Author: Ronald B. Smith, MBA, PMP
Ronald Smith has over four decades of experience as Senior PM/Program Manager. He retired from IBM having written four books and over four dozen articles (for example, PMI’s PM Network magazine and MPUG) on project management, and the systems development life cycle (SDLC). He’s been a member of PMI since 1998 and evaluates articles submitted to PMI’s Knowledge Shelf Library for potential publication. From 2011 - 2017, Ronald had been an Adjunct Professor for a Master of Science in Technology and taught PM courses at the University of Houston’s College of Technology. Teaching from his own book, Project Management Tools and Techniques – A Practical Guide, Ronald offers a perspective on project management that reflects his many years of experience. Lastly in the Houston area, he has started up two Toastmasters clubs and does voluntary work at various food banks.
When a PM Must Communicate Bad News
Setting the Stage Communication is a fuel that drives project success. In fact, various experts have claimed that communication is the most important skill for a PM. Obviously, this includes how a PM handles the sharing of bad news. Bad news does happen on projects, and how you deliver it can make all the difference on your credibility and possibly your future. Keep in mind, bad news is like trash; the longer you delay taking any action on it, the greater the potential for stink. You should strive not to surprise anyone with bad news, unless you have an action plan to mitigate the problem or alternative solutions to share. You should also have a sensitive approach to revealing bad news, so that the recipients(s) will have greater respect for your thoughtfulness, honesty, and judgment. You might find that you will receive more support when the news is made public. The goal is to put bad news behind you as soon as possible, learn from it, and move on to complete your project. The bottom line—or golden rule—here is never let a problem grow or evolve! When I first discover bad news about my project, I mentally step back and take a big deep breath to look at the big picture and how it will affect my whole project and organization. The problem may not be a concern that is everybody’s worry. For example, if a server is broken, not everyone is interested on what’s going on. However, if a deadline for your project has been moved up, it will affect everyone on the team. The main thing is to understand the degree of the problem. An amusing example of how to lessen bad news (or soften the blow) is provided in the following letter from a college student to her parents. Variations of this letter can be found on many websites. Dear Mom and Dad, or should I say Grandma and Grandpa, Yes, I am pregnant. No, I am not married yet since Larry, my boyfriend, is out of a job. Larry’s employers just don’t seem to appreciate the skills he has learned since he quit high school. Larry looks much younger than you Dad, even though he is three years older. I am quitting college and getting a job so we can get an apartment before the baby is born. I found a beautiful apartment above a 24-hour auto repair garage with good insulation, so the exhaust fumes and noise won’t bother us. I’m very happy. I thought you would be, too. Love, Ashley P.S. There is no Larry. I’m not pregnant or getting married. I’m not quitting school, but I am getting a “D” in Chemistry. I just wanted you to have some perspective. Depending on the bad news you are delivering, you may have an opportunity to put a humorous slant on the situation if you choose to. Humor could cause your audience to be more open to the ideas being presented and show them that not everything needs to be considered a downer. Having a sense of humor helps to create a connection between you and your audience while getting your point across. Using this technique tactfully could help defuse tensions after the news is stated and leave everyone a bit more understanding versus upset. Displaying a sense of humor also helps you to remain cool under pressure and to keep problems in perspective. One quote that comes to mind is this: “It is my belief that you cannot deal with the most serious things in the world unless you understand the most amusing.” -Sir Winston Churchhill Summary A few years ago, I was managing a project for a client and a key player (the Oracle database administrator) resigned, so I had to work in a “frenzy” with Human Resources to get a qualified, full-time replacement ASAP. Fortunately, we found someone and had a smooth transition with little disruption to the project. When I informed the client on what happened and what we’d done about it, it helped to maintain their confidence in our team. Fortunately, the client was not part of our internal “frenzy.” There are several methods that a PM can use in various situations or scenarios when discussing bad news with the client. For example: In some situations, a PM may choose to say nothing about bad news because they quickly took actions to rectify the issue(s). This practice may be useful if a PM is confident that things can be resolved quickly and effectively. Your thoughts in the comment section below are appreciated.
The Quadruple Constraints of Project Management
Most courses and books on project management discuss the “Triple Constraints” in terms of a three-legged stool (see Figure 1 below). The first leg represents Scope Management, the second, Time Management, and the third, Cost Management. If one aspect is shortened or increased in length, then the two other “legs” must be adjusted accordingly for a successful project. For example, if you increase scope, it will influence time and cost. Balancing the triple constraints is a lot like juggling. It’s also a constant reminder of how changing one constraint will cast an impact on the entire project. I have been working in project management for over four decades, and I’ve have observed at least two dozen projects that met the scope, cost, and time goals without being considered successful by the sponsor/customer. Why? There are many factors (resources, communications, procurement, risk, and quality are a few) that can lead to this situation, but most of the time, it was the lack of quality being “baked” into the final service or product. Some people, including myself, believe the triple constraints should be expanded into quadruple constraints, including quality with the aspects of scope, time, and cost. The bottom line is having and meeting quality standards is a key factor in obtaining customer or sponsor satisfaction. It’s likely that this desire for quality was the primary reason why the project was undertaken, in the first place, so why shouldn’t it be just as important as time, scope, and cost?! Quality Management One of the principles of quality management (QM) is that it’s customer oriented. It’s also made up of two key parts: quality assurance (QA) and quality control (QC). QA is the maintenance of a chosen level of quality in a service or product, especially by means of attention to every stage of the process of delivery. The goal here is to meet the needs and expectations of the customers. This all helps to build trust and loyalty. QC involves inspections, reviews, and evaluations of the various units to determine if they are within the specifications for the final product. This is accomplished through independence, integrity, and objectivity. QA is process oriented, whereas QC is product oriented. Projects should have periodic mini reviews that rate progress against certain defined metrics. Table 1 combines the three types of QM reviews (health, compliance, and deliverable) into one mini review. Every project should have prescribed quality indicators that can be used for recovery assessment. This includes the level of defects or number of discrepancies in deliverables–first by internal review, and then by the customer. We also want to look at the number of re-work activities following internal and customer reviews. Monitoring all of this on an ongoing basis is essentially part of tracking and controlling project performance. For software development projects, make sure the end-users or customers are part of the participative development team, so they feel they have ownership of the service or product (this should increase their overall satisfaction). Expect the product requirements to evolve throughout the development process, and continue to validate that the proposed product will be satisfactory to the customer after it is completed and delivered. Summary Always try to see quality through the customer’s eyes, and remember it applies to the life of a product and covers all aspects of a product. I have seen several products introduced that had great quality, but the price was unbelievably high because they had a near monopoly on the marketplace. When the product starts to have competition, prices are lowered and companies look to cutting costs to keep profit margins up. This can result in the product’s quality being reduced. I am speculating a possible example of this is Gillette, which once held a 70% market share in US for razor blades. We’ve seen upstarts like Harry’s and Dollar Shave Club (DSC) slice away at Gillette’s customer base over the last decade. While Gillette remains in control, its market share has shrunk down to nearly 50%. A possible lesson to be learned is that if your product is overpriced and/or you ease up your interest in ensuring quality to save costs, your competitors will gladly demonstrate their interest in winning over your customers. Your thoughts on expanding the triple constraints into the quadruple constraints of project management in the comment section below are appreciated.
Why I Like Being a PM
No. Reason % 1 Incomplete and/or changing requirements 24 2 Lack of user involvement 12 3 Lack of resources 11 4 Unrealistic expectations 10 5 Lack of executive support 9 6 Lack of planning 8 7 Didn’t need any longer 7 8 Lack of IT management 6 9 Technology illiteracy 4 10 Other/miscellaneous 9 Total 100% Source: The Standish Group On top of those discouraging stats, information technology projects have an even higher degree of uncertainty. Here are some reasons why: Technology is changing every 6 – 12 months (new programming languages, new interface mechanisms, hardware platforms, tools, and version compatibility issues). Methodologies are changing for developing products. Resource turnover often runs high. There are no standard benchmarks for ability and skill level of resources. Dependency on the customer for good requirements and project plan task completion runs high. IT is one of the fastest changing business environments. Are you getting the picture? For these reasons and more, it’s difficult being a PM, but these are the same reasons why I like being a PM. In short, I like navigating a learning environment (technology and people) that’s always challenging. I like adding value… I like taking over a troubled project, gaining the confidence of the stakeholders, setting up metrics with a detailed plan, and feeling the satisfaction of turning it around. I like the excitement of a different challenge every time… I never get bored because every project and every day is different. Each project has its own unique personality! For example, if companies A and B are developing an identical application, using the same tools, and have similarly structured organizations, you might assume their project would be nearly identical. Wrong! I guarantee you there will be differences in how they are developed, implemented, and used. Also, it’s possible company A completes the project on time and within budget; whereas company B could go past schedule and eventually cancel the project. Good project management can be effective! I like team communications… Many failed projects are due to breakdown in team communications. To have a clear vision of what your team is doing, you need to setup and implement a communications plan early on. This plan should cover change requests, issues, identifying/investigating other vendors or options, assigning/notifying people that are assigned to your project, executive status meetings, and status “poster-boards” for other people to see. Good communication practices include having weekly tracking/control meetings to identify potential problems and find solutions. These weekly meetings are most important and where the “rubber meets the road.” I like learning new things… There are many different types of learning. This includes formal training, as well as learning new ideas from the projects you are working on, and/or studying lessons learned from current and previous projects. While working in various places and on various assignments throughout my career, I enjoyed learning about the divergent cultures, histories, entertainment, and locality. I also enjoy passing on my knowledge on the job. Read my previous article on mentorship for more on this. I like applying knowledge of human behavior… There’s learning about the different aspects of human behavior, which in turn helps me to understand and improve myself. The following are a few basic lessons about human behavior I learned by meeting and collaborating with numerous clients and co-workers as a PM. By the way, I am still learning. You are what you perceive yourself to be. In other words, your vision of yourself becomes your reality. Honesty is the cornerstone of integrity. Tell the truth no matter how painful it might be, and, overall, your life will be simpler. Integrity is the cornerstone of leadership. Be a role model, obey your rules, and behave like everything you say and do is being observed—it most likely is! Expectations are important. All people need to know the acceptable pattern of behavior that is expected of them on each assignment. Be a good listener, and be willing to admit your shortcomings. When you make a mistake, own up to it, and view it as a learning experience. Go for peace! Admitting when you are wrong can change the mood from one of conflict to that of cooperation. You need to be open to criticism to be able to improve yourself. If someone criticizes you, be open-minded. If you are not sure they are right, get a second…or third opinion. If you know they are wrong, go to the next point. Don’t take things personally. If you constantly do, then you are in the wrong business. To be a good PM, you must get over it and move on! When management have clashes or major differences, it’s usually smart to be neutral. Train yourself to be able to see the big and small picture of your project, but at the same time don’t get too “bogged” down on the details. If you are not an extrovert, you need to become one to be successful in this business. One way of becoming an extrovert is to work on your social awareness. Try to become more socially aware, sympathetic, empathetic, and intuitive about people. The belief that introverts can’t become extroverts is not true. We can change our mode of behavior (read on) if we are serious about it. The best form of communication is interactive. I improved my communication skills (and confidence) by joining Toastmasters International. Another advantage of belonging to Toastmasters or a similar group is that it will help you to think quicker at meetings and improve your writing skills. Speaking of… I like writing… I used to hate writing and usually got D’s on my high school and college English papers. After graduation, I was fortunate that my first job was at Fischer-Price Toys as a Systems Analyst in the applications development area. The unique thing about this experience was that the whole department overdid documentation on every phase of the project. As time progressed, I realized how important writing things up was to the overall project. In the end, I got pretty good at it, and strangely enough, I liked doing it. Since then, I have had four books and dozens of articles published on project management and the systems development life cycle (SDLC). You will do a better job as a PM if you work hard on improving your writing skills. Writing skills are often overlooked as a requirement for PM success, yet I believe someday people will realize how important good writing is when communicating with others. Your thoughts in the comment section below are appreciated.
Back to the Future: What PM Skills Are Called for in 2022 and Beyond?
First…Back to the Past Let’s first travel back in time and look at the state of data processing and information technology (IT) historically. Knowing the past gives us a basis to move forward, and in this article, I’d like to explore what project management (PM) skills are called or in 2022 and beyond. In the early 1960’s, most data processing (DP) systems were stand alone, non-compatible, and located only at major operating units. The applications were mostly in fields of financial reporting. Mass storage devices were widely adopted, but magnetic tape was still the primary medium for storage of data files. By the end of that decade, most systems were becoming stand-alone and compatible. Software was becoming standardized. New applications were in areas of financial control, and the use of data communications was becoming more extensive. Storage devices grew even larger, providing billions of characters of data on-line to the computer. This era saw more extensive decentralization, and the following advantages were realized: Improved effectiveness Less severe economic consequences when failure occurred Less training and bureaucracy Less competition for service Less sophistication needed In the 1970’s, we began to see a concentration of processing power at control sites with terminal access to large control databases. New applications were driven in the areas of order entry and inventory. Following are some of the advantages: Lower overall cost of equipment and systems Fewer personnel problems Fewer support personnel Better DP cost control More sophisticated systems The ability to run large jobs By the late 1970’s, the pendulum was swinging from centralization to distributed DP (DDP)—a cross between centralization and decentralization. With DDP, computer power was decentralized at remote sites to capture and process data at its source. Transmittal of substantial amounts of clean data to a central site became the norm. Therefore, computer power was decentralized, but the control of such was still centralized. The concept of DDP had been around a long time, but it was only possible to achieve with the development of inexpensive mini-computers and cheaper data communication devices. A real DDP system is a network of powerful, self-sufficient satellite systems communicating with each other and/or the host computer. The following are some advantages of DDP: Users have local processing and data storage capability Users have integrated access to other computers Users control their own data Non-competitive access is available This model reduces peak load demands on central computer power Greater responsiveness to user New applications can be quickly supported without costly additions to the central system Lower total system communication costs Less training and bureaucracy The following are seen as disadvantages of DDP: Duplication of input, output, and functions Higher cost due to duplication of hardware, software, data, space, and people Some restrictions on the size and complexity of applications Possible incompatibilities More difficult management and control of operations, standards, development, and databases Limited vendor relations/negotiating power As technology developed through the decades, these challenges began to be teased out. We saw broader uses of DDP elements and redistribution of previously centralized applications. We also eventually saw word processing* and DP people sharing the same workstations, the same communication systems, and the same data files. Some workstations were multi-function units with various work-keys. At a glance, work-keys were used for word processing, source data entry, central computer inquiry, or standalone DP. These multi-function units functioned in workstation clusters and communicated with other dispersed workstations clusters and/or a host computer. Some of the shareable applications included accounts receivable, booklets, marketing surveys, mailing labels, financial reports directories, etc. Output was phototypesetting and telecommunications, for example. Top management within each company mandated the combining of DDP and word processing for the next evolutionary jump into information processing because they realized the economics of sharing equipment, personnel, and data. The sooner advantages were adopted, the sooner a total corporate information system began to unfold. For their projects, project managers used simple analytical tools that included progress flowcharts, decision logic tables, decision trees, Gantt charts, milestone charts, time-space networks, weighted rating, and workflow charts. These tools were easy to grasp and understand because they revolved around some form of hierarchical system. Into the Future As you can see, many of the trends since 1980 have evolved over the last forty years. For example, smaller/faster storage devices and increased use of micro-processors/integrated circuits, which are part of today’s IT foundation/environment. This includes the growth of the internet, cloud computing, digital media, AI applications, and Agile-based projects in this current century. Today, the world’s largest tech companies will largely decide much of what we see and hear in the future. With all this in mind, let’s consider the future of IT and project management, and, more specifically, the job skills PMs will need to evolve into the future! Business Analytics Consultants Business analytics (BA) depended—and still does—on getting substantial amounts of high-quality data to populate across different systems (some of the first were Oracle, IBM, and Azure databases). Deciding what subsets of data adds reporting value to the organization (a.k.a. learning “insights” from past performance, so you can do better business planning) allows PMs to be more competitive. Henry Ford used BA to help plan and build his assembly lines and many companies use it for customer loyalty programs. A current example is Microsoft’s Power BI and other similar ecosystems (Power BI Pro), all of which are really a BA service where end users can create enterprise reports, live dashboards, and rich visualizations versus depending on a IT department. Unless they are trained, most end users won’t have the expertise to work across different systems and will need an experienced Business Analytics Consultant (BAC) to help them accumulate the information or actionable intelligence they need to share and run their business most effectively. This is an area all PMs should consider in future career planning. Strategic Project Managers Strategic Project Managers (SPMs) or Chief Project Officers (CPOs) will soon be breaking the doors down to get into the C-suite of an organization that is driven by information and technology. These people have to know the business, be experienced in project management, be part of the portfolio decision making process, and be innovators and effective communicators. Obviously, a person in the position of SPM or CPO must be a skilled leader, highly respected, and have good relationships with stakeholders! Equally important, this person would be an influential collaborator in defining and helping to deliver the organization’s strategy. The SPM or CPO serves as a crucial interface between the C-suite and the organization in translating the strategy and goals of a project. He/she understands the processes and advantages that need to take place to be successful. Furthermore, this person can help the organization pick the right projects. End-to-End Project Managers The above listed job skills demonstrate where projects transition from the PM to business owner. End-to-End PMs go to the next level and take ownership of a new product or service becoming responsible for providing its benefits. This is happening in China and slowly being embraced by Western countries. A good example of this is the Chinese company called Alibaba Group (NYSE symbol: BABA), which is one of the world’s largest e-commerce, retail, internet, AI, and technology companies. They are considered fast to market, being an Agile-project-based organization and quickly converting ideas into products and services. Their approach a much more innovative and complete way to view project management, in general. Keep in mind an end-to-end PM needs to have effective communication, possess inherent salesmanship skills, and be able to think strategically. Fast-to-market organizations are looking for leaders that have less technical expertise and more end-to-end expertise with strong facilitation skills. These PMs usually possess a stronger business understanding with commercial insights, which should open the door for them moving up to the executive levels of their organizations. To get there, PMs need to get out of their comfort zones, adapt, and step into more leadership roles. At the same time, organizations need to become more flexible overcoming silos and traditional organizational structures, so the work done is project-based! Summary The role of the PM has been shifting away from someone who can tick off tasks as completed on a Gantt chart. 2022+ is bringing us more towards strategic leadership positioning for effecting change in organizations. I see a bright future for PMs and project management because there remains a strong demand for people delivering change! IT is advancing so rapidly, with blockchain and AI, for example, that it’s beginning to outpace the public’s capacity to fully understand its ramifications. Sometimes inventing in the future can cause internal problems for large technology companies. These companies may have to reboot their own culture and/or use project process consultants to update their delivery systems and expand new product lines. Can you foresee the day when a drone taxi will pick me up at my house? Your thoughts in the comment section below are appreciated. *I would like to thank Mona Bertrand for her word processing insight, which was invaluable in the writing of this article.
Late Tasks: Starts and Finishes
The Background Story… I have been a project manager for over forty years. Over that time, I got into the habit of checking my projects for late starts and finishes two or three times a month. This would help me to flag task problems that I needed to research and try to get back on schedule. Originally, I would take my plan and sort the % Complete field which gave me three major groups: 0% (Not Started), 1% – 99% (Started), and 100% (Completed). My initial focus was to drill-down on the first two groups and highlight potential task problems. For the first group (Not Started), I would highlight the tasks that had a start date that was less than or equal to the current date at that time. Keep in mind these late starting tasks could eventually turn in late tasks. For the second group (Started), I would highlight the tasks that had a finish date that was less than or equal to the current date. On large projects, this exercise was time-consuming, and I felt like a kid using a flashlight at night as I drilled-down to find tasks that had late starts and finishes. Highlighting A Better Way Within Microsoft Project, there are multiple ways to find tasks that have late starts and finishes. They include using multiple filters, reports, and/or using a macro. I typically chose to use a simple filter to meet my needs, and Figure 1 below shows a small project plan that I will use to demonstrate my approach using highlighting. Applying a routine filter hides information that does not meet your criteria and applying a highlight (a yellow format) to information that does meet your criteria. Otherwise, the two approaches are nearly identical. When a highlight is applied, the Highlight Filter Applied message appears on the bottom left side of the status bar. To create this new filter, go to the View tab > Data section > Highlight’s drop-down menu > More Highlight Filters > New (Figure 2). To see the result, reference Figure 3. Initially name your filter (e.g., Late Starts and Finishes) and define your filter logic. For the first line, I didn’t use % Complete because it represents the duration that is complete, not the progress that’s been completed on the work. Instead, I used the more accurate % Work Complete ((Actual Work/Work) x 100)) that equals 0% And (logic operator) Start that is less than or equal to “Enter status date:?” (interactive prompt for later) to find the late starts. Next, I used the Or (logic operator) Status that equals Late to find the late finishes. There are four types of Status – Late, Complete, On Schedule, or Future Tasks. When finished, click Save. Then click Highlight from Figure 2. When you select this filter from the Highlight pull-down arrow, the interactive “Enter status date:” dialog box will pop-up (Figure 4) for you to enter the selected date and click OK. This brings you to Figure 5, where you can now see the highlighted late start and finish tasks. You can tell from the % Work Complete column that the task IDs 1 and 6-7 are late finishes (> 0%) and the task IDs 13-14 are late starts (= 0%). Summary Using filters to create your specific information requirements can be extremely helpful. This coupled with using the already built-in filters can up your game as a project manager. Sometimes, you might copy a built-in filter as a foundation for creating your own. Your comments on this topic are appreciated below.
The Influence of a Mentor
Mentoring is the sharing of one’s knowledge, skills, expertise, experience, etc. for the benefit of another. Mentors can play a crucial role in a person’s career. They can offer advice on tasks particular to a job, help someone navigate an organization, and even give general career advice. Mentorship has played an important role in my career. In the early 1970’s, I was an accountant at a family-owned company which was just starting to get into computers and financial systems. Computers really fascinated me, so when a recruiter contacted me about being a financial systems analyst in the IT department of Fisher-Price (now a subsidiary of Mattel), I jumped at the opportunity. At this point in my life, I had never heard of the term Project Manager (PM), and PMI was in its infancy. Looking back, this was the beginning of my long road to becoming a PM at Fisher-Price. Fisher-Prices’ IT department was in overkill mode in every project phase when it came to documentation. Writing was a challenge for me—in high school and college I got mostly C’s on my English papers, and I really needed someone who could help foster these skills. I needed a mentor to help me succeed. I was looking for someone who had experience, expertise, and wisdom—someone who was a good listener and was accessible. Fortunately, in my small group there was a senior systems analyst who had all of those qualities. His name was Art Gunther. Art and I had already started to build a friendly relationship through our weekly team lunches. So, after my first month at Fisher-Price, I asked Art if he would review some of my work (program specifications). Art turned out to be my divine helper, and over time, I began to really trust and respect him. He explained the “ins” and “outs” of projects and the day-to-day tasks of a PM, giving me the foundations to become a strong PM. By exposing me to new and different perspectives, he helped me turn my professional life around, all the while helping me with the writing side of things, too. One piece of advice Art gave that has stayed with me through the years was to “make reading and lifelong learning a part of my routine and part of my life.” I have spent the last forty years building a robust home library, and filled it with IT books that I often reference. During my first year at Fisher-Price, I learned the COBOL language, which I then used when writing my programming specifications. This enabled our programmers to code directly from my specs. Looking back, I don’t know if the programmers thought I was making their job easier or if they were annoyed, as it left little room for creativity. Regardless, after two years of so much writing of documentation, I woke up one morning and realized, I liked doing it and was getting good at it. In fact, I wanted to write and be published, something I soon found out was no easy feat. Since leaving Fisher-Price, I have had the amazing fortune to have four books and over sixty articles (e.g., PMI’s magazine and MPUG) published on project management and the systems development life cycle (SDLC). None of this would have been possible without my first mentor, Art. Later in my career and during the Y2K scare, I was assigned to a large project and became friends with one of the IBMers who was part of the PMO. I soon found out he didn’t understand much about project management or how to use Microsoft Project. Regardless, I liked him, and I wanted him and our project to be successful, I decided to mentor him on project management and how to use Microsoft Project. Looking back, he didn’t seem that interested, he wasn’t really processing the information I was presenting, and didn’t reciprocate in any way. Weeks went by and I realized I had totally wasted my time. Why? He didn’t ask for mentoring because he thought he didn’t need it, and so I learned a lesson: don’t mentor someone that doesn’t acknowledge their need for it or request it. About three years later, I ran into Jim at an airport. We had about an hour to kill between flights, so we sat down to catch up on what we were doing. He told me he regretted that he hadn’t listened to my advice while I was trying to mentor him. He also bemoaned not being able to get a PMP certification. I was stunned. Since then, I have mentored a few co-workers successfully. In turn, I benefited from the satisfaction of helping others and it’s made me a better teacher. Work is not solely about the products you produce, but also about the fulfillment you derive from it. Finding a mentor can enable you to reach your fullest potential as a producer, and becoming a mentor can enable you to help others find that same gratification. Additionally, mentoring has the potential to diminish stress and reduce burnout. It’s important to take time in different ways to support yourself and your mentees. What are your thoughts on mentorship? I’d love to hear from you in the comments below.
Chess and Project Management: Part 2
A previous article, Chess and Project Management, explored the similarities between the game of chess and project management. A professional chess player who is also a PMP found the first article to be unique and interesting, which made my day. If you haven’t read it, you might consider it before reading Part 2 here. Basic chess is quite easy to learn, and I daresay, it would benefit any project manager to do so. It’s not much harder than many modern board games. Learning to play it well is the hard part. No matter how skilled you become, there is always something new to learn – new opening ideas or techniques to master. That’s why chess has remained so popular for such a long time (over 1,400 years now). It originated in India (around 600 AD) and quickly spread to Persia and the Arab world from there. Within a few hundred years, chess was widespread in Euro-Asian countries. Although Russia has long been the dominant chess power, China, India, and Africa are rapidly catching up. On June 30, 2021, a boy from New Jersey named Abhimanyu Mishra, broke the world’s record for being the youngest grandmaster in history – at the age of 12 years 4 months and 25 days. Chess is a game that can hook you in for life, and has for countless famous people (Napoleon Bonaparte, Humphrey Bogart, John Wayne, Madonna, John Lennon, and Charles Dickens, to name a few who enjoy(ed) it delights). The bottom line is that chess is an exceedingly popular game for everyone to enjoy and learn. Unlike other sports and games, amateur and professional players regularly complete against each other in tournament and match play. The Benefits of Chess Playing to PMs Chess has numerous intellectual and intrinsic benefits that I think could help project managers (PMs) improve a number of important skills. Let’s explore them now. Intelligence Scientists believe playing chess results in better brain function, strategic thinking (or long-term planning), and attention improvement. Research has also corroborated that chess can raise your mental IQ. Empathy A big part of this is understanding your opponent (or team players) and how they play. Observing their facial expressions and overall body language will tell you much about your opponent (and the players on your team). Memory Playing chess can improve memory because of its complex rules that players have to remember when making a move. It also helps develop memory recall because you want to avoid making previous mistakes (i.e., lessons learned in project management) and/or remember the playing style of the challenger (risk management). Creative abilities Chess gives you the ability to think ahead or forward on what your next set of steps are going to be versus only your next move—a vital skill for PMs, as well. Planning and critical thinking skills It helps us to make strong moves when there is a problem (or issue) and to stick by them. This includes the discipline process of conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or information gathered from observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication. Risk Every project has risk, and a certain amount of risk is involved in playing chess, too. It’s called a gambit, and occurs in the opening phases of a game with sacrificing a valuable piece (Knight, Bishop, or Castle, for example) for a gain in development to get more pieces. Gambits are extremely popular, but can be dangerous if you don’t secure some compensating advantage. There are many distinct types of gambits, but one of the most popular one’s is the Queen’s Gambit whose objective is to secure the center of the board. Last year during the pandemic, the Netflix mini-series, “The Queen’s Gambit,” came out and was an instant hit. In fact, millions of people (myself included) renewed their interest in chess after seeing the show. If a risk becomes reality, you launch your counterattack and monitor the results. Flow What I mean by “flow” here is the optimal and enjoyable experience of running a project or playing chess in which there is a deep concentration on the activity at hand. Flow is what enables people to be satisfied with, and have a sense of exercising control in, their lives. Usually, people who achieve flow also maintain a winning or positive attitude. A positive attitude can bring pleasure to performance of a challenging task or a chess game. You may be surprised how many more games (or projects) you will win by having a winning attitude. People who consistently maintain positive attitudes tend to have higher energy levels than those who are less positive. A revealing anonymous quote states: “A pessimist finds difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist finds opportunity in every difficulty.” Mobility In chess, is moving one’s pieces to important parts of the board quickly and easily. It means you are usually an aggressive or active player, and you use this technique as part of a winning strategy. Passive moves contain no threats, which means your pieces have limited mobility. If you consistently make passive or weak moves, you are not really an active player—or have successful projects. Summary Hopefully, you can now see that chess has numerous intellectual and intrinsic benefits that could also help PMs improve their project management skills. A key to playing chess well is to better understand the relationships between the pieces (or team members) and the ability to recognize patterns. When you see a pattern (or plan) that you are familiar with, the right moves surprisingly suggest themselves. I’d love to hear your comments on this chesstacular article in the section below.
Sharing Resources Across Multiple Projects
A resource pool can help you see how resources (i.e., work or materials) are used across multiple projects, so you will be able to track costs per plan, as well as the cumulative costs across multiple plans. Maintaining a resource pool can also help you identify which resources are over-allocated or under-allocated across multiple projects. Project plans that are linked to a resource pool are considered sharer plans. A resource pool is exceptionally beneficial when you are working with other project users across a network. As such, a resource pool should be stored in a central location such as a network server. Sharer plans can be stored locally or on a network server. Creating a Dedicated Resource Pool In creating a resource pool, it’s best to begin with a project plan without any tasks (which have end dates). Go to the View tab > Resource Views > Resource Sheet, and fill-in the fields for Resource Name, Max Units (percentage of time the resource is available), costs, etc. See Figure 1 for an example. When complete, save the resource pool to a central location, and use a clearly identifiable name, such as Sharing Resources, so people know it’s a resource pool. If your resource information is in other programs like Excel, you can save time by importing or pasting that data into the Resource Sheet table. Just make sure the Excel worksheet column matches the MS Project column (i.e., Resource Name or Std. Rate) in the Resource Sheet table. Linking a Project to a Resource Pool In MS Project, open the shared resource pool file as a read-only file, so you don’t lock anyone out from using the file and click OK. See Figure 2. Only select read-write (the second option) to make needed resource changes (i.e., pay rates). You’ll want to do this quickly because no one else can access the resource pool while you are using it. If you make changes, update the resource pool by navigating to the Resource tab > Resource Pool > Update Resource Pool. When you’re ready to link a project to your resource pool, open the project file that needs access to the pool. When starting a new plan, link the standardized names from the resource pool to your plan’s Resource Names field. In the Resource tab’s Assignments section, go to Resource Pool > Share Resources. You will see the Shared Resources dialog box as shown in Figure 3. Select the Use Resources option, and, if necessary, select the resource pool file and click OK. If, later, you open a sharer file, MS Project will ask if you want to open its’ resource pool (if it’s not already open), and, in most cases, you’ll want to open it, as shown in Figure 4, and click OK. Seeing Assignments Across Multiple Plans One of the benefits of using a resource pool is to examine the details of resource’s assignments and allocations. To do this in MS Project, open your Resource Pool file and then your sharer plans. In the last sharer plan, you want to pull-up the Resource Usage screen by going to the View tab > Resource Usage. Then, under the View tab > Split View, check the Details box to get the Resource Form as shown in Figure 5. In the combination view, you’ll be able to see all the resources in the upper pane, as well as the selected resources’ details in the lower pane. In Figure 5, you can see that in both panes “Ross Castillo” is highlighted. His name is in red in the upper pane because the icon in the Indicator (i) column shows that Ross is overallocated (working 16 hours on Wednesday and Thursday on the timescale). Why? If you look at the bottom pane, you will see he is scheduled to work full time on those two days on both the Alpha and XYZ projects. This overallocation in the refreshed Resource Pool is shown in Figure 6. Summary There are other ways of finding resource overallocations in MS Project, but the ones presented in this article outline a particularly good approach. The view shown in Figure 5 is a wonderful way to see the big picture of a resource’s assignments and allocations. If you press the “Next” button in the lower pane (top right-hand corner), both panes will automatically go to the next resource on the list. Finally, there are many ways of fixing overallocations and maintaining strategies for addressing them (leveling resources, using an under-allocated resource, and/or reassigning a task to another resource). Any related comments would be appreciated.