Take the Time to Estimate and Plan

– – At its most fundamental level, project management is about “time” where tasks occur in an apparently irreversible succession from the past through the present to the future. The Project Management Institute (PMI) defines project management as “the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet the project requirements.” I have had the experience of reviewing Statements of Work (SOW), Requests for Proposal (RFP) and work with cross-functional delivery teams and customers on progress, customer satisfaction and team satisfaction (three minimal touch points in many CXOs dashboards).

– – According to Mike Cohn (an Agile thought-leader and founder of Mountain Goat Software) 2006:

Nearly two-thirds of projects significantly overrun their cost estimates (Lederer and Prasad 1992)

Sixty-four percent of the features included in
products are rarely or never used (Johnson 2002)

The average project exceeds
schedule by 100% (Standish 2001)

– – In a recent web poll released by the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) nearly 28 percent chose poor communications as the number one cause of project failure. My experience is that this comes from management, i.e. bad management decisions. Failure to communicate the need and risk of not staffing an SOW or an RFP with the right resources “will” cause an impact on progress, customer satisfaction and team satisfaction. While this may increase Cost of Sales (COS) your get this back in gross margin, satisfaction points, and retained customers and employees. Time is irreversible so communicate the need to properly resource your SOWs and RFPs so that you can Estimate and Plan Well, Start Well, and End Well.

For one company these practices and principles helped:

Increase business development efficiency up to 19% by creating a Pursuit Services Desk that streamlined SOW and RFP processes improving both cost of sales and customer satisfaction.

Increase gross margin up to 6% by implementing a portfolio governance / assurance framework.

Technology and Team Collaboration/ Communication

– – For years I’ve been part of a team that established a new Microsoft SharePoint site for our projects only to become frustrated with administration, “where is that file again?” resorting to the old process of attaching a document to an email and “there goes version control!” If you are a small to medium sized business, you might want to check out Onehub. While the television show I was watching went to commercial break, I quickly went to Onehub, created a hub. This is “a tabbed interface that connects to files of all sizes, a calendar, a task list and a discussion board;” moreover, “a project manager can assign different security levels to each user – read only, contributor, and author or administrator” (Charles Bermant, the Seattle Times, June 8, 2009, p. A7). By the time the commercials were over, I had invited several individual contributors to my new hub! Onehub, based in Bellevue, provides this collaboration service with a monthly fee starting at about the cost of about four Starbucks Venti® Caffè Misto/Café Au Lait’s.

The Road to the Project Management Professional (PMP) Credential

– – The Project Management Institute (PMI) is the first professional certification program of its kind in the world to receive the ISO 9001 and ISO 17024 accreditation, a globally recognized mark of a quality in 170+ countries. Since the introduction of the PMP credential in 1984 as of July 2009, there are 346,053 active PMPs in the world today. According to one article in Certification Magazine, Denny Smith says, “every year finds more employers requiring a PMP designation on job requisitions and more organizations linking the necessity of project management skills to their success.” Early on in my career as the Director of the World-Wide PMO for Microsoft Services, we accepted the PMP as a currency in human capital that our customers and partners worldwide understood and accepted. At Microsoft dealing with 88 countries was difficult to convince that the PMP alone was sufficient a competitive advantage for our consultants. Therefore the Project Management Assessment and Credentialing (PMAC) program was developed in conjunction with Dr. John Roecker (then Manager Professional Development Programs): the PMAC program required the PMP credential and included a comprehensive Microsoft assessment of skills and abilities culminating with a professional development plan to build core capabilities, behavioral excellence, and organizational maturity (both capability and capacity were known and leveraged at annual strategic priority setting meetings). The PMP provided a minimum understanding of each consultant’s experience, education while maintaining a common taxonomy/vocabulary for more effective communication worldwide. If you believe that the PMP is merely a test you can study for and pass (as you see in many advertisements) consider adding the additional accreditation management step as in the PMAC Program (a panel assessment in areas of competency, general practice and specialization). If you are interested, this is a public domain whitepaper you can request via email in PDF format.

The Online University & Experience

– – My graduate program will end with my computer holding nearly 700 files and 500MB of data. While I appreciate Al Gore for inventing the Internet (punning), without it the ability to attend a school anywhere, anytime, would be impossible. Individuals with awkward schedules to the disabled—a simple broadband connection, a computer, self-discipline, and an online school are all you need.

– – A typical day: login to school and your classroom; check for any announcements from the faculty or support; check email; see who’s online; chat with other students online; attend a lecture and maybe take a quiz; attend discussion groups and be prepared to enter into dialogue with two or more fellow learners to root the fundamentals of the course; write a paper; complete assignments; take a mid-term. Lastly, attend a proctored, videotaped and monitored, final exam.

– – I’ve enjoyed the other fellow learners exchanging emails, following them from class to class, with hopes of meeting them at some point in person or perhaps in my career. Online is rewarding and concentrated in its presentation: I’m sold on using the Internet for learning…thanks Al Gore!

Graduate School - My Journey

– – In 2007, I decided to apply to graduate school looking for a Master of Science in Management with emphasis in Project Management. I looked at Boston University, Capella University, George Washington University, New England College, Norwich University, Penn State, and University of Liverpool. Several of these graduate schools were very popular with the Project Management Institute (PMI®) and I was fortunate enough to chat with several of these schools at a PMI Global Congress on their exhibition floor. Online was the only choice for me since I traveled extensively with my job. With so many choices, catalogues filled with details of curriculum and 7 to 11 week classes: I had to deal with the details. One website that helped is called Unigo. They are “a new platform for college students to share reviews, videos, photos, documents and more with students on their campus and across the country;” and worth the visit.

– – I ended up creating a table with a side-by-side comparison of the course details—I was torn between Boston University, Norwich University, and George Washington University. Norwich offered the easiest curriculum and Boston the most difficult yet comprehensive. Boston was also more expensive. The curriculum won! Not to mention that in world ranking, Boston University ranked 46th in the 2008 THES-QS World University Ranking. Next came the “essay of intent” and the “letter of recommendation” from two individuals to the admissions committee—the road to acceptance? I toiled on the essay for some time and two years after going back and reading it again, it is still accurate of my ambition.

– – My recommendations and essay were submitted in May 2007, several months later, in September, I began my trek at Boston University. As I wrote in the summary of my essay: “My motivation to study is twofold: to maintain value in the marketplace with current, relevant and well designed curriculum including the interaction of fellow learners to reinforce such; and to provide my graduate degree as further proof of my continued education that is foundational to my activities as a thought-leader in the industry.” I am currently in my final course and look forward to knowing that this September 2009 I will have completed the graduate program!