of time and resources.
Another great benefit provided by the project management system is communication. The project management system has a central database, which the permitted users can use to track the work progress and get updated information and data easily. It predicts any kind of problem that can arise in the project and removes uncertainties and ambiguities related to projects. From report generation to risk analysis, project management is very useful. It clearly defines the path to follow and contribution required at every level and from every employee.
These are just a few functions of a project management system. With proper implementation and use, it can help overcome great challenges that otherwise seem impossible. Thus, by making the collaboration, communication and working possible across the organization, the project management system helps the company meets the challenges of an ever-changing workplace.
Jason Westland has 15 years experience in the project management industry. From his experience he has created software to help speed up the management process. If you would like to find out more information about Jason’s online project management software.
The value of communication for the project manager goes beyond the communication plan. It is the one key success tool for any PM.
In the communications plan, the PM and sponsor agree on the basics. They identify the frequency and form of the status reporting, and may include informational communication to the stakeholders, clients, end users, media, community, you can probably think of a slew more.
What isn’t in the communications plan, and I’m not sure how you would put it in there, is the informal communications. The elevator conversations, the water cooler sound bytes, the hallway decisions, you know what I mean.
Even if you can’t document how you are going to deal with the informal communications, you need to talk about it.
One topic to discuss with the sponsor and the team is key speaking points. Throughout the project, people will ask you and your team ‘what’s the project about?’ If everyone gives a different answer, it can dilute the message and drop your project down the visibility and priority scale. If everyone says the same thing, in their own words, your project comes across as focused and well thought out.
Another question that is more difficult to ‘script’ is “how is your project going?” The reason this is difficult is that the answer will be different for every person. To use an IT project for simplicity, a business analyst who is struggling to get requirements from a client, may see the project very differently from a developer who isn’t yet engaged in the work. The optimistic sponsor will see things very differently from the QA tester.
I’ve found that the best way to get a clear message out is to communicate perspective to the team. For the sponsor, who sees the big picture, they need to understand it’s normal to have challenges at the detail level and that they don’t need to act if someone hears from QA that there are problems. The end user who might be going through a difficult learning curve, needs to hear the end goals to give them perspective.
There are other communications that need to be considered but it’s important to keep in mind that the communications plan is only the beginning of the project communication. The project manager who doesn’t pay attention to all communication will find themselves surprised by what people think or what they say.
Happy PMing
Perry
Hi, those of us with our PMP designation know the PDU stress. Some leave it to the last minute, some gather PDUs over their three year cycle. But, whatever approach you use, you can pay for them in money or time.
Money can be as little as the cost of your chapter event. PMI West Coast chapter has monthly events, lovely dinner, great speakers, and 3 PDUs for $45. Or as expensive as a PMI seminar. Great workshops, fabulous advice, and usually a great location. Moneywise, cost of event + cost of hotel + cost of travel = expensive.
Time can be based on volunteering, writing articles or books, or simply doing project management work.
At the West Coast chapter event this week, I heard from a fellow PMP that he was running out of time. He has 3 PDUs and 6 months to get the other 57. I suggested he write an article for the chapter newsletter. Something he hadn’t considered.
If you write a blog, you already have at least the start of an article. I created an article for ezinearticles.com from a blog post about estimating. This site is great for building your credibility and driving traffic to your website.
Most SGIs have newsletters and will be happy to include articles in an issue.
Have a great week of project management.
This blog post was inspired by a post on LinkedIn
The dream of gathering absolutely complete requirements is just that, a dream.You will find no matter how detailed or complete, or ‘approved as final’ your requirements are, things will change. That isn’t a failure of the requirements, it’s a fact of project management. If you try to perfect the beginning, you’ll never start your development or build phase.
If there is no element of uncertainty, I don’t think you have a project.
The PM’s job is to manage what happens: issues, changes, delays, opportunities. Doing a great job of gathering requirements only resolves the questions at the beginning of the project. The client or stakeholder, or sponsor will have new ideas as they get new information. The market demands change. The longer the time frame of the project the more likely you will have changes.
Doing a great job of gathering requirements is only one part of the project start. You need to develop your scope change management plan as well. That plan will include your process of assessing changes against the project drivers and making recommendations.
A good scope change plan will help the PM manage ‘pet’ ideas as well as fabulous ideas that everyone loves but will have a significant impact on the time, cost and quality of the original project.
Happy PMing
I’ve been giving some thought this week to the idea of developing and deepening project management skills in an organization. During the latest cycle of downsizing, a number of companies questioned why they needed dedicated project managers. They asked, “why can’t my department managers do that job?”
Well, we know the answer to that is at least two sided. First, they need the skills and then they need time. Department managers learn to put out fires and ‘deal’ with problems. They don’t achieve success by keeping their boss informed of problems and challenges and they don’t necessarily provide periodic status reporting. And, they have day jobs. They can’t set aside their day job to do a project.
The reality right now is that operations and projects are getting mixed together. Whether that can be successful in the long term is questionable, history doesn’t predict that it will be, but I think in the short term, there’s a way to support businesses through successful project delivery.
Some project managers who go the self employed route set up as contractors. They go in and do a great job managing a project and then they get out.
Others go the route of consultant. They may still go in to do a project, the difference is that while there, a consultant will look for opportunities to improve processes, set up new ways of dealing with projects in the future and leave lessons behind purposefully.
From a perspective of the business, project management contractors fill in shortages of capacity. Too many projects for a short term to complete with internal leadership. As the company grows, some of the contractors will be invited to become permanent employees.
For the business person, a consultant will suggest changes to improve, streamline, and change, the business processes to increase capacity of the internal team. As the company grows, consultants are asked to do more of this work and may temporarily fill a gap in competency.
The world needs both, contractors and consultants, as much as it needs employees. The key to success for the project professional is to know which you are, consultant or contractor. The key to success for the business person is to know what you need.
Have a successful week.
One of the questions that comes up on discussion boards and with clients is what does the Project Manager do? I have to say I’ve had my struggles in answering this question in the past.
I’ve been chatting with clients over the last week and I think I now have an answer – at least for me, your answer might be different.
I take the complex and simplify it. When my client says “it’s a lot of work”, I get excited. I can take the ‘lot of work’ and make it manageable. I love doing that!
Yes, I report on status, I manage issues and risks and I communicate and support others in communicating. But, what I do first, is simplify. I remember a book I read on consulting that answered the question ‘how do you eat an elephant’ – one bite at a time.
So, I take the elephant and I carve it into bite sized pieces. I pull the overwhelming list of activities out of my client’s mind and give it back to them as a schedule.
What’s your answer to the question “what does a project manager do?”
Happy PMing.
What the heck did we do before the advent of blogs and twitter. I thought I’d list a few blogs and articles today that I follow for PM.
Blogs:
A take on PM from a legal project perspective. Legal Project Management
Project management 2.0 – this post gives the top ten PM blogs.
Project Management tools that work.
Do you have any favorites that you would like to share?
Happy PMing
