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STAYING STRONG

Implementing Effective Project Management in

Difficult Economic Times

EFFECTIVE PROJECT

MANAGEMENT IN A

TOUGH ECONOMY

Rethink Your Strategy.

FROM DR. DEUTSCH

Project Managers Make the World

Go ’Round

PErFOrmAncEMATTERS

Project Managers Make the World Go ’Round

As one of our contributors aptly observes in this new

issue of Performance Matters, it’s the project manager’s plight to be assigned responsibility for outcomes, while enjoying minimal authority. Aside from being very grateful for the people who take on this kind of challenge—who, in their way, make the world go round—we should do everything we can to give them a hand. That’s what this Performance Matters is all about: Helping project managers

excel, even in an extremely challenging environment like this.

Bart Jutte’s article could hardly be more timely, as the consequences of botched risk management plague the world economy on an epic scale. Bart shares the “10 Rules of Project

Risk Management”—such as embedding risk management into your

project, clarifying risk ownership and responding to

risk that becomes real.

Probably the most substantial

piece in this new issue addresses

one of the toughest aspects of a project manager’s job: How to get buy-in from the spectrum of stakeholders with interests in your project. As we all know, it isn’t always easy. But this article is a great introduction to that process and provides some excellent guidance. And the contributor I mentioned at the top—Dhanu Kothari—offers a number of insights on how project managers can shape, direct and assess the human dimension of their projects. It includes a terrific self-test that helps you gauge your own and your team’s competencies. Both articles are required reading for anyone who manages projects or is likely to.

On a lighter note, Andrew

Meyer offers a list of project manager excuses—in case you need any. And finally, did you hear the one about the hardware engineer, the software engineer and the project manager who discover a genie’s lamp on the beach in Miami? To find out what happens, check out our new issue of Performance Matters.

Dr. robert W. Deutsch | chairman

A MESSAGE FROM Dr. Robert W. Deutsch

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR V O L 2 | I S S U E F O U R | FA L L 2 0 0 8

1

1483 Gaining Commitment to Large, Complex Projects

How walking in someone else’s shoes can help you secure the commitment you need to get it done.

8 10 Rules of Project Risk Management

Don’t just put out fires—learn how to effectively assess and manage your risks.

11 What’s Your Excuse?!A tongue-in-cheek look at things we’ve all said!

12 The Human Side of Project ManagementRate your team’s ability to get the work done.

14 Want to win an iPhone?Take the online survey and be entered to win.

2

Our Economy is facing uncertain times. With corporate budgets being squeezed and several industries teetering on the brink of disaster, my team and I began to wonder whether this was the “right” time to discuss Project Management. After some thought, it was apparent that this is the right time to discuss it! Our ability to meet the demands and expectations presented by the economic challenges are determined by how efficiently and effectively we manage and apply our knowledge, skills, and available tools to our activities. It will likely be difficult, and will undoubtedly require change (refer back to the Fall 2007 newsletter on our website for ideas on Change Management), but how we react to the situation is up to us. Keep the glass half full, as this too shall pass.

Sue Varner | editor

Kayla Hartford | aSSociate editor

Corporate Marketing & Communications

For questions and additional information on the content of this newsletter contact Sue Varner at 1.800.677.3688 or svarner@rwd.com.

Copyright ©2008 RWD Technologies, LLC. All rights reserved.

1 Message from Dr. Robert W. Deutsch

Project Managers make the world go ’round.

2 Implementing Effective Project Management in Difficult Economic Times

The challenge of doing more with less.

2

The Challenges

Project Managers are under a great deal of pressure right now to cut costs and trim their project and application portfolios. Therefore, they are only able to spend money and resources on the most vital investments. According to most analysts, the economy isn’t necessarily creating new challenges, it’s magnifying the impact of challenges such as:

• How can we decide whether to undertake an initiative before it’s scoped out?

• How do we make sure we have the right resources on the most important projects?

• How can we manage projects outside of politics?

• How can we modify existing projects and investments as efficiently as possible to stay on track as economic conditions change?

Fewer Dollars Available for Projects

During these difficult economic times, there are fewer dollars available for projects. Most companies have begun to shrink their pool of funding for new projects. As the number of applications and systems grows, the costs of maintaining and managing them is also increasing. One way to lower costs is to first look within. By

this, I mean Project Managers can turn to project team members, such as system architects, who can often find ways to share resources and operate on common platforms.

Looking at Applications and Systems

Another great way to recoup shrinking discretionary income is to take a hard look at applications and systems, then to treat them like projects in a PM portfolio. Use the same process to evaluate their worth to the company. You will be amazed how much time and money your company spends maintaining applications and systems that are outdated, unused, or simply redundant.

Tips For Managing Projects

First, for each project that is proposed, there

should be a sound business case for the project—and it needs to go through a process. The process itself will depend on the unique goals and culture of your organization. Once those metrics and processes are hashed out, however, they need to be followed.

Once the project has been selected, start to consider the mix of resources necessary to quickly and efficiently complete it. One area, which is critical to managing projects in difficult economic times, is optimizing and managing your portfolio of projects. This process is commonly referred to as project portfolio management.

Project Portfolio Management

Project portfolio management

Implementing Effective Project Management in Difficult Economic Times

is conducted by taking inventory of every project in the enterprise. All applications should be evaluated for alignment with:

• strategic goals

• risk

• value

• health

Using software that enforces this process ensures its consistency. Factors to evaluate include the link to the company’s vision, the extent to which the business depends on the application (which, of course, incorporates risk), functional coverage, ease of use, and cost to implement and retain versus the benefits gained. It is also beneficial to gauge the project’s age, its relevance to the business, and ease of implementation.

Project managers will be facing big challenges in the months to come. Using better project management portfolio investment decisions during difficult economic times can help them overcome those challenges, and deliver their projects on time and with a

high level of quality.

With the business world facing an uncertain

economy, project managers are under pressure to

cut costs but still deliver projects on time and at a

high level of quality.

BY NATASHA M. BAKER

Doing more with less?

cutting costs doesn’t have to

be painful—gather the team

and think creatively—use your

resources to their fullest!

We have all had that moment (that first step)

where a fantastic idea or solution to a problem pops into our head from nowhere. Then we go and talk enthusiastically about it with our colleagues (that second step), usually only to be met with a disappointing and less than positive response as they either don’t get it at all, don’t see it as the panacea, or say “it’ll never work.” Dejected, we retreat back into our inner world, bemoaning the people we work with and also possibly the organization.

This scenario has strong parallels with the world of project proposals, where exactly the same process, and outcome, is regularly experienced. This is particularly true when considering the large-scale, strategic and organizational-focused issues such as replacing the changing workforce, standardization, integration, or the implementation of new computer technologies. These types of projects have a number of unique characteristics, when compared to the more technical projects, which make the commitment-gaining process considerably more difficult.

So the big question for people wanting to get an idea off the ground is, “how do I effectively initiate and gain commitment to such ideas and projects?” This article provides some answers and strategies for this challenge, which centers around a missing step—to go and walk in other people’s shoes…

We face an increasingly wide range of technical challenges that are widely known and documented. These leading edge projects are seen as the glamorous side of the business, typically at the cutting edge of technology. Hence these projects are usually given greater prominence. But what about the more internal and organizational related projects?

For a number of reasons, these usually have a lower profile, and dare to say, a lower success rate. However, are these types of projects as important and challenging as the technical ones?

Important? Absolutely. Many of the strategic issues facing the industry are as much organizational as technical. Organizational productivity, efficiency and effectiveness

are becoming increasingly important and urgent topics within our industry, particularly given the rising cost of inflation. And the means of achieving these goals—standardization, integration, optimization, leveraging the functionality of technology, and the big crew change, are effected as well.

Challenging? Absolutely, but with very different challenges, and for very different reasons. There are many important differences between technical and organizational projects. Table 1 (see table opposite page) lists some of these major characteristic differences between projects of a primarily technical or organizational nature.

The unique characteristics of

“Every journey begins with one small, first step.”

You’ve probably heard that phrase or one

like it before. Yet, quite often—and counter-

intuitively—the second step is actually more

difficult than the first.

Gaining Commitment to Large, Complex Projects

these internal and organiza-tional projects have an impact on the commitment-gaining process. Experience suggests that it is far more challenging to gain commitment to organi-zational projects, irrespective of the governance processes used – for the reasons outlined above. Yet the paradox is, as already shown, how strategi-cally important these types of projects are for organizations, particularly given the current huge forces at work in our industry. Organizational ef-fectiveness and efficiency must become increasingly important topics for management and executives.

Success in gaining commitment typically requires a slightly different mind-set and skill-set than that for technical and en-

BY PETE FLOYD GlObAl ClIENT TRANSFORMATION DIRECTOR

WALKING IN OTHER PEOPLE’S SHOES

3

4

gineering type processes. This is a factor that more technical and engineering orientated people often struggle with. This is understandable given the nature of their roles, training, background, expertise and nat-ural style, and yet it is critical.

The key to success is to understand and leverage these

more subtle, less technical, and more social and political approaches, particularly when we come back to that second step—project proposal—gaining acceptance to and commitment for, these types of projects from senior organizational stakeholders. These challenges center around two main areas:

• The goals, benefits, value and return on them, the cost of doing versus not doing

• The form of solution and approach to be used

These can never be absolute; they will have shades of grey. They are more open to interpretation, therefore they rely on more subjective

judgements. These subjective judgements are made by the key organizational stakeholders, hence the reason why this is a far more social and political process for these types of projects. And hence, the importance and significance of the second step.

The approaches outlined below, which can only be broadly covered here, are based on RWD’s methodologies and experience with a range of clients in the energy sector on similar projects. The heart of this is alignment and commitment.

Project and Organizational Stakeholder Aligment

The basis of the approach is to seek maximum alignment between three elements, illustrated in Figure 1 (see next page).

The first element is the key organizational stakeholders: who they are, the roles they fulfill and the structure(s) in which they operate. The second element is the issues, needs, goals and priorities of those stakeholders. The third element is the scope and solution of a potential project, and the resulting value and benefit that this will bring the stakeholders. Projects are invariably solutions to problems or needs. Hence the value is directly related to the extent to which the idea helps their needs and pain points. We then come full circle back to element 1.

In these sorts of activities, there is sometimes a benefit in having an external, independent and unbiased third-party to assess and ensure the suitability and feasibility of any solution. It is all too easy to be overly ambitious and optimistic about deliverables and timescales in such internal projects, neglecting consideration of some of the usual and real challenges and barriers to project success. RWD has a

Table 1. MAIN DIFFERENCES bETwEEN TECHNICAl AND ORGANIzATIONAl PROJECTS

CRITERIA TECHNICAL PROjECTS e.g. Facilities

ORGANIzATIONAL PROjECTS e.g. Workforce change, integration

main purpose of project

• Build, develop or change facilities to improve production effectiveness and/or efficiency

• Build, develop or change aspects of an organization - capability, ways of working, systems, people, to improve organizational effectiveness and/or efficiency

nature of work • Engineering & science-based• Objective, factual• Easily quantified

• more social & politically based• Often subjective• Less easy to quantify

main parties involved • Procurer (customer) & supplier organizations

• Appropriate internal stakeholders

nature of relationship between main parties

• Highly formalized commercial and legal agreement between legal entities

• Internal ‘contracting’ agreement between internal stakeholders, guided by internal policies

• Based primarily on organizational roles, reporting and personal styles / relationships

Design rules & principles

• Based on indisputable science & engineering principles, fundamental natural laws and rules

• no clear, indisputable laws• Based more on more generalized and

subjective laws, rules & principles around human & organizational behavior

• more driven by social / political rules and personal beliefs/values

Other influences • commercial interests• Strategic considerations

• Greater influence of personal agendas• Greater influence of relationships and from

‘indirect’ stakeholders• resource considerations have greater

influence• more susceptible to impact of changing

people in roles

Ease of transforming project deliverables into business value

• Straightforward, with simple causal model from facility built to production to revenues and profits

• more complex and less certain causal model due to many inter-dependencies between achieving project deliverables and realizing business value

• Additional risk of unforeseen consequences

Quantificationof rOI/benefit realization

• Easily quantifiable• cost of doing vs. not doing is clear• relatively simple and clear rOI

calculation

• Typically more difficult to quantify rOI as less tangible, more complex and harder to measure

• cost of doing vs. cost of not doing is not so clear

�

range of tools based on their experience to address these challenges. The example of the big crew change will be used as these elements are discussed.

WHO? STAKEHOLDERS AND STRUCTURE

The first and foundation element is the organizational stakeholders. Stakeholders are defined as a single individual, or group of individuals that have a common connection and who are either impacted or have an interest or influence over a project. All organizations have a diverse range of stakeholders, often with conflicting or even opposing interests and agendas. This is an inherent and natural aspect of all organizations.

Organizational structure underpins much of the stakeholder dynamics, playing a major part in reporting, responsibilities and goals.

The basis of this whole approach is that it is primarily a political and social process more so than a generic and rational approach. The solution is to win both hearts and minds.

First, list all the possible stakeholders, both those

internal to and potentially those external to the organization. The second step is to identify the structural dynamics

of the organization. The organizational structure and relative power of each function or role plays a critical part here and is important to understand. Consider the example of the big crew change. One of the fundamental challenges people report when striving to tackle the issues associated with this challenge is: who does, should or could own this problem(s)?

The potential internal stakeholders range from the HR Department, to Training, Unions, Plant Supervisors, and the Operations Director or right up to the Company’s Executive Committee. The relative powers of each function or role will vary considerably (more on this later).

WHY? NEEDS, ISSUES, GOALS, PRIORITIES AND STYLES

There are two main components to this element:

• The components dictated by each person’s role

• The components dictated by each person’s individual style, character, beliefs and values

Consider the role of influence. Each stakeholder will have very different responsibilities, goals, tasks and needs. An important associated factor is the varying time horizons associated with

different roles and goals. There are no rules here; it is very much case-by-case. Some might be very short, and others might be much longer time horizons, and dependent on the specific issue or goal. This is an important consideration when wanting to get commitment to an idea.

Consider the person’s style—again this will be different for every person or stakeholder. Their levels of interest, behavior and actions will be determined by these two components. A tactic is to research these needs and goals as best you can, seeking validation wherever possible. Potentially, the only accurate validation is to go and talk to these people yourself.

There is a strong level of inter-dependence between the “who” and the “why.”

Stakeholders can be assessed and categorized in multiple ways. Segmentation is a common approach with a range of options and variations. This is somewhat like psychological profiling, but at its heart is our initial precept of “walking in other people’s shoes.” One example of segmentation is considering the element’s interest in an idea, combined with the level of power of the stakeholder. Both these are important, and related—and is a critical consideration in gaining wide-scale commitment to a project or initiative. A further aspect of this, which isn’t covered in detail here, is

the matter of sources of power. These include formal power, influence over resources, experience power, knowledge power, etc.

Stakeholders are then mapped on these two dimensions in relation to the proposed project. The strategies to gain commitment from different stakeholders will all be different, based on their position in the box. The golden rule is “different strokes for different folks.”

Sometimes simple information and education can be very powerful levers to achieve higher levels of interest, awareness and commitment. The ideal is total alignment, however the organizational reality is that there may well be win-lose scenarios at play.

Coalitions are a good example of this where people gather together under one umbrella because a single, common and mutual interest is being met. Another is that the people who see or feel a problem may or may not be the same as those that own or have responsibility for addressing the problem.

Consider again the big crew change and a possible, realistic scenario. The Operations Director may be facing increasing issues over resourcing – in terms of both numbers, level, and skills of the people required to maintain the plant. However, the HR Director may be under pressure to cut resource costs. The Unit Superintendent may be attempting to safeguard his position by keeping all the knowledge to himself. The younger Operators enjoy the overtime requirement and don’t want to give this up, while the Lead Techs don’t want the overtime, preferring the time with their families. This makes for an interesting set of dynamics, with the positive and negative consequences of any proposed solution for the

FIGURE 1. The basis of the approach is to seek maximum alignment between three elements: WHo, WHaT and WHY.

consider the person’s style… this

will be different for every person

or stakeholder. consider, too, each

stakeholders’s level of interest,

combined with his or her level of

power—each critical to gaining

commitment to the project.

Seeking alignment of

the WHO, WHAT, and WHY elements

provides a solid foundation and framework for gaining commitment

to the project and for successful

project management.

6

range of stakeholders and their interests. The challenges of change! Hence the importance of both understanding these dynamics, and the creativity required to develop an acceptable win-win solution, addressing the challenges, barriers and relative power of the associated stakeholders.

WHAT? PROjECT SCOPE, BOUNDARIES, DELIvERABLES

The final element focuses on refining and clarifying details of the initial big idea. Would-be innovators and champions should translate their big idea into a project definition including scope, goals and deliverables; and then compare this to the needs, issues, goals, priorities and spheres of influence and personal styles of the organizational stakeholders. The step completes the circle by considering the value and benefits of the proposed project, given its scope and deliverables, to the key stakeholders.

This is the creative element to ensure maximum or at least, acceptable organizational alignment. This is the crucial second step, and there are a number of components to this.

Project scope is one of the most critical considerations as it defines the boundaries. Boundaries are multi-dimensional, and are usually the biggest source of problems, issues and disagreement with stakeholders. Project scope boundaries often considered or defined include computer systems, functional, processes or workflow. However, a common mistake is that role, location or organizational boundaries are often ignored, and yet these are often the most important boundary considerations.

The related element of project scope—the size and scale of the idea is another consideration—this could be huge, where the boundary is

7

3Wishes

a project manager, software engineer, and hardware

engineer are in miami Beach for a two-week period

helping out on a project. on their lunch hours, they

often chose to walk up and down the beach.

During one of these walks, they stumble

upon a lamp.

The hardware engineer picks up the lamp

and rubs it. a genie appears and says

“normally I would grant 3 wishes, but since

there are 3 of you, I will grant you each one

wish.”

Since he was holding the lamp, the

hardware engineer went first. “I would like

to spend the rest of my life living in a huge

house in St. Thomas, with no money worries

and surrounded by beautiful women who

worship me.” The genie granted him his wish

and sent him off to St. Thomas.

The software engineer went next. “I would like

to spend the rest of my life living on a huge yacht

cruising the mediterranean, with no money worries

and surrounded by beautiful women who worship

me.” The genie granted him his wish and sent him off

to the mediterranean.

Last, but not least, it was the project manager’s turn.

“and what would your wish be?” asked the genie.

“I want them both back after lunch,” replied the

project manager.

understand or be ambivalent about workflow and process re-engineering.

Yet another challenge of such projects is the degree of connection, integration and inter-dependencies with various other components or projects. It is a big problem or challenge, and it is a classic case of “how do you eat an elephant?” The answer: one piece at a time.

One of the really important questions is how much change is or will be involved.

If you conduct this exercise right at the front end, then the results can be quite scary, but rather informative and useful for the overall success of the project – and stakeholders. This is one area that RWD has considerable experience in, and takes us to the final step.

This step in the mix—adding it all together and going full circle—needs benefit, value and commitment.

The ultimate solution is to define an optimal scope and set of deliverables that a particular set of stakeholders will all benefit from, and can therefore all agree on, and that is within their remit and sphere of influence.

This alignment will lead to personal benefits and value to the key stakeholders. As a result of this, they will give their commitment and blessing to the proposed project.

In conclusion, internal organizational based projects are becoming increasingly important given our industry’s challenges. And yet, paradoxically, they are significantly harder to gain commitment and buy in to. The solution is far greater planning and assessment work at the very early stages of the project initiation, before “going public.”

Maximizing the degrees of alignment between project elements and the organization, particularly the key stakeholders, is an area that RWD excels in.

We all love traveling on new and exciting journeys, and you likely have many first steps already identified. The second step is probably the most critical one—to walk in other people’s shoes.

This should lead to many new, exciting and valuable routes and journeys, with benefits for all. Bon chance et on y va !

WHO IS PETE FLOYD? Pete floyd is the Global client Transformation Director for rWD’s energy Division. every project has a component of organizational change to achieve the project goals. rWD helps clients by providing an organizational and stakeholder perspective, helping first to understand the project goals and their impact on the organization, and then to identify and overcome the potential barriers or challenges to the change.

the whole organization, with re-engineering the business operations, massive recruiting and training, investment in automating technologies, etc. In the case of the big crew change the scope could be all of these, meaning that possibly the whole of the executive board would have to sign up for it, which is probably not realistic, and the resources and complexity equally considerable. One possibility is that the initial “big project” aspiration be split up into a number of separate projects that will be smaller scale, more feasible, and more aligned to the individual stakeholders, and hence easier to gain commitment.

Another of the alignment elements are the project deliverables, which are closely linked to the value issue. Initiators must take a hard look at how the proposed deliverables really help and assist each of the key stakeholders in addressing their needs and goals. One of the fundamental questions is, “which problem are we trying to fix?” And beyond that, “who owns or suffers with that problem?” (going back to the ‘who’)

Consider this for the big crew change. Project deliverables could range from recruiting �00 people in three years, to making operational efficiency gains, say through automation, which will result in no new staff required.

Another factor is the nature of the solution to address the problem. Different stakeholders may believe in different solutions. In the case of the big crew change, is the answer training, process re-engineering, recruitment, or a mix of all these and more? Guess what the Training Manager’s choice solution might be, or the Recruitment Manager. The Operations Director may love, hate, not

88

This article gives you the 10 golden rules to apply risk

management successfully in your project. They are based on personal experiences of the author who has been involved in projects for over 1� years. Also the big pile of literature

available on the subject has been condensed in this article.

Rule 1: Make Risk Management Part of Your Project

The first rule is essential to the success of project risk

management. If you don’t truly embed risk management in your project, you cannot reap the full benefits of this approach. You can encounter a number of faulty approaches in companies. Some projects use no approach whatsoever

to risk management. They are either ignorant, running their first project or they are somehow confident that no risks will occur in their project (which of course will happen). Some people blindly trust the project manager, especially if he or she looks like a battered army veteran who has been in the trenches for the last two decades. Professional companies make risk management part of their day to day operations and include it in project meetings and training staff.

Rule 2: Identify Risks Early in Your Project

The first step in project risk management is to identify the risks that are present in your project. This requires an

The benefits of risk management in projects are huge. You can save a lot of

money if you deal with uncertain project events in a proactive manner. The

result will be that you minimize the impact of project threats and seize the

opportunities that occur. This allows you to deliver your project on time, on

budget and with the quality results your project sponsor demands.

Also your team members will be much happier if they do not enter a “fire fighting” mode needed to repair the failures that could have been prevented.

10 Rules of Project Risk Management

BY BART jUTTE

�

open mind set that focuses on future scenarios that may occur. Two main sources exist to identify risks, people and paper. People are your team members that each bring along their personal experiences and expertise. Other people to talk to are experts outside your project that have a track record with the type of project or work you are facing. They can reveal some booby traps you will encounter or some golden opportunities that may not have crossed your mind. Interviews and team sessions (risk brainstorming) are the common methods to discover the risks people know. Paper is a different story. Projects tend to generate a significant number of (electronic) documents that contain project risks. They may not always have that name, but someone who reads carefully (between the lines) will find them. The project plan, business case and resource planning are good starters. Other categories are old project plans, your company Intranet and specialized websites.

Are you able to identify all project risks before they occur? Probably not. However if you combine a number of different identification methods, you are likely to find the large majority. If you deal with them properly, you have enough time left for the unexpected risks that take place.

Rule 3: Communicate About Risks

Failed projects show that proj-ect managers in such projects were frequently unaware of the big hammer that was about to hit them. The frightening find-ing was that frequently some-one of the project organization actually did see that hammer, but didn’t inform the project manager of its existence. If you don’t want this to happen in your project, you better pay at-tention to risk communication.

A good approach is to consistently include risk communication in the tasks you carry out. If you have a team meeting, make project risks part of the default agenda (and not the final item on the list!). This shows risks are important to the project manager and gives team members a “natural moment” to discuss them and report new ones.

Another important line of communication is that of the project manager and project sponsor or principal. Focus your communication efforts on the big risks here and make sure you don’t surprise the boss or the customer! Also take care that the sponsor makes decisions on the top risks, because usually some of them exceed the mandate of the project manager.

Rule 4: Consider Both Threats and Opportunities

Project risks have a negative connotation: they are the “bad guys” that can harm your project. However modern risk approaches also focus on positive risks, the project opportunities. These are the uncertain events that could be beneficial to your project and organization. These “good guys” make your project faster, better and more profitable.

Unfortunately, lots of project teams struggle to cross the finish line, being overloaded with work that needs to be done quickly. This creates project dynamics where only negative risks matter (if the team consid-ers any risks at all). Make sure you create some time to deal with the opportunities in your project, even if it is only half an hour. Chances are that you see a couple of opportunities with a high pay-off that don’t require a big investment in time or resources.

Rule 5: Clarify Ownership IssuesSome project managers think

Should all risks be treated equally?Some risks have a higher impact than others. Therefore, you better spend your time on the risks that can cause the biggest losses and gains.

10

they are done once they have created a list with risks. However this is only a starting point. The next step is to make clear who is responsible for what risk! Someone has to feel the heat if a risk is not taken care of properly. The trick is simple: assign a risk owner for each risk that you have found. The risk owner is the person in your team that has the responsibility to optimize this risk for the project. The effects are really positive. At first people usually feel uncomfortable that they are actually responsible for certain risks, but as time passes they will act and carry out tasks to decrease threats and enhance opportunities.

Ownership also exists on another level. If a project threat occurs, someone has to pay the bill. This sounds logical, but it is an issue you have to address before a risk occurs. Especially if different business units, departments and suppliers are involved in your project, it becomes important who bears the consequences and has to empty their wallet. An important side effect of clarifying the ownership of risk effects, is that line managers start to pay attention to a project, especially when a lot of money is at stake. The ownership issue is equally important with project opportunities. Fights over (unexpected) revenues can become a long-term pastime of management.

Rule 6: Prioritize Risks

A project manager once told me “I treat all risks equally.” This makes project life really simple. However, it doesn’t deliver the best results possible. Some risks have a higher impact than others. Therefore, you better spend your time on the risks that can cause the biggest losses and gains. Check if you have any showstoppers in your project that could derail your

project. If so, these are your number 1 priority. The other risks can be prioritized on gut feeling or, more objectively, on a set of criteria. The criteria most project teams use is to consider the effects of a risk and the likelihood that it will occur. Whatever prioritization measure you use, use it consistently and focus on the big risks.

Rule 7: Analyze Risks

Understanding the nature of a risk is a precondition for a good response. Therefore take some time to have a closer look at individual risks and don’t jump to conclusions without knowing what a risk is about.

Risk analysis occurs at different levels. If you want to understand a risk at an individual level it is most fruitful to think about the effects that it has and the causes that can make it happen. Looking at the effects, you can describe what effects take place immediately after a risk occurs and what effects happen as a result of the primary effects or because time elapses. A more detailed analysis may show the order of magnitude effect in a certain effect category like costs, lead time or product quality. Another angle to look at risks, is to focus on the events that precede a risk occurrence, the risk causes. List the different causes and the circumstances that decrease or increase the likelihood.

Another level of risk analysis is to investigate the entire project. Each project manager needs to answer the usual questions about the total budget needed or the date the project will finish. If you take risks into account, you can do a simulation to show your project sponsor how likely it is that you

finish on a given date or within a certain time frame. A similar exercise can be done for project costs.

The information you gather in a risk analysis will provide valuable insights into your project and the necessary input to find effective responses to optimize the risks.

Rule 8: Plan and Implement Risk Responses

Implementing a risk response is the activity that actually adds value to your project. You prevent a threat occurring

or minimize negative effects. Execution is key here. The other rules have helped you to map, prioritize and understand risks. This will help you to make a sound risk response plan that focuses on the big wins.

If you deal with threats you basically have three options, risk avoidance, risk minimization and risk acceptance. Avoiding risks means you organize your project in such a way that you don’t encounter a risk anymore. This could mean changing a supplier or adopting a different technology or, if you deal with a fatal risk, terminating a project. Spending more money on a doomed project is a bad investment.

The biggest category of responses are the ones to minimize risks. You can try to prevent a risk occurring

These 10 risk rules give you guidelines on how to implement risk management

successfully in your project. However, keep in mind that you can

always improve.

by influencing the causes or decreasing the negative effects that could result. If you have carried out rule 7 properly (risk analysis) you will have plenty of opportunities to influence it. A final response is to accept a risk. This is a good choice if the effects on the project are minimal or the possibilities to influence it prove to be very difficult, time consuming or relatively expensive. Just make sure that it is a conscious choice to accept a certain risk.

Responses for risk opportunities are the reverse of the ones

for threats. They will focus on seeking risks, maximizing them or ignoring them (if opportunities prove to be too small).

Rule 9: Register Project Risks

This rule is about bookkeeping (however don’t stop reading). Maintaining a risk log enables you to view progress and make sure that you won’t forget a risk or two. It is also a perfect communication tool that informs your team members and stakeholders what is going on (rule 3).

A good risk log contains risk descriptions, clarifies ownership issues (rule �) and enables you to carry out some basic analysis with regard to causes and effects (rule 7). Most project managers aren’t really fond of administrative tasks, but doing your bookkeeping with regards

11

to risks pays off, especially if the number of risks is large. Some project managers don’t want to record risks, because they feel this makes it easier to blame them in case things go wrong. However the reverse is true. If you record project risks and the effective responses you have implemented, you create a track record that no one can deny, even if a risk happens that derails the project. Doing projects is taking risks.

Rule 10: Track Risks and Associated TasksThe risk register you have

created as a result of rule � will help you to track risks and their associated tasks. Tracking tasks is a day-to-day job for each project manager. Integrating risk tasks into that daily routine is the easiest solu-tion. Risk tasks may be carried out to identify or analyze risks or to generate, select and imple-ment responses.

Tracking risks differs from tracking tasks. It focuses on the current situation of risks. Which risks are more likely to happen? Has the relative importance of risks changed?

1. We’ve got scope creep. I don’t know

where it came from, but have you

seen this cool little widget we’ve added?

2. How come we never have enough

money? Honest, if I could just get

this one other tool…

3. The requirements weren’t defined.

Why do I have to keep going to

all these meetings, I mean, I’ve already

started coding…

4. The requirements keep changing.

Every time I talk to someone, they

want something different. It’s not worth

writing them down…

5. There’s a bug in the (Pick one

or more: vendors, downstream

app, upstream app, operating system,

monitoring system, security… our

software)

6. The new software we bought

doesn’t work the way we want.

It looked so easy when the sales…

7. We haven’t heard back from the

software vendor, we filed the

report (Pick one: weeks ago, months ago,

yesterday… 5 minutes before coming to

this meeting)

8. The project manager

from company

X isn’t here today, all the

problems are with X…

What’s Your Excuse?!A HANDY LIST OF PROjECT

MANAGEMENT ExCUSES

bY ANDREw MEYER

9. Testing found something we hadn’t

expected, it will (Pick one: double,

triple…)

10. There’s a holiday in X’s country.

They won’t be back before

monday. There’s nothing we can do until…

11. We couldn’t reach Betty-the-

business-analyst or (insert name

here), we’re stuck until…

12. The Development, Testing,

QA, Production environments

aren’t the same, the sysadmins are looking

at it, they should be done…

13. management doesn’t

understand the problem, if

they would just take more time…

14. management is too involved,

why won’t they just let us do

our job…

15. The project sponsor isn’t

helping us. We sent them an

email two weeks or 5 minutes ago and

haven’t heard anything…

16. The project sponsor keeps

meddling in what we’re doing.

Every time we turn around, they’re asking

us questions...

In the interest of status reporting

efficiency, please use the

following list of excuses when

you’ve said you’ll have

no problem completing

something, which will

now be late.

Answering these questions will help to pay attention to the risks that matter most for your project value.

These 10 risk rules give you guidelines on how to implement risk management successfully in your project. However, keep in mind that you can always improve. Therefore rule number 11 would be to measure the effects of your risk management efforts and continuously implement improvements to make it even better. Success with your project!

WHO IS BART jUTTE? Bart Jutte is

a founder and consultant at concilio,

a nL based company specializing in

project risk management. concilio offers

consultancy, training and sells its own

easy to use risk management software.

a free demo is available at Projectfuture.

PROjECT SMART is the project

management resource that helps

managers at all levels improve their

performance. We provide an important

knowledge base for those involved in

managing projects of all kinds. With

regular updates, it keeps you in touch

with the latest project management

thinking.

Please visit: www.projectsmart.co.uk.

SOURCE: The Project management Hut: www.pmhut.com

12

Project management is defined as the art and

science of getting work done with the active cooperation of individuals and organizations who are directly or indirectly involved with the project. This includes Senior Management, Project Sponsors(s), Customers, End-users, Stakeholders, Team Members, Sub-contractors, Vendors and Consultants.

Given the reality of minimal authority and total responsibility for the outcome of the project, the Project Manager’s biggest challenge consists of “Getting Work Done.”

Professional project management today is subject to increased industry pressures from accelerated implementations, restructuring and downsizing, mergers and acquisitions, faster technology obsolescence, and the use of new and unproven technologies. Furthermore, the project environment itself is rapidly changing with the use of distributed and virtual teams as organizations implement new “Projectized” cultures.

The challenge for the Project Manager consists of attracting the right resources, forming a cohesive team, keeping the team motivated, meeting individual aspirations and getting the work done—all

GETTING WORK DONE

The Human Side of Project Management

within scope, cost, time, and customer satisfaction! How should we meet the challenge of dealing with the human side of project management? Here is a checklist with the “Ten Golden Rules” to help you assess the maturity level of project management and team effectiveness in your projects.

The questionnaire is intended for use by individuals, project teams, departments or organizations to gauge the effectiveness of team work. Place a check mark next to each question—only if you can answer it with a confident “Yes!” Check your score by counting up your “yes” answers and referring to the chart on page 13 and see how you and your team measure up!

Golden Rule #1: Develop a Project Organization 1. Are there specific

individuals who are identified as the Sponsor and the Customer or Client for the project?

2. Does everyone know who has the single source of responsibility for the project?

3. Is there a Project Organization

Chart with individuals identified for each role including team members and internal/external stakeholders?

4. Are the roles, responsibilities and expectations clearly defined for each individual?

�. Have the responsibilities and commitments been formally accepted by the individuals?

Golden Rule #2: Formulate a Team Purpose

1. Is there a common understanding of project objectives and deliverables among all players?

2. Are the “Vision, Purpose, Goals” of the project documented and supported by a scope definition with SMART objectives (i.e. Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Target-driven)?

3. Is there an agreed baseline schedule with resource commitments and intermediate milestones and deliverables for the project?

4. Are the functional organizations that are impacted by the project on board with the project objectives and project plans?

�. Did team members have input into the norms, rules and processes to be followed for smooth functioning of the team?

Golden Rule #3: Scope and Sell the Project

1. Do you know who your clients are and do you have their enthusiastic support?

2. Do you have a presentation that explains the business benefits of the project, its major components, how the project will be implemented and why it takes as long as it does?

3. Do you have a Risk Management plan that you can execute if and when a major risk event occurs?

4. Do you keep your client(s) positively engaged in the project and hold regular update/review meetings with your client(s) and project team?

�. Does the Project Sponsor understand the complexity of the project and support the Project Manager in resolving problems that are outside his/her control?

Golden Rule #4: Insulate Team from Management Issues

1. Is there a process for escalating problems to management and resolving issues?

2. Does the Project Manager resolve internal team conflicts expeditiously,

and stand up for the team when

BY DHANU KOTHARI

How would your team measure up? Test yourself

and see. Place a check mark next to each

question, only if you can answer it with a confident

“Yes.” check your score at the end!

13

can continually improve the management and performance of meetings?

3. Are meeting participants willing to interact and listen effectively during your project meetings?

4. Do your meetings focus on problem resolution as opposed to assignment of blame?

�. Do you proactively ascertain the confidence and commitment of team members regularly?

Golden Rule #8: Remember the Five “R”s

1. Does the project team practice and follow through the �Rs - Respect, Recognition, Rewards, Rest and Recreation?

2. Is the project baseline schedule realistic and based on reasonable assumptions?

3. Do the team members believe that the project goal is both challenging and achievable?

4. Do you celebrate significant achievements and milestones throughout the project life cycle?

�. Do you formally thank, congratulate and recognize team members for their specific contribution on the project?

Golden Rule #9: Implement Consistent & Predictable Processes

1. Are team members trained in the fundamentals of project management and are they familiar with the organization’s business terminology and project management methodology?

2. Do team members clearly understand the differences

TOTAl SCORE TEAM bUIlDING MATURITY lEVEl TEAM bUIlDING MATURITY ASSESSMENT

1-10 Initial Level 1: no processes for Project management and team building; Working mostly on an “ad-hoc” basis.

11-20 repeatable Level 2: Basic formal processes developed and used consistently for team building.

21-30 Defined Level 3: Demonstrated management support and processes for Project management and team building.

31-40 managed Level 4: evolving towards a “Projectized” culture and high performance teams.

41-50 optimizing Level 5: Implemented self-managed high performance teams in a fully “Projectized” environment.

So what’s your final score? If it is in the low 10’s, then you have a dysfunctional team and your project is certainly in a rathole. However, don’t despair! Pray for a competent Project Manager to rescue the situation. Most projects start that way and evolve into a mature team with the Project Manager’s organizational team building skills. If you are in the 20’s, you can claim to have an “average team” and expect normal challenges in delivering your project. Most of the project teams based on this survey fall into this range. A score in the mid-30’s indicates that the team is passionate and excited about the project, and is working smoothly. If you scored anything like mid-40’s, then you are walking on water, and that’s a dream come true for all Project Managers!

dealing with external influences, management and stakeholders?

3. Is the Project Manager experienced/trained to effectively delegate work, coach and support the team?

4. Is the Project Manager experienced in exercising various communication tools and soft skills?

5. Is there a well defined process for decision-making within the project team and is the process working?

Golden Rule #5: Teams Optimize, Individuals Maximize

1. Does every team member clearly understand his/her deliverables, acceptance criteria, and the individuals who will be approving or accepting the deliverable?

2. Is there an agreed facilitation process for team discussion and issue resolution?

3. Are decisions arising from team meetings based on a decision making process primarily driven by consensus?

4. Are the team members excited about the project experience? Do they see it as a learning opportunity for improving their competency, knowledge and skills?

�. Is there a regularly published newsletter to communicate project and team achievements to all clients, stakeholders and the project team?

Golden Rule #6: Encourage & Facilitate Open Communication

1. Is there a formal and structured communication process in place consisting of reviews, status reports, minutes of meetings and management updates etc.?

2. Does the Communication Plan include weekly “One

on One” reviews with team members?

3. Does the review process allow for discussion of potential problems and possible solutions?

4. Does the team environment genuinely believe in and encourage sharing and trust-building?

�. Do team members believe that the team is empowered to make decisions relevant to how the work is to be done (as opposed to being micro-managed)?

Golden Rule #7: Institutionalize Positive Mindset

1. Do your team members believe that their meetings are generally productive?

2. Do you invite team members to provide feedback on the content and process of the meeting so that you

14

and context of the various methodologies used for proj-ect management, system de-sign, systems development, proprietary solutions and IT operations, etc.?

3. Is there a clear understanding of work packages, milestones, critical path and related project dependencies among the team members?

4. Are team members trained to provide meaningful, clear and concise weekly status reports?

�. Do team members have the opportunity to develop their communication and soft skills as part of the project experience?

Golden Rule #10: Transition the Team Graciously

1. Do you get a formal sign-off from the client whenever a project deliverable is approved and accepted?

2. Do you take the time to provide feedback to team members on their project performance?

3. Do team members know their responsibilities with respect to Change Requests, Enhancements, Support, Warranty and Maintenance regarding the project deliverables.

4. Do you hold formal debrief sessions including a post-implementation “Lessons Learned” review with the team following project completion?

�. Will your team members enthusiastically volunteer to be a part of your next project?

Creating successful teams requires conscious and deliberate investment of time and effort. Teams are built around four basic principles that recognize the importance of Team Structure, Team Process, Team Culture and Team Influence. Structure

provides leadership and organization. Process provides discipline and predictability for team interaction. Culture provides foundation for the team’s norms and values for successful interdependence and relationships. Influence helps the team to leverage internal and external politics in a constructive way to drive the project to a successful outcome.

Teams must embrace a common purpose, and develop and follow a set of common processes based on a set of values and culture adopted by the team. The Project Manager’s role in team building is to guide, coach, mentor, facilitate and direct as required to achieve the intended project outcome. The success and survival of project teams depends on understanding the human side of project management.

WHO IS DHANU KOTHARI? Dhanu

Kothari is an enthusiastic and passionate

motivational speaker with the breadth

and depth of Project management

experience backed by 30 years of service

in IT with HP, Dec, Honeywell, nortel,

Scotiabank, Univac and the norwegian

computing centre. Dhanu holds a BSc in

mechanical engineering from Pune, and

a Post-Graduate Diploma in Production

engineering from the University of

Strathclyde, Glasgow. He is a past

President of the Project management

Institute (PmI), Southern ontario chapter

and the author of two books titled,

“rainbows & ratholes: Best Practices

for managing Successful Projects” and

“from ratholes to rainbows: managing

Project recovery.” Dhanu can be reached

at Kothari@D2i.ca

PROjECT SMART is the project

management resource that helps

managers at all levels improve their

performance. We provide an important

knowledge base for those involved in

managing projects of all kinds. With

regular updates, it keeps you in touch

with the latest project management

thinking.

Please visit:

www.projectsmart.co.uk.

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