The Top Performer's Guide to Project Management

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Plan and Execute Projects

the

• Budgeting and sticking to it

Top Performer’s Guide

that deliver results

• Tips for dealing with obstacles

to

N

o matter what business you’re in, effective project management is a cornerstone of your success. Top performers understand not only how to get results, but how to draw a project to the right conclusion exactly when it’s needed.

The Top Performer’s Guide to Project Management gives you a quick yet definitive overview of how project management works and ways of creating the best possible results. Discover: • Why project management is so important • How to set and meet deadlines

• Bringing the project to a satisfying and happy ending

Business $9.95 U.S./$12.95 CAN/£4.99 U.K. ISBN-13: 978-1-4022-0965-9 ISBN-10: 1-4022-0965-7

www.sourcebooks.com

Project Management

Top per for mers know how to plan and r un a successful project. You are just a shor t read away from mastering this essential skill.

EAN

UPC

Benjamin

The

Top

Performer’s Guide to

Project management Essential Skills That Put You On Top Susan J. Benjamin

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Top

Performer’s Guide to

Project management Susan J. Benjamin

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Copyright © 2007 by Susan J. Benjamin Cover and internal design © 2007 by Sourcebooks, Inc. Sourcebooks and the colophon are registered trademarks of Sourcebooks, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems— except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews—without permission in writing from its publisher, Sourcebooks, Inc. This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional service. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought.—From a Declaration of Principles Jointly Adopted by a Committee of the American Bar Association and a Committee of Publishers and Associations All brand names and product names used in this book are trademarks, registered trademarks, or trade names of their respective holders. Sourcebooks, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor in this book. Published by Sourcebooks, Inc. P.O. Box 4410, Naperville, Illinois 60567-4410 (630) 961-3900 Fax: (630) 961-2168 www.sourcebooks.com Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Benjamin, Susan The top performer's guide to project management / Susan Benjamin. p. cm. ISBN-13: 978-1-4022-1698-5 ISBN 978-1-4022-0965-9 (hardcover) 1. Project management. I. Title. HD69.P75B448 2007 658.4'04--dc22 2007026130

Printed and bound in China. LEO 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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Acknowledgments Project management is about working with people—trusting them, relying on them, and, above all, enjoying the process together. And so, for this book, a big thank you goes to my personal, and often impromptu, team: Josh Stella, for his careful comments and encouragement; Ellen Tunstall, for her seemingly endless support; and Dan Silverman, for his insights, ideas, and really great jokes. And special thanks go to Adam, who tolerated all those hours I sat at the computer typing—and was a great sport through it all. Of course, nothing prepares you better to write a book about project management than having projects to work on. And for that I must thank my clients, who entrusted me with their projects, big and small. I learned so much from those who knew how to put a project together, those who made the experience smooth as ice cream. But special appreciation goes to those who didn’t have these skills; the lessons I learned from them are indispensable.

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Table of Contents Introduction.........................................................................1 Chapter 1: In the Beginning . . ........................................5 Business Results .............................................................5 Other Financial Considerations....................................7 Think It Ain’t So?..........................................................9 The Importance of “But Maybe . . .”.........................10 Quick Q&As. . ............................................................12 Other Questions You Must Ask..................................14 Chapter 2: Who’s Who in Project Management ..........17 The Team—and What You Should Know About Them............................................................................18 Don’t Make the Project Manager’s Biggest Mistake When Managing People..............................................29 Meet My Friends: Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing............................................................29 Quick Q&As ................................................................31 Chapter 3: Shaping a Vision and Drafting a Plan .........35 Top Components of a Business Plan..........................36 Quick Q&As ................................................................41

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Security Measures........................................................63 Chapter 4: Fingers to the Pulse ......................................69 All About Push Me/Pull Me .......................................69 Internal Communications ...........................................74 Communication Models .............................................79 External Communications ..........................................86 Chapter 5: What to Do When Disaster Hits the Fan ..93 Risk Management........................................................93 PERT .........................................................................101 When the Worst—or Almost Worst—Happens.....104 Don’t Forget to Cross-Risk! .....................................107 Chapter 6: Happy Endings ...........................................109 Closing a Project .......................................................109 When the End Comes Too Soon.............................114 Index.................................................................................117 About the Author ............................................................122

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Introduction You’ve doubtless heard plenty about project management. Trust me, every large business down to every two-person outfit has myths aplenty. Things like, “Project management requires considerable training—possibly a high-level degree.” Or, “Project management requires a huge investment in expensive technology.” In fact, for some, the whole idea of project management seems more complicated than the project they’re actually managing. So sit back, relax, and chill, because project management is probably something you do every day. Married? Have kids? Then project management is already a routine part of your life. You must balance a budget (a.k.a. household expenses), keep to a schedule (from the moment you walk in the door to when you get the kids fed, bathed, and in bed), and address personality conflicts. And trust me on this one, too: Managing employees and clients can be a whole lot easier than managing kids. “So what’s the difference?” you may ask. The answer: volume and complexity. Project managing for a business comes with a bigger budget, a greater number of people, and more diverse interests and roles. Still, you’ll be amazed at how familiar the project management terrain can be and

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how much you really already know. Before we get going, though, read these pointers; they’ll help: The Time Equation: Plenty of tools abound for helping you manage your project. Many are technologybased, but not all. They require effort from both you and your team. You’ll need to document your actions, calculate risks, assess your progress, consult with outsiders . . . but beware. Project management can function like a black hole, sucking you into a cold, clammy time warp where, while you’re working like crazy, you’re spending too much of your time on project management requirements and not enough time on the project itself. The Problem: So, you have a project to manage. People rely on you. Money’s involved. Oh, and so is your reputation. Naturally, you want everything to flow beautifully without a hitch. Forget it. The most astute project managers know that every project has problems. Your jobs are: (A) Not to panic; (B) Strategize—quickly; (C) lead your team to a solution; and (D) Expect another problem somewhere down the pike. The problem with problems? You start believing the project is failing— not that you’re going through a natural part of the project management process. This may shift your thinking from that of a confident leader to that of an insecure [2]

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micromanager. So remember: That’s not the case. Just find a solution and move on. Pursuing the Fine Art of Perfection: Don’t do it. Pursue flexibility so you can adapt your project management plan and manage the expectations of your clients, team, and everyone else as you go. In fact, plan to build in a cushion for every stage of your systematic process. Think developing a strategy will take your team a week? Build in a week and a half. If you wrap it up early, no problem. Think you need $100,000 to complete the last phase of your project? Get $25,000 more. Think you need $100,000, but you’re only getting $75,000? Then figure out ways to get wiggle room in other areas of the project. The fine art of perfection is to gracefully not achieve it and get great results anyway. Oh, and one other point: Please, please have fun. I’m not saying this as a cheerleader or a good-time gal. I mean it in the most serious, non-fun business sense imaginable. The more fun you have, the more involved your team becomes and the better your project. So, enjoy.

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Chapter 1 In the Beginning . . . Business Results So why are you managing the project? Because your boss told you to? Because your client wants it? Because that’s what your organization does? . . . The list of possibilities is endless. But the real reason— the only reason— is that your project brings in some sort of business result to whomever is receiving it. This may seem like common sense: Why invest employee time and money into a project unless it brings in business results? But you’d be amazed. Your clients, teammates, even your boss, may have reasons for initiating the project that have no relationship to business results whatsoever. So, your job, right from the get-go, is to identify those desired results and to determine how, and even whether, to reach them. In many ways, consider those desired results the solution to a problem. And in project management, every problem is ultimately about money. Yes, money makes every organization go ’round, and every task—from supplies to your business purchases to the employee holiday party—is all about money. Trust me; I mean this in the warmest, most humble sense. Here are two examples:

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Scenario 1 Organization: Shelia Craig’s Dance Company, a small, nonprofit dance school that hosts performances for the community Problem: The company wasn’t getting enough participants at the concerts or in the classes. As a result, it was barely staying afloat and not fulfilling its mission of bringing arts to the community. Solution: Elevate the company’s exposure in the community by networking through the dance company’s board and launching an integrated marketing campaign. Identifiable Outcome: Increase the size of the classes by five students apiece and increase the number of spectators at performances from approximately seventy-five per show to one hundred or above. This will bring in an additional $7,000 a year.

Scenario 2 Organization: Financial Services Corporation, a wellestablished company that provides a healthy range of products and services Problem: The Financial Services Corporation was losing market share. Though it had been around for almost [6]

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fifty years, a disproportionate amount of its profits came from one niche offering. New, more nubile attractive companies were sprouting up all over the financial landscape, offer diverse products and services and gaining market share. FSC was secure—but only for the time being. It risked a buyout or some other certain dismal ending as these younger companies gathered financial and corporate strength. Solution: Reinvent FSC. This meant expanding its offerings—not by adding services, but by expanding on what already existed. In the process, FSC needed a stronger employee base, which meant offering early retirement or buyouts to some, and training to others, while hiring new employees with exceptional talents. FSC also needed to take two other steps: gain recognition in the marketplace and position themselves itself to buy out other companies. Identifiable Outcome: Increase profit by 15 percent per year for five years after the phased project is in place.

Other Financial Considerations Of course, profit isn’t your only financial consideration when managing a project. For example, you must consider your budget. If you have a start-up, how much capital do you have? And, equally important, where can you go if your well runs dry and your project is very, very thirsty? [7]

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If you happen to own a small business run out of a home office, then capital may be a concept reserved for the bigger guys; you’re probably running your project solely on cash flow. Take heart; it’s not just you. This unfortunate reality of small business operation influences most projects. Sure, you know how much cash you need each month, from your project’s inception to delivery. But do your customers pay on time? Will the cash be there when you need it? Will you need to borrow from your line of credit? How much interest will you accumulate? What other projects compete for your dollars? Here are a few other questions to ask yourself, followed by a recommendation: • What is the rate of return? Generally speaking, the higher the rate of return, the more desirable the undertaking. • What is your break even point? In other words, how long will the project take to recoup its present investment? Months? Years? What tolerance does your organization have for that time period? • How much money will your project make? How much will it save? • What are the opportunity costs? What will you forgo to undertake this project not just in terms of cash, but in quality of life, fulfilling your dreams? All those non-quantifiable aspects of project management really do add up. [8]

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• What are the costs of not doing the project? As for the recommendation, it goes like this: Don’t go it alone! Get help from a financial professional, or at least a seasoned project manager. If you happen to be in the money business, definitely seek help! You need outside input. Just like a shrink—you can’t analyze yourself.

Think It Ain’t So? Countless project managers claim that their project doesn’t have a quantifiable outcome. The protests get more pronounced when dealing with intangibles from research to public relations campaigns. Trust me, the quantifiables are there. If not, the project managers should simply refuse to participate in the project. Okay—that’s drastic, but at the very least, the project manager should recommend that the client, or whoever else is behind the project, rethink it. If you happen to be among the skeptics, though, here’s the fit: Research: Where does your funding come from? How will the project influence that? Or what type of result do you expect from the research? To advance a process to the next level? To win approvals from experts? How many experts? And what will their approval bring? [9]

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Services: How do you rate the success of the service? Can you quantify customer satisfaction in surveys and, better yet, the resulting financial benefits from customer retention to new business? How many hours do employees spend providing the service? Do you intend to cut those hours while maintaining results? How much money will you save in the process? Products: How well does your product sell? If it is a new product, how will it compare to products from your competitors? If increasing your sales, how much of an increase do you hope to gain? In what time period? And what factors will speed that process along . . . or possibly slow it? Nonprofits: Even if you work for a nonprofit, you still need money to stay afloat. So treat your projects as if you were a profit-making enterprise. How does everything— from solicitation letters to community programs—affect your bottom line?

The Importance of “But Maybe . . .” When determining the business outcome, you need to clearly identify risks. There are countless ways of doing this. The simplest is what’s known as “force-field analysis.” Create a tablegraph where you outline the deficits of the program, then the benefits. Assign a score from five (the highest benefit) down to one. Then, tally the results. Here’s [10]

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an example from a company who that is considering updating its manufacturing plant: Deficits

Score

Financing

4

uncertain

Benefits Customers want the new

Score 5

products that the project will allow us to provide

Employees

2

Rate of production and

will resist

volume of output will

change

increase

Employee

2

training is

Environmental factors;

4

2

possible “green” effect

timeconsuming and expensive Will need to

3

Risk management

expand or

considerations; project

move facility

will put us well above

4

safety codes Total: – 11 + 15

The beauty of force-field analysis is this: Once you decide to initiate the program, you get information that [11]

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helps make the project work and you know how to troubleshoot for the issues that may arise. For example, the project manager can address the morale and resulting work issues that employees face due to change (the–2) with a strong internal marketing campaign. The cost is nominal, just employee time at meetings (approximately two hours, total) and the time involved in getting articles in the internal newsletter or emailed updates.

Quick Q&As Q. I have a client who wants us to implement a new technology program. He read about it in the Harvard Business Review and thinks it’s a great idea. It will cost the company about $500,000, given the time required to implement and test the tool, train employees, and pay for the technology itself. I think it’s a bad investment. The project has too many risks and not enough need. What do I do? A. Remember that force-field analysis we just talked about? Conduct one with your client, and he or she should be convinced that the project isn’t worth doing. Or, even better, you can determine a way for the project to work. Perhaps you don’t need to implement the tool company-wide, but target key areas. Or maybe you can conduct a pilot program, then determine the risk and adapt the plan from there. This will [12]

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mean slowing the implementation time, but you will get bigger and better rewards in the end. Q. I have no idea what the quantifiable outcome of this project will be. My boss, who handed me the project, doesn’t know, either. What do I do? A. The best bet is a two-part strategy: Part I: Identify the possible outcomes by talking to the decision-maker, whether that’s your boss or a client. Ask them clear and targeted questions—don’t be vague. Here are a few examples: Vague: How much effort do your employees currently need to devote to this task? Targeted: How many hours a week do your employees devote to this task, and what is the hourly breakdown of their salaries? Vague: What do you hope to accomplish once we’ve completed this project? Targeted: How do you specifically think this project will benefit employee productivity? Part II: Research for more possible outcomes, using this information as a starting point. You can garner plenty [13]

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through internal data, such as spreadsheets and annual reports, or you could conduct a comparative study using similar projects from other organizations. You can also find a gold mine of examples from business journals or through project management organizations, such as the Project Management Institute. Your research can also be based on your own experience. Have you worked with a business this size before? Completed the same sort of project? Apply what you’ve learned to the task at hand.

Other Questions You Must Ask • Is the outcome reasonable? Everyone wants to increase their profits by a million dollars in a year, but is that reasonable? What evidence do you have? Plenty of businesses, particularly small businesses and startups, have gone belly-up by launching expensive and time-consuming projects based on pipe dreams. • Do these results have longevity? If you’re going to introduce a new product to the marketplace, will its popularity endure over time? Is it simply a fad? Will the market become so saturated that the expense of adding it to your product menu will leave you starving in the end? • Do you have the resources necessary to implement and sustain the project successfully? Obviously, you [14]

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need financial backing. But what about a workforce? Is your current workforce experienced enough? And, if not, will you be able to find the right employees? Can you afford to pay them what their expertise and experience requires? • Are you the first on the business block to integrate the new program, offer the new product, or attempt the new strategy? If so, beware. There might be good reasons no one’s tried it before. Or, quite possibly, you might confront unpleasant obstacles as you attempt to clear a path through the unknown. • What is the political environment of the organization? Will you get resistance or support from key players— the CEO or president in particular? Are the employees reluctant to change? If so, will the organization get behind new initiatives to move them forward?

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Chapter 2 Who’s Who in Project Management No question, the success of your project depends entirely— yes, entirely—on the people involved in it. Let’s start with the bad news: All of these people have unique interests, areas of expertise, and approaches to everything from pouring coffee before a meeting to addressing emergencies. Sound sticky? Well, it is. Now for the good news: As a project manager, you can anticipate difficulties, manage them, and get everyone who counts to buy in wholeheartedly. And speaking of buy-in, let’s look at two concepts critical to project management: buy-in and ownership. Then we’ll examine the all-star cast of project management and how you can get the best from them. Buy-in: Buy-in is exactly what it implies—the participants in your project agree to, or “buy,” the reasons why the project exists in the first place, as well as doing what they can to move each stage forward. The opposite of buy-in is forcing people to do something they don’t like, understand, or believe in. And you know what happens then: failure.

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Ownership: Ownership is a more mature version of buyin. Now participants own the project; they consider it their own. Did you suggest or even design it? No matter; they will defend it for the duration, if they feel that it’s theirs.

The Team—and What You Should Know About Them Clients Yes, for most project managers, the client is something of a Darth Vader. Clients are: mysterious, powerful, and omnipresent. So, it’s important to remember that you follow your client’s advice every step of the way, living and dying by the motto: “The client’s always right.” Realistically, your client may have the budget and desire to launch a project, but not the knowledge, insight, or skills to do so. Instead, your job is to make them think they’re always right by guiding them to make the right decisions. Get ownership at every stage of the project. However, to get buy-in, you need to simultaneously let the client feel in control using these three strategies. Each works remarkably well. Strategy 1: Choices. Give the client choices at critical points in the process. For example, Shelia was a marketing consultant for a large [18]

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technology firm. She needed to get the clients to buy into an image that would appear at every stage of the campaign. Rather than simply present the image to the client and hope for the best, she gave the client three versions to choose from. The image they chose was their image. They would support and defend it even though Shelia had already narrowed it down and approved all three versions. Strategy 2: Positioning A critical part of giving the client choices, or even presenting strategies within your project management plan, is to position the information in a way that, as they said in the Godfather movie, it’s an offer they can’t refuse. Say you’re integrating a new software system as part of your project. Rather than simply recommend it, state the advantages first. Then ask if this option sounds good to them. Don’t forget to add the caveat: “If not, I can find other options.” This will give them a sense of control, although, most likely, they’ll agree. Later when Shelia was recommending marketing approaches to her client later, she positioned it this way: “With this approach, you can reach your three target customer bases at once—and at a time when they’re most likely to buy. Does this sound good to you?” The client nods. “Great. If not, we can look at other options, but clearly this one will yield the strongest results.” [19]

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Strategy 3: Reminders Many project managers think that once the client agrees to something, they’re really on board. But remember this: Your client has countless other projects swimming through his brain, no matter how important yours is. So, later on in the process, you need to remind him not only of the decision, but that he made it. The reminders need to be subtle; otherwise you may inadvertently be accusing them of being scattered, absent-minded, or inaccurate in their comments—which, of course, they might be, but that’s not the point. So, here’s what Shelia might say when presenting her project plan: “As you can see, I incorporated every aspect of the image and all the vehicles for reaching the target customer base that you suggested.” Or, if discussing software, you might say, “Just wanted to let you know we're testing the software that you chose and all indicators prove that the choice was a good one.” Other pointers: Alert them to changes early on. All projects are, as they say, subject to change. Actually, changes—and lots of them— are inevitable. Although your client may know this consciously, the changes may set off alarm bells you want to avoid. So, let your client anticipate the events as soon as possible. For example, you could say something like, “We [20]

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may need an additional two weeks to complete the testing.” Then, should you need that extra time, the client won’t be surprised. As always, give the client a choice in the matter when possible. To do that you might add, “We want to make sure the project flows smoothly, so I think it’s worth the extra time, don’t you?” Place bad news in the most positive sense: No one likes bad news, but if you place the bad news correctly, they’ll dislike it less. Think of this as the medicine theory. No one likes to take medicine, but we take it because we want to feel better, live longer, and reap the countless other benefits. Apply that concept to bad news, too. Here’s how: Medicine: You can keep that menacing fever down by taking two Fever-Away tablets every day. Project: We can be sure the technology is compatible organization-wide by testing it for two additional weeks. Or: We can reach the right media outlets by modestly increasing the budget. Be clear and unambiguous. Be clear in your project management plan, including making schedules and listing projected outcomes for specific tasks to manage your client’s expectations.

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Do: Present reasonable results, using a range, whenever possible. For example, you might say, “The testing phase will take from three to six months.” That gives you wiggle room if all else fails, especially if six months is much longer than you expect. Do not: Over-promise. Sure, your client may want a three-month project to be completed in two weeks. And sure, you want to agree. But don’t do it. Your client will only be disappointed and you’ll be frustrated from trying. Avoid time warps. If too much time goes by, beware. Your client may feel forgotten. So, stay in touch. Even if the news is “no news,” remind the client she’s in the forefront of your mind. In some ways, think of the client as a love affair. Even though you have lots of other projects and lots of other clients, let the client believe you’re monogamous to her. And regular communication helps. You can send her regular clients end-ofweek updates that they can expect, or drop them a line when the time gap between you has widened. Otherwise, you may get a “Dear John” letter, and who wants that? Avoid drip-drop communications. True, you want to stay in touch, but not too much. If you have tidbits of information to pass along—none radically important—bundle up the tidbits and send them as a single message.

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Do: Provide timely information and bullet each point so the client can quickly see all of them. Do not: Overwhelm the client with information or provide yesterday’s news.

Employees Consider your employees a family, with all of a family’s potential for dysfunction, meaningful interaction, love, and resentment. Only, unlike a family, the relationship can end with no guilt, tears, or alimony involved. Here are a few pointers: Assert your vision up front. Your vision should mirror the client’s vision of the project or reveal how it supports your organization’s mission quantifiably and qualitatively. The clearer the vision, the more excitement you will generate and the more unified and directed your team will be. Create a simple “vision” chart. Shelia’s looked something like this:

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Vision Tier

Vision

Evidence (outcome)

Tier 1

Create a marketing

Client increases sales

campaign that successfully

or reaches target goals of

reaches client’s core

new customers and

customer base in May and

customer retention

June, when they’re actively purchasing Tier 2

Tier 3

Position ourselves as experts Additional follow-up in their brand and market

work; most likely with

position

the Web site.

Generate exposure through

Referrals, inquiries, or

awards and commendations

purchases from 10-–20

for our marketing efforts

new businesses within

through industry associations the next fiscal year

Determine expectations and keep them center stage. Be clear about your expectations of your team members—and their expectations of you. You can be concrete by, for example, saying that you expect the team to complete every deliverable on time. If you are more abstract and say you will provide immediate feedback when your team requests it, they won’t emphasize turning everything in on time. A few other pointers here: [24]

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Be specific. This makes it possible to address these expectations later. Stating they must provide deliverables on time is more specific than telling them to “provide excellent customer service.” Develop these expectations with your team, not for them. Do this early on in the process. These steps get you ownership from everyone involved. Write these expectations on a simple chart that’s easy to see. Keep it posted in your conference room or in some other visible place. Expectations of . . . The Project Manager

Expectations of . . . The Team

Provide feedback at weekly

Follow up on all assignments

meetings.

with regular updates, either as tasks are completed or in team meetings.

Contact team within twenty-

Alert project manager and others

four hours of any changes

in team to any slow-downs or

the client requires for project.

other changes to the plan within twenty-four-hours.

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Alert team immediately if going Share information as on leave or will be otherwise

you receive it.

unavailable. Hold regular Monday

Get agreement from team before

meetings with team to

suggesting new approaches to

review progress.

the client.

Maintain objectivity. It’s critical that you are objective in all your communications. Otherwise, you’re setting yourself up for trouble on all fronts. The difference between subjective and objective communications, in case you’ve forgotten, is this: Objective: Measurable, based on fact and observation Examples: 20 percent, within two weeks, passes all tests Subjective: Vague and based on interpretation and emotion Examples: Small, soon, does well Motivate through urgency. Strong project management relies on timing. One task must get done before you can initiate another. You must meet deadlines, overcome obstacles, and treat every task as if it were paramount to your project. That means at every stage you must project an undertone of urgency, in your tasking, in your [26]

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follow-up, and in your feedback. Notice the difference in these approaches: Not urgent: We really need to get this done by March fourth, okay? Urgent: March fourth is the deadline—no matter what. Not urgent: Better be sure to double-check the data to make sure it’s accurate. Urgent: The data must be on target, so let’s check it twice. Take an integrated communications approach. All communications are not the same, although all serve a purpose. So, when communicating with your team, take an integrated approach to every important message. For starters, write down every date and time you pass a responsibility on to a teammate, even on the fly. People tend to remember less of what they hear than what they read. A quick email recapping your instruction will seal the requirement or point. Having a meeting? Make sure someone takes notes, whether they’re just outlining the main points or taking formal minutes. Then send them to your team members to make sure everyone is in line and in agreement. Also, use visual supports when possible. Some people respond to the information in flowcharts and graphs better than information in words. In the next chapter, you’ll see some indispensable visual tools, including the [27]

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Responsibility Assignment Matrix and the Work Breakdown Structure. But don’t scrimp on the narrative. The message is always more important than the medium of delivery, which leads to a final tip about PowerPoints: Don’t make the mistake of sending print-outs of your PowerPoint slides. They tend to be general and insubstantial and leave most people scratching their heads.

Contractors and Suppliers Outside resources, whether suppliers or contractors, are a mixed bag. If you happen to be one, you know what I mean. Some are exceptional and go above and beyond to aid your business, and others only work to make a buck. Many, perhaps most, pursue add-on work as much as they do the quality of their current project. And, no matter how devoted they may be to your project and organization, their first loyalty is unquestionably to their own company. That’s why it’s critical that you outline your expectations in the clearest terms right from the start. Emphasize the outcome of their efforts as a measure of their success. The deliverable must adhere to the specific standards you set.

Stakeholders “Stakeholders” is a catchall word referring to anyone who has an interest in your project. Stakeholders could include [28]

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employees outside the project, managers from other departments, a specific customer group, and, of course, the client and your boss. Your job is simple: You must engage and satisfy the stakeholders. Okay, it’s not so simple. But you can do it—just keep reading.

____________________________________ ________________

Don’t Make the Project Manager’s Biggest Mistake When Managing People You may be managing former colleagues, coworkers, or friends. This role shift can create difficulties. You are now leading them and not collaborating with them, as before. So, it’s critical that you take an entirely objective approach: Everyone has a function and an outcome they’re supposed to provide. If they don’t provide it, apply heat. If they do provide it, move on. Nothing personal. _________________________________________________ _______________________

Meet My Friends: Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing Rumor has it that most teams go through four stages: forming, storming, norming, and performing. Whether your team will actually go through these stages in that particular order is anyone’s guess, but at one time or another, you’ll hit each of these marks. Let’s take a quick look: [29]

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Forming: The team comes together. If you’re developing a start-up, the forming stage is something of a lovefest. The team is sharing a vision of success; the future looks paved in a gold so bright it might be blinding. However, your job is to keep the team focused on reality. You must create a clear sense of the difficulties, demands, and challenges—as well as the rewards, and even fun—that lie ahead. Storming: At this point, the metaphorical (and possibly literal) party is over and reality creeps in. Team members may vie for positions of influence or may butt heads over strategies. For the small business or just about any start-up, this phase can be deadly. You may need to redirect the project or replace some team members with others. Of course, if your team members have experience working on projects, they know what to expect and will take the bumps with relative calm. Regardless, you must exercise your leadership strength: Address conflicts, focus the team on goals, and remain available and alert. Norming: Now, your team starts to come together. Processes click into place and you can gradually withdraw from micromanaging and let the team function on its own. Instead of putting out fires, settling disputes, or focusing your team on priorities, you can help the team members take ownership of particular aspects of the project. [30]

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Performing: At last, the moment you’ve been waiting for. . . more or less. Your team members function on their own, and your job as project manager, while still important, fades into the background. Sure, fires will flare up. And sure, your client may push some unexpected demands on you. But your team can coalesce, brainstorming for solutions and bringing their members’ experience together to keep the project on track. The real moment you’ve been waiting for will come soon enough, though: when your project has ended and the rewards—and satisfaction—are oh-so-sweet. Mourning: I know I said oh-so-sweet, but some teams, especially the better ones, go through a mourning period. Think of it as the end of a love affair. You need to remind them of the good times and assure them that other projects—and yes, even more appealing projects—lie ahead. We’ll talk more in the last chapter of this book.

Quick Q&As Q. How do I know which employees to pick for my team? A. Use the criteria that you would when making a new hire. They include: • Expertise in a particular area • Experience navigating difficulties as they arise [31]

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• Reliability (so you don’t have to worry about deadlines) • Compatibility with other members of your team, in terms of work style, customer orientation, and other issues • Enthusiasm regarding the project • Familiarity with your client’s culture and concerns Q. How do I address personality conflicts within my team? A. That depends on the conflicts and why they exist. It’s possible that one of your team members, while perfectly competent professionally, has some serious personality issues. Most common are passiveaggressives—who consistently let the team down while pretending not to—and negative thinkers, who don’t inspire anyone and bring everyone down. In this case, you need to monitor the team member carefully to ensure that they get the job done with minimal disruption to others. If the problem seems serious, contact your manager or the human resources department at your organization. If the conflicts are less extreme, talk to the perpetuators in a private meeting. Remind them that work issues and conflicts over strategy are not personal and that all of you are focused on completing the project in a highly professional manner. Then, remind them of [32]

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their individual roles and responsibilities—as they affect the project—and resolve any issues from that standpoint. Q. How about contractors? Which attributes should I focus on with them? A. You may be tempted to hire a contracting firm because of its glossy image, fame, or mind-numbing marketing approaches. But beware: A renowned firm may send you its entry-level staff or may have been resting on its laurels for years, trading on its reputation and too busy with other clients to address your needs. When selecting contractors, be sure that you: • Interview the actual contractors who will be working on the project—not the boss or salesperson who represents them. • Contact at least three of their other clients to ensure their claims have a foothold in reality. • Make sure that the contractor has experience in your line of business. Someone who can use a keyboard isn’t a software specialist, although some firms may pass them off that way. • Read the contract and review it with your lawyer before you sign it. Make sure the language lets you slip out of the agreement easily if the work is substandard.

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Chapter 3 Shaping a Vision and Drafting a plan What is a project management plan? Take out a can of soup. Look at the panel marked “instructions.” See where it says to open the can, put the contents in a sauce pan and heat to desired temperature? That’s a project management plan for making lunch in the office kitchen. So why do so many project managers cower at the mention of a project plan? Well, project plans can be complex, especially if you work for a large enterprise and must juggle countless complex, demanding, and unpredictable events. Sometimes you must use sophisticated software and calculate variables that make the average mind blister. (Of course, in this case, do yourself a favor and hire a certified consultant to assist). Fortunately, most people can get by with a smaller, simpler, and more manageable project plan. In fact, if you have already picked your team or have a clear vision, you’ve already launched the plan. Now, here’s some advice to keep you going in the right direction.

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Top Components of a Business Plan 1.Vision and Mission Statement The vision and mission statements should focus on the actual project at hand—not your organization as a whole. They should encapsulate what you are trying to accomplish and how you would like to do so. Sadly, these can be the most mild, nondescript pieces of writing imaginable and a wasted opportunity to lead and inspire. Vision: The vision statement should inspire; it’s a look at how things could be once your project is complete. It can address everything from a feeling of well-being to a financial state. It can be a few quick words or one or two paragraphs, and it can be literal or symbolic. Think of Herbert Hoover’s 1928 campaign slogan: A chicken in every pot and a car in every garage. Did he really expect every household to have a chicken in every pot? All the time? The possibility is absurd, but the sentiment is reassuring and inspiring. Mission: The mission statement directs the business purpose of the organization. You can have specifics, like “Serve Limbo Company with a technology system that seamlessly connects all 2,100 employees in twelve countries by the year 2010.” Or you can create a softer mission, such as “Develop the best possible footwear for [36]

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employees who stand on their feet,” and “Become the leading provider to food and retail outlets nationwide.” Can you integrate the two into one paragraph? Sure, why not? Just be sure you are targeted enough so that the statement both directs and inspires whoever is reading it. A few other pointers: • Connect your and your client’s futures to the company’s; that will help underscore the business purpose of the project and resonate it’s overall importance. • Give a copy of the mission statement to your team and refer to it when discussing values and goals. • Get agreement from your team before finalizing the copy. • Steer clear of clichés or sweeping proclamations. A mission statement of “wanting to meet your customer’s needs” means less than nothing. _________________________________________________ _______________________

Hidden Value One of the hidden values of a project plan is this: Getting input from your team. Maybe the members agree with every decision you make. (If so, email me at once. I’d love to learn your secret!) Maybe they’ll disagree and suggest adjustments. Either way, the process will start them owning the plan and considering the project theirs, which will [37]

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make them better workers. _________________________________________________ _______________________

2. Project Description and Scope of Work The scope of work will vary according to why you’re writing your project plan in the first place and whom you’re writing it for. If the project is for a client like the federal government, they’ll demand plenty of details. If it’s an in-house job or a plan for a two-person business, you can ease up and lay out just enough information to identify the amount of work involved in your tasks and be able to manage them. One of your best tools is a Work Breakdown Structure, or WBS. No doubt this term seems more complicated than it is— frankly, I’m not sure why smart people must give such outrageous names to reasonable things. Name aside, the WBS is much like a family tree, only the parents are your activities and the kids are the tasks involved to accomplish each of those activities. The structure has three levels, each increasingly more detailed than the one above. Let’s say your project was to host a conference for seniorlevel clients from around the nation. Your WBS might look like this:

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Accomodations

Hotels, Food

Ritz Carlton, Sophies Catering

Speakers

Trainers, Keynote

Marketing

PR campaign, Invitations

Wall Street Journal, Executive Printing

So, why bother with a WBS? Lots of reasons. For starters, psychologists say the human mind can only comprehend between seven and nine items at once. So, if you have a project with dozens of tasks, how can you keep track? How can you even begin to conceptualize them? But there are other reasons for a WBS as well. Once you figure out all the tasks involved in your project, you’ll be ready to determine who does each task, how much each one costs, how long each one takes, and so on. Naturally, the WBS here contained only a fraction of the content, but the general idea should be clear. In case it isn’t, here are a few pointers, then a word from every project manager’s best friend: the Project Management Institute, or PMI. [39]

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• Don’t provide too much detail or address specific tasks; this isn’t a task list. • The secret is in the outcome. For every item—at any level—think of the outcome. • Make sure your WBS is easy to read and comprehend. • Remember, moderation is the rule . . . and be moderate with your moderation. In other words, provide all the information you need and nothing less or more. This concept is called the 100 percent rule. _________________________________________________ _____________________

More on the 100 Percent Rule According to the PMI, in its book Practice Standard for Work Breakdown Structures (Second Edition): The 100 Percent Rule states that the WBS includes 100 percent of the work defined by the project scope and captures ALL deliverables—internal, external, interim—in terms of the work to be completed, including project management. The 100 Percent rule is one of the most important principles guiding the development, decomposition, and evaluation of the WBS. The Rule applies at all levels within the hierarchy: The sum of the work at the “child” level must equal 100 percent of the work represented by the “parent”, and the WBS should not include any work that falls outside the actual scope of the project; that is, it cannot include more than 100 percent of the work. It is [40]

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important to remember that the 100 percent rule also applies to the activity level. The work represented by the activities in each work package must add up to 100 percent of the work necessary to complete the work package. (p. 8) _________________________________________________ _______________________

Quick Q&As Because the WBS is so important, let’s have a quick Q&A to address any lingering questions: Q. How do I know which tasks are involved in my project? It’s almost dizzying. A. One method that’s proven helpful to countless project managers is this: Start with level one, the “parent” tasks. That should be easy. Then move to level two, a.k.a. “the children.” Don’t worry about how many tasks you produce, just get them all out and onto the page. Unlike real children, you can bump off whichever ones are relatively insignificant or redundant. Then on to level three, the specifics. Q. How do I know when I should stop subdividing my tasks at level three? A. That’s tricky, but basically you should stop when your tasks cover 100 percent of the “parent,” or level one, list.

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Q. Should I have a numbering system in my WBS? A. WBS, now a given in project management, originated in the Department of Defense—so, naturally, they had an intricate system of numbers and sub-numbers. Sadly, the numbering system is distracting and, in my humble opinion, unnecessary. But, if you’re so inclined, go ahead. Once you’ve completed your WBS, you’re ready to move forward and address additional items, including these and any other considerations specific to your project: • Resources • Responsibilities • Cost • Scope • Quality • Time

3. Roles and Responsibilities You can take two directions when defining the roles and responsibilities of each person involved in a project. One is the good old-fashioned roles-and-responsibilities description—usually a compact paragraph or two. The other is something called a Responsibility Assignment Matrix, known, not surprisingly, by its acronym, RAM. However, I recommend using both; they serve distinct but [42]

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interrelated functions and are critical for your projectmanagement plan. Old-fashioned Description: • Details for each individual the specific responsibilities and the outcomes expected of him • Clarifies your expectations of contractors or suppliers and serves as an agreement between you (although not legally binding) • Eliminates confusion over responsibilities • Informs team members about the best source of knowledge for particular project-related issues • Provides a level of detail you can not contain in RAM RAM: • Creates an easy-to-access spreadsheet of team members’ responsibility for individual tasks • Indicates the level of involvement in each task • Provides general information about the best contact for specific tasks Let’s take a closer look at the roles and responsibilities descriptions first, and then we’ll get more detailed about RAM.

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Roles and Responsibilities Descriptions Just about every workplace, even one- and two-person shops, has some sort of job description for each of its workers. Most contain a range of responsibilities that sometimes cover even the most far-flung possibilities. A wide-ranging description is good, but it can lead to these descriptions being worded in such general terms that they are as substantive as marshmallow fluff. Here is an example: Must communicate with customers on a regular basis and address their individual needs. This person is also responsible for tracking all interactions with the customer and sending them to the appropriate authority. Notice the nebulous wording. For example, “regular basis” could mean once a year—not a great idea if the project is set to last two months. Then there’s that frightening phrase “appropriate authority.” Who exactly is that person? The project manager? Or a senior manager in the firm? If the person is a contractor, this description could justify sending the information to their boss and not the company they’re working for. A clean, clearly articulated description will take away the misery of ambiguity and bring great rewards. This isn’t a matter of rocket science, by the way. Just be specific:

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Must update the customers weekly and address their individual inquiries within twenty-four hours. This person is also responsible for tracking all interactions on the intranet tracking system and sending a report to the project manager daily. No questions. The tasks are clear.

RAM You can create this handy project management system in two parts. The first is to determine the quality of the team member’s involvement in the task or activity and give it a code, usually the first letter. So, for example, one team member may be the “lead.” Not surprisingly, the code for this person would be “L.” Standard designations in project management include: Participant (P) Accountable (A) Approval required (AR) Reviewer (R) Input necessary (I) But you can add any designation you like and make it specific to the project. For example, if your project involves research, you may have: Lead researcher (L) Support researcher (S) [45]

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Data collector (D) Copy reviewer (C) Analyst (AS) These tasks are general; you don’t want to bog down your matrix with too many assignments and the codes that go with them. Sure, the lead may have an assistant who collates copy, contacts research participants, and so on. But this person will be a direct report to the lead; you don’t need to include them on your chart. The second part of the RAM involves recording the primary tasks, either for a phase of your project or, if the project is small, for the entire thing. Be sure each task is of consequence; you don’t want to waste time on detailed or in-the-weeds steps. Then, determine who is responsible for that task and what role they’ll fill. Include other stakeholders such as the client, a senior executive at your company, and contractors when they play a significant part. Roughly, here’s how it should look:

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Activity Project Team Members Others Execution

Mark

Mark

Ellen

Toby

Client’s

President’s

Phase

Taylor

Roy

Holmes

Lowe

Manager

Office

Task 1

L

S

Task 2

AR L

S

R

L

A

R

Task 3

AR

Task 4 Task 5

AR

S C

Task 6

AR AR

A

AR

The real beauty behind this system is that your team can keep track of their evolving tasks throughout the life of the project. Need to add tasks? Move people around? Record it on your RAM so everyone knows. Remember to discuss changes with your team in meetings—but don’t assume that everyone will check the RAM, or any other written document, for changes. RAM is a support, but it doesn’t fill in for other forms of communication.

4.Time Management Time is never what it seems. We know this. Sit through your kid’s twenty-minute ballet performance and you’d swear it took hours. But in project management, the time it takes to complete each activity and your ability to manage that will be critical to your success. To start, go back to your WBS and ask yourself these questions for every activity you identified: [47]

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• Which are the critical activities? What tasks need to be performed before others can be completed? Say, for example, that you’re starting a catering business. Before you can cater events, you must purchase your products: utensils, an industrial oven, and so on. And this depends on getting the right funding. So, Critical Activity #1: Get funding. • What are parallel activities—those you can do simultaneously? While you’re getting that funding, you could be looking at places to start your operation. A storefront, perhaps. How about one with a fully equipped kitchen in the back? • What is the relationship between activities? Let’s say all goes well and your catering business starts with a bang. You can’t cater an event for your clients unless you cook the food, and you can’t cook the food until you’ve purchased it. Don’t get the food in time? Your client goes hungry and the project bombs. • How many labor hours will you need to complete the task? For example, cooking a roast may take the caterer’s chefs ten hours, maybe more, given the time necessary to dress, marinate, and cook the meat. But the actual labor hours may only be only two or three. [48]

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• How long will each activity take, from inception to completion? Although you can’t ever predict the exact duration of a task, you can get close. Use your experience with similar tasks and the experience of your team members to help estimate. • What are the milestones that indicate the task is complete? For the caterer, the milestones are obvious: the utensils arrive, the food is prepared, the location of the event you’re catering is set up and ready to go. But in other projects the milestones may be less obvious. If you’re conducting research or developing a new product, for example, you may think your milestone is completing a preliminary report that outlines your next steps. But actually, the real milestone, and the one that allows the project to move forward, will be getting approval from The Powers That Be, whether that’s a client, a senior officer, or another stakeholder. Note, by the way, that the milestone is not the activity itself but when you complete it.

Estimating Duration Times When determining the duration of any task, ask yourself these questions: • What are some of the constraints that may get in the way of the project? Say you need to print out ten thousand copies of your annual report. Your printer [49]

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would typically need two weeks to produce it—but will he need more given that there are complex graphics? • Will all necessary resources be available? For example, your printer may have promised to commit a team to your project. But lo and behold, those experts are unavailable—there’s this big conference coming up, you see. Or how about money? Will your funding come in? And consider seasonal issues, too. If you’re hoping to ramp up in mid-August while most people are at the beach, forget it. • Are my assumptions accurate? Correct? Sure, you think that design job will be ready in two weeks, but will it? Will you really get the critical data for your report by the first of the month? It’s always smart to build in a two- or maybe three-week cushion. _________________________________________________ _______________________

Time Factors The project management world has its own particular way of looking at time, as well as its own special phrases to describe it. Don’t worry too much about the wording—just grasp the idea and move on. Here are four of them:

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Finish to Start. Are you in human resources? Say you need to print a health-plan benefits brochure. Before you can print the brochure, you need to write or otherwise input the content. It’s something you have to finish before you can really start. Start to Start. Two activities start, but don’t end, at the same time. You need to distribute the brochures and train employees on the content. You start distributing the brochures on May fourth and have them on everyone’s desk by May fifth—maybe May sixth. But you also have one thousand employees to train. You start training them on May fourth as well, but seeing how because you and your team’s trainers can only meet with groups of twelve at a time, you sure won’t be done when the sun goes down on May sixth. Finish to Finish. Tasks start at different times but must end at the same time. You’ve just manufactured a fabulous new product that took two years to develop. As the products are getting packaged for sale, you send an announcement to the media that the new products are in—and the new products had better be on the retailers’ shelves when the announcement hits the stands. Start to Finish. This is a task that must be finished for another to start. The retailers are starting to run out of [51]

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your fabulous new product (because the announcement, not to mention your $1 million advertising campaign, was so great). So, you ship out more products to ensure the supply runs high. Because of the effectiveness of your advertising, you have to supply more products. _________________________________________________ _____________________

What’s Next? Develop a Project Network Diagram (PND). This visual support helps you determine how to complete a project on time, given the various activities involved and their estimated duration. It also introduces the idea of the “critical path.” Naturally you’d think that “critical” means the most important path possible, but no—it simply refers to the longest and most direct path to get the project done, given the timing of each individual activity. You may be wondering what happens to those other tasks—the ones that aren’t locked into a timeline but that you need to complete regardless? Those non-critical tasks? In project management language, non-critical tasks have “float.” That means you have some leeway in terms of timing. If you delay these tasks and they’re late, the completion date probably won’t be affected. You can address these tasks on your diagram, but set them off using a separate color or make footnotes indicating that these non-critical activities [52]

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need to occur around this time. The look of your PND is entirely up to you. One option is to use boxes with arrows that indicate the relationship between tasks. Say, for example, that you have parallel activities that must be completed before another activity can occur. Let’s get back to our catering example again: You need to prepare the food and organize the dining area before you can serve. So, your diagram would look like this: Prepare the Food Serve Dinner Organize the Dining Area S

Or perhaps you just need to move from the starting point to the finishing point of your diagram. Here’s what you’d S P do:

Prepare the Food

Serve Dinner

S B

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Once you add more activities and the relationship between them, your diagram will look something like this: Buy the Food

Prepare the Food

Rent Chairs and Tables

Organize the Dining Area

Serve Dinner

Send Invitations

C length of your arrowS to indicate You can also use the when two parallel projects start or finish at different times:

Send Invitations

Collect RSVPs

Buy the Food

Prepare the Food

Serve Dinner

As long as the relationships between tasks are clear on your PND, you can see how to move on to the next stage. The next step is to factor in other components of your plan, such as the duration of each activity and the amount of labor hours per person, and then apply this information to a project schedule or calendar. One approach to this is the worldrenowned Gantt chart. Here’s what you need to know:

All about Gantt Charts You’ve seen Gantt charts a million times. They’re a common resource in just about every kind of project, from quick weekend team-building meetings to six-month research projects. The Gantt chart has been around since American engineer Henry Laurence Gantt invented it in 1917. It looks like this: [54]

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Tasks

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Send Invitations Tally RSVPs Rent a Hall Buy the Food Rent Tables and Chairs Assemble a Wait Staff Prepare and Serve Legend Meg

Beth

Jo

Amy

As you can see, the concept is so simple that even project managers not accustomed to using visual aids can master it. Just put your tasks in one row at the far end of your chart, then run dates across the top at increments that make sense to you: days, weeks, or months. If your project has a remarkably short duration, like a weekend, you can even break it down to hours. The horizontal bars indicate the amount of time each task should take. Gantt charts are quick and easy to make and, best of all, they’re easy for your team to follow. Here are some helpful pointers: • Use for small-to mid-size projects. Large, multi-milliondollar projects will need more complex systems. [55]

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• Include a reasonable number of tasks—fifteen or twenty is a good place to stop. • Break down your tasks into main tasks and subtasks, if you like. • Add an extra column indicating who does what—if that helps. Project management technology tools will do this, and countless other useful functions, for you. • Review your Gantt chart every two weeks or so. Do it more frequently if you need to. • Make use of visual possibilities. Be creative. Here are some ideas: Color-coded bars Thicker or thinner bars Different shapes for the bars, such as straight lines or wavy lines or wavy lines over straight lines to indicate special information Inverted triangles to indicate milestones _________________________________________________ _____________________

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Visually Challenged? Here’s a word of caution for the graphically challenged.You know who you are —you prefer written driving directions to maps; you found diagramming sentences in high school tantamount to torture. The PND, like the WBS, RAM, and other visual aids that will, doubtless, require acronyms, are pretty easier to see, change, and just manage in general than written instructions are. But you may also need to create a narrative, too, just for your own sanity. So go ahead. Even better, write your narrative first—that will help you think the components through—then put them on the diagram. You may be wondering why you should do both, why simply writing the tasks out the old-fashioned way isn’t enough. Here are three good reasons: 1.The PND, once you get used to it, can create a snapshot that’s easy to see and quick to change without all those words getting in the way. Simply put: The time necessary to comprehend the relationship between activities becomes incredibly shortened. 2. Just because you don’t like charts doesn’t mean your team members are equally averse. Personally, I’m anti-graphics, which may have something to do with being a writer. I’m just loyal to words. As far as I’m concerned, leave the visuals to photographers. But a reality that has dawned on me over the years is this: I’m in the [57]

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lonely minority. Most of my clients, employees, and friends just love a good image. So, as a project manager, you must give them graphics to them for the sake of the project. 3. Computer programs. Okay, I admit, I’m averse to these, as well. If you are, too, a word of advice: Seek therapy.You will have to use them, and they really are helpful.They really do calculate things in seconds that would take you hours or more to do yourself. And plenty of programs have sample PNDs for you to use that will bring you outrageously great results. _________________________________________________ ______________________

5. Costs The best starting point when determining costs for your project is to figure out what resources you need and how much they will cost you. I know that sounds logical, but you’d be amazed at how many managers stumble and fall at this point. They stumble, by the way, by factoring in obvious costs and then fall because they overlook the hidden ones and come up short. Here’s a typical scenario: Doug, a project manager, brought in two contractors to work on his six-month project. He knew how much he’d need to pay the contractors—they were expensive, but hey, they were experts, and Doug wanted only the best. He factored in the obvious: They [58]

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would each need a workspace and a computer. You’d think they’d be good to go with this, but there was a problem; the contractors didn’t have the software necessary for the project. This was a double whammy where costs were concerned. First, Doug had to pay for the software. Second, Doug had to pay the contractors while waiting for the software to arrive. During that period they weren’t doing the work he intended. Instead, they were doing grunt work while Doug waited for the software to be delivered. Of course, this had a ripple effect where the timeline was concerned . . .without the contribution of the contractors, other tasks couldn’t start or finish. You remember from the previous section: start to finish, finish start, and so on. So, how do you determine your costs, both apparent and hidden? Here’s a quick and easy way, no acronyms needed. Simply write a list of your obvious costs. It could include any of the following possibilities: • Three consultants on performance management • Software and hardware • Warehouse space • Training • Office supplies • Travel expenses [59]

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Once you get the obvious expenses down, write a list beneath it of the hidden expenses each one contains. For example, under “training” you might list: • Off-site space • Food and snacks • Workbooks and other support material • Trainers Next, add the costs of each of these hidden expenses for the total. • Off-site space…………………………… $600 • Food and snacks………………………… $20 per person = $1,000 • Workbooks and other support material......$50 per person = $2,500 • Trainers…………………………………...$2,000 per day = $4,000

Add these costs together, and that’s your training expense. You may think you’re done—but wait! Give yourself a cushion, just in case. Think it’s too high? The beauty of planning in advance is that you can manage your expenses before you sign them away. Given the example we just used, you could: • Train your group at the worksite and spare yourself the off-site expense. • Print the material in-house and cut the bill in half. • Serve sandwiches instead of a meal and spend $10 a person instead of $20. [60]

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If you like, you can work these expenses into a chart or graph. How you break down your expenses is up to you— and your budget. If the reins are pretty tight, because, say, you own a start-up and can’t buy a pack of chewing gum without feeling the pinch, you need to consider each expense carefully. No matter what format you prefer to break the costs down into, just make sure you’re aware of what everything will actually cost you. Now say the project you’re managing concerns marketing your start-up. A potential client wants to meet with you in her Chicago office. You live in Austin. Before you start adding in the cost of airplane fare (cheap through an online source such as Expedia), hotel costs (discounted, thanks to all those points you’ve been collecting), and food (you’ll do burgers and fries), think of your additional expenses, especially —the time you aren’t collecting billables. That’s income that you will later reinvest into your marketing efforts and, given the cash flow travails of start-ups, it can’t be overlooked. So what do you do? Look at the alternatives: • Forget about the trip if the project isn’t big enough to merit the expense or the likelihood of the project panning out isn’t high. Make sure it will definitely be worth your while monetarily or through at least for the contacts or opportunities for work it will provide. [61]

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• Add other stops to the trip. Try arranging other meetings at other potential client sites while you’re there. The extra meetings won’t cost more than cab fare, and you increase the likelihood that the pay-off of the trip will be good. • Have a virtual meeting instead. Granted, face-to-face time usually makes a better connection, but the price tag shrinks exponentially with a phone call or video conference. Then, once you’re closer to sealing the deal, go for the real thing. We can call these expenses direct costs—meaning they directly affect your project. You may also allocate a separate list or column for incidentals like, say, giving bonuses to your employees, holding company off-sites, and so on. A few other pointers about determining costs: • Get professional help. Lots of small-business people do their money management themselves, a particularly risky venture if you’re managing a start-up. For many, the cost of hiring a professional bookkeeper and CPA is far less than the hours that you spend doing it yourself. If you can afford it, it’s never a bad idea to have a professional check your numbers. If you’re managing a project at a large company, those resources will be on hand. Use them.

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• Look at history: The best way to double-check your expenses is to dig up old bills, project plans, and artifacts. Unless the old project is from many years ago, the costs should remain reasonably close. • Overestimate. It’s better to estimate your costs too high than too low. Once you have these numbers you can work them into your profit-and-loss spreadsheets, or some other visual, like your RAM and your WBS, and get a feeling for how much the costs will restrict other parts of the project.

Security Measures These days, plenty of plans also contain segments on security: It didn’t take 9-11 to alert project managers that nefarious persons and other threats were lurking about, ready to sabotage their project. But 9-11 certainly drove the message home. So your plan—and your cost estimates—may also need to address these questions: • What safety procedures will you adhere to? How will you monitor those procedures and what contingency plan will you have if it fails? At what points in your project will you implement the safety procedures? • Do you plan to use contractors? If, so what process will ensure they are not security risks? This is very important—especially if you’re working with highly confidential or sensitive issues. Do you plan to [63]

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investigate the contractors before hiring? • Do you plan to have a safety manual? What is entailed in the process of writing and dispensing it to employees? • Will you train your employees on security procedures? What steps are involved? Who will train them? How far into the project will that be necessary? • Will you need to establish video surveillance? Alarm systems? Emergency telephones? At what point will you do this? How much will it cost to do so? • Does your project require safety inspections? If so, how frequently will they occur? How will the safety inspections affect other aspects of your plan? • Will your employees and contractors undergo drug screening tests? • Are first-aid kits, medical equipment, and even nurses readily available? • Will you establish an employee ID system? At what point will this occur? How will you screen employees and others working on your project? • Will you have security on-site? At what point will you need them? Will you need to restrict parking? Set up barriers of some sort?

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How About Those Tools? I’m a true techno-phobe.Trust me—I still use my computer like a typewriter. I see a piece of unidentified software and my inner self starts shrieking. So, I’m going to give you some uncharacteristic advice on technological tools. Most projects, from building a house to expanding a product line, need them.They just make life easier. For those bigger projects, where you have fifty people and countless tasks to accomplish, your success depends on them. It breaks my heart to say it, but it’s true. Granted, you may have a really small project with a really small budget and a really small staff, so maybe you don’t need the tech stuff. Otherwise, consider these factors when deciding which tool is right for you: Cost. Technology has the versatility and flexibility of chewing gum when it comes to price. In many cases, you can get pretty good but slightly limited software for under $50, or amazingly sophisticated software for millions of dollars. Figure out your budget and decide what you can spend. Complexity. How complex is your project? If you’re building a few cabins in the woods as a get-away for customers, you don’t need anything incredibly high-tech; you can easily draft a Gantt chart with Microsoft Excel or Word.They’re easy to use and help you focus on tracking tasks and allocating resources. Or check into online project management and collaboration tools that help you work with other people. Some, like Basecamphq.com, charge a small a monthly fee. [65]

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Do you expect your cabins to grow into a full-fledged corporate retreat? Are you dealing with a larger project? Then you’ll need a more complex, customizable tool. Check into TurboProject, Microsoft Project, and Primavera SureTrak for starters. Your team’s tech-savvy.Yes, you will need to learn how to use the technology. But don’t panic if you’re crunched for time.The simpler tools are pretty easy to use and your learning curve should be pretty quick.Think of it like learning Microsoft Word—a day or so of fiddling, and it’s as easy as putting your pants on in the morning. Of course, the more powerful and complicated tools are a different matter.You will need formal training; really large organizations even have experts dedicated to their project management systems. A word of advice: Don’t go it alone. Find technological people (the geekier, the better) to help. Other points: Caution helps. Make sure you have good technical support. Get recommendations from previous customers and look into options before selecting your tool.The Web is a great resource for this. Tap into your team.The talent and experience you need may be hiding in a team member.

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Don’t fall in love …with the tool, I mean. As Plenty of project managers get enamored with one tool and focus on using it more than actually managing the project. So remember: Managing projects is about managing people.The tools are just there to help.

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Chapter 4 Fingers to the Pulse

If you’re managing a project, it should take you about forty-five seconds to realize that the heart of your success is not technological tools, spreadsheets, or Gantt charts, and not even brilliant concepts—although all of these are, admittedly, helpful. No, the pulse of your project is in your communications. If you’ve managed projects before, then you know this already and perhaps you have even drafted a communications plan. It doesn’t have to be fancy and you won’t need software support, but use it if you like. If you haven’t drafted a plan, do so now. It’s never too late. Here are some critical aspects to include:

All About Push Me/Pull Me Generally, there are two kinds of approaches to communications. Both have their strengths, and you need to consider the circumstances to determine which to use.

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Push Me This involves pushing information onto your team through direct forms of communications. For example, a project manager may email Gerry to say Betty Ann is taking over Task A, and he should start Task B instead. The project manager is pushing the information Gerry’s way. Push-me venues: You use these all the time. They include: • Meetings—virtual and face-to-face • Emails • Other memos • Training sessions • Telephone conversations Hazards: There are hazards to the “push me” style of communication: • The team members sometimes simply won’t be able to incorporate that much information into their workflow. They mean to address it. They mean to follow up. But in the end, they just can’t get it done. • They forget. They just forget. Remedies: • Email a follow-up to every decision you make in conversation, whether it’s an agreement at the cafeteria salad bar or a formal meeting. • Make sure the team members email you a response to ensure they understand and will remember. So you [70]

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might write something like this: “Gerry, you’re going to be working on Task B, as we talked about earlier today. Betty Ann will pick up where you left off with Task A. Email back and tell me if this sounds right to you.” • Copy anyone who may be affected by the change on the email or memo. • Remind everyone about the change at your next meeting and follow up on how things are going. • Add the changes to your project management plan. Your software will flag any problems (such as Gerry being scheduled in St. Louis on the day Task B is due to start in San Francisco. There is one other hazard to the push-me style: If you push too much at one time, you’ll have an avalanche effect and bury your team in too many messages. This will have a backlash effect, and your team will keep its distance, leaving emails unread or finding ways to shirk training sessions. So minimize the number of communications, and make sure all of them are valuable.

Pull Me You post your work schedule on the intranet and pass out plans in hard copy. You think you’re putting information up where all your team will access and use it, but actually, you’re only presenting information and you need to pull them in so they use it. [71]

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Pull-me venues: • Intranet • Web site • Manuals • Project plans • Agreements Hazards: Here’s a reality check—busy people (like every professional you know, plus everyone else) are too swamped to check the intranet for changes or revisit that RAM to see what Sue is up to and whether her responsibilities may have shifted. They hardly have time to open those emails you’re pushing toward them. If you put information up, you must pull them to it if you expect them to use it. Remedies: Do you remember way back in the first chapter when we discussed multiple modes of communication— using written, spoken, and visual means of communicating for every important message? Well, that’s the idea here, too. If you’ve changed your descriptions of roles and responsibilities, don’t expect your team members to read them and start performing differently. It ain’t gonna happen. And don’t tell them to review the changes at a team meeting and think they’ll go back to their offices and log in. Sure, they’ll all agree. And about 25 percent of them will mean it. That will not stop the majority from forgetting or filing it low on their priority list. So here’s what you do: [72]

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• Bring a hard copy for each team member to your meetings and discuss it. You need an actual hard copy, not the electronic version on a big screen. You want them to take notes directly onto it. This direct approach will help them process and remember the content better, even if they throw the notes away. • Refer to specific documents such as your project plan or a manual, but make sure the team members actually use them. Oh—and be specific. Here’s what I mean: Don’t say: The steps are in the project manual. We gave you a hard copy and you can find it on the intranet. Don’t do this, either—it won’t help: The steps are in the project manual. Let me know if you have any thoughts or want to adjust the steps in any way. Do this—it’s much more effective: The steps are in the project manual. Access it either online or in the hard-copy version we gave you. Either way, be prepared to give me specific feedback at our Thursday planning meeting. OR: Do this—it’s also really effective: The steps are in the project manual. Access it either online or in the hard-copy version we gave you. Either way, please answer these questions once you’ve reviewed them. [73]

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Send notices via email or memo. Point to specific sections they should review and be clear about why. Underscore their importance. If it isn’t important, they shouldn’t be reviewing it anyway, right? Refer to the document in question in meetings, training sessions, and every other chance you get.

Internal Communications One of the biggest problems project managers face is getting information where it belongs when it belongs there. This may seem like a non-issue; just tell people what they need to know. Yet, when you’re on the fly, sending even a two-line email may be impossible. As for your team members, opening that email might be equally impossible. With fifty, maybe one hundred emails in their inbox, who has time to open every one? And even if they do, who has time to read them all carefully? So, you need to establish a clear and predictable communications flow. The best starting point is to build an internal infrastructure. This is true even if your team consists of only five people. This infrastructure will protect you against potential disasters resulting from poor communications, including these:

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Missed Information, Hurt Feelings, Lost Time I’ve seen this a million times, and it’s a very effective stressinducer and time-waster. In fact, if you measured the time in billable hours that team members spend correcting actions they thought they should take, you’d tap into one of the greatest budget drains around. The scenario goes something like this: 1. Project manager instructs team member about, say, billing the client. 2. Project manager soon learns that the billing system has changed and the client should be billed on a monthly, not bi-weekly, basis. 3. Team member doesn’t learn this fact and continues billing the client. 4. The client calls to complain. 5. The team member apologizes but feels humiliated and angry because no one informed him. 6. The project leader feels sure she told the team member. (“Don’t you remember, after Thursday’s meeting?”) 7. The team member must go back, re-bill the client, cancel the previous bills in the system, and follow up with the client to ensure all went according to plan . . .

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Naturally, this is a tiny example. Far bigger ones abound.

Inaccurate Information This is a serious problem that exists in just about every workplace, whether there are project management plans in place or not. What happens is this: 1. The team member needs information but doesn’t know whom to ask. 2. The project manager is out of town at a project-related conference and the question can’t wait. 3. The team member asks someone else, possibly a team member who is friendly, sits in a cubicle nearby, won’t mind the interruption, and is an overall likeable guy. Not, by the way, because he knows what he’s talking about. 4. The guy answers. Granted, the question is about cost estimates and he’s an architect who can’t even balance a checkbook. But he answers anyway. Why? That’s what people do. Your kid sick with the flu? Your friends—none of them doctors—give all sorts of advice about how to heal the young one. Have a knock in your engine? Your friend (an accountant) will tell you why it’s knocking and how to fix it. Ask a question, people answer. That’s just what they do. 5. The team member adjusts the estimates accordingly. 6. The numbers are wrong. All actions taken by other [76]

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team members regarding those estimates are wrong. True, the change went through an approval process— but who looks that closely? Besides, no one notices the mistake until problems start bubbling up . . . about two months down the pike. Estimates abound on how much information gets exchanged this way in the workplace, but it hovers around 85 percent.

Repeated Tasks This is a huge money drain, and is demoralizing to anyone who cares about her work. Remember Gerry and Betty Ann from a few paragraphs ago? Here’s what happened: 1. The project manager assigns Task A to Gerry. 2. Gerry gets to work calling contacts, documenting steps, and so on. 3. Betty Ann, working on a separate task, discovers she could actually work on Task A at the same time, since the two tasks overlap. She could save everyone time and expedite the project a little as a result. Great deal! 4. Betty Ann and the project manager talk in the office hallway between meetings. The project manager wholeheartedly agrees with the arrangement and thanks Betty Ann for taking initiative. 5. Betty Ann works on the task. 6. So does Gerry. No one told him not to. [77]

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7. Gerry keeps working. 8. Betty Ann keeps working. 9. Gerry asks Betty for information relevant to Task A and discovers she was assigned to take over after he’s already invested a week’s worth of work and a great deal of brain power, as well as put other projects on hold. OR: 10. Gerry learns from a contact involved in Task A that Betty Ann already called and asked for the same information. This looks unprofessional, plus it’s a little humiliating for Gerry. OR: 11. Gerry and Betty Ann work on the task and both get results. Different results. Conflicting results. Humiliating, plus conflict-inducing. You may be asking why the project manager didn’t just input the change on the RAM that she so skillfully drafted at the beginning of the project. Well, maybe she did—only no one noticed. Who goes back to project management plans once the project is running? Okay, granted, they should. Project management plans are living, evolving documents [78]

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and play a steady role. This is a classical case of a “pull” where no one pulled. So the RAM, although alive, was most definitely lethargic. True, the project manager should have communicated the change to Gerry directly. But remember, she and Betty Ann had discussed the change in the hall while dashing off to meetings. The bottom line is that Gerry didn’t know and bad things happened as a result.

Team Stress If any of the above or any other incidents occur that result in ineffective hours spent or embarrassing misunderstandings, stress is always the result. 1. The team has fall-outs over project-related issues. 2. They overcome these issues. They’re teammates after all, fighting for the same side. However . . . 3. The issues repeat themselves. 4. The stress builds. 5. The project slows down because of the stress, and the team members are angry with each other and, most definitely, you.

Communication Models You can pick from numerous communication models, depending on your project and the nature of your team. [79]

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Some teams, for example, are comprised of managers and their employees. Others are flat—everyone is included in everything. So, look through these possible structures and see which one suits you:

Flat Just let me say in advance that I’m not being sexist in calling this a female communications style. I happen to have the utmost respect for female professionals and, as you could probably tell from the name on the cover of this book, I happen to be one. But women tend to be consensus builders. They want everyone to have equal opportunities to give and receive information. So, everyone gets everything. Meetings? Invite the whole crowd. E-mails? Copy everyone. Personally, being female and all, I like the idea, but admit it’s not a practical one. Why have team members wasting their valuable (and expensive) time attending meetings to get low-priority or no-priority information, or information that doesn’t apply to them at all? A better idea: Classify the meetings according to subject matter and urgency and invite only the people who need to be there.

Hierarchical Once again, no sexism intended, but if the flat structure is female, then the hierarchical is unquestionably male as well [80]

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as the classic model in most businesses. If the employees need information, direction, or answers, they ask their supervisor. The supervisor asks the manager, who asks the VP, who asks the senior VP, who doesn’t ask the president but does ask the deputy who fields questions and requests for the Big Boss. Conversely, if the business is undergoing changes, announcing new products, or anything else, the senior VP tells the VP, who tells the manager, who tells the supervisor. . . Why do I mention this? Because the hierarchical flow, while popular, isn’t always efficient. Most employees sidestep this process and run to the Senior VP’s administrative assistant or the Senior VP herself for information, stepping on countless toes along the way. Or they consult with other employees, as we discussed a few paragraphs ago— which can end badly. If you want to establish a hierarchy for your project, and the team members really are that stratified, here’s what you must do: • Clearly articulate the structure to your team. Be especially clear about what constitutes a manager: If there are two management-level people, which one does the team member approach? • Present back-up plans. If the appropriate person isn’t available to field a question, who’s the back-up person? Is there a contingency plan? [81]

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• What is the appropriate amount of time to wait before contacting the back-up person? • Determine the most efficient ways of communicating. If some team members are off-site, email works well. But should team members also call each other? Should they contact the administrative person and leave messages? What works best? • What questions should always be directed at higherlevel personnel? When can they ask the guy in the next cubicle and expect to actually get an accurate answer?

Updating Your Management Documents As you fly through your project, you need to stop, meet with your team, and haul out your project management documents. Remember:They’re living. Update them, review them, and see how well you’ve hit your targets. In addition, it’s a good idea to put templates and other forms in place so your team can add updated information as the project progresses. If their job was to gather data, whom did they contact? What was the response? What lessons can you learn from the progress so far? Other questions to address: • Have you had any surprises regarding bills, billables, or budget? If so, what was the cause? And, even more important, how can you avoid the problem as you move forward? [82]

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• Have you gone through a testing stage? What was the result? If good, why? If not, what steps are you taking for the next phase of your project? If you have to back-step, how will this affect your timeline? Will it affect other projects? • What is the dynamic between your team members? Do you find any black holes that suck the energy out of everyone else? If so, how can you manage that person—or process—to control or beat the negativity? • Are you on target when you review your progress at milestone dates? Was your original plan too aggressive? Not aggressive enough? Address these questions and modify, modify, modify.

Single Person–Based Many project managers make the mistake of having a single point person who will answer all questions and address all needs. This person is usually themselves. Sadly, they’re swamped from the get-go with executive tasks, and their predicament only worsens as the phone calls, emails, and knocks on the office door build and build and build. Some might call this communications style “micromanaging.” In some cases, you must take the single-person approach. Maybe you have a tiny business and the rest of [83]

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your team can easily answer and report to you. Or maybe you have a unique area of expertise that needs to be the guiding hand. If so, go ahead with the single-person system, but please, follow these guidelines. Trust me, you’ll be glad you did: • Send people elsewhere for answers. I can’t help it; I’m just stuck on the idea of not having a single person take it all on. But the “elsewhere” I’m referring to doesn’t necessarily have to be a person; it could be manuals, Web sites, even books that can give more detail than you have time to impart. • Instruct and teach rather than command, so they gradually become more independent. • Document your actions in order to create a kind of instructional manual for your team as you go.

Point Person–Based In my opinion, the point person–based approach is the most feasible. Basically, it amounts to this: For every major task, one person will be a true expert. Maybe the expert is a manager, maybe not. The important thing is that the person knows the content, is the most updated about the progress of the task, and is perfectly capable of giving real, logical, and, yes, informed answers. You can dub that person the point person for that particular aspect of your project. [84]

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Ah, but the question arises: How will people know who that point person is? Easy. Think RAM. Think red. Think circle. On your RAM or on any other task model you create, circle that person in red. Then, send everyone on your team a copy. And discuss.

Performance Feedback You will need to apply a method of performance feedback as you manage your project. Much has been written about performance feedback—libraries are filled with books on the topic, and the Web practically drips with it. Not comfortable providing feedback? Pick up one of those books on the subject or dip into some of those Web words.And be sure to separate the myths from the realities. Here are a few examples: Myth: You need to give team members sweet rewards for good work—like pay increases, a new and improved title, special parking spaces, and other perks. Reality:You may not even have the option to reward team members with these things.You may not be empowered to do so, or your company may not even offer them. But you have something better. I know, that sounds cute, and what I’m about to say sounds even cuter. But it’s true:The value of the project can be its own powerful reward. In fact, studies show that employees respond to rewards in the short run, but eventually the thrill will be gone, and with it their [85]

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enthusiasm. A sense of belonging, contributing, and creating a great result goes a lot further to keep your team motivated. Myth: You should set aside special time to provide feedback. Reality: Let’s call this one a half-reality. Sure, you and your team should review progress periodically, especially around milestones. But you need to provide ongoing feedback to your team as a whole and to each individual member. This will help you address problems before they happen and motivate strong team members to keep pushing forward. Myth:You should document the big issues. Reality: Actually, you should document the details.Then, when providing feedback—especially about intangibles, like how a team member interacts with customers or whether they’ve completed their tasks sufficiently—you can provide evidence that what you’re saying is true. Just as important, you’ll have a record in case trouble springs up.

External Communications When thinking about the external communications that go to major stakeholders such as your clients, consider two issues: them and you. Let’s start with them. External communications can consist of all sorts of documents and encounters, including updates, regular meetings, surprise meetings, all those reports and findings papers, and more, many more. So, [86]

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when thinking about this range of communications, think predictability, equilibrium, and calm. That’s what your external recipient wants. And here’s how you can achieve it: • Plan. At the heart of every great correspondence lies a plan. Let your stakeholders know that they’ll receive regular updates, and give these updates a name. Sending them on Mondays? Call it the “Monday Outlook.” Holding meetings every month? Call it the “Monthly Meeting.” This hardly takes creative genius, and it establishes a certain rhythm to your communications that gives your stakeholders a sense of control. By the way, avoid words like “Hot Flash,” “Code Red,” or “Urgent Notices” for emergency communications. That’s a formula for instant panic, even if the news isn’t horribly bad. • Follow the one-week model. Stay in touch every week or so, even if you’ve been away, if the project is in slow gear, or if it has stopped altogether for awhile. Think of these updates as those little messages that appear on the telephone when you’re on hold, reminding you that someone will be with you shortly. It’s a reassuring reminder to your clients that they haven’t been forgotten, even if there is no news to deliver to them. Make sure these messages are sincere, specific, and not even slightly annoying.

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• Use friendly, familiar language they can grasp and appreciate. This may seem obvious, but you’d be amazed at how bad external communications can get. For starters, you probably have your own “project speak.” Even project management has its own language, as you know from our discussion about the WBS and RAM the manager must develop, as well as the KSAs (knowledge/skills/abilities) your team members must have before tasking can begin. • Instead, use plain language, which essentially consists of concise word usage, active voice, no jargon, and little or no industry terminology. You can do this and maintain your professionalism, your legal protection, and everything else at the same time. And your stakeholders will love you because they can breeze through the message and actually understand it. You can create plain language in one of three ways: Hire a really good writer to draft or edit the documents. I highly recommend this option. You can find a good one for around $45 an hour. If you or your team does the writing, edit each other for clarity and get a plain-language, how-to guide to help. That does not mean a grammar rule book or Strunk and White. They won’t help you— find a book on effective business communication. Oh, and in meetings with your stakeholders, leave the [88]

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PowerPoints at home; they are typically filled with so much nonsensical jargon it makes the mind whirl. • Put the key information up front in everything from emails to reports, so your stakeholders won’t have to wade through lots of text to get it. Actually, they won’t read to get it. Reality tells us that if the opening isn’t gripping and relevant, they’ll move on to something else. If you really want them to process your message, put the important stuff at the beginning. • Follow up on all your stakeholders’ ideas, from the great to the bad ones. This will let them know they count.

Making (Faking) Time for the Stakeholders Remember to think predictability and equilibrium. Then, recognize that you’re not going to get it. You’ll be drafting reports at the last minute in emergency sessions and emailing team members’ contributions to stakeholders somewhere around midnight. You’ll have to jot quick responses to earnest questions, hold meetings you don’t particularly want to attend, and ask yourself why you’re doing this, instead of working on the actual project in the first place. So, one key to your success is this: Fake it. Don’t let stakeholders know you’d rather be doing ten other things than communicating with them. This may take an attitude [89]

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adjustment. If so, by all means, adjust. Then consider the following: • Templates. Wait—before you say, “Oh I already have those!” read on. These overachievers of project management contain two components. One is the actual format, which typically consists of a first paragraph devoted to an overview or executive summary of the document or mission/vision statement. This is followed by an outline broken into sections that were structured, possibly fifty years ago. If so, update. And get specific—structure the heck out of it, making sure each segment serves a clear purpose. That way your team members will resist the temptation to drop in content willy-nilly and end up with an incoherent jumble of words. • Actual word use. If you design the template, you control the writing style and it sets the tone for future entries. This lets you lock in as much of your writing as possible in advance, including transitions, introductory phrases, or standardized blurbs. Make sure the style of these segments is strong. This will influence your team members to write in a similar way, even when they’re in a mind-bending hurry. • A dedicated communications facilitator. Okay, this person doesn’t have to be dedicated full-time, forever . . . just full-time and forever every time they participate in your project. For example, if your business has [90]

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a reviewer or editor who’s willing, enlist that person to review your copy and make sure it gets to your stakeholders when you’ve promised it will. If your unit’s administrative assistant has strong communications skills, maybe they can fill that function on an as-needed basis. If you have a big enough budget and big enough need, hire someone full-time. That person doesn’t have to be a content expert but must know how to put content together, make it flow, and keep documents on schedule. • Plain language. I know, I mentioned this a minute ago. But it’s important. With clear, plain language, your stakeholder will: • Grasp the message that much faster. • Give approvals that much more readily. • Avoid calling, emailing, or arranging meetings to address questions and concerns. Employing these options means that you, the project manager, have much less communication to worry about, and you can stick much more closely to your schedule, and just have a smoother, less cumbersome process overall.

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Chapter 5 What to Do When Disaster Hits the Fan Risk Management The best way to address disaster is to prevent it from happening in the first place. I know that sounds cliché—okay, it is cliché—but it’s true. One good strategy is to create a risk-management plan that isolates your potential risks and can help you address them before they become unmanageable problems. To create a risk management plan, take this five-step approach:

1. Identify the Risk Obviously, you need to determine what risks you face before you can do anything. The variety is pretty impressive but will depend on your line of work. For example, if your project is to conduct medical research on live humans, you’ll have one set of factors, and if you’re opening a karaoke bar, you’ll have altogether different concerns. Generally, however, your risks fall into the following categories: • Human • Difficulty finding qualified staff • High turnover in employee base

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• Possibility of employees stealing secrets • Vulnerability to other forms of theft • Health and safety • Workplace hazards • Security concerns • Possible injury to customers due to slips, falls, and working with heavy equipment. • Toxic fumes • Sales and Marketing • Entering a saturated market • High cost of marketing and PR • Recent industry scandals • Environmental • Flood zone • Toxic landfills near site • Environmental risks to area of interest How can you determine your risks? Make a list of the most significant tasks in your project; the WBS will prove helpful here. Then, beneath each task, list any associated risks that come to mind. Take the karaoke bar, for instance: The project manager needed to consider a whole litany of possibilities, including staff injuries due to slips and falls on wet floors, staff stealing equipment and/or money, potential employee turnover, drugs or other similar concerns, robberies in or near the location of the bar, potential for fights…and you thought karaoke was fun. [94]

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If you find that your list is getting much too long, don’t worry. You can go back in and cut the less significant risks, or fold two risks together. For example, the project manager for the karaoke bar could collapse drugs and robberies into one concern: illegal activities.

2. Determine the Likelihood of the Risk Occurring Once you have culled your list, determine the likelihood that each risk will of occur. Choose whatever rating system you prefer; you can use a numerical system such as a scale of one to ten, or you can color-code the threat (red for the most likely and yellow for the least, for example). One item on our karaoke bar manager’s list might be environmental: A flood, storm, or other weather could damage the facility and present a good reason for customers to stay home. But, the likelihood of this occurring is low, a definite code yellow. Another risk: potential turnover of staff. Given the nature of the karaoke business and the fact that most people can endure bad singing for only so long, this is a definite code red.

3. Quantify the Cost of the Risk, Should It Occur How much will the risk cost you if it comes to pass? Think in terms of the big three: dollars, time, and quality. Let’s say the karaoke bar makes 60 percent of its weekly profits on [95]

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weekends. If bad weather shuts the place down one weekend, this could impact their profitability, but not by much. The likelihood of this occurring three or four weeks in a row, and having a severe effect, is small, unless a storm damages the facility. Then the expense of repairing it could add up to tens of thousands of dollars, plus the lost profits for the days they shut down. Staff turnover is less of a concern; generally, there are lots of young people and students eager to serve drinks at night and make some extra money. This helps allay the expense of placing ads, working with headhunters, and so on. Just as good, the cost of training a waitperson is practically a nonissue; just one evening of training by shadowing another employee can generally do the trick. How about illegal activities, such as theft? While not pleasant (who wants to be robbed?) this wouldn’t pose a great financial risk, assuming customers—and not the bar—were being robbed. Except, of course, that the nefarious activities could bring negative attention to the bar, draw the wrong type of clientele (especially if drugs were involved), and keep the right kinds of customers away. In other words, illegal activities could get the place shut down. This leads to one more point: Not all expenses are obvious and not all dollars-and-cents issues are about money. In [96]

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other words, you can’t rule out the human cost completely, or really at all. Let’s leave the increasingly seedy world of karaoke and focus on a manufacturing plant for a moment. One high-cost risk is undoubtedly workplace injury. This expense adds up on numerous fronts, including employee time away from the job and training new employees if the injured party doesn’t return. But how about the employee whose life is permanently changed? And that person’s family? What about the remaining employees? How will this affect morale? Productivity? Be sure to factor in these types of human costs.

4. Determine the Cost of Preventing the Threat Now, another factor to consider here is the resources you must commit in order to address the risk, and how that compares with the cost of simply enduring it. You’ll need to factor in your own financial tolerance: If mitigating a serious risk will drain your resources, then perhaps you need to reconsider the entire project. Of course, mitigating other risks may cost you more than they would if they happened. If that’s the case, then the risk isn’t truly a risk; it’s a nuisance. Let’s return to the karaoke club: • Environmental damage: The project manager knows they must purchase insurance —a few thousand dollars extra will cover most environmental hazards and then some. Not bad compared to the potential cost of not having insurance. [97]

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• Illegal activities: Bouncers. An off-duty police officer at the door. Security cars patrolling the parking lot and the alley leading to the club. Flood lights, security cameras, and an alarm system. The cost is high. However, the price of the problem is higher—so red it practically sizzles. • Turnover of staff: The staff would need a competitive health plan, 401-K, opportunities for growth, and incentives to keep them from moving on. That would add thousands of dollars to the otherwise minimal expense of paying a wait staff.

5. Determine the Best Step Forward. Now, add up your the scores on your risk list and determine your risk threshold. Perhaps you want to address the problem if your risk score was eleven or higher. Or, perhaps you want to prioritize—these tasks all seem important. The one with the highest score gets the most immediate attention. Anyway, here are your choices: • Avoid the risk. You can avoid the problem altogether in a number of ways. If you’re creating a new software program in an already saturated market, you might scrap the project and move on. If you’re building a retail shop in a marginal neighborhood, move to a safer area and swallow the additional rent charge. Better that than choke on disaster. • Mitigate the risk. No, you can’t avoid all risks, but you [98]

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can mitigate them. Here are two examples: Imagine you own a manufacturing plant and need to ship products across the country. You can’t prevent accidents that injure your drivers and slow delivery times. However, you can enroll your drivers in safety programs for truck drivers, carefully examine the records of any new drivers you take on, and include mapping systems in the cab so your drivers can chart alternative courses, should accidents close roads down. Or, if you’re opening a restaurant, insist that your employees wear rubber-soled shoes to avoid the hazards of slips and falls on inevitably damp or greasy floors. • Transfer the risk. Have a lease? Negotiate with your landlord to repair damages caused by “acts of God.” And, of course, there’s your insurance policy. It won’t stop the worst from happening, but it can help plug holes when it does. • Seek support for further analysis. Risk management is a sophisticated science, if you stumble into ambiguities, get clarity from outside experts. By the way, this should not include an interested party, such as your insurance agent. He may see every shadow of risk as a sparkling fuse rushing to disaster and highly recommend that you add on more and more insurance products that fatten his paycheck. • Accept the risk and move on. Granted, the risk is there, but it’s not likely to happen and the cost of [99]

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mitigating or avoiding it will be high. So, accept the risk and don’t bother addressing it—at least for now. Here’s how the karaoke bar risk-management chart might look if you assigned each category across the top a numerical value from one to ten and added them together for an overall deciding score: Most ———————————————————————Least 10 Risk

1 Likelihood Costs

Relative value Score Decision of addressing the risk

Robbery/

7

9

9

25

Mitigate

10

.5

0

10.5 Ignore

5

9

9

23

Drugs Staff Turnover Injuries

[100]

Mitigate

from Slips

and

and Falls

Transfer

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However, maybe you think that anything with a score above ten deserves attention. You may want to consider prioritizing the risks and creating a chart like this: Most ———————————————————————Least 10 Risk

1 Likelihood Costs Relative Score

Priority

Decision

Value Robbery/

7

9

9

25

1

Mitigate

10

.5

0

10.5

3

Seek

Drugs Staff

Support

Turnover Injuries from Slips and Falls

5

9

9

23

2

Mitigate and Transfer

PERT If you’re in project management, you’ll eventually come across the Performance Evaluations and Review Technique, more commonly known as PERT. PERT was originally developed for the U.S. Navy in the 1950s to help them it coordinate the activities of more than three thousand people developing the [101]

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Polaris missile. These days project managers use PERT to schedule activities. If you have a small project, you may not have to worry about using PERT. For larger projects, however, PERT can help. With it, the Navy cut the time required to build the Polaris missile by two years. Most basic project management tools have PERT as part of their program. _________________________________________________ ____________________

Cheap Help You can find tremendous help in assessing, avoiding, and managing risk for little or no money. Here are a few places to look: • Utility and other companies. Maybe you’re adding a patio to your restaurant, or expanding your shop with an addition. On the surface, the ground where you’ll be building looks like a nice, safe place to dig, with just layers of dirt (and possibly rock) to cut through. But with all those underground networks,one scoop of a backhoe,or even pitch of a shovel, and the electricity in your business—and potentially your neighborhood—could be out.Fortunately,utility companies will flag or otherwise mark the portions of the property that hold hidden power lines, gas lines, water lines, and other vital services.They do this for free so you that you know where to avoid digging. • Citizen groups and unions.Yes, I said unions.They’re in the business of protecting workers and can offer great advice, including ways to avoid worker fatigue and stress that can create accidents [102]

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and expenses.As for citizen groups, depending on your line of business, they can be great allies. Think of the karaoke bar. Citizen patrol groups could advise the project managers on security threats within the neighborhood and ways to protect customers, employees, and the surrounding community. • Insurance companies. Most insurance companies offer plenty of free help for limiting risk,including brochures,white papers,and even seminars. These cheap information sources come up with cheap solutions, too. For example, if one risk is break-ins or armed robberies, one insurance company recommends that you keep the shrubs and trees around your facility trimmed to eliminate hiding places for would-be crooks.They also offer professional risk management services. They aren’t free and, admittedly, they aren’t cheap either, but depending on your risk they could be a lot cheaper than the alternative.And remember: Once you’re a client, insurance companies have profit-driven reasons for sharing your concerns. • Software. Okay, this one just flat-out isn’t cheap. But it could help you when you have complex projects with a real plethora of risks, or even not-so-complex projects with a moderate amount of risks. These tools help you conduct statistical analysis of risk (most including PERT), and allow you to create simulations that lead to solutions. They can track tasks and alert you when you’re in a high-risk area, and help you take steps to avoid anything bad happening. _________________________________________________ _______________________ [103]

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When the Worst—or Almost Worst—Happens Whether you mitigate, transfer, or accept the risk, you need to create a contingency plan in case the worst happens. This is critical—even for those low risks. Here’s why: When problems spring up, you must act immediately. In many cases, the amount of time you wait to address them exponentially increases the damage you endure. And finding the right solution can take time—if you’re in a hurry, you may find the wrong “solution” and only add fuel to the damaging flame. Here are some issues to include in your plan: • Public outreach. Did articles ridiculing your company—or your project in particular—appear in your local newspaper? Was your CEO caught in a scandal that reflects badly on your project? Did your competitors announce a new product that eerily reflects the one you’re developing? Regardless of what happens, you need to control your exposure and make it work for you—not against you. To do this, you need a PR source you can trust; press release templates, if you plan to launch your campaign in-house; a PR kit that includes recent releases and testimonials from satisfied customers; and a list of editors or television and radio producers whose messages reach your stakeholders. • Employee outreach. Be sure to inform your employees before the bad news hits the media. Let them know what to expect, whether it’s a change in the [104]

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direction of the company or an unpleasant article in the local paper. That means having a ready plan for putting out an emergency employee newsletter, publishing to the intranet, or holding meetings where you spread the news. • Technology back-ups. Technology can fail you in a number of ways, from emails that don’t come through to an afternoon when your website mysteriously goes off-line. Your contingency plan must address all of them, including a work-from-home option so that key employees can remain productive without a Net, directions on how to retrieve back-up files and software, and the names and numbers of necessary inhouse and contractual supports. • Alternative facilities. Your warehouse may get swamped in a flash flood, or your facility may be destroyed by a tornado. Maybe the risk is less direct. Let’s say you’re opening a café. Then, without notice, you must close down the business for days, possibly weeks, because of an outage, flood, or fire. Where will you house your merchandise? How will you keep it from spoiling? Your contingency plan should include names and numbers of nearby storage units or warehouses. _________________________________________________ _______________________ [105]

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Try a “What If . . . ” Approach Not sure about the specific repercussions, should risk become reality? Take a “what if . . . ” approach. Ask your team something like, “What if our warehouse becomes unusable?” then let them answer with a worst-case scenario. They might reply with, “We couldn’t get supplies on schedule,” or “We can’t use our facility.” Then, put each of these unpleasant and costly repercussions into one column, with a column beside it labeled, “Then we . . . ,” which has your solution. This becomes the essence of your contingency plan. Here’s how it would look:

What if . . .

Then we . . .

We can’t get supplies?

Contact the Chicago warehouse and

We can’t use the facility?

Follow the emergency work-from-

have them store supplies for us. home plan.

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Remember: prioritize. Only spend detailed time on high-level/high-cost risks, and just jot rough ideas for the less damaging ones. _________________________________________________ _______________________

Don’t Forget to Cross-Risk! One risk gone bad can trigger related problems. So, when building your contingency plan, be sure to follow the natural chain of events to every possible negative outcome and prepare for the related problems. For example, if your new facility is damaged or destroyed, potential customers may run to the competition. So, you will need to launch your PR and marketing plan. This, in turn, could affect your cash flow, and you may need to seek out new investors or tap the old ones. As for employees, ramp up the internal communications wheels and take control when something bad happens. If you don’t inform your employees, you may risk losing some, or maybe many, of them. And the ones that remain may be demoralized and less productive.

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Chapter 6 Happy Endings It would be great if managing projects were the same as the narrative arc of a movie. The tension builds and builds as the action moves faster and faster. There are bullets. There are tears. Then—resolution. How dramatic. How sweet. With project management, however, energy works in the reverse. The tension builds as the group comes together and plans, dreams, and visions are revealed. Then the interest wanes as the project becomes just another task list winding down. In other words, to paraphrase the immortal words of Rhett Butler in Gone with the Wind, now’s the time when your team “frankly won’t give a damn.” And now is the time when your leadership skills must kick in again as you rush forward and lead them to a happy and satisfying ending.

Closing a Project Create a task list of bits and pieces you need to tie up Most likely, the ending of your project won’t be smooth; you’ll have lots of annoying but inevitable lose ends to tie up. Don’t go it alone. Get your team together and draft a

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list of every remaining task you can think up, even such small details as returning unused pencils to the supply cabinet. Then, delegate. One way to achieve this is to put together a small WBS that covers who’s responsible for what. You may be able to get away with just dashing off a quick but reliable list. Just make sure it’s on paper somehow! In other words, don’t let your team merely nod their agreement to verbally assigned tasks—that’s a good way not to get anything done. At the end of a project, people are prone to forget everything.

Draft a final report This round-up document can range from two to twentyfive pages. The content and amount of detail depends on who’s receiving it, but in most cases you have a number of potential audiences, including the client, your manager, your employees, and, of course, you. Anyway, final reports can contain any of the following: • An overview or summary—make sure it contains only the most important information. Pretend your audience won’t read the whole thing, then face the reality that they won’t. • List the participants in the project and their specific roles • A short analysis of the project’s steps • Financial information, including reasons why you went under or over your budget [110]

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• Recommendations for next steps • Lessons learned

Get final approvals Get final approvals of anything that closes the project, including deliverables, a final assessment, or the product you created.

Meet with your client and other stakeholders I know, you already wrote the final report—meet with them anyway. Address their questions, discuss shortcomings, and reveal hidden accomplishments or benefits. Hopefully, your clients will call you again (soon!) and this will help ensure that they do.

Prepare the new wave The end of your project management is the beginning of the project’s life; you can’t simply send the project into the world with a quick kiss good-bye. You need to prepare the next generation of team members to manage it so that it has a long and successful life. Think Gantt charts, RAMs, and PERT. These tools—all created long ago—are still around today because people like you know how to use them. The same thing applies for whatever knowledge or insights your project management efforts produced. So here’s what you need to do: [111]

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• Train. Of course you have to train; that goes without saying. But what’s the most efficient way to train? Classes in training rooms? Online sessions where employees learn without having to leave the comforts of their seats? Think out of the box, too; perhaps just train the managers, who can pass on processes and mindsets to their employees. Or you could mentor a few employees as you complete the project, and they’ll carry the torch. • Draft manuals. You will need manuals, even if you’ve trained your team. A few words of advice about manuals: keep them short and step-by-step. Be high on action, low on theory. Offer your manual online, but don’t skimp on the hard copy. Some people have an easier time turning pages than booting up.

Tie up any financial loose ends Tie up all financial ends, or you could be paying for them later. Send all your bills and make sure your client has approved them. If you’ve accrued project-related bills of your own, pay those, too. If your client is responsible for some of these bills, such as plane trips or supplies, make sure you send them to the appropriate party and have acknowledgment in writing, even through email, that they received and will pay them. If you have any other budget issues, including unaccounted funds (every project manager’s nightmare), address them. And make sure your contractors have billed you. [112]

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Settle your resources Have resources on loan? Did you rent warehouses? Cars? Furniture? Make sure all these items return to their homes. If your team consisted of partners from other firms or your client’s employees, make sure everyone leaves with their own resources that might be lingering in the plant; anything from books to tools. Oh, and make sure that resources that shouldn’t go out the door don’t go out the door.

Create a “Lessons Learned” document You may have included this in your final report, but if not, write it now and pass it on to your team members and client. Be specific and forward-looking by focusing not on what you didn’t do, but on all you learned, so that you, and they, can move ahead with insights instead of regrets.

Meet with team members for thank-yous, good-byes, and new assignments When projects have been especially good, your team may go through a mourning period. They’ve bonded, set goals, and worked like crazy to reach them, and now it’s just over. But have no fear; you can elevate the feeling, and reward yourself, through an end-of-the-project meeting to review your WBS successes and failures, discuss the RAM, see how the employees adhered to them, and assign them to new projects. [113]

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I’m kidding. Have a party. Really. Even a lunch with sandwiches from the local deli is great. Or better yet, take everyone out for drinks. Okay—you will have to have that meeting, too. In it, thank everyone involved and be specific about their achievements and contributions. Give awards, if the project’s big enough. Serious awards or fun awards, it doesn’t matter; just recognize their hard work and accomplishments. And, yes, give new assignments. If everyone on the team isn’t staying together, get a sense of what’s next for them. You never know when you’ll need them!

When the End Comes Too Soon Just ask those entrepreneurial types who invested in technology projects back in the 1990s; projects can end too soon. And when they do, it hurts—mind, spirit, and pocket. But whether the ending occurred because of underfunding, a fickle client, your own ineptitude (to state it bluntly), or a changed business climate (the technology boom and bust), here’s what you do: • Get your team together to announce the end. • Let everyone know (especially yourself) that failure is just a part of project management. (Nothing feeds future success quite like failure.) [114]

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• List all the group’s accomplishments and how you can use them going forward—personally, professionally, and if you reconvene as a team. • Discuss the lessons you’ve learned; they could be helpful. • Meet with your clients and stakeholders to remind them of the positives, and let them know there’s always a future.

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Inde x A Ambiguity, avoiding, 21–22 Approvals, final, 111

B Break even point, 8 Business results, 5–7 Buy-in, 17

C Changes, 20–21 Choices, for clients, 18–19 Citizen groups, 102–103 Clarity, 21–22 Clients, 18–23, 111, 115 Communication models, 79–86 Communications, 69 clients, 22–23 external, 86–91 integrated, 27–28 internal, 74–79 pull me, 69, 71–74 push me, 69, 70–71 Communications facilitator, 90–91 Complexity, 65–66 Computer programs, 58, 103. See also Technological tools Conflicts, 32–33 Contingency plans, 104–107 Contractors, 28, 33, 63–64 Costs, 8

determining, 58–63 risk management and, 95–98, 100, 101 technological tools, 65 Cross, 107

D Direct costs, 62 Documents “lessons learned,” 113 updating, 82–83 Drugs, 96, 100, 101 Duration times, estimating, 49–50

E Employee outreach, 104–105 Employees project management team, 23–28, 31–32 security measures, 64 Employee turnover, 93, 94, 95, 96, 98, 100, 101 Environmental damage, 97 Environmental risks, 93 Evidence. See Outcomes Expectations, 24–26 External communications, 86–91

F Facilities, alternative, 105

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Feedback, 85–86 Feelings, hurt, 75–76 Final approvals, 111 Final report, 110–111 Financial considerations, 5–9, 112 Finish to finish, 51 Finish to start, 51 Flat communications model, 80 Follow-up, 89 Force-field analysis, 10–12 Forming, 29, 30 Funding, 9, 48

G Gantt, Henry Laurence, 54 Gantt charts, 54–58 Graphics. See Visual supports

H Health-related risks, 93 Hierarchical communications model, 80–82 Hoover, Herbert, 36 Human-related risks, 92–93

I Illegal activities, 96, 98, 100, 101 Information external communications and, 89 inaccurate, 76–77 missed, 75–76 Injuries, 97, 100, 101 Insurance, 97, 99 Insurance companies, 103

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Integrated communications, 27–28 Internal communications, 74–79

L Labor hours, 48 Language, in external communications, 88–89, 90, 91 “Lessons learned” document, 113

M Management documents. See Documents Management mistakes, 29 Manuals, drafting, 112 Marketing-related risks, 93 Milestones, 49 Mission statement, 36–37 Moderation, 40 Money issues. See Financial considerations Motivation, 26–27 Mourning, 31

N Nonprofits, 10 Norming, 29, 30 Notes, 27 Numbering systems, 42

O Objectivity, 26, 29 100 Percent Rule, 40–41 One-week communications

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model, 87 Opportunity costs, 8 Outcomes, 9–10, 24 Ownership, 17, 18

P Perfection, 3 Performance Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT), 101–102 Performance feedback, 85–86 Performing, 29, 31 Personality conflicts, 32–33 Plans, for external communications, 87. See also Project management plan Point-person communications model, 84–85 Positioning, 19 PowerPoint, 28 Practice Standard for Work Breakdown Structures (PMI), 40 Prevention costs, 97–98 Problem solving, 2–3, 5, 6–7 Products, 10 Programs. See Computer programs Project conclusion, 109–115 Project description, 38–42 Project management, 1–3 business results, 5–7 financial considerations, 7–9 force-field analysis, 10–12 outcomes, quantifiable, 9–10

project conclusion, 109–115 questions and answers, 12–15 See also Communications; Risk management Project management documents. See Documents Project Management Institute (PMI), 14, 39, 40 Project management plan, 35 costs, 58–63 project description and scope of work, 38–42 roles and responsibilities, 42–47 security measures, 63–64 time management, 47–58 tools, 65–67 value, hidden, 37–38 vision and mission statement, 36–38 Project management team, 17 buy-in, 17 clients, 18–23 contractors and suppliers, 28 employees, 23–28 forming, 29, 30 management mistakes, 29 mourning, 31 norming, 29, 30 ownership, 17, 18 performing, 29, 31 project conclusion and, 113–115 questions and answers, 31–33 stakeholders, 28–29

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storming, 29, 30 stress, 79 Project managers expectations of, 25–26 mistakes, 29 Project Network Diagram (PND), 52–54 Public outreach, 104 Pull me communications, 69, 71–74 Push me communications, 69, 70–71

R Rate of return, 8 Reminders, for clients, 20 Report, final, 110–111 Research, 9 Resources, settling, 113 Responsibilities, 42–47 Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM), 28, 42, 43, 45–47 Risk analysis, 99, 103 Risk assessment, 95 Risk avoidance, 98 Risk identification, 93–95 Risk management, 93 assessment, 95 citizen groups and unions, 102–103 contingency plans, 104–107 costs, prevention, 97–98 costs, quantifying, 95–97 identification, 93–95 insurance companies, 103

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Performance Evaluation and Review Technique, 101–102 risk threshold, 98–101 software, 103 utility and other companies, 102 Risk mitigation, 98–99 Risk threshold, 98–101 Risk transfer, 99 Robbery, 100, 101 Roles, 42–47

S Safety, 63, 64 Safety-related risks, 93 Sales-related risks, 93 Scope of work, 38–42 Security measures, 63–64, 98 Services, 10 Single-person communications model, 83–84 Software, 58, 103. See also Technological tools Specificity, 25 Staff turnover, 93, 94, 95, 96, 98, 100, 101 Stakeholders communications with, 89–91 project conclusion, 111, 115 project management team, 28–29 Start to finish, 51–52 Start to start, 51 Storming, 29, 30 Stress, 79

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Subjectivity, 26 Suppliers, 28

T Tasks, repeated, 77–79 Team. See Project management team Technological tools, 65–67 Technology back-ups, 105 Templates, 90 Theft, 96 Threat prevention, cost of, 97–98 Time, lost, 75–76 Time factors, 2, 50–52 Time management, 2, 47–49 duration times, estimating, 49–50 Gantt charts, 54–58 Project Network Diagram, 52–54 time factors, 50–52 Time warps, 22 Tools, 65–67 Training, 112 Turnover, 93, 94, 95, 96, 98, 100, 101

V Value, hidden, 37–38 Vision, 23–24 Vision statement, 36 Visual supports communication, 27–28 Gantt charts, 54–58 Project Network Diagram, 52–54 Responsibility Assignment Matrix, 28, 42, 43, 45–47 Work Breakdown Structure, 28, 38–42, 110 See also Responsibility Assignment Matrix; Work Breakdown Structure

W “What if . . .” approach, 106–107 Work, scope of, 38–42 Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), 28, 38–42, 110 Workplace injuries, 97, 100, 101

U Unions, 102–103 Urgency, motivation through, 26–27 Utility companies, 102

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About the author Susan J. Benjamin has been helping small businesses and other organizations better market their products and services since 1989. She has established, trained, and researched marketing strategies for organizations including Putnam Investments and MFS, and has trained thousands of marketing writers. She lives in Washington, D.C.

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Plan and Execute Projects

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