digital pm summit 2014: a date is a date

A Date is a Date

Managing Internal and External Expectations

Failure is common

Nearly 70% of projects are late, over budget, or don’t meet expectations.

Never trust a salesman

● Sales team job: Bring in new business. No matter what.

● DPM’s job: See past the story that sales has painted and determine from the very beginning a clearly defined scope and timeline.

● Without clearly defined goals, how do you know what to deliver and when?

Define expectations from the start

● Separate the wants vs the needs.

● Get the right info by asking the right questions.

● Build a [Realistic] Timeline.

Ask the right questions

Accepting a deadline is a Commitment

Plan with a cushion in mind

● Set an artificial soft deadline in advance of the stated deadline as a target date for completion.

● Allow more cushion for the higher the degree of uncertainty and complexity of the project.

THE 1.5 RULEClient Estimate = Your Estimate X 1.5

Divide and Conquer

● List out your features

● Break the whole project into smaller pieces

● Identify the problem child - handle it first

● Take control

Don’t ignore the warning signs

Over Communicate. Over Communicate. Over Communicate.

● Be a solid communicator.

● Call first, e-mail second.

● Raise risks and concerns to your client.

● Don’t run a project base on scope hope.

Protect your deadline

Focus on Quality

Don’t talk about the hours

Talk about the task at hand.

Cause and effect of missed dates

Where did it all go wrong?

❏ Poor Planning

❏ No time for design

❏ Unclear goals and objectives

❏ Lack of understanding

❏ Objectives changing during the project

❏ Unrealistic time or resource estimates

❏ Lack of executive support and user involvement

❏ Failure to communicate

❏ Failure to act as a team

❏ Inappropriate skills

❏ Lack of Quality management

Learn from mistakes

● Band-Aids or major surgery?

● How did “it” happen and how can we keep it from happening again?

● Poor planning or execution?

● Resist assigning blame.

Prevent future mishaps

Always remember ...

“There is a great difference between knowing and understanding: you can know a lot about something and not really understand it.”

Charles Kettering